From ACT! for America: Major Hasan, 'Star Officer'

Date: Monday, February 21, 2011, 12:12 PM Visit our News page Register Today! 2011 NATIONAL CONFERENCE & LEGISLATIVE BRIEFING OMNI SHOREHAM HOTEL WASHINGTON, DC June 22 – 24, 2011 CALL 800-THE-OMNI to reserve your room. Mention ACT! for America for our special rate. Details on speakers coming soon! "Major Hasan, Star Officer" Dear Lee, We owe a debt of thanks to the Senate Homeland Security Committee for its report on the Ft. Hood jihadist massacre titled "A Ticking Time Bomb." The Wall Street Journal column below (highlights added) provides a compelling insight into what the Senate committee found. Over the past three years, we have put out numerous emails highly critical of political correctness, noting that PC can be annoying and even exasperating, but that when it comes to the threat of radical Islam, it can be deadly. As it was at Ft. Hood. Major Hasan, 'Star Officer' Every branch of the military issued a final report on the Fort Hood massacre. Not a single one mentioned radical Islam. By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ In a month of momentous change, it was easy to overlook the significance of another revolutionary event. Who would have believed that in the space of a few weeks the leaders of the three major European powers would publicly denounce multiculturalism and declare, in so many words, that it was a proven disaster and a threat to society? One after another they announced their findings—Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, Great Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy. Multicultural values had not only led to segregated communities: They had, Mr. Cameron noted, imposed policies of blind toleration that had helped nurture radical Islam's terrorist cells. There can be no underestimating the in-so-many-words aspect of these renunciations. This was multiculturalism they were talking about—the unofficial established religion of the universities, the faith whose requirements have shaped every aspect of cultural, economic and political life in Western democracies for the last 50 years. Still, they were out there—words coolly specific, their target clear. They came at a fitting moment, just as Americans had been handed a report providing the fullest disclosures so far about the multiculturalist zeal that had driven Army and medical school superiors to smooth Nidal Malik Hasan's rocky way through training, promote him, and, despite blatant evidence of his unfitness, raise not a single concern. Maj. Hasan, U.S. Army psychiatrist, would be assigned to Fort Hood where, in November 2009, he opened fire, killing 12 fellow soldiers and a civilian employee, and wounding 32 others. Associated Press - Maj. Hasan at the Bell County Jail after his shooting spree at Fort Hood. In this report, titled "A Ticking Time Bomb" and put out by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, there is a detail as dazzling in its bleak way as all the glowing misrepresentations of Dr. Hasan's skills and character, which his superiors poured into their evaluations of him. It concerns the Department of Defense's official report on the Fort Hood killings—a study whose recital of fact made no mention of Hasan's well-documented jihadist sympathies. Subsequent DoD memoranda portray the bloodbath—which began with Hasan shouting "Allahu Akbar!"—as a kind of undefined extremism, something on the order, perhaps, of work-place violence. [Editor's note: this is precisely what Rep. Allen West said when he was our guest on a recent episode of the ACT! for America television program.] This avoidance of specifics was apparently contagious—or, more precisely, policy. In November 2010, each branch of the military issued a final report on the Fort Hood shooting. Not one mentioned the perpetrator's ties to radical Islam. Even today, "A Ticking Time Bomb," co-authored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.) and Susan Collins (R., Maine), reminds us that DoD still hasn't specifically named the threat represented by the Fort Hood attack—a signal to the entire Defense bureaucracy that the subject is taboo. For the superiors in charge of Hasan's training at Walter Reed and his two years at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the taboo was of a more complicated order—one that required elaborately inventive analyses through which Hasan's stated beliefs, ominous pronouncements, and evident unconcern with standards of behavior required of an officer could all be represented as singular virtues, proof of his exceptional value to the Army. It could not have been easy. Still, they managed. They did so despite Hasan's astounding trail of performances, each more telling than the next. To fulfill Walter Reed's academic requirement for a presentation on a psychiatric theme, Hasan proffered a draft consisting almost entirely of wisdom from the Quran arguing for the painful punishment and liquidation of non-Muslims. Hasan evidently viewed the Qur'anic verses as a sufficient presentation—a view his superior didn't share, given its lack of any mention of a psychiatric theme. When that guide warned him the presentation was "not scholarly" and might prevent his graduation, Hasan revised. The finished product was not much different. Still, Hasan was allowed to graduate. He went on to his medical fellowship, where he soon delivered another class lecture, this one on the Islamist theme that the West, in particular the U.S. military, had mounted a war on Islam. The presentation brimmed with views sympathetic to Osama bin Laden, the motives of the 9/11 perpetrators, and suicide bombers. It so infuriated his classmates that their outraged eruptions caused the instructor to end the presentation. There would be more of the same to come. One classmate witness told investigators that Hasan sought every possible opportunity to share his radical Islamist sympathies. His highest obligation, he told classmates, wasn't to the Constitution, which he had sworn to protect and defend, but to his religion. His Islamist sympathies would attract the interest of the FBI, which soon picked up on this U.S. Army major's contacts with a terrorist suspect, unnamed in the Senate report. The agency would, however, have no continuing great interest in Hasan. Among other reasons, its agents had seen the impressive evaluation reports characterizing Hasan as an authority on Islam—one whose work even had "extraordinary potential to inform national policy and military strategy," as one of his superiors put it in his officer evaluation report. The same Hasan who set off silent alarms in his supervisors—the Psychiatric Residency Program Director at Walter Reed was one of them—would garner only plaudits in the official written evaluations at the time. He was commended in these as a "star officer," one focused on "illuminating the role of culture and Islamic faith within the Global War on Terrorism." One supervisor testified, "His unique interests have captured the interest and attention of peers and mentors alike." No single word of criticism or doubt about Hasan ever made its way into any of his evaluations. Some of those enthusiastic testaments strongly suggested that the writers were themselves at least partly persuaded of their reasoning. In magical thinking, safety and good come to those who obey taboos, and in the multiculturalist world, there is no taboo more powerful than the one that forbids acknowledgment of realities not in keeping with the progressive vision. In the world of the politically correct—which can apparently include places where psychiatrists are taught—magical thinking reigns. A resident who didn't represent the diversity value that Hasan did as a Muslim would have faced serious consequences had he behaved half as disturbingly. Here was a world in which Hasan was untouchable, in which all that was grim and disturbing in him was transformed. He was a consistently mediocre performer, ranking in the lowest 25% of his class, but to his evaluators, he was an officer of unique talents. He was a star not simply because he was a Muslim, but because he was a special kind—the sort who posed, in his flaunting of jihadist sympathies, the most extreme test of liberal toleration. Exactly the kind the progressive heart finds irresistible. A decision as to whether Maj. Hasan will go to trial—it would be before a military court-martial —should be forthcoming next month. He stands charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder, committed when he turned his laser-equipped semi-automatic on members of the military at the Soldier Readiness Center. The likelihood is that the trial will go forward. If it does, the forces of multiculturalist piety, which played so central a role in advancing this Army major and concealing the menace he posed, will be the invisible presence on trial with him. Ms. Rabinowitz, a member of the Journal's editorial board, is the author of "No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusations, False Witness And Other Terrors Our Times" (Free Press, 2003). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Make sure you receive all of your messages from ACT for America. Add actforamerica@donationnet.net to your address book as an approved email sender. If you found this message in your "Bulk" or "Spam" folder, please click the "Not Spam" button to notify your provider that these are emails you want to receive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACT for America P.O. Box 12765 Pensacola, FL 32591 www.actforamerica.org ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America's national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure. The news items, blogs, educational materials and other information in our emails and on our website are only intended to provide information, news and commentary on events and issues related to the threat of radical Islam. Much of this information is based upon media sources, such as the AP wire services, newspapers, magazines, books, online news blog and news services, and radio and television, which we deem to be reliable. However, we have undertaken no independent investigation to verify the accuracy of the information reported by these media sources. We therefore disclaim all liability for false or inaccurate information from these media sources. We also disclaim all liability for the third-party information that may be accessed through the material referenced in our emails or posted on our website. HOW CAN I TELL OTHERS ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION? Send a personalized version of this message to your friends. HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOUR ORGANIZATION? Click here to give an online donation.

A My Rants Musical Interlude--Allison Krauss singing "You Can't Hurry Love," with serious comment by yours truly

Came across this video of one of my absolute favorite singers of any genre, Allison Krauss, singing, "You Can't Hurry Love" at the 2004 Ryder Cup.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62kv8Yumbo8&NR=1&feature=fvwp  (Pardon the intro by Samuel L. Jackson).   As you listen to this EXCELLENT rendition (Krauss couldn't mess up a song if she tried) and watch the video, think about this: This event provided REAL economic stimulus and employment to many people.  The event required set-up crews, take-down crews, sound crews, lighting crews, video crews, back-up musicians, vendors (food and souvenir), security people, parking attendents, shuttle-bus drivers, ticket sellers and takers, etc.  On top of that, supplies of vendor products and production equipment--building supplies, recording equipment, sound equipment, etc.--lhad to be bought or rented.  Neighboring businesses no doubt picked up extra business from attendees.  And in the process, it provided desired entertainment to many devoted golf fans (don't ask me why, but some people like watching golf--personally, I prefer watching grass grow), including one cool rocking granny really getting into it at the 1:04 point.    That, folks, is how to stimulate an economy.  That is how our economic system can work.  That is America.     I gotta say, Allison Krauss can do no wrong!  Bonus track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjsjZWlRVvo&feature=related

5 Cat Myths People Still Believe In

The cat is a very misunderstood animal. Here are the top 5 non-facts about cats that most people still believe to be true:   Cats Can See In The Dark A cat has vertical pupils that expand to let him see in near darkness. He has about thirty whiskers which help him find his way around at night, even in strange surroundings. But he is not endowed with special eyesight that can enable him to see in absolute darkness.   Cats Are Surefooted, And Always Land On Their Feet Some children, believing this piece of folklore, delight in dropping Puss from heights-like out of the window-just to prove it is true. But it is more often false. Puss ends up with broken legs, or neck, and it is too late to say "Don't believe everything you hear!" It's true that cats are the most agile, surefooted, graceful animals in the world-most of the time. But they can also knock over lamps, send coffee cups flying, and fall off chairs. They can end up with broken bones in short falls, especially when they are kittens.   Cats Are Cowards Dogs are well known for their heroism, but not many people know that cats, too, have their hours of glory. For instance, Agatha, who saved her family from fire by jumping on their bed. Or a cunning Siamese named Su-Ling, whose ferocious growling and tiger pounce sent a prowler scrambling. Or the story of the courageous feline who scratched her sleeping mistress continuously to save her from fire, knowing the dear, deaf lady could not hear. There are many stories of cats scaring away poisonous reptiles, scorpions, and other unpleasant folk. In Florida, a tiny kitten was credited with alerting her mistress to the danger of a deadly coral snake. Remember, heroism is not confined to only one species of animal.   Cats Are Stupid Physiologically, a cat's brain bears a striking resemblance to that of man-more so than any other animal's. How do we measure intelligence in an animal? One cannot and should not play one species off against another. Cats, for example, are bored with mazes. But watch them get out of any enclosed space! They can open doors, lift latches, leap many times their own length over walls. Psychologists have noted that their ability to escape confinement is superior to that of any other animal. Besides superb skill and strategy in stalking prey, cats have a built in clock. They know when it's time for you to come home, and when it is time for bed.   Cats Are Not Affectionate The person who thinks a cat is an unloving animal never held one on his lap. First the cat kneads gently to make the spot as soft and comfortable as possible, then settles down and purrs. Whether he purrs loudly or softly, it's love. A cat's affection is always subtle, like rubbing against your legs. Each cat varies in the amount of affection he wishes to put forth, and in the ways he wishes to show it. But it's there-as long as you are receptive-and sometimes even if you're not.

My Rants Special Articles AND A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT -- 20 FEB 2011

My Rants Special Articles -- 20 FEB 2011     http://biggovernment.com/amarcus/2011/02/19/breaking-andrew-breitbart-contracts-walker-pneumonia-in-madison-wisconsin/   BREAKING: Andrew Breitbart Contracts "Walker Pneumonia" In Madison, Wisconsin! by Andrew Marcus While on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin, Andrew Breitbart contracted a horrible case of Walker Pneumonia! He was diagnosed by a street "doctor" who was apparently handing out fraudulent Dr.'s excuses to union protesters.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8fQZPapyAI&feature=player_embedded Not to worry, a second opinion by the "supervisor" rendered Andrew a clean bill of health. Praise Tea! (Rebel Pundit contributed to this report)   http://news.newsmax.com/?ZKCRXxnAIJmj7hJCTSIpoGEmzXykNJU1Z   3. Sen. Hatch Bill Would Plug 'National Security Loophole' Sen. Orrin Hatch has introduced legislation to end the Diversity Visa Program, which each year brings 50,000 low-skilled individuals into the United States from countries around the world — including state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran. The Diversity Visa Program (DV) is "an unfortunate blind spot in our immigration system that has outlived its purpose," according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies. "The applicants for these 50,000 'lottery' immigration slots require few skills. The program does not know, really, who these applicants are nor their true purpose in coming to the United States. The program is a national security loophole, and has been used by terrorists and organized criminals to not only enter the U.S., but bring others to the U.S. as well." The DV program was created in 1990. In 2009, Iran was the third largest recipient of DVs among nations in Asia, and 12th largest overall, as 1,117 Iranians were allowed to enter the United States. Three other nations designated as state sponsors of terror — Somalia, Syria, and Cuba — received a total of 313 DVs. The visas also went to residents of Sudan (592 visas) and Yemen (51), two nations with active terrorist populations, and 253 visas were issued to citizens of Venezuela. Receiving at least 2,000 DVs were Kenya, Egypt, Turkey, Ethiopia, Morocco, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Albania, and Uzbekistan. "There are no stop-gaps against fraud to determine qualifications nor properly vet identity or derogatory intelligence to assure that radicalized individuals do not enter the United States on a DV," the Center points out. At least one terrorist incident resulted from the DV program. On July 4, 2002, Egyptian gunman Hesham Hedayet killed two people at the Los Angeles ticket counter of Israeli airline El Al before being killed by a security guard. He had obtained permanent resident status because his wife got a DV in 1996. The House voted to abolish the Diversity Visa Program in 2005, but the Senate never passed the bill. Sen. Hatch, R-Utah, has introduced a bill containing a provision that would repeal the DV program unless Congress specifically reauthorized it. In support of the bill, the Center praises Hatch for "not shying away" from the obvious: The DV program "has outlived its usefulness." Instead, it "assertively creates national security vulnerabilities by admitting foreign nationals it cannot viably vet from state sponsors of terror, acts to support criminal human trafficking, and perpetuates low-skill economic migration during a time when Americans need jobs desperately."   6. We Heard:   THAT when it comes to the Republican House's battle with President Obama over cutting federal spending, it's getting personal. An amendment proposed by Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican, would eliminate funding for Obama's teleprompter. Womack later withdrew the amendment, but he told Fox News: "I think we made our point. We're asking people to do more with less. And I think the president ought to lead by example. He is already a very gifted speaker. And I think that's one platform he could do without." Another amendment, proposed by Texas Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer, would strip funding for the alteration, repair, or improvement of the executive residence of Obama's White House.     And the only thing here on which I will offer a comment:   http://vdare.com/buchanan/110217_middle_east.htm   February 17, 2011 What's Wrong With A Middle East Without America? By Patrick J. Buchanan      End with this:   What vital interest of a United States staring at bankruptcy would be imperiled if we got out of the way, stopped fighting these countries' wars and paying these countries' bills and let these people determine their own future for good or ill?     COMMENT: This reminds me of when America-hating Representative Ron Paul asked at that 2010 CPAC, why we were still in South Korea.  A heckler answered back, "NORTH Korea!"   So, to answer Buchanan:   1. Oil--Sorry, politically uneducated self-centered Tea Partiers, domestic environmentalists won't allow us to drill domestically, and even the most ambitious plans to adopt natural gas more widely--which I wholeheartedly support--would require time).   2. Israel--Sorry, conspiracy theorists, most Americans support Israel because of religious background and the fact that Israel stands against the sheetheads).   3. The sheetheads!--Sorry, isolationists, the sheetheads are working for a World Caliphate (something Paultards will NEVER discuss, because it destroys their case), and I'd rather see the camelf*****s stopped over there than fought over here.   4. American hegemony--Sorry, you who complain about pressing 1 for English, without Anglo-American domination of the world, we would be pressing 3 for English!   And this last point brings us to your homework assignment: To those of you who want an end to American involvement in the world like this, answer me this: Of all the countries and powers in the world with a viable chance of doing so, which is your first choice to dominate America?  If you insist that America leave the void in world power that "non-interventionism" would create, who you want to fill that void, and hence, to dominate America?   Those of you not sharing the Ron Paultard stupidity, your assignment is to ask this of your isolationist friends, foes, and libertard neighbors.  Responses will be collected and most published in a soon-coming My Rants installment.   Now get to work!