Swimming with Sharks and Barracudas

Senator John McCain's pick for Vice President was announced a day after Obama Osama's nomination party and I have to say it was quite exciting. Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin on the ticket for Vice President was a complete stunner for the liberal media and especially for the Democrats. A brilliant tactical maneuver that now has broad strategic implications. I swear I could hear Democrats and leftists screaming in sheer panic and anger when it became apparent that she would be the shieldmaiden of the Republican Party. Vengeance is a dish best served cold, icy Alaskan cold, that is!

Oh, the pain and agony of the Democrats. Immediately they charged ahead with accusations that she has "no gravitas" which of course is straight out of the 2000 election year playbook against President George W. Bush. Well, I say to them if Governor Palin is a "zero" in terms of "experience" then what makes Obama? A negative? Oh, then I hear that you can't compare Palin to Obama because one is running for V.P. and the other for President. Well, I say to that again the Obama camp picked Biden as the Democrat V.P. to counter McCain's experience as President and yet no one is saying you "can't compare" the two, now are they? All is fair in love and war.

Furthermore, if one must speak of experience what kind of experience are we talking about here? The kind of experience that is a deeply corrupt and entrenched bureaucracy type that is clearly exhibited by a Joe Biden V.P. choice? The man is dripping and soaking in corruption considering the 30 plus years in federal government. What a waste of taxpayer money that is the person we know as Joe Biden. Whereas, Governor Palin is the type of person who eschews bureaucracy as the inert matter that it is to good government. Her very life is the epitome of small government in action - get it done and go home. Property tax cuts and an ethically sound body politic is what she expects and certainly is what she'll get or else! As far as Vice Presidential picks go if Palin is a Barracuda then certainly Biden is a shark! And a big fat one to boot, teeth and all.

McCain's decision to run with Palin was a brilliant tactical decision that gives way to strategic returns that even now is leaving the Left reeling and flailing in despair as the Hillary Clinton saga comes full circle to the benefit of Senator John McCain. How does that saying go~ "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"? The Hillary Holdouts now have an option that is more important than just merely "sitting out" this election to protest the Obama candidacy. They can now actually vote for someone that best suits their strategic agenda of womens rights in America. To have a female in an executive position in the White House is something they never have savored before and even though she may be "just" Vice President she would certainly be the President of the Senate much to the chagrin of a defeated Joe Biden, Senator from Rhode Island, come November. Oh, the bitter pain and agony of defeat. It isn't much for democrat feminist voters but it is better than nothing. And once the usurper Barack Obama is defeated in November then Hillary Clinton like some maniacal harpy can come back in 2012 to finally go mono a mono against an experienced Sarah Palin albeit in her capacity as the President of the Senate. Now wouldn't that just be delicious.

• The Iraqi Connection...
• We are all Georgians now.
• Welcome to the Children's Gymnastics Team of Beijing!
• The strangeness of Barack Hussein Obama...
• Party of '68...
• And so ends the lesson.
• Intel Inside.

A 10,000-pound underwater explosion rocks the amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) during a shock test off the Florida coast. The test is part of Navy trials for the San Antonio-class ship, which was commissioned last December. www.navy.mil

Return Of The S.S.R.

No, I am not talking about Soviet Socialist Republics but instead I refer to State Sponsored Religions. I believe we may be seeing the end of the atheistic era that stretched from the end of WWI to the end of the Cold War that rose to prominence on the apocalyptic horsemen of the socialist rationale and that ultimately engulfed Europe, Asia and the Middle East. These areas of the world once were the bastions of Christianity, Buddhism and Islam but instead their thrones were pulled down by the tide of the time which was down on God and up on materialism which socialism so conveniently filled. As the atheistic/socialist creeds grew from the bloodstained fields of WWI these horsemen if you will charged forth and mowed down all before them. Communism in Russia, National Socialism in Germany, Fascism in Italy and Democratic socialism in the West all sallied forth like some phantom menace to crush under foot and hoof their religious foes.

The modus vivendi of these societies were rooted in ancient traditions and local customs but alas these were cannon fodder for the horsemen of the socialist apocalypse. As these materialistic theories gained credence and their ideas became policy the true horror of what was about to fall upon its victims could not be reversed. Not only were the people of each society plunged into a socialist hell of torture, imprisonment and slave labor the murder of innocents took on international proportions as each great power jostled for world leadership. World War II was a clash of socialist civilizations that could not abide each others world view as their own model of life was considered "sacred" and "holy" to their godless masters. Total war was the only recourse for these socialist countries and even in America which was seduced by the dark side under the aegis of FDR, she too would wage war like never before and hasn't since. World War II accounted for nearly 70 million people dead in just 6 short years. The sheer savagery and ferocity of this war can only be explained not only by the technological progress that it heralded but also by the complete emptiness and vacuous of the soul of the atheistic man. The decisions made at the highest levels of government speaks volumes as the elites refused to accept that they were not only responsible for themselves in this life but in the one thereafter. Today they must eat and drink for tomorrow they die.

The Cold War was no better as Communism moved into Asia and began slaughtering its people from Pyongyang to Peking to Saigon and onto Phenom Pehn. And the murderous Asian death toll from this horseman? Nearly 70 million souls! And that is between 1949-1989 and it should be considered 40 years of judgement. Naturally, these states also waged war among themselves and against the United States with the North Koreans and North Vietnamese waging wars of "liberation" and "unification". Internally and externally Asia has refused Buddha and Christianity and instead has soaked in a bloodbath of atheism and socialism which it still wants to believe can propel it forward to "greatness". I truly pity them, the fools.

Now we are seeing a slow metamorphosis as states realize the debacle that they have placed themselves in by embracing an anti-religious position. There very own national existence is threatened by their own incompetence! Now, after so many bloody years and the masses questioning the ersatz wisdom of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, these countries must reverse course if they ever want to compete with the mighty United States of America. In a way, we have shown them the way. Unfortunately, its not the US Constitution they so admire as it is the religious ardor of its people in believing that their way is the only way in the world. American liberal/socialists elites just despise the common man's love of their country and their "nativists" belief in the efficacy of the American experiment. Only in America, ironically without a "state" sponsored religion, however Christianity has always and still is a major component of the masses, has the peoples love of their nation been compelled not by brute force of arms or by propaganda worship of the state but by the peoples devotion to their God.

For these nations in Europe, Russia, Asia and the Middle East their interest in "Freedom of Religion" isn't for some esoteric love of the divine but instead will be used by them to rally the masses around their agenda. They are still socialist but now with a religious fervor that can be used by the state to propel their people forward for whatever agenda they have planned. Indeed, atheism is dead! Religion now fills the void.

In Europe we are seeing the steady rise of the power of the Catholic Church. The expanding union of European states is reaching a breaking point as all of these diverse nations attempt to coagulate around Brussels. Perhaps the Vatican can provide just enough motivation to finally seal the deal as far as a European Unification is concerned?

In the Middle East we see evidence on all fronts that the pan-nationalistic fervor of the Arab has given way to the steady call to Mohamed. Islam is gaining ground at the expense of atheistic states that once included Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Libya and even in Turkey. Will the Caliphate rise again? Perhaps. I believe it may very well be based in Egypt as this was the place in which the first Islamic terrorist organization was formed after the secular Turks disbanded the Caliphate in 1922: the Moslem Brotherhood.

In the former Soviet Union we see the return of the Eastern Orthodox Church to Russia and the glory and the legitimacy that it now brings to the state. Though it may be more diminutive today it can now rally the people around not only the flag but God himself which is not the sloven and fallible Stalin that once was Moscow's preeminent secular deity. Even the last Romanov Czar and his family has been canonized as Saints as Russia begins its historical recovery from the evils of the Communist era.

How will Asia respond? When will the leaders of China decide that religion can be used to good effect or will they continue to cling to their secular beliefs? Only time will tell. As the communist states in Asia were the last to embrace this atheistic evil from the West so they will be the last to come around to allowing their people to worship the gods of their ancestors. Should we be surprised to see in Cambodia that the leaders of Pol Pot who murdered millions of their own countryman should in the end finally accept Jesus Christ as their savior? Indeed, perhaps a preview of things to come.

Even though socialism remains the modus vivendi of governments worldwide, including sadly the United States, at least we see the retreat and perhaps even the death knell of the athiest component of this two headed beast that has so ravaged the planet since 1917.

The Italian submarine ITS Salvatore Todaro (S 526) arrives at Naval Station Norfolk to begin a 13-day port visit after participating in Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) with the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. Todaro's participation in JTFEX and follow-on port visit is a historic first for the Italian Navy, representing the first time since World War II that an Italian submarine crossed the Atlantic Ocean westward. www.navy.mil