Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, was forced out of office during the Carter administration when Carter pulled support from the dictator due to human rights abuses. Now his son gives us his opinion of what might NOT have happened if the Shah had been supported.

1) Iran would not have reverted to 3rd world terrorism from their position under the Shah as a powerful Middle East leader with leading modernization and cultural diversity
2) Russia would not have invaded Afghanistan
3) Saddam Hussein would not have attacked Iran

If any one of those three is true, then Jimmy Carter is rightly reviled as the most failed President in our time. He held true to his convictions - but didn't seem to get what George Bush said when John Kerry talked about a 'multi-national test' for our foreign policy - he didn't understand how the world worked. And his failure has led to a domino effect of failures. The Reagan administration made it worse when they supported (in a tactical decision) Al Qaeda against the Russians in Afghanistan and Hussein against the Iranians (trying to keep that war from having a winner).

But the events that were put into motion by the liberal foreign policy of Jimmy Carter have had devastating consequences - and yet are hailed and promoted even today by those who still just don't get it.

I know that hindsight is 20/20, but Carter didn't see trouble coming and Reagan didn't see trouble coming and Bush didn't see it coming in Iraq.

We can't change the past - but we absolutely MUST learn from those mistakes and keep from starting another line of terror-dominoes from starting.

(the source of the Shah's son's comments was the WSJ on Saturday).

sharptalk

Well, we're going out on a boat today. I don't own a boat. In fact, I'm lucky to have a car to drive to the lake in. But a friend is taking my family out for the day.

It looks like it might be a beautiful day here in Tennessee and I can't help but think about the folks (like my 2nd cousin) in Afghanistan or in Iraq. Sweltering heat and enemies indistinguishable from friends. A volunteer army, to be sure, but a horribly difficult path. And now, a path made incredibly more difficult by the actions of a few who apparently killed civilians in an act of revenge for their own loss.

I have never been in combat and I pray that my children won't be. But one son wants to be a Marine and it seems likely he will be there someday. The point is that I can't imagine seeing the guy I've been bunking with and trained with blown to bits by a bomb that the people in the houses nearby HAD to know was there. A part of me can understand the rage of a 20-year old in that situation. So, while I'm horrified at what they did, I wonder if my own judgment might have been just as bad in that situation. I'd like to think I would have done differently. But I wonder. And I mourn what has been lost on both sides.

And today the water will be beautiful and the wind will feel like heaven...here in Tennessee.

sharptalk

Four members of the Tennessee state Senate - all Democrats - are on or awaiting trial for accepting bribes. One Republican representative is also in the mix. But that's 4 Democratic Senators in a state with only 15! For those math challenged folks, that would be over 1/4 of the members on the take.

Here's the bad news for Democrats at the national level. One of those is named John Ford. Yep, the uncle of Harold Ford who is running for U.S. Senate in Tennessee. Another relative, this one a female, was recently thrown out of the Tennessee house for voting fraud.

Harold Ford, the Democrats candidate for the U.S. Senate comes from a stunningly corrupt family and will be an albatross in the "corruption" strategy that the Democrats hope to put forward against Republicans this fall.

Oh, yes and for just a little insight into the ethics of the Ford bloodline, there's this quote from John Ford during the TBI sting that nailed him.

Ford said if he caught someone trying to set him up he would shoot that person, kill them, so that there would be no witnesses. [Ford] asked if [and undercover agent] and his “partner” were okay, because while he did not mind shooting the partner, he did not want to shoot [the undercover agent].  (From ScaredMonkeys.com).  Where Harold Ford is concerned, there's one apple that would have to fall from the tree, land on a space ship, hurl across the Milky Way and never get off to get rid of the stink. No matter how he has led his personal life.  It may not be fair, but it is, after all, politics.

This has been quite a run of Democratic corrpution of late. Maybe that's what is keeping them from soaring while the Republicans stumble all over themselves. This will be a very interesting fall.

sharptalk

Ok, depending on what time of day you ask, Iran wants to negotiate their nuclear program or doesn't want to.

Here's what I'm starting to believe. This is all a ruse and a game. Ok, that's not groundbreaking news, but here's the meat on the bones.

Nato troops are all over Afghanistan. Pakistan is cooperating with the U.S. and fighting terror. The U.S. has troops all over Iraq. That leaves Iran completely surrounded. And with a government that was highly unpopular with the youth of the country, they did what all good radical Muslim leaders do - they picked a fight with the U.S. and started threatening Israel.

What better way to get people to stop judging you for your leadership and start following you out of pure hatred?

I believe they feel comfortable doing this because they don't believe America will invade Iran. Probably a good assumption. But maybe others will. And if the European countries decide that Iran is as dangerous as Iran is saying they are, they just might decide that enough is enough.

And then the Iranian government won't have much to talk about.

sharptalk

"Iraq Vet Sues Michael Moore for Misleading Interview in 'Fahrenheit 9/11". This was the headline about how Michael Moore made easy suckers out of liberals who wanted to believe Bush lied. He took an interview and made it look like something it wasn't. That's what we call lying.

And then there's the Democratic representative with $90k in his freezer and there's this tape where he's taking a bribe.

And then there's minority leader Senator Reid taking thousands of dollars in free boxing tickets while working on legislation to regulate boxing. And by the way, he's received huge sums of support from Indian tribes - apparently through the lobbyist who's on trial for corruption.

And then poor Harold Ford who keeps losing family members (also named Ford - to his chagrin) to corruption issues in state politics.

Betcha thought this message was going to be about Republicans.

sharptalk