A Friend's Facebook Response to Rand Paul

....."The sequester is not Obama's fault. Lawmakers have failed to pass a budget since 2009. They drafted the legislation he signed. They are the ones who kicked it down the road from January 1 to March 1. They are the ones that have not tried to resolve the budget crisis. They are the ones that went on vacation this week rather than trying to solve the issue. This is 100% a congressional problem. Republicans and the Tea Party faithful can try and spin it any way they like, but there is no way this is the president's fault....."

-- from a buddy on Facebook

Who's to Blame for this Mess?

‎"The sequester was [Obama's] idea. He signed it into law. He needs to take responsibility and he needs to act responsibly and we've given him a list of cuts that he could do without laying off anybody."

--Sen. Rand Paul 'On the Record' last night with Greta Van Susteren >> http://tinyurl.com/bbo7zkw

ABC Bans its Reporters from Wearing Flag Lapel Pins

Example below collected via email in October 2001,

Dear friend,

Yesterday, the brass at ABC News issued orders forbidding reporters to wear lapel pin American flags or other patriotic insignia. Their reasoning was that ABC should remain neutral about "causes". Since when is support for preventing our death & destruction some sort of a cause? Since when is patriotism to be discouraged. I urge you to boycott ABC and its sponsors and affiliates.

Please forward this to as many as you can.

How can ABC, which according to snopes.com has had this policy since 9/11, honestly say the policy is to make their reporting objective and professional when they are so incredibly bias towards certain presidential candidates and political causes? It's this double standard, their obvious biases, that makes me think their "no flag pin" policy is motivated not by "objectivity" but for political reasons.

I can actually see ABC's point, that some viewers may respond hysterically to a journalist/commentator wearing a flag pin, but c'mon, if I saw a Canadian newscaster wearing a pin of his country, or a Spaniard wearing one of theirs, I wouldn't think they were a government spokesperson.

After all, we're Americans/Canadians (or other free country), individual journalists should have the freedom to follow their own conscience on a decision like this.

Taxing the "Rich"

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill
for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go
something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the
bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one
day, the owner threw them a curve.

Since you are all such good customers, he said, I’m going to
reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80..

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so
the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his
‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the
sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner
suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same
amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.!

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first
four continued to drink for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the
men began to compare their savings.

‘I only got a dollar out of the $20, ‘declared the sixth man.
He pointed to the tenth man, ‘but he got $10!’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved
a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’

‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man.. ‘Why should he get
$10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’

‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison.. ‘We
didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so
the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to
pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough
money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors,
is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get
the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them
for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might
start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier!

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed !
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible !

Theodore Roosevelt's Ideas on Immigration

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907

We should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birth-place or origin.

But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn't doing his part as an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. . . We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people.

New Pledge of Allegiance

The following poem prayer was penned by an anonymous author, often contributed to a 15 year old kid somewhere. Regardless of its source, I love it. Don't get me wrong. I support the concept of separation of church and state -- you know, preventing the government from controlling churches. No worry about the government or the politically correct crowd trying to crush the spirit of the "golden rule" or that of the 10 Commandments here on my blog site though!

NEW School prayer :
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd. If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now. Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice. !
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state. We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks..
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong. We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd. It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

Today's quote is from a guy named Donald Foster. He is a professor at Vassar College. He's a "literary analyst" who discovered a "long lost poem" was penned by Shakespeare and that Joe Klein was the author of "Primary Colors" by analyzing their writing styles and idiosyncrasies. Stuff like that is "write" down my alley!

No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes deserves to be called a scholar
- Donald Foster

Political Correctness Run Amok

This is crazy! How much more can I take? Is our society becoming completely unhinged? Can the term "black hole" really be misconstrued?

The FITNA Video and Free Speech on the 'Net

I was recently sent the link to the video FITNA via my email. It's a graphic 17 minute video by Dutch politician Geerte Wilders. The video's message is that Islam and the Koran are responsible for inspiring terrorism and hatred of other religions, and provides plenty of examples.

Being an American, I believe in free speech and freedom of religion, so I've elected to make it available here considering the nature of this blog. I'm interested in the opinions of those who may view it here for the first time or of those who may have seen it previously, elsewhere.

I don't believe the Koran or Islam is responsible for inspiring Jihadist terrorism, I believe that is the work of radical Islamists and Jihadists who distort, use, and interpret the Koran, the hadiths, and other sacred writings for their own hateful purposes. But, I provide the movie's link for you to make up your own mind.

Faceless Folk Make A Mystery Apperance

Recently, faceless folk have been showing themselves at high visibility and celebrity events around the world. See the story here:

"The Black National Anthem"

An artist decides she wants to sing something other then our National Anthem recently in front of Denver's Mayor at his annual "state of the city" event.

LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING
also known as "The Black National Anthem"
by James Weldon Johnson

Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring.
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.

quote(s) of the day

- "A developer is one who wants to build his house in the woods,
An environmentalist is one who already has a house in the woods."

- "The only one who has problems with Islam are the terrorists."

Dennis Miller overhead on his syndicated radio show.

Poem Commemorating President Bush's Birthday

The following poem commemorates President Bush's birthday. It was penned by my talented and loved sister Sherice:

Ode to President G.W. Bush

I'm in awe of what you bear on the media and on the air.

Unpopular, say all the polls, but I'm afraid that all those souls

Are falling for a strong delusion that might end up in the conclusion

Of the U.S.A. we know. I prayed to God for you, and so

He blessed me with these words to say, be encouraged every day.

Your legacy will bear the proof, the future will unearth the truth.

Decisions that you made were wize, you're a hero in the eyes

of all of us who value freedom, the Words of God, we know you readem,

And it shows upon your face, the life you lead is full of grace.

Happy Birthday

Hillary Under Fire in Bosnia

A chronicle of Hillary’s Bosnian entrance under fire!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDP_u2YDrFA

Things to Know About YOUR U.S. Dollar Bill

Take out a one dollar bill, and look at it. The one dollar bill you're looking at first came off the presses in 1957 in its present design. This so-called paper money is in fact a cotton and linen blend, with red and blue minute silk fibers running through it. It is actually material. We've all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of ink is used, the contents we will never know. It is overprinted with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant and pressed to give it that nice crisp look.

If you look on the front of the bill, you will see the United States Treasury Seal. On the top you will see the scales for a balanced budget. In the center you have a carpenter's square, a tool used for an even cut. Underneath is the Key to the United States Treasury.

That's all pretty easy to figure out, but what is on the back of that dollar bill is something we should all know.

If you turn the bill over, you will see two circles. Both circles, together, comprise the Great Seal of the United States. The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men come up with a Seal. It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved.

If you look at the left-hand circle, you will see a Pyramid. Notice the face is lighted, and the western side is dark. This country was just beginning. We had not begun to explore the West or decided what we could do for Western Civilization.

The Pyramid is uncapped, again signifying that we were not even close to being finished. Inside the capstone you have the all-seeing eye, an ancient symbol for divinity.

It was Franklin’s belief that one man couldn't do it alone, but a group of men, with the help of God, could do anything.

"IN GOD WE TRUST" is on this currency.

The Latin above the pyramid, ANNUIT COEPTIS, means, "God has favored our undertaking."

The Latin below the pyramid, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, means, "a new order has begun."

At the base of the pyramid is the Roman numeral for 1776. (MDCCLXXVI)

If you look at the right-hand circle, and check it carefully, you will learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States. It is also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell, Florida National Cemetery, and is the centerpiece of most heroes’ monuments.

Slightly modified, it is the seal of the President of the United States, and it is always visible whenever he speaks, yet very few people know what the symbols mean.

The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons:
First, he is not afraid of a storm; he is strong, and he is smart enough to soar above it.

Secondly, he wears no material crown. We had just broken from the King of England

Also, notice the shield is unsupported. This country can now stand on its own. At the top of that shield you have a white bar signifying congress, a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation.

In the Eagle's beak you will read, "E PLURIBUS UNUM", meaning, "one nation from many people".

Above the Eagle, you have thirteen stars, representing the thirteen original colonies, and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away. Again, we were coming together as one.

Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows.

They say that the number 13 is an unlucky number. This is almost a worldwide belief.

You will usually never see a room numbered 13, or any hotels or motels with a 13th floor.

But think about this:

13 original colonies

13 signers of the Declaration of Independence

13 stripes on our flag

13 steps on the Pyramid

13 letters in the Latin above

13 letters in "E Pluribus Unum"

13 stars above the Eagle

13 bars on that shield

13 leaves on the olive branch

13 fruits, and if you look closely, 13 arrows.

And, for minorities: the 13th Amendment.

I always ask people, "Why don't you know this?" Your children don't know this, and their history teachers don't know this.

Too many veterans have given up too much to ever let the meaning fade. Many veterans remember coming home to an America that didn't care. Too many veterans never came home at all.

Share this page with everyone, so they can learn what is on the back of the UNITED STATES ONE DOLLAR BILL, and what it stands for... Otherwise, they will probably never know...

See the site below where you can see some of the images that go with the discussion.
http://www.munic.state.ct.us/burlington/us_one_dollar_bill/us_one_dollar_bill.htm

Eleven Rules Not Taught in School

This list is the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. (The list has appeared in newspapers, although not necessarily in this book.) Many versions omit the last three rules:

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4.)

Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome.
credit: Snopes.com

I'm Growing Green with Age

This is a pretty cool site and I support it. Just goes to show that conservatives can be tree-huggers too!

http://www.greendimes.com/index.php

---

Video: Al Jazeera Cursing Match

Here’s a classic Arab shouting match that degenerates into a pretty humorous cursing session, with a dentally-challenged old cleric confronting a liberal Syrian author on Al Jazeera’s unsanitized Arabic version. (Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)

The original article is here.

Gasps from al Qaeda

Article published Oct 13, 2007, credit: washington times
Gasps from al Qaeda

October 13, 2007

Jack Kelly - The last days on Earth of Abu Osama al-Tunisi apparently were filled with anxiety: "We are desperate for your help," he said in a letter to al Qaeda chieftains.

A copy of the letter was found by U.S. troops sifting through the rubble of the building in Musayb, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, where on Sept. 25 al-Tunisi had been meeting with two local al Qaeda operatives when an F-16 cut their discussion short.

Al-Tunisi was a key member of the rapidly dwindling inner circle of Abu Ayoub al Masri, the al Qaeda chieftain in Iraq. Another key member, Abou Yaakoub al Masri, an intimate of Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, was killed Aug. 31 near the northern Baghdad suburb of Tarmiyah.

Al-Tunisi was responsible for bringing foreign al Qaeda recruits into Iraq and placing them in operational cells, U.S. military spokesmen said. That effort suffered a major blow when "Muthanna," the al Qaeda emir for the Iraq-Syrian border region, was killed in early September.

The two al Masris are both Egyptian. Al-Tunisi was, as his nom de guerre indicates, Tunisian. Found near the body of the late Muthanna was a list of 500 foreign al Qaeda fighters. More than 80 percent of the suicide bombings in Iraq have been conducted by foreigners, the U.S. military estimates. Yet Democrats continue to describe the conflict as a civil war.

Al-Tunisi and Muthanna were among 28 local, city or regional al Qaeda leaders killed or captured in September. Two other very big shots nailed last month were Muhammad al Afari, who was responsible for the bloody attack on the Kurdish Yazidi sect in August, and Abu Taghrid, who ran a car bomb network.

Al-Tunisi wasn't alone in calling for help. "Al Qaeda has lost half its leadership over the summer, and American intelligence collectors have amassed a huge number of desperate messages from al Qaeda leaders and operatives," said StrategyPage.

The beat goes on. On Oct. 2, U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested an al Qaeda financier in the Baghdad suburb of Kindi. The financier is said to have had $100 million to disburse to fund terror operations.

The collapse of al Qaeda's networks in Iraq is the chief reason both U.S. casualties and Iraqi civilian deaths plunged in September, despite an increased operations tempo.

"Terror attacks are down by more than half because al Qaeda keeps getting run out of their refuges, and, in desperation, keeps asking each other for help," StrategyPage said. "When the terrorists are unable to escape, they more frequently surrender, rather than fight to the death. This is a sign of falling morale."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on top of Page One on Oct. 2 printed a story about the plunge in U.S. casualties. But this was an exception. Most news organizations mentioned the casualty plunge on inside pages, if at all. None that I am aware of has reported prominently on the devastating losses of the al Qaeda network in Iraq. "That the media are no longer much interested in Iraq is a sure sign things are going well there," said an Oct. 1 Investors Business Daily editorial.

As the death toll for both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians plunged, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to talk about "rising levels of violence in Iraq." If the facts on the ground are uncongenial, make up your own.

British Mideast expert Bartle Bull thinks it soon will be impossible to ignore the good news from Iraq. In an article this month in the British magazine Prospect titled "Mission accomplished," Mr. Bull wrote: "With most Sunni factions now seeking a deal, the big questions in Iraq have been resolved positively. The country remains one, it has embraced democracy and avoided all-out civil war."

The Sunnis, even the ex-Ba'athists, have turned on al Qaeda and are seeking a deal, and the predominantly Shia government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is willing to make one, Mr. Bull said. More than 14,000 Sunnis in Anbar Province, once al Qaeda's stronghold, have joined the Iraqi army and police since the troop surge began.

"The Sunni insurgents have recognized that there is little point fighting a strong and increasingly skilled enemy — the United States — that is on the right side of Iraq's historical destiny and has a political leadership that ... responds to setbacks by trying harder," Mr. Bull said.

"There is even less point doing so when you are a discredited minority, as the Sunnis are after 35 years of Ba'athism followed by their disastrous insurgency, and the enemy [the United States] is in fact your main guarantor of a fair place at the national table."

Jack Kelly, a syndicated columnist, is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette.

Hope Yet for Iraq?

By Victor Davis Hanson

Iraq for most Americans is now a toxic subject -- best either ignored or largely evoked to blame someone for something in the past.

Any visitor to Iraq can see that the American military cannot be defeated there, but also is puzzled over exactly how we could win -- victory being defined as fostering a stable Iraqi constitutional state analogous to, say, Turkey.

But war is never static. Over the last 90 days, there has been newfound optimism, as Iraqis are at last stepping forward to help Americans secure their country.

I spent last week touring outlying areas of Baghdad and American forward operating bases in Anbar and Diyala provinces, talking to Army and Marine combat teams and listening to Iraqi provincial and security officials.
Whether in various suburbs of Baghdad, or in Baqubah, Ramadi or Taji, there is a familiar narrative of vastly reduced violence. Until recently, the Americans could not find enough interpreters, were rarely warned about landmines and had little support from Iraqi security forces.

But now they are being asked by Iraqis in the "Sunni Triangle" to join them to defeat the very terrorists the locals once championed. Anbar, a province that just months ago was deemed lost by a U.S. military intelligence report, is now in open revolt against al-Qaida.

Why the change?

Officers offered a number of theories. The surge of American troops, and Gen. David Petraeus' risky tactics of going after the terrorists within their enclaves, have put al-Qaida on the run. Likewise, in the past four years, the U.S. military has killed thousands of these terrorists and depleted their ranks.

Sunnis -- angry over their loss of power to the historically discriminated-against Shiites -- discovered their al-Qaida allies to be worse than their Shiite rivals. We forget that jihadists drew in not merely religious fanatics but also repulsive common criminals and psychopaths who extort, butcher and mutilate innocents.

Iraqis of all tribes and sects are also growing tired of the nihilistic violence that is squandering the opportunity for something better than Saddam's rule. The astronomical spike in oil prices has resulted in windfall profits of billions of dollars for the Iraqi government -- and with it the realization that Iraq could someday become a wealthy advanced state.

Iraqis told me that their widely held fear that Americans are going to leave soon has galvanized Sunnis to finally step up to secure their country or face even worse chaos in our absence.

The result is that ordinary Iraqis are increasingly willing to participate in local government and civil defense. Such popular engagement from the bottom up offers more hope than the old 2003 idea that a democratically elected government could simply mandate reform top down from their enclaves in the Green Zone.

So we are at yet another turning point in the constantly changing saga of Iraq. On this recent trip to Iraq, I rode on highways that just a few months ago were nearly impossible to navigate without being blown up by improvised explosive devices. Soldiers now train Iraqi security forces as often as they fight terrorists.

But there is also a new sense of urgency on the part of the military that Iraqis must seize this new opportunity before it fades. Unless the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government steps up to reconcile with the Sunni provinces and begins funding social services, the insurgency will only rekindle.

The Iraqi army must be freed up to police its porous borders with Iran and Syria. That's impossible without a national police force inside Iraq's cities that is both competent and law-abiding. So far the police are not quite either.

The Shiite community must appreciate that it has won the political struggle and finally achieved political power commensurate with its numbers. This majority must now take on Shiite death squads and their sympathizers inside the Iraqi government. Otherwise, an intolerant Shiite-run Iraq will either become a pawn of Iran or fight a perpetual war with the country's Sunni provinces.

Meanwhile, the American military, after four years of hard fighting in Iraq, is strained, its equipment wearing out. America's finest citizens, fighting for an idealistic cause that has still not been well explained to the American people, continue to be killed by horrific murderers.

If the unexpectedly good news about the surge has given Gen. Petraeus another six months to improve further the situation, the political debate at home has changed only from "Get out now!" to "Victory still isn't worth the cost in blood and treasure."

Lost in all this confusion over Iraq is the fact that about 160,000 gifted American soldiers are trying to help rebuild an entire civilization socially, politically and economically -- and defeat killers in their midst who will murder far beyond Iraq if not stopped.

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and author, most recently, of "A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War." You can reach him by e-mailing author@victorhanson.com.