October 2007: A chat with Claudia about Cuba

On Columbus Day 2007, we chatted with Claudia about her blog and thoughts on Cuba. As you can see in her blog profile, Claudia is Italian-American, teaches Spanish and has developed a genuine interest in Cuba.

Please add Claudia's blog to your reading list and enjoy her comments. Click here for the show!

December 2007: Free trade and the Democrats

A post from December 2007

Have you seen a Democrats' 2008 debate lately? It's all NAFTA and free trade bashing.

Wasn't it President Clinton who signed NAFTA?  And about China?

The Democrats have apparently forgotten that it was Pres. Clinton who signed the executive order giving China the preferred nation status:

"Yesterday the American people won a tremendous victory as a majority of the House of Representatives joined me in adopting our plan to revitalize America's economic future.

Today Members of Congress have joined me to announce a new chapter in United States policy toward China.

China occupies an important place in our Nation's foreign policy. It is the world's most populous state, its fastest growing major economy, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Its future will do much to shape the future…”

I am a free trade guy. I supported Pres. Clinton on free trade. It was one of the better things that came out of his inconsequential presidency. 

 However, today's Democrats are engaging in pathetic demagoguery bashing NAFTA and free trade in general. 

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

December 2007: Whatever happened to the war in Iraq?

A post from December 2007:

Yesterday, the debate moderator at the Republican debate did not ask a single question about Iraq, the surge or anything directly related. In fact, Iraq came into the conversation indirectly when candidates where talking about future threats to the US.

Whatever happened to Iraq? Why aren't we getting, at least, the same number of stories about Abu Garib as we are US soldiers destroying Al Qaeda?

The answer is that too many in the media, and specially Democrats, bet on the wrong horse in Iraq.

Check this out from Strategy Page:

"As al Qaeda suffered greater and greater losses in Iraq, recruiting became a serious problem.

In desperation, leaders were ordered to recruit whoever they could. This meant more women and more teenage males.

Normally, al Qaeda does not like to employ adolescents.

They are too inexperienced and unreliable.

That combination gets everyone in trouble, and adult al Qaeda do not like to work with kids.

But earlier this year, al Qaeda found that fewer and fewer adults were willing to join up.

This was largely due to U.S. troops capturing several key al Qaeda leaders, and lots of membership records.

Too many al Qaeda members were being arrested or killed, and recruiting became very difficult.

So kids were hired for a lot of simple jobs, like placing roadside bombs, or guard duty.

Turned out that these kids were more likely to run away, or just surrender, if confronted with Iraqi or American troops.

As a result of that, nearly half the al Qaeda under arrest (950 of 2,000) are under 18. Only about eight percent of the terrorists held by U.S. forces are al Qaeda.

The rest belong to various Iraqi militias or terror groups (most of them Sunni Arab.) Al Qaeda is the most hated terror group, because of the heavy use of large suicide bombs against civilians. And with this recruitment of children, who are easy to interrogate, and convert to government supporters, the government now knows more about what the terrorist organization is up to."

Wow! So much for the theory that the invasion of Iraq was a gift to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda! It'd be nice to do a poll in the region and check out Obama's approval ratings! Wonder if he has better ratings than the Pelosi-Reid Congress?

Again, we congratulate US troops for the incredible work in Iraq. We salute Gen. Petraeus for his leadership. 

Of course, we recognize President Bush for doing the right thing rather than reading polls!

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.