Iranians Seem Ignorant of US Military Power

Iranians Seem Ignorant of US Military Power 

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Over the holidays I took time to visit a few Middle Eastern websites and read the reports of Iran’s latest naval war games.  I also read a number of comments on those sites.  I must tell you I was shocked by the comments left by those purporting to be, well, Iranians, or supporters of Iran.  Actually, the comments I read overwhelmingly demonstrated the hatred held in the region for America.  THAT is NOT what shocked me. 

We have read often of the “educated people” of Iran.  Supposedly a Middle Eastern country with a populace better educated than many, if not most, of her neighbors   After my visits to their websites, I have extreme doubt about their education in so far as it pertains to world affairs, especially anything having to do with America, American history, the American character, and/or the American military prowess.

I suppose when one lives in a closed society, like Iran, and when that society is ruled over by a group of extreme fundamentalist clerics, where life is cheap, and one is taught one’s life belongs to the mullahs and only your death has value, then wild, extreme, statements concerning the certain destruction of America (and Israel) is what passes for manliness.

It is really sad to see a people whose lives are so devoid of meaning and so filled with hate that they are willing to destroy themselves and their entire country in an attempt to prove, what, exactly?  To prove they are really BAD men?  To prove they are masculine in the extreme?  To prove their love for some god called Allah?  To prove they had rather be dead than alive?

All the bellicose threats coming out of Iran these days is only hurting Iran.  Theirs is the sort of speech that ignites wars. Theirs are the kinds of actions that will bring the wrath of the entire world down on their heads.

Most everyone knows that if you poke a tiger with a stick long enough and often enough, eventually it will tire of your sport and simply devour you.  Everyone knows that -- but Iran.

Look.  If Iran is planning on going to war with the US -- and expecting China and Russia to back them to the hilt -- they are in for a very rude awakening.  Russia simply does not have the wherewithal to do very much but provide a few munitions.  China? Well, China is not about to actually take on it’s number one customer and risk all the money America owes them in loans to defend some Middle Eastern country which has little to offer China -- other than oil.  There’s lots of oil available from a host of other countries around the globe that would be happy to have China as a customer.  Sorry Iran.  Munitions and moral support is the realistic expectation of Russian and Chinese involvement in an Iranian war against the US.

We have seen this sort of display of bravado before from chest-thumping wannabe regimes in rogue nations around the globe.  They usually wind up with the destruction of their country and a lot of dead leaders, both political and religious, and generations of rebuilding. 

Iran’s “bathtub navy” is embarrassingly impotent.  Oh, sure, they have a few good weapons and, sure, they will get in a few “hits” … before they are sent to the bottom.  One has to wonder if that is how they intend to block the Straits of Hormuz … with the sunken derelicts of their own second hand navy?

The bottom line is:  Iran is going to be attacked by the US, or Israel, or both.  And yes, Iran will attempt to close the Straits… and they may succeed… for a week, or so.  Then the hammer comes down.

Iran’s hyperbole these days is cartoonishly funny.  If, however, they are foolish enough to light the fuse on a war, America will stop laughing -- and Iran will find that it has “talked” itself onto a path to national destruction from which there is no turning back.

Just days ago, we were singing of peace on earth and goodwill toward men as the world teeters on the cusp of Armageddon. (It reminded a great deal of the kid whistling as he walks past a graveyard at night.) The entire globe, today, is one huge powder keg with a smoldering fuse.  It behooves people of sanity to tread softly, and speak softly, less that smoldering fuse sparks to life and the entire planet blows up in war. 

Many pundits and modern-day soothsayers have proclaimed that, indeed, Iran’s goal is to bring war and chaos to the earth to prepare the way for the return of the Twelfth Imam.  (Read more about the 12^th Imam HERE.)  Their ultimate goal is to conquer the entire world in the name of Islam and establish a one-world, Islamic, theocratic, government – just like the one in Iran.

  

There can be no doubt that unless Iran changes her belligerent attitude, there will be war, and the people of Iran will suffer greatly – and lose.  It is no secret that forces are already in motion in preparation for a war with Iran. 

 Iran’s dependence on what they feel is an elite military is misplaced.  That will quickly become obvious once hostilities begin.

Someone once said:  “It is better to have an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep.”  The people of Iran would do well to ponder this proverb -- deeply -- before allowing the first shot to be fired.

 J. D. Longstreet

Minimal benefits, extensive harm ... Craig Rucker

Minimal benefits, extensive harm

EPA mercury rules for electricity generating units are based on false science and economics

Craig Rucker

The Environmental Protection Agency clams its “final proposed” Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) rules will eliminate toxic pollution from electrical generating units, bring up to $140 billion in annual health benefits, and prevent thousands of premature deaths yearly – all for “only” $11 billion a year in compliance costs.

This may be true in the virtual reality of EPA computer models, linear extrapolations, cherry-picked health studies and statistics, government press releases and agency-generated public comments. However, in the real world inhabited by families, employers and other energy users, the new rules will bring few benefits, but will impose extensive costs that the agency chose to minimize or ignore in its analysis.

Emissions of mercury and other air toxics from power plants have been declining steadily for decades, as older generating units have been replaced with more efficient, less polluting systems or retrofitted with better pollution control technologies. While a few older plants still violate EPA’s draconian proposed rules – the new rules are not based on credible scientific and epidemiological studies.

As independent natural scientist Dr. Willie Soon and CFACT policy advisor Paul Driessen pointed out in their Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily articles, and in Dr. Soon’s 85-page critique of EPA’s draft rules, US power plants account for only 0.5% of the mercury in US air. Thus, even if EPA’s new rules eventually do eliminate 90% of mercury from power plant emission streams, that’s still only 90% of 0.5% – ie, almost zero reduction. The rest of the mercury in US air comes from natural and foreign sources, such as forest fires, Chinese power plants and the cremation of human remains (from tooth fillings that contain mercury and silver).

EPA fails to recognize that mercury is abundant in the earth’s crust. It is absorbed by trees through their roots – and released into the atmosphere when the trees are burned in forest fires, fireplaces and wood-burning stoves. In fact, US forest fires annually emit as much mercury as all US coal-burning electrical power plants. Mercury and other “pollutants” are also released by geysers, volcanoes and subsea vents, which tap directly into subsurface rock formations containing these substances.

The agency compounds these errors by claiming fish contain dangerous levels of mercury that threatens the health and mental acuity of babies and children. In making this claim, the agency commits four more grievous errors. First, it ignores the fact that selenium in fish tissue is strongly attracted to mercury molecules and thus protects people against buildups of methylmercury, mercury’s more toxic form.

Second, EPA based its toxicity claims on a study of Faroe Islanders, who eat few fruits and vegetables, but feast on pilot whale meat and blubber that is high in mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) – but very low in selenium. Third, it ignored a 17-year Seychelles Islands evaluation, which found “no measurable cognitive or behavioral effects” in children who eat five to twelve servings of fish per week.

Fourth, it used computer models to generate linear extrapolations from known or assumed toxic levels down to much lower levels. Not only is this method contrary to sound science and epidemiology; it resulted in politicized “safety” levels that are twice as restrictive as Canadian and World Health Organization mercury standards, three times more restrictive than US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and four times tougher than US Food and Drug Administration recommendations.  No wonder the Centers for Disease Control says blood mercury levels in US women and children are already well below excessively “safe” levels set by EPA.

Simply put, EPA grossly exaggerated the health benefits of its proposed mercury rules – and then claimed additional mercury benefits based on double counting of reductions in particulate matter. It also ignored the adverse effects that its rules will inflict. Not only is EPA’s anti-mercury campaign scaring mothers and children into not eating nutritious fish that is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. It is also raising electricity heating, air conditioning and food costs, impairing electrical reliability, costing jobs, and thereby harming the health and welfare of countless Americans.

Energy analyst Roger Bezdek has calculated that utilities will have to spend $130 billion to retrofit older plants – and another $30 billion a year to operate, maintain and power the energy-intensive pollution control equipment they will be forced to install. Moreover, under its MACT rules, EPA intends to micromanage every aspect of power plant operations. It will now cite companies for violations even if emissions fully comply with air quality standards, if operators merely deviate from new agency “work practice standards” and “operational guidelines,” even under unusual weather conditions or equipment malfunctions that are beyond the operators’ control.

While it is true that older power plants are more significant sources of toxic air emissions, those plants are mostly in key manufacturing states that burn coal to generate 48-98% of their electricity. Many utility companies cannot justify those huge costs – and thus plan to close dozens of units, representing tens of thousands of megawatts – enough to electrify tens of millions of homes and small businesses. Illinois alone will lose nearly 3,500 MW of reliable, affordable, baseload electricity – with little to replace it.

Electricity consumers could pay at least 20% more in many states within a few years. According to the Chicago Tribune, Illinois families and businesses will pay 40-60% more. That will severely affect business investment, production and hiring – and family plans to repair cars and homes, save for college and retirement, take vacations, or have health physicals or surgery.

Chicago public schools will have to pay an additional $2.7 million annually for electricity by 2014, says the Tribune. Hospitals, factories and other major electricity users will also be hard hit. Many poor and minority families will find it increasingly hard to afford proper heating and air conditioning. Further job losses and economic stress will lead to further reductions in living standards and nutrition, more foreclosures and homelessness, and additional drug, alcohol, spousal and child abuse.

The very reliability of America’s electricity grid could be at risk, if multiple power plants shut down. Brownouts, blackouts and power interruptions will affect factory production lines, hospital, school, farm and office operations, employment, and the quality of food, products and services.

The impact on people’s health and welfare is patently obvious. But EPA considered none of this.

EPA insists there was strong public support for its rules. However, its rules were clearly based on false, biased or even fraudulent information. Furthermore, EPA itself generated much of that public support.

The agency recruited, guided and financed activist groups that promoted its rulemaking. Over the past decade, it gave nearly $4 billion to the American Lung Association and other advocacy organizations and various “environmental justice” groups, according to a Heritage Foundation study. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and members of her staff also visited historically black and other colleges – giving speeches about “toxic emissions,” providing templates for scare-mongering posters and postcards, and making it easy for students to send pro-rulemaking comments via click-and-submit buttons on websites.

This EPA action does nothing to improve environmental quality or human health. In fact, by advancing President Obama’s goal of shutting down power plants and raising electricity costs, it impairs job creation, economic recovery, and public health and welfare. It is intrusive government at its worst.

It is a massive power grab that threatens to give EPA nearly unfettered power over the electrical power we need to support our livelihoods and living standards.

Congress, states, utility companies, affected industries, school districts and hospitals, and families and citizen groups should immediately take action to postpone the MACT rules’ implementation. Otherwise, their harmful impacts will be felt long and hard in states that depend on coal for their electricity.

 ___________

Craig Rucker is CEO of the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow.

The 2012 Check List for America's Survival

The 2012 Check List for America's Survival

By Alan Caruba

Many people make resolutions to start the year, but I think a list of things that must be done to protect and preserve the Republic should be tallied.

1. President Obama must be defeated in 2012 and the obstructionist Democratic Party must lose power in the Senate to ensure both houses of Congress will be Republican and in a position to initiate real change.

2. The Environmental Protection Agency must be reined in with increased Congressional oversight and legislative limits on its rule-making capacity. Having fulfilled its 1970 mandate to clean the nation’s air and water, it should be scaled back to the maintenance of these functions.

3. Americans, despite the administration’s efforts to redefine and distract us, must keep clearly in mind the threat of Islam to the nation and the world. A Middle East in turmoil lays ahead for 2012.

4. To jump-start the economy, taxes and spending must be reduced across the board. A tax on consumption, rather than income would be a good start. Only 49% of Americans currently pay income taxes, the lowest in decades.

5. Obamacare must be repealed should the Supreme Court fail to rule that the Commerce Clause takes precedence over its requirement that Americans must purchase health insurance or be fined for not doing so.

6. A serious restructuring of Social Security and Medicare must be undertaken. Older Americans who have paid into the system—it is involuntary—must be ensured their benefits will be paid, but younger citizens should have the freedom and responsibility to structure their own retirement and health plans.

7. Access to the nation’s vast reserves of coal, natural gas, and oil should be increased and encouraged. Oil companies should be encouraged to build more refineries via tax credits and removal of “environmental” obstacles.

8. Congress needs to identify and fund the repair to the nation’s aging infrastructure.

9. Utilities should be encouraged via tax credits and other incentives to expand the national “grid” for the distribution of electricity.

10. Term limits for Senators and Representatives should be added to the U.S. Constitution in the same fashion the presidency is limited. Salaries, pensions, and perks should be capped. A permanent political class is a danger to citizens.

11. The Federal government should be downsized with the elimination of the Departments of Education, Labor, and Energy, along with the Environmental Protection Agency. These powers should be returned to the individual States. (10th Amendment)

12. The nation’s military which has been significantly reduced in size and structure should be expanded with attention to the upgrade and increase of its naval fleet and aircraft.

13. Congress should reject and rescind all legislation based on “global warming” or “climate change” as the former has been demonstrated to be a hoax and the latter is meaningless insofar as the climate is beyond the control of humans.

14. The United States should significantly reduce its contribution to the United Nations and refuse to ratify any of its treaties.

15. Tort reform should be instituted to reduce the costs of health care.

16. The corporate tax rate should be significantly reduced from its present rate, one of the highest in the world, to increase expansion, new jobs, and competitiveness.

17. Public service unions should be illegal. The federal government does not permit such unionization and neither should states.

18. National Public Radio should no longer be funded. The “government entities” of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be eliminated.

19. The federal government should be restricted or significantly limited from the acquisition of more of the nation’s landmass.

20. Strenuous efforts must be undertaken to reduce the national debt and deficit. A devalued dollar impoverishes everyone.

These are just a few changes which, if implemented, would go a long way to reducing the ills associated with a federal government grown too large, subject to crony capitalism, and corruption.

As John Adams said, "Let us disappoint the men who are raising themselves upon the ruin of this Country."

© Alan Caruba, 2012

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 Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. To visit his Facebook page, click here For information on his professional skills, Caruba.com is the place to visit.

The Most Boring Celebrities of 2011 ... Alan Caruba

The Most Boring Celebrities of 2011

Charlie Sheen Takes Top Spot on 25th Annual List
The Most Boring Celebrities of the Year

“Charlie Sheen is the poster boy for doing everything possible to ruin one’s life,” says Alan Caruba, founder of The Boring Institute, naming him the biggest celebrity bore of the year, number one on its annual list.

“He was making scads of money for each ‘Two and a Half Men’ episode, so naturally he demands more and bad mouths the show’s producers. Not smart. But dumbest of all was all the drug use, alcohol abuse, womanizing, and incessant rants before and following being fired. That got very boring, very fast for everyone.”

This year’s list is (1) Charlie Sheen, (2) Lindsay Lohan, (3) Lady Gaga, (4) Arnold Schwartzenegger, (5) Anthony Weiner, ((6) Casey Anthony, (7) the cast of the Jersey Shore, (8) Kim Kardashian,(9) Donald Trump, and (10) Occupy Wall Street

Number two on this year’s list is Lindsay Lohan. “Nobody cares anymore if she goes to jail for a day, a week, or a year. Despite jail time, rehab and community service, Lindsay’s bad attitude just gets worse.”

Number three is Lady Gaga. Caruba admits he has no idea why anyone takes Lady Gaga seriously. “Her life is an orgy of exhibitionism.”

Number four is former California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger. “Nothing like a juicy scandal to ruin your marriage and reputation,” says Caruba. “It was good for a month’s worth of late night TV jokes. After that, the only joke left was Arnold.”

Number five is disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner.  ”His district, formerly Democratic, voted for a Republican to get rid of the stench.”

Number six is Casey Anthony. “The public took an understandable interest in the case of alleged child murder, but the media milked it endlessly and will likely continue to do so. Coming to your hometown soon, books, a made-for-TV movie, and a line of Casey Anthony baby clothes.”

Number seven is the Entire Cast of Jersey Shore. “As the New Jersey Governor noted, these imbeciles come from out of state,” said Caruba, a native New Jerseyean. “Appealing solely to adolescents, time alone will rid us of this infestation.”

Number eight is Kim Kardashian. “Kim is gorgeous, but she filed for divorce a mere 72 days after tying the knot, making a sap out of him and everyone else,” says Caruba.

Number nine is Donald Trump. ‘’The Donald played rope-a-dope with the media again when he had them guessing if he would run for president,” said Caruba. “He never tires of being the center of attention.’’

Number ten is Occupy Wall Street.  ‘’They wore out their welcome so fast that the sale of tents plummeted after they were chased out of town.’’

Founded in 1984, The Boring Institute is a media spoof and clearinghouse for information about boredom. Its blog is http://theboringinstitute.blogspot.com. A business and science writer, Caruba is widely known for his popular blog, http://factsnotfantasy,blogspot.com, that recently exceeded a million page views. He resides in South Orange, New Jersey.

Iraq’s Five-Day Democracy

Iraq’s Five-Day Democracy

Instant Civil War

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Surprise!  Surprise!  A free and democratic Iraq didn’t make it a week.  Who would have thunk it?  Actually, a LOT of people warned that the moment American troops left Iraqi soil, the so-called sectarian war would begin once again.  The moment Obama announced the date for US troops to be out of Iraq, the Iraqi Civil War was assured.  THAT was a DUMB move on the part of Obama.  It was just another in his foreign policy blunders for which America will be paying for generations.

Ok.  So we are clear:  I endorsed America’s invasion of Iraq -- to topple Saddam Hussein.  I thought it was necessary to preserve the free flow of oil out of the region.  There was no doubt that had Saddam been left unchecked he would have rolled over, and through, Kuwait and taken Saudi Arabia -- and he would have had his hands around the world’s throat.  That could not be allowed.  What I did not endorse was the ensuing policy of “nation building” implemented by the Bush Administration and continued by the Obama Administration.

A couple of things:  I am from the old school.  I believe in defeating an enemy – totally -- and then, either taking the nation as a prize of war, or walking away -- leaving the former opposition sitting atop a pile of rubble for as far as the eye can see.

I do not like nation-building … period.   The price of war with the US should be a landscape that closely resembles a moonscape.  The cost of rebuilding should be paid in the blood, sweat, and tears of the defeated nation.

Another lesson the US has yet to learn, it seems, is that democracy is not for some people.  Democracy does not, and will not, work in tribal nations.  Sorry, but them’s the facts.

Look.  Fighting a war in the Middle East, for any reason other than punitive, will suck a country, no matter its wealth, dry.  That region of the globe is destined for turmoil until the earth, as we know it, is no more.  But – the utter stupidity of our own government is such that we have no choice but to try and secure the source of our energy, oil, from those countries in the Middle East that hate our very shadow.

The US has enough oil for centuries into the future beneath our own soil and beneath our own territorial offshore waters.  But the US government has bought into the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind, “Global Warming,” and, as a result, the government will not allow us to use our own natural resources, the very resources that made this nation great in the first place. 

So what, if we have to sacrifice the lives of a few thousand American servicemen and servicewomen every few years in “oil wars?”  What’s the loss of life as opposed to the billions to be made in so-called green energy, in so-called renewable energy, etc?  Not to mention the increase in power over the people that accrues to the government through the passage and enforcement of “green laws and regulations.”  Need I remind you of the hulking EPA?

Iraq is a lost cause -- Afghanistan, too. Nation building is a total waste of American blood and money.  Does anyone remember that we went into Afghanistan to smash Al Qaida and capture, or kill, Bin Laudin?  Well, Bin Laudin is dead and Al Qaida ran across the border into a nation friendly to them, Pakistan.

If there was a way to wall off the Middle East from the rest of the world so they could continue to happily fight their tribal and religious wars amongst themselves, and the adult nations of the world could get on with civilization, then I’d endorse it in a second.  The US could get along just fine without them, especially when you consider their major exports are dope, oil, and terrorism.

The plain truth is, however, we can’t even shun them because we are inextricably tied to them by our own government’s refusal to allow us to get at our own source of oil. 

So. The question now is – how long until Iran steps in and asserts its authority over Iraq?   My guess would be sooner rather than later.  With the Iraqi government, such as it is, already on the verge of collapse, just days after America withdraws, and with Iraq’s President Nouri al-Maliki’s ties to Iran, one must wonder how soon he will turn to Iran and ask for military support.  Iran, already seeking hegemony in the region, will happily roll tanks and troops across their shared border and – take over the country.  And believe me, Iran is not interested in “nation-building.”

J. D. Longstreet