NEW YORK CITY, NY -- The New York Times has been known as a Liberally biased publication, but last week they went too far. Last Thursday the paper, which has been suffering from declining circulation rates, placed an article on the front page assassinating the character of John McCain.

The Times implied, through a series of shady and vague innuendos, that the Arizona Senator may have had a relationship with a female lobbyist that possibly turned romantic. The problem with the paper’s credibility is the fact that the two “sources” they use remain anonymous, plus it is stated that they do not like John McCain.

The Presidential candidate, who will most likely receive the Republican nomination, quickly responded to the apparent smear campaign with a news conference. “Obviously I'm very disappointed in the article, and it's not true. This is a very disappointing event, to pick up the paper this morning, actually, to hear last night that this story was going to be appearing after months of inquiries from The New York Times.” McCain said, with his wife by his side.

Former Speaker of The House Newt Gingrich told Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor “Oh, I think deliberate character assassination…I think The New York Times is a hard-left publication desperate to defeat the Republicans. And I think that they're quite prepared to use their news pages [to do this]…”

What is so strange about the whole ordeal is that in January, The Times endorsed McCain for the Republican nomination. Although this does not hide the fact that they have been head of the cheer squad for the Democrats where the print press is concerned, and obviously do not want John McCain to be President.

An interesting fact which eludes to the Liberal Bias of the paper is that when Bill Clinton had his “situation” with Monica Lewinsky and also when he was accused of rape, neither of those stories took a front-page position on The New York Times. And in those cases, there was actually evidence! This newest smear is strictly a hit job.

It is out duty to give Mr. McCain the benefit of the doubt here, in a situation that is denied by both him and the lobbyist in question. Especially when the only two who can attest to it admit they do not like the man.

On the other side of the aisle, this latest smear became the topic of questions at the most recent Democratic debate. Mostly the candidates stayed quiet, saying what they should. A good example was Hillary Clinton on The Today Show.

“One moment during the debate last night, you alluded to a very personal crisis in your own life involving infidelity. So I want to ask you your opinion of what Senator McCain is going through now.” Host Meredith Vieira asked the Former First Lady.

Mrs. Clinton responded very professionally, understanding that since she had no personal connection or knowledge of this case, there was no need for her to speculate. “Well, I'm not going to comment on that. You know, Senator McCain is a friend of mine. I respect his service to our country.”

The funny thing about the whole ordeal is that the reason the paper did this was to knock down John McCain, but (I am sure much to their dismay) the day following the hit job was the biggest donation earning day for the McCain campaign. This allows me to make the conjecture that Americans are smart enough to know the truth from a sloppy so-called journalistic organization attempting a character assassination.

On a crisp September morning, America stood silent, watching as two iconic New York City buildings crumbled to the floor. At that moment we knew, each and every one of us, that something needed to be done.

Fast forward seven years, and we are in a whole new America. We are an America at war. We are an America in economic disaster. And we are an America enduring the most controversial Presidential Election in recent history. But more than all of that, we are an America divided.

In the days following the September 11 attacks, America stood strong together. At that time we had to act on the intelligence we had, and at that time our intelligence said that Al Qaeda was in Iraq and that Weapons of Mass Destruction were being prepped for possible use against us.

We reacted in the best way possible, and we went to war. It turned out that the intelligence indicated the WMDs may have been flawed, and speculation has commenced that Al Qaeda may have not been in Ira before we were.

But none of that matters anymore. You can say all day that we shouldn’t have gone, that Iraq was a mistake, that we shouldn’t be there. But the truth of the matter is, we are there, and we cannot act carelessly.

If we were to commence in immediate pullout we would have disaster, both here and abroad. We have gone into a country (a move I still support) and taken out its only form of leadership, a ruthless dictator who deserved to die.

We have, in the process, created chaos, as roadside explosions and religion-induced suicide bombers are as common as baseball and apple pie is here. We can’t just say “Our intelligence was flawed when we destroyed your country, but screw you guys, we’re out of here”

All that would do is leave Iraq to the terrorists, allowing them a safe place to build their regimes and conduct another 9/11 style attack on us. We cannot afford this mistake, yet that is exactly what the Democrats want to do.

The Democratic Party seems to stand for terrorism these days. This became more evident yesterday, when the FISA Bill expired. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was created to allow the Government to listen to high risk communications which have a good chance of being terror-involved.

When it passed a while back, the Democrats cried foul. They said it was an invasion of privacy and a move to take away the rights of American Citizens. How about my right to be protected? That is more important to me than the right of not having the Government know when I am going to my Grandma’s house for a family reunion.

They are right that we have rights which we need protected, but they are lacking a sense of priority. Personally, I don’t care if George Bush listens to every phone call I make himself, if it can help prevent a terrorist attack.

These people need to be more logical. The Government is not going to listen to every conversation about a dinner date, a break up, or the local bake sale. They don’t care if you are taking little Johnny to the park for a play date, or ordering that thing you saw on TV.

They care about protecting us so we can do those things. Because if we can’t use every tool possible to prevent an attack, then Johnny won’t see his friend ever again. No one will know that you make the best cup cakes in a hundred mile radius. Because you can’t do anything if you are the victim of another attack.

We already know that Iran is supporting the terrorists in Iraq who are killing our troops, by providing Iraqi militants with weapons and armor. We also know that President Bush has called the country the “leading state sponsor of terror”.

So why is our tax money going to help this volatile nation? With US officials already calling for American people and business to not do business with Iran, The World Bank seems to think they are above that plea.

Millions of hard earned American green which is being taken through taxes and given to The World Bank is in turn being handed over to Iran to assist in the building of their industrial and natural gas sectors.

The reason they are allowed to do this is because of one of their many programs (The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency) which guarantees help for developing nations. And since the United States is one of the largest contributors to this program ($24 Million since 2000) it is our money that is going to Iran.

The problem comes when you realize that the US and The United Nations is actively trying to reduce foreign transactions with Iran, especially in their energy sector. And the disgusting thought is created that our money is (in a way) purchasing armor and weapons for the people we are fighting against.

The way the program works is that the bank guarantees investing companies in countries like Japan protections against the risk of "war and civil disturbance," and any potential breach of contract by the government of Iran.

And it gets worse, in many other instances (too many to document here) our money is going to people who in turn use it to support Iran. This at a time when US officials warn any help given to the country could aide in its nuclear and ballistic missile systems.

And according to US Representatives Steve Rothman (D - N.J.), and Mark Kirk (R - Ill.) — a former Bank staffer — the global lending institution has "transferred at least $50 million in U.S. and allied taxpayer funding to Iran" over the last six months.

In a letter to Secretary of State Rice Rothman and Kirk argued the World Bank is "undermining the Iran policies of the U.N. Security Council, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States by giving technical assistance, loans and investment guarantees directly to the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

The letter urges the Bush administration to "align the World Bank board to the policy" of the U.N. Security Council, by suspending all World Bank loans to Iran and all guarantees on foreign investment in the country.

But it is still unclear weather or not the bank even cares that they are helping a country which is actively trying to kill Americans, although a spokesman insists that the assistance will soon end, "There are no plans to approve any new loans to Iran. These loans ... were designed to help Iran's poorest people and meet basic humanitarian needs."

But I wonder about the basic humanitarian needs of American soldiers, who are being killed by weapons created by a country that is getting support from US tax money.

FOX News contributed to this report.

With the American economy slipping, and increasingly audible whispers about a recession occurring more often, people are wondering what we should do to milk the dying market.

In the last quarter of 2007 the FED cut the interest rate for the first time in a long time, in hopes that this would stimulate the economy. They were wrong and since then they have lowered this key rate three more times.

The last time was just a couple of weeks ago when Chairman Ben Bernake and company made an emergency drop in the interest rate by three-quarters of a percent - the biggest drop since 1984.

This most recent drop left the rate at a record low of 3.5%, but with the economy still fading, more drastic action is needed. In response to this need, President Bush announced a plan to create a $150 Billion Stimulus.

The idea behind a Stimulus (to put it simply) is to put more money in the pockets of the tax payers, which allows them to spend more in other areas of the economy, and thus strengthening it.

The idea earned nearly complete bipartisan support, and a bill has begun the drafting process in the House. But this Stimulus package still does not erase the state of our economy, which leaves people wondering who to blame.

George W. Bush is the easy target, as he is with everything. The so-called “Bush Derangement Syndrome” has caused people to blame our President for practically everything bad that happens. You burn your toast, and it’s Bush’s fault!

But unfortunately for the people who have fallen victim to this nasty disease, it is not Bush’s fault that our economy is on its knees grasping for breath. In fact, one man cannot bury the economy single handedly.

But that being said, you have to understand, the economy moves slow. Changes take quite some time to take affect, so in essence we are actually seeing the after effects of the Clinton Administration.

Just like we won’t see weather or not the Stimulus really works until we are well into the next administration. And as President Bush prepares his final State of The Union Address, and as we walk in and out of the voting booths, we must all bear this in mind.

It seems now that every time you turn on the TV, the computer, or the Radio you find another story of child abuse, drug use, murders, rapes, and the like. It seems more and more like our culture, and the way we do things, is fast deteriorating.

And even though most of the news is dominated by the vast and controversial Presidential Election, it does not mean that these terrible things are not still happen. It just means they are being hidden by the cloud of Primaries and speeches, it just means that we don’t hear about them.

But they are happening. Take for instance this recent story out of Newmarket, New Hampshire. A woman left a posting on the popular classified ad website Craig’s List posting her baby up for lease.

The ad, which was removed within 19 minutes of being posted due to obvious terms of use violations, read: "My daughter is almost 1-year-old and is driving me nuts... if you have always wanted a child of your own and you either (expletive) or can't get approved for adoption then this is you,"

Ridiculously it continued, "I am somewhat flexible on the terms of the lease. If you decide you would like to purchase the child at the end of the lease, all baby cloths and toys that I have are included in the final sale price,"

Now you would say that it sounds like a joke. Leasing babies? Why you ought to be mad! But police in the New Hampshire town are not taking this lightly, and have in fact launched a full investigation into weather or not this is true or just a hoax.

One more story which proves undoubtedly the miserable state our culture is in. Coming out of Bayou La Batre, Alabama: a search began January 8 after prosecutors said Lam Luong, a 37-year-old native of Vietnam, broke down and confessed to driving his four children to a two-lane bridge and throwing them into the waters after arguing with his wife,.23-year-old Kieu Phan.

Later, after being arrested, he recanted his story claiming that two Asian women took the kids and never returned them. Devastated, the mother and other family members hoped that closure would come if all four bodies were found.

And it looks like they might have that closure, as the body of an Asian child was found about 10 a.m. in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana by two vessels who contacted Coast Guard officials, who then took the body to Venice, Louisiana.

Once the body is given to medical examiners, it will be confirmed weather or not this is indeed the final child of the four young siblings, but until then the search of the waters has been ceased.

Say goodbye to the carefree times of the fifties, because the way things are going now, it doesn’t look like we will see them again anytime soon. Our good culture here in America, and all around the World, is sadly and tragically being ripped apart by purveyors of all sorts of sick and disgusting acts.

Straits of Hormuz, Persian Gulf -- A few days ago a three-ship convoy of U.S. Naval Warships was passing through this area of international waters, when it is alleged that a number of high speed Iranian boats came dangerously close to the ships, harassing them.

President Bush called the act “provocative” and even U.S. Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf, told Bush that he took the event “deadly seriously”.

This coming after the Navy reports it fired warning shots at Iranian boats in a similar incident in December, one of two serious encounters that month. But Iran has denied the event, even though the Pentagon released video tape of the alleged harassment.

"Some political factions in the U.S. are pursuing adventurism to help Bush to spread Iran-phobia in the region," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini

said at a weekly press conference. "U.S. officials should apologize to Iran, regional countries and the American people."

In the 36 minute video released on Friday, it is clear that the boats were indeed too close to the Warships, and it confirms that this was an active threat. The Iranians reportedly threw boxes into the water, triggering concerns of potential mine threats.

When listening to the United States video documentary of the situation on the high seas, you hear a voice (allegedly that of someone on one of the Iranian boats) saying “I am coming to you” and “You will explode…after minutes”. The Warships readied their weapons, in case the need arose to defend themselves.

Iranian officials are still persistent that the situation never happened, claiming that the U.S. fabricated the whole thing. A five-minute video released by Iran shows a man speaking into a handheld radio, with three U.S. ships floating in the distance. That footage did not show any Iranian boats approaching the U.S. vessels nor any provocation.

But this of course confirms that Iranian boats were in the vicinity, which begs the question why? And is it not more possible that Iran fabricated their video before or even after the actual event took place?

The latest incident caused the Pentagon to release more detailed information concerning the two other run-ins in December. The USS Whidbey Island fired the warning shots on December 19 in response to a small Iranian boat which was rapidly approaching.

Three days later, the USS Carr encountered three small Iranian craft, two of which were armed, said an anonymous Navy official. The USS Carr did not fire warning shots but sent warning blasts on the ships whistle, which caused the boats to turn around.

These three events have only heighten the tension between the U.S. and Iran, a known state sponsor of terrorism, who is providing the weapons being used to kill American soldiers in Iraq. Even though it has been learned that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons at this time, these situations have added greater risk of the possibility of confrontation.

In this volatile area of the world, we can’t be too safe, and we must take every precaution necessary to protect the lives of American’s. It is only more clear that terrorism is alive and well on this Earth, which is especially frightening at a time where the Chief of the U.S. Military says he favors closing down Guantanamo Bay Prison, because of the “bad publicity” it gives America.

Well I am sorry, but I think I am willing to take the “bad publicity” if it means making it easier to get information which saves the lives of our Soldiers, and leads to quicker and more secure convictions of terror criminals then would happen if they were prosecuted here, and allowed to tie up our legal system.

We need to continue to look at all options regarding Iran, and keep a close eye on them in the near future. Because at this time you never know what will happen, so you have to be as ready as you can.

NOTE: WHEN I FIRST BEGAN WRITING THIS COLUMN I DECIDED TO DO IT EVERY WEDNESDAY AND FOR A WHILE IT WORKED BUT THEN, DUE TO TIME ZONE CHANGES GIVING ME THREE LESS HOURS A DAY TO GET IT DONE, AND MY BEING EXTREMELY BUSY, I HAD TROUBLE MEETING THIS DEADLINE. I HAVE DECIDED TO NOW POST NEW COLUMNS EVERY WEEKEND, EITHER SATURDAY OR SUNDAY, WHEN I HAVE MORE TIME AND AM NOT SPENDING TOO MUCH ENERGY ON THE BLACK & WHITE REPORT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE IN WAITING FOR MY FIRST COLUMN OF THE NEW YEAR (I HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY AND TOOK SOME TIME OFF AROUND THE HOLIDAY), WHICH WILL BE POSTED THIS COMING WEEKEND. I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE, AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT.

NOTE: EVEN THOUGH THE HOTTEST TOPIC RIGHT NOW IS THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES AND ELECTION NEWS, I HAVE DECIDED NOT TO WRITE COLUMNS ABOUT IT (AT LEAST AT THIS TIME). THIS IS BECAUSE I FEEL THAT YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD ALL THERE IS TO HEAR ABOUT THIS SUBJECT, AND I WANT TO CONTINUE PUBLISHING INSIGHTFUL COLUMNS WITH FRESH INFORMATION. IF YOU WOULD LIKE COMPLETE ELECTION COVERAGE, PLEASE POINT YOUR BROWSER TO MY BLOG AT HTTP://BWREPORT.BLOGSPOT.COM/. THANK YOU.

As the last reminders of Summer shut the door and we are left in the chilled room of Autumn, we finally realize one thing: the year is almost through. And then, it doesn’t take long before Thanksgiving is here and we all settle down to our turkey dinners in remembrance of what we are thankful for.

Once we wake up from our tryptophan-induced slumbers, many have already raided the local Department stores in anticipation for the biggest holiday of the year, which we now realize is next in the queue.

Black Friday. Named because of the millions of people who force themselves out of bed, full of more food then they’ve eaten all year, and rush to the local Target, Macy’s, or Best Buy only to discover that there is already a line which began forming the night before (or in some cases, a few nights before).

They say more money is exchanged on this day than on any other, and once the sane people who stay in bed awake, we know that Christmas is on its way.

Christmas is my favorite holiday, the season surrounding it being the all time best. With the warm, fire side chats and gallons of hot cocoa, who couldn’t love it? All the lights and decorations pleasing your eyes, and your sense of smell being set off by the fragrant trees perched about.

The good thing about this Christmas, which we can say now that it is behind us, was that the Culture War against the holiday and its many indications has greatly subsided since it began a few years ago. I didn’t hear about any main retailers ordering their employees not to say “Merry Christmas” and I only saw a few small scuffles over what to call Christmas trees, or weather to even put them up.

That being said, this season was not free of a little battle. For example, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts the local selectmen decided that the cities traditional Christmas lights had to be dimmed in an attempt to slow “Global Warming”. The ridiculous part of this is that we don’t even know if we are causing Global Warming (or if it’s even happening).

If, in fact, we are the cause of it; a few Christmas Lights are not going to make that big of a dent. I put ‘Christmas’ in italics because the selectmen, when confronted by The O’Reilly Factor (FOX News Channel) producer Jesse Waters, wouldn’t even call the lights ‘Christmas Lights’; they would only refer to them as ‘Holiday Lights’. That is absurd.

Another place, however, that we saw the essence of Christmas not being withheld was in the traditional Presidential Candidates Christmas Ads. Many of the people said “Merry Christmas” (albeit that some attached a “Happy Holidays” as well) and overall they were pretty good ads.

First, I will talk about the Democrats. Of all that I saw I would have to say Barack Obama’s was the best; him and his family were sitting in a warm room wishing the American public a joyous season. I thought that it was wise to bring his personal side out and to have his kids there wishing us a happy holiday.

John Edwards, as in most things he tries, failed. You could barely see the “Christmas Tree” behind him and all he did was ramble on with his scripted “Two Americas” propaganda in an attempt to brainwash the American people into voting for him. And if you think I’m a little hard on Edwards, you’re right, because I have the right to be a little hard on people who are hypocrites.

Even though John gave his whole scripted thing about poor people and how he “speaks for them” at least he focused on one topic and how he felt about it, not like Hillary Clinton whose whole ad involved her putting the tags on gifts to the American people. The gifts were things like “Universal Healthcare”, “Bringing the troops home” and “Universal Pre-K”.

That being said, I don’t think it was such a bad idea to just list off her ideas. It got a lot out there without getting too detailed for a Christmas Ad. And I must say it was a bit clever.

And on the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani chose a similar idea as Hillary when he lists off his ideas for America in a short but sweet way. Although, he didn’t just list them, because while sitting on a couch in a bright red sweater, he added some humor to the holiday by having Santa sitting by him. All in all it was a pretty good ad.

Then there was Huckabee, the man with a thousand tricks up his sleeve. At least magic is what I credit his sudden surge to, as there is no other viable explanation. His ad focused much more on the religious side of the season (which makes since seeing as how he is an ordained minister).

Some controversy arose, however, when a bookcase in the background formed the shape of a cross. I do think, despite the campaigns efforts at denial, that it was intentional but I don’t know if it was such a bad thing as the left is saying it is. He’s a faith-loving guy and has every right to show it, although I don’t think it will help him one bit in the general.

But of all the Republican ads that I saw, I would have to say John McCain’s was the best. I, like many others, wrote him off in the beginning because he took stances which were too far away from the Conservative base of the Republican party. But as with many good racing horses, when he comes around the been for the second time and you get a good look at him, sometimes you see something you hadn’t seen before.

I think this is happening with McCain, because now we have him rising slightly in the polls and many saying that he is possibly the best choice at defeating a Democrat as opposed to Giuliani. I still lay my bet with the former New York City Mayor, but I am gaining more trust in McCain, and after this ad a lot more respect.

That is because his ad tells a riveting story from his time as a POW in the Vietnam war. Whilst emotional music pays in the background and heartfelt images being slowly panned by on screen,. John tells a story about a Christmas he spent in captivity.

He talks about a guard who, in response to the usually happy season, loosened the ropes which bound him and drew a cross in the sand. I thought it was a clever and unique approach which made me really think, and that’s why he gets my vote for best Christmas Ad this year.

I am glad that I ended that analysis talking about the military because that’s what I wanted to talk about next. The Christmas season is a time for friends, family and fun. A time to be happy and rejoice as the new year brings (hopefully) more good times. But for those brave men and women serving our countries overseas, they don’t get that.

That don’t get the family and the dinner at home because they are fighting for our freedom. And despite the loony propaganda being driven by the left in this country, they continue to put their best effort fourth in turning the situation around. They are honorable, and as I said in my Thanksgiving column, deserve all the respect we can muster.

So Merry Christmas America! And as this is my last column before the new year, Happy New Year. I look forward to another year of happiness and good times, and hopefully 52 more insightful columns as well as many blog posts. I am anticipating good results in the presidential election, and looking forward to seeing the situation overseas get better and better. I hope you all had a good holiday season, and I’ll see you in ‘08. Merry Christmas!

With the year 2007 rapidly coming to a close, and the new year promising to be controversial and filled with non-stop excitement, it is time to review the last 12 months. A lot has happened this year, but it is now time to choose the most influential; to award the best, and call out the worst.

TIME Magazine, as always, has decided on its “Person of The Year”. They chose Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is no secret that Putin has made the news, or that he has been an interesting and provocative man this year, but are there better choices?

FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly covered this on his show, The O’Reilly Factor. He believes that instead of Putin, the “Person of The Year Award” should go to General David Petraeus who, in a matter of months, and with limited resources, turned the once devastatingly solemn situation in Iraq around to the now winnable state it is in today.

Now it is time for me to reveal my pick for “Person of The Year”. After much consideration, I decided to agree with Mr. O’Reilly. David Petraeus is an honorable man and a hero. He took Iraq and made a complete 180, we now see the lowest amount of violence and death sense we invaded the country and peace is being restored in many areas.

Iraq is now beginning to look like something we have under control, we are gaining ground in the country, and it looks as though we may be able to count on a win after all. That is unless, of course, a Democrat comes into the White House in 2008 waving their ignorant hand and bringing an end to the War and allowing destruction to return.

That being said, even though there have been a number of good deeds completed and a number of good intentioned people like Mr. Petraeus, there are always those who are foolish and corrupt. Those who do nothing but weaken the foundations of our culture and cause mass havoc. These people are ninny hammers.

So now, it is time for me to reveal my pick for “Ninny Hammer of The Year”. I had to think long and hard about this one because there are many possible recipients. For example, the Liberal Media in its entirety, or Sean Penn (or any number of Hollywood blockheads who subscribe to anti-American hatred) who visits Hugo Chavez (another notable candidate), a known Bush hater and American foe.

But of all the numerous choices, I came to one final conclusion. This year’s “Ninny Hammer” is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad not only came into our country and expressed his anti-American views, but flat out lied by saying there are no homosexuals in Iran. This being so outrageously untrue, we can tell that the rumors are probably accurate depicting the murders of gays in Iran.

This cretin also has been providing weapons to Iraqi terrorists which allows them to continue to kill American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians. He has been promoting terrorism and fueling the war against America, all the while allowing us to believe he was creating nuclear weapons.

And even though it has been found that Iran stopped trying to produce nukes, they haven’t ceased enrichment of Uranium which means they are ready to restart production at anytime. Mr. Ahmadinejad is definitely a winning candidate for this title.

Overall, there have been good times and bad times this year, as with all years. We have seen the successful turnaround of Iraq, and the defeat of a frivolous Immigration Bill. But we have also seen hundreds of good Americans die, and our own Senators and Congressmen spew propaganda aimed at weakening the country they vow to protect.

And as the chapter 2007 comes to a close, we must remember the lives of those who won’t see 2008. Yet we must also anticipate the coming year and all it promises. From the election of a new President, to the possibility of an end to the war. It is impossible to tell what, good or bad, will come. But we, as America, must be ready to take the leap…to embark on this journey together.

Washington, D.C. --- New intelligence has been released which claims that Iran stopped trying to make nuclear weapons back in 2003. That is conveniently located around the same time the U.S. invaded Iraq. So, it is an acceptable conclusion to come to that Iran was afraid we would find out of their plans and attack them next.

Unfortunately for them, the plan failed, so badly in fact that we found out, and we didn’t even know they had stopped trying. Of course, this doesn’t mean Iran is no longer a threat, because even though they have supposedly stopped their attempts to construct a nuclear weapon, they are still enriching uranium which means they could resume construction very quickly, at any time, and without warning.

But now, people are saying that President Bush knew since this summer that Iran was not making Nukes, yet still tried to fill Americans with lies and tell them this could be World War Three. They think the President deliberately concealed facts from h is people in order to go to war with Iran…well they’re wrong.

It has been confirmed that Bush only found out about Iran’s cease of development last Wednesday, and he held a press conference shortly after. He is not concealing anything! He doesn’t want to go to war, he wants to do what’s best for the American people.

I am tired of these people who say that Bush and Cheney and other Conservatives want to go to war, that they are “pro-war”. Well, I’m sorry but nobody is “pro-war”. Nobody wants war. Bush didn’t wake up one morning and think “I want to go to war with Iraq!”. No!

We were attacked! And when we were attacked the President knew he had a choice to make: find the enemy, or let the enemy find us. He could have chosen not to go to war, but where would it have stopped? The attacks would have kept coming and coming until the enemy had infiltrated out country and the war began here…on out soil. And instead of Baghdad laying in ruins, it would have been Los Angeles, D.C., or New York City. He made the choice to go to war before the war came to him, and that was one choice we should all appreciate.

I talked before about Iran and the possibility of some military action, and if they continue to enrich uranium (something they don’t need to do) we will have talks. And if those talks fail to get anywhere, we may need to consider action. But until then we are somewhat safe, and we have some time to breathe.

This will also have an interesting impact on the Presidential Election. Republicans are worried that because of the situation in Ira and America’s attitude towards Bush, it is very likely that a Democrat will be elected in 2008. But, fortunately for the GOP, the Democrats are losing their key weapons in this election: Iran is turning around, there is no reason to initiate a war with Iran, and most Americans are on the Conservative side as far as Illegal Immigration goes. This election could end up being closer then first anticipated.

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving I starting to ponder the things I am thankful for. Of course, the first things which come to mind are: my friends, my family, having a roof over my head, being able to eat good meals three times a day, and the like.

Then, I began to consider what else I have to be thankful for, the things which I might not think about everyday, and I came to one which is more important than all. There is one thing that we, as Americans, should all be thankful for. This thing should unite us as one, and cause us to stand together. This thing is out troops.

Every single day, they put their lives on the line, and for what? For us. They get out there in the line of fire, risking everything, for us. And why? Because they care. They care about America, they care about Americans, and they care about our freedoms.

They know that what they are doing is noble, honorable, and brave. They know that they are protecting the people back home from terrorism, death and destruction. They are dying so that we can live. But do you ever think about that? Do you take time everyday to think about the great sacrifice these people make for you and your family?

Unless you have a family member who fought in The War on Terror, chances are you don’t. I am not saying that you never do, or that you are not thankful because you don’t think about it. What I am saying is that we go about our daily lives, taking for granted everything we have, everything that these people are giving us. Never stopping to thank them, or even really think about it.

So please, for a moment, try to put yourself in their shoes. Picture yourself being thousands of miles away from everything you know: your friends, your family, your house. You town, your car, your job. Your neighborhood Vons or Blue Bird Drive. Dinner with the people you love. And so much more.

Now, picture yourself in the middle of a war torn region of the desert. It is dark, it is dry. You walk, tired from the weight you carry in armor and ammo. You think you hear something so you stop. Almost piercing your eyes you try harder than ever to see something, anything which might reveal to you what to do next. You listen. The sound of the night, the sound of deathly quiet, hurts your head.

Then, when you think all is fine…gunshots. All around, piercing the once quiet night which you now regret mocking. You are in the middle of a firefight with no way to see the enemy. You duck down under something, you don’t know what. A friend from your unit is close enough so that you can barely make out the shape of his face. He nods and you know what he means. You roll out and open fire on anything, do everything you can to live.

Now, I want you to think about what it must feel like to have an experience like this. I want you to think about what it must feel like to go back to the base that night, knowing that half way around the globe your family is sitting down to a giant turkey dinner. They are laughing and having a great time and you can’t be there. But it’s okay, because you are doing a noble thing.

But at the end of the day, when you sit down at the aforementioned table, and it seems as though your piling more food onto your plate than you’ve eaten all year. When you smell the rich pool of gravy rolling down the side of your mashed potato mountain. The creamed corn oozing in all of its deliciousness, and the turkey, tender and tasty.

This is the time when you should think about them, if only for a moment. Think about what they are giving up so you can have this meal, so you can have your life. Think about it and be thankful, if only for a moment.

And I would urge those in congress and the lefties around the country, who would otherwise not give a damn in the world, to be thankful, if only for a moment. To put aside their conspiracy theories, and Bush Hatred Syndrome. To forget about time tables for withdrawal, and stop thinking about ways to undermine our President.

To care less about how they can cleverly weave armor and ammo out of the next war funding bill in an attempt to end something which can’t be ended just yet; or dress in pink and cause disruptions and otherwise peaceful proceedings. All in the name of what? Justice? Peace? Happiness? No! Nothing other than a fantasy ideology which, in their haste, they have created in an attempt to brainwash the American people into turning on the foundations of this country, and bite the hand which has fed them (and their ancestors) for over 200 years.

Please, think about them, the ones who have given you everything, and continue to do so everyday despite the weary attitude of some at home. If only for a moment, think about them, the ones who would do anything to save your sorry a-s if need be, regardless of anything you have said about them in the past.

And while your at it, please take advantage of a system set up by the Department of Justice in conjunction with wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile. By sending a FREE text message to the troops at number 89279 you can tell them yourself how thankful you are for their great service.

What have you got to lose? Nothing, it’s free, and it’s kind. Tell the people who have given up everything for you how much it means to you, and that although they can’t celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, you will do it for them. For you are thankful for them. And only minutes after sending a message you will receive heartfelt replies from actual soldiers in the field of battle, who wholeheartedly appreciate your kindness. This system will end tomorrow, so hurry!

The final word, then, is this. Happy Thanksgiving America! Seize the day for all it’s worth and be thankful, be thankful for what you have and how you got it. Be thankful for the things that matter right away, like your friends and family, for that’s a given. But also be thankful for the things that, while you don’t think of them right away, matter just as much as anything else. Those who fight for you.

Regardless of your position on the war, or what side of the partisan fence you stand on, this is a day for Americans to give thanks. And who better to give it to then those who allow us to call ourselves Americans. Happy Thanksgiving to all those who bravely serve this country in the Middle East and all around the world!

Where were you on September 11, 2001? What did you do? How did you feel when you first saw that gut wrenching, tear jerking video of a jumbo jet careening into the World Trade Center building at extremely high speeds?

It is impossible to forget the moment we found out, or where we were. No one will ever forget what they did that day, or how they felt. That’s because America was shaken…we were hit.

After the attacks on 9/11 we knew something needed to be done, we could not allow this to happen in our country again. So we thought about it, and we decided what to do. We went to war. We also, supposedly, greatly increased our security measures to prevent something so devastating from ever happening again.

Well now, I fear we are not doing enough. You will remember the panic that shot through airports nation wide, like the breaking of a window. All of the restrictions placed on passengers, the enhanced security checkpoints.

But now, the quality seems to have greatly deteriorated. In a covert test done recently, the TSA (Transportation Service Administration) attempted to sneak the makings of explosives and other dangerous products past airport security.

They succeeded, which is scary. Obviously something needs to be done to insure the safety of Americans. That being said, however, a TSA spokeswoman said that the test only examined 1 out of 19 layers of security, so just because they got through that one doesn’t mean they would get through the others.

But the madness doesn’t stop there. It has just been discovered (or disclosed) that a former FBI and CIA employee was actually a mole undercover for Hezbollah, a terrorist organization.

The woman has admitted today to fraud and stealing of classified information. 

And, on top of that, she was an illegal immigrant!

This is a failure, a failure on the part of the background checking systems used by the FBI and CIA. It is also a failure of the person who never gave her a polygraph, or if she was given one, the likely out of date machine.

This is ridiculous. A terrorist sympathizer has successfully infiltrated our national security and become a member of the Clandestine Service responsible for Middle Eastern covert operations.

How is it, that all that happened on that cloudy September morning back in 2001, has seemingly been forgotten? We all know that is impossible, but it looks like it occurred, because we have been breeched. Much like the problem posed by our lax views on illegal immigration, we are only setting ourselves up for disaster.

I have reported in the past about the Liberal Media, both in this column and on my blog. It is despicable. It is wrong. Just the though that someone purporting to be giving the news would blatantly and outright lie to the audience is sick. But it happens.

MSNBC is the most unsettlingly Liberal, consequently they are also the most dishonest. Last week Keith Olbdermann said on his show Countdown With Keith Olbermann that Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani thinks the Democrats would invite Osama Bin Laden to the White House.

That was a lie! Yet Olby told it, and continued to have a long and boisterous conversation about it with Arianna Huffington (founder of The Huffington Post). What’s worse is that directly before directing the former NYC Mayor, Olby played the clip in question in which Giuliani clearly said the name of the Syrian President Asad, not the missing leader of Al Qaeda.

I just could not believe that we are at a place in America where we play a video and then lie about what was in it, it is stupid! Now, to Mr. Olbermann’s credit, he did issue a correction/apology. However, he tried to put off all the blame on the Associated Press when he should have had the brains to watch the video he was going to play (or at least listen to it).

But don’t fear, he made up for the mistake by naming Giuliani the Worse, Worser, and Worst person in the world...all at once. Only one other person has every been able to pull that of, and that’s FOX News’ host of The O’Reilly Factor Bill O’Reilly.

And when I heard today that this same network was in negotiations with 9/11 conspiracy theorist Rosie O’Donnell I was livid. Why would you put someone so sick and far left, someone who said “Don’t fear the terrorists, they are mothers and fathers.”. Fortunately the deal feel through and O’Donnell issued this…uhh…”statement” on her website: “we were close to a deal / almost done / i let it slip in miami / … / 2day there is no deal / poof / my career as a pundit is over / b4 it began.” The poor grammar was all her.

But it is all a mystery, and enigma, a conundrum to me. Why do these people support such a radical view when the ratings clearly show that this is not what the people want to watch. It is the same reason Air America went bankrupt and why other Liberal Radio can’t survive: it’s too pessimistic, and people don’t want to be lied to.

In fact, to illustrate how bad the ratings actually are, I wanted to give you an example. Neilson Media Research issues the ratings for cable news, based on the 25-54 demographic, and the ones I will list are from yesterday the 4^th of November 2007.

The average number of viewers for the whole day for FOX News were 262m beating CNN and MSNBC combined (157m and 154m, respectively). And when you look at the primes time averages it’s even better. FOX News raked in 518m, beating the other two by an even wider margin (CNN: 225m MSNBC: 199m). But then we look at the 8:00 p.m. time slot, FNC: Bill O’Reilly, CNN: Out Open, and MSNBC: Keith Olbermann. O’Reilly brings in an astounding 655m! While beating out CNN’s 179m and MSNBC’s 316m.

It’s almost sad, but it shows that Americans don’t want lies they want the truth. That’s why they watch FOX News, because they are fair and balanced.

It is almost as if the Liberal Media wants to eat babies, and by babies I mean the deepest cores of your mind and soul, where you keep your instinct and commonsense. They want that all from you so that you can be a lifeless drone capable of brainwashing and converting to a Clinton fan. Beware!

Today, while having an intriguing conversation about Mexico’s ancient Aztec empire, I was asked if I thought it was possible for America to lose it’s place as the most powerful world force. “Of course not!” I quickly replied, but my friend was persistent. He argued that every other great power in the world’s history (Greece, Egypt, Rome, England) all had a downfall, so what makes us different?

Well, let me tell you. I do not believe it is possible for America to be defeated (at least as a world power).We are too organized, and we have too much land, power and weapons to be overthrown. An old Aztec ruler thought that all empires lived in a cycle: they would rise to power and world dominance and then have a great downfall. That may have been true then, but I do not think it is any longer (at least where America is concerned.)

My friend told me I had the views of a naïve and cocky American, but I do not think that is it. You see now we have things like nuclear weapons, advanced military, and the power to take things away from those who threaten us in an effort to convince them to ease up. We also have super intelligence firms which are constantly finding and stopping threats to our safety.

My friend believes that it would be the advice of the Aztecs to not make too many enemies, for it only makes the force against you larger and more powerful. He said that this is what we are doing in Iraq: making enemies.

Of course we are making enemies! That’s what happens when you go to war, but that doesn’t mean we should let them attack us just so we don’t make too many people angry.

And yes, it’s true that more people in the world hate American than love it, and there are a lot of countries which would love to overthrow us, or attack us with nuclear weapons-but we won’t let that happen.

Take North Korea for an example. They threatened us for years with nuclear warfare and finally we had to make a decision as to how to handle the situation. In the end we decided to freeze up there money and hold their economy in our hands. This was the motivation they needed to give up their nuclear program and begin working with us, and South Korea toward a peaceful and cohabitated relationship with the rest of the world.

Now let us look at Iran. They have been threatening us in ways similar to North Korea for sometime now, and furthermore have been aiding out enemy in Iraq to kill our brave men and women over there fighting for our freedom. We needed to do something. The Democrats screamed that invading Iran was not the answer, and I agree, for now. I think we all do.

But that still leaves the question of what to do. Looking at it from a military and safety point of view I knew we had to keep all options on the table. However, looking at it from a political point of view (for the Republicans) I knew that war with Iran would deeply alienate the publics trust in the party and almost (unless a miracle win occurred) kill our chances for 2008.

I said that we could do with Iran what we did with North Korea and if that didn’t work we would have to consider every possible route-my favorite choice if it had to be military was to fly over and destroy their nuclear facilities. Luckily we are now working to threaten them economically, and hopefully that will work.

Sorry to go into such detail but I feel it’s necessary to illustrate the power we have as a nation. When we see a threat, we take care of it, that’s why I feel there is little or no chance of anyone being able to overthrow America-at least in the next few centuries.

It is a little bit early for people to be setting their own houses on fire, but then again everything except Fed Thompson has been early as far as this election season is concerned.

I mean, we’re not even into the election year and we already have full fledged campaigns going, and bringing in the big bucks. But now we have contenders on the Republican side going against each other instead of the Democrats.

Now, to some extent, I can see the reasoning behind it: take out those who threaten you first. The primary comes before the general, thus, each Republican needs to beat the others before they can take on the Democratic nominee.

I guess I was just surprised that they are already at each other’s thoughts, and seem to have forgotten that their biggest enemy is the Dems.

At yesterday afternoon’s debate contenders Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney clashed a bit over taxes and other topics. And then today we had candidates making remarks regarding some of the others.

I know that they all want to win and that in order to do so they have to beat each other first, but I hope they don’t get too caught up on their own side to fall sloppy and allow the Democrats to run wild.

We don’t need Hillary Clinton out there bashing our people and telling lies in the first place, but what we really don’t need is her out there bashing our people and telling lies with no fight from the Republicans.

Plus, on a related issue, the other day while at a campaign stop, Mitt Romney spoke with an ill man in a wheelchair. The young man told Mr. Romney that he had to take medicinal marijuana to ease the pain of his life threatening disease. When he told Mitt that all the other medications made him sick and that medical marijuana was the only one that worked Mitt walked away, ignoring the question of “will you arrest me and my doctors?”

He says he answered it when he said “I do not support the legalization of medical marijuana” but unfortunately I disagree. I am still a fan of Mitt and have him tied for first with Giuliani for my vote, but this was disturbing. I, personally, do support the (stringent) use of the drug for extreme circumstances, obviously Mr. Romney disagrees.

The only reason I said that was because I know the left-wing smear merchants and nut-roots (as we call them) are already brewing up attacks on Mitt for this. I wanted to put the truth out there but I want people to understand that it wasn’t as bad as they will make ti sound and he shouldn’t lose support because of one mistake.

I haven’t looked much into the internal fighting on the side of the Democrats (partly because I don’t care too much and partly because I don’t want to get sick listening to them spin the truth). But I do plan on watching some of the debates so I can update you on how it is working out over there.

I do believe that the Republicans will be smart about the way they use attacks, because even though they do need to separate themselves from the pack, they need to be united against the Democrats to show that they are better to win in 2008 even more.