9/11 Memorial Service & Military Support Rally

A 9/11 Memorial Service & Military Personnel Support Rally is being held on Monday, September 11th, 7:00 PM at the Maconaquah High School Auditorium, 256 E 800 S (Miami County, Indiana). This community service will feature music led by Ms. Heidi Folley & Maconaquah Choir members, color guard, and keynote speaker Major Scott Willis, USMC (a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq). For further information, contact Chuck Layne at 765-689-7987 or bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com.

If you would like to assist with this promotion by posting flyers, please contact me at the e-mail address above. I will forward a poster in MS Word format.

Snake on a Plane

I attended a presentation tonight (8/23/06) at the Grissom Air Museum by World War II veteran Harry Tharp. He was an aviation technician in the Army Air Corps and served in fighter squadrons in the South Pacific. He was terrific! What a memory!

When shipped out, his squadron first trained in some Australian outback. They had to literally level the anthills to make a runway. Besides ants, there were some trapdoor spiders and a type of python ranging in length from 10-14 feet. In addition to the interloping pilots and aircraft maintenance crews, those were the residents of that desolate area.

Mr. Tharp told of one pilot returning from a training mission talking about the snake that crawled from the engine into the cockpit after takeoff. “What’d you do?” he asked. I could imagine all kinds of screaming and potential hysterics. Instead, he told us that the pilot exclaimed, “There was only room for one of us, so I flipped the plane over and threw it out!”

I suppose that wouldn’t provide even the most creative director enough material for a feature length film.

(photo: P39 trainer/fighter)

Where Are They?

One of the most notable elements of the United Nation Security Council Resolution 1701 calling for a multi-national, U.N.-led peacekeeping force to occupy southern Lebanon is that very few member nations are in a hurry to provide the necessary personnel. What’s going on? This is the U.N., the international problem-solver that everyone is supposed to bow to! They have ridden to the rescue once again and solved another world crisis! So, where are they?

Perhaps they forgot to plan to win the peace. To hear the ranting from the left, Democrats, and European elites, that seems to be a common malady these days.

The bad news is that there are still clashes occurring. The good news is that they have been decreasing in frequency. The potentially disastrous news is that if they delay too long, the larger scale conflict will once again erupt.

It just strikes me as odd that U.N. leadership failed to secure commitments for a peacekeeping team while negotiating a cease-fire. OK… it really doesn’t strike me as odd; but it is certainly a sad testimony of what this organization is capable of doing. It would appear that they have created failure.

Well, no matter where they come from, do not neglect to pray for God to bless the multi-national peacekeepers. They will no doubt need all the help they can get.

Fifth-Columnists Strike Again

Federal Judge Halts America's War Efforts...

As I wrote in my last post, I believe all Americans should note carefully who has hampered American efforts to prosecute and win the war against terrorists. After just participating in international efforts that successfully thwarted the plot to blow commercial airliners to smithereens on flights between England and America, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor has ruled that the National Security Agency collection of data must be halted as a result of a lawsuit filed by the aclu.

“Saying that the President of the United States violated the First and Fourth amendments to the U.S. Constitution in illegally spying on American citizens, a federal judge ordered the U.S. government to end its warrantless wiretapping program immediately. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, whose court is in the eastern district of Michigan, made her ruling in a case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others against the National Security Agency, the agency that ran the terrorist surveillance program that started in 2002.” Click here for the entire article.

On the basis of one judge’s ruling, this proven tool in America’s war campaign can be immediately removed from our defense arsenal? Why do these people want America to lose this war? Oh yeah, because they are fifth-columnists; I forgot for a minute. So what excuses will the Honorable Taylor and the aclu be giving the American people when we wake up one day to the news that more of our fellow citizens have been inhumanely blown to smithereens? If they are honest, they will be cheering.

Whooop!

Our media is amazing. A major, imminent plot to blow commercial airliners between Britain and America to smithereens foiled; thousands of lives saved; intelligence techniques implemented since 9/11 successfully employed to uncover these plans, and what makes front page news? The personal trauma of those who must endure the sudden new restrictions on air travel. The delays caused by heightened security. The frustration of airline travelers over the delays and the sudden ban of carrying common products onto the plane.

Yes, media is reporting facts about the case as they become known. We can acknowledge that. But why this secondary fixation on air travelers moaning over having to dispose of personal items, particularly liquids? (“A senior congressional source said it is believed the plotters planned to mix a British sports drink with a gel-like substance to make a potent explosive that could be ignited with an MP3 player or cell phone.” -- amazing) How many reports have there been about disgust over these new “silly” security requirements?

Normal citizens might well wonder where the reports are that commend these successful intelligence efforts. Where is the acknowledgement that those serious about the reality of this war have just saved thousands of innocent lives? Does anyone imagine that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D – New York), vacationing in England and other European nations, will acknowledge that the steps taken by the Bush administration to fight this war might have saved the lives of his wife and him?

Well, chuckschants and friends tip our hats and say “THANK YOU” to the intelligence, police, and military forces of America and allies. We especially say “THANK YOU” to the British forces who saved literally thousands of lives. Or, reverting to an earlier period in my life, issuing a Texas Aggie “WHOOP!” as I listened to the stories of this plot unfold.

My Take: Enemies Foreign and Domestic

The good news – no, great news – is that British authorities foiled terrorist plots to blow up domestic air flights from Great Britain to the United States. Our British allies in the war against Islamic terrorism and totalitarianism are diligently doing their jobs. We owe them a great deal of gratitude.

The bad news is that we still have enemies. Unfortunately, not all of our enemies are foreign. We have an unusually high number of anti-war organizations conducting fifth-column style actions aimed at impeding America’s ability to prosecute this war and defeat our enemies. A Newsmax article reporting on this British victory states, “While the British arrests were made by Scotland Yard, disruption of terrorist plots usually entails at least some international cooperation. Since 9/11, intelligence and law enforcement agencies throughout the world have integrated their operations and largely abandoned territorial concerns in the effort to hunt down terrorists. Nowhere is that better illustrated than at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which President Bush established to bring together all terrorist-related information in a single secure building in northern Virginia… They have access to the raw intelligence reports of the CIA and the FBI. The initial lead in a case such as the one in Great Britain could have come from a National Security Agency (NSA) intercept of a conversation by an al-Qaida operative, from tracking of international banking transactions, from an informant developed by Britain's MI6 counterterrorism agency or the CIA, from police monitoring of secure chat rooms, or from a walk-in looking for money.”

Yet in America, media such as the New York Times reveals classified techniques being used to track terrorist financial deals even though they were implored to not release the story. The ACLU is initiating a lawsuit against the NSA. The ACLU says that Constitutional privacy rights are being violated. I say that is every American’s right to be able to get to work, go on vacation, or do anything on any given day without being blown to smithereens. Other nations engaged in the war against Islamic terrorism do not have a problem with this type of data surveillance. Whether intentional or unintentional, the actions of these American organizations hurt America’s ability to win this war and provide useful information to our enemies. They are fifth-columnists.

I have long decided that if America is once again attacked on a scale similar to 9/11, I will hold those fifth-columnists personally responsible for their part. I doubt that they care much about what goes on at chuckschants, but I think that every American, especially every new victim created by another attack, should hold all of these organizations and individuals responsible for refusing to support America’s efforts to defeat these dangerous, fanatic, and deadly enemies of the free world. This latest plot could have been that attack. Over and over we have heard from these organizations, including elected politicians of the Democratic Party, protest about being called unpatriotic because of their opposition to this war. When their opposition impedes America’s ability to win and provides sensitive information to our enemies, then, yes, they are unpatriotic. Their actions speak louder than their words.

My Take: Paths to Peace

The current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has prompted nations and world organizations to call for peace. While certainly the desired objective, the methods for achieving peace should be carefully weighed.

If peace is defined as merely the absence of war or any level of armed conflict, then the solution is rather simple and straightforward: (1) accept Islamic totalitarianism espoused by leaders in Iran, Syria, and elsewhere; and (2) dismantle Israel as a Jewish state. These two actions will accomplish the stated objectives of Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and other Islamic jihad terrorist organizations. Once such objectives are accomplished, their war with Israel and Western civilization will end, and we will enjoy peace.

Now we know that this is a silly notion. Even though armed conflict could have been avoided had Europe accepted the totalitarianism of Hitler's Nazism and Asia/Pacific accepted the totalitarianism of Japan's Imperialism, we would hardly regard that as peace. In spite of this historical reality, there remain those today who believe that peace comes through appeasement with Islamic jihad militants. Liberals initially went ga-ga over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's May 9th letter to President Bush. "He is extending an opportunity to dialogue. We can't pass up this opportunity to achieve peace," many declared. Actually reading the letter, though, indicates President Ahmadinejad's requirements for peace. His letter concludes, "Liberalism and Western-style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems. We increasingly see that people around the world are flocking towards a main focal point -- that is the Almighty God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of the prophets, the people will conquer their problems. My question for you is: 'Do you not want to join them?' Mr. President, Whether we like it or not, the world is gravitating towards faith in the Almighty and justice and the will of God will prevail over all things."
(www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050900878.html)

Accept the enemy's terms, and we will have peace. Yes, a ridiculous notion, but one that is being forwarded in effect by all those who would call for a "cease-fire" in this latest escalation of military action. Israel had not sent bomb-laden terrorists to conduct suicide attacks against civilian targets. Israel had not launched rockets indiscriminately against populated cities. Israel had not called for the destruction and dismantling of any Middle East nation or indigenous population. In fact, Israel recently turned over some of their settlement land to Palestinians. In turn, terrorist actions were increased against Israel.

"Cease-fire" in the Middle East has done nothing but perpetuate the continuation of war (see my previous article). Another "cease-fire" between Israel and its enemies will not result in peace. It will result only in more opportunity for Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist armies to rebuild and re-arm. It will result only in the perpetuation of unprovoked attacks upon Israel and its allies, both real and imagined. It will result, ultimately, only in the escalation of conflict around the world as Islamic holy-warriors continue to probe and find new ways to impose their totalitarian rule upon peaceful people and nations.

The path to peace must be victory. Israel is making that clear today. The Allied forces of World War 2 sought no "cease-fire" in the middle of that war. To have done so would have only provided the enemies then time to regroup and re-arm and continue their murderous aggression. Instead, our leaders then pursued the objective of unconditional surrender from Italy, Germany, and Japan. As a result of that policy, and wise post-war reconstruction policies, we have not had to re-fight those wars once fought. To believe that anything else except victory - both militarily and diplomatically - in our current conflict will lead to peace is irrational. Without the resolve to dismantle our enemies' power to do harm to Israel, America, or any other nation seeking peaceful existence, this war will be fought for a long time to come.

(Photo: Hezbollah Army parade July 14, 2006)