The threat of an Iran armed with nuclear weapons has been debated in Washington for the past couple of years. This political battle has done nothing more than buy the Iranians more time to develop and put into operation their nuclear arsenal. As if fulfilling expectations, Iran is now planning war games, the main event being missile tests. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been thumbing his nose at the world and overtly ramping up his nuclear program. He has openly stated on numerous occasions that he wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth; bearing this in mind, missile tests are ominous to say the least.

Iran plans three days of military maneuvers, including short-range missile tests, beginning Sunday - its first since the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions against it in late December, state-run television said.

"The elite Revolutionary Guards plans to begin a three-day missile maneuver on Sunday near Garmsar city," said the broadcast. The city is located in northern Iran on the edge of Kavir desert, about 60 miles southeast of Tehran. Story

As has been the case in recent years, the Iranian President is not about to resist an opportunity to taunt the West. He has never been at a loss for words with regards to his country’s right to become a nuclear power. The “standoff” with the West has done nothing more than tie the hands of opponents to Iran becoming a nuclear power and to enable Iran to proceed with their weapon development. Naturally Ahmadinejad seems to believe he is operating under divine inspiration and that makes him even more dangerous.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that Iran was prepared for any possibility in the standoff with the West over its controversial nuclear activities.

"Today, with the grace of God, we have gone through the arduous passes and we are ready for anything in this path," state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying Thursday. Story

Americans across the Nation have wondered for some time why the President was so ready to go into Iraq but does not seem to have the drive to take pre-emptive action against Iran. The results of this fall’s elections have thrown a significant roadblock in any future desire the White House may have to take action in Iran. While the President is the Commander in Chief, it has not stopped Democrat leaders in Congress from making it clear that they will fight him tooth and nail if he should decide that the time has come to engage Iran.

Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers.

"The president does not have the authority to launch military action in Iran without first seeking congressional authorization," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told the National Press Club. Story

We now stand on the brink of a precipice which could well be the watershed that leads to world war. The Iranian President has shown time and again that he is intent on becoming a nuclear power. The implications of this for Israel and the nations of the West are immeasurable. Throw typical Democrat obstruction into the mix and we see the storm clouds growing, and they could very well be mushroom clouds. The question now seems to have become:

How far will the Democrats go, and what price are they willing to pay, to obstruct President Bush and his execution of the War on terror?!

Price of a Message Part Three

For all of those who think that Iran and their fanatical leader are only a problem for the Middle East; think again. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has embarked on his latest tour of Latin America; a tour during which he is working to cement relationships that will support him in the Western Hemisphere. He is already meeting with newly “elected” Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who has signed a trade agreement with Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia. Reportedly the new Nicaraguan leader has said he plans to remain a part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, but the separate trade agreement and the meeting with the Iranian leader should be taken as a sign for concern by all the other countries of the Americas.

Nicaraguan revolutionary Daniel Ortega's first day as president was spent signing a socialist trade pact with allies Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, and planning a meeting with Iran's hard-line president, actions sure to irritate the U.S. government.

Before taking office, Ortega assured Washington that he would maintain ties and remain part of the regional Central American Free Trade Agreement. But none of those promises were evident Thursday, during which he agreed to join Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, designed to serve as a counterweight to a U.S. proposed, hemisphere-wide trade deal. Story

In addition to Nicaragua on his tour of the Americas, Ahmadinejad is going to visit Venezuela and Ecuador.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left Iran on Friday for his second trip to Latin America in four months, starting with a visit to Venezuela and talks with its anti-U.S. President Hugo Chavez.

Ahmadinejad, who like Chavez peppers his speeches with statements against Washington, will also visit Nicaragua and Ecuador, where presidents opposed to U.S. policies have also recently won elections.

"Iran and Venezuela are very good friends ... The aim of this trip is to follow up previous agreements and to reach new ones," Ahmadinejad told reporters at Tehran's International Mehrabad airport, the official IRNA news agency said. Story

If one were to connect the dots between the trade agreement mentioned above and the other stops on the Iranian President’s trip, it paints a fairly broad set of contacts for a very unstable man in the United State’s back yard! Take a look at the list:

• Iran
• Venezuela
• Cuba
• Nicaragua
• Bolivia
• Ecuador

With this growing list of countries can Columbia be far behind? How about Chile, Peru or Argentina? The threat posed by Iran is not a Middle Eastern threat. It is not limited to a “distant” part of the world. It is getting a foothold in our hemisphere and must be taken seriously. The myopic view of the world held by the Democrats is what makes this growing problem all the more significant. Look back at the way the military was neutered during the Clinton presidency and the precarious position his weak kneed policies put this Nation in. With Pelosi and Reid lead us down a path of greater National security or continue to attack President Bush’s attempts to keep this Nation safe? You know the answer to this as well as I do and this is why this constitutes the third installment in my series on the price we pay to send a message to the GOP.

This is the second piece in my series on the price we will all pay for voters staying home from the polls last November or voting for third party candidates as a way of sending a message to the Republican Party that they were not pleased. In my first piece, I Told You So, I outlined the ramifications of a letter sent by Democratic leaders to the President urging the redeployment of troops in Iraq within four to six months. Now they have changed the voting rules of the House to make raising taxes a simple majority vote; this strikes down the super majority rule established in 1994 when the Republican Party took control of the House through its Contract With America.

One of the first key procedural votes in the Democrat-controlled House last week established legislative rules that Republicans say will make it easier to raise taxes by a simple majority vote.
The straight party-line vote received little attention Thursday as Rep. Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, was elected speaker of the House. But Republican leaders and conservative tax-cut advocates said it opened up a huge loophole in a Republican-imposed rule drawn from the Republicans' 1994 Contract with America, which requires a supermajority, or three-fifths vote, to raise taxes.
Democrats unanimously voted down a motion offered by Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio that would have prevented them from waiving the rule, a move that tax-cutters said signaled the Democrats' intention to raise taxes between now and the 2008 elections. Washington Times

The ramifications of this will be felt in the wallets of Americans in all income brackets across the Nation. The tax raises will be camouflaged in the guise of social programs that will benefit all Americans but will, in reality, be opening the faucet to tax increases wide open for at least the next two years. A dark cloud in the shape of a braying donkey has settled over the United States and we can thank the people who chose to send a message to the GOP for this state of affairs.

Combine the likely increase in taxes to pay for expanding social programs with the impending amnesty for illegal aliens should give you an idea where all of our tax dollars will go over the next few years. Add to that the forced increase in the minimum wage that has already been approved at the state level in Illinois and will most certainly follow at the Federal level under Democrat leadership and you can virtually hear the brakes being applied to the American economy. What an expensive price we will pay indeed for sending a message to the Republican leadership. Sadly the likely response of Republicans will not be to return to its conservative roots and reinstate a sense of fiscal conservatism; rather, they will likely move to the center to attract the potential voters created by the inevitable amnesty and we will continue to pay financially and culturally for years to come.

Those who have had the opportunity to visit the south of Spain have undoubtedly enjoyed tours of the Muslim mosques and palaces that cover the landscape. One of the most impressive sights is the great mosque of Cordova. Its beautiful arches have inspired awe in generations of visitors. Now the specter of a possible return of Islam to the Iberian Peninsula for the first time since Ferdinand and Isabella drove it from Slain in 1492 haunts the bishops of the region like never before.

Spain's bishops are alarmed by ambitious plans to recreate the city of Cordoba - once the heart of the ancient Islamic kingdom of al-Andalus - as a pilgrimage site for Muslims throughout Europe.

Plans include the construction of a half-size replica of Cordoba's eighth century great mosque, according to the head of Cordoba's Muslim Association. Funds for the project are being sought from the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and Muslim organisations in Morocco and Egypt. Other big mosques are reportedly planned for Medina Azahara near Cordoba, Seville and Granada. Story

People across Europe have been shaken lately by the surge in the Muslim populations across the continent. The creation of the abomination known as the European Union has only facilitated the process. A lessening of border security and a common currency have made travel throughout Europe increasingly easier not only for Europeans but for Islamic immigrants as well. How can it be that slightly over 500 years since Spain rid itself of Islam that they are about to throw open their doors to its return? Once they establish a solid foothold on southern Spain, it will become a stepping stone to the rest of the European Union; passports and currency exchanges not required?

Europe is faced with dealing with the monster of its own creation. The French are already suffering tremendously under the burden of its Muslim community; one which refuses to assimilate into their society. Now Spain is poised to fall victim to the latest Islamic invasion. The amazing difference between now and the middle ages is that this take over of Spain will very likely be done without a single battle being fought. Talk about letting the fox into the hen house!

As the battle for securing the Nation’s border with Mexico begins to heat up again in 2007, we need to look no further than Dallas, TX to see how far down a slippery slope we have fallen. A restaurant chain in the Lone Star state’s shining star city has decided to accept Mexican pesos in payment. It makes one wonder; today Dallas, tomorrow New York?!

Starting Monday, patrons of the Dallas-based Pizza Patrón chain, which caters heavily to Latinos, will be able to purchase American pizzas with Mexican pesos.

Restaurant experts and economists said they knew of no other food chain with locations so far from the Mexican border offering such a service.

"We're trying to reach out to our core customer," Antonio Swad, president of Pizza Patrón Inc., said Friday. Dallas Morning News

Already many Americans are lamenting what they perceive to be the inevitable amnesty that the new Congress appears ready to approve. The threat to our National identity suffered greatly in the mid 80s when, under President Reagan, when the Simpson-Mazoli bill was signed into law. Already it is virtually impossible to have English established as the official language of the United States. Will we now lose the right to have our own currency as well?

The way things are progressing, the socialist welfare state of the North America is well underway to being established and our politicians are so busy covering their own back sides and bloviating to do anything about it. They all pander to the potential voter, all the while throwing the legitimate American voter under the bus. We can’t even look to our beleaguered Republican President for support as he has been one of the biggest proponents of amnesty; although he says his proposal is not amnesty: A rose by any other name . . .

Imagine a United States where millions of illegal immigrants are granted “amnesty” under the conditions that they have legitimately acquired jobs no one else wants and are willing to pay a penalty. Then imagine the bureaucracy that will be created to try to track this process. How many will slip through the cracks as Americans foot the bill? Will those who are forced to pay their debt do it in dollars or pesos? Does anyone in Washington really care?

This post is for all of those Republican voters who stayed home or voted for third party candidates in an attempt to “teach” the GOP a lesson. This is a game that was played without thinking of the consequences. Now that the braying donkey has regained control of the House and Senate, we must brace ourselves for their agenda to be thrust upon us without delay.

First on that list, naturally, is to cut and run from Iraq. Flexing their new found majority muscle, leaders Pelosi and Reid have already fired off a letter to the President regarding redeploying troops currently in Iraq.

In a letter sent to Bush on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged him to begin pulling troops out of Iraq in four to six months. They also asked the president to begin shifting the mission of U.S. forces there from combat to training and logistical support of the Iraqis. Newsmax

This naturally sets up a battle with the remaining Republicans led by Senator John McCain. While many conservatives disagree with the Senator on a great number of issues, he has been rock solid on defense and the war. This is a stance that he is willing to bet his political future on, literally.

"I have presidential ambitions, but they pale in comparison to what I think is most important to our nation's security. If it destroys any ambitions I may have, I'm willing to pay that price gladly," McCain said Friday, brushing aside scenarios of political fallout.

A decorated Vietnam war veteran considered one of Congress' authorities on military matters, McCain has long said the United States did not send enough troops to Iraq for the 2003 invasion. He has been a vocal advocate of sending thousands more troops to the war zone to calm sectarian violence that has ravaged Baghdad and beyond. Newsmax

This should set the stage for an interesting battle in congress. The Democrats have long tried to compare Iraq to Vietnam. If they are able to exert their will on the war effort there it will come to resemble Vietnam more and more. If they succeed in a premature withdrawal and possibly cutting funding to our brave men and women fighting over there it will likely lead to the carnage similar to that which followed the Democrat’s cutting funding for the war in Vietnam and our evacuation. Millions died in the aftermath of our departure and millions could die in Iraq as well.

This is but the first of many issues that will impact millions of people now that the Democrats control both houses of congress. Perhaps the saving grace will be that the Democrats are so fragmented within their own party that they will spend as much time fighting amongst themselves as fighting the GOP. We will all suffer as a nation for at least the next two years, however. By then, I sincerely hope all of those who wanted to send the GOP a message by not voting in the mid-term election will come to realize that you do not win by giving up control; then pull their collective heads out and vote in 2008.

After taking a few weeks of much needed rest and relaxation I am back with batteries fully recharged. I needed to get away from the political rhetoric and the post election pontification that runs rampant in the wake of every election. Now that the dust has settled it is time to take stock of the state of our Nation going into a new year with a new House and Senate.