This was submitted by my good friend Russ Vaughn over at Old War Dogs here: Not So Fast There, McCain. Spot on analysis IMO of what the MSM media won’t tell you about the man.

The Main Stream Media has done more harm to the political process in this country than any of the so-called political parties involved. Dog and pony shows are for people’s entertainment and shouldn’t be setting the standards for us as a nation.
Read this at FrontPageMag also:

To Set The Record Straight

Not So Fast There, McCain!
Contributed by Russ Vaughn

Up front, as a Vietnam veteran, I will readily concede that I respect John McCain for his service to his country, first as a naval aviator and POW in Vietnam, then for his long years in our national Congress. I even will admit to the fact that I somewhat admire McCain’s desire to effect political reconciliation with the Democrat party. That being said, I must also make it very clear that I do not support certain decisions McCain has chosen on his pathways to political advancement.

Tonight, as it appears that the Senator may well be the Republican “Comeback Kid,” I am reminded of an old Army joke about a platoon sergeant faced with the prospect of breaking the terrible news to one of his young privates, Jones, that the soldier’s mother has just passed away. The sergeant calls his platoon into formation and barks out the order, “All of you with living mothers take one step forward.” Then after a momentary pause, he mutters, “Not so fast there, Jones.”

That’s my take as a veteran and a conservative Republican on this new development: “Not so fast there, McCain.”

My first and biggest beef with John McCain is that when a very brave group of Vietnam veterans who had served with John Kerry stood up to say that Kerry’s self-serving portrayal of his war record was patently false, that his blanket charges of war crimes against them were absurd, and that his testimony in Congress was used by the North Vietnamese to further torture McCain’s fellow POW’s, the Arizona Senator airily dismissed his former military buddies and sided with his new political pal in the Senate. Playing conciliator in the national media, McCain despicably denounced the Swift boat veterans as pawns of George Bush and the Republican right. Just like all the leftists in the MSM, John McCain never gave these true American heroes even the least opportunity to defend their claims. As a veteran who had suffered more than most to defend our constitutional right of free speech, McCain inexplicably used his powerful office and national presence to ally himself with the repressive forces of mainstream media to suppress that right to men who had fought themselves to preserve it. It was one of the bitterest betrayals the Swift boat vets and the millions of us Vietnam veterans supporting them would have to endure. We expected treachery from the MSM, but not from John McCain.

What I can never reconcile in my mind, my heart or my soul, is how this naval aviator, POW and true war hero, could so easily turn his back on his fellow sailors, combat veterans all. In the name of political expediency, and a sorely misguided attempt to lay to rest all the troubled ghosts of Vietnam that his treasonous Senate colleague was primarily responsible for creating, John McCain turned his back on the true heroes and sided with a phony vet with phony medals and a suspect discharge.

Never mind that I disagree with McCain on immigration, taxes and his unconstitutional McCain-Feingold bill, that’s all merely politics; that has nothing to do with honor and loyalty to those who served bravely alongside you in combat. Nope, that’s not the issue. But I’m putting the Senator on notice right now; if you should somehow get the Republican nomination, you are gambling with the votes of millions of veterans like me unless you repudiate your reprehensible siding with the traitorous, treasonous John Kerry. I have never stayed home on Election Day in protest of a distasteful candidate, but this could be the first time for me and many Vietnam vets, again turning our backs on a fellow vet who turned his first.

The Senator should read the excellent recounting of how a determined few veterans, whom he disgracefully defamed, defeated his old buddy, John Kerry, in 2004. In ‘To Set the Record Straight,” authors Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler, lay it out, page by page, what the concerted efforts of a few honorable patriots with an unrelenting resolve can accomplish in the arena of national politics.

Like the old platoon sergeant, I would caution, “Not so fast there, McCain!

Russ Vaughn
Vietnam 65-66
Swift Vet Campaign 2004

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Just how close might a military confrontation between Iran and the United States be?

Though a war of words eased a bit recently, President Bush’s strong Iran warnings during his just completed Mideast trip, coupled with a ship standoff, are raising fears that a small incident could someday spiral — even by accident — into a real fight.

Read More
H/T to Matt at 1913Intel for the link.

Years of Crisis Ahead

by Jeff Nyquist

The year 2008 will clarify the position of the United States as a great power in relation to the emerging power of China and the supposedly defunct power of Russia. If the financial crisis worsens (as it is likely to do), a political crisis is bound to follow. Few dare talk about this crisis (even now), although communists have been discussing it for many decades. Mainly, they have been considering how they will exploit a major economic crisis. With the Western intelligentsia sunk in the mire of political correctness, and the stupefaction of a television-besotted public, they are the only party on Earth that is psychologically ready with answers and slogans. Their political powder is dry, and they are well stocked. There is every reason to believe that the public will be confused, that the politicians will be knocked off balance.

The year 2008 may be a year of decision, not because it is a presidential election year, but because the West may be shaken to its foundations.

More

Some of todays highlights:

Video: IRANIAN BOATS PROVOKE U.S. NAVY - CNN REPORT

Video: Michelle Malkin on the tears of Hillary

H/T to for the link. Click on the pic to watch this segment of the “Factor”. Fred is the guy on the right. I’m not so sure about Bill, he has a tendency to lean to the left when you look at it from my perspective. Nice job on Fred’s part anyhow.

Presented in 10 parts. Click on the YouTube button to get started.

Junk Science isn’t the word for it folks. I was listening NPR on the way to work today (don’t ask me why I do this), and I learned that I could buy carbon credits if I felt bad for what I was doing to the environment. As far as I’m concerned most of the extra Co2 is coming out of the mouths of those promoting that sort of bunk. Repeat after me please: The temperature curve leads the Co2 curve. Sheesh..
With a H/T to bdfaith at Old War Dogs for the link.

By Steven Milloy at JunkScience.com.

As Al Gore, the United Nations, grandstanding politicians and celebrities, taxpayer-dependent climate researchers, socialist-minded Greens, climate profiteers and other members of the alarmist railroad relentlessly continued their drive for greenhouse gas regulation in 2007, the year’s scientific developments actually pointed in the opposite direction. Here’s the round-up:

1. Cracked crystal balls. Observed temperature changes measured over the last 30 years don’t match well with temperatures predicted by the mathematical climate models relied on by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), researchers reported.

The models predict significantly warmer atmospheric temperatures than actually occurred, despite the availability of more and better quality data and improved modeling efforts since the late-1970s.

“We suggest, therefore, that projections of future climate based on these models be viewed with much caution,” the researchers concluded.

Read more..

With a H/T to Hot Air, and no, I’m not referring to Al Gore.