In the challenging times ahead, our nation faces multiple threats from around the world. We face the continued threat of terrorist attack in many forms, both home and abroad. We face the threat of a nuclear Iran and North Korea, both with intermediate-range missiles at their disposal. We face the threats of a reborn Russia and an emerging China. To face these challenges, we need to ensure that both our military and the tools they use are the best available to anyone worldwide.

And in response to these needs, Barack Obama suggests… disarmament?

Let’s go through his proposal point by point: (more…)

Four years ago I got into a debate with someone who decried the war as “blood for oil.” (He also went on to call American servicemen “pawns”, but I’ll leave that for another time.) I said then that the supply and demand of oil is a global problem, not just a United States problem. I explained how high oil prices would affect the price of food and its availability. I explained how essential it was to the global economy that the global oil supply wasn’t effected.

He didn’t agree with my assessment, said there was “no connection”, and that Bush was just “trying to make his oil buddies rich”.

Recent headlines prove who was right:

• Wal-Mart customers are feeling the pinch of higher food prices
• Corn hits $6 a bushel
• Rice prices jump 10% in Africa
• Rice Jumps to Record on Philippine Imports, Curbs on Exports
• Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing
• Food Costs Rising Fastest in 17 Years 
• UN chief warns world must urgently increase food production
• Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World

Oil prices and food prices & availability are intrinsically linked. This is a lesson we all must learn, and learn quickly. Taking part of our food supply (corn) and burning it as an inefficient fuel source (in the form of ethanol) is beyond idiotic because it causes both prices to increase and there’s no appreciable benefit to burning an inefficient fuel source.

Do we need an alternative to oil? Yes. But ethanol is not the answer, and until we find one, the stability of the world’s oil market and price is essential to everyone. And closer to home, it is essential to the preservation of our liberties.

Read More to view my original email:
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Same old story: a paper with known animosity toward the United States publishes a story about a study done by a British company that says that Britain is "more stable and prosperous" than the United States:

The United Kingdom has been ranked as one of the most stable and prosperous countries in the world, beating the United States, France and even Switzerland in a global assessment of every nation’s achievements and standards.

A one-year investigation and analysis of 235 countries and dependent territories has put the UK joint seventh in the premier league of nations. The top ten comprise also the Vatican, Sweden, Luxembourg, Monaco, Gibraltar, San Marino, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and the Irish Republic.

[...]

Mr Le Mière said that the US had fallen down the scale, although it still scored an average of 93 out of 100, partly because of the proliferation of small arms owned by Americans and the threat to the population posed by the flow of drugs from across the Mexican border.

Actually, the "proliferation of small arms" should have bumped us up higher on the list. But then again, Mr Le Mière, the U.N., and the Times Online believe — like all good socialists — that the populace should be disarmed. 

Now the threat by illegal immigration and drugs… that is something we can agree with.