Middle East in Crisis (again) – Is Iran Preparing for Battle?

Originally I was going to write about what I believe are two of the most immediate and dangerous threats to America:  first, Africa due to  the many lawless hot spots that are harboring and training terrorists. It’s becoming Afghanistan on steroids and we need a clear strategy on dealing with the issues. The second threat is Mexico – not only because of illegal immigration, porous borders, etc., but because of the drug trafficking and brutal killing that has been occurring. Drug lords are decapitating victims, including children, and displaying their bodies to terrorize citizens. They’re also using other methods of torture and murder that I won’t describe here – you can research by googling “mexico drugs murders”. It’s disturbing and it’s carrying over to the U.S. and must be stopped.

While Africa and Mexico are still a clear and present danger, recent actions in the Middle East combined with the timing (U.S. POTUS transition) may be a warning shot that this particular crisis is about to escalate.

Iran has blood on its hands in nearly every conflict in the Middle East. They support Hezbollah, Hamas and several other terrorist organizations that provoke conflict at an opportune time that reduces pressure and attention toward their nuclear program and other covert activities. It appears that Iran is once again behind a terrorist proxy (Hamas) provoking Israel with missile strikes as they did with Hezbollah in 2006 , which led to the Israel/Lebanon war. Any kind of cease-fire or semblance of progress toward peace in the Middle East, along with success in Iraq, spells doom for Iran; however, when the world is focused on other crises, Iran can continue to work on their nuke program and be confident that international sanctions will be limited.

So, why not throw a few bucks at Hamas and order them to break the cease-fire and get things fired up again? At the same time, why not instigate and fund protests around the world to make it appear that the world is condemning Israel. Why would Iran do that? In addition to refocusing international attention, could it be that Iran is setting the stage for an attack on Israel in the very near future?

The Israeli response to Hamas breaking the cease-fire may have been unexpected and the nominal reactions from other Arab countries may have been disappointing to the Iranians, but Iran may have things in place to take the opportunity to launch an attack. With a fresh Israeli offensive, an agitated Arab/Muslim community, and a U.S. in government transition – this may be Iran’s chance to take on Israel.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this, but not be surprised.

Blog-ojevich: Pay to Play in Illinois

I have to admit, I mistakenly thought that Illinois and Massachusetts were the two most corrupt governments in the U.S., but I did a little research and found a N.Y. Times article (blogger’s note: given the lack of journalistic integrity at the NYT, I checked and this data came from DoJ) that lists Florida, N.Y. and Texas as the states with the most convicted public officials in a 10 year period (824, 704 and 565 respectively). Illinois came in 7th and Massachusetts 18th. Interesting.

Of course, that is the number of convicted officials and doesn’t really reflect the extent of the corruption nor does it highlight the types of crimes the officials committed.

This goes right to the heart of what I wrote about previously, Integrity. We continue to lower the standards and make excuses for the lack of integrity and look where we are – government officials are corrupt and buying votes and selling favors; mortgage companies have screwed people out of their homes; and financial institutions are stealing money.

Our New Years resolution should be to hold those in charge of our livelihoods – from the President right down to the Selectmen or Councilors – to the highest ethical standards. If there is overwhelming evidence of malfeasance, and especially if there is an indictment (e.g., Blagojevich), we should remove the offenders out of office – quickly. I believe in due process, but these folks can’t do their job while they are trying to save their butts.

It’s time to change from “pay to play” to  “if you play, you will pay (dearly).” No more excuses. Zero tolerance.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy and Healthy 2009!!