Ronald Reagan on Fidel Castro

Reagan Diaries page 4

Wednesday, February 11, 1981

“Intelligence reports say Castro is very worried about me. I’m very worried that we can’t come up with something to justify his worrying.”

Did Hillary Clinton Say She is Unpatriotic?

Hillary Clinton inquired of Robert Gates, Sec of Defense. about the specifics of any plan to withdraw the troops from Iraq. Responding on behalf of Gates was Eric S. Edelman, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Edelman declined to reveal any Pentagon plans for withdrawal based upon the fact that disclosure would be a tactical mistake to be exploited by our enemies. Key language in Edelman’s response included this sentence:

Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.

In essence, Edelman told Clinton that he is not going to disclose any Pentagon plans to her. Read the entire letter here.

Hillary Clinton had a totally different take on what Edelman’s letter had to say. Here’s what Clinton said in the 7/23/07 You Tube Democratic Presidential debate.

I happen to agree that there is no military solution, and the Iraqis refuse to pursue the political solutions. In fact, I asked the Pentagon a simple question: Have you prepared for withdrawing our troops? In response, I got a letter accusing me of being unpatriotic; that I shouldn't be asking questions.

The truth of the matter is that Clinton should not be asking stupid questions for the exact reasons that Edelman enumerated. What Edelman specifically did not mention was anything about Clinton asking questions or questioning her patriotism or lack there of.

One thing you can be sure of is that Clinton is hopping mad that Edelman refused her. Her ego is way too big to accept rejection from someone as lowly as Edelman, and she is probably peeved that Sec of Defense Gates did not personally respond to her. Clinton again wrote Gates trying to get him to disavow Edelman’s response. No such luck. Gates wrote Clinton back and firmly supported Edelman.

The question is, has Hillary Clinton deliberately lied about Edelman’s response and continued the legacy of her lying “I did not have sex with that woman” husband? Or, has she unwittingly told us something about herself through the process of psychological projection?

In psychology psychological projection (or projection bias) is a defensive mechanism in which one attributes to others one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions. Projection reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of the unwanted subconscious impulses/desires without letting the ego recognize them. The theory was developed by Sigmund Freud and further refined by his daughter Anna Freud, and for this reason, it is sometimes referred to as "Freudian Projection"

This is a no-win situation for the Senator from New York and would be Democratic candidate for the presidency. She is either an outright liar or a self-admitted unpatriotic American. I’m thinking she can survive politically better as a liar. Most of the country could probably accept that as an accurate assessment since lying may be a Clinton family trait. Nevertheless, I guess it could be both the former and the latter choices together.

Links in this blog:
Hillary Clinton 5/22/07 letter to Sec of Defense Gates
Edelman letter to Hillary Clinton
Dept of Defense Web site
Democratic presidential debate transcript
Hillary Clinton 7/19/07 letter to Sec Def Gates
Sec of Defense Gates letter to Hillary Clinton 7/26/07
Psychological Projection

Covina PD, Class Act

When I was in the police academy, they had us stand in formation and saluting for interminable periods of time. It was an exercise in mental determination to overcome the pain and muscle spasms. As your muscles shook and you struggled to maintain the salute, a drill instructor would go nose to nose with you and demand to know if you wanted to quit. Needless to say, the answer had to be, “No Sir!” Then the DI would usually demand to know if you were sure, to which you answered, “Yes Sir!” He’d then walk off to inquire of another struggling academy cadet. There are, of course, numerous such exercises in a police academy to determine if the cadet has the prerequisite right stuff.

In my police career, I’ve been tested a number of times. Had I given up on a couple of occasions, I may not have survived to write this blog. But, never in my wildest dreams did I think that standing at attention and holding a salute for an agonizingly long time would ever occur again. And, it has not for me, but it did occur for 5-6 Covina Police Department officers.

Last week I attended the funeral for U.S. Army PFC Cory F. Hiltz. I wrote “Spittin’ Anger Quenched by Tears” on that sad occasion. The funeral procession stretched out for miles. When we entered the cemetery, the Covina PD officers were standing rigidly at attention in a continuous salute as every car in the procession past by them. I was dumbfounded as I instantly related to the pain that they were enduring. Driving by, I returned the salute hoping that they would somehow understand that I deeply appreciated the honor that they extended to PFC Cory F. Hiltz and his mourners.

Covina Police Chief Kim Raney is undoubtedly quite pleased with his officers. They did him proud.

Links in this blog:
Spittin’ Anger Quenched by Tears
Covina PD

Packing Heat

An on-duty police officer carrying a gun on his person has an awesome responsibility, but obviously that goes with the job. And, the handgun is nothing more than one of the tools on his tool belt to be deployed judiciously. But, what about when you are off-duty? Some law enforcement agencies require their officers to be armed when not at work and others don’t. It is one thing to carry a handgun in a holster attached to a sturdy belt in plain view of the public and quite another to keep one secreted from sight when not in uniform. Carrying a gun while off-duty engenders a quality of being on-duty at all times. It reinforces the habit of always watching and evaluating. Quite frankly, carrying a gun off-duty is a giant, dangerous, pain in the ass.

How so you ask? When you are off-duty, or as an under-cover officer, the last thing that you want is for crooks and the public to know that you are a law enforcement officer. You generally do not want to get involved in uniform officer police functions. To that end, keeping the gun hidden is of primary importance. To not do so telegraphs to the crooks who you are, and in a lethal situation it may well direct attention to you and spoil any element of surprise that you want to maintain. Secondly, the public spotting a gun on you will probably cause you to get jacked-up by on-duty officers.

I do a pretty good job of keeping my handgun hidden. I don’t think that my young grandchildren have a clue that I am generally armed in public. And, if they noticed a bulge under my clothing or knew of the gun’s existence, they’d say something about it. Nevertheless, I once screwed up in a favorite restaurant. Fortunately, the responding officers recognized me, which kept me from getting yanked out of the restaurant. Since I am a covert officer, my identity was nevertheless unfortunately disclosed to restaurant personnel, and I am no longer able to frequent the restaurant.

After 28 years of law enforcement, I’ll admit that I’ve started to become a little lax about maintaining my habit of always being armed in public. Hiding a gun while wearing shorts and a t-shirt is a problem. And, it feels so good to be just like the general public. Thank goodness in February 2007 that officer Ken Hammond of Ogden, Utah, was not succumbing to laziness when he and his wife were dining in a shopping mall in Salt Lake City.

An off-duty police officer having an early Valentine's Day dinner with his wife was credited Tuesday with helping stop a rampage in a crowded shopping mall by an 18-year-old gunman who killed five people before he was cut down.

Ken Hammond, an off-duty officer from Ogden, north of Salt Lake City, jumped up from his seat at a restaurant after hearing gunfire and cornered the gunman, exchanging fire with him until other officers arrived…

Here’s a problem that you probably have not considered. You are an on-duty police officer responding to a shots fired call with people down in a shopping mall. You arrive and see two people, each in plain clothes, exchanging gunfire. Who is the bad guy, and who is the good guy? Maybe they are both bad guys. In 2001, Oakland, CA, officers responding to a call killed one of their own narcotics officers.

While not in-frequent, the number of events involving the necessity of off-duty officers to get involved in dangerous situations is relatively small. But, when it happens…

Just who is this Salt Lake City shooter, and why did this guy start shooting people?

A day after the shooting, investigators struggled to figure out why a trench-coated Sulejmen Talovic opened fire on shoppers with a supremely calm look on his face.

There are two clues here for you to answer the question as to whom and why: the shooter’s name; and “a supremely calm look on his face.” Answer, he’s a Bosnian Muslim. But, did he go berserk, or was he on jihad? Was this a case of Sudden Jihad Syndrome?

The Sulejmen Talovic incident may not be adjudged to be a jihadist case. Nevertheless, the U.S. will begin to suffer from more jihadist attacks in the future. That’s why an extremely knowledgeable law enforcement trainer on Islamo-fascism recently counseled law enforcement officers to always remain armed when off-duty. That’s been my custom, but I’m sure getting tired of it.

Do sheepdogs ever have the luxury of being truly off-duty, and do they ever really retire? I am thinking about retirement, but I don’t think that I can ever return to being a sheep.

Links in this blog:
Off-Duty Cop Saved Lives In Mall
Oakland Police Rookies Kill Fellow Officer
Sulejmen Talovic
Sulejmen the Mysterious
On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs

Pres. Reagan Called Haitians Illegal Aliens

In the opening days of Pres. Ronald Reagan’s first term, 2/28/81, the President learned that a boatload of Haitians had been apprehended. The President wrote in his diary,

I’m all for opening the doors for refugees from totalitarianism but this is more complicated. These are just people who believe they can have a better life here. They are in fact illegal aliens. We’ll have to deport them but it’s a long & complicated business due to our own laws.

Can you believe that? Twenty-six years later and we still don’t have it figured out. What part of “illegal alien” and “deport” is not clear?

Spittin’ Anger Quenched by Tears

On June 28, 2007, U.S. Army PFC Cory F. Hiltz died at the hands of Islamo-fascists when the vehicle in which he was riding was struck by an IED in Baghdad. Twenty years old. Today Cory was buried with honors. My wife and I joined hundreds to remember Cory’s life and to support his parents, long time friends of ours. His father is a former partner of mine.

Approaching the church, my sadness turned to seething rage as I caught sight of eight females in their early twenties demonstrating on a corner adjacent to the church. They were trampling upon American flags thrown on the ground as they held signs aloft calling Cory’s parents immoral. To tell you the truth, I can’t quote the exact verbiage, but I can tell you that there was no other message on the signs. My wife exclaimed that she would like to spit on the women. My own inclinations were far more violent.

As I sat through Cory’s funeral service, Major General John Custer’s words soothed as if a balm had been applied to a festering sore. General Custer explained the long history of Cory’s 12th. Infantry Regiment and mentioned that when the 12th. saluted the American flag, they always said, “Love for Country.” My tears quenched the flames of anger that burned in my gut leaving me emotionally spent and returned to a sense of undying gratitude for Cory’s service to his country.

After eight months in-country, Cory returned home on leave for 15 days. When he stepped off the plane, the waiting entourage saw that he walked taller than when he left. Cory returned to family and friends a man having left his youth behind. Cory said that he was glad to live in America, and his family and friends learned that he was not jaded by the horrors of war. And though he did not want to return to war, Cory told his family that he was willingly to return because he “made a commitment.” That commitment was: to the buddies in his unit; to his family; and to his country. Two weeks after retuning to Iraq, Cory died with four of his buddies.

As I write this blog, I am having a difficult time imagining how much lower can a person sink then to attack the parents of a deceased adult child for a decision he made to support his country by joining the military service. The very freedoms that Cory’s efforts were meant to secure were used with the specific intent to emotionally injure his parents. Thanks to the Pasadena Police Department, it is believed that Cory’s parents did not witness the unbelievable actions of these embarrassing excuses for Americans without a scintilla of human compassion.

Thank you Cory Hiltz for standing tall for the American ideals that enables me to have the freedom to write this blog. It is the same freedom that allowed others to insult your parents. Your father fought crime beside me on the streets of America, and I love him for it. But, you paid the ultimate price of freedom, and I thank you. It is a debt that I can never repay.

Note: The photos are of a community display in the City of La Verne, California.

We Need Another Terrorist Attack

What is it about some American’s short memory? It was not so long ago that people were jumping out of the WTC towers to avoid the flames, and yet today the public is not galvanized into action to seek out and destroy those harboring the Islamo-fascist philosophy that led to the attacks. What the hell is the matter with a people that are more interested in the antics of Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton or what is the hot topic with Dr. Phil or Oprah Winfrey than about the people who are intent upon killing Americans? Pres. Bush said in response to Helen Thomas at his press conference the other day that the people are tired. Are we intellectually and morally soft as a people such that we are wearied with the war?

If you have been following the news carefully, or reading posts on this blog, then you should realize that a significant Islamo-fascist threat is smoldering within the United States and populated by U.S. citizens. You only have to look as far as Europe to understand what is on the horizon for the U.S.

Reports have surfaced that the National Intelligence Estimate is stating that Al Qaeda has rebuilt.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is warning about the threat to the homeleand. And, if you think that he is speaking from “gut feelings,” you are naïve and/or ill-informed. Without giving away vital secrets and without panicking the country, Chertoff is telling the country to get ready.

But, we are not ready. We have sent our best to foreign lands to do battle on our behest, and they are doing so. But, a significant portion of the politicians are responding to and representing a weak knee portion of the U.S. population and trying to end the efforts of the military. Politicians, in general, are not pushing the development of domestic resources to counter the conflagration that is going to erupt from the U.S.’ smoldering heap of Islamo-fascism, much less the threat from abroad.

Yes, there are modest domestic improvements. But, they are limited, halfhearted, mired in bureaucracy and under-funded. And, that is true on all levels: national; state; and local.

If you were able to be a fly on the wall and overhear the private conversations of intelligence officers, you’d hear them state that the U.S. needs to have another 9/11 style terrorist attack to awaken the populace. It’s the unfortunate truth that there is not going to be a truly significant effort expended to counter Islamo-fascism until the populous demands that its representatives from city halls to the halls of Congress respond to the need.

I can not over emphasize the necessity of a grassroots constituency demanding that government representatives leave no stone unturned. The initiative must start from the people. It can be done. It was done on a national level with the defeat of the recent Senate immigration “reform” bill.

Start on the local level and demand that your city politicians instruct the local police department to develop dedicated, full-time, local law enforcement intelligence assets. Insist that local law enforcement actively partner with state and federal authorities. Insist that the local police department train all officers to recognize and react to terrorism pre-incident indicators.

It is past time to reprioritize the political agendas and prepare for the long fight to the death with Islamo-fascism.

The Difference Between a Capitalist and a Socialist

There is a political joke circulating around the Internet about the difference between a Republican and a Democrat. One version uses Fred Thompson and Hillary Clinton to make the point. The joke is a bit disingenuous in making this distinction between Republicans and Democrats. A proper characterization would be the distinction between capitalists and socialists.

The amended joke goes like this:

A capitalist and a socialist were walking down the street when they came to a homeless person.The capitalist gave the homeless person a business card and told the homeless person to come to the capitalist’s business for a job. The capitalist then took twenty dollars out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person.

The socialist was very impressed. And when they came to another homeless person, the socialist decided to help. He walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the welfare office. The socialist then reached into the capitalist’s pocket and got out twenty dollars. The socialist kept 15 dollars for administrative fees and gave the homeless person five dollars.

Now you understand the difference between capitalists and socialists.

It is time for conservatives to demand that the Republican Party begin moving back to its conservative roots of personal responsibility intertwined with social largess.

Hells’ Angels Unbridled Violence

Occasionally I post pieces on the outlaw motorcycle gang (OMG) world. Some may think that my anti-OMG stance is overplayed. But, it is not. To the contrary, it is understated due to the fact that there are so many other things to write about, and it would be become boring to keep reading about the miscreants. Nevertheless, my OMG pieces receive continuous hits indicating that there is plenty of interest in OMG’s.

Usually you think of OMG bikers as hairy, bearded, dirty, heavily tattooed, obnoxious parolees. If that is your concept, you are only partly correct. There is also a contingent that can pass in the professional world with their tats well concealed. Case in point,

Police say Paul Eischeid is a Hell's Angel to his core. Proud of his numerous tattoos, Eischeid was one of the most enthusiastic young members of the Hells Angels chapter in Mesa, Arizona in 2001, but in effect, he led a double life. By day, Eischeid wore suits that covered his tattoos to his job at a stock brokerage firm in Phoenix. At night, he was a frequent fixture at the Hell's Angels' clubhouse, drinking, and living the lifestyle of an outlaw biker. He even had "Hell 666 bound" tattooed on his lower back. In 2001, Eischeid was not a "full patch" member of the Hells Angels, but that was his goal. To reach that full-patch status takes time and is earned by demonstrated loyalty to the club above all else.

Paul Eischeid is wanted for the murder of Cynthia Garcia,

… a confidential informant told police that he, Eischeid and another biker began beating and kicking Cynthia until she was bleeding and unconscious. Then, police report, they tossed the woman into a car trunk, and drove out to the desert where they took turns stabbing the woman until she was nearly decapitated. The gang left their victim's corpse to rot in the desert.

Cynthia Garcia’s crime that warranted her murder?

…an inebriated Cynthia started "mouthing off" to some of the Hells Angels.

Read more and view photos of Eischeid and his tats at the America’s Most Wanted site.

Violence is part and parcel to the OMG lifestyle.

Solar Theft Could be a New Line for Al Gore

There are indications that the global warming train is losing steam. If so, what is Al Gore going to do to keep his profile out-there until he declares as a Democrat presidential candidate? Just in time, there is a report that humans are stealing a greater proportion of the solar assets than we are entitled to possess. At least that’s the opinion of Austrian and German scientists reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

With all the talk about capturing clean energy from the sun to replace the use of dirty fossil fuels, the solar theft can only get worse. Thank goodness we have the Germans and Austrians out there exposing this scandal. The wacko environmentalists will love this one.

If you judge from the size of Gore’s mansion and his proclivity to fly on private jets, you can see that Al Gore is really not a wacko environmentalist. But, Al is certainly not above using the cause to assist him in getting whatever he can for himself.

English is the language of these United States

Ron and Kay Rivoli ask the musical/video question why they should Press One for English.