SFC Toby Nunn pays tribute to his fallen friend who took 18 rounds on the ramp of a Stryker, giving the rest of his men time to get to safety.
This show looks fantastic! I'll be watching it and I hope you will be too.
PBS Frontline
H/T: BlackFive
Monday, March 31, 2008
Watch "Bad Voodoo's War" on Frontline, April 1
This show looks fantastic! I'll be watching it and I hope you will be too.
PBS Frontline
H/T: BlackFive
Celebrity Apprentice and The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
I watched the final episode over the weekend (thanks TIVO).
It was pretty good. I really like Trace Adkins and think he's a great guy, but I really wanted Piers Morgan to win because of the charity he was supporting.
Check out the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, they're doing some really fantastic things for wounded Veterans.
It was pretty good. I really like Trace Adkins and think he's a great guy, but I really wanted Piers Morgan to win because of the charity he was supporting.
Check out the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, they're doing some really fantastic things for wounded Veterans.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Liberals were the same 60 yrs ago...
From "The Best Years of Our Lives".
Too bad we can't do the same thing today...
Pres. Bush's First Pitch.
Like or dislike the President, he's got style and he can dang-sure throw a baseball.
Today:
October 30, 2001:
The above was from HBO's "Nine Innings from Ground Zero".
A really great show, catch it if you ever get the chance.
Today:
October 30, 2001:
The above was from HBO's "Nine Innings from Ground Zero".
A really great show, catch it if you ever get the chance.
RIP SSG Matt Maupin...
Maupins' Confirm D-N-A is from Body of Missing Soldier Matt Maupin
(UNION TOWNSHIP, OH) -- Keith Maupin confirmed this afternoon that the remains of his son, Matt Maupin, have been identified by the army in Iraq.
In a statement Keith said "We are proud of the continued efforts of the military and the army to return Matt to us. We must now work on efforts to return Matt.'
"Please keep the military and our family in your prayers."
Carolyn Maupin, Matt's mother said, "Thanks to everyone for their prayers and continued strength of the family."
"It hurts after four years of hope and this is what happens it is like a let down for me and I'm trying to get thru that right now."
"Pray. This is going to be very difficult and stay by our side in support."
Keith says that the family was informed this afternoon about 1pm by a three star general. The body was identified by the D-N-A remains.
On April 9, 2004, Maupin's fuel convoy came under attack near the Baghdad International Airport. In what was described as a 5-mile long ambush, the 26-vehicle serial was pummeled by gunfire, mortar rounds and RPGs, disabling many of the civilian fuel tankers and Army vehicles. After the remnants of the convoy reached safe ground it was learned that around ten soldiers and civilian KBR contractors were wounded while one soldier and a civilian driver had been killed in the battle. PFC Maupin was among the nine people unaccounted for – seven civilians and two soldiers. One of the missing civilian drivers, Thomas Hamill, had been taken hostage during the ambush and escaped his captors on May 2, 2004. The bodies of five other civilians and the second soldier were subsequently recovered (all are thought to have been killed in the ambush); Civilian driver Timothy Bell remains missing and is presumed dead since he never appeared in a hostage video.
On April 16, 2004, Maupin appeared on a videotape broadcast by the Arabic-language TV network Al Jazeera. The tape, reportedly delivered to the U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar, raised hopes that Maupin was still alive. In the video, the soldier identified himself as "Private First Class Keith Matthew Maupin", a standard procedure followed by prisoners of war which protect their rights under the Third Geneva Convention.
On June 28, 2004, Al Jazeera reported that Maupin was executed by a group identifying itself as the Persistent Power Against the Enemies of God and the Prophet. The method of execution in the alleged report was a gunshot to the head. The U.S. Army has deemed the tape inconclusive because it is unclear whether the man was Maupin or if anyone was executed at all. The military continues to search for Maupin as his family and community holds out hope for his safe return.
Maupin has been promoted three times since he was declared missing in action, first from Private First Class to Specialist, then to Sergeant, then lastly, Staff Sergeant.
On March 30, 2008, it was revealed by local news stations that Maupin's body was found.
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Pro-Troops rally in Berkeley
This happened on 3/22 in front of the Marine OSO.
Semper Fi! to the people that came out to show their support.
See the rest of the pics at ZombieTime.
H/T: LGF
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Wall comes tumbling down...
It's official, LAPD has finally surrendered completely to Political Correctness.
Female officer accepted into LA's SWAT training program
The Associated (with Terrorists) Press
Last Updated 9:37 am PDT Saturday, March 29, 2008
LOS ANGELES -- A female police officer has been accepted into the Police Department's SWAT training program that could make her the first woman to join the elite group.
Jennifer Grasso, 36, is one of 13 officers selected for spots in the department's 12-week training school, which is scheduled to begin on Monday, according to an internal department e-mail obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
A confidential report made public earlier this month said a panel of law enforcement experts sought changes in SWAT testing to make the process more open to women.
Police Chief William Bratton has not discussed the details of the new selection criteria until the department's civilian oversight commission is briefed on them.
HK. Because you suck. And we hate you.
This is SO true. HK sucks and I hate them.
Check out the whole thing at Monster Hunter Nation
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In a world of compromises, some people put the bullets in the magazine backwards…But it doesn’t matter, because our gun is on the cover of the Rainbow Six video games. Look how cool that SEAL coming out of the water looks… If you buy a $2,000 SOCOM, you will be that cool of an operator too. And chicks will dig you.
At HK, we stuck a piston on an AR15, just like a bunch of other companies have done, dating back to about 1969. However ours is better, because we refuse to sell it to civilians. Because you suck, and we hate you.
Our XM8 is the greatest rifle ever developed. It may melt, and it doesn’t fit any accessories known to man, but that is your fault. If you were a real operator, you would love it. Once again, look at Rainbow Six, that G36 sure is cool isn’t it? Yeah, you know you want one. And by the way, check out our new HK45. We decided that humans don’t need to release the magazine with their thumbs. If you were a really manly teutonic operator, you would be able to reach the controls. Plus we’ve fired 100,000,000 rounds through one with zero malfunctions, and that was while it was buried in a lake of molten lava, on the moon. If you don’t believe us, it is because you aren’t a real operator.
By the way, our cheap, mass-produced, stamped sheet metal guns like the G3 and MP5 are the bestest things ever, and totally worth asinine scalpers prices, but note that cheap, mass-produced, stamped sheet metal guns from other countries are commie garbage. Not that it matters, because you’re civilians, so we won’t sell them to you anyway. Because you suck, and we hate you, but we know you’ll be back. We can beat you down like a trailer park wife, but you’ll come back, you always do.
Buy our stuff.
Sincerely
HK Marketing Department
"HK. Because you suck. And we hate you."
Check out the whole thing at Monster Hunter Nation
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Hollywood is pretty funny!
Or just really stupid.
"Stop-Loss: came out yesterday and as I imagined (hoped) *shocker* it's tanking hard. Hollywood can't figure out why.
Its not rocket-science Einstein. It just doesn't dawn on the idiots in Hollywood that American's don't want to see anti-American/anti-war movies that make our troops and our government look bad. America loves a winner, it hates a loser.
Hint to Hollywood: Make a movie about "Lone Survivor" or Brian Chontosh or Jason Dunham or Paul Smith, etc. People would go see it, as long as it was well made and well done.
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"Stop-Loss: came out yesterday and as I imagined (hoped) *shocker* it's tanking hard. Hollywood can't figure out why.
"It's not looking good," a studio source told me before the weekend. "No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It's a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that's unresolved yet. It's a shame because it's a good movie that's just ahead of its time."
Its not rocket-science Einstein. It just doesn't dawn on the idiots in Hollywood that American's don't want to see anti-American/anti-war movies that make our troops and our government look bad. America loves a winner, it hates a loser.
Hint to Hollywood: Make a movie about "Lone Survivor" or Brian Chontosh or Jason Dunham or Paul Smith, etc. People would go see it, as long as it was well made and well done.
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Friday, March 28, 2008
Hanging on for daddy...
I saw this on the O'Reilley Factor on Tuesday night.
As BOR told the story, Jayci Yaeger was near death from brain cancer. Her dying wish was to see her father one last time. The problem was, her Dad Jason was in Federal Prison 160 miles away, on a drug conviction. The prison warden refused to allow Jason a furlough to see her, even though he'd had several other uneventful furlough's in the past. A Federal Judge had even given an order to the warden, J.D. Whitehead, to make some arrangements for Jason to visit Jayci, but Whitehead refused, until Wed. And only after a barrage of emails and support from the media.
Jason was finally given a supervised furlough and got to visit his unconscious daughter, but only for 20 minutes. At around 2am today, Jayci went Home to be with the Lord.
Jason had already been scheduled to be transferred to a half-way house in August.
Though Jayci was unconscious, Ed says the family feels she was aware of Jason's presence because, "Her breathing became labored. That was always our indication -- that, and tearing up and crying when Jason would be on the phone with her. Those were our two indications that she was aware of Jason."RIP Jayci...
Does Ed think Jayci was indeed hanging on for that one last visit from Jason?
"I believe that's what happened," Ed responded. "She was hanging on for daddy, and she got her daddy, and then she let go."
Ed says the Yeagers are very upset with prison officials, who repeatedly rebuffed Jason's requests to be with Jayci.
"We are not satisfied with their actions," Ed told Rodriguez. "Jason should have been here with Jayci when Jayci passed, and he wasn't, because they decided to just make decisions that I believe were unethical.
"Jason's debt to society is almost paid (he's in the last year of a five-and-a-half-year sentence). And all he wanted was just to be here by her side. He would have taken up the rest of his sentence afterwards. He just wanted to be with his daughter, that's all."
I have nothing but contempt for Warden J.D. Whitehead. God will judge him.
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I'm boycotting Pizza Hut.
Not that I ever eat there anyway, but I will never eat there again, after this story.
I love this quote:
“We have policy against carrying weapons. We prohibit employees from carrying guns because we believe that that is the safest for everybody.”
Oh, really?
H/T: John Lott
UPDATE: I tried sending comments to Pizza Hut on their website, but it's so jacked-up, that it won't let me, due to their f*cked up computer programming.
Pizza Hut is a joke!
Arrest made in pizza shooting
By JACQUELINE LEE • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • March 28, 2008
A pizza deliveryman told Des Moines police that he shot a man who robbed him at gunpoint when he delivered a pie late Thursday to a south-side address.
The alleged assailant, Kenneth Jimmerson, 19, was taken to Mercy Medical Center in serious condition. He was charged this morning with first-degree robbery and will be taken to Polk County Jail when released from the hospital, police said.
Melanie Stout, 18, the woman who placed the order for the pizzas, was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery.
Restaurant officials have suspended the Pizza Hut driver, James William Spiers, while the case is under investigation. Polk County officials today confirmed that Spiers holds a valid gun permit, which was renewed in November.
Advertisement
Spiers said the incident happened at an apartment building in the 2000 block of Southeast King Avenue.
Spiers, 38, of Des Moines, told police that when he arrived at the entrance of the building, a man put a gun to Spiers head and robbed him of an undisclosed amount of cash.
Spiers said that he grabbed the man's gun, pulled out a weapon of his own, and shot the man in the side, according to a police report.
Vonnie Walbert, vice president of human resources at Pizza Hut, said:
“We have policy against carrying weapons. We prohibit employees from carrying guns because we believe that that is the safest for everybody.”
Walbert said Pizza Hut trains employees to report such incidences to police.
Spiers called police after the wounded suspect fled.
Officers said Spiers was in the parking lot when they arrived shortly after 10:30 p.m. and that he immediately raised his hands up and knelt to the ground.
Officers said Spiers told them “that he had a gun in each of his front coat pockets.”
The officer found a metallic gun from the left pocket of Spiers’ coat and a black handgun in the right hand pocket.
Spiers was taken to the police station for questioning.
Dispatchers then received a call from a man on the second floor of a neighboring apartment building who said he had been shot.
I love this quote:
“We have policy against carrying weapons. We prohibit employees from carrying guns because we believe that that is the safest for everybody.”
Oh, really?
H/T: John Lott
UPDATE: I tried sending comments to Pizza Hut on their website, but it's so jacked-up, that it won't let me, due to their f*cked up computer programming.
Pizza Hut is a joke!
Religion Of Peace threatens death.
LiveLeak removes "Fitna" from it's website after death threats from Islamofascists.
Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, Liveleak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers.From LGF
This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realised LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.
Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one anothers culture.
We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high.
Carges dropped against ANOTHER Haditha Marine
Yet another of the "cold-blooded-murderers" has had their charges dropped in the "Haditha Massacre" case.
Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum has had all charges dropped by the Marine Corps. He is the fifth (out of eight) Marine to have the charges dropped. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that the other three will have their charges dropped eventually. This was a media-created side-show from the get-go. The Left was chomping at the bit to get a story like this and it's going to come back to bite them in the ass.
A lot of people are going to come out of this with egg on their faces.
Not the least is this guy:
H/T: Michelle Malkin
Photo: Flopping Aces
Thursday, March 27, 2008
12 yr old stripper?
Club where girl, 12, stripped will keep license
Place where girl, 12, danced can't be closed under city ordinance
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
teiserer@dallasnews.com
The mere fact that a 12-year-old girl danced nude at a northwest Dallas strip club isn't enough to close its doors.
That's because the city ordinance that regulates sexually oriented businesses does not allow authorities to revoke the license of such a business for employing someone under the age of 18.
The sixth-grader danced at Diamonds Cabaret over a two-week period late last year, authorities say. They also say they found a 17-year-old girl working in the club in January.
"If they're not shut down, it's like they're giving them permission to have underage girls dancing and working in that club," said the mother of the 12-year-old. The mother is not being named because her daughter, a runaway at the time of the incident, is considered a sexual assault victim.
Operators of the Diamonds Cabaret at 2444 Walnut Ridge St. did not return calls for comment. Their sexually oriented business license expires in November.
Demonica Abron, 27, who worked as a stripper in the club, and David Bell, 22, are facing charges in connection with the 12-year-old girl's dancing in the club. Mr. Bell does not appear to have been employed by the club.
Police officials are continuing to investigate whether the club's management knew the sixth-grader was underage.
The 23-page city ordinance does allow revocation of a club's license if, for example, the club knowingly allows prostitution, the sale or use of drugs at the club, or if there are two convictions for sex-related crimes at the club within a 12-month period.
The department also can suspend, but not revoke, the license of an escort agency for up to 30 days if it has employed anyone under 18.
But the ordinance does not give the department similar power over adult cabarets such as Diamonds Cabaret.
"There's a laundry list of things we can use to deny or revoke a license, but having a 12-year-old dancing in their establishment is not one of the things that automatically enables us to revoke their license," said Lt. Christina Smith, a vice unit commander who oversees licensing of such establishments.
The mother of the 12-year-old girl said her daughter ran away in early November. She said the family frantically began looking and her husband finally found their daughter in late November. She was then interviewed by police.
According to court records, the runaway gave the following account:
Mr. Bell and Ms. Abron, who went by the stage name "Jewels," offered the runaway shelter. Mr. Bell told her that she would be stripping at a club called "Diamonds."
Mr. Bell dropped them off at the club one day and Ms. Abron introduced her to a man named "David" in the club's office.
"Suspect David asked complainant if she had ever danced before, she said no," the court records state. "David" then gave her an application, which she filled out with a fake name. She also told him that she was 19.
When "David" asked to see her identification, she told him that she didn't have one. He told her to bring one when she came to work as a dancer.
"Complainant couldn't think of a fake birthday, so she told suspect 'David' she forgot her birthday," the records state. "Suspect 'David' gave her a funny look and told her she would have been born in 1988 if she was 19."
A couple of days later, Mr. Bell drove Ms. Abron and the victim back to the club, where Ms. Abron introduced her to a man named "Steve."
"Suspect 'Steve' told" the girl "to take her clothes off to see if she was too shy to dance nude," the records state. He told her she would have to pay a fee ranging from $10 to $30 each time she danced nude.
She danced that night and made about $100, of which she gave $30 to "Steve," the records state.
The court documents are unclear on how many nights she danced.
The mother of the 12-year-old says she believes the club must have known her daughter was underage.
"I think they just didn't care," her mother said. "She's 12, but she's got the body of a 20-year-old. All they were thinking about was the money she could bring in."
She said her daughter is now living with her grandmother in Arlington and again attending school.
Ms. Abron and Mr. Bell were indicted in late February on one count of felony sexual performance of the child in connection with making the 12-year-old work at the club. Both are also accused of engaging in organized crime.
Mr. Bell is accused of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and aggravated kidnapping. He is still being held in the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $450,000 bail.
Ms. Abron, who also faces a prostitution charge, has been released on bail from jail.
Doubting Global Warming Is Manmade = Believing Earth Is Flat
Self-avowed "P.R. agent for the planet" Al Gore says those who still doubt that global warming is caused by man - among them, Vice President Dick Cheney - are acting like the fringe groups who think the 1969 moon landing never really happened, or who once believed the world is flat.
The former vice president and former presidential candidate talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl in an interview to be broadcast this Sunday, March 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Confronted by Stahl with the fact some prominent people, including the nation’s vice president, are not convinced that global warming is manmade, Gore responds: "You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat,” says Gore. "That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off," he tells Stahl.
Gore’s campaign to make the world more aware of man’s role in global warming won him the Nobel Peace Prize last year. He donated the $750,000 prize money to The Alliance for Climate Protection, the non-profit he started to help him on his quest. He and his wife, Tipper, tell Stahl they not only matched the Nobel money with their own, but they are also donating to the organization the significant profits from his book and Oscar-winning documentary film about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth." The funds will help The Alliance for Climate Protection execute a new $300 million ad campaign on global warming set to start next week.
Some of the ads will feature unlikely alliances to drive home the message that people of all stripes are concerned about global warming. These include the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Pat Robertson, Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks, and Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich.
Stahl also visits the Gore's Nashville home, recently refitted with touches that include roof solar panels that make it more environmentally friendly. She asks him his feelings on the Supreme Court ruling that handed his opponent, George W. Bush, the electoral votes of Florida and the presidency.
Stahl also asks Gore, an uncommitted superdelegate of the Democratic Party, who he supports for his party’s nomination.
To quote the See-n-Say:
"The sheep goes Baaaaaaahhhhhhhh..."
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Some things are just wrong...
Oregon Man Says He's Pregnant
Transgendered Man Writes In 'The Advocate'
POSTED: 9:04 am PDT March 25, 2008
Thomas Beatie, who used to be a woman, appeared in the most recent issue of The Advocate, a magazine for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readers, Portland, Ore., television station KPTV reported.
Beatie wrote the article, which includes a picture of him while he was 22 weeks pregnant. According to the story, he went through a sex change, but decided only to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy.
Beatie was able to keep the reproductive organs he was born with. The article said he stopped getting the injections and was able to get pregnant.
Beatie, who lives in Bend, wrote he was once pregnant with triplets, but the pregnancy was life-threatening and he lost the fetuses. Now, Beatie said he and his wife, Nancy, are expecting a little girl in July.
In the article, Beatie described some of the challenges he and his wife have faced -- they said doctors won't treat them. The couple met 10 years ago and Nancy is not able to have children.
He wrote in The Advocate that their situation "sparks legal, political and social unknowns."
The couple were out of town Monday and unable to speak with the station.
The article is a bit misleading. It's actually a woman that got her girls cut off and now she's living as a man, with another woman.
This country is getting effed up...
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Ooops, I was right after all!
This one is even better than Sheryl Atkisson's original story.
I guess CBS still stands for Clinton Broadcast Service, but only as it benefits Obamessiah.
I guess CBS still stands for Clinton Broadcast Service, but only as it benefits Obamessiah.
I was wrong about Hillary!
She really did land "under fire" at Tuzla. Newly uncovered video shows that she was really telling the truth.
Roll the tape...
H/T: Ace
Roll the tape...
H/T: Ace
Choices in Nov.
1) A liar and sexual-misconduct enabler, who's a Lefty.
2) An anti-American/racist-condoning empty-suit (who also seems pretty shifty w/ the truth), who's a socialist.
3) A war-hero/POW from over 30 yrs ago, who happens to be a pretty shitty Republican, who's not very conservative.
Wow. Great choices. Lesser of three evils, as usual...
To add: If Hugo Chavez doesn't want to see McCain as president, that's good enough for me! J-Mac's got my vote!
2) An anti-American/racist-condoning empty-suit (who also seems pretty shifty w/ the truth), who's a socialist.
3) A war-hero/POW from over 30 yrs ago, who happens to be a pretty shitty Republican, who's not very conservative.
Wow. Great choices. Lesser of three evils, as usual...
To add: If Hugo Chavez doesn't want to see McCain as president, that's good enough for me! J-Mac's got my vote!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Introduce yourself...
I'm getting some hits from some pretty far-away places.
Like Budapest, Hungary & Bayreuth, Germany & Oceanside, CA & Rockaway, NJ (is that close to Far Rockaway?) for instance.
Anyway, I'm interested in who you are, where you came from (internet-wise) and why you're here. Don't be shy.
Leave some info in the comments.
Cheers,
thebronze
Like Budapest, Hungary & Bayreuth, Germany & Oceanside, CA & Rockaway, NJ (is that close to Far Rockaway?) for instance.
Anyway, I'm interested in who you are, where you came from (internet-wise) and why you're here. Don't be shy.
Leave some info in the comments.
Cheers,
thebronze
The Audacity of Rhetoric
By Thomas Sowell
It is painful to watch defenders of Barack Obama tying themselves into knots trying to evade the obvious.
Some are saying that Senator Obama cannot be held responsible for what his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said. In their version of events, Barack Obama just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time -- and a bunch of mean-spirited people are trying to make something out of it.
It makes a good story, but it won't stand up under scrutiny.
Barack Obama's own account of his life shows that he consciously sought out people on the far left fringe. In college, "I chose my friends carefully," he said in his first book, "Dreams From My Father."
These friends included "Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk rock performance poets" -- in Obama's own words -- as well as the "more politically active black students." He later visited a former member of the terrorist Weatherman underground, who endorsed him when he ran for state senator.
Obama didn't just happen to encounter Jeremiah Wright, who just happened to say some way out things. Jeremiah Wright is in the same mold as the kinds of people Barack Obama began seeking out in college -- members of the left, anti-American counter-culture.
In Shelby Steele's brilliantly insightful book about Barack Obama -- "A Bound Man" -- it is painfully clear that Obama was one of those people seeking a racial identity that he had never really experienced in growing up in a white world. He was trying to become a convert to blackness, as it were -- and, like many converts, he went overboard.
Nor has Obama changed in recent years. His voting record in the U.S. Senate is the furthest left of any Senator. There is a remarkable consistency in what Barack Obama has done over the years, despite inconsistencies in what he says.
The irony is that Obama's sudden rise politically to the level of being the leading contender for his party's presidential nomination has required him to project an entirely different persona, that of a post-racial leader who can heal divisiveness and bring us all together.
The ease with which he has accomplished this chameleon-like change, and entranced both white and black Democrats, is a tribute to the man's talent and a warning about his reliability.
There is no evidence that Obama ever sought to educate himself on the views of people on the other end of the political spectrum, much less reach out to them. He reached out from the left to the far left. That's bringing us all together?
Is "divisiveness" defined as disagreeing with the agenda of the left? Who on the left was ever called divisive by Obama before that became politically necessary in order to respond to revelations about Jeremiah Wright?
One sign of Obama's verbal virtuosity was his equating a passing comment by his grandmother -- "a typical white person," he says -- with an organized campaign of public vilification of America in general and white America in particular, by Jeremiah Wright.
Since all things are the same, except for the differences, and different except for the similarities, it is always possible to make things look similar verbally, however different they are in the real world.
Among the many desperate gambits by defenders of Senator Obama and Jeremiah Wright is to say that Wright's words have a "resonance" in the black community.
There was a time when the Ku Klux Klan's words had a resonance among whites, not only in the South but in other states. Some people joined the KKK in order to advance their political careers. Did that make it OK? Is it all just a matter of whose ox is gored?
While many whites may be annoyed by Jeremiah Wright's words, a year from now most of them will probably have forgotten about him. But many blacks who absorb his toxic message can still be paying for it, big-time, for decades to come.
Why should young blacks be expected to work to meet educational standards, or even behavioral standards, if they believe the message that all their problems are caused by whites, that the deck is stacked against them? That is ultimately a message of hopelessness, however much audacity it may have.
Monday, March 24, 2008
4,000 dead!
But some perspective is in order:
Iraq War (5 years)-- 4,000
Bataan Death March (one week)-- 10,000
Battle of Guadalcanal (186 days)-- 7,099
Battle of Guam (20 Days)-- 3,000
Operation Market Garden (9 days)-- 3,664
Battle of the Bulge (41 days)-- 19,276
Battle of Iwo Jima (39 days)-- 6,821
Battle of Pusan Perimeter (61 days-Korea)-- 6,706
H/T: Gateway Pundit
Iraq War (5 years)-- 4,000
Bataan Death March (one week)-- 10,000
Battle of Guadalcanal (186 days)-- 7,099
Battle of Guam (20 Days)-- 3,000
Operation Market Garden (9 days)-- 3,664
Battle of the Bulge (41 days)-- 19,276
Battle of Iwo Jima (39 days)-- 6,821
Battle of Pusan Perimeter (61 days-Korea)-- 6,706
H/T: Gateway Pundit
LOTUS VS APACHE
Just like the other POS BBC piece, FF to 3:20
This POS Jeremy Clarke is typical of why I don't watch the Anti-American BBC.
Jeremy can kiss my American ass!
This POS Jeremy Clarke is typical of why I don't watch the Anti-American BBC.
Jeremy can kiss my American ass!
Freedom Never Cries
The guy in the video is MoH recipient CWO Fred Ferguson.
Rank and organization: Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army, Company C, 227th Aviation Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).
Place and date: Hue, Republic of Vietnam, 31 January 1968.
Entered service at: Phoenix, Ariz.
Born: 18 August 1939, Pilot Point, Tex.
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. CWO Ferguson, U.S. Army distinguished himself while serving with Company C. CWO Ferguson, commander of a resupply helicopter monitoring an emergency call from wounded passengers and crewmen of a downed helicopter under heavy attack within the enemy controlled city of Hue, unhesitatingly volunteered to attempt evacuation. Despite warnings from all aircraft to stay clear of the area due to heavy antiaircraft fire, CWO Ferguson began a low-level night at maximum airspeed along the Perfume River toward the tiny, isolated South Vietnamese Army compound in which the crash survivors had taken refuge. Coolly and skillfully maintaining his course in the face of intense, short range fire from enemy occupied buildings and boats, he displayed superior flying skill and tenacity of purpose by landing his aircraft in an extremely confined area in a blinding dust cloud under heavy mortar and small-arms fire. Although the helicopter was severely damaged by mortar fragments during the loading of the wounded, CWO Ferguson disregarded the damage and, taking off through the continuing hail of mortar fire, he flew his crippled aircraft on the return route through the rain of fire that he had experienced earlier and safely returned his wounded passengers to friendly control. CWO Ferguson's extraordinary determination saved the lives of 5 of his comrades. His actions are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself and the U.S. Army
Here's the website for the video.
H/T: Ace
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
A special place in Hell...
There's a special place in Hell for people like this. These people are evil personified.
I hope they feel eternal pain when they go to meet Him.
Un-fricking-believable.
.
I hope they feel eternal pain when they go to meet Him.
Torture Death Shocks Ill. Town
Mar 21 03:05 PM US/Eastern
By JIM SUHR
Associated Press Writer
ALTON, Ill. (AP) - Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor.
Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where housemates used her for target practice with BBs, burned her with a glue gun and doused her with scalding liquid that peeled away her skin.
They torched what few clothes she had, so she walked around naked. They often pummeled her with an aluminum bat or metal handle.
Dixon—six months pregnant—died after weeks of abuse. Police have charged two adults, three teenagers and a 12-year-old boy with murder in the case that has repulsed many in this Mississippi River town.
"This is heartbreaking," police Lt. David Hayes said. "It was almost as though they were making fun of the abuse they were administering. This woman was almost like living in a prison."
Investigators put much of the blame on Michelle Riley, 35, who they said befriended Dixon but pocketed monthly Social Security checks she got because of her developmental delays.
Dixon saw little, if any, of the money, Hayes said. For months she weathered the torment to keep a roof over her head and that of her year-old son, who weighed just 15 pounds when taken into state custody after his mom's death.
"I've never seen an almost conspiratorial effort by a group of people to continuously torture someone until she finally died, then not really show any remorse," Hayes said. "It was just a slow, torturous, tragic way to die. I highly doubt Dorothy Dixon even knew she was dying."
Riley, 43-year-old Judy Woods and three teenagers, including Riley's 15-year-old daughter, LeShelle McBride, are charged with first-degree murder, aggravated and heinous battery, intentional homicide of an unborn child, and unlawful restraint. Riley's 12-year-old son is charged as a juvenile.
Riley, her daughter, Woods and 16-year-old Benny Wilson have public defenders who did not immediately return messages for comment. An 18- year-old defendant, Michael Elliott, planned to get his own attorney, court records show.
All remain in jail on $1 million bond.
Messages left with a Chicago-area sister of Dixon went unreturned, but neighbors, Hayes and newspaper accounts offer a mosaic of the months leading to Dixon's demise inside the small, white, blue-shuttered house.
Riley and Dixon, police said, had lived in Quincy, a Mississippi River town about 100 miles north of St. Louis, Mo. Quincy is where Riley worked as a coordinator for a regional center that helps the developmentally disabled with housing and other services. Dixon was a client.
For years, an impoverished Riley struggled raising her children. Her use of methamphetamine and cocaine brought drug convictions in 2002 and 2004. But with treatment and housing help from the Quincy YWCA, Riley put her life in order—so much that in February of last year, the Quincy Herald-Whig did a story on her comeback.
Last summer, Dixon and Riley moved into the $800-a-month, three- bedroom rental in Alton about 15 miles north of St. Louis. From the start, neighbors Chad Hudson and Terri Brandt considered Riley trouble.
"Michelle was evil, vindictive. Manipulative," said Hudson, convinced the teenagers were Riley's powerless minions.
"She was angry, vicious," added Brandt.
Riley considered Dixon her slave, making her rub Riley's feet until Riley fell asleep and forcing her to run naked around the house when she got in trouble, the neighbors said.
"Being in their house was like being in a prison day room," Hudson said. "They just sat around the kitchen table and fought."
There was little question that Riley ruled the roost.
While doing fix-ups on the home last fall, landlord Steve Atkins saw Riley "barking orders" at the children and everyone else. Atkins joked to her whether he needed to call the Army and see if they wanted their drill sergeant back.
"She didn't laugh about it at all," Atkins said. "Obviously, I hit a nerve."
Atkins said Dixon generally kept to herself "but was always nice when she spoke to you." He saw no hints she'd been suffering or tortured.
"I would have never, ever suspected something like this," he said. "It's definitely shocking."
Police said Dixon was allowed out of the house but didn't say under what conditions. Hayes didn't know who the father of Dixon's fetus is.
Hayes said things apparently came to a head Jan. 30, when investigators believe that Woods, during a dispute, beat Dixon on the head with an object Hayes wouldn't identify. The next day Woods found her dead.
Hayes watched the autopsy and found her injuries disturbing. X-rays revealed roughly 30 BBs lodged in her. Deep-tissue burns covered about one-third of her body—her face, her chest, her arms and feet—and left her severely dehydrated. Her face and body showed signs of prolonged abuse. Many of her wounds were infected.
None of the injuries, Hayes said, proved singly fatal to Dixon. Her system already was taxed by her unborn baby.
"The autopsy sort of indicates her immune system just shut down," he said. "It was not capable of fending off any more."
In the rental home's basement, Atkins said, he found spots of blood in a shower and tiny smears on the concrete floor, washer and dryer.
"It's disgraceful the way this girl died, as kind and as sweet as this girl was," he said. "She didn't deserve to die the way she did. It's just terrible, senseless. It's just a total shame."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Un-fricking-believable.
.
Just don't question their Patriotism...
Probably not entirely appropriate based on the post below, but...
H/T: LGF
Dial 911 and die...
Victim Shot While Calling 911Sheriff Masters is absolutely right.
A California woman was shot to death as she pleaded with emergency dispatchers to come and help her. Her death will not make the network news programs this evening, but this is the latest reminder that we must take responsibility for our own safety and not rely on the police.
Bill Masters, a libertarian and sheriff of a Colorado county tells the residents of his county, “It is your responsibility to protect yourself and your family from criminals. If you rely on the government for protection, you are going to be at least disappointed and at worst injured or killed.”
Gun control puts honest citizens in the position of having to choose between protecting their lives or respecting the law. What kind of government would do such a thing?
Two things to remember:
The police have no duty to protect you, as an individual.
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
H/T: Instapundit
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Typical...
Only a DemocRat could come up with something THIS STUPID!
His name should be changed to John Dingellberry.
What an idiot...
.
Michigan Congressman Wants 50-Cent Tax Hike on Every Gallon of Gas
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
A Michigan congressman wants to put a 50-cent tax on every gallon of gasoline to try to cut back on Americans' consumption.
Polls show that a majority of Americans support policies that would reduce greenhouse gases. But when it comes to paying for it, it's a different story.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., wants to help cut consumption with a gas tax but some don't agree with the idea, according to a new poll by the National Center for Public Policy Research.
The poll, scheduled to be released on Thursday, shows 48 percent don't support paying even a penny more, 28 percent would pay up to 50 cents more, 10 percent would pay more than 50 cents and 8 percent would pay more than a dollar.
"I don't want to pay more, I don't think anyone wants to," said Karen Deacon, a motorist.
"I think that wouldn't make any sense," said Frankie Hoe, a motorist. "Ugh ... who's making the money from all this and where is that money going? Is it going to go green? I don't see any green things anywhere."
The automobile is the nation's biggest polluter; Americans use more gas than the next 20 countries combined.
Some environmentalists and economists say pain at the pump may be bad for Americans, but good medicine for a sick planet.
But others say it wouldn't change much. Even if Americans abandoned their cars, global emissions would fall by less than one percent.
"A tax on gas is a way to reduce dependence on import oil, reduce traffic congrestion and reduce carbon emissions," said Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute.
The Earth Policy Institute proposes raising the gas tax 30 cents per gallon each year over a decade and offset with a reduction of income taxes, Brown said.
David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, said the proposal wouldn't help long term.
"I think when you are talking about raising gas prices, there may be short-term reduction, put off vacations, but bottom line is over long term, that isn't going to have much of an effect," Ridenour said.
While Dingell's idea will likely lie dormant until after the 2008 election, the idea of carbon taxes is not. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain all support some type of system that either directly or indirectly will raise prices to penalize polluters.
His name should be changed to John Dingellberry.
What an idiot...
.
If you don't like the way I drive...
Stay off the sidewalk, beotch!
Hell yeah! This is from the SC Highway Patrol. Rock on boys!
Hell yeah! This is from the SC Highway Patrol. Rock on boys!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
5 yrs ago today...
Operation Iraqi Freedom started in earnest.
I and the rest of my C-5 crew were at Andersen AFB in Guam, at the time. We arrived there on the 17th. We watched it ("Shock and Awe" as they said) on the TV and we wondered when we were going to "get into the fight" as they say.
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your outlook) we were stuck on Guam for a little while. I hate to say this (and I'm a little ashamed to say it), but we (and a couple other crews from our squadron) were barbecuing, getting drunk and going to strip-clubs, while American's better than us were fighting (and dying) in Iraq. I guess we figured we might as well have fun while we could. There wasn't anything else we could do. We were stuck in Guam and there wasn't anything we could do about. I think we did what anyone else would do in our position, at least that's how I justify it to myself.
Anyway, I was with a great bunch of guys. We were flying mostly with "hard-crews" then, meaning we were flying with the same bunch of dudes all the time.
We ended up leaving Guam on the 24th. Frankly it was time to leave, if you know what I mean. We ended up flying around the Pacific until the end of the month, when we flew back to Travis AFB.
We never even got to "The Desert" until the 10th of May when we got to Kuwait. We went to Qatar, Spain and various assorted other places until we flew into Baghdad for the very first time on June 15th, 2003.
I'll post something about that trip when it's time.
I guess that's an incentive for you to stick around until June 15th...
Here's a pic of the squadron patch that I had made up for us. Pretty sweet don't you think?
I and the rest of my C-5 crew were at Andersen AFB in Guam, at the time. We arrived there on the 17th. We watched it ("Shock and Awe" as they said) on the TV and we wondered when we were going to "get into the fight" as they say.
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your outlook) we were stuck on Guam for a little while. I hate to say this (and I'm a little ashamed to say it), but we (and a couple other crews from our squadron) were barbecuing, getting drunk and going to strip-clubs, while American's better than us were fighting (and dying) in Iraq. I guess we figured we might as well have fun while we could. There wasn't anything else we could do. We were stuck in Guam and there wasn't anything we could do about. I think we did what anyone else would do in our position, at least that's how I justify it to myself.
Anyway, I was with a great bunch of guys. We were flying mostly with "hard-crews" then, meaning we were flying with the same bunch of dudes all the time.
We ended up leaving Guam on the 24th. Frankly it was time to leave, if you know what I mean. We ended up flying around the Pacific until the end of the month, when we flew back to Travis AFB.
We never even got to "The Desert" until the 10th of May when we got to Kuwait. We went to Qatar, Spain and various assorted other places until we flew into Baghdad for the very first time on June 15th, 2003.
I'll post something about that trip when it's time.
I guess that's an incentive for you to stick around until June 15th...
Here's a pic of the squadron patch that I had made up for us. Pretty sweet don't you think?
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Aftermath: Population Zero
I just watched this show on NatGeo (as National Geographic is now called). I guess National Geographic just isn't as "cool" anymore...
Anyway, I watched this 2hr steaming pile of crap. That's 2hrs of my life wasted.
If you were considering watching this POS, I'll save you the time. Don't!
Here it is in a nut-shell:
1. Humans are evil and we've almost destroyed this planet.
2. It would be good if humans disappeared of the Earth.
3. It took humans 10,000yrs to rape the planet, but it'd only take a couple hundred for it to get back to normal.
4. Stainless steel and plastic will be around for thousands of years.
5. Humans are evil.
Anyway, I watched this 2hr steaming pile of crap. That's 2hrs of my life wasted.
If you were considering watching this POS, I'll save you the time. Don't!
Here it is in a nut-shell:
1. Humans are evil and we've almost destroyed this planet.
2. It would be good if humans disappeared of the Earth.
3. It took humans 10,000yrs to rape the planet, but it'd only take a couple hundred for it to get back to normal.
4. Stainless steel and plastic will be around for thousands of years.
5. Humans are evil.
Hillary lies again. What's new...
Hillary gave a speech at Geo. Washington Univ. on Mon, in which she said:
Funny thing is, the video of that landing in Bosnia depicts nothing of the sort.
Watch the viddy at Newsbusters.
The Clinton's just can't help but lie. It's in their DNA.
.
"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."
Funny thing is, the video of that landing in Bosnia depicts nothing of the sort.
Watch the viddy at Newsbusters.
The Clinton's just can't help but lie. It's in their DNA.
.
Santa Clara S.O. update
This is a rough deal, all the way around..
Tommy Council's life will never be the same, but I hope he'll be okay.
Update: I just watched some news footage of the scene. It looked like, for whatever reason, Dep. Council's patrol car kept driving straight when the road curved. Had the bicyclists not been there at that particular time, Dep. Council would've just caught a couple days on the beach for having a stupid/preventable accident. Unfortunately, those cyclists were there and he ended up running three of them over. Whether it was fatigue or driver-inattention, it was a very unfortunate accident and two people paid for it with their lives.
From: Positive LEO
Father of deputy grieves for families of fallen cyclists
By Sean Webby
Mercury News
Article Launched: 03/16/2008 01:42:17 AM PDT
For Toby and Therese Council, the pain felt by the families of the two cyclists struck and killed last weekend by a sheriff's deputy is stronger than almost anyone can imagine.
Their son, James "Tommy" Council was the deputy behind the wheel. But 24 years ago, they were the parents standing in the hallway of a hospital, hearing a doctor telling them their daughter was dead. Ten-year-old Moira Council had been struck and killed by a car.
" 'Is there anything more that I can do for you?' " Toby Council remembers the doctor asking.
" 'Not unless you have a pill for a broken heart,' " he replied.
"I know there are four parents out there with broken hearts," Council told the Mercury News on Friday, the first time the family has publicly spoken since the horrific Cupertino collision last Sunday.
"I would love to say something to them, but words seem so inadequate, words don't stop that pain," said Council, 61, who, like his son, is also a Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy. " 'I'm sorry for your loss' seems so trite and trivial to me. Because I've experienced it."
Told of his remarks, Karen Sue Clarkson, the mother of Kristy Gough, one of the cyclists who died, said she - too - felt for the Councils.
"I have the greatest sympathy for anyone who loses a child - how can I not?" she said. "But it's so hard to know how to feel. My heart is so broken."
The Councils' 27-year-old son was on duty mid-morning last Sunday.He was driving his sheriff's cruiser on a stretch of Stevens Canyon Road, where the speed limit is 30 mph, when he crossed a double-yellow line and struck a group of bicyclists. Matt Peterson, 29, a San Francisco cyclist, died at the scene; Gough, 30, an Olympic cycling hopeful from Oakland, died hours later at Stanford University Hospital; and Christopher Knapp, 20, of Germany, suffered a broken arm and leg.
The deputy father said his son - who is on paid administrative leave and in counseling - is suffering, too.
Family's pain
"He's a good young man trying to deal with a tragic accident," said Toby Council, a former Green Beret during the Vietnam War and Chicago street cop. "He lost his sister to an automobile accident and now he inadvertently has been put back in a situation where someone else has lost their lives - and he's at fault."
The younger Council has declined interview requests, and the California Highway Patrol is still investigating why he slammed into the cyclists. Witnesses reportedly heard the deputy saying he had dozed off. Toby Council declined to speak with much detail about what his son told him about the crash.
"It was an accident, a horrible accident," he said. "It's like walking to church and getting hit by a meteor. Outta your control."
He said he didn't believe his son received any special treatment - a charge being leveled by some in the community who wonder why the deputy was taken to a sheriff's substation soon afterward and is not in custody during the investigation.
"The CHP is called in to handle this accident right away. They place him on admin leave. I don't know where they get this 'special treatment,' " Toby Council said.
Tommy Council - who lives at his parents' home in Santa Clara and sleeps in the same room he used as a sports-loving, clean-cut Bellarmine College Preparatory kid - was home the Saturday night before the accident. There was no drunken fiesta or late date the night before, his father said. Toby and Therese Council had gone out to dinner at the Marriott. Their son was watching the tube in the family room when they left and when they got back.
The next morning, Toby Council was puttering around the house when he got the call from his sobbing son.
"Dad, can you come to the police station?"
"Tommy, what's the matter?"
His son told him what had happened.
"I'm coming," his father said.
Council told his wife. A family friend who is a mental health counselor came over and sat with his wife until he got home.
"Please," his wife called as he ran out the door, "call me."
It is killing his wife, Toby Council said, that she cannot bring herself to reach out to the families of the cyclists who were killed. Soon after her daughter died, Therese Council became the contact person for the Palo Alto chapter of Compassionate Friends - an organization for people whose children have died.
Daughter killed
Moira, whose photographs still hang on the Councils' walls, was killed while crossing El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, her father said. A driver waved her across. She did not see the car coming in the other lane. That time, it was his wife - who was there - who called Toby Council. He remembers he was building Moira a rabbit cage.
Toby Council feels the coincidence like a reopened wound.
"I could go on and on about the run of bad luck we have had in this family." And then he says something he has told his oldest son Tommy in recent days: "You have to pick yourself up and go on."
He says he has little patience for people who spend too much time feeling sorry for themselves.
"One of the things I could never understand when I came home from Vietnam was when people would complain - 'I lost my job. . . . I wrecked my car. . . . I'm gonna kill myself.' Find another job. Get another car. What's the problem? What are you whining about?"
All their friends and the sheriff's department are pitching in to help. They are a close, loving Santa Clara family. Luke, their youngest son, 21, is back from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo to help.
Toby Council is fully aware, though, that his son's life will never go back to what it was.
"I just keep assuring him," Council said. "We will get through this."
Tommy Council's life will never be the same, but I hope he'll be okay.
Update: I just watched some news footage of the scene. It looked like, for whatever reason, Dep. Council's patrol car kept driving straight when the road curved. Had the bicyclists not been there at that particular time, Dep. Council would've just caught a couple days on the beach for having a stupid/preventable accident. Unfortunately, those cyclists were there and he ended up running three of them over. Whether it was fatigue or driver-inattention, it was a very unfortunate accident and two people paid for it with their lives.
From: Positive LEO
Monday, March 17, 2008
Hooyah Mike Monsoor!
Navy SEAL to receive Medal of Honor
The Associated (with terrorists) Press
Last Updated 2:32 pm PDT Monday, March 17, 2008
SAN DIEGO -- A Navy SEAL who sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade will be posthumously awarded the nation's highest military honor.
The family of Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor will receive the Medal of Honor on his behalf during a White House ceremony, according to a Marine Corps Times report Monday.
The report, which cited an anonymous Department of Defense official, said it was not clear when the medal would be presented.
Monsoor was part of a sniper security team on Sept. 29, 2006, in Ramadi with three other SEALs and eight Iraqi soldiers, according to a Navy account. An insurgent fighter threw the grenade, which struck Monsoor in the chest before falling in front of him. Monsoor, according to the account, then threw himself on the grenade.
Monsoor, a platoon machine gunner, had received the Silver Star, the third-highest award for combat valor, for his actions pulling a wounded SEAL to safety during a May 9, 2006, firefight in Ramadi.
Monsoor, of Garden Grove, Calif., was 25.
Monsoor will be the second member of the Navy to receive the Medal of Honor since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, and the first sailor to receive it for combat in Iraq.
From Cop the Truth:
Take a few minutes and get to know Mike Monsoor.
He deserves that.
After all...
he died for you.
.
Obama's a mack-daddy!
How do all these people listen to this without laughing? I see a couple brother's in the back holding it in.
This guy loves him some Hilary!
I love this guy!
H/T: AoS
This guy loves him some Hilary!
I love this guy!
H/T: AoS
Clinton says "we cannot win" Iraq war
I should've titled this post "Hillary Clinton is a Piece of Sh*t" but I decided to take the High-Road...
Clinton says "we cannot win" Iraq war
By Abu "Jeff" Mason
WASHINGTON (Al Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton charged on Monday the Iraq war may cost Americans $1 trillion and add strain to the sagging U.S. economy as she made her case for a prompt U.S. troop pullout from a war "we cannot win."
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but the economy's woes competed for attention as the top issue facing voters when they choose their next president in November.
Clinton, the former first lady who is trying to convince Americans she has foreign policy gravitas, hurled criticism over Iraq at her two rivals, Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
New York Sen. Clinton pointedly noted that while Obama insists he will withdraw U.S. troops in Iraq within 16 months of taking office, his former foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power, had said he might not follow through on the pledge.
"In uncertain times, we cannot afford uncertain leadership," Clinton said. Power resigned after a British newspaper quoted her calling Clinton a "monster."
Obama, who routinely scolds Clinton for having voted for a 2002 Senate resolution that authorized the war, fired back: "It was an unwise war which is why I opposed it in 2002 and why I will bring this war to an end in 2009."
Obama, who leads Clinton in nominating delegates with the important Pennsylvania contest coming up on April 22, began a second straight week on the defensive.
Obama, the Illinois senator who would be the first U.S. black president, scheduled a speech about race for Tuesday in Philadelphia to try to put to rest questions about his Chicago preacher, Jeremiah Wright, an African-American who sometimes laces his sermons with anti-American rhetoric.
"I am going to be talking about not just Reverend Wright, but the larger issue of race in this campaign," he said in Monaca, Pennsylvania.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
This makes a little more sense now...
This is the same guy who's wife said this was the first time she's been proud as an American.
The Hopemobile is fixin' to crash...
The Hopemobile is fixin' to crash...
The power of Love
Blushing Bride: 'Not Going to Lose Him Again'Read the whole story about Aaron and Diana and the great work that they're doing at UCLA here.
While he still has a long road of recovery ahead, Mankin will not be going through it alone. By his side is Diana Kavanec, the woman whose face he pictured as he lay injured in Iraq.
She is now his wife — just three months after his injury, Mankin proposed to her at the bottom of an airport escalator as she returned from Iraq where she had been serving in the Marines.
At the time, Kavanec had not seen him since his injury and did not know the extent of his wounds or even that he had been burned. "I knew that he was alive and that's about it," she said.
At first, Mankin's badly disfigured face shocked her, and she says she did not recognize him. That didn't stop Mankin from getting down on one knee and asking her to marry him. "She hadn't seen me for more than 15 seconds and I popped the question," he said with a laugh.
Despite her initial surprise at seeing Mankin so badly injured, Kavanec had no doubt that she wanted to marry him. "I knew that I wanted to be with him still, and that's what got us through it," she said. The couple married last year and have an 8-month-old daughter named Madeline.
And check out the great pics too.
H/T: Villainous Company
.
I guess it's Marine Corps Sunday...
He's no "one-hit-wonder".
He IS a hero, whether he thinks so or not.
He IS a hero, whether he thinks so or not.
A Hero Who Didn't Save HimselfRead the rest here.
For Jeremiah Workman, Decorated for Bravery in Iraq, the Battle's Not Over Yet
By Peter Carlson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 4, 2007
"Despite heavy resistance from enemy automatic weapon fire and a barrage of grenades, Corporal Workman fearlessly. . ."
Jeremiah Workman stood at attention and tried to listen as the narrator read the citation that detailed what he'd done to earn the Navy Cross, an award for valor that is second only to the Medal of Honor.
". . . Corporal Workman again exposed himself to enemy fire while providing cover fire for the team when an enemy grenade exploded directly in front of him, causing shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs . . ."
He was standing on the parade ground, facing a grandstand packed with hundreds of people, including his wife and his mother. Behind him were several hundred Marine recruits who were about to graduate from boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., where Workman had recently lost his job as a drill instructor after he suffered what he calls a "mental meltdown."
". . . Although injured, he led a third assault into the building, rallying his team one last time to extract isolated Marines . . ."
When the narrator finished reading the story of Workman's "extraordinary heroism" in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Richard T. Tryon pinned the Navy Cross to Workman's chest and the crowd in the grandstand stood and cheered. It was a moment of well-deserved triumph, but it didn't make Workman feel any better.
"When they put that medal on me, from that point on, I sunk deeper into depression," he recalls. "Everybody says it must be awesome to win the Navy Cross. Well, as a matter of fact, it's not. I lost three guys that day, so for the longest time, I didn't even want to wear it. I'd look down at it and see three dead Marines."
Proud...
Quite a while back, I found this picture on Michael Fay's website. I couldn't believe it. It was the son of a friend that I hadn't seen in a while, because I'd lost touch with him. Luckily, I got back in touch with him last year.
Anyway, the guy in the picture is someone I'm very proud to know. I knew him when he was just a tyke, but now he's a grown man. His mom and dad and I are very proud of him and what he's become. He left in January for what is his third deployment to Iraq and he has a very important job that carries with it, a lot of responsibility. I know he'll do well. He'll be back in a little less than a year and when he does, he'll have only about six months or so left in the Corps. Then he hopes to become a cop, like his Dad.
Keep him in your prayers.
Anyway, the guy in the picture is someone I'm very proud to know. I knew him when he was just a tyke, but now he's a grown man. His mom and dad and I are very proud of him and what he's become. He left in January for what is his third deployment to Iraq and he has a very important job that carries with it, a lot of responsibility. I know he'll do well. He'll be back in a little less than a year and when he does, he'll have only about six months or so left in the Corps. Then he hopes to become a cop, like his Dad.
Keep him in your prayers.
God bless the Marines
The email below is from USAF Colonel Brett Wyrick who is the commander of the 154th Medical Group, Hawaii Air National Guard, and is serving as a surgeon in Balad with the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group. Col. Wyrick had been sending his father, a Vietnam-era fighter pilot, emails about his experiences in Iraq:
Dear Dad,
If I ever hear airmen griping and complaining, I jump into them pretty quickly, now. Most people over here have nothing to gripe about compared to Marines. Marines are different. They have a different outlook on life.
One Marine Private was here for several days because he was a lower priority evacuation patient. He insisted on coming to attention and displaying proper military courtesy every morning when I came through on rounds. He was in a great deal of pain, and it was a stressful to watch him work his way off the bed and onto his crutches. I told him he was excused and did not have to come to attention while he was a patient,and he informed me that he was a good Marine and would address "Air Force Colonels standing on my feet, Sir." I had to turn away so he would not see the tear in my eye. He did not have "feet" because we amputated his right leg below the knee on the first night he came in.
I asked a Marine Lance Corporal if there was anything I could get him as I was making rounds one morning. He was an above the knee amputation after an IED blast, and he surprised me when he asked for a trigonometry book. "You enjoy math do you?" He replied, "Not particularly, Sir. I was never good at it, but I need to get good at it, now." "Are you planning on going back to school?" I asked. "No sir, I am planning on shooting artillery. I will slow an infantry platoon down with just one good leg, but I am going to get good at math and learn how to shoot artillery". I hope he does.
I had the sad duty of standing over a young Marine Sgt. when he recovered from anesthesia - despite our best efforts there was just no way to save his left arm, and it had to come off just below the elbow. "Can I have my arm back, sir?" he asked. "No, we had to cut it off, we cannot re-attach it", I said. "But can I have my arm?", he asked again. "You see, we had to cut it off." He interrupted, "I know you had to cut it off, but I want it back. It must be in a bag or something, Sir." "Why do you want it?" I asked. "I am going to have it stuffed and use it as a club when I get back to my unit." I must have looked shocked because he tried to comfort me,"Don't you worry now, Colonel. You did a fine job, and I hardly hurt at all; besides I scratch and shoot with my other hand anyway." God Bless the Marines!
Col. Brett Wyrick
From WO1 Micheal Fay's excellent blog.
Ewwwww!
Woman files lawsuit against AMR because passenger next to her masturbated on her while she slept
A 21-year-old Harris County woman filed a $200,000 lawsuit against American Airlines alleging employees on a flight to Los Angeles from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport failed to protect her while she slept from another passenger who masturbated to her and ejaculated in her hair, according to a lawsuit she filed last week in Tarrant County.
The Harris County woman alleges employees knew of the risks associated with failing to “police the passengers to ensure that passengers do not hurt one another,” the suit states.
Airline officials did not return calls seeking comment. In a statement to a Houston television station last year, a spokesman said the company regretted the incident, but the flight crew took appropriate action.
The woman and her lawyer could not be reached for comment. The Star-Telegram does not identify victims of sexual crimes.
Destined for a Spring Break visit with family and friends March 19, the woman flew from Houston to DFW Airport and had settled into her seat for the last leg of flight 2074 to Los Angeles about 11 p.m., the suit states. The woman slept most of the flight, but awoke about 20 minutes before landing when the pilot announced the plane was on descent into Los Angeles. When the woman opened her eyes, she saw that an unknown man had moved into the seat next to her and was staring at her as he masturbated, the suit states.
The woman turned toward the window in embarrassment and in an act of nervousness began to run her fingers through her hair where she noticed “a substantial amount of an extremely sticky substance in her hair,” the suit states.
The woman began to cry and tried to get the attention of a flight attendant, but was unsuccessful, the suit states. Finally a passenger in the row in front of the woman comforted her and verified the semen in her hair, the suit states.
When the plane landed, employee called airport police and the man was arrested.
The suit alleges that the during the investigation, American Airlines employees told police they witnessed the man move from his assigned seat into the row where the woman was sleeping.
The woman is seeking punitive damages and a jury trial.
Filthy McNasty!
.
Right man, for the right time.
Neither of the other two candidates has nearly the character that this guy does.
And being a drug-dealer in Chicago or having a rapist for a husband doesn't count.
And being a drug-dealer in Chicago or having a rapist for a husband doesn't count.
LAPD SWAT gets the PC treatment.
Angelinos should be proud...
I'm sure the LAPD coppers are just so glad to have Bratton as their Chief...
I'll bet the LAPPL would be happy to take up a collection to buy a return plane ticket to NYC for the good Chief.
H/T: Patterico
The LAPD's assault on SWAT"negotiating skills, patience, empathy and flexibility" instead of "physical prowess and tactical acumen". Yep, that's what I want in a SWAT team!
Would you rather have an elite fighting force made up of the best cops, or of officers who 'look like L.A.'?
By Robert C.J. Parry
March 16, 2008
On a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 2005, Jose Peña fueled himself with cocaine and grabbed a 9-millimeter pistol. Waving the gun at the head of his 19-month-old daughter, Suzie, he told the LAPD officers who arrived at the scene that he was Tony Montana -- the character played by Al Pacino in "Scarface" -- and that he was going to kill his daughter and himself. He'd already shot at her sister and at the police, so the threat was believable.
The situation was straightforward: If an LAPD SWAT crisis negotiator couldn't dispel Peña's narcotic fantasies, the little girl's life would rest with a SWAT rescue team's ability to cross a 50-foot alley, access the building, find and enter the room he was in and save Suzie before Peña pulled the trigger.
Now imagine for a moment that you were in Suzie Peña's position. Would you want the police SWAT team coming through the door to be the best of the best -- the toughest, most highly trained, most elite tacticians in the Los Angeles Police Department -- or would you want the team to "look like L.A."? Would you want rescuers who had not lost a hostage in three decades, or would you want a team with heartwarming, multicultural diversity?
The answer is pretty obvious, no? You'd want the best. That's what Suzie got, and even so, the results were tragic. According to the L.A. district attorney's office, Jose Peña emerged from the building and a gunfight ensued. When Peña retreated to his office, four SWAT officers crossed the alley in a matter of seconds, entered the building, took fire through the walls -- fire that struck one officer -- and entered Peña's office. There, they exchanged more shots with the gunman, who was standing behind a desk with Suzie. In the chaos, both Jose and Suzie Peña were killed.
Suzie is the only hostage ever lost by LAPD SWAT during its 35 years.
Shortly after her death, Police Chief William J. Bratton appointed a board of inquiry to examine the incident. Its mission, he said, was to investigate the officers' tactics and other factors in the shooting. "For the safety of the public and officers, we need to understand intimately what transpired in that incident," he said at the time.
In fact, the board did nothing of the sort. None of the SWAT officers from the Peña shooting were even interviewed by the panel, according to multiple sources. Indeed, the board's eight members included fewer tactical experts (one) than attorneys (three). In its final report, the board acknowledged that it had been "ultimately precluded from gaining a full and complete understanding of what transpired in Peña until after this report was finalized."
What's more, Assistant Chief Sharon Papa privately promised the team shortly after the incident that the report would be aired openly, according to officers who were present. That didn't happen either. The final report -- completed 15 months ago -- has not been released. Many senior department officials have never seen it, and Times reporters have repeatedly requested it but have been turned down. I received a copy earlier this month from a source.
The report shows that instead of fulfilling Bratton's promises, the board used the Peña case (with Bratton's encouragement) as a way to push for a series of politically correct changes within SWAT -- changes that many cops believe will have absolutely no benefit and that they believe will endanger the lives of citizens and cops alike.
From the start -- before the panel examined any evidence -- Bratton made it clear that increasing SWAT's diversity was particularly important to him. In November 2005, he privately addressed the board about his goals for their inquiry. The final report quotes him: "I'm looking to create change within SWAT. The qualifications to get in are stringent. But are they too stringent? There are no women and few African Americans.... Are there artificial barriers for getting into SWAT that the 'good old boys' network has maintained?"
Bratton's assertion that SWAT has few African Americans is not accurate. Eight of the 63 SWAT members are black, sources say, -- even after the death of Officer Randal Simmons on Feb. 7. That's 12.6% in a department that is 12% African American.
Nevertheless, in keeping with Bratton's wishes, the final report devotes substantial space to how to bring in female and black officers. "The absence of women ... and the low number of African Americans in SWAT should be addressed and dealt with, and the membership of SWAT should be reflective of the community," the report says, although it offers no qualitative or quantitative evidence that this change would save a single life or lead to a single suspect's apprehension. The unit, the report says, has become "insular, self-referential and resistant to change."
The report goes on to say that "there is no task in SWAT that a woman could not perform" and that the selection criteria has "underemphasized negotiating skills, patience, empathy and flexibility while overemphasizing physical prowess and tactical acumen."
But SWAT officers who have actually entered houses to rescue hostages from killers (as they did Feb. 7 in Winnetka, resulting in the death of Simmonsand the wounding of Officer James Veenstra) say there is no such thing as overemphasizing tactical acumen or physical prowess for such assignments.
Yes, they say, there are probably women on the force who could and should be admitted to SWAT, but they should be required to meet the same standards as other applicants and should be chosen for skill, not for diversity. The reality, SWAT members say, is that the standards for tactical success apply to everyone equally. Upper-body strength is vital to holding a 12-pound rifle stone-steady to hit a deranged killer while avoiding his hostage in a whirlwind of chaos.
In general, the final board report offers little or no persuasive evidence as to why SWAT should change. "SWAT performs in a disciplined and exemplary manner consistent with its fine reputation," the report acknowledges. "It has been and remains a source of great pride within the LAPD."
In fact, according to the report itself, out of 3,771 missions SWAT has performed from 1972 to 2005, suspects have been apprehended without any "untoward" incident in 83% of the cases. (The report does not define "untoward.") It notes that SWAT members have killed a suspect only 31 times in 33 years -- that's less than 1% of all engagements, often with the city's most deranged and violent criminals.
What's more, SWAT has lost only one hostage -- Suzie Peña -- and the way to ensure it doesn't happen again is to maintain and raise standards, not to lower them out of political correctness.
None of that matters, though, to the brass. "Bratton wants a woman on SWAT regardless of whether she's 110 pounds soaking wet and completely incapable of pulling 200 pounds of Jimmy Veenstra and his gear out of a house in the middle of a gunfight," said one officer who survived the Winnetka shootout in which Veenstra was extracted by his teammates while under fire.
Based on the findings of the report, the LAPD has just instituted a new selection process for SWAT, according to a SWAT veteran who helped in the redesign. Instead of picking cops on the basis of their ability to handle weapons and stress, the new standards specifically exclude video-based shooting simulator evaluations and "Hogan's Alley," a daunting series of pop-up targets representing armed crooks and hostages. A simulated raid with flash-bang devices that previously disqualified many candidates who accidentally shot the "hostage" is also gone.
The new test's only physical challenges are a modest physical fitness qualification and a modified obstacle course. "My preteen daughter could pass that," one officer said. Applicants' scores will now largely come from an oral interview conducted by non-SWAT and non-LAPD supervisors. In essence, the test is largely subjective.
Another coming change that SWAT officers criticize is one that would allow officers from anywhere in the department to apply to SWAT, rather than limiting it (as it has historically been limited) to officers from the elite Metropolitan Division. SWAT had argued to the board that continued selection from Metro was "a nearly fail-safe way to select the best of the best," and the final board report acknowledged that using only applicants from Metro "has produced remarkable cohesion, consistency, mutual trust and commonality of outlook."
But the board of inquiry ultimately claimed that including people from other divisions "could bring a wider perspective and greater gender and racial diversity." So the plan to broaden the pool of applicants is expected to go into effect next year.
There are a variety of innocuous recommendations in the board report, such as improvements in risk management, trend analysis and data analysis. The report calls for new accountability measures, including "Compstat-like accountability." (Compstat is Bratton's signature system for tracking crime trends.) The report also recommends providing all personnel with take-home cars, something the team has requested for years.
But it is the change in the selection process and the opening up of SWAT to applicants from outside Metro that have motivated SWAT officers' wives to launch an unusual e-mail campaign directed at Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, stating in part: "We are concerned with the safety of our husbands ... if they are expected to go into these highly dangerous situations with someone who got in under a compromised standard."
The report says, "SWAT culture and insularity pose a certain danger to the LAPD and the Los Angeles community as a whole." But the report is based on misconceptions.
SWAT is not a lily-white redoubt of old prejudices. Simmons and Veenstra (who is of Asian ancestry) illustrate this. Suzie Peña's attempted rescuers had names like Perez, Sanchez and Gallegos. Bratton may not know this; at the annual SWAT dinner, I saw him come in and talk to a couple of senior managers and deputy chiefs for 30 minutes and then leave, having barely acknowledged the officers -- black, white, Latino or otherwise. That evening, he forfeited his last chance to talk to Simmons, who died 10 days later.
SWAT is too important to this city to be weakened in the name of political correctness. Unless the Police Commission or other officials act, the LAPD will make social experimentation a higher priority than tactical excellence.
Robert C.J. Parry is a businessman working on a book about his experiences in the Army National Guard in Iraq.
I'm sure the LAPD coppers are just so glad to have Bratton as their Chief...
I'll bet the LAPPL would be happy to take up a collection to buy a return plane ticket to NYC for the good Chief.
H/T: Patterico
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