Coast Guard Announces Record Drug Seizures

The Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard announced today a record year for cocaine seizures with 355,755 pounds seized, worth more than $4.7 billion.

"From piracy to rum runners to illegal migrant smugglers, the Coast Guard has been continuously guarding our coasts and securing our borders since 1790," said Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen. "Today, drug smugglers are resorting to riskier, more desperate tactics in an attempt to evade detection and interdiction at sea. More and more, we are seeing that they can run but cannot hide"

* In September, the Coast Guard and its partners interdicted a vessel loaded with 3,600 gallons of cocaine dissolved in diesel fuel, a technique used by smugglers to avoid detection. The liquid cocaine could be converted into 15,800 pounds of pure cocaine.
* In August, Coast Guard, Navy and Customs and Border Protection crews interdicted and boarded a self-propelled, semi-submersible vessel loaded with an estimated $352 million of cocaine.
* The Coast Guard made its largest maritime cocaine seizure when it intercepted the Panamanian vessel Gatun carrying more than 33,500 pounds of the narcotic -- or approximately 20 tons -- in March 2007.

"With successful maritime interdiction efforts, drug smugglers are forced to resort to more dangerous and expensive tactics," said Cmdr. Robert Watts, chief, Coast Guard drug and migrant interdiction. "The more we push them to adopt extreme measures, the more difficult we make it for them to succeed."

Another major trend has drug smugglers increasingly turning to Pacific routes to traffic cocaine, as effective and aggressive enforcement efforts have all but shut down major routes in the Caribbean.

In the face of new routes and new tactics by smugglers, partnerships are a critical component of the Coast Guard's interdiction successes. New tools are extending the Coast Guard's law enforcement authority to targets that were previously out of reach. Bilateral agreements negotiated with 26 Caribbean and South American nations allow the service to conduct operations and stop illegal smuggling far outside U. S. territorial waters with suspected smugglers operating on foreign-flag vessels. Dramatic improvements in intelligence and information sharing among international and interagency partners have also strengthened anti-smuggling efforts.

"On behalf of the President and the American people, I commend the Coast Guard and its interagency partners for a record-breaking rate of seizures on the high seas," said John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy. "Every load of drugs seized represents that much less that can be used to poison our young people and harm our nation. Thanks to the brave efforts of these men and women, the cocaine market in the United States has been significantly disrupted and lives are being saved as a result."

While the Coast Guard is the nation's leading maritime law enforcement agency, drug interdiction is an interagency effort. Through federal partnerships the Coast Guard is able to make significant gains in keeping illegal drugs out of our country and the profits out of the drug dealers' hands.

More information about this article and the Coast Guard

Remember Pearl Harbor Day

Detailed time line leading to Pearl Harbor

Photos from Pearl Harbor

Video: Pearl Harbor Survivors

Sixty-six years ago the Japanese navy struck the American Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in a sneak attack that severely damaged America's naval power in the Pacific.

The Japanese attack started just before 8 AM, catching the Naval base off guard and virtually defenseless.

Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2400 Americans were dead.

Soon after, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya.

On December 8, the USA declared war on Japan. Within days, the USA was a full participant in World War II.

How did the United States and it's Navy become such an easy target for a long-range naval attack?

Isolationism

One of the main reasons is that the driving philosophy in foreign relations at that time was isolationism.

The USA, still reeling from the Depression of the Thirties, felt that what was happening in Europe with Germany and Italy, and in the Pacific with Japan, was not it's concern.

Just as darkness cannot tolerate light, evil governments like Germany, Italy, and Japan could not let the USA, still a world power and bastion of liberty and freedom, remain as it was.

From Pearl Harbor, and later the attack 60 years later on 9/11 by Islamic fascists, we learn that the world is too small for us to tolerate evil.

The New Direction

We do not live in a bubble. The loss of freedom and respect for life anywhere in the world affects everyone and diminishes our humanity.

Our foreign policy today has to come from our respect for life and the extension of liberty and freedom to all.

Despite what the liberals say, we have the moral high ground, and an obligation to do what is necessary to spread freedom and liberty and stand up to the dark evil forces that are trying to destroy our way of life.

This means that we must win the current war on Islamic fascism that was brought to our shores even before 9/11. Unlike WWII, this is a war that will take decades to win.

Not fighting this war will result the spread of the hateful Islamic ideology throughout the world and the loss of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that God has endowed on all his creation.

Just as it was at Pearl Harbor, the USA today is the last and greatest firewall in stopping the flames of evil that seek to destroy all that is good.

Record Snow in US While Bali Hosts Global Warming Conference

Portland, Maine tied a 1890 record for snow Monday, receiving 8.5 inches while Marshfield in Washington County had 18 inches of snow, Lakeville in Penobscot County 17 inches, Island Falls in Aroostook County 16, Brassau Lake near Moosehead 15.7, Farmington 14.7 inches and Andover 13, the weather service said.

Meanwhile, The National Weather Service says the Grand Forks airport had 8.1 inches of snow yesterday, setting a record for the date. And Fargo set a record with 5.9 inches.

The previous mark in both cities was set back in 1926.

Grand Forks and Fargo also had record snowfall last Saturday.

All this record snow is falling while the UN hosts a global warming in Bali, Indonesia.

The conference will primarily focus on the USA and China as the biggest global warming contributors. The international community, led by the UN, is trying to strong-arm the USA into signing treaties that will force our country into meeting deadlines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ironically, in order to put on the conference, thousands of people have had to take jets to the remote Bali location, which has added hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Such treaties will only hurt our economy, weaken our world-power status, and will do nothing to reduce "global warming", which is a natural process that is not influenced by human activity.

Global Government Activists Want $80 Billion

In its recent Human Development Report, the United Nations has suggested that industrialized countries should give poor countries $80 billion to help the poorer nations cope with global warming.

Of this $80 billion, they want the USA to pay about $40 billion.

Columnist Cliff Kincaid explains it this way: "In order to provide the “new and additional” foreign aid, the report calls for exploring a range of “innovative financing options.” This is U.N.-speak for global taxes. Indeed, the report openly calls for carbon taxes and aviation taxes. It proposes a “Climate Change Mitigation Facility” to mobilize the $25 - $50 billion “needed annually” for developing countries."

The true goal of the global warming activists is to promote one world government through the United Nations.

As I stated months ago on conservativekids.net: "Since global warming is a "global issue", it will take a "global government" to fix the problem."

If the next president of the United States is a liberal, they will undermine the sovereignty of our country by handing over more power to UN and it's Marxist agencies.

As a result, our citizens, military, and economy will all be under the control of the UN to some degree.

Of course, it is starting out with small steps, like the pressure to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the Law of the Sea Treaty, or giving the UN $40 billion for the poor nations affected by global warming.

But these small steps are designed to weaken our country and make it easier to bring the USA under the control of the UN.

The next president of the USA has to have the resolve to strengthen our country, not weaken it. The sovereignty of the United States of America is at stake in the next election.

Conservatives have to win this battle for president, not only for the sake of the USA, but for the ability of any country to maintain its sovereignty and identity.

Robertson's Endorsement of Rudy Boosted Mike Huckabee

The best thing that Pat Robertson did for Mike Huckabee was to endorse Rudy Giuliani. Look at the poll numbers: Huckabee started a meteoric rise right after the Robertson endorsement.

Robertson's surprising move was so shocking to the evangelical community that they immediately looked for the candidate with the best Christian conservative values and settled on the only choice, Mike Huckabee.

Of course, the primary issue to most Christian conservatives is the abortion debate.

Robertson's endorsement of Giuliani shocked the religious right into realizing that their hard fought victories secured through Bush's two presidential terms and right-ward swing of the Supreme Court were now in danger.

Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, is the only viable candidate whose pro-life record is beyond impeachment.

Thus, the Christian conservatives responded with one of the greatest grass-roots efforts in political history and propelled Huckabee into the top tier of the Republican presidential hopefuls and eventually into a competitive position nationally.

Add to this a persuasive campaign to push the Fair Tax, a sterling record as a Second Amendment believer, and a commitment to win the war on Islamic terrorism, and you have the most natural candidate for not only the right wing, but also for those of the libertarian mindset.

Interestingly, the blue-blood Republicans are lashing back at Huckabee because they fear a Christian conservative take over of their party.

Robert Novak has been especially vicious, not only taking swipes at Huckabee, but at the Christian right also: "Huckabee's surge is driven by the evangelical Christian vote within the Republican Party -- highlighting the risk the party undertook by embracing this voting bloc that is not necessarily a limited-government constituency."

How someone who is a proponent of the Fair Tax and wants to abolish the IRS, as Huckabee does, can be a "big government" guy and opponent of the "free-market line" as Novak contends is beyond belief. Dick Morris even wrote a column soon after titled "Mike Huckabee Is A Fiscal Conservative" dispelling some of the smears being perpetrated by Huckabee's detractors such as Novak and Ann Coulter.

Fair Tax supporters know that the Fair Tax will inherently limit the power of the Federal government just by nature of it's structure. The true power of the free market will be unleashed in the most powerful way since this nation's founding when people get their full paycheck and decide how much they are going to pay in taxes.

The truth is that Novak and his ilk don't really trust the free market and relish the control the government has through tax legislation and the power of the lobbyists on K Street. Thus their opposition to the most important legislation sitting in Congress today.

Despite their efforts, Robertson and Novak prove to be part of the old guard that has lost it's vision and sense of proportion.

The Christian right and the Fair Taxers will continue to fight for their underdog candidate and leave dinosaurs like Pat Robertson and Robert Novak in the past where they belong.

Political Correctness, Yes; Free Speech, No

The politically correct movement in America continues to run a muck.

Something as innocent as being painted in black face, like Al Jolson is in the photo to the left, has become a "hate crime".

The liberals in our great country are doing their best to undermine our freedom of speech by determining what language is acceptable and unacceptable, and who is allowed to use or not use certain words.

Instead of bringing unity, the proponents of political correctness continue to divide the country by classifying people according to race, sexual orientation, political ideology, social class, and national or ethnic origin.

Here's a couple items from this week that prove that "political correctness" is nothing more than an attempt to stifle free speech in America.

LaShawn Barber has a stinging essay on the uproar created by the NAACP and one of it's members, Gary Hines.

The controversy surrounds a 1939 play called Ten Little Niggers, renamed Ten Little Indians, and then renamed again And Then There Were None.

A 9 year old boy was suspended from an Arizona school for the "hate crime" of calling blacks "brown people".

If you read the full story, you'll find that the boy was coerced into using the phrase "brown people" by the mother of the boy he had a problem with, and she's a detention room officer at the very same school! Well isn't that convenient!

Talk show host Michael Savage is under attack from liberals and Muslims, particularly CAIR, for his diatribes against the cult of Islam.

CAIR is leading the charge to get Savage fired from his job, joining a growing movement that is taking aim at conservative talk radio.

If Hillary is elected in '08, don't be surprised to see the attack on talk radio ratcheted up, since it's the most powerful source of conservative ideology today.