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Name: Joshua Godinez
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BSA in IRAQ

Just found out that our Boy Scout Troop's Quartermaster advisor is being shipped out to Iraq for a 15 month tour. That makes the fourth member of our troop, and the first older adult, to be sent to Iraq. Army, Navy, Marines. Troop 104 has sent men to all branches. Good luck and stay safe, guys.

Luis.Aguilar5@us.army.mil

I planning on keeping in touch.
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Possible George Cattan Visit

I might get to visit Syria in April, depending on my work schedule. I'm trying to figure out if there is any way I can't make this trip. My father-in-law grew up in Syria after they ran away from Palestine when he was a kid. Some of his family still lives there, including George Cattan, his humble, political brother. George came to America last year and it was a pleasure to meet him. I'd love to accompany my father-in-law to the Middle East where civilization got its start and see first-hand how Christians (the family is Orthodox) live in a Muslim country. It seems like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I'm starting to get excited at the possibility of going over there.

Updated 3/16/2007: No go. Work was something I was able to handle, but apparently my wife really can't live without me. We'll have to look for a time when we can take the whole family.
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B for Victory

I knew I would avoid keeping this blog up to date, but here I am giving it another go. Thanks to The Victory Caucus http://victorycaucus.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 and their registration process for reminding me that I actually have a blog. I changed my political registration from unaffiliated to Republican a few months ago and I'm hoping that The Victory Caucus will help me find strong candidates in the Valley to support. Now, I hope to Blog for Victory, if I can remember to keep blogging this time.
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Zonko Zidane

Honestly I've tried to enjoy soccer, especially the World Cup. It's been difficult as I watch grown men wail and wimper and flop on the ground in a dishonest attempt to get other players banned from the game, but I've come to accept that it is a scummy underbelly to the world's most popular sport. Hearing that Zidane was awarded MVP after he deliberately attacked another player during a break in the match just makes it very hard. How can I have any respect for an organization that awards its greatest individual honor to a thug? I might completely give up on international soccer and only care about the MLS from now on.

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_4034942
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Basayev Bites It

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_4034817

I saw the documentary on the Beslan massacre. I sobbed my way through most of it. The death of Basayev doesn't rate an instant's sorrow or remorse. I'm not a pacifist.
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Gaza Non Sequitur

CBS talks about tanks rolling into Gaza and how Abbas is spending $50 mil received from other Arab states while Israel withhold Hamas money and then decides to inform the reader this

"A 15-month-old Palestinian boy injured in an Israeli missile strike last month died of his wounds at an Israeli hospital."
http://cbs2.com/topstories/topstories_story_192084704.html

That's it. No clarification of what incident is discussed or who made the statement or if anyone corroborated that an Israeli missle strike was responsible. While it might be true since the terrorists like to hide around children, the mainstream media has lost any right to assume that the reader should believe whatever they write.
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MEMRI report of Syrian Arrests

 

http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=IA28606

No response yet from George Cattan, a Syrian opinion writer and my wife's uncle, who has been arrested on previous occasions by the government, but who holds no grudge. I sent an e-mail inquiry on July 10, 2006, at 10:30am Pacific time.

Update 7/12/2006: George is fine and never heard from any of the Syrian authorities.

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Nigerian Oil for China

Not a recent story, but something that caught my eye. China is signing with Nigeria for oil.

http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/may/21/21052006bs.htm#A16

May 20: Nigeria handed a state-owned Chinese group licences to explore four oil blocks yesterday, underlining Beijing's increasing drive for energy resources.

Not surprising considering the previous understandings between the two countries.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3419

The Chinese government builds its influence in Africa by using its state-owned companies to underbid competitors—including Western companies—for government projects.

In essence, China and its African partners have figured out a way to circumvent the patchwork system of accountability for foreign aid.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5114980.stm

But sceptics fear that Beijing's interest in Africa is driven by self-interest and that it is prepared to ignore political, environmental and humanitarian considerations in its search for new markets.

I guess all those years of American foreign aid and debt-relief are really paying off now, eh?

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Turtle Blogging

What's up with the blogging portion of townhall running slower than a speeding turtle? This is the third time I'm trying to post this tiny blog entry.
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Another day, another volley

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=2819

July 7, 2006, 10:49 PM (GMT+02:00)

Up to Friday mid-afternoon, 17 Palestinian missiles struck Israeli locations

Is it a war yet?

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Mexican expats to demonstrate

 http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4344335 

Many Hispanic activists in Southern California supported Lopez Obrador as a champion of the poor and were also organizing protests.

"We need to do what we can on this side of the border to make sure this stolen election doesn't go unchallenged," said Armando Navarro, coordinator of the National Alliance for Human Rights, which had organized caravans to Tijuana for Mexicans to vote.

This is rich. Mexicans who abandoned their country and may be living in America illegally want to have protests against the Mexican election regarding the candidate they didn't bother to vote for. One thing we all need to watch out for: America doesn't need to get the reputation for trying to interfere in the elections of Mexico or hosting those who do.

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George Cattan on Islamic fundamentalism

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP115006


"The Fundamentalists Have Defined Their Adversaries: Modern Society, Women, and Non-Muslims"

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George Cattan on the Holocaust

This is my wife's uncle. He's a lovely man. A sweeter person you could never meet. He's also a Palestinian living in Syria (although he considers himself a Syrian the government refuses to recognize him as anything but Palestinian).

Despite the Use of the Extermination of the Jews as Justification for Establishing the State of Israel, It Was Still a Crime Against Humanity

http://www.metransparent.net/texts/george_catan_on_arab_holocaust_denial_memri.htm
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Hypocrisy thy name is DNC

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/06/AR2006070600762.html

GOP leaders want another Republican to replace DeLay on the ballot and say state election law allows them to select one because DeLay has moved out of Texas. Democrats sued the Republicans to try to block them from picking a replacement nominee.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64644,00.html

Late Tuesday, Democrats settled on the 78-year-old Lautenberg as their substitute candidate.

Republicans say it is too close to Election Day to replace Torricelli and that Democrats shouldn't be allowed to dump a candidate who was trailing in the polls. The GOP also said state law bars replacement candidates less than 51 days before an election; Torricelli withdrew 36 days before Election Day.

"I believe the statute should be enforced as it presently reads," Forrester's lawyer, Peter Sheridan, told the state justices.

But in its seven-page ruling, the court said it was more important to have a ballot "bearing the names of candidates of both major political parties" and that state law didn't rule out the possibility of a vacant candidacy within 51 days of the election.

Update with link to another townhall blog on the subject:
'Tom DeLay should change is name and move to New Jersey.'
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Thanks for next to nothing

Why am I not surprised that my children could have been safer if not for obstructionist Democrats?

http://www.examiner.com/a-168837~Editorial__Where_are__Star_Wars__critics_now_.html

they will no doubt protest to high heaven, but “Star Wars” critics must bear the major burden of responsibility for the delays and setbacks that have prevented the missile defense system from becoming fully operational long before the present crisis with North Korea. There have been technological problems, especially in the very early stages, but those were temporary and subject to American technological prowess.

Far more serious have been the setbacks engineered by the critics — like then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell’s maneuvers to kill the first Bush administration’s Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (G-PALS) plan, the Clinton-Gore gutting of the Strategic Defense Initiative office in 1993 and the delaying tactics used by Senate Democrats in the first years of this decade to reduce the current program’s funding.

It is a sobering thought to wonder how much more secure the United States and its allies would be today in the face of madness like North Korea’s launches if instead of a limited defense still in development we could depend upon the robust protection first proposed many years ago.

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