Don't We Have More Pressing Issues Than Gay Marriage in Africa?

America is still--in spite of Obama--a beacon for the world. The American president's words still carry a certain amount of clout (which is why we all got worked up when he apologized and bowed to everyone we've ever slightly offended, but I digress). So why are we getting involved in sovereign issues in Liberia and other sub-Saharan African nations?

On January 19, three days after Clinton attended the second-term inauguration ceremony of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, Sirleaf's press secretary announced that she would veto any legislation allowing gays to wed or legalizing homosexuality. In February, a Liberian lawmaker introduced legislation that would ban gay marriage. The bill, an amendment to existing legislation banning incestuous marriages and polygamy, would make gay marriage a first-degree felony, with prison sentences of up to ten years. Later in the month, another legislator introduced a bill that would make "same-sex sexual practices" a second-degree felony, carrying up to five years in prison. The bill would also make it a crime to "purposefully engage in acts that arouses or tend to arouse another person of the same gender (male/female) to have sexual intercourse." Both pieces of legislation are currently being reviewed in committee.

Two telling things here; first, that it was Hillary who spoke the words for Obama and second that the Liberian president went right out and vetoed the legislation. That's a woman saying you have only limited clout in Liberia Madam Secretary.

But more telling is that Obama says he is against gay marriage in the US and sends his proxy to lobby for gay marriage in a part of the world where it's frowned upon to the point that they actually are debating making gay sex a crime. Typical Obama response on an issue: for political reasons he's anti-gay marriage in the US but thinks he can tell others what to do.

If the anti-gay bias of another nation is so important, why not come down hard on the nation that is so anti-gay that homosexuals face being stoned to death and the leader of said nation actually uttered the words that there are no gays in his country? Why, because that would take balls and our president sorely lacks them.

Gadaffi Still Not Stopping Believin

Oh man, the old tyrant just can't escape his delusional paradigm:



He'll be either hangin' at the bottom of the Med or hightailing it to the Sudan within a month. But his people will still love him.

H/T: Hot Air

Thursday Night News and Notes

Hey y'all.

I'm full of venom tonight as my boys I-pod was ripped off and so was my phone. Here's to hoping there's a special place in hell for thieves. Preferably where they have barbed implements jammed into orifices.

Anyway, here's what's going on:

-Our illustrious president was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for, well, nothing. Here's what he said in his acceptance speech that I have to give him props for:

I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King Jr. said in this same ceremony years ago: "Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones." As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King's life work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there's nothing weak -- nothing passive -- nothing naïve -- in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.

"Evil does exist in the world"...many liberals don't ever comprehend that. Still a great many first person references but how does one make a speech for a an award one didn't deserve?

-Uganda has been swept up in a Muslim fervor and shariah law is the law of the land throughout much of the nation. The despotic regime is on the verge of passing legislation that would sentence homosexuals to death--all under the guise of stopping HIV. Libs went right for the blame the Evangelicals and neocons card but GOP representatives have come out against this vile action before Obama did.

-Oh Lord, we're putting the passage or failure of the healthcare fiasco in the hands of the Maine twins. Dude, Snowe better get her act together on this and not abandon who supported her.

-Got us a high-ranking al-Qaeda scumbag today. Not bin-Laden or Zawahiri but they have effectively been figureheads. The number three is the guy and hopefully it's who we targeted. Here's to hoping we slammed a Phoenix right into his left nostril. I'm so happy I want to be the first to say happy Nobel Peace Prize day!

-How pissed am I today? More pissed than Maynard was when he wrote this little ditty about LA washing into the Pacific and dreaming of swimming in Arizona Bay (NSFW or kids):

Maersk Ship Crew Speaks

Worth watching some true American heroes. Embed code not working.

Captain Rescued, Pirates Liquidated

Thanks to the Navy SEALs and the guts of the captain who succeeded on his second escape attempt:

The American captain of a cargo ship held hostage by pirates jumped overboard from the lifeboat where he was being held, and U.S. Navy SEALs shot and killed three of his four captors, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation.

Capt. Richard Phillips was helped out of the water off the Somali coast and is uninjured and in good condition, the official said. He was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship.

At the time of the shootings, the fourth pirate was aboard the Bainbridge negotiating with officials, the source said. That pirate was taken into custody.

Negotiations would not have worked with these people, the only thing they understand is power and force and the SEAL's showed them that there are consequences to their actions. Don't mess with the US and the US Navy.

Obama would have let this play out for days in hopes of negotiating a settlement. That would have been disastrous for us in the region. Instead, we made our point with some bullets entering some pirate skulls. The only way they would understand.

Good.

Maersk-Alabama Captain Tries to Escape

Captain Richard Phillips made an attempt to escape by diving into the water but the pirates recaptured him before the Navy could assist. A ballsy move considering the waters in that area are teeming with sharks.

General Petraeus has ordered more forces into the area and the pirates are supposedly calling in reinforcements as well. They've also demanded $2-million for his release, a price that we can't pay because we don't negotiate with terrorists or haven't until this point.

I say it's time to show them that we aren't the Saudi's or any of the other nations who paid ransoms. We are the US and we'll liquidate every man responsible while destroying every single point of operation they have. I'm guessing these guys are Muslim's so I say we send them to meet Allah as fast as possible.

Bill Keller Puts Things in Perspective

Let's see: a genocide where women are routinely raped, people are randomly murdered and a group of people are suffering a holocaust not seen in decades versus saving a left-wing rag. Yeah, they seem comparable:

Commenting on the keep-the-Times alive movement, Keller said: "Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause."

Yes, the failure of the NY Times would be the equivalent of the Janjaweed committing state-sponsored terrorism. I see where Keller's coming from...or not.

What's next, the bankruptcy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer compared to the Rwandan genocide? You know, the bankruptcy of the Philly Inquirer immediately brought to mind the release of chemical weapons on Halabja by Saddam.

Is Bill Keller even real? If the Times fails, the only people who would give a damn are liberals in DC, the upper West Side of Manhattan and San Francisco. Does Keller have an iota of conscience that would make him realize just how insensitive and stupid that statement is? Evidently not.

Pretty fucking shameful but about what I expect from the Times editorial staff.

So, let's look at the scorecard comparing the rescue of the NY Times and the situation in Darfur, shall we?



Versus:

I would say saving the jobs of Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd and Bill Keller far outweigh the saving of human lives in Darfur, wouldn't you?

Israel Strikes Make Strange Bedfellows

The IAF has launched three strikes in Sudan since the beginning of the year aiming to take out Iranian shipments headed to Hamas:

But actually, since January, Israel has conducted a total of three military strikes against smugglers transporting what were believed to be Iranian weapons shipments destined for Gaza, a U.S. official told ABC News.

The information matches recent reports from Sudanese officials of two airstrikes in the desert of eastern Sudan and the sinking of a ship in the Red Sea carrying weapons.

Jonathan Peled, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, would only say, "No comment," when contacted by ABC News on the matter.

Sudanese officials initially said this week that 39 people riding in 17 trucks were killed in a mid-January airstrike conducted by an unidentified aircraft in a desert area north of the Red Sea port of Port Sudan.

Interesting to say the least. Not only that the Israeli's could and would complete such missions but that there's been no outcry from the Egyptians or other Arab nations. It could be that they want Iran's ambitions of becoming the regional power to be checked but lack the political or military expertise to do so. So what we are seeing is Israel acting as a proxy for the Sunni nations who see the Shia Iran as the ultmate enemy.

Why not have a more capable military handle the problem of regional hegemony by a determined foe even if the more capable military is a bigger foe?

Developments that bear watching to be sure.

Wednesday Morning News and Notes

Off to work but here's what's happening:

Pat Toomey goes on the offensive against Areln Specter.

People in California are as nervous as anyone and the Governator isn't calming any of them.

What is going on in baseball? Leave it to New York players to ruin a great game.

A true American legend passes.

A new day in Zimbabwe?

Another Successful UN Operation

The Democrats are firm believers that we should defer to the United Nations on all things concerning our national security. We get attacked by Islamo-Fascist's their response is to go to the UN. Hell, John Kerry built his campaign on the issue in 2004.

Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of UN-led peace-keeping missions would note that they have never been helpful and in most cases end up making things much worse:

KIBATI, Congo - The refugees watched in anger as the U.N. tanks headed away from the battlefield and the Tutsi rebels they were supposed to be stopping.

"Where are they going? They're supposed to protect us!" shouted Jean-Paul Maombi, a 31-year-old nurse who had fled his village because of the violence. Nearby, young men hurled rocks at the U.N. troops.

The quick unraveling of the world's largest U.N. peacekeeping effort has come as no surprise to the mission's critics, who complain the force was unprepared for its main task - protecting civilians from the war.

Growing numbers of civilians are furious at the United Nations' failure to keep them safe. Angry Congolese have pelted rocks at all four U.N. compounds in the provincial capital of Goma, a city of 600,000 near the border with Rwanda.

On Wednesday, tens of thousands of residents, refugees and government soldiers fled in a chaotic torrent ahead of advancing rebels. A cease-fire appeared to halt most fighting yesterday in Goma.

Not only are UN "forces" cowards who retreat when facing even minimal opposition, they are also rapists who prey on young girls as standard operating procedure.

But have no fear, folks, A President Obama will likely defer to the UN to keep us safe. I for one will feel much better knowing that the UN is not only raping young girls in their name but doing it in our name as well.

With the proposed reduction of military funding of 25% or more, we'll need this roving band of misfits and thugs to ensure that the world is safe from less moral misfits and thugs. Why maintain the greatest fighting force the world has ever known--a military that has won a war many libs declared lost--when we can rely on the upstanding United Nations to carry the load?

Iranian Ship Suspected of Carrying WMD

This is disturbing but not unexpected:

A tense standoff is underway in northeastern Somalia between pirates, Somali authorities, and Iran over a suspicious merchant vessel and its mysterious cargo. Hijacked late last month in the Gulf of Aden, the MV Iran Deyanat remains moored offshore in Somali waters and inaccessible for inspection. Its declared cargo consists of minerals and industrial products, however, Somali and regional officials directly involved in the negotiations over the ship and who spoke to The Long War Journal are convinced that it was heading to Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia's Islamist insurgents.

...The MV Iran Deyanat was brought to Eyl, a sleepy fishing village in northeastern Somalia, and was secured by a larger gang of pirates - 50 onboard and 50 onshore. Within days, pirates who had boarded the ship developed strange health complications, skin burns and loss of hair. Independent sources tell The Long War Journal that a number of pirates have also died. "Yes, some of them have died. I do not know exactly how many but the information that I am getting is that some of them have died," Andrew Mwangura, Director of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, said Friday when reached by phone in Mombasa.

News about the illness and the toxic cargo quickly reached Garowe, seat of the government for the autonomous region of Puntland. Angered over the wave of piracy and suspicious about the Iranian ship, authorities dispatched a delegation led by Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan Allore Osman to investigate the situation on September 4. Osman also confirmed to The Long War Journal that during the six days he negotiated with the pirates members of the syndicate had become sick and died. "That ship is unusual," he said. "It is not carrying a normal shipment."

This will not be covered by the MSM but it's clear that the Iranians have been caught shipping either biological, radiological or chemical weapons to Eritrea and that those weapons were to be used in Somalia. Iranian influence is ever-expanding in the region and this ups the ante considerably as the introduction of chemical weapons in that region of Africa, whether it be in the Sudan or Somalia could trigger a wider conflict involving Ethiopia and others. Perhaps that is the Iranian aim here.

While the feckless IAEA led by Mohammed el-Barradei continues to investigate Iran in a Clouseau-like manner, Ahmadinejad continues to spread his virulent strain of jihad to any nation he can. The time for military engagement with Iran by either the US or Israel is coming sooner rather than later (click the link for John Bolton's estimation of the timeframe), to continue to ignore the 800-pound elephant will be to the detriment of us and our allies.

The Long War Journal is a must-read for those following developments in the Mideast and eastern Africa as well as the overall War on Terror. They cover the nuts and bolts of what is really occurring in the region on a daily basis. Please consider dropping a little something in their tip jar.

Via LGF.

Thoughts on World AIDS Day

It's been roughly twenty years since HIV came to prominence in the United States. Back in 1987, contracting HIV meant death. Thanks to the American pharmaceutical industry, that is no longer the case as the advent has protease inhibitors and other drugs that make up the "AIDS Cocktail" has given sufferers a shot at a normal life. Because HIV is no longer a death sentence, the urgency of combating the virus has waned here.

That's not the case in Africa and other nations in Asia. The numbers vary (and the UN recently revised them down)but approximately 33-million people suffer from HIV or full-blown AIDS. That's an incredibly high number and one that could and should be reduced.

The simple fact is that unlike cancer and other fatal diseases, AIDS is 100% preventable. Simple practices can stop most exposures and the disease can be essentially wiped out in several decades. That is a salient fact that many in the gay community want you to forget.

Now I'm far from a Bible-thumper and I am pragmatic when discussing the epidemic of HIV, I would hope those in the gay community would be as well. Whenever I write about this topic I get the usual wackos who attack me for saying that this epidemic is one that shouldn't be and hit me as an Evangelical who doesn't care about those suffering. I am not of course, but they need to hit me on something besides facts.

That said, the only way to stop the spread of HIV is by either abstinence, monogamy or wearing a condom every time you have sex. There are cases from blood to blood contact in a medical setting blood transfusions but those cases are statistically irrelevant when compared with sexual activity. Let's look at these three preventive measures a little more in-depth:

Abstinence--This, of course is the only sure-fire way of preventing the spread from person to person and it is also the most impossible to instill, people are going to have sex whether it be for procreation or pleasure. That's not say that abstinence shouldn't be taught since it may be heeded by some and prevent a small amount of new cases. Which leads us to the next method, monogamy. See below where I talk of the politics of the issue.

Monogamy--This is what tends to get the HIV prevention coalitions worked up. They argue (in what I perceive as using racism undertones) that you can't expect cultures to change their habits. What they mean in a subliminal way is that they're not smart enough to change their sexual habits and we should not ask them to do so. That is a subtly racist stance and one that is causing the numbers of infected to rise daily. Granted, sexual activity is not the only way HIV is spread in Africa but it is the most prevalent. This has become a charged political issue, one pitting President Bush against liberals and the HIV lobby. Previous entry on the politics of this issue here.

I'll talk more about Bush in a moment, but the argument that cultural activities can't be changed is a shallow one and one that will result in many more dead in coming years. Quite simply, if a man and a woman are faithful to one another and have no other sexual partners, the chances of getting HIV are nil.

Condom Usage--This is another hot-button topic. I would offer that those who do not support this method based on religious terms are deluding themselves. While monogamy or abstinence are practices to aspire to, it's unrealistic to believe that they will stop HIV infections. Condom usage is the way to end the scourge while teaching both abstinence and monogamy as well. I would venture that using condoms as decorations and jewelry isn't going to help the problem, though.

Finally, the politics of the issue are a major stumbling block to effectively battle the spread of HIV. From inane proposals from the UN to wariness or downright hostility to American programs has gotten us to the point where we are now; nowhere nearer the solution. President Bush has taken the lead on this issue and has given more money to Africa than most other nations combined to stopping the epidemic. Liberals have battled him at every turn for no other reason than having the audacity to want abstinence and monogamy taught as a part of the package. I think the left also is appalled that Clinton never took the lead on this issue and George W, Bush did as Sir Bob Geldof so eloquently put it here. The idea that a Republican not only acknowledged the problem but actually took great strides to put an end to was so alien to them that they had to criticize his plans at every turn, regardless if his policies would be effective or not. Even when he the President calls for doubling funding as he did yesterday it's met will met with scepticism.

I've not even touched on HIV in the US but that's a post for another day.