Jack Kingston

Right now, firefighters are battling a large fire that is burning south and west of the city of Waycross, Georgia.  Several homes have already been lost and around a 1000 people have been evacuated.  It’s one of five fires burning across southeastern Georgia.

The Kingston office has donated some supplies to the hard-working firefighters down in Waycross and would like to encourage businesses (and individuals) in the area to do the same if you haven’t already.  Supplies can be dropped off at the Ware County High School. 

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Yesterday morning the Iraqi parliament was bombed sending a clear message that, while progress has been made, we still face a lot of challenges in helping the Iraqi people to secure their nation.

President Bush immediately condemned the attacks and reminded Americans just what we’re fighting for:

“There’s a type of person that would walk in that building and kill innocent life, and that is the same type of person that is willing to come and kill innocent Americans.” (Washington Post)

He pledged to work with the Iraqi people to , “not only reconcile politically, but also put a security force in place that is able to deal with these kinds of people” (International Herald Tribune)

The Democrats who now control Congress, however, couldn’t be bothered.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued her two-week Spring Break, appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno discussing her love for chocolates and ice cream.

In the Senate, too, the discussion was not about Iraq but about man’s best friend.

The Washington Post reports that during the Senate’s debate, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia devoted his time to discussing his Shih Tzu during which he, “informed the panel three times that he has a Shih Tzu, nine times that his late wife named the dog Trouble, and three times that he prefers to call it Baby.” (Washington Post)

Meanwhile, our troops continue to wait on funding in the form of the Emergency Supplemental on which the Democrats tagged more than $20 billion in pork to gain the votes needed to micro-manage the war. It appears that their love of chocolates, ice cream, and dogs take priority over funding our troops…

Speaker Pelosi has already visited one state sponsor of terrorism - Syria - now it seems she wants to add another visit to her list.  In today’s San Francisco Chronicle, Pelosi says she’s open to a trip to Iran to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At the same time, she is refusing to meet with President Bush to discuss much needed war funding for our troops who are over in Iraq  - fighting terrorists. 

So the Speaker will meet with terrorist sponsors but not our own President? 

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With Fort Stewart’s 3rd Infantry Division starting their third deployment in Iraq, Major General Rick Lynch has started sending home his observations.  Yesterday, we saw the first of his letters home published in the Savannah Morning News.

For General Lynch and many of the troops he commands, this is not the first deployment to Iraq.  His words are seasoned by the progress seen in the 10 months since he was last there.  He notes:

“There are more stores open.  Traffic is returning to the streets.  Commercial airlines are flying in and out of Baghdad International Airport.  These are signs the economy is improving.”

In addition to economic progress, General Lynch cites improved infrastructure and more security forces.  He also comments on Iraqi’s view of the insurgency:

“The insurgency is not popular here in spite of what you may have seen on TV.  The criminal elements here battle every day with Iraqi security forces, and the former are recognized as extremists with outside sponsors”

“Iraqis from the al-Anbar province in western Iraq to Baghdad are joining the Iraqi government security forces and turning on these vicious people.  Their ideology is foreign to the Iraqi people and - with our help - will be defeated”

General Lynch’s words provide a true sense of progress being made in Iraq.  Unlike the mainstream media, he is not going after ratings but working towards getting the job done.  To read the entire article, click here.

Since taking the Speaker’s gavel, Nancy Pelosi has been pushing the bounds of her constitutional authority.  First, she tried her hat at being commander in chief.  Now, on her trip to Damascus, Pelosi’s going for broke and trying to take the reins on Isreal’s foriegn policy.

There’s just one problem.  The message she proclaimed to be carrying on behalf of Israel wasn’t the message Israel was trying to send.  Within minutes of her claiming that Israel was, “ready to engage in Peace talks,” Israel’s Prime Minister released a statement that Pelosi’s message, “does not contain any change in the policies of Israel.”

An editorial in today’s Washington Post reveals what went down.  To read the piece, click here.

Speaker Pelosi and some of her fellow Democrats have taken it upon themselves to travel to Syria despite President Bush arguing that it sends mixed messages to President Assad. 

“There have been a lot of people who have gone to see President Assad: some Americans, but a lot of European leaders, high-ranking officials. And yet we haven’t seen action,” Bush told reporters at a Rose Garden news conference. “He hasn’t responded.”

Bush said that Assad had not reined in violent elements of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah as requested by the international community, had acted to destabilize the democratically elected government of Lebanon and was allowing “foreign fighters” to move into Iraq from Syria.

In today’s National Review Online, Thomas Sowell has an article up in which he makes an excellent point:

“Congressman Tom Lantos, who is a member of the delegation that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading to Syria, put the mission clearly when he said: “We have an alternative Democratic foreign policy.”  Democrats can have any foreign policy they want — if and when they are elected to the White House.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.