So [Assad's] lack of response probably comes down to his awareness that Israel possesses a credible threat of force against him. The September raid presented him with a moment of total clarity, so he stays mum.

I’m reminded of the Americans’ raid on Libya in the 1980s, which seemed to tame Gaddafi. It was reported at the time that one of Gaddafi’s children had probably been killed in the attack. Bringing danger home to such rulers seems to restore greater liberty and safety to the rest of us.

Hmmm. H]ighly classified U.S. intelligence reports say that the Israelis destroyed a nuclear-related facility and caused North Korean casualties at the site, which may have been intended to produce plutonium, according to a senior official with access …

We’re already in WW-III

VinceP1974 on October 7, 2007 at 6:00 PM

And the Battle of Armageddon is the final battle.

WW II was the Cold War.

We are in WW IV, The Bug War.

[Thank you Robert A. Heinlein]

N. O’Brain on October 8, 2007 at 9:46 AM

WW II ended in 1945.

Thank you, history class.

Hopefully, this one gets updated regularly.

Abrham Lincoln was the one who first instituted a federal income tax on the populace. It was later ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court.

Texas Nick 77 on October 8, 2007 at 6:09 AM

I just noticed this. Your wrong about that. Re-read your own link. It was NOT the income tax signed into law by Lincoln that was ruled un-Constitutional, it was that tax that followed in 1894, long after Lincoln was dead, that was ruled un-Constitutional.

Abrham Lincoln was the one who first instituted a federal income tax on the populace. It was later ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court. Although he is (far too) reverently called, “The Great Emancipator,” he actually began the process of (economic) enslavement of all working U.S. citizens.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/documents/docpages/document_page57.htm

Texas Nick 77 on October 8, 2007 at 6:09 AM

The financial requirements of the Civil War prompted the first American income tax in 1861. At first, Congress placed a flat 3-percent tax on all incomes over $800 and later modified this principle to include a graduated tax. Congress repealed the income tax in 1872, but the concept did not disappear. — from your link

Yeah… well goes to prove nobody’s perfect, but he had to fund the war somehow and the court did not strike it down as un-Constitutional. And, at least that tax was repealed after the Civil War in 1872.

The next income tax, which Lincoln had nothing to do with being that he was assassinated in 1865 was passed in 1894. And according to your link, it was a 2% tax on incomes over $4,000 and this was in 1894… back when a dollar had the buying power of about twenty of our dollars today.

If that’s about right, then in today’s dollars, it would have been a 2% tax on incomes over $80,000, I wish we still had that income tax instead of what we have today. But I agree the income tax as it stands today is a sham and it should have never got started and I am displeased that Lincoln had anything to do with it, even though he need the money for a legitimate purpose. It’s important to keep in mind the tax he signed into law was for a specific purpose, to prosecute the war, a war that ended slavery in the USA. So let’s not be chiseling his face off of Mt. Rushmore just yet.

I can only imagine the message delivered personally to Assad two minutes after stuff went kaboom. Hopefully it went something like, “You stupid cat, you just wasted life number 8. If you like your 9th and final life, keep this $#!% quiet.”

We’re already in WW-III

VinceP1974 on October 7, 2007 at 6:00 PM

WW II was the Cold War.

We are in WW IV, The Bug War.

[Thank you Robert A. Heinlein]

And in Vietnam concealed in the jungle most aircraft were brought down by massed rifle and cannon fire not sophisticated first generation Soviet air defenses

The Israels have shot down over 250 Syria aircraft in the 80′s and the 90′s and lo and behold no world war

Maxx on October 7, 2007 at 8:10 PM

Abrham Lincoln was the one who first instituted a federal income tax on the populace. It was later ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court. Although he is (far too) reverently called, “The Great Emancipator,” he actually began the process of (economic) enslavement of all working U.S. citizens.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/documents/docpages/document_page57.htm

The theory that made and still does make the most sense imho is that centrifuges or ancillary facilities were hit, not a reactor or nuclear weapons. The materials in question arriving by boat may have been initial quantities of nuclear materials destined for the enrichment facility packed with illicit centrifuges, we all know Iran has a shadow program aided by North Korea, there’s no reason not to assume facilities tying into Syria..

Syria & Iran are in full cooperation across the board, they were enriching uranium or were about to at a new centrifuge cascade facilitiy in Syria.

Great post Brian, why no response? How do you respond if you are Syria and an enrichment facility on your territory was bombed, and it had Iranian centrifuges in it with a shipment of North Korean nuclear base material destined for plutonium enrichment on the way so you could share in the warheads coming out down the line?

And if you are Iran? Do you also respond & reveal the fact that you are as everyone knows setting up back-up / shadow nuclear facilities everywhere so you can speed up the arrival of the Jihad bomb?

They will respond against us, using terrorism as they always do – which is the exact same way they will Gd forbid employ their 1st nuke.

Is it just me, or is everyone else here convinced something BIG is about to go down in the next few years?

Jimmy the Dhimmi on October 7, 2007 at 6:09 PM

Bring.It.On…

doriangrey on October 7, 2007 at 7:55 PM

Good analysis, doriangrey; I enjoy your posts btw because your thoughts are well-stated and generally a quite interesting read.

-Wanderlust

There’s been a lot of speculation about the Israeli September 6th raid on Syria, but it seems that everyone is still being remarkably quiet about the incident, including the Syrians. Logically, we can assume that something very significant occurred. H…

We’re already in WW-III VinceP1974 on October 7, 2007 at 6:00 PM

You get it. This war though started in the 7th century with the pedophile prophet himself.

I think we’ll learn what happened soon enough. As soon as it’s in Irael’s interest to tell us. I wouldn’t trust anything from the Arab street.

Certainly the target could have been nuclear, and that might explain all the silence for the popular reasons. But I can also see where it could have been missiles, the tight-lippedness of both sides have more mundane explations: for instance, Israel’s interest in not disclosing the fact that it was either permitted to use Turkish airspace, or simply did it anyway (advertising it violated the airspace of a NATO member might not be the best political move), and Syria’s interest in not embarassing its primary conventional arms supplier.

Could the fear of small tact nukes and neutron bombs make Bashar shake in his robes?

We’re already in WW-III -IV

VinceP1974 on October 7, 2007 at 6:00 PM

Is it just me, or is everyone else here convinced something BIG is about to go down in the next few years year?

Jimmy the Dhimmi on October 7, 2007 at 6:09 PM

Bush will remain silent and let the entire world call him a criminal, a liar and a murderer because to do so better protects our country.

I’m not saying I buy the speculation presented, but I will remind you that Bush sat quietly while the NYTs ate him up over not tracking terrorist financing, while all along he was doing just that. To defend himself would have revealed the program and he has not been known to do much defending, just doing.