7/25 Morning Report

Well, my goal was to leave today just for the Wednesday Hero post. And, then I found this article:

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Dozens of people lined up at City Hall on Tuesday for municipal identification cards, the first city-issued ID cards specifically designed to bring illegal immigrants out of the shadows and give them access to community services.
(…snip…)
An estimated 10,000 to 12,000 of New Haven's 125,000 residents are believed to be in the country illegally.

We are fooling ourselves into thinking being so gracious as rewarding those who break the law is a good thing. It is not good for our society, or culture. This is not, despite media cries otherwise, about being anti-immigrant. It is about being anti-criminal. American has become a nation that does little more than reward criminals for their behavior. The old saying that “crime does not pay” is a lie. Criminals get free room and board, an education if they want it, and once released they can go right back to it if they so desire. Gang networks are run from prisons. No, in America there is no real deterrent to crime. We are, once again, rewarding without penalty those who willfully and knowing break the law. And, as the TV commercial said, “That can’t be good.”
(...check out this story provided by Conservative Beach Girl for another eye opener along these lines...)

That news led me to the latest news out of Libya (…as predicted Monday…). The medics, jailed on trumped up charges, arrived home yesterday. As I expected, the EU caved to Libya:

They were freed after the EU, which Bulgaria joined this year, agreed a last-minute deal that Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam said would allow "full cooperation and partnership between Libya and the European Union."

I understand the need for compassion on the families of those six. I feel for the families, 8 years is a long time. Truly my heart goes out to them. However, terrorism by a government bent on getting what it wants by whatever means was just endorsed. And, the payback for Libya is far greater than what those families will receive. And, I expect it will cause greater problems down the road.
(…and I put it on record here…my family is NEVER to pay for my release from terrorists…organizations or governments…I would rather die than reward them…)

That, in turn, led me to announcements about Iran. New sanctions by the Treasury Department were announced.

The move targets the Iran-based Martyrs Foundation, an organization the Treasury said channels financial support from Iran to Hizballah and Hamas, as well as to its U.S. branch, called the Goodwill Charitable Organization, and two individuals who worked for it.

This announcements follow on the heels of other recent news reports. Iran appears to be sending weapons into Afghanistan. There is also evidence that Iran is using Hezbollah and Hamas as proxies against coalition forces in Iraq. But, since no one has done anything about Iranian weapons being given to insurgents in Iraq (…except soldiers on the ground…), it leaves me wondering what will be done in response to this.