Everybody has heard about the Discount-Mats.com matter. I’ll never buy from them. Oh wait, I never heard of them before this, so I would have never brought from them anyway .

Well Heidi over at Euphoric Reality has been doing some deep investigative work into that company and its associates. It does appear the man behind the company might have made some misleading statements. And Heidi has just found so many odd things about the bunch, that you can’t help but view them with a suspect eye.

I agree with Heidi, they need a little more investigation by an authoritative body, given they might be associated with some scams or worse. Be sure to check out what she found when you have time.

I’ve said before that Pakistan is playing us while working with the enemy. That’s Pakistan, our ally in the war on terror. Really folks they work with the enemy and the enemy trains on their soil. Pakistan is our ally in slogan only. Pakistan is really our enemy! They turn over show piece captures to make it appear they are helping us. For all we know the people they turn in could be terrorist rejects, that Osama bin Laden has no more need for. After the 9/11 job, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (aka KSM) may not have been needed. We’ve gain intelligence from them, but maybe it is information the enemy was willing to part with?

Check out what The Political Pit Bull found in of all places, the New York Times.

Go read it all. And if I’m telling you to go read something in the NY Times, you know I’ve got a good reason.

[Since the post below was written, more details have surfaced that show Obama was a Muslim. The text below is kept for archival reference purposes only.]

Well I said it was time to question Obama directly about his history of faith, or cults depending on what he’s been into. And now the MSM has been asking so much that Obama had to respond. Keep in mind, that when Insight ran their story Obama’s people would not respond. Maybe if they spoke up sooner some of this would have been avoided. Obama is now saying it’s good the MSM investigated, when much of this would have been resolved if he answered questions about it when his camp was first asked.

…
When contacted by Insight, Mr. Obama?s press secretary said he would consult with ?his boss? and call back. He did not.
…

Check out this video where Obama confirms he was not trained in a Madrassa. Also The Political Pit Bull, who is not at all happy with his fellow Conservative bloggers who dared to question Obama’s religious past, found that Obama’s folks have issued a statement that Barack Hussein (Muslim name) was never a Muslim at all. Greg over at The Political Pit Bull is one I count as a friend in a blogosphere of wolves. We don’t always agree, because no 2 people ever do, but it’s good we can disagree on how to handle Obama and remain civil.

Allahpundit over at Hot Air has found that Insight has more to say on the matter. First Insight explained that they were reporting what they got from Hillary Clinton’s camp. Although Clinton’s camp denies it they have not filed any lawsuits either.

Then the statement from Insight mentions this:

Ah… They did a lot more than just speak with the school’s deputy head master. They pulled photos, talked with an old classmate, checked the school out with video and found it was not a Madrassa. This shows Insight does not know when to back away. At least until they can prove otherwise. Bottom line, we Conservatives can take issue with CNN’s angle all we want, but their story regarding Obama’s mostly Muslim school in Indonesia was solid. And yes it was more solid than Insight’s sources and even sources used in other posts I’ve made on the matter. But it all kept swirling because Barack Hussein Obama failed to fully and openly address the issue until after CNN sent somebody all the way to Indonesia.

Now that Obama says he never was a Muslim, one has to wonder why he has been able to say he’s read some of the Koran. (See the first link in this post.) Also he’s said his mother owned or Koran. We know all about his name and his father was a Muslim, on top of the time he spent years in a Muslim nation. So it makes sense for his background regarding Islam to be questioned and Obama should have addressed the matter fully sooner. And there’s still that matter of the fact his church has ties to anti-Semitism. Even if his local church did not invite anti-Israel speakers to speak there, it is my opinion that they know what their parent church is up to and remain part of the group. Obama claims them, so he carries their baggage until he distances himself from it. Obama still needs to address how he reconciles his own views with that of his parent church. Why? On this one Insight offers a good statement.

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Recent history and contemporary events have shown that the religious belief systems of Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush were significant in their policy-making. The same might be true with Obama?whatever he believes. And perhaps also with Mitt Romney, Bill Richardson, and all other candidates standing for election to the highest office in the land.

The media uproar over our reporting reveals a media establishment choosing not to ask the tough questions about Obama?s Muslim past: If he was raised in a secular household (as he claims), why does he have?or retain?Muslim names, Barack and Hussein? Were his father and stepfather as secular as he says? What is the exact nature of Obama?s current religious affiliation and what are the beliefs and teachings of his current church in Chicago, the Trinity United Church of Christ? Does he adhere to these teachings or is he a Sunday bench warmer only? These kinds of tough questions need to be asked of all presidential candidates regardless of political party. This is the duty of a responsible press.
…

And with all the information found about Obama’s religious past, we still see in his present that he endorses policies that give him a 100% rating from groups that make it their business to kill babies in the womb. He claims Christianity, but it seems a death cult guides his policy on abortion.

So today La Shawn Barber has a post up about something I know plenty about. Given I just moved from Georgia, after living there for 10 years. (And I’ve still got Georgia on my mind.) The old Fulton/Milton County debate. Basically Fulton County, GA used to be 2 separate counties, Fulton and Milton. Milton folded into Fulton when they were poor and broke. That side of town is now rich and wants better control over their money. So they wish to split from Fulton and be Milton county again.

La Shawn found this article, that is noting but pure unfiltered race bait. Where AP reporter Doug Gross gives the impression it’s all about race. (I’m sure Mr. Gross would say he’s just telling the story.)

La Shawn had a few questions. I figured I’d answer them here.

Keep in mind I lived in neighboring Gwinnett County, Georgia. So I was close enough to the issue to know the details, without actually having a dog in the fight. I feel that I can offer a highly informed and objective opinion without personal bias.

1) Should certain Fulton County suburbs be allowed to secede and form a separate county? Why or why not?

YES!

Because there used to be 2 separate counties and the folks in the Northern part simply want things that way again, so they can receive adequate services. I’ve seen how the northern part of Fulton has to wait to get their potholes fixed, while the southern part is getting all the money for repairs. The local areas simply want to be able to use their funds for their needs and possibly lower their tax bills. They could ensure they have better police and fire services along with other needs.

News flash – I know Blacks in the northern part of Fulton County and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS SICK OF PAYING HIGH TAXES FOR LOW SERVICE IN RETURN AND IS IN FAVOR OF THE SPLIT.

I will say, I never purchased a home in Fulton because I felt the taxes were way too high.

It’s not about race at all. It’s about trying to stop government from taking money and spending it like drunken sailors.

And GA State Senator Vincent Fort is an idiot. WAOK-AM radio host Rob Wilson caught him using homeless people to act like home owning protesters to defend a “predatory lending” bill Fort was trying to keep on the books. Fort is always acting like a fool. He’s a blend of Sharpton, Jackson, McKinney and Farrakhan living in Atlanta.

Let people give to the poor of their own free will, not by force of government.

Race baiters always cry how Blacks need to spend more money in Black areas. Well here’s your chance to show the world you can do it on your own!

There was also crying when Sandy Springs (which is on the northern side of Fulton county) became its own city. All the same fear talk was said. They have their city now and everybody else that used to get more of their money adjusted.

2) Predict the proposal?s success. Will it pass or fail?

Oh it’s going to succeed.

3) This question is reserved for residents of Georgia. If you get a chance to vote on the measure to secede, will you vote for or against? Explain your answer.

Makes me wish I was still there to vote on it .

update 1/24/2007 5:39PM: Just had to mention this comment from La Shawn’s blog by someone named “Pat”.

As a life-long Atlanta resident, I would vote to allow Milton to split from Fulton County. If you look at the map you can see how the county is already divided between North and South by the City of Atlanta. It makes it very hard to have well-run county services. And there have been numerous issues with how the county has been run that have nothing to do with race.

Something else to note, the Fulton County Commission Chairman race was very ugly this year. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Andrew Young and Congressman John Lewis released an attack ad against a white candidate saying essentially that if the white candidate was elected it would be a return to Jim Crow days, etc?. It was extremely disappointing for Mayor Franklin to stoop to those kind of politics and accusing all the white residents of racism can?t help but alienate the northern half of the county.

The hypocritical double standards of the race baiters has been exposed again.

So I watched the State of the Union address and I must say that all I could come away with saying was, well at least he’s not John Kerry cause that would be worse. I mean I simply was not impressed and of course I will detail the reasons why. On some things he talked OK, but offered little or no substance and on some things he did offer details for I didn’t like the details. I like many other Conservatives voted for Bush out of desperation of no other good choice being available. So my expectations were low and unfortunately Bush’s delivery was on par with my expectations.

He did speak about some good things at the start. About this being the 41st month of continuous job growth and 7.2 million jobs during recovery from the economic issues left by former President Bill Clinton on top of 9/11. Bush could still meet or beat Kerry’s old 10 million jobs promise.

Bush accurately mentioned that more enterprise, not more government is what keeps the economy in a positive direction.

The President mentioned he wants to expose all earmarks and cut them in half. That sounds good. We just have to hope Congress agrees, his cronies included.

He said let’s fix Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, but offered no details of how to do it. Maybe it’s coming in his forthcoming budget proposal? But I felt like Bush was simply a politician giving a stump speech that was full of hype and short on the substance. It’s as empty as Steve Munsey’s promises of a “double portion” blessing if you just send him your seed offering. Except with government they actually force the money out of your pocket while making empty promises, instead of simply scamming you into giving up the money willingly. Nothing has been done to “fix” Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and we could even say Bush made it worse. Given with Bush nothing has shrunk, only grew. And he’s gone silent on private accounts for Social Security.

While the federal government probably should not be so involved in what states do regarding education, he mentioned some good things. He said we should increase student school achievement without lowering standards. I agree, keeping the bar high and only raising it is always best. He also said:

We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools, and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose someplace better.

As in, people in a free country should have the freedom to choose a different school for their children without jumping through flaming hoops. With Bush’s plan your kid has to be at a terrible school that has already hit rock bottom before you can choose. Bush is a lame duck, what does he have to lose? He could have demanded better regarding “choice” when it comes to schools.

Once he got into the issue of illegal immigration we saw Bush is just as weak as ever. He again mentioned his idea for a temporary worker program, which is nothing but part of his amnesty efforts. He said it would will stop people from sneaking in and only leave drug runners and terrorists trying to cross into America illegally. Sorry Mr. President, but I am not an idiot. Your program does not close the borders to illegals and your offers only inspire more illegal immigration, not less. Which makes it even harder for border patrol agents to catch drug runners and terrorists. And Mr. President, how exactly do our BP agents apprehend those drug runners and terrorists if your people lock them up when they do give chase and take measures to defend themselves when they feel they are in danger?

He gave a vague statement about illegal aliens already in America when saying:

We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country without animosity and without amnesty.

All Bush has offered are forms of amnesty. And given he offered no other details in his speech, it’s obvious he’s going to push for just that with the person he’s proud to call “Madam Speaker”.

He did promote using nuclear power. I like that. I think it’s the way to go. (For the sake of full disclosure I do hold a stake in that industry, which I took up because I believe in it.)

Bush proposed to reduce gasoline usage by 20% in the next 10 years. Yea right! He wants to increase fuel efficiency standards, but I think 10 years from now we’ll be using plenty of gasoline, more than now. Because like it or not the fossil fuels still give the most bang for the buck and while Bush did mention we need to drill domestically the Democrats in Congress won’t allow it. He should have told “Madam Speaker” we’ll get off the Middle East oil when she allows us to drill somewhere else.

President Bush mentioned confronting the issue of “Global Climate Change” as if it’s man made. He’s drinking the Al Gore Kool-Aid!!! Bush is ignoring that our weather changes are a proven natural cycle beyond man’s control.

As this point in the speech all you can say is he’s pretty Liberal, but he’s better than that other guy from that other party who wanted the job.

Bush did ask for a fair up or down vote for judges he nominates. At least he asked for it, although we know the Democrats won’t allow it. If he gives away the farm on everything else there’s still hope if we can keep the judiciary abuse down.

He says there is no higher priority than to protect Americans from danger, but he’s not properly addressing the border! It was another line of fluff.

Bush did mention that to win the war on terror we must take the fight to the enemy. Yes! Now stop playing like war can be fought in a nice way. Instead of mentioning he was sending more troops to Iraq he should have proposed sending more bombs to help the guys already there.

The President was able to list some of the accomplishments in foiling terrorist plots.

Our success in this war is often measured by the things that did not happen. We cannot know the full extent of the attacks that we and our allies have prevented, but here is some of what we do know: We stopped an al Qaeda plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast. We broke up a Southeast Asian terror cell grooming operatives for attacks inside the United States. We uncovered an al Qaeda cell developing anthrax to be used in attacks against America. And just last August, British authorities uncovered a plot to blow up passenger planes bound for America over the Atlantic Ocean. For each life saved, we owe a debt of gratitude to the brave public servants who devote their lives to finding the terrorists and stopping them.

And there have been lots of other terrorist plots that were caught. More than even those I tracked here. Did you know news of another terrorist plot just broke today? Hat tip to Tony for that last link.

Later in the speech Bush mentioned we are “still a nation at war”, but he still won’t close the borders to illegal entry! If we are a nation at war, let’s act like it at home.

He mentioned Iran and the threat of Hezbollah. But I don’t think Bush is really going to do anything about Iran, although he should. It’s going to be the old hope Israel handles it approach. While we know folks from Iran are causing us trouble in Iraq.

Bush proposed to grow the military, good idea.

He pledged to support calls for change in Cuba, which is good.

The President also pledge to work to save the people of Darfur. He offered no details on how to accomplish this, given the many failed efforts after trying to work with international bodies like the United Nations. Agreements keep being made and broken. And Bush totally failed to not connect Darfur with Islamists and terrorism. Which is why the USA should have an interest in the issues in the Sudan.

Bush said nothing about the military strikes in Somalia. Although they were not as successful as hoped, I feel he should have mentioned it as a warning to our enemies.

Regarding AIDS and malaria in Africa, Bush proposes to throw money at it. Reports both new and old are showing that circumcision helps reduce the spread of AIDS. Is Bush going to try supporting it? It’s been a known method for many years now and finally more of the medical community agrees. We keep throwing money at parts of Africa to stop a problem that is mostly an issue of morality, but given circumcision works better than any vaccine we might as well press for it. The message of morality can also be spread. Regarding malaria, many African nations could better help themselves if Bush simply asked to remove some of the regulations that hurt them. If people in parts of Africa were simply trained in how to give circumcisions and allowed to spray DDT in their anti-malaria rotation, they could better help themselves and Bush would not have to try throwing more of our money at them.

Bush said absolutely nothing to help defend babies in the womb. (Notice the counter on the lower left of this page is getting close to an estimated 5 million babies killed – via abortion – since our troops entered Iraq.)

So there’s my take on the speech. Politically speaking it’s going to be a long couple of years. I’m just happy I have Jesus. Because I still have peace even when I see my President messing things up.