Sit Down President Carter!

When former President Jimmy Carter left the White House he was a disgraced man, a failure, the nightly butt of Carson's monologues. After today's remarks at Mrs. King's funeral, 25 years later, I have come to the conclusion that the only thing that has changed is that Johnny Carson is now dead.

Who can forget the "Misery Index" of the Carter economy, the idiotic Olympic Boycott and the disastrous foreign policy decision that allowed Ayatollah Khomieni to hold America hostage? No one can, except those at the New York Times, CNN and today's Democratic Party. For decades the far left has made it their mission to rehabilitate Carter's image. This is the elder statesman that brought peace to Haiti and stopped North Korea from being a nuclear power. Let's give him the Nobel Peace Prize and maybe the world will buy into his advice on national security matters given at a funeral. It's got to be a joke! After all, here is a man whose solution to airplane hijackings was to send a secret letter to Kaddahfi telling him to stop or else! Then brags about its success in a 1991 speech to the Chicago Economic Club. That's three years after Pan-Am Flight 103 exploded over Scotland! Who was responsible for that? You guessed it Kaddahfi.

It was just last week President Carter advocated to continue giving the Hamas run Palestinian Government financial aid. This opinion based on Hamas leadership telling Carter they want a peaceful administration. Carter noted, Hamas has adhered to a cease fire, which "indicates what they may do in the future..... Hamas is highly disciplined and capable of keeping any promise of nonviolent it might make." Really? Did it ever occurred to Carter to demand that they promise to renounce their party platform calling for the destruction of Israel?

Lets not forget last year's Venezuelan re-call election of Hugo Chavez. The European Union determined that the election was so rigged and the observers rules were so absurd, that they declined to send representatives in the "interest of honesty". Reports of voter intimidation was so wide spread that opposition parties refused to participate in the elections. Yet this did nothing to stop Carter from monitoring and certifying Chavez's victory. Carter didn't even feel the need to investigate the fact that independent organizations reported a 40 point swing between the vote tabulation and exit poll data. Don't blame Jimmy, he probably had to run off to give another speech in Europe where he calls President Bush and Tony Blair liars.

This brings us to Coretta Scott King's funeral. Carter thought it appropriate to politicized the event and like so many other times in the past he was proven to be foolish and wrong.

Well, This Isn't a Good Start!

Hamas Suggests Using Militants in Army

By SARAH EL DEEB and RAVI NESSMAN

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The leader of Hamas suggested Saturday that the Islamic group could create a Palestinian army that would include its militant wing - responsible for scores of deadly attacks on Israelis - in the aftermath of its crushing victory in parliamentary elections.

Israeli officials condemned the plan, demanding that Hamas renounce violence. Palestinian security officers, including loyalists from the defeated Fatah Party, said they would never submit to Hamas control.

"Hamas has no power to meddle with the security forces," said Jibril Rajoub, a Palestinian strongman.

The Hamas chief, Khaled Mashaal, reiterated that Hamas would not recognize Israel and indicated attacks on Israeli civilians would continue as long as Israel continued to target Palestinian civilians. "As long as we are under occupation then resistance is our right," he said.

Angry police stormed the parliament building in Gaza and armed militants marched into Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' compound in Ramallah to demonstrate their rejection of Hamas' authority. Their defiance raised fears of a spike in violence between Palestinian factions.

The Elections in Palestine

"...I don't see how you can be a partner in peace if you advocate the destruction of a country as part of your platform. And I know you can't be a partner in peace if you have a -- if your party has got an armed wing. The elections just took place. We will watch very carefully about the formation of the government. But I will continue to remind people about what I just said, that if your platform is the destruction of Israel, it means you're not a partner in peace. ....."

-President Bush - January 26,2006

The results of the Palestinian elections, where the Hamas Party scored a landslide victory, assures that the Middle East Peace Process will be forever altered. One has to wonder if the effect on the peace process means a turn for the worst or for the better? It's hard to sing praises for Hamas, and I am not going to do it here. Hamas is a violent terrorist group, plain and simple. Until they publicly change their platform calling for the destruction of Israel we should have nothing to do with them. I think we need to keep in mind that for all the efforts of endless peace conferences, negotiations and economic persausion, nothing might be more effective in changing Hamas' behavior than to have to carry the mantel of responsibility to bring a better life to the Palestinian people.

Are we to believe that 75% of the Palestinian electorate believes that the destruction of Israel is the most pressing issue in their lives? I think not. In 30 years the Palestine refugee issue has not gotten much better, they remain a very poor people. President Bush made this point when he stated, "When you give people the vote, you give people a chance to express themselves at the polls -- and if they're unhappy with the status quo, they'll let you know."

Even cities like Jenin and al-Birch, urban areas where some economic development has occurred, gave victories to Hamas representatives. Khalid Amayreh explained in the Palestine Times,”The people here have been fed up with rampant chaos and lawlessness, as well as the PA’s failure to fight numerous aspects of corruption like graft, nepotism, favoritism, cronyism and above all the manifestly serious abuse of governance."

For decades the Palestinians have been victimized, not by Israel, but by the self appointed body of the PLO, lead by Yassar Arafat and his cronies. The PLO leadership talked of wanting peace, talked of wanting a Palestine homeland and was rewarded with billions of dollars in economic aid. Arafat realized the more he talked the richer he and his friends could be. There was no incentive for Arafat to actual solved the problems facing his people, these problems were making him and his friends rich. While I am not happy with Hamas taking over the Palestine Authority, I am glad that a change occurred.

I can't begin to predict how Hamas is going to react with this new found power, but I didn't have any faith in the old guard to act on behalf of the Palestinians either. If you believe that the majority of Palestinian people want a better life and not war with Israel, you can only hope that Hamas realizes that the only true way to retain power in the next election is to change the status quo.