Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Well, I just realized that this past Friday (October 8^th) marked the passing of the first year that I've been doing this "blogging" thing. I have to say that I've mostly enjoyed it. I've learned lots of new things, interacted with people from around the world that I otherwise would never had known existed, paid closer attention to and thought more about some things (especially politics) than I ever have before. I think I've improved as a writer, at least somewhat. I've presented and defended my Christian faith and have been thoroughly ridiculed for it, and I've found that my faith has grown because of it. All in all, it has been a learning, growing and challenging experience, well worth the time I've put into it.

In my first post to this site, I wrote:

Thanks for visiting. I am just beginning my online journal, web log, or "blog" if you'd like to call it that. Right now, I don't really know what form this will take, how long or how often I will post to it, or what topics I'll cover most. I hope to make what I write somewhat interesting to someone other than myself, but whether or not I am successful will be judged by the audience - of course.

Some of those questions have been answered, I suppose.

I post roughly once a week, or perhaps a little more often if something interesting comes up that I can contribute to, like for example, the CBS News forged document scandal. The name for the site, "Pete's Journal" is apropos, since it does take the form of a journal - in web logging parlance, I'm a "thinker" rather than a "linker." I don't, however, have any illusions that my thinking is especially profound. Based on the number of readers I get, I can't honestly say that many people find my writing very interesting. In over a year, my SiteMeter statistics show that I've had roughly 4000 visitors. Sites like Instapundit, and other popular sites get more than that in an hour. So, is my writing interesting? I suppose not especially, but that's OK. I do this only as a hobby. I'm not trying to make any money or impress anyone. Frankly, if I got much attention from this, I'd be somewhat embarrassed. I enjoy writing here and reading the few comments I get. It helps me organize and think through important issues, and I like to think that a few people might benefit. So, I'll continue blogging here, obliged to no one, until I don't enjoy it anymore, then I'll stop.

Homespun Bloggers

In light of the fact that I do this strictly as a hobby - I'm not a paid writer, I don't post any advertisements or endorse any products, and I am not backed by any political party, lobbying organization or action committee of any kind - I have joined a new blogging group that I recently discovered, the "Homespun Bloggers." Homespun Bloggers is "a loose association of bloggers for whom blogging is a labor of love, and no more." That certainly fits for me, so I'm glad to be included in the the association and to link to them. You'll see a new button in my sidebar and links to the association's members.

And now, on to some actual blogging...

Kerry Just Doesn't Get It

In an interview by Matt Bai published today (October 10^th) in the New York Times (registration required), John Kerry said this:

We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance... As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.

In this single quote, John Kerry demonstrates why he is fundamentally unqualified to be president of the United States. He equates terrorism with prostitution or illegal gambling. He views it as a law-enforcement problem, as organized crime, rather than a struggle for the survival of our country and of all of Western civilization. It's a clear example of John Kerry's pre-9/11/01 thinking.

This is why I utterly oppose John Kerry for president. He just doesn't get it. Has he been paying attention at all?

The terrorists don't see themselves as an organized crime gang; they see themselves as warriors, fighting a holy war (jihad) against cowards and infidels. They aren't interested in negotiations, agreements or diplomacy, unless it helps further their cause, which is nothing less than world domination and the establishment of a world-wide Islamic state, based on their barbaric shari'a laws. Here are some quotes that make this clear:

From the leader of an Algerian terrorist group associated with al Qaeda, Nabil Sahrawi (emphasis added):

Sahrawi: 'The conflict in the world today is a conflict between belief and unbelief. The war in Palestine, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Algeria, in Chechnya, and in the Philippines is one war. This is a war between the camp of Islam and the camp of the Cross, to which the Americans, Zionists, Jews, their apostate allies, and others belong.'

The goal of this war, which they falsely called a war on terror, is to prevent the Muslims from establishing an Islamic state whose regime will be in accordance with the Qur'an and the Sunna of the Prophet, and which will constitute a source of pride and strength for the Muslims. America and its allies the Jews, the Christians, and the apostates will not cease their war on Islam before they remove the last Muslim from his religion and bring him into apostasy. We must be wary of this terrible plot that the enemies of Islam aspire to realize.

During this time, Jihad is one of the greatest personal commandments. Every Muslim must know that defending Islam and the Muslims in this war is an obligation incumbent upon him, with his soul, his money, and his tongue. Support for Muslims is an obligation. The Islamic State will not arise through means of slogans, demonstrations, parties, and elections, but through blood, body parts, and [sacrifice of] lives…

From an Palestinian Authority cleric:

Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris: "Have you forgotten [suicide bomber] Hanadi [Jaradat] who avenged the death of her brother and fiancé by killing dozens of Zionists? It is they who opened the gates of hell upon themselves. These Zionists will get many more black [body] bags. By Allah, we will show them no mercy. When Allah allows us victory over them, we will show them no mercy at all.

What Sharon is doing now is not strange. What the Zionist Entity state is doing to our people in Rafah is not strange. They are avenging the deaths of their cowardly soldiers who were torn to shreds, here in the southern entrance of Gaza, in the Zaytoun neighborhood. They saw our children playing soccer with the heads and body parts of their soldiers. Our children do not fear body parts or blood, nor do our women and youth...

From Dr. Azzam al Tamimi, head of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London:

In the short term, only full Israeli withdrawal from all the areas occupied in 1967 and total evacuation of all Jewish settlements built in this area, may bring some peace – for a while – to the region. However, in the long term, Israel has no future, and the Jews who support Israel and Zionism, and especially those who have chosen to migrate to Palestine to occupy the lands and homes of the Palestinians, should reconsider their positions. Eventually, Palestine will return to the Muslims as it did after more than a century of occupation by the Crusaders about 10 centuries ago.

I could go on and on. Go to memri.org to see all of these quotes and many more that make clear the nature of the terrorists and their radical beliefs. They are not interested in accommodation; they want only domination and acquiescence. They cannot be negotiated with, as any negotiated settlement is seen by the terrorists only as a means of regrouping and re-arming for the next attack. They cannot be deterred, as they view dying for their cause to be their assurance of heaven's reward.

The only thing that will stop the Islamist terrorists is military strength and complete reform of the Islamic world, so that freedom, democracy, and fundamental human rights prosper. The current regimes, corrupt monarchies and dictatorships all, oppress their own people but blame the U.S. and the rest of the Western world, creating frustration and anger. The corrupt, radical imams and clerics preach a message of intolerance and hatred to the discontented, giving rise to fundamentalism and terrorist ideology.

Approaching this as simply a law enforcement problem won't work. Law enforcement is basically reactive. When a law is broken, you catch the perpetrators of the crime and punish them. To fight terrorism, we must be proactive, or as President Bush has put it, preemptive. If we wait until terrorists attack again, it will be too late - thousands or, God forbid, millions of Americans (or Europeans or Israelis) may die. The intersection of Islamic terrorists willing to die for their cause and easily-made, readily-obtained chemical, biological or radiological (nuclear) weapons is too dangerous to approach simply as a law-enforcement problem.

The solution is to take the fight to the enemy, rout him from his bases of support and change the underlying nature of Islamic society, so that terrorism can no longer take root. George Bush understands that. John Kerry does not. That is why I am voting for George Bush. It really is that simple.

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