First there were the reports, duly buried by the pro-communist American Terrorist Media, that a Chinese Navy submarine had sneaked right up on one of our aircraft carrier groups, completely evading our most advanced sonar capabilities.

Then they 'painted' one of our communications satellites with a laser beam, showing that they could target it for destruction if they were so inclined. A month later they destroyed one of their own older weather satellites with a rocket, demonstrating that they weren't kidding around and could smash our defense satellites too.

Now we find that the widespread contamination of pet food that caused deaths and serious sickness to dogs and cats across the country resulted from a deliberate act of sabotage in - you guessed it - China.

Then, when US government officials told the Chinese that they wanted to inspect the plants in China where the contamination took place, the Chinese open-trade policy suddenly went south. The response from China was along the lines of "Uh, visas? What visas? We don't have your visas. Don't you have your visas? Gee, we can't let you in without visas? I guess you'll have to apply for new ones. It'll take time though."

Yeah, just enough time to get into those plants and make sure that anything that might constitute incriminating evidence is long since departed.

As a recap on the pet food contamination issue: Federal officials say ingredients imported from China - and used in the more than 100 brands of recalled pet foods -may have been intentionally spiked with melamine, an industrial chemical used in plastics and fertilizers, to boost their apparent protein content. The Food and Drug Administration is investigating how the melamine contaminated at least two ingredients imported from China, wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate, used in the pet foods.

China's immediate response was to block the FDA's efforts to inspect the facilities that manufactured these melamine-tainted ingredients.

Taken together these incidents and 'provocations' to use one of the communists' favorite words, amount to a continual assessment of our defenses - probing the perimeter as we used to say in Vietnam. They obviously are looking for weaknesses, ways to get to us on a number of fronts simultaneously, and by all appearances, they have found something.

They know that they can evade our sonar. They know that they can destroy our communications satellites, which would render much of our essential military communications inoperative. (Let's all take a moment to properly thank the Bill Clinton administration.) This is more than communications between headquarters and far flung field ops; it also would include targeting systems right on the battlefield, including tanks, artillery and air cover, cell phones, and global positioning systems.

Now they also have a good idea of just how well, or unwell, our food inspection system works. I consider the pet food incident a test of our system. This time it was Pekingese, next time it will be us.

How long have we been worrying about possible contamination of our food and water by terrorists or other enemy forces? Is there an outside chance that the e-coli bacteria outbreak a few months ago was also deliberate sabotage, right here inside the USA?

How much food do we import from China anyway? Lots. Fruit, vegetables, and fish for starters, all of which have had contaminated shipments stopped on the docks when they arrived in American ports. CBS News reported today that some of the same contaminants found in the pet food supply also made it to the human supply before quietly being pulled.

Some say the contamination and animal deaths are to be expected, a natural outgrowth of globalization due to China's fractured food supply and inspection system. Maybe that's true, but it also doesn't hurt, if you are a die-hard communist still holding on to dreams of world domination, to use those flaws to create problems for your number one adversary while simultaneously probing and testing defenses.

It seems with all the constant pettiness in Washington, D.C., the non-stop attacks on one administration official after another, the incessant public battling over the conduct of the War on Terror, and especially the Battle for Iraq, that our other adversaries, the Chinese and Russians, are making hay while the sun shines.

In all likelihood we have more than a billion friends in the Chinese and Russian populaces, but we have zero friends in their governments. They are still communists - in practice in China, at heart in Russia - and like the Islamo-fascist terrorists we are fighting, they believe the battle should go on on forever, regardless of the cost.

It works very much in the communists' favor if America and our western allies end up in a religious war pitting Christians and Jews against Muslims. We can see by the conduct of the communists' allies and fifth-columnists in Congress that extended warfare can have a debilitating effect on the country.

If this is repeatedly hyped in the media, as it is, the public eventually becomes psychologically war weary, much as troops encounter battle fatigue after long periods in combat.

The best evidence of this is President George Bush. Have you taken a close look at him in public appearances lately? The man is exhausted, and probably suffering from sleep deprivation, as we all would be if we were perpetually fighting both foreign and domestic battles.

I don't believe the Democrats in Congress are as interested in sending members of the administration to jail as they are in exerting constant pressure on Bush on the domestic front, hoping to wear him down and assist the terrorists who aren't doing as well on the foreign military front.

They were successful in getting Tom DeLay and John Bolton out of loop, but that didn't stop anything. Scooter Libby, who didn't do anything wrong, nonetheless is facing a jail term for perjury, but he probably wouldn't have been convicted if he had been tried anywhere except in a D.C. court.

Then it was on to Alberto Gonzales, who also didn't do anything wrong, but you wouldn't know it from the Democrats' statements combined with the royally unfavorable press coverage. Then we have the ultimate threat to 'get' something on presidential adviser Karl Rove. I have yet to hear exactly what it is that DeLay, Gonzales or Rove have done that earns them these constant attacks, but obviously wrong-doing isn't a prerequisite.

All you have to do to prove this is to listen to some of the unbelievably stupid comments from Congressional Democrats - that lack of evidence of wrongdoing is evidence of a cover up!

The upshot of the constant pressure from the Democrats and a handful of Republican turncoats, is the appearance of distraction and inability to cope in the Oval Office. If continued successfully for another 18 months this could result in a change in political parties in the executive branch to match the changeover in the legislative branch.

But that short-term goal, and the short-term gain it would represent, ignores the long-term damage to our country. The Democratic majority in Congress, led by Sen. Harry Reid, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, already have shown that they have no stomach for any kind of real fight, other than their nursery school-level verbal slap fests in the media.

With wimps like them in charge the terrorists wouldn't have to fight any longer, they'd be able to march in and take over unopposed. Then Reid and Pelosi would learn the terrible truth about their duplicity, but by then it wouldn't just be all over for the collaborators, it would be all over for all of us.

There is a sure way to offset this. President Bush needs to take Pelosi, Reid, Levin, and the turncoat Republicans by the throat and smash their stupid, pudding filled heads into a brick wall - figuratively speaking of course - until they start to get the message.

That would ensure that their supporters in and out of Congress would crawl back under their rocks and garbage piles, just like cockroaches when the lights come on, and we can get back to sensible governance.

There will be some resistance, of course, from Democrats, the media and turncoat Republicans, but it will be short lived. But Bush has to come out swinging and I don't mean verbally.

He needs to invoke the powers of his office to apprehend and bring to trial the collaborators and spies who are undermining his office, the war effort, our troops and our country. If he does it forcefully and completely he will have the full support of the majority of Americans.

Anything less, and he will get 18 more months of the same old attacks, resulting in failed initiatives, a lost war, and a failed presidency.

There is a groundswell of anger and frustration growing within Middle America, crossing racial, ethnic, gender, generational, religious and political lines.

It is aimed at the Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives and Senate and was fueled this week by claims from Michigan Senator Carl Levin and Nevada Senator Harry Reid that the war in Iraq is lost.

Levin declared the war lost on Fox News Sunday, April 15, and this week Reid said, "I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week."

House Minority Leader John Boehner responded "He is telling our enemies they have won. ... Mr. Reid's comments are demoralizing to our troops, and just plain wrong."

"Just plain wrong" doesn't cut it. Their claims, and supporting commentaries from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are so outrageous, so harmful to our troops, so un-American that citizens across the spectrum are calling for their arrest and trial on treason charges.

Meanwhile, Americans are equally angry and frustrated that President George Bush appears to have done little to nothing to stem the escalating attempts by the Democratic majority in Congress to sabotage the war effort, our troops and our country. I am not talking about giving speeches here.

I have seen some of the president's recent speeches, and they are certainly to the point. But we are way past the time for talk, and well beyond the threshold for direct, effective action.

I share the country's outrage as do many who lived through similar lies and sabotage in the Vietnam era. We are well aware of the resultant carnage in Southeast Asia. But I would like to take my outrage in a slightly different direction.

I don't think Reid, Levin and Pelosi should be tried for treason, because that would imply that they are Americans. I think they should be arrested and tried as spies, collaborators and infiltrators, because there is no way in hell they can be citizens of this country.

On paper, maybe. But in the heart where it counts the most, no way.

Many people believe Reid, Pelosi, Levin and their supporters should be tried under the section of the U.S. Constitution that defines treason as giving "aid and comfort" to the enemy. I would agree except that they may be able to beat the charges by claiming what I believe to be true - they can't give aid and comfort to the enemy because they are the enemy.

Citizen: a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it.

Spy: a person employed by one nation to convey classified information of strategic importance to another nation.

Collaborator: to cooperate with or willingly assist an enemy of one's country.

Ever since 9-11 we have worried about terrorist "sleeper cells" emerging from within our country to wreak havoc on our citizens. We have been diligently searching for bombs, sabotage to our infrastructure, or possible nuclear, chemical or biological attacks. But I think we were looking in the wrong places.

Reid, Pelosi, Levin and their supporters are engaged in an ongoing campaign to dismantle our efforts to protect ourselves from terrorists and defeat them militarily. While the terrorists have been soundly defeated in every battle we have fought with them, and have made no gains anywhere, the internal campaign by their collaborators in the US Congress has been steadily eroding our national will and abilities.

I believe Reid, Pelosi, Levin and their supporters constitute a sleeper cell that has emerged from hiding and is wreaking havoc on our country.

I am not saying that they as representatives of the people don't have a right to voice their concerns. But we are in a war and although none of them ever served in the military and thus have no personal point of reference to understand the impact of their words, they certainly have been told enough times by enough people of the magnitude of harm they are causing.

They are saying that men and women who are engaged in combat operations against terrorists in Iraq, the same terrorists who also are fueling an internal war between factions of the Muslim religion, are making needless, futile sacrifices.

How can you make a statement like Reid made, or Levin made, and then expect our service personnel to willingly go out on the field of battle? The answer is simple. You can't.

The only thing you can and should expect from our military once you have made a statement that they are fighting a lost cause is that they would want to disengage as quickly as possible before any more damage is done.

If the Reid, Pelosi, Levin triad actually believes we are losing in Iraq and should retreat as fast as possible, there is a time and place for questioning the strategies, tactics and possible outcome of war fighting. It is in closed-door discussions between top civilian and military leaders with no media present, not in front of a bank of TV cameras and reporters.

Making their false claims in front of the media not only shows their assertions to be politically motivated for short-term gain at home, it also uses the world media to send messages directly to the terrorists that the United States has no will to continue the fight through to victory.

When terrorist leaders, like any other leaders, get good solid intelligence that their tactics are working and the enemy, in this case us, is wavering, they unquestionably will redouble their efforts, regardless of the cost to them, because they have been given more than reasonable assurances of ultimate victory.

Reid, Levin and Pelosi know this. They are obviously anti-American, to say nothing of unpatriotic, but they aren't completely stupid.

Yet, in all of the rhetoric, there is one question that no one seems willing to ask these self-anointed military geniuses. If we are losing the war, could you tell us where and when this occurred?

We have lost somewhat more than 3,000 troops over a five-year period, about 500 less than the number of U.S. Navy personnel killed over a three-month period in the Battle of Okinawa in WWII. I mourn those losses as do all real Americans.

But in the meantime, terrorist casualty figures compiled from military and press accounts from outside of America show that at least 35,000 and possibly more than 50,000 of their fighters have died.

I can find no instances of battles or campaigns lost by coalition forces in Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia. I can find no instances of our generals surrendering their flags, their swords or their troops. We have had minimal instances of POWs taken by the terrorists.

So where exactly did this defeat occur? Where did we lose? Answer that one please.

Meanwhile, the world media is showing pictures this week of a 12-year-old boy beheading a Pakistani man who was charged with collaborating with the anti-Taliban forces. Some say this is an example of the reprehensible teachings of the terrorists we are fighting.

I agree, but I also would point out that in Vietnam as communist casualties escalated beyond comprehension - an estimated 1.4 million North Vietnamese troops killed in action, and the entire 70,000 man Viet Cong guerrilla force wiped out - the communists turned to younger and younger replacements to fill their ranks.

Considering the magnitude of the terrorists' losses in this war thus far, it is reasonable to conclude that they also are recruiting from ranks of children, who obviously are easier to delude. We have to ask ourselves if the Muslim religion really has an unlimited supply of uneducated stooges who are willing to blow themselves up on the odd chance that a limited and quite fantastic version of paradise might be waiting for them.

There are signs all along the way that our military is having a devastating effect on the terrorist ranks. But those successes are not even mentioned in the American Terrorist Media because they don't fit the template of their political aims.

To show any signs of weakness now, and to deliberately transmit false claims to the terrorists while simultaneously undermining support for our troops is more than unpatriotic, it is cause for arrest and trial.

But while the focus of America's growing anger is the Democratic majority in Congress, many also are totally fed up with the administration's apparent inability or unwillingness to deal effectively with those who are sabotaging our country. Take a look at three items a regular reader sent me this weekend ...

1) Bush and all the members of the Federal government act like its "them" against "us," when in reality we the people hold the power. But instead the administration is more concerned about "getting along."

2) How incompetent must you and your administration be to: 1) allow Scooter Libby to go on trial when there shouldn't have been an investigation; 2) not be able to expose who's leaking secrets to the NY Times; and 3) your attorney general is under fire.

The last is all the more ridiculous when we remember that the very people who are now putting the current AG's feet to the fire didn't say s**t when Janet Reno ordered the assault resulting in the murders of more than 80 people, including women and children, at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX. And let's not forget the execution of an innocent wife, son, and infant child at the fiasco in Ruby Ridge, ID.

This government seems to be great at going after American citizens but we just let the Chinese and all others have full access to our defense secrets. Brilliant by God!

3) Mr. President, you swore an oath to God to faithfully discharge the duties of
your office. Yet, you have people in your administration and in Congress committing treason on a weekly basis and take no action. You know you're not faithfully discharging your duties.

These aren't rantings of a disquiet mind. They are representative of emails I have seen from across the country. I have been asked many times in recent months when America will reach the "tipping point" and rise up against the fools and incompetents who are selling us out.

I believe that time has come. I understand that President Bush is a good Christian, and he may well feel that turning the other cheek is a preferred form of governance. Maybe so if it was him who was getting hit on the other cheek. But is is not the President who suffers the most from his lack of action, it is the American populace and specifically our military.

It is way past time to stop turning the other cheek. It is time to "loose the fateful lighting of his terrible, swift sword."

Mr. President, you are the commander-in-chief of the best and most powerful military in the world. They want, need, and deserve a man of vision, action and dedication leading them. They will go to the end of the earth for you and this country and give up their lives if necessary. But you must see beyond the needs and rhetoric of the DC beltway, and give our country the leader it deserves, and you claim to be.

A groundswell of anger and dissatisfaction is building across America. Soon, it will become a tsunami. It would be far better to ride that wave, than to stand in front of it.

Contact information:
Fed up with the status quo in Washington? Want to say so, directly the the people causing your dissatisfaction? Here are a few numbers to try:

Reid's fax is 202-224-7327 in D.C. and 702-388-5030 in Nevada.

Pelosi's fax 202-225-8259 in D.C. and 415-861-1670 in California.

MOAA also provides a toll free number to call Congressmen 1-866-272-6622 ... when the operator answers ask for the Senator/Rep you want to reach.

Have a nice day!

America is in shock. America is mourning the victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech. America is grieving and needs time to grieve.

Out of respect for the families and friends of the victims, I decided to temporarily suspend this column this week to observe a period of mourning. It was not much, but it was all I had to offer.

Many years ago, in one of those situations that all too often seems like just yesterday, my family experienced a similar tragedy and loss that was at once the result of appalling negligence and a deliberate act of violence. For decades I have felt and observed the devastating impact it had on my family and people close to us.

With this as a background I felt that the most respectful thing I could do to appropriately express my respect and condolences for the victims, their families and friends was to mourn the loss of so many innocents in silence.

During this period I have had many opportunities to observe the responses of individuals, organizations and countries around the world, and I have to say, I am appalled at how quickly some used this tragedy to press their own political agendas.

The first, and most barbaric responses came virtually immediately as spokesmen for the American left jumped up screaming "I told you so, I told you so! See? See? Gun control! If there were no guns in America this wouldn't have happened."

They were so anxious to use a monumental tragedy for their own purposes that some didn't even take time to express their condolences to the victims' families and friends.

The response from the Islamo-fascists around the world was typical and to be expected - Allah is paying America back for being the Great Satan. That nonsense is so predictable I could probably write five paragraphs of it here off the top of my head, do an Internet search for the key words and find a verbatim example out there somewhere.

Of considerable surprise was a comment from Australia's prime minister, who has benefited from considerable goodwill and support here in America, who also said that this shooting was a result of our "gun culture." More on that later.

But it was the communist party in Italy that really ticked me off, calling this tragedy "As American as apple pie."

What an incredibly mind-numbing, ignorant, Neanderthal commentary. Only knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, bottom feeders would stoop to such a despicable level of uncivilized commentary.

But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Communists world wide have been bashing the United States for decades. After all, we represent freedom of choice while they advocate totalitarian government control at any cost, including truth.

Yet, while communists within in the U.S. and worldwide have a vested interest in painting a false picture of American society, especially regarding gun ownership, there is a substantial body of research that shows a completely different picture, one that the communists, fascists and terrorists would prefer to suppress.

Take for instance an ongoing scholarly work that was released last year in Canada. Titled Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International Evidence by Gary A. Mauser, professor at Simon Fraser University and Don B. Kates (retired) this working document reveals some startling facts about gun ownership and crime that unfortunately doesn't make it into the media.

Italicized below are some excerpts from that work that I believe are important to share with you. The full text can be found at http://law.bepress.com/expresso/eps/1564/ and believe me, it is worth reading.

One is the compound assertion that: (a) guns are uniquely available in the U.S. compared to other modern developed nations, which is why (b) the U.S. has by far the highest murder rate.

Though this has been endlessly repeated, in fact b) is false and a) substantially so. The false assertion that the U.S. has the industrialized world's highest murder rate is an artifact of politically motivated Soviet minimization of true Russian homicide rates since at least 1965.

As of many years before that date Russia had extremely stringent gun controls which were effectuated by a police state apparatus providing for extremely stringent enforcement. So successful was that regime that few Russian civilians have firearms and very few murders involve them.

Yet manifest success in keeping its people disarmed has not prevented Russia from having far and away the highest murder rate in the developed world. In the 1960s and early '70s, gunless Russia's murder rates paralleled (generally exceeded) those of gun-ridden America. As American rates first stabilized and then steeply declined, Russian murder increased so drastically that by the early 1990s the Russian rate was three times higher than the U.S.

Luxembourg, where handguns are totally banned and ownership of any kind of gun is minimal, has a murder rate 10 times higher than gun-dense Norway and Germany where handguns are legal and gun ownership in general is very high

The same pattern appears when comparisons of violence to gun ownership are made within nations. Indeed, "data on firearms ownership by constabulary area in England" show "a negative correlation." i.e. "where firearms are most dense, violent crime rates are lowest, and where guns are least dense violent crime rates are highest" (quoting a description of what American data have also consistently shown). Many different data sets from various kinds of sources are summarized as follows by the leading text: ... there is no consistent significant positive association between gun ownership levels and violence rates: across (1) time within the United States; (2) U.S. cities; (3) counties within Illinois; (4) country-sized areas like England; (U.S. states); (5)regions of the United States; (6) nations; or (7) population subgroups ...

Whatever the reason, the upshot is that violent crime, and homicide in particular, have plummeted in the United States ... In 18 of the 25 countries surveyed by the British Home Office, violent crime increased during the 1990s. This contrast should provoke thinking people to wonder what happened in those nations adopting policies based on the belief that introducing more and more restrictive firearm laws would reduce criminal violence. Perhaps the United States is doing something right.

Capping decades of severe restrictions on gun ownership throughout the British Commonwealth, the last half of the 20th century saw several of the countries in the Commonwealth impose Draconian firearm laws, confiscating hundreds of thousands of firearms from owners law abiding enough to turn them in.

Canada brought in universal gun registration and banned small handguns, the United Kingdom banned all handguns, Australia banned semiautomatic firearms, and both the Republic of Ireland and Jamaica attempted sweeping firearm bans. These gun laws were adopted amid predictions that they would stem violence, but ... none of these measures can be shown to have successfully reduced criminal violence, homicide or suicide in any of these countries.

More of Professor Mauser's research at http://www.garymauser.net/

It occurred to me in this past week that the willingness of America's critics, even from countries that claim to be our friends and allies, to constantly portray Americans as world-class bad guys, itself may be partly to blame for tragedies such as the Virginia Tech shootings.

Virtually anywhere you go in the world, governments and groups take great delight in bashing the US at every opportunity. I believe this is done to cover up and compensate for their own failures and inadequacies, but the end result is that many in the world believe it is fine to murder Americans.

I think that this "Bash America culture" leads some already demented people to think that Americans are useful only when we are targets.

But in this context, I'd like to ask Italy's communists whether they thought so little of us in WWII when gun-toting Americans were inching their way up the Italian peninsula under fire from Italian fascists and German Nazis, neither of whom had much use for communists.

Was that as "American as Apple Pie?"

And while we're on the subject of communism and shootings, when Joseph Stalin exterminated subjects of the Soviet Union who didn't share his views or simply got in his way at a rate exceeding one million per year, was that as "Russian as Borscht?"

When Mao Tse Tung, was similarly exterminating millions of Chinese - estimates vary here, it could have been as 'low' as 40 million or as high as 70 million - was that "As Chinese as Lo Mein?"

When Pol Pot, the late communist leader of Cambodia was slaughtering millions of his subjects was that "As Cambodian as Prahok?"

How about Fidel Castro? When he went on an extended extermination plan, wiping out his subjects by the tens of thousands (instead of millions,) did that make him benevolent? What that an example of "As Cuban as good cigars?"

There is only one reason I can find why countries want their citizens disarmed. That is so the citizenry has no means available to forcefully disagree with the government when the government thinks it exists to dictate rather than serve. Unarmed citizens against tanks make great photo ops, but they are historically totally ineffective.

It is obvious that the world's communists and other terrorists would love to see the United States disarmed. Their zealotry is so rabid that they can't even use their well-honed propaganda machines to make their outlandish comments at more appropriate times, preferring to hit our grieving citizens when the impact of this tragedy is immediate.

Thus, I would like to pass on an invitation to Italy's communist party. And I would very much appreciate it if the leaders of that party could extend this invitation to others of their ilk from around the globe, and the leaders of terrorist organizations wherever they exist.

If you are so crude, so boorish, so unsophisticated and so uncivilized that you can't even allow us our time to grieve without also having to deal with your petty comments and ignorant remarks, please do us a favor - go stick you heads way down deep in a vat of Chianti.

Stay there, upside down, immersed in the best that Italy has to offer until I decide to get back to you.

But don't hold your breath.

Of all the racist comments that have been tossed around the airwaves over the Don Imus imbroglio, the most asinine I have heard yet, aside from his, came from a black rap-industry executive who was interviewed by Michelle Malkin when she was guest host on the Bill O'Reilly show this week.

I didn't catch the man's name, but he claimed that the filthy, sexist lyrics that dominate the most popular rap songs are required by the owners of the record companies that produce rap music. These people he claimed, are "white slave masters," and it is all "whitey's" fault that black rappers glorify drugs and violence, demean black women, and produce videos that are one click shy of live sex shows.

Apparently, these same white "slave masters" are forcing this guy and all the rap artists to take their multi-million dollar salaries and buy huge homes, expensive cars and jewelry, and live extravagant lifestyles. Oh, the Horror of it all. Make them stop, someone please!

In response to what was obviously a tongue-in-cheek question from Malkin, this guy replied that he does in fact believe that George Washington bears some responsibility for this filth. Not George Bush, mind you, the guy that the left claims is responsible for every other bad thing on earth.

He says the responsibility for drug and alcohol abuse, gang violence, prostitution, classlessness and filthy mouths rests squarely on the long-dead shoulders of George Washington!

Let's get something straight right now. I, as a white Christian male, am sick to death and fed up to my eyeballs with being blamed for every unpleasant factor and historic malfunction of the human race, by everyone who represents a racial, ethnic, or religious group that is different from mine.

My ancestors are Irish on my mother's side, Scottish highlanders who themselves descended from Vikings on my father's side, and despite long and exhaustive research I can't find a damn thing about my ancestors ever being involved in the American slave trade!

My father and his family arrived here from Scotland in the mid-1920s, long after the Civil War had ended and slavery had been outlawed. My Irish grandmother came here a decade before him, when she was a slip of 16 year old, by herself, with no attachment to anyone in this country, and no involvement in the long since passed slave trade.

The closest I can find to anything involving slavery is that the Vikings, from whom I am about 1,000 years removed, did occasionally take slaves during their raids along the coast of northern Europe and England around 900 A.D., as did every other military power in existence at that time! But by and large, these slaves were IRISH! Maybe even the occasional ANGLO-SAXON.

Yes, Viking ships did make rare forays as far away as Africa, and one of my ancestors, a member of Clan Gunn, is said to have been part of an expedition that made it as far as modern-day Massachusetts 100 years before Columbus 'discovered' America. But that expedition was for exploration, settlement and trade, not slavery.

So enough of this slavery crap already. No one is alive in the U.S., nor the entire world today, who was kept as a slave in the American south. No one. And let's not forget, the slave trade from Africa to the New World was allowed to flourish by and large not because massive numbers of white European soldiers invaded Africa, but because warring African tribes took their enemies hostage in the interior and marched them to the coast where they sold them to the slavers.

Slavery was a reprehensible facet of human existence for thousands of years, and it was practiced by all races, and all races profited from it.

Here's another bone to chew on. Before, during and after America became the United States of America, my Scottish ancestors were slugging it out to retain their homes and way of life, all of which were under siege from the ENGLISH! Other WHITE GUYS!

From the Battle of Culloden in 1746 onward, the English engaged in the Highland Clearances against my ancestors. The Clearances were a 100-year reign of terror and genocide that ended the clan way of life, murdered and displaced thousands upon thousands of Scots, many of whom were forced to the shores where they were put on the first ship going anywhere, separated from homes, friends and family, and never allowed to return.

Since Clan Gunn was located in the Caithness area of Scotland, far in the north, the Clearances didn't directly affect them until after the War of 1812. Clan lore says that around 1816 land speculators showed up in Clan Gunn territory and were promptly run off.

But they returned with the English Army, and my unarmed ancestors (the English had imposed gun control on the Scots - sword control too) made a valiant, but fatally flawed stand against the English, which the clan lost. The survivors were forced off their land and dispatched to the four winds and the seven seas. It is said that many ultimately made their way to what is modern-day Ottawa. My father's family went south to the Dundee area where he was born a century later.

None of my direct ancestors were here before the Civil War, nor took part in it on either side. But just for historic record, we should note that in that war, which ended slavery, roughly 360,000 northern troops were killed and another 370,000 wounded. The vast majority of them were WHITE!

Here's another point. When I went to bed last night I decided what time to set my alarm for, and when it went off this morning I decided whether to get up or hit snooze. When I did get up I decided what to have for breakfast, which way to turn when I left my driveway, and what I was going to do with my day.

There are inequities in life to be sure, not just in America, but across the world, yet by and large most Americans of all backgrounds get to make the same choices and decisions I do from morning til night. We can decide whether or not to pursue higher education, what fields we are most interested in, whether to join corporate America or work for ourselves, where we want to live, and how we want to live.

And the great thing is that every single one of us, regardless of race, creed or color, gets to make those choices. Even better, in America it is against the law to prevent anyone from pursuing the life of their choice due to the above mentioned race, creed, color, national origin, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, or just about anything else.

If you don't like the life you are living, change it. In America you can do that.

Now, about Juan Williams. I have watched him on television several times a week for years now, primarily because my favorite news shows are Special Report With Brit Hume where Juan appears as a panelist; and Fox News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace where Juan also is a panelist.

For a long time I discounted Juan's point of view because it is always liberal left and appears to come straight from the Democratic National Committee's daily talking points. My television screen is the unfortunate victim of a fair share of eruptions from me at something Juan said that contradicted what I believe.

But I began to change my mind about him somewhat when FOX did a segment on his daughter launching a program to obtain prom gowns for girls whose homes had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

I gained additional respect for him when his book Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America was published last August. In it he is critical of the current generation of black leaders and maintains that the black community should stop blaming everything and everyone else for every ill, real and perceived, and start taking responsibility for their actions, or lack thereof.

I also was impressed by Juan's willingness to stand up for his point of view when so many other black leaders, particularly Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, were once again playing the race card in the Imus issue. Sharpton and Jackson, who I think are co-pastors of the Church of the Crooked Path to Divine Self-Absorption, came across as the ultimate hypocrites - and Hillary Clinton stooges - by chastising Imus and Sen. Barack Obama, who had nothing to do with the issue - but giving only lip service to actually taking on the rap industry and its degradation of black culture.

Juan was interviewed several times and aside from the fact that no one made Imus say what he said, he put the blame for this entire culture right where it belongs, on the rappers who created it, exploit it and profit from it. I think we need to hear a lot more from Juan Williams and and lot less from Jackson and Sharpton.

In my view of America, we aren't a motley collection of individuals with no common goals, we are a collection of cultures that share a common goal of freedom. I see America as the ultimate steel girder. Not the make-believe steel that only Rosie O'Donnell has ever seen, the kind that can't melt, but real steel, the kind of metal alloy that uses a variety of ores to make the original iron even better.

Added to iron, metals such as nickel and manganese give steel its tensile strength, chromium increases the hardness and melting temperature, and vanadium helps reduce the effects of metal fatigue. Chromium and nickel give stainless steel a hard oxide on the metal surface to inhibit corrosion.

Each in its own way is viable, useful and valuable. But when a bar of iron sits next to a bar of nickel or chromium or manganese, they retain their basic properties and nothing more. It is only when their properties are combined that they make the materials that enable us to build, expand, survive and thrive.

America needs to combine the strengths of all facets of our society if we are to survive and thrive in this world.

I believe the real black America, the one that gets little to no coverage from the mainstream media, is the black middle class that has quietly taken advantage of the civil rights legislation enacted in the 60s. Those laws enabled black families to pursue equal job and education opportunities and as a result there has been an exponential explosion of the middle class.

But only the downside of black culture gets the coverage. Thus, I am calling on Juan Williams to work with other black leaders who share his beliefs and start turning this around. The first step in that process is ensuring that the next time an issue of this nature arises, and it will, we all know that, Juan Williams or Charles Payne, or Clarence Thomas or Colin Powell should be the 'go-to guys' for the mainstream media, not Sharpton or Jackson.

Those last two have a vested interest in perpetuating racial tensions in America because they make their livings off of exploiting those tensions. I don't believe they represent the real black America at all, yet the real black America is suffering because of their dominance of the media, and as a result all of America is suffering.

Juan Williams, due to his familiarity with the media and high visibility, should take the lead in forming an umbrella group of like-minded black leaders. They should insist that the TV and radio networks and national newspapers seek them out for opinions, rather than going for the race-baiting cheap-shot tactics that dominate now. They can and should work to ensure that the true voice of black America is the one that gets the media attention, and that the detrimental aspects are exposed for their shallowness.

For my part, I promise to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and back-to-back with Juan in any fight of this kind. Maybe the only changes I can make exist in my own back yard, but it is a start and my backyard is still one piece in the puzzle. I'll also let Brit Hume deal with the political debates. My television, and my wife, will thank me for it, and Brit is far better at it anyway.

So, what do you say Juan? The ball is in your court.

I first heard a Don Imus radio show in the mid-70s, after a friend who knew me well enough to appreciate my warped sense of humor tipped me off to his irreverent approach to broadcasting.

The first time I tuned in Imus announced that he would take a call from the 50th female caller, and then proceeded to pick up and hang up the phone, time after time, announcing "caller 26, caller 31, caller 42," until finally reaching the magic number 50. Thereupon he supposedly convinced the caller to disrobe, and talked her out of her blouse, bra, panties, etc., with a constant commentary - "Are you naked baby?" - to the vast enjoyment of his listeners.

At that time, in that place, I thought it was pretty funny, and I became a fan.

Imus wasn't considered a 'shock jock' at that time, because I don't think anyone was using that term yet. But he was a ground breaker and he was funny.

My previous experiences with New York radio had also been tremendously positive, when my fellow Marines and I would listen to Cousin Brucie and Dan Ingram on WABC while travelling though the 'Tri-State Area' on weekend liberty runs.

Imus's new format was fun, he still played music, and very good music at that, and on top of it all he was funny, and kept me tuned to New York radio.

Imus's personal problems caused him to come and go from the New York scene, but eventually he got it under control and landed back there for good. In the mid-80s I listened to virtually every hour of every show he did for a three month period when I was an investigative reporter sitting in a vehicle for hours on end doing surveillance for a story series.

By then he had surrounded himself with a talented crew of comics and straight men, and had added pre-recorded skits including Crazy Bob - The Original Old Timer; and Moby Worm. In between he played music, really good music, and he was funny.

I lost track of Imus for a few years when I moved to Florida where the morning drive time was dominated by Bubba The Love Sponge and other radio stations that focused on the horrendous rush-hour traffic, or Oldies or the Top 40. But when I moved back to New England in 2001 I again went looking for Imus to start my day.

What I found was someone who said he was Imus, and looked like Imus, but to me he wasn't Imus. He was on both radio and cable TV, broadcasting over MSNBC, but somewhere along the line he had transformed from a witty, relevant though acid-tongued entertainer, to another in a long line of ho-hum political pundits.

He was solidly attached to the liberal Democratic view of politics and the world. Even though he had enraged Hillary Clinton with pointed barbs about missing Rose Law Firm records at the White House Correspondents Dinner in the 90s, he could be counted on to host an unending line of liberal politicians, operatives and columnists.

There were some bright spots. Occasionally Mary Matalin or John McCain would appear and insert some common sense information into the daily rants of the Bush haters and Bush bashers. But their appearances were too few and far between.

Imus was always complaining that MSNBC has minuscule ratings, and even with a new studio and occasional live appearances by blues or country western bands he couldn't get away from the lunacy and stodginess of his new format. He didn't play enough music, I could hear the Democratic National Committee talking points at dozens of other spots if I was so inclined, and he stopped being funny.

I really liked his support for the troops and all the fund-raising he has done for the wounded coming back to America for rehab. I admired his efforts to make life better for kids with cancer at his ranch in New Mexico, and I applaud his support for parents who have lost babies to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

But somewhere along the line it occurred to me that if he could continue those worthy programs without doing daily broadcasts it might be a better use of his time.

I don't remember who was talking on the Imus program when I made my permanent switch to Fox and Friends. I think it was that Oliphant guy who writes for one of the Boston papers, but I'm not sure, and that is my point. Imus's show had become solidly forgettable.

I hadn't heard any more about him until last week when he burst onto the national consciousness after making an incredibly stupid, unfunny, derogatory, racist remark about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Amid all the uproar, my first thought was that Imus had finally found a way to reverse his declining ratings. He had been saying outrageous things that ticked people off for more than 30 years, and while his most recent commentary was reprehensible it certainly wasn't out of character. But it was drawing attention to his show.

I finally tuned in MSNBC for the first time in a couple of years, just to hear what he was saying about it.

But as the reaction against him continued to grow, and the two most hypocritical black men on the national political scene, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, called for him to be fired, I began to grow suspicious.

For starters, Imus has long been attempting to ingratiate himself with the black urban scene, referring to the comings and goings of whatever Rap artist is currently in the news, and making references to "getting down, with my bro' Snoop," or commenting on the latest escapades of "Fitty-Cent." In addition to sounding absolutely ludicrous, (small l, not referring the other rapper) it occurred to me that Imus was desperate for ratings and would go to extremes to attract audiences that otherwise would ignore him.

It was this combination of desperation and far-left leaning politics that was making Imus so unattractive to what had previously been a dependable audience. Yet, Imus had made other comments over the years that were equally reprehensible and could have raised an equal ruckus, but they didn't. He was ripe for outrage for instance, when he referred to a black female journalist at the New York Times as a 'cleaning lady.'

So why now? Well, maybe he has seen that MSNBC is going nowhere and he was looking for an opportunity to jump ship, both from that venture and his morning show on CBS radio. Some commentators are saying this is a great opportunity for him to join Howard Stern on Sirius Radio.

Maybe it is. But the biggest question I have is why has he suddenly become the target of the black activist community?

Look at what happened in sequence. First Sharpton and Jackson, neither of whom can attract any kind of following in Middle America, come out screaming 'racist,' even though they have had plenty of opportunities to do this for years. They make all kinds of noise about his use of the word "ho" which is black, urban, rap slang for "whore," although that word, usually used in the company of "bitches" is a mainstay of Rap music lyrics.

Then, wonder of wonders, Sharpton and Jackson start taking shots at Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama, a black politician who has eclipsed both of them in popularity not just in the Democratic Party but also on the national scene. They claimed he was not fast enough to denounce Imus and thus doesn't speak for the real black community in America.

Obama also has shaken the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign to its core with his fund-raising prowess, and although she didn't comment on the the Imus incident either, it was only Obama who was singled out for criticism.

Hillary finally had something to say about this after Obama said he would never appear on the Imus show again. He had only appeared once, but that was enough for Sharpton and Jackson.

Why would Obama suddenly find himself in the midst of this controversy? Because his meteoric rise to the top of the Democratic political scene not only threatens Clinton's chances for a shot at the White House, it also draws support away from Sharpton and Jackson, who make buckets full of money by selling out the very black community they claim to represent.

How so? By ignoring the huge black American middle class, that since the mid-60s enactment of civil rights legislation has been doing very well for itself in the capitalist world. But activists, especially phony hypocritical activists, can't make a living from complaining about things going well for their constituency.

So they have to continue pressing the image that all is not well, and in this case, the issue of the day is that all white Americans think young black student athletes are nothing more than "bitches and ho's." If Barack Obama, Condoleeza Rice, Bill Cosby, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell and thousands of other successful black Americans are seen as the true leaders of America's black population, then donations to Sharpton's and Jackson's lavish lifestyles could and probably would suffer.

As would the Democratic Party.

So first make Imus's comment a national issue, then turn it so it becomes a useful political tool. Increase Sharpton's and Jackson's visibility, and possibly their viability, make Hillary look like a rational, reasonable leader, undercut Obama and voila, the status quo is restored!

But central to this theme is that Imus first had to be tossed under the bus. My question is Why? He has been sucking up to the urban black community and the far left side of the Democratic party for a long time. They kept him under their umbrella and tolerated previous commentaries of this nature without so much as a peep. Why did this one line suddenly become the flash point?

Maybe someone with far better sources inside the Democratic party can answer those questions. Maybe we'll never know.

But regardless, there is one thing Imus should have known. Male Rappers not only glorify drugs and violence, and not only refer to women as bitches and ho's, they refer to themselves as "gangsta's." They glorify the world of the streets, street crime, and the street fighters.

One thing common to all street fighters whether they are American Rappers or Islamo-fascist terrorists is that they will never trust and never accept an outsider who sucks up to them. They may make use of suck-up artists and allow them to hang around if there is a temporary benefit to it, but when that benefit is gone, the suck-up artist is gone too.

Imus could talk all he wanted about his Bro' Snoop, but it was his Bro' Snoop who issued a statement a week after the incident began, saying straight out that in his world it is allowable for black men to refer to black women as bitches and ho's, but white boys like Imus better not.

That is a tough lesson to learn, especially if you have allowed yourself to believe that you really were part of the community or movement you have been sucking up to. Imus wasn't raised in the 'hood, he isn't black, and he would never be truly accepted in that environment.

If Imus really wanted to make a positive difference he should have been working far more, and far more publicly, on behalf of the black middle class.

Imus has been around a long time and he should have understood that. He sure as hell understands it now.

Out of the entire field of candidates running for President of the United States, only John McCain has taken a strong stand supporting the troops in Iraq and their mission.

His sudden turn backing the current efforts in the War on Terror is cause for considerable discussion on the national political scene, with much of the reaction being in the negative or marginal-at-best categories. But McCain actually has used his vast knowledge of the military and historical facts to his advantage and while everyone else is worrying about what to say or do, McCain will reap the political benefits.

Whether this one issue can turn his political fortunes around and give him new strength in the polls is still a wild card.

But, out of everyone running thus far, only McCain has the first-hand knowledge of war fighting, and more to the point, the downside of war fighting, in his case being wounded, taken prisoner and tortured for years. Thus, when McCain speaks about war, America listens, and well they should.

With a very few exceptions, most of the big talkers in Congress are blowing smoke up the voters' skirts when they talk about the War on Terror and how we are doing, because they simply don't have the personal knowledge of the issue.

Many in Congress make the obligatory journey to Iraq, where the military is diverted from doing its real work to see that they are escorted around the country to have discussions and photo ops with the troops. But there is a huge difference between the routine Congressional visit and a McCain visit - that being McCain knows what to look for.

It is obvious that McCain found matters to his liking on his most recent visit two weeks ago, and from that he feels confident enough to openly support the war effort. Many in Congress are ready to show support for the current offensive, dubbed the Surge, but most are not running for President.

McCain also has another ace in hole that may well have influenced his decision. He had a ringside seat to the Gathering of Eagles vigil in Washington on March 17. While the American Terrorist Media and most politicians looked the other way and pretended it didn't happen or wasn't really all that successful, McCain was well aware of the GOE and its outcome.

If he stepped back for even a moment and objectively reviewed that event he would have come to the conclusion that America is fed up to the hilt with the anti-American, pro-terrorist, troop bashing demonstrators who had planned to deface our national memorials during their protest march on the Pentagon.

If McCain was objective about the GOE he not only saw that veterans and our supporters vastly outnumbered the pro-terrorist, Cindy Sheehan-led marchers, he would have seen that the commitment on the vets' side was wider, deeper and stronger than the media and left-wing politicians want to acknowledge. He also would have seen that a tremendously successful vigil was arranged and executed with precious little time or money, nearly entirely over the Internet, with no input whatsoever from the mainstream media.

That factor alone could be an major factor in his decision, because it has been demonstrated that he can access his base without help from print and electronic media.

The combination of an objective look at the both the GOE and the situation in Iraq would give McCain a rare opportunity to accurately predict the future. In this prediction, which I also believe is likely, our troops will lambaste the terrorists, the Iraqi army will come into its own, and by early next summer the troops will not only be coming home, they will be coming home victorious.

When that happens, the war is suddenly going to be a very different issue in the presidential race.

I also believe the American Terrorist Media and left-wing politicians are overlooking or deliberately burying a salient point in America's view of the war when they quote polls and statistics saying the public is dissatisfied or non-supportive.

First, I don't trust polls unless I am directly involved in them. That is because I don't know what question was asked, how it was posed, who was interviewed, when they were interviewed or what options they were given to answer.

And I firmly believe that many Americans may be dissatisfied by the war effort because they want news of victories and progress, and we never, ever get news of victories or progress.

But the so-called surge, which hasn't even hit its halfway mark in the troop buildup needed to fully execute it, is already succeeding. Some terrorists are fleeing. Some of their leaders such as Muqtada Al-Sadr are in hiding in Iran, sending strongly worded messages to their followers, rather than taking on the US in a stand-up fight.

Even though the World Terrorist Media is still reporting the dramatic bombings and killings, the truth is that killings overall are down, violence overall is down and neighborhoods are safer.

One reason for this may well be that even though it hasn't been reported AT ALL the war effort worldwide has been phenomenally successful and tens of thousands of terrorist have been killed or wounded since the attacks of 9-11.

A regular reader of this column has been keeping a spreadsheet listing terrorist deaths worldwide, basing his information on both media and military sources, by date and location. According to those figures, more than 35,000 terrorists are now in paradise - meaning that more than 2.5 million virgins have been rounded up to wait on them hand and foot.

That number alone - terrorist deaths - is quite impressive, and if it represented American deaths we would all be in a state of hysteria by now. It also doesn't represent the number of terrorists who have been wounded.

Due to our advanced medical and transport capabilities American combat wounded outnumber killed by more than a 10-to-1 ratio, according to some estimates. I seriously doubt the ratio in terrorist ranks is anywhere near that number, but if you even drop it down to a 3-to-1 ratio, as existed on average during WWII and the Vietnam War in America, we can safely assume that in addition to more than 35,000 dead terrorists, there are another 105,000 who have been wounded.

You don't hear about terrorist casualties because the American military has been cowed into believing that casualty reports were inaccurate and irrelevant in Vietnam. Actually, nothing could have been further from the truth on either point.

Well after the Vietnam War was over the communist North Vietnamese admitted to losing some 1.4 million troops killed in action, roughly 2.5 times the size of their standing army as it existed in the mid-60s.

That was important because the American public never heard those stats, nor did they hear that neither the North Vietnamese regulars nor the Viet Cong guerrilla fighters were ever able to succeed on the battlefield. Until the final drive to take the south, two years after all American combat troops had left South Vietnam, a drive that was encouraged by American politicians and anti-war activists, the communists never had one single battlefield success against America.

The same is true today in the War on Terror, but the public never hears about our successes, only our casualties. The Associated Press for instance, has been on a virtual feeding frenzy the last week, reporting each American death, along with a running tally of our total sacrifices, but not a word about terrorist casualties.

The WTM is only too happy to report on it when a force of 800 or so Taliban crosses the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan and overruns a small village police force. But you never hear the final tally when the Afghan Army or NATO forces pounce on the terrorists, annihilate them, and send a ragged and battered remnant straggling back over the border to hide.

But as those casualties mount up for the terrorist forces they are extremely important. Not only do they show that we are succeeding militarily, but if the world was aware of them it would severely hamper terrorist recruiting efforts.

Obviously there are some fanatics in their ranks who honestly believe they will be better off in their version of paradise than they are in life. But it is safe to also consider that given an option, most of their potential recruits would take a different and much longer road to that end.

John McCain is well aware of all of this, and I believe he has seen what others overlooked, the potential for victory. John McCain has access to all the information listed above, and he also has intimate knowledge of one other major point.

The American grunts never quit. Never. They will go through hell, complaining all the way, but they will not quit. They emerged victorious in Vietnam, and they will emerge victorious in Iraq.

McCain knows he can count on the grunts. He saw it before. They don't need politicians or the media to tell them when they have done their job and done it well. They only need each other. McCain knows this and he knows he can count on America's troops.

To a great degree the military has been given the freedom from Rules of Engagement, the troops and the backing to get the job done in Iraq. Only McCain has had the courage to make note of this before the battles are won.

But only McCain will be able to use this to his advantage after the battles are won.

Now that the 15 British sailors and Marines are back home after two weeks as POWs in Iran, and the debate has turned to their conduct while held against their will by the Iranians, we have to also ask ourselves "What was this all about?!"

Let's take a step back from the microscope now focused on their captivity and look at the overall situation.

First, a boatload of British military personnel is handling the somewhat routine task of investigating shipping in an international waterway - disputed though it may be - looking for illegal arms being smuggled into Iraq.

They are on board a cargo ship going about their duties when suddenly they are surrounded by armed Iranian coast guard personnel who take them captive without a shot, hustle them off to undisclosed locations, call them names and keep them in a state of duress for several days. No one is tortured on the level of what prisoners faced in other wars, but still it wasn't pleasant for them.

They are paraded in front of the media on a number of occasions, and then, nearly without warning, they are released.

The premier demand from the man who engineered their capture, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, better known as Green Bean Almondine, that the British government apologize for invading Iran's territorial waters, is never met. So I ask again, "What was this all about?"

Many pundits are saying the Iranians wanted to 'embarrass' the west, and succeeded in doing so. I disagree. That is diplomatic talk and it indicates an unfamiliarity with the street fighters' mindset. It might have been a welcome spinoff, but we should consider that Almondine is the guy who once held 55 Americans hostage for 444 days, and released them only when former president jimmy carter was kicked out of office and President Ronald Reagan was sworn in - along with a promise to take the gloves off regarding that situation.

Street fighters don't do things to 'embarrass' anyone. They consider an opponent duly 'embarrassed' when they have them on the ground groveling in pain, begging for the beating to stop.

I believe a more accurate answer could have been that there was something moving up that waterway that the Iranians wanted to get by the British and the best way to make sure it did was to create a diversion. That, however, is an easy read.

With all the hoopla that surrounded this issue, my gut feeling is that it was a diversion for something far larger, and more sinister.

I would take a good look at Russia first. We know that Russia has delivered advanced air defense weaponry to Tehran, and it isn't outside the realm of possibility that they were hoping to test the new systems if Britain and the US responded by launching air raids into Iran. Obviously, it is far better to test your latest defenses over someone else's territory than your own, and if Tehran was leveled rather than Kiev, so be it.

This concept works hand in glove with the other major defense issue we are dealing with, the theft of our stealth technology by the Chinese. I should point out here that I was reminded by a regular reader the other day that some of this technology 'theft' actually came in the form of technological 'gifts' from the Clinton administration.

So noted. Some of it also was stolen the old-fashioned way, by spies working inside the American defense and intelligence communities.

Regardless, the Chinese, still allied to some degree with their communist counterparts in Russia, certainly shared some of this treasure trove with the Russians, who utilized their new-found knowledge in developing anti-stealth weaponry. If it works it will play hell with our fliers who are sent on bombing missions that for the past two decades have gone off with amazingly light losses.

But again, this one is easy to figure out. As I watched this great international drama unfold there were a couple of things that came to mind.

Among them was the duplicity of the European Union, which trades heavily with Iran and refused to help the British. So much for 'unity.' And I don't want to hear any more garbage from John Kerry about what the Europeans, obviously nothing but a bunch of backstabbing fair-weather "allies" think of America.

Most of us, who unlike Kerry, didn't grow up in Europe, are here because our forefathers were sick to death of the European way of doing things anywhere from one to dozens of generations ago. Obviously the mainland European governments have continued to deteriorate to a point where they now have been relegated to the status of simpering pawns of anyone who even looks askance at them.

The Europeans tried to stay neutral in this, going only so far as to issue a mild statement. By doing so, however, they actually took sides with Iran, against Britain and America - again. But that again was obvious.

What is not so obvious, is what the Chinese were doing all this time. We heard virtually nothing about the Chinese, what with our attention focused on the non-stop coverage of un-breaking news.

Yet the Chinese most certainly have a Shar Pei in this fight. They haven't invested all this time, effort and money into neutralizing our military advantages just for peace of mind. Remember, the communist philosophy is very similar to the extremist Islamo-fascist philosophy, that being to continue the struggle until final victory is achieved, regardless of how long it takes or the cost.

So even though China is moving to a more capitalistic business model, its communist leaders are still dedicated to the ultimate communist victory. In their version of Utopia everyone but the leadership class is equal, and coincidentally exists on a level substantially below the leadership class. Anyone and everyone who disagrees or disapproves can be equally shot and discarded.

So I would look to the Chinese having a hand in this. But I still wouldn't stop there. Because down in South America we have You-go Chavez, who has been cozying up to Fidel Castro and the Persian Muslims under the pretense that they have a common enemy, us, or U.S.

The thinking here is that if they band together they can marginalize or even defeat the United States and its western democratic influences. Of course, this temporarily shelves the fact that the extremist Muslims have virtually nothing else in common with the communists, and that the communists' ultimate goal is to annihilate the Muslims too. And vice versa.

But that would come later, after the west is defeated. We have seen the communist tactics at work for nearly a century now, and the one thing that is paramount is the use of any ruse, any deception, to gain the confidence of the general public - the working classes and peasants in their elitist terminology - until they are no longer necessary. Then, once the real goal is attained, anyone who speaks up or disagrees is imprisoned and/or shot. Just ask the remnants of the Viet Cong, they'll tell you.

So it certainly is not beyond the realm of possibility that the South American communists have aligned with the Chinese and Russian communists, along with the Persian Muslim extremists in a convoluted conspiracy to get something past the US and Britain.

What this all boils down to is my belief that governments don't pull stunts like this hostage situation just for hah-hahs. There is a method to their madness. We should find out what that method is, and neutralize it, and we should do it ASAP.

Oh, one more thing. When the hostages were released, Green Bean Almondine said he was doing it as a show of "goodwill," and making a "gift" to the British.

As this was occurring British Prime Minister Tony Blair was assuring his country and ours that no quid pro quo had been involved, meaning that he and we hadn't given up anything to get the hostages back. But he also said he would be studying ways to make sure that a similar incident never occurs again.

I have a suggestion. How about, from now on, whenever British sailors and Marines are discharging their duties in international waters, the British Navy makes sure they do it under the watchful guns of a Royal Navy cruiser or destroyer. Then, if they suddenly see a flotilla of Iranian gunboats approaching the area where the sailors and Marines are working, they open fire and blast the Iranian gunboats to smithereens.

After the dust settles, Mr. Blair can make sure that the waters are searched for bits and pieces of DNA to deliver to Iran so Almondine's people can make positive IDs of the dead before discarding or disposing of them as they see fit.

Then Mr. Blair, or his successor, can send a telegram to Almondine saying that as a gesture of "goodwill" he has decided for the time being not to level Tehran and turn it into a glass parking lot. He can add that it would be wise for Almondine to keep his coast guard confined to the coast in the future.

That I believe, would be a tremendous 'gift' to the Iranian people, certainly on a par with Almondine's 'gift' of releasing the British hostages.

For decades mainstream Americans have been wondering where our heroes have gone, where are the people with the strength, moxie and ability to stand up to anarchists, communists and other terrorists, and expose the lies of the American Terrorist Media.

It seems that every time we get a glimmer of hope in a new personality, someone who will tell the truth and act on truthful principles rather than me-first power grabs, they shine briefly, then fade just as quickly. That may well be due to the duplicity of some who crave the media limelight to such an extent that they will quickly and easily roll over on their principles and most especially their supporters, when selling out becomes a requirement for staying on the national stage.

But every so often we find one person, or more accurately, one of a small group, who defies the norm and stands up for what is right, not just for a few days or months, but permanently.

Now, let me tell you about Melanie Morgan. She is well known from the editorial heights of the New York Times to the streets of San Francisco, she is a daily target for the far, far left, and, along with a small but powerful group of friends and allies she is the real deal on the American political scene. The left hates her, but fears her ability to speak and out-debate their champions.

Her willingness to stand up for a noble cause was clear from the very first word she spoke on the speakers' platform at the Gathering of Eagles vigil in Washington, DC on March 17. She was there to stand shoulder to shoulder with the veterans to secure our national monuments from threatened defacement by anarchist marchers that day, and to show solidarity with our troops.

But she was also there to speak out, fearlessly, clearly, and forcefully. She had no qualms whatsoever about getting right down to it about Cindy Sheehan and Jane Fonda. She did not mince words or feelings, and the crowd warmed to her message and her style immediately.

But here comes the good part. After she was finished speaking and acting as co-emcee for the formal GOE program, Melanie left the stage and marched straight down to Henry Bacon Drive on the far side of the Vietnam Memorial, in the shadow of Abe Lincoln's statue. There, thousands of veterans and our supporters were letting the pro-terrorist marchers on the Pentagon, who had gathered on the other side of the street, know that a new day had come to America, and the free ride of vandalism, veteran bashing, and undermining the troops was over.

A Demilitarized Zone of sorts had formed with the pro-terrorists on one side, highly visible in photos from the scene by the plethora of yellow signs they carried. On the other side were veterans and our supporters, just as visible from the plethora of American flags that were streaming proudly in the stiff breeze.

Melanie could have stayed inside a warm vehicle or tent, or just stayed home, blaming the previous day's storm and the cold wind that morning in DC, like many of the headliners for the pro-terrorist march had done. But she went to the front line, bullhorn in hand, and immediately took on the sloganeers and myopes on the other side of that DMZ.

She immediately let them know that their shrinking violets and me-first anti-American media darlings were outnumbered, outgunned and outmatched.

So, by now you are asking, what makes her any different than the legions of others who have grabbed the headlines for a few days or months, claiming to speak for the great Middle America, only to shrink back into obscurity, with the only difference being their suddenly increased net worth?

History. Her history.

Melanie Morgan has a history, one that many wannabes can't even envision.

She was raised in the mid-west in a family that is left, liberal and Democrat. Her background is one that would make Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi drool, well, drool even more than they do now.

But after leaving home for college, and graduating as a journalist, she began to see the world in a different light.

Melanie started her broadcasting career when she was 16, working at her college radio station, KCLC FM, in St. Charles, MO, followed by an internship at KUDL AM/FM in her hometown of Kansas City, MO, then work at several radio stations in Kansas City. She began her television career as a researcher for ABC TV's Howard K. Smith, during the 1976 Republican Convention.

In 1980, Melanie went to work for KMBC, Channel 9 in Kansas City as a television reporter and anchor. She moved to San Francisco Bay area in 1981 and began working for KGO television as a freelance reporter. KGO Radio fully recognized Melanie's talents when she stepped forward to provide three weeks of award-winning on-the-scene coverage of the war in Beirut, Lebanon.

Her reporting from such dangerous hot spots enabled her to see for herself what was happening, rather than relying on an established media that reports only what fits its pre-ordained agenda.

When the Marine Barracks was bombed and hundreds died, she was on the lines with the 8th Marines, learning first-hand about the asinine Rules of Engagement that required them to patrol with rifles unloaded in the midst of a vicious enemy-controlled environment.

She went into the hills in search of Yasser Arafat, to interview him directly, and find for herself what he really was all about. She ended up with a Syrian soldier's gun barrel pressed against her temple - payback for being a foreign journalist on sacred ground and, horror of horrors, a woman to boot.

You might have expected her to call it quits after that, but she didn't.

She continued to work at her craft, and continued to speak out - so much so that politics is a taboo subject when she goes home for a visit.

Melanie works with the Russo Marsh & Rogers public relations firm especially on political campaigns for conservative candidates; she ran "Truth Tours" to Iraq to provide mainstream Americans another view of that war, one not pre-edited by the mainstream media.

She was right in the middle of the movement to recall California Gov. Gray Davis, and from that effort became chairwoman of Move America Forward, which has taken on Cindy Sheehan and lent its considerable communications prowess to the Gathering of Eagles vigil. Morgan is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS, she has appeared on the BBC and in newspapers and broadcasts worldwide.

She spearheaded the 'You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy!' tour along with Blue Star Marine mom Deborah Johns, who appeared with her in DC, she is a columnist for WorldNetDaily, and co-author with Catherine Moy of the book American Mourning: The Intimate Story of Two Families Joined by War, Torn by Beliefs.

In the midst of this whirlwind of activity she also is a devoted wife and mother, and here is one of the great secrets of her devotion to the troops and freedom. She is known to pour thousands of dollars of her own money into the causes that need her, in addition to not taking payment for her efforts. She draws no salary from Move America Forward for instance.

Why? Well this may seem simplistic in today's media environment but she is absolutely fierce in her determination that today's generation of veterans "will never go through what the Vietnam Veterans did."

She sees far too many comparisons between Vietnam and the War on Terror, all in the area of the media misreporting or ignoring the military successes, while attempting to foster an aura of doom and defeatism that will lead to premature withdrawal and another tragedy such as occurred in Southeast Asia when the communists slaughtered millions of innocents.

"I consider it my responsibility to speak for people who aren't on TV, aren't on the radio and don't have a column."

She has no use whatsoever for Rules of Engagement in a war where the other side has no rules. "They need to kill people and break things," she says of our troops, not be hamstrung by politics.

She realizes that much of what she does will never endear her to a certain segment of the American political scene. When the New York Times revealed secret tactics and programs America was using in the War on Terror, she called for editor Bill Keller to be tried and face execution if convicted.

The left reacted with feigned horror, but many Middle Americans agreed with her.

One might expect that with all of her background and commitment that she would be a frequent visitor to the White House or a trusted ally to administration heavyweights. Wrong!

"I don't have Karl Rove's number on my speed dial, I don't even know it, or his email address for that matter," she notes. And, like many other Americans, she wonders why the administration is so lacking when it comes to getting the truth out to Middle America, when so much of what the left is reporting comes down to sound bites, political rhetoric or outright lies.

She is used to being a target for the left, and discounts virtually all of the barbs thrown at her from that side. "We have ignorant and ill-prepared people dictating the reporting on Iraq," Melanie states.

But she also reveals that she has been discouraged by some of the things said by others who claim to share her political beliefs. "It is most hurtful when your own side criticizes you."

In that vein, it also was noticed all across the veteran spectrum that many of the people we regularly see on TV, claiming to support the troops and speak for Middle America, were nowhere to be found on March 17 at the Gathering of Eagles vigil. It was noted all across that same spectrum that the majority of the media coverage focused on the pro-terrorist marchers and virtually ignored the GOE even though our turnout far exceeded the other side.

But it was also noticed the Melanie Morgan was there, along with Deborah Johns, syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, and a solid core of Americans who are fed up with our country being bashed, undermined and sold out. The media darlings and politicians, with the exception of California Congressman John T. Doolittle, all had something else to do that day.

But Melanie Morgan was there that day, visible, engaged and effective. And you can expect to see her continue to advocate for America and its military for, well, as she puts it, "As long as I have a breath left in my body."

Can someone give me a reasonable, rational explanation as to why the United States of America and a handful of our allies continue to adhere to the dictates of the Geneva Convention, while virtually every enemy we have faced in the last 100 years has not?

Can someone explain to me why our troops are killed, wounded, and taken prisoner time after time by inhuman butchers, in the most recent case the Iranians, whose only real life contact with the Geneva Convention is to use it as toilet paper?

We even have troops who have been, and are, held in deplorable conditions by our own country and charged with crimes against civilians that could result in the death penalty or life in prison upon conviction, on what often is the flimsiest of evidence, including 'eyewitness' testimony from people who won't actually be available for cross examination. Meanwhile the people they are fighting routinely brutalize civilians as means to achieving victory, and are applauded for their tenacity by the World Terrorist Media!

As a brief history lesson, rules governing the wartime conduct of opposing forces that eventually became the First Geneva Convention, were proposed in 1859 after a battle between French and Austrian forces. The convention was inspired by Swiss businessman Henri Dunant, who witnessed the suffering of thousands of wounded soldiers during the bloody battle. Dunant noted that there was no methodology to call a truce so each side could retrieve and care for their wounded, who often were left on the battlefield to die.

The cause was taken up in the United States by Clara Barton who is credited with founding the American Red Cross in 1881, and on the international scene by the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, that later became the International Red Cross. The First Geneva Convention was signed in 1864 by 16 European countries.

Since then the convention has been revisited three additional times, adding provisions for treatment of sailors and others at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians caught in the world's conflicts. From the original 16 countries that signed on, the Geneva Convention now boasts 194 participating countries.

Isn't that nice? And we can see that the dictates of the convention are applied universally everywhere we look, can't we?

Let's see, the convention stopped Germany from using mustard gas and other weapons of mass destruction in WWI. Oops, no, sorry.

Then there was Germany in WWII expanding its use of gas to slaughter millions of Jews and Eastern Europeans. No, sorry, not that either. How about the Japanese? Did the Geneva Convention prevent the rape of Nanking, the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the use of civilians as laborers and sex slaves in the most brutal of conditions? Nope, sorry. Buzz bombs on London? Nope.

How about the Chinese and North Korean communists during the Korean War? The convention really put a crimp on their mistreatment of POWs didn't it? Similar to the restraints practiced by the North Vietnamese Communists and Viet Cong in their handling of POWs and civilians, right?

Wrong again. Actually I shouldn't go too hard on the Vietnamese communists. There is a provision in the GC whereby countries can say they agree with it but submit a document listing exceptions to its provisions. The Vietnamese communists filed a laundry list of exceptions that basically gave them what they already had, the right to act like inhuman butchers on the battlefield and in their POW camps.

And then there was the first Iranian hostage crisis. 444 days of inhumanity, that ended only when former president jimmy carter was tossed out of office and Ronald Reagan was sworn in. Reagan had made no bones about his intentions if our people were still held hostage once he became president. So the leader of the alleged Iranian 'students' who attacked our embassy, now-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, known here as Green Bean Almondine, let them go as fast as he could turn the key on their prison cells.

Then there was the Iraqi attack on Kuwait, the ongoing slaughter all across the African continent, Chinese invasions of neighboring countries in the Himalayas, Russian invasions Eastern European countries during the cold war, resulting in the slaughter of millions of innocents, the Cambodian communists, the Vietnamese communists, the Cuban communists, hell, communists everywhere. The list of offenses is longer than the number of countries that have signed this feel-good document.

And now we're back where we were in 1980, with Green Bean Almondine again taking hostages, holding them under deplorable conditions, using them for propaganda, and violating the convention in both letter and spirit. Is anything happening to him? Nope.

Can anyone tell me, with the exception of Nazi Germany and to a lesser extent Japan after WWII, where any country has actually been punished for violating the Geneva Convention?

What is really ridiculous is language in the GC that says anyone who signed it has to adhere to it, even if they are fighting an enemy that didn't sign it. It says, "Although one of the Powers in conflict may not be a party to the present Convention, the Powers who are parties thereto shall remain bound by it in their mutual relations. They shall furthermore be bound by the Convention in relation to the said Power, if the latter accepts and applies the provisions thereof."

I have only a general idea what that last sentence means, but I put it in there for comic relief. I mean, only a diplomat and/or a lawyer would put language like that in any document.

I am not advocating that the world's armies be degraded to barbarian status. But I am advocating common sense in applying rules to combatants. Remember, the first rule of warfare is to defeat the enemy by any means, fair or foul, and come home alive. Everything after that is superfluous.

In reality, even though the nations of the world sign the Geneva Convention, most of those who believe that human rights apply everywhere but their countries don't adhere to it, and never intended to adhere to it. They like to send their diplomats to the Untied Nations, where they can sip their champagne and munch their caviar, and convince each other that they are heads and shoulders above the huddled masses that represent the rest of humanity.

And there they will talk about the convention, and whether someone is violating it. If they decide after considerable deliberation that someone is in violation they will harrumph, and posture and pose, and talk. They may even dash off a sternly worded note to be delivered through diplomatic channels expressing their 'outrage.' But there it stops.

The end comes when the diplomats are faced with actually doing something. Because what they do is nothing. They posture, and pose, and congratulate each other on being world leaders and humanists, but they will never, ever, be at the point of a spear or the broken end of a bottle.

They will send other people to do their dirty work for them, and occasionally they will engineer the arrest of their own soldiers on trumped up violations of the rules, to show that they are serious about being good humanists and that the rules apply to their (our) country as well as everyone else. But they will never, ever put their own bodies, careers or well being, or those of their friends, families and associates, at risk. Never. Ever.

Because they really believe they are heads and shoulders above the rest of humanity, and they are constantly in the company of others who feel the same way, and they all repeat this to each other as often as necessary to keep themselves from dealing with reality.

I have a suggestion. I think that any country that wants to sign the Geneva Convention must require all of its diplomats, ambassadors and support personnel to serve in the military, in line infantry or combat support positions, such as artillery, helicopters and the like, as lower ranking enlisted men, in a war zone, in combat, before they can work in international relations.

I believe that anyone who is going to be signing away the lives and rights of the people who are doing the fighting, must have been fighters themselves first. I bet that either one of two things will happen as a result.

Either the Geneva Convention will be scrapped as unworkable and unenforceable, or they will come up with a clear, inviolate method of punishing any country that engages in the type of inhuman, Neanderthal behavior that the Iranians and now displaying. Say as in level their capitol city, and render it uninhabitable for three thousand years.

Any takers?

Somewhere in Iran 15 British sailors and Marines, including one woman, are living in constant fear for their lives.

Somewhere in Iran, every single second of every single day is an eternity of uncertainty for those 15 captives who were taken at gunpoint in international waters, as they were checking shipping for arms smugglers.

Pundits are saying that the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, known in this column as Green Bean Almondine, is thumbing his nose at the Untied Nations in general and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in particular. His dislike for Blair is said to be payback for Blair's unwavering support for President George Bush and the war in Iraq, and a going away present as Blair winds down his time in public office.

Meanwhile, the diplomats talk. Meanwhile the diplomats sit around their teak paneled board rooms, tended to by platoons of aides and attendants, sipping brandy from snifters that would cost an average person a month's pay and 'seek solutions.' Meanwhile, FOX News is reporting that a small gathering of Iranian 'students' some of whom must be in their third childhoods from the looks of it, are chanting 'Death To Britain' and 'Death to America.' But they aren't students and the crowd can become just as big or as small as Green Bean wants it to be, because he is pulling the strings in Iran, and he is pulling the strings across the globe.

And the diplomats talk.

And while they talk, and then adjourn for coffee, and talk some more, and adjourn for lunch, and talk some more and adjourn for dinner and the theater, 15 British sailors and Marines are living on a razor blade, not knowing from one minute til the next whether they will be brutalized, sodomized, starved and tortured. They don't know what will happen to them, but they sure as hell know what can happen to them, because they are held hostage by some of the sickest, most depraved, inhuman monsters on earth.

Proof of this is evident in the videos that some of the hostages have already made saying they were guilty of trespassing and spying on Iran. These people aren't cream puffs, they have received excellent training and have the highest level skills. They wouldn't be making those videos unless they already had been subjected to extreme abuse, or threatened with abuse, and believe those threats.

Only Rosie O'Donnell is lower on the scale of human existence than the Persian butchers who are holding these sailors and Marines hostage.

I have a question. How long do you think it would take to resolve this latest crisis if the military hostages were traded for a bunch of paunchy, soft, pampered diplomats and international businessmen? How long do you think this would last if people who measure their 'manhood' by their ability to negotiate 'win-win' solutions were being held, and had to face the reality that if you resort to negotiations with a cretin like Green Bean and his cronies there is no 'win-win.' There is only lose.

If this feels like deja vu, it is because it is happening all over again. Green Bean was there in 1979 when American president jimmy carter was publicly humiliated, and shown to be a spineless caricature of a leader. We were in a diplomatic box back then because until Green Bean's fundamentalist Islamic revolution took over, Iran had been an ally, and had allowed us to maintain electronic listening posts on the border with the former Soviet Union. So we had ties there, and we had a history. But that went down in flames the day carter ordered the American Marines to lay down their arms and surrender.

We were in a box because of our dependence on oil, and particularly our dependence on foreign oil. And it seems familiar now because we are back in the same box.

Back then there was a potential military solution and not that joint-service snafu of a so-called rescue mission that went up in flames in the Iranian desert. The military solution then was the same one that exists now, lay waste to that punk and his followers and stop this interminable talk that produces nothing.

But the military solution also requires a civilian leader with a backbone, if not gonads, who has the courage not just to stand up to a pipsqueak street punk - Green Bean Almondine - but the oil barons whose thirst for profits and refusal to allow development of alternative energy sources assured that we would never move one inch forward from where we stood in 1973, the year of the first Arab Oil Embargo. We had the technology in the 60s to substantially increase the mileage that motor vehicles get from gasoline, and we did nothing with it.

We had the research facilities and scientific skills to produce a plethora of alternative energy sources, not to replace oil, but to supplement it. But we did nothing. If some information I've seen on the Internet is true, the oil barons actively discouraged development of alternative energy sources whenever they appeared promising.

Oh, I know what they are going to say about the newest hostage crisis. The military people knew what they were getting into, they signed up for this, they have no grounds for complaints because being a POW goes with the territory. Don't like it? Deal with it, the oil barons will say.

Keep the oil flowing, keep the profits flowing, keep my stocks up and my gas prices down.

To which I respond, screw you.

People don't join the military to be pawns in international games of chance. They don't join the military to keep diplomats and business tycoons in positions of wealth, power and privilege. They don't join, and learn how to use a vast array of weaponry, to be restrained by unworkable, unthinkable rules of engagement that allow enemy forces to walk right up to them, disarm them, and kidnap them with no recourse.

They join the military to stand up for the rest of us, those who understand and value the freedoms that western democracies all too often take for granted. And they expect to be able to use their training, skills and weaponry, not to be told to put them all on the shelf while they are tortured and humiliated.

Strike that last word. The hostages aren't the ones being humiliated. Tony Blair and George Bush are being humiliated because neither of them did anything to wean our countries from oil dependence, thus setting the stage for an international madman who is little more than a glorified street punk to once again mock us and make us dance like puppets on a string. And now, all they are doing is talking, and they aren't even talking tough.

Want to know how Hitler rose to power? Watch Green Bean. He is no different, nor is the international response to him.

It is way past time to do something about this jerk. It is way past time to send a few rockets up his nose, and those of the top 10 percent of his closest allies.

But we also have other issues here. Green Bean has been sold the latest in air defense weaponry by the Russians, who you can bet, have had access to the secrets of our stealth technology that were stolen by the Chinese. The Russians want to see us get into it with Green Bean to see if we have developed a way around that, and to give us the inconvenience of another front in the War on Terror while we are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Russian leaders are not our friends. They are working behind the scenes on this to pay us back for setting up their defeat in Afghanistan. And the Chinese are sitting back watching the show and laughing their asses off.

Meanwhile the diplomats talk.

Meanwhile 15 British sailors and Marines are living every second of every minute on the sharp edge of a razor not knowing what the next second will bring, while their families and friends are powerless to help them.

Meanwhile the oil barons and business tycoons continue to amass profits. Meanwhile the diplomats talk.