Exerpt from Lee Iococca

Excerpts from Lee Iacocca's book
A friend just sent this to me and I hope you will read it. I think we all
need to read the book and do something!!!
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from death
throes? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.


"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?
Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a
gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've
got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after
a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad,
everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the
course"

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned
Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe
I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country
anymore.
The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the
Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress
responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy
(thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving
pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my
parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not
outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

The Biggest C is Crisis

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis It's
easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send
someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's
another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time
in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where
was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida
when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a
baffled look on his face. It's all on tape. You can see it for yourself.
Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and
immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he
decided it wasn't safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day, and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker.
We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for
our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody
home.
It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right
photo op at Ground Zero.

That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did
he do when he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq; a
road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But
Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself
on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of
you, I don't know what will.

A Hell of a Mess

So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for
winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the
history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while
our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas
prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our
schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being
squeezed every which way These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders
gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people
of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a
sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us
take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent
billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to
do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina
Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or
demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial
hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it
doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it.
Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can
restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that
there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car
companies?
How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the
debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem.
The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our
country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your
asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being
hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so
afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a
break.

Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to
light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope I believe in America. In
my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's
greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the Great
Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the
Vietnam War, the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by
standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's
building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all
have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to
action for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but
it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the horse shit and go to work.
Let's tell 'em all we've had enough."

Excerpted from Where Have All the Leaders Gone?. Copyright © 2007 by Lee
Iacocca. All rights reserved

Maylaysia Set to Rule

Malaysia sets May 30 for ruling on Islam conversion

By Clarence Fernandez
Reuters
Friday, May 25, 2007; 6:37 AM


KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's highest court will rule next week on whether a Muslim has the right to convert to another faith, lawyers said on Friday, in a test case that could shake society in the mainly Muslim country.
The Federal Court, the country's highest civil judicial authority, will announce on May 30 if it has decided to acknowledge the decision of Lina Joy to convert to Christianity and give up Islam, the faith she was born into.
"We're all awaiting with bated breath a case which has a great impact on the course that the country will take," Benjamin Dawson, Joy's lawyer, told Reuters.
Islam is Malaysia's official religion, so Muslims who decide to switch faiths pose a tricky legal question for the government of the multiracial, multi-religious nation.
Ethnic Malays, who make up just over half of Malaysia's 26 million people, are deemed Muslims from birth.
Constitutionally, freedom of religion is guaranteed. But in reality, conversion out of Islam falls within the ambit of sharia or Islamic courts. And sharia law prescribes fines or jail for those who renounce Islam, effectively ruling out the option.
Muslims who leave Islam end up in legal limbo, unable to register their new religious affiliations or legally marry non-Muslims. Many keep quiet about their choice or emigrate.
Lina Joy, now in her early 40s, was born Azlina Jailani and brought up as a Muslim but at the age of 26 decided to become a Christian.
In 1999, the National Registration Department allowed her to change the name in her identity card to Lina Joy but the entry for her religion remained "Islam."
Until the entry is deleted, she cannot legally marry outside the Muslim faith. The legal wrangling began when she took the department to court over the anomaly.
But a ruling against Joy could also inflame opinion among non-Muslims, many already aggrieved over what they see as the gradual encroachment of Islamic law into civil society.
About 60 percent of Malaysians follow Islam, according to the 2000 census, with Buddhists making up another 19 percent.
Christians account for nine percent, Hindus six percent and Confucianism, Taoism and other Chinese religions two percent.
(C) 2007 Reuters

Maher/Netanyahu Interview

Immigration Bill

Alert! Disastrous immigration bill proposed in Senate!


Senate negotiators have reached agreement on a new immigration bill that doesn’t just give away the store—it gives away the country.

The Senate is scheduled for a "cloture" vote on Monday, May 21, allowing the bill to receive a floor vote without proceeding through the normal committee hearing process. It needs 60 votes and the prospects of stopping it appear dim.

Under the new language, S 1348 would:
• Allow illegal aliens immediately to receive probationary legal status.
• Create a new four-year, renewable "Z" visa is given to those present within the U.S. unlawfully before Jan. 1, 2007.
• Permit illegal aliens to adjust their status to lawful permanent residents once they pay $5,000 in fees and fines.
• People under age 30 who came to the U.S. as minors could receive their green cards after three years, rather than eight.
• Allow illegal farmworkers who have worked 150 hours or three years in agriculture to apply for green cards.
• Create a new "temporary" guest worker program with two-year "Y visas," initially capped at 400,000 per year with annual adjustments based on market fluctuations.

Other provisions concern border security, workplace enforcement, and a new point system for selecting legal immigrants.

Was Osama Right ?

Was Osama Right?
BY BERNARD LEWIS, 16 May 2007

Islamists always believed the U.S. was weak. Recent political trends won't change their view.

During the Cold War, two things came to be known and generally recognized in the Middle East concerning the two rival superpowers. If you did anything to annoy the Russians, punishment would be swift and dire. If you said or did anything against the Americans, not only would there be no punishment; there might even be some possibility of reward, as the usual anxious procession of diplomats and politicians, journalists and scholars and miscellaneous others came with their usual pleading inquiries: "What have we done to offend you? What can we do to put it right?"

A few examples may suffice. During the troubles in Lebanon in the 1970s and '80s, there were many attacks on American installations and individuals--notably the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, followed by a prompt withdrawal, and a whole series of kidnappings of Americans, both official and private, as well as of Europeans. There was only one attack on Soviet citizens, when one diplomat was killed and several others kidnapped. The Soviet response through their local agents was swift, and directed against the family of the leader of the kidnappers. The kidnapped Russians were promptly released, and after that there were no attacks on Soviet citizens or installations throughout the period of the Lebanese troubles.

These different responses evoked different treatment. While American policies, institutions and individuals were subject to unremitting criticism and sometimes deadly attack, the Soviets were immune. Their retention of the vast, largely Muslim colonial empire accumulated by the czars in Asia passed unnoticed, as did their propaganda and sometimes action against Muslim beliefs and institutions.

Most remarkable of all was the response of the Arab and other Muslim countries to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Washington's handling of the Tehran hostage crisis assured the Soviets that they had nothing to fear from the U.S. They already knew that they need not worry about the Arab and other Muslim governments. The Soviets already ruled--or misruled--half a dozen Muslim countries in Asia, without arousing any opposition or criticism. Initially, their decision and action to invade and conquer Afghanistan and install a puppet regime in Kabul went almost unresisted. After weeks of debate, the U.N. General Assembly finally was persuaded to pass a resolution "strongly deploring the recent armed intervention in Afghanistan." The words "condemn" and "aggression" were not used, and the source of the "intervention" was not named. Even this anodyne resolution was too much for some of the Arab states. South Yemen voted no; Algeria and Syria abstained; Libya was absent; the nonvoting PLO observer to the Assembly even made a speech defending the Soviets.

One might have expected that the recently established Organization of the Islamic Conference would take a tougher line. It did not. After a month of negotiation and manipulation, the organization finally held a meeting in Pakistan to discuss the Afghan question. Two of the Arab states, South Yemen and Syria, boycotted the meeting. The representative of the PLO, a full member of this organization, was present, but abstained from voting on a resolution critical of the Soviet action; the Libyan delegate went further, and used this occasion to denounce the U.S.

The Muslim willingness to submit to Soviet authority, though widespread, was not unanimous. The Afghan people, who had successfully defied the British Empire in its prime, found a way to resist the Soviet invaders. An organization known as the Taliban (literally, "the students") began to organize resistance and even guerilla warfare against the Soviet occupiers and their puppets. For this, they were able to attract some support from the Muslim world--some grants of money, and growing numbers of volunteers to fight in the Holy War against the infidel conqueror. Notable among these was a group led by a Saudi of Yemeni origin called Osama bin Laden.

To accomplish their purpose, they did not disdain to turn to the U.S. for help, which they got. In the Muslim perception there has been, since the time of the Prophet, an ongoing struggle between the two world religions, Christendom and Islam, for the privilege and opportunity to bring salvation to the rest of humankind, removing whatever obstacles there might be in their path. For a long time, the main enemy was seen, with some plausibility, as being the West, and some Muslims were, naturally enough, willing to accept what help they could get against that enemy. This explains the widespread support in the Arab countries and in some other places first for the Third Reich and, after its collapse, for the Soviet Union. These were the main enemies of the West, and therefore natural allies.

Now the situation had changed. The more immediate, more dangerous enemy was the Soviet Union, already ruling a number of Muslim countries, and daily increasing its influence and presence in others. It was therefore natural to seek and accept American help. As Osama bin Laden explained, in this final phase of the millennial struggle, the world of the unbelievers was divided between two superpowers. The first task was to deal with the more deadly and more dangerous of the two, the Soviet Union. After that, dealing with the pampered and degenerate Americans would be easy.

We in the Western world see the defeat and collapse of the Soviet Union as a Western, more specifically an American, victory in the Cold War. For Osama bin Laden and his followers, it was a Muslim victory in a jihad, and, given the circumstances, this perception does not lack plausibility.

From the writings and the speeches of Osama bin Laden and his colleagues, it is clear that they expected this second task, dealing with America, would be comparatively simple and easy. This perception was certainly encouraged and so it seemed, confirmed by the American response to a whole series of attacks - on the World Trade Center in New York and on U.S. troops in Mogadishu in 1993, on the U.S. military office in Riyadh in 1995, on the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 - all of which evoked only angry words, sometimes accompanied by the dispatch of expensive missiles to remote and uninhabited places.

Stage One of the jihad was to drive the infidels from the lands of Islam;
Stage Two - to bring the war into the enemy camp, and the attacks of 9/11 were clearly intended to be the opening salvo of this stage. The response to 9/11, so completely out of accord with previous American practice, came as a shock, and it is noteworthy that there has been no successful attack on American soil since then. The U.S. actions in Afghanistan and in Iraq indicated that there had been a major change in the U.S., and that some revision of their assessment, and of the policies based on that assessment, was necessary.

More recent developments, and notably the public discourse inside the U.S., are persuading increasing numbers of Islamist radicals that their first assessment was correct after all, and that they need only to press a little harder to achieve final victory. It is not yet clear whether they are right or wrong in this view. If they are right, the consequences - both for Islam and for America - will be deep, wide and lasting.

HOORAY FOR AUSTRALIA!

Excerpts from an on-going debate in Australia.

This is true and can be checked at _http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/australia.asp_
Snopes

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks. A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia and her Queen at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his Ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown.

Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state, and its laws were made by parliament. "If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you", he said on National Television. "I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia: one, the Australian law, and another, Islamic law, that is false! If you can't agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country, which practices it, perhaps, then, that's a better option", Costello said.

Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to the other country. Education Minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values should "clear off ". "Basically, people who don't want to be Australians, and who don't want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then, they can basically clear off", he said.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: "IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians."

"However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the 'politically correct' crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Australia."
"However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand."

"This idea of Australia being a multi-cultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. And as Australians, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle."

"This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom"

"We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society .. Learn the language!"

"Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture."

"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us."

"If the Southern Cross offends you, or you don't like "A Fair Go", then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. By all means, keep your culture, but do not force it on others.

"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'."

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted."

Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, American citizens will find the backbone to start speaking and voicing the same truths !
SPEAK UP FOR YOUR COUNTRY
Before it's too late!

The Trouble With Islam

May Day in Yakima

Well I guess now i can say I have seen the elephant. We stood up to over a thousand illegals and their supporters today in Yakima and had eggs and water bottles thrown at us.

It was pretty hard for one reporter from Kapp TV to ignore the bottle that almost hit him and he led off his live news report at 6pm with the story.

I can't tell you how disgusting it was to see hundreds and hundreds of people who have broken our laws parading past us yelling "Welcome to Mexico, too bad m....fu...er its our country now" and laughing their heads off at us.

We kept our cool and we will shove their violence, ignorance and criminal behavior down thier foul throats. I personally now understand our sop's and how they work to let the other guys screw up and they came through in spades.

All across America on a communist holiday, illegals told us to get out of our own country and too bad they are here anyway now. Its time to dig in and fight people.

Bruce L..