The Stafford Voice

Our little place to talk about and share about life.

Daniel

Rising Korean Tensions

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A few days ago, the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, was hit with artillery from its neighbor North Korea. Which resulted in the deaths of two South Korean soldiers and two civilians. This attack was seen as a demonstration against the joint military exercise between the US and South Korea staged in the Yellow Sea.

However, it appears that there could be more to it. You see, there is a regime change that will soon take place in the North. This is more likely that it is the doing of the incoming regime as a test to see if the military will follow new command. Especially when state controlled Korean Central News Agency responded Friday saying, “The situation on the Korean peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war.”

A war that neither party, including China or Japan, would invite. Seeing as China is seen as an ally to North Korea, they would be a definite thorn at the side of US support to the South. A showdown that could be devastating to the US naval fleet.

How so? Despite the fact that the US has the most advanced systems, they are still vulnerable. With the nuclear-powered US carrier, the USS George Washington, with more than 6000 sailors and 75 fighter jets aboard, and being in the backyard of the Chinese, its loss would be a catastrophic loss. After all, the Chinese have proven their ability to roam the seas undetected.

Do you remember the contrail that was in question the other week? Many top analysts claim it was a missile from a Chinese submarine. However, the Chinese would position themselves, you could wager they are already in position on both sides of the peninsula. With two Chinese fishing patrol ships spotted by the Japanese coast guard off a group of islands, you can bet they are positioned for an attack on either direction.

But, there are heavy propositions for talks coming from China as it is their latest move to calm tensions. Wu Dawei, Chinese special representative for the Korean Peninsula affairs said, “The Chinese side, after careful deliberation, proposes emergency consultations among the heads of delegation to the Six-Party Talks in early December in Beijing to exchange views on major issues of concern to the parties at present.”

What the TSA Doesn’t Get

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There is no denying that one of the hottest items of the days has become that of the intrusion of the TSA and their radiating porno-scanners and love-pat patdowns. But there is one thing that continues to be left unanswered by the TSA and others. What about those coming in from other countries? Who gropes them?

That’s the big issue. All the hub-bub here in America over the TSA doesn’t fix the fact that Americans are at danger from other countries. After all, Americans are not the ones wanting to blow up and bomb other Americans. It is them. Those from nations that house and harbor terrorists and applaud their actions.

Enough about what they don’t get, and more about what we do get.

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” – Abraham Lincoln 

That’s right. Some are being fooled by the TSA, but not all.

There are more things wrong than there are right. It is a demonstration of how far we have moved away from the Founding Principles of freedom. It shows how much control the government has over the people.

Also, it shows that Washington elites take care of each of their own. Why is it that the head of one of the organizations spearheading the radation machines, which recieved billions of tax dollars, was a head figure with Homeland Security/TSA?

Happy Starvation Day

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by John Stossel

Had today’s political class been in power in 1623, tomorrow’s holiday would have been called “Starvation Day” instead of Thanksgiving. Of course, most of us wouldn’t be alive to celebrate it.

Every year around this time, schoolchildren are taught about that wonderful day when Pilgrims and Native Americans shared the fruits of the harvest. But the first Thanksgiving in 1623 almost didn’t happen.

Long before the failure of modern socialism, the earliest European settlers gave us a dramatic demonstration of the fatal flaws of collectivism. Unfortunately, few Americans today know it.

The Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony organized their farm economy along communal lines. The goal was to share the work and produce equally.

That’s why they nearly all starved.

When people can get the same return with less effort, most people make less effort. Plymouth settlers faked illness rather than working the common property. Some even stole, despite their Puritan convictions. Total production was too meager to support the population, and famine resulted. This went on for two years.

Continue reading . . .

Daily Dose

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“When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.” – Alexander Hamilton

Proverbs 24:6 – For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

On this day in history:

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was interupted during a Cabinet meeting by his son, Tad, who wished the Thanksgiving turkey to be spared. At which point, Lincoln wrote out a reprieve of presidential order for Tad to present to the executioner to save the life of the turkey, Jack.

North Korean Artillary Hits South Korean Island

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Dozens of North Korean artillary shells have hit a South Korean island in what it says is retaliation against South Korea for firing first. While South Korea’s defense ministry official, Lee Hong-ki says “This is an intentional and planned attack… and it is clearly in violation of the armistice.”

FoxNews reports:

North Korea fired artillery barrages onto a South Korean island near their disputed border Tuesday, setting buildings alight and prompting South Korea to return fire and scramble fighter jets. At least one South Korean marine was killed and 13 wounded, the military said.

The firing came amid South Korean military drills in the area. North Korea’s military had sent a message to South Korea’s armed forces early Tuesday to demand that the drills stop, but the South continued them, said an official at South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

During the drills, South Korean marines on the island shot artillery toward southern waters, away from North Korea, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of military rules.

The skirmish also came amid high tension over North Korea’s claim that it has a new uranium enrichment facility and just six weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il unveiled his youngest son Kim Jong Un as his heir apparent.

The artillery barrages struck the small South Korean-held island of Yeonpyeong, which houses military installations and a small civilian population in an area that has been the focus of two previous deadly battles between the Koreas.

One South Korean marine was killed, three were seriously wounded and 10 slightly wounded, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. Island residents were escaping to about 20 shelters in the island and sporadic shelling was continuing, the JCS said.

South Korea responded by firing K-9 155mm self-propelled howitzer, but the JCS official declined to say whether North Korean territory was hit.

YTN TV said several houses were on fire and shells were still falling on the island, which is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of the coast. The station broadcast pictures of thick columns of black smoke rising from the island, which has a population of 1,200 to 1,300. Screams and chaotic shouts could be heard on the video.

Risking a New Cold War

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by Patrick Buchanan

Before Republican senators vote down the strategic arms reduction treaty negotiated by the Obama administration, they should think long and hard about the consequences.

In substance, New START has none of the historic significance of Richard Nixon’s SALT I or ABM treaty, or Jimmy Carter’s SALT II, or Ronald Reagan’s INF treaty removing all intermediate-range missiles from Europe, or the strategic arms reductions treaties negotiated by George Bush I and Bush II.

The latter cut U.S. and Russian arsenals from 10,000-12,000 nuclear warheads targeted on each nation to 2,000 — a huge cut.

If Republicans could back those treaties, what is the case for rejecting New START? Barack Obama’s treaty reduces strategic warheads by 450, leaving each side 1,550.

Is this not enough to deter when we consider what the Chernobyl disaster did to the Soviet Union and what the knockdown of two buildings in New York has done to this country? Ten hydrogen bombs on the United States or Russia could set us back decades, let alone 1,000.

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona is holding up the treaty until he gets more assurances that the administration will do the tests and upgrades necessary to maintain the reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons. He should receive those assurances.

Maintaining the credibility of the U.S. deterrent is a vital national interest. But does this justify holding the treaty hostage?

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Airport “Security”?

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by Thomas Sowell

No country has better airport security than Israel– and no country needs it more, since Israel is the most hated target of Islamic extremist terrorists. Yet, somehow, Israeli airport security people don’t have to strip passengers naked electronically or have strangers feeling their private parts.

Does anyone seriously believe that we have better airport security than Israel? Is our security record better than theirs?

“Security” may be the excuse being offered for the outrageous things being done to American air travelers, but the heavy-handed arrogance and contempt for ordinary people that is the hallmark of this administration in other areas is all too painfully apparent in these new and invasive airport procedures.

Can you remember a time when a Cabinet member in a free America boasted of having his “foot on the neck” of some business or when the President of the United States threatened on television to put his foot on another part of some citizens’ anatomy?

Yet this and more has happened in the current administration, which is not yet two years old. One Cabinet member warned that there would be “zero tolerance” for “misinformation” when an insurance company said the obvious, that the mandates of ObamaCare would raise costs and therefore raise premiums. Zero tolerance for exercising the First Amendment right of free speech?

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Daily Dose

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“An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.” – John Marshall

Proverbs 16:16 – How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

On this day in history:

In 1863, began the Battle of Chattanooga which resulted in a critical victory for the Union.

Click HERE to learn more about this battle.

Oklahoma Sharia Ban in Court

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by Connie Hair

A federal court judge is slated to hear arguments today on an injunction blocking Oklahoma’s new constitutional amendment prohibiting the use of foreign systems of law in reaching legal decisions.

On November 2, Oklahoma voters passed a ballot initiative banning the use of Sharia and international law in Oklahoma courts by a whopping 70%. The new law explicitly reaffirms the supremacy of the federal and the Oklahoma state constitutions. 

Just days after the vote, Muneer Awad, a member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), filed suit to block the law’s implementation, claiming that it violated his constitutional rights. 

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