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May 31, 2009
Jillian Bandes Examines Sotomayor's Decisions and Our Constitution
Jillian Bandes with Townhall, exanmines sonia sotomayor's Constitutional history.
Some of Sotomayor's decisions haven't really been in line with the Constitution. If she doesn't believe in all of it, does she really believe in any of it?
Wild Thing's comment.........
Sotomayor is a card-carrying-member of LA RAZA!
“She is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York Women’s Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Association of Judges of Hispanic Heritage, and the National Council of La Raza.”
Just an observation- Palin caught hell for being associated with a seccessionist group. Sotomayer gets lauded for being a member of a group dedicated to establishing a foreign country on US soil. Typical liberal playing field.
With Sonia Sotomayor on the bench, we will have rulings from the Supreme Court that will have sunk to the level of the O.J. Simpson murder trial: we may not have jury nullification but we will have the violation of the principle of the rule of law.
Mercy is good, and lovable... but it cannot exist without Justice, for that would only be the perpetuation of injustice.
It really is as simple as that. IMO
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:44 PM | Comments (4)
Obama Speech in Cairo to Offer Personal Commitment ( kissing up ) to Muslims
Obama speech to offer personal commitment to Muslims
Barack Obama will offer a "personal commitment" to bridge US differences with Muslims in his long-awaited speech to the Islamic world next week in Egypt, aides said.
But White House advisors said Friday that Obama would not shy away from addressing "tough issues" in the speech on Thursday at the University of Cairo which will be co-hosted by Al-Azhar University, an ancient center of Islam and learning.
"The speech will outline his personal commitment to engagement, based upon mutual interests and mutual respect," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
"He will discuss how the United States and Muslim communities around the world can bridge some of the differences that have divided them.
"He will review particular issues of concern, such as violent extremism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and he will discuss new areas for partnership going forward that serve the mutual interests of our people."
Obama foreign policy advisor Mark Lippert added that the address, which makes good on an Obama campaign promise, would emulate some other speeches by the president which have touched on difficult issues.
Obama, who lived for several years as a child in mainly Muslim Indonesia and traces part of his ancestry to a Muslim family in Kenya, will open his trip next Wednesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, holding talks on Middle East peace, Iran, terrorism and other issues with King Abdullah.
The next day, his visit to Cairo will include the speech and talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who cancelled a visit to Washington this week because of the death of a grandson.
Obama then heads to Germany, where he will stay in the former East German city of Dresden, hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and visit the former Nazi death camp at Buchenwald.
He will also visit US troops wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq and the US medical center at Landstuhl.
Obama's last stop will be in France on Saturday, where he will take part in 65th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day allied landings in Normandy, alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Wild Thing's comment........
ALLAH FUBAR!
Well so much for Obama's wanting to make a “personal commitment” to us that he won’t destroy America!
While he's making this speech...let's move him out of the White House. It’s too bad he’s coming back to America.
"Barack Obama will stress what the White House calls his personal commitment “based upon mutual interests and mutual respect” to strengthening U.S. ties to the Muslim world."
Mutual interests??????? Incredible.
Appeasement with Islam, brings terrorism. American blood will run in the streets so Obama can feel good about himself.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (6)
Obama Changes Mind About Uighur Terrorists at GITMO
Obama Administration Asserts Uighur Detainees Have No Right to Come to US
by Jack Tapper
The Obama administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to reject a request for a hearing from 17 Chinese Muslims currently being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, arguing they have no right to come to America despite a district judge's orders last Fall that they immediately be brought to the U.S. and released.
"Petitioners are free to return to their home country, but they understandably do not wish to do so, because they fear inhumane treatment there," reads the filing, signed by US Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Assistant Attorney General Tony West, and other Justice Department officials. "Petitioners are also free to go to any other country that is willing to accept them."
Many European countries are waiting for the US to accept the Uighurs before they agree to accept any more detainees from Guantanamo, but there is strong resistance from Congress, which recently voted to keep any detainees out of the US -- even out of US prisons.
But not to worry -- the Obama administration says the Uighurs' detention isn't so bad, considering.
"In contrast to individuals currently detained as enemies under the laws of war, petitioners are being housed under relatively unrestrictive conditions, given the status of Guantanamo Bay as a United States military base," Kagan writes, saying they are "in special communal housing with access to all areas of their camp, including an outdoor recreation space and picnic area." They "sleep in an air-conditioned bunk house and have the use of an activity room equipped with various recreational items, including a television with VCR and DVD players, a stereo system, and sports equipment."
On April 3, 2009, the Uighurs asked the US Supreme Court to hear their case.
The Obama administration on Friday urged the Supreme Court to not hear the case of the Uighurs, and to uphold the appellate court ruling.
Ironically, the Obama administration is now using Congress's refusal to allocate funding for the closing of Guantanamo as further reason why the Uighurs should not be freed. Mentioning that the House of Representatives passed a supplemental defense appropriations bill containing a provision specifying that “(n)one of the funds made available in this or any prior Act may be used to release an individual who is detained" at Guantanamo.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
LOL Hello Obama, it seems he has realized that if even one of these terrorist come to America and commit any violent crime he would be held responsible. Or it may be a polticial play not sure.
Obama could care less about the safety of Americans! But the media would have a tuff time defending him when there would be an attack on our soil after bringikng the Uighur terrorists here.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (5)
White House Moves to Restrict Criticism of Stimulus Projects
White House moves to restrict criticism of stimulus projects
By: Mark Tapscott
A new White House policy on permissible lobbying on economic recovery and stimulus project has taken a decidedly anti-First Amendment turn. It’s a classic illustration of Big Government trying to control every aspect of a particular activity and in the process running up against civil liberty.
Check out this passage from a post on the White House blog by Norm Eisen, Special Counsel to the President on Ethics and Government Reform :
“First, we will expand the restriction on oral communications to cover all persons, not just federally registered lobbyists. For the first time, we will reach contacts not only by registered lobbyists but also by unregistered ones, as well as anyone else exerting influence on the process. We concluded this was necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program.
"Second, we will focus the restriction on oral communications to target the scenario where concerns about merit-based decision-making are greatest –after competitive grant applications are submitted and before awards are made. Once such applications are on file, the competition should be strictly on the merits. To that end, comments (unless initiated by an agency official) must be in writing and will be posted on the Internet for every American to see.
"Third, we will continue to require immediate internet disclosure of all other communications with registered lobbyists. If registered lobbyists have conversations or meetings before an application is filed, a form must be completed and posted to each agency’s website documenting the contact."
The White House blog post by Eisen, go here.
The key passage is the reference to expanding regulation from registered lobbyists to "anyone else exerting influence on the process. We concluded this was necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program."
This is the Camel's nose under the tent, being poked because of special circumstances. Let government restrict political expression - i.e. lobbying of government officials regarding policy - in one small, supposedly specialized area and not long after the specialized area starts expanding. Eventually, all political expression regarding all policy will become subject to government regulation.
Wild Thing's comment..........
More of the Obama thugery and force as they don't want critics to speak up or anyone to speak up or question what is going on.
The other night on the Hannity TV show, he decided to show the 100 worst wastes of 2009 and see all 100 it is really bad! ONe would be horrible and to see all 100 just makes your stomach sick and outrage at all these jerks doing this.
Something else about this too, I think this is that indication of just how big a disaster porkulous is turning out to be. I heard on TV the other day they( Obama and his administration) have no clue where most of the money has gone. It is a total mess!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:49 AM | Comments (3)
Church Bulletin Bloopers
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:48 AM | Comments (1)
Two Female Seabees, First to Complete Lioness Program
Kasey Reed and Jody Gorsuch stop for a visit with the members of their battalion, after completion of the Lioness Program training.
Two Female Seabees, First to Complete Lioness Program
AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq
Builder Constructionman Kasey Reed and Steelworker Constructionman Jody Gorsuch were the first female Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 to complete training for The Lioness Program.
The Lioness Program, established in 2004, stations female troops with Marine combat units. The Lioness members therefore play a vital role in security and the fight against terrorism, by searching females and children, since Muslim cultural tradition dictates that men are not permitted to look up nor touch females.
When asked in an interview about her role as a Lioness, Reed commented, "It is a great experience, allowing women to show their importance in a joint effort with their male counter parts."
Reed and Gorsuch participated in a week long training course instructed by the Marines. The Seabees received classes covering a wide array of topics from Marine combat skills to combat life-saving techniques, and personnel searches to basic Arabic language skills.
After the completion of the training program, Gorsuch stated, "Completing the program has provided me with a great sense of accomplishment through attaining these new skills and knowledge." She went on to describe the experience as "empowering for women."
Both women were excited and confident in regard to their new role and assignment with the Marines.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
How exciting for them and all the work they did to complete this. Congratulatons !
I can just imagine how the Muslims react when they see all our various women in our military and good at what they do. heh heh It must drive the Muslims even more angry at Americans. Tah dah!
Good get the Muslims so angry they cannot see straight then shoot all of them.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:47 AM | Comments (4)
Obama's Cap and Trade (TAX) He LIED To HIS Voters About No Taxes
President Obama has said that cap and trade would cause electricity prices to skyrocket. Do you have an extra $1,500 a year to spend on energy?
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GOP attacks Democrats for climate proposal
H. Josef Hebert
Republicans on Saturday attacked the climate change proposal crafted by congressional Democrats and endorsed by President Barrack Obama as doing little to reduce global warming while saddling Americans with high energy costs.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, in the GOP's weekly radio and Internet address, called the House climate bill "a classic example of unwise government." The address culminated a week of coordinated Republican attacks on the Democratic proposal which would require the first nationwide reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
GOP House members used the weeklong Memorial Day congressional recess to drum up voter opposition to the Democratic bill.
The governor's criticism echoed Republican lawmakers' arguments at "energy summits" in Pennsylvania, Indiana and California and at other forums during the week.
The proposal to cap greenhouse emissions "will cost us dearly in jobs and income and it stands no chance of achieving its objective of a cooler earth" because other nation's such as China and India will not have to follow, argues Daniels, according to a transcript of the Saturday address.
"The cost for all American taxpayers will be certain, huge, and immediate. Any benefits are extremely uncertain, minuscule, and decades distant," maintains Daniels.
The climate bill would require a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 and 83 percent reduction by mid-century. It advanced from the House Energy and Commerce Committee shortly before lawmakers left Washington for their holiday break, getting only one GOP vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to take up the measure in the full House this summer.
"The national energy tax imposed by Speaker Pelosi's climate change bill would double electric bills here in Indiana, working a severe hardship on low income families, but that's only where the damage starts," says Daniels. "In a state where we like to make things, like steel and autos and RVs, it would cost us countless jobs. ... Our farmers and livestock producers would see their costs skyrocket. and our coal miners would be looking for new work."
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Wild Thing's comment......
How about this, why not just have those that voted for this anti-American military hater Obama pay all the taxes and let those of us that knew better off the hook. Let them pay, they asked for this crap. LOL
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:45 AM | Comments (4)
Charlie Daniels Band Performs Concert in Sand Storm at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq
Charlie Daniels continues on...his black cowboy hat turning brown from the sand storm
The Charlie Daniels Band Performs Concert at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq
AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq
Coalition forces extended a warm welcome to the Charlie Daniels Band April 16. The performance was one not soon forgotten. The weather had been bright and clear throughout the day. But shortly after the country music icon, dressed in Marine digital camouflage and a big black cowboy hat, stepped on stage, the wind kicked up, causing the band and fans to experience a sand storm that turned the sky orange. The weather did not deter the Charlie Daniels Band from continuing the concert. Only after the rain began to fall, was the event cut short.
Constructionman Erin Huff commented that, " It was very cool that he kept playing after the sand storm first hit."
The event was moved into the Sentinel Theatre where Charlie Daniels spoke to the audience, apologizing for having to shorten the show.
He also stated, "We'll stay until every one in this theatre has a chance to come up and get an autograph and a picture."
True to his word, he and the band, after approximately three hours of shaking hands signing, autographs, and taking a picture with every service member that waited in line, called it a night.
In attendance for the show were personnel from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24. The deployed Battalion consists of Navy Reservists from the home detachments in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and West Virginia, as well as Individual Augmentees from many other states from across the country.
Many of the members of NMCB 24 have grown up listening to Charlie Daniels Band on the radio, and watching him perform at other concerts and venues. Several of the Seabees reside and work in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., where Charlie Daniels has his home.
The Seabees of NMCB 24 took a little extra pride in watching the performance. The Builders from Charlie Company had been tasked with constructing and installing the stage for the performance, as well as the stanchions that were used to cordon off the area.
The entire project took the six man team, lead by Builder 1st Class Bobby Bills, approximately 48 man hours to plan, cut, install and disassemble. The workers performed the majority of the work in their off-duty time.
When asked about the project, Bills stated, "It was an honor that the Seabees were chosen to build the stage for such a legendary country artist." He went on to say how proud he was of his team for working so "quickly and efficiently."
The performance and meet and greet were enjoyed by all, regardless of the weather that quickly changed the evening.
Equipment Operator 3rd Class Jacob Hicks described it best when asked what he thought about the performance, "It was awesome."
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Here is one of Charlile Daniels Latest articles he wrote :
Seeds of Dictatorship
by Charlie Daniels
I'm going to shock some of you people, others I will probably anger and some of you will be amused at what I'm going to say in this column, but I don't care if I'm the last man standing I would be less than honest and candid if I didn't say it.
People if we don't get real this country is going to slip right out from under us, or rather be pulled right out from under us by a President bent on socialism and a power mad Democratic Congressional leadership.
The new Treasury Secretary can't even keep up with his income taxes and he is asking for powers that nobody but kings and people like Hugo Chavez have. He wants to be able to take over American companies that aren't toeing the Obama line. That is a downright abomination to the Constitution.
Nancy Pelosi changes the procedures of the House of Representatives so the Democratic majority can rush legislation thorough. Is this what the Congress is supposed to be about? Ms. Pelosi and Harry Reid, her counterpart in the Senate, are a clear and present danger to the republic.
Can't you see what's happening, America? They're going to try to force you to join unions, screw up your healthcare, invade every facet of your life, and you can believe it now or you can believe it later…they will raise your taxes, a lot.
And yet even with raising taxes they're not going to be able to raise enough to service the debt they're making. The only way out is to inflate the currency and folks when that begins in earnest, Katie bar the door.
The American dollar, once the standard for the planet Earth will become like green wallpaper and the price of goods and services will rise exponentially.
Do you think this can't happen, America? Well the sorry truth is that it is happening; in fact it's accelerating on a daily basis as a socialist President and a panicked Congress flounder around with no idea except to throw more money at it. After all, it's only paper, they can always print some more.
Things are moving so fast now; things once thought unthinkable are becoming commonplace as Obama, Pelosi, Reid and company consolidate their power over America.
This may sound far-fetched, but Hugo Chavez was democratically elected, and then started sowing the seeds of socialism in Venezuela. He was recently successful in eliminating term limits for the presidency, and is now essentially President for Life, as long as the people keep voting him in. There's an old quote by a British historian named Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
I don't like the role of alarmist, I love this country and always believed in it, always thought that we could work out of any problem. I've seen wars, recessions and national tragedy and the thought never entered my mind that America wouldn't pull out of the problem, but America is in a tailspin and if somebody doesn't grab the controls soon it's going to crash.
And do you know what happens then?
Total government control. It's called dictatorship.
What do you think?
Pray for our troops
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
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Wild Thing's comment...........
I sure am glad Charlie is on our side! What a big lovable bear of a man and I like the way he thinks too. Also I love how he did't let the sand strom stop him. He played as long as he could for our troops.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:40 AM | Comments (5)
May 30, 2009
Shot Gun Golf! ~ Hilarious!!
Wild Thing's comment......
ROTFLMAO this is sooooo funny. I love it.
....Thank you JohnE PFC U.S. Army for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 PM | Comments (4)
U.S. Citizens vs. Barack Hussein Obama
The growing movement to jail and impeach Barack Hussein Obama and members of the United States congress for high crimes against the states, while the crooked media continues to ignore the truth about this criminal CULT.
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"Citizens movement to jail and impeach Barack Hussein Obama for high crimes against the states, while the criminal media and the corrupt United States Supreme court are all involved in this criminal conspiracy and cult fraud. The revolution is NOW."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
God bless these Americans and Obama you can go to hell!
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:25 PM | Comments (3)
Veterans Patriotic Stickers Under Fire
Vet's Patriotic Stickers Under Fire
DALLAS
Frank Larison is a disabled veteran with more than 14 years of service, including more than a year of combat duty in Vietnam.
The 58-year-old former Marine now finds himself under attack by his Dallas homeowners association for displaying seven decals on his vehicle supporting the Marine Corps.
"To me, it's being patriotic, and it shows that I served," the veteran told FOX 4.
The board says the decals are advertisements that violate HOA rules, and must be covered or removed.
Otherwise, the homeowners association for The Woodlands II on The Creek --- where Larimore has lived for eight years --- says in a letter it will tow the car at Larimore's expense. The board also threatens to fine him $50 for any future incident.
Larimore says the decals, ranging from the Marine emblem to Semper Fi slogans, aren't advertisements for anything. "You can't buy freedom," he reasoned.
Some neighbors are outraged.
"That is his identity," said neighbor Mary Castagna. "He goes to a lot of the veteran meetings, and it means a lot to him. Everyone else agrees with it; it doesn't bother anybody."
"He's in the Marines, and he's proud of it, and I don't blame him," said neighbor Paul Hardy. "If I'd gone through what he's gone through, I'd be kind of proud of it myself."
The letter from the board states you can't have any form of advertisement anywhere on your car on your property. FOX 4 cameras spotted bumper stickers for political parties, health causes, and other non-commercial interests on the property as well.
One board member said he was unaware the HOA presidents sent the letter and did not know of any issue with Larimore's vehicle.
"I will be looking into it," said board member Art Bradford. "I didn't know anything about this. I haven't seen this."
The board president was out of town and unavailable. The condo management company did not want to comment.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
The board of The Woodlands II on The Creek says the decals violate the rules of the homeowners association, which deems them advertisements — even though the TV station spotted other residents' vehicles with bumper stickers for political parties, health causes and other non-commercial interests.
This man's HOA is who offends. I hope he goes after them and people see what horrible people they are to do this to a Veteran. It isn't as though they are following their own rules about stickers, THEY ONLY WANTED TO GO AFTER A VETERAN! Can there be any doubt as to the sickness, that is Liberalism? Good Grief, America. . .come to your senses!
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....Thank you Richard for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (10)
Woman Told to Remove 'Offensive' American Flag From Office
Texas Woman Told to Remove 'Offensive' American Flag From Office
Debbie McLucas comes from a patriotic family – her husband and both of her sons served in the U.S. military, and her daughter is currently deployed to Iraq on her second tour of duty as a combat medic.
So when McLucas arrived at work at a Texas hospital last Friday, she was stunned to be told that the Stars and Stripes she had hung in her office in advance of Memorial Day were offensive, and that the flag had been removed.
“I got into work, I was met by my supervisor and told that there had been multiple complaints, that people found the flag very offensive and it had been taken down," McLucas told FOXNews.com.
"I went to the office to retrieve it and found the flag wrapped around the pole, sitting in the corner on the ground. I was speechless."
McLucas, a supervisor at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield, Texas, had displayed the 3-by-5-foot flag in the office she shares with the hospital’s three other supervisors. McLucas said one of her colleagues, a woman who immigrated to the United States from Africa 14 years ago, complained about the flag to upper management, and the hospital decided to take down the flag.
"I was told that as long as my flag offended one person, it would be taken down," McLucas said.
She said the hospital told her that the American flag flying outside the building would have to suffice. "I was told, ‘There is a flag hanging out front, everyone can see that one. Is that not enough?’"
No, she said, that wasn't enough.
"It is more than I can even fathom, that you would find the American flag offensive, in America," McLucas said.
A Kindred Healthcare spokeswoman did not return calls for comment. Kindred issued a press release stating, “Kindred Hospital Mansfield has a great deal of appreciation for the service that many of our employees and their families have given to their country. We honor our veterans and active military through a variety of benefits and service programs. This was an isolated incident between two employees that we are working to resolve amicably.”
The statement went on to explain: “The disagreement was over the size of the flag and not what it symbolized. We have invited the employee to put the flag back up.”
And it will go back up and stay up, McLucas said.
"I do think they're trying to do the right thing. I have no reason to believe the flag won't remain there as long as I'm employed."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
What I don’t understand about this kind of situation (that happens way too often) is that the one “offended” is given into and all those not offended are ignored.
The election of the POS certainly has smoked out the America haters. I bet the jerik woman from Africa voted for Obama.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (6)
Obama’s Foreign Policy Speak ~ "kind of worried"
U.S. Officials 'Kind of Worried' Over Activity at North Korean Military Facility
U.S. intelligence officials have spotted activity at a key North Korean military facility that has them "kind of worried," a senior official told FOX News.
Support activity, including the movement of certain vehicles and personnel, has been spotted at Sanumdong, a research-and-development complex, the official said. The activity is consistent with that observed prior to the launch of the Taepodong-2 missile in the past.
The official said part of the concern, given the fact that Sanumdong is not itself a launch site, is that the North Koreans may be preparing to move a warhead by rail -- for an unknown purpose.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Well that’s reassuring..”kinda worried”. I’d like my leaders to be more than “kinda anything” . Good lord....THIS is Obama’s foreign policy speak????
"U.S. intelligence officials have spotted activity at a key North Korean military facility that has them "kind of worried,"
They are tearing down the Obama/Biden 2008 signs all over the barracks?
U.S. intelligence officials have spotted activity at a key North Korean military facility that has them "kind of worried" ...
Interesting vernacular ... for an intelligence official. I am sort of concerned, kind of.
NSA Analyst report to superior officer: "Hey, sir, like, we were watching some stuff on satelite, and, you know, there's alot of things moving around and it sort of looks weird ... I dunno, don't wanna raise any alarms or anything, but some of the older guys around here were sort of worried."
"kind of worried" = “kinda cool” but the opposite or something like that.
SEOUL, May 29 (Reuters)
Chinese ships shunning waters near Korea amid tensions
SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap)
Chinese fishing vessels are leaving the Yellow Sea, where tensions between the two Koreas have escalated after Pyongyang's threats of military clash, a defense source here said Friday.
"Chinese fishing ships operating near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) began withdrawing yesterday," the source said, adding the military authorities are trying to find out whether North Korea asked them to do so.
More than 280 Chinese vessels were fishing near the NLL for crab earlier this week but the number has dropped to about 140, according to the source.
Tensions are running high around the de-facto inter-Korean maritime border following North Korea's warning Tuesday of military action that came after South Korea announced its full participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S.-led campaign to stop the trade of weapons of mass destruction and related materials.
There were two deadly skirmishes between the two sides near the sea border, in 1999 and 2002.
An official at Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, however, said the withdrawal did not appear to be a sign of an imminent provocation.
"All Chinese ships would have evacuated the area if that was the case," the official said, adding the crab-catching season was almost over.
"The government is closely following developments in the West Sea (Yellow Sea), but there are no imminent signs of hostilities," said the official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
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And there is also this...........................
Obama Defense Secretary Says North Korea NOT A THREAT
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, en route to an annual security summit in Singapore Friday, signaled as much, saying North Korea’s actions so far do not warrant sending more US troops to the region.
“I don’t think that anybody in the [Obama] administration thinks there is a crisis,” Mr. Gates told reporters aboard his military jet early Friday morning, still Thursday night in Washington.
Meanwhile South Korea children are doing something similar to our duck and cover drills at the height of the Cold War.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (8)
Just a Little of This and That
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This is exactly why you should always, ALWAYS... twirl once in front of the mirror before leaving the house.
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......Thank you SSGT Steve
SSgt Steve
1st MarDiv, H Co., 2nd Bn, 5th Marine Regiment
2/5 Marines, Motto: "Retreat, Hell"
VN 66-67
In honor of the 44th President of the United States,
Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream has introduced a new flavor: "Barocky Road."
Barocky Road is a blend of half vanilla, half chocolate, and surrounded by nuts and flakes.
The vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied as an ingredient. The nuts
and flakes are all very bitter and hard to swallow.
The cost is $100.00 per scoop.
When purchased it will be presented to you in a large beautiful cone, but then the ice cream is
taken away and given to the person in line behind you.
You are left with an empty wallet and no change, holding an empty cone with no hope of getting
any ice cream.
Are you stimulated?
.....Thank you Chief.
Chief Petty Officer
BM-0164-Assault Boat Coxswain
Vietnam 1964- 1970
1970-1988 US Coast Guard
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....Thank you Jack for sending this to me.
United States Army
1965-1971
Army Combat Engineers
Quang Tri & Chu Lai '68 -'69
67-69
Jack's blog is Conservative Insurgent
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A man seeking to join a Texas Sheriff's Department is being interviewed.
The Sergeant doing the interview says: "Your qualifications all look good, but there is an attitude suitability test that you must take before you can be accepted."
Then, sliding a service pistol across the desk, he says: "Take this pistol and go out and shoot six illegal aliens, six meth dealers, six Muslim extremists, and a rabbit."
"Why the rabbit?"
"Great attitude," says the Sergeant. "When can you start?"
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.....Thank you Larry for sending this to me.
Larry
tuy hoa nah trang duc pho chu lai
39TH COMBAT ENGRS BN
Dec 66 - Dec 67
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Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman are out for a stroll in town one day. As they walked, they come across a sign: "Beauty contest for the most beautiful woman in the world."
"I am entering!" said Snow White. After half an hour she comes out and they ask her, "Well, how'd ya do?"
"First Place!" said Snow White.
They continue walking and they see a sign: "Contest for the strongest man in the world."
"I'm entering," says Superman. After half an hour, he returns and they ask him, "How did you make out?"
"First Place," answers Superman. "Did you ever doubt?"
They continue walking when they see a sign: "Contest! Who is the greatest liar in the world?" Pinocchio enters.
After half an hour he returns with tears in his eyes.
"What happened?" they asked.
"Who the hell is this Nancy Pelosi?" asked Pinocchio.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
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Got a freakin' call center! It was in Pakistan. I told them I was suicidal.
They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.
....Thank you Horace for sending this to me.
Horace
U.S.Army
Horace Smith, Pvt. E-1, USAR
1956-1964
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Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (9)
Judge Napolitano: Repeal the 17th Amendment For Better Local Representation
Judge Napolitano: Repeal the 17th Amendment For Better Local Representation
Judge Napolitano explains why repealing the 17th Amendment (Direct Election of Senators), which wasn't part of the original Constitution (added by Woodrow Wilson "progressives") will enhance local representation.
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Wild Thing's comment........
The direct election of Senators removes completely the State's representation in the federal government and has undermined this nation is so many ways its unfathomable.
The House represents the people, the Senate was meant to represent the states, and the Executive branch represented the federal government, and the Supreme Court played referee... now since this ammenment there is no state representation in the federal government!! It is tragic.
The 17th (and 16th) must go if we are ever to restore our constitutional republic. Yes I would be all for this to happen.
Also here is the 16th:
Article I, Section 9: "...No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken..."
Amendment XVI: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:46 AM | Comments (8)
Gibbs vs.UK Press
Robert Gibbs, rattled by Telegraph story, lashes out at British press
Posted By: Toby Harnden
US Editor
It's difficult to know where to start with the extraordinary outburst by Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, after he was asked about the Telegraph story based on an interview with Maj Gen (Retd) Antonio Taguba, author of a 2004 report into the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.
Gibbs didn't feel he was on sure enough ground to attack Taguba or deny the Telegraph's story so he attempted this..............................
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Lashes out at British media
Robert Gibbs swatted down reports in British newspapers that suppressed photos of prisoner abuse included graphic ... images of torture and rape — and took a hard shot at the overseas media.
“I want to speak generally about some reports I’ve witnessed over the past few years in the British media. And in some ways, I’m surprised it filtered down,” Gibbs began. “Let’s just say if I wanted to look up — if I wanted to read a writeup today of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champion’s League cup, I might open up a British newspaper. If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I’m not entirely sure it’d be in the first pack of clips I’d pick up.”
“You're not going to find very many of these newspapers and truth within 25 words of each other,” Gibbs continued.
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Back to the article by the Telegraph.co.uk...............................
The Obama White House seems to view the British media as insufficiently compliant and respectful. They were intensely irritated about UK coverage of the DVDs gift fiasco - pushing American reporters very hard not to write about it.
Obama himself gave a little flash of his disdain for the British press at his G20 press conference when he took a question from Justin Webb of the BBC and noted the hubbub in the hall. "See, everybody's complaining," he said. "I'm sure that's all your fellow British journalists."
All this flies in the face of Obama's promises. In February 2008, he told me: "As somebody who myself lived overseas for a time, the world would see me as a different kind of president, somebody who could see the world through their eyes."
Well how can you do that when your press secretary trashes the press of your foremost foreign ally and suggests that only American journalists can report US politics?
President George W. Bush was clearly irritated by the British press on occasions, particularly the practice of visiting UK reporters to remain in their seats while their American counterparts stood up. But he engaged in banter and even came to enjoy the often very direct questioning from the likes of Nick Robinson of the BBC.
Bush, of course, gave many more foreign press interviews than Obama has. He regularly held foreign press round tables before overseas trips - a tradition that Obama, who prefers US outlets - particularly niche magazines who are guaranteed to ask soft questions - seems to have dispensed with.
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Wild Thing's comment........
The original article was VERY straightforward, merely reporting the fact that Obama changed his mind (rightly, in my opinion) on this issue and not commenting on that change of mind. So I don't really see what the WH is so upset about. It is a simple statement of fact, nothing more.
For the most part I appreciate the Telegraph.co.uk,, and the Canadian Free Press they have had many stories that either never show up in our media other then at Fox, or days later with the slant on them that CNN and MSNBC does to the news.
LOL I wonder if Obama understands that the Telegraph doesn’t care what Obama thinks and probably won’t respond well to thug tactics?
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (6)
The Price of Peace
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The Price of Peace
Deployment ceremonies are never easy.
Emotions can be overwhelming as families and friends gather together for their good-byes.
Twelve-year-old Alyssa Gaddis and her 16-year-old sister Cassy Gaddis, of Springfield, IL, know this firsthand.
They’ve been to many such events because their father, CW5 Jim Gaddis, is the command chief warrant officer
of the Illinois Army National Guard. They’ve felt the power of families being torn apart. These experiences inspired Alyssa to write a song—a song to lift the spirits of those enduring deployment, a song to inspire courage and hope. Alyssa titled her song, “The Price of Peace.”
Thinking positive
“I went to a deployment ceremony where kids were clutching to their dad’s neck crying,” Alyssa recalls, “and it just broke my heart. Cassy and I have it so easy right now with our dad at home. There are dads out there [with] loved ones going off to war.”
Cassy agreed, adding, “That particular ceremony was probably the saddest one I have ever been to because there were so many families there. I think that some people don’t really understand because they haven’t seen it with their own eyes.”
When Alyssa started writing her song, she knew there were other songs out there with similar themes. But many of them had sad endings. She wanted hers to be unique—by being positive. She wanted it to have a happy ending.
Cassy had the same idea. “I think that a lot of people want to focus on the negative,” she shared. “And it’s there … but I always think there’s a silver lining to everything.”
Alyssa felt her original point of view could make the song stand out.
“I wanted to write it from a girl’s perspective—‘My dad’s going off to war,’ ” she explained. “There aren’t any songs about younger kids with dads going off to war.
“Hopefully this song will allow people to focus on the good. Yes, it is hard when he’s gone, but he is coming home.”
Love for the Soldier
The Gaddis girls’ compassion extends beyond the families to the deploying Soldiers.
“I definitely respect [them] for their courage and strength, and their sacrifice,” Cassy stated. “I think in today’s society, especially now, people just want the war to end so much that they kind of forget what these Soldiers and their families face.
“I know what they go through. Their sacrifice for us is just jawdropping. While we sit here, they are over there training and fighting to help us. I think self-sacrifice is the definition of … a Soldier.”
State Farm was there
Alyssa’s crafting of the tune was only the beginning of this project. The next question was how to get it “out there.”
Enter an unexpected ally—State Farm Insurance. Its Adopt-a-Soldier program was created to thank and support deployed troops by sending them care packages and has received national accolades. State Farm was also recently awarded the highest employer honor bestowed by the Department of Defense—the Freedom Award—for recognition of its support of employees serving in the Guard and Reserves. Jim Gaddis ran into a State Farm rep at a Family Readiness meeting in Springfield and told the rep about his daughters’ song. The two discussed the possibilities, and State Farm offered to help pay for the recording studio time in Nashville, TN.
The Gaddis family also set up the Web site ThePriceofPeaceorg, which promotes and sells downloads of the song. Profits from the song will be going to Illinois’ Family Readiness Groups and local VFWs.
“This is another effort to raise money for the Illinois Family Readiness groups, so they can support the troops,” said Bill Hrabik, President–Military Affinity Group at State Farm. “The goal is to raise money for the group, and awareness of the separation issues of deploying Soldiers and their families.”
The man with the plan
People often make the mistake of assuming it is not that hard to record a song.
Well, it entails a little bit more than just singing into a microphone. You need producers to handle the project. They have to know the ins and outs of music. And they have to be passionate about achieving top quality.
Hart Steen fit that bill for the Gaddis girls. A young musician in Nashville, Steen’s love of music radiates from him. A chance meeting hooked him up with the Gaddis girls. Jim and his wife Annette were visiting Nashville and went to the Commodore, a popular music venue. Steen happened to be onstage and the Gaddis’ took a liking to his music.
After the show, the three talked about Alyssa’s song, and Steen liked the concept. Steen and the Gaddis’ kept in touch, and shared ideas. After much discussion, the girls were on their way to Nashville to record their song with Steen as their producer.
“They have been awesome,” Steen declared. “It'’s been a joy to have them in my life.”
Steen has his own investment in the concept of this song. A few years ago, his younger brother enlisted in the Air Force. Steen took notice of his brother’s transformation during an emotional graduation at Lackland AFB in Texas. “It was very powerful,” Steen recalled. “He had changed into a man.”
Trip to Music City
So the Gaddis family packed their bags and hit the road, aiming for the global hub of country music. Cassy and Alyssa were ecstatic to be able to go, not because they got out of school for a few days, but because they were going to a place that is rich in musical history. For nearly half a century, countless country artists have traveled to “Music City” to see if they have what it takes.
“When I got there, I thought about how amazing it was to be doing this,” Alyssa said, smiling. “I felt proud.”
Being in the big leagues, so to speak, made the girls step up their game. Working with professionals in a recording studio was a big step forward. But the girls adjusted. It was an especially powerful experience for Alyssa—barely in 7th grade.
“Her maturity just skyrocketed when we were in Nashville,” Cassy revealed. “The fact that she wrote the song and took on all this responsibility— it made me really open my eyes. It made me look up to her. Even though she is my little sister.”
The girls took their time behind the mic to let loose and give it their all. With so much riding on their shoulders, this was no time to goof off.
They worked hard—but enjoyed every minute. “It was a really good experience. It was amazing—and surreal,” Alyssa shared. “I have never really done that before. I have gone to studios locally in Springfield, but this was different. I felt like I was a superstar.”
“My wife and I are so proud of Alyssa and Cassy for what they have done to support the deploying Soldiers' families,” Jim declared. “They genuinely care and want to make a difference in these people's lives.”
The waiting is the hardest part
Returning home from Nashville, the girls left their song—and trust—with Steen. The process of mixing and editing music can take a long time, and the girls tried to be patient.
After anxiously waiting for several weeks, the finished piece was finally delivered, and the Gaddis family gathered at their Springfield home to listen.
“When we heard the rough version, it brought tears to my mom’s eyes,” Alyssa marveled. “It’s amazing knowing that Cassy and I did that together.”
Looking back on the experience, Alyssa shares, “People think that singers have it easy. They think all they have to do is sing. The day after the recording, I wanted to pull my hair out.”
But that was only the beginning. “Now we get to do the really fun part of the process—send the message,” Cassy shared.
“To me, that’s the most important part—talking to people and hopefully inspiring them the way we’ve been inspired.”
Reaching out
The Gaddis’ are invested in the success of the song not because of the chance to make it big but to help others.
“Hopefully, it will touch people deeply,” Cassy said. And, Alyssa adds, “It’s for a good cause. All of the money made off of this is being donated] to the military families.”
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the same way, a deployment is worth a thousand emotions. Maybe “The Price of Peace” will be worth a thousand smiles.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
This is woniderful and it warms ones heart to see people young or older that appreciate our troops and what they do. Also for the families of those who serve to be appreciated as well.
Some of the notes that were sent to me about this video:
"If you have ever been deployed or have had a loved one deployed with the military, this will truly touch your heart.
It is my understanding that this will be played in movie theaters before the main feature in 5 states so far and it was only released May 13th. Near the end there is a small clip of the Patriot Guard Riders with flags
flying from their motorcycles welcoming troops home. "
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.....Thank you Larry for sending this to me.
Larry
tuy hoa nah trang duc pho chu lai
39TH COMBAT ENGRS BN
Dec 66 - Dec 67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (4)
May 29, 2009
Rolling Thunder 22nd Annual Memorial Day Weekend (photos and videos)
More than 500,000 motorcyclists converged on Washington, DC for the 22nd annual Rolling Thunder Memorial Day weekend.
This is Rolling Thunder 2009 in Washington D.C.
Check out the dedicated Marine that salutes the during the whole Parade with no breaks.
Also on the video is The Wall, The WWII Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial.
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Posted by Wild Thing at 07:55 AM
| Comments (7)
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Furor grows over partisan car dealer closings By: Mark Tapscott Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Repubicans. What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the Right side of the Blogosphere has gathered some steam today with revelations that among the dealers being shut down are a GOP congressman and closing of competitors to a dealership chain partly owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty. The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008? Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan learned from a House colleague that his Venice, Florida, dealership is on the hit list. Buchanan also has a Nissan franchise paired with the Chrysler facility in Venice. Buchanan, who succeeded former Rep. Katharine Harris in 2006, reportedly learned of his dealership's termination from Rep.Candace Miller, R-MI. Buchanan owns a total of 23 dealerships in Florida and North Carolina. Also fueling the controversy is the fact the RLJ-McCarty-Landers chain of Arkansas and Missouri dealerships aren't being closed, but many of their local competitors are being eliminated. Go here for a detailed look at this situation. McClarty is the former Clinton senior aide. The "J" is Robert Johnson, founder of the Black Entertainment Television, a heavy Democratic contributor. A lawyer representing a group of Chrysler dealers who are on the hit list deposed senior Chrysler executives and later told Reuters that he believes the closings have been forced on the company by the White House. Also, see my column on this issue and how it fits into the larger context dubbed by the Examiner's Michael Barone as "gangster government." As part of Chrysler's bankruptcy agreement with the White House, the company plans to close roughly a quarter of its 3,200 dealerships. Lists of the dealerships being cut and those retaining their Chrysler franchises can be found here in pdf format. Many dealers contend the criteria being used to determine which dealerships survive is not clear and that many of those that are being closed in fact are profitable businesses, despite the current recession. * Gateway Pundit , Thank you for the tremendous work you have done on this ~ Wild Thing Jim's dealership is being shut down. Anderer noted that the closings didn't make any sense and that many of them were profitable. Anderer says the country was shutting down his business. He couldn't understand how they were making their decision on which dealerships they were closing:
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Obama receives only $450 in entire inventory of political contributions The list of Chrysler's 789 closing franchises and databases of political donors and found that of dealership owners making contributions in the recent election, less than 10 percent gifted to Democrats while 90 percent gave substantial sums to Republican candidates. The following dealers are scheduled to lose their Chrysler franchise designation. Based on available records and databases, each of them contributed to political campaigns during the 2008 election. Many of the dealers who donated to Republican campaigns last year also contributed additional thousands to George W. Bush's presidential 2004 campaign and to campaigns to elect GOP representatives. Those donations are not included in this list. The listed franchise owners contributed at least $450,000 to Republican presidential candidates and the GOP in the recent election while only $7,970 was donated to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign and $2,200 was given to Sen. John Edwards' campaign. Of all political contributions from dealers on the list of closing facilities, President Obama received a combined total of only $450 toward his election. Dealers who contributed to GOP and candidates in recent election: Source for the list of all 789 dealerships to be closed • Vernon G. Buchanan: $147,450 to GOP candidates and organizations
The air burshing on these motorcycles and other vehicles, cars, trucks etc. ALL dedicated to to those who servied, our POW-MIA's is so special it goes right to you heart!!!! ~ Wild Thing
.....Thank you Jim for the links for Stars and Strips, what awesome photos they had!!
Strong Evidence Chrysler Dealer Closings Politically Motivated by Obama
"It's an outrage. It's not about me. I'm going to be fine," said Buchanan, the dealership's majority owner. "You're talking over 100,000 jobs. We're supposed to be in the business of creating jobs, not killing jobs," Buchanan told News 10, a local Florida television station.
"It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers. It really wasn't Chrysler's decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President's automotive task force," said attorney Leonard Bellavia.
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Chrysler Dealership owner Jim Anderer was on with Neil Cavuto.
Find out which GOP donors getting Chrysler's ax
• Wallace D. Alley and Family: $4,500 to GOP.
• Robert Archer: $4,600 to GOP and conservative causes.
• Homer S. Higginbotham and Family: $2950 to GOP.
• James Auffenberg and Family: $28,000 to GOP; $6,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Michael Maroone and Family: $60,000 to GOP; $8,500 to two Democrat candidates.
• Jerome Fader: $6,500 to Democrats; $2,500 to Independent Joe Lieberman.
• Stephen Fay and Family: $13,500 to GOP.
• William Numrich: $20,000 to GOP.
• Robert Carver: $10,000 to Democrats including $1,950 to Hillary Clinton, nothing to Barack Obama.
• Robert and Linda Rohrman: $24,000 to GOP.
• Frank Boucher, Jr. and Family: $18,000 to GOP, $1,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Scott Bossier: $4,300 to GOP.
• Todd Reardon: $17,000 to GOP; $2,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Russ Darrow and Family: $78,000 to GOP.
• Bradford Deery and Family: $24,700 to GOP.
• Charles Gabus and Family: $30,000 to GOP.
• Brian Smith: $15,500 to GOP.
• Michael Schlossman: $14,000 to GOP; $14,000 to three Democrats ($12,500 to Sen. Russ Feingold).
• Don Hill: $11,000 to GOP; $12,800 to conservative incumbent Rep. Heath Shuler.
• Don Miller: $2,000 to GOP; $1,000 to Feingold.
• Eddie Cordes: $2,150 to GOP.
• Robert Edwards: $1,100 to GOP.
• James Crowley: $19,100 to GOP.
• Stanley Graff: $2,200 to John Edwards (2008 Presidential Run); $500 to GOP.
• John Stewart: $10,500 to GOP.
• John Fitzgerald and Family: $4,600 to John McCain (2008); $2,000 to Hillary Clinton (2008); nothing to Barack Obama.
• William Churchill and Family: $3,500 to GOP.
• Thomas Ganley: $9.450 to GOP.
• Gary Miller: $20,000 to GOP.
• Kevin and Gene Beltz: $18,500 to GOP.
• Arthur Grayson: $14,000 to GOP.
• Eric Grubbs and Family: $26,000 to GOP.
• Michael Leep and Family: $19,500 to GOP; $4,800 to three Democrats including Sen. Evan Bayh.
• Harry Green, Jr.: $10,000 to GOP.
• Ronald Hoover: $5,250 to GOP.
• Ray Huffines and Family: $18,500 to GOP.
• John O. Stevenson: $1,500 to GOP.• James Marsh: $8,200 to GOP.
• Max Pearson and Family: $112,000 to GOP.
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GOP Chrysler Dealers Terminated: Rush Limbaugh Show...Rush reads a letter from a successful dealer being FORCED to close!!! Excellent video.
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Rep. Aaron Schock's supporter Gary Uftring from Peoria, Illinois is losing two of his franchises even though they are "5 Star Dealerships" that make money.
U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock blasted Chrysler's decision to shutter nearly 800 dealerships across the country, including two here that he and others say are making money and not costing the automaker a dime.
Joined by Gary Uftring, owner of Uftring Auto Mall, Schock stressed that there should be greater accountability of the governmental task force tapped by the Obama administration to review the overhaul of the domestic auto industry.
"This happened not because they failed, not because of market pressure, but because of a third party, the government, which intervened," the congressman said, saying the government shouldn't be in the business of dictating business decisions to an entire industry.
To him, the decision to close shop makes no sense. He claims he met all sales expectations and never cost Chrysler money. Rather, he said, he was a "Five Star" dealership, the highest rating Chrysler gives, and one of the better-selling dealerships.
Terry Allen, whose Chrysler dealership in Mason City will be eliminated, said his business was the top sales tax generator in the area. He, like Uftring, said he met or exceeded all expectations from the car maker but in the end, has about three weeks left as a dealer.
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Wild Thing's comment............
Everthing Obama does is ANTI-AMERICAN ! This is total criminal activity by Obama and the democrat party.
The way Obama’s election campaign & lap-dog press went after his rivals during the campaign was unprecedented.
Think about this, Obama was NOT an almighty, long term, powerful politician when he was running, he was only a US Sen for 4 yrs. Going from a Constitutional Republic to a Fascist Tyranny is “change”
But he wielded power like he was as powerful as Stalin in USSR.
Now that he's in control of the Exec Branch of the US, just think how much power he has now!
The entirei thing is Obama's fault, his fingerrpints are all over it. He is in charge, he is the one that controlled what happened with what he did with Chrysler soooo how does it feel Obama. YOU can't blame President Bush on this one you jerk Communist Marxist!
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:50 AM | Comments (9)
Narcissist Obama in L.A.: 'You ain't seen nothing yet'
Obama in L.A.: 'You ain't seen nothing yet'
LOS ANGELES
Even as he conceded there is still much hard work to do, President Obama was in a boastful mood Wednesday night, telling a star-studded crowd at a fundraising dinner that he "would put these first four months up against any prior administration since FDR."
"I'm confident in the future, but I'm not yet content," Obama said.
The celebrity dinner, which cost couples $30,400 to attend, was followed by a larger, lower-dollar concert that all told raised between $3 million and $4 million for the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Joining the celebrities feting Obama were Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), "the newest member of our caucus."
The trip here came on the heels of a fundraising jaunt to Las Vegas to raise about $2 million for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), according to aides.
The president, while seeking to bolster his record as president so far, warned both audiences that significant challenges lie ahead.
At the concert, headlined by Jennifer Hudson and Earth, Wind and Fire, Obama responded to an audience member yelling, "Yes we can" by saying, "Yes we have. But we've got more work to do. We can't rest on our laurels.
"We didn't ask for the challenges that we face, but we don't shrink from them either," he said. "It won't be easy. There will be setbacks. It will take time."
The president conceded that his administration "had our fits and starts."
"I've made some mistakes, and I guarantee you I'll make some more," he said.
But Obama said in promising to continue to work hard, "Los Angeles, you ain't seen nothing yet."
Obama also lauded Judge Sonia Sotomayor, his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, repeating his line that she has more experience than anyone currently sitting on the bench when they were nominated.
He joked at the second fundraiser that she graduated summa cum laude, "not just magna or laude laude, but summa cum laude."
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Wild Thing's comment...........
“You ain’t seen nothing yet”. Sounds just like an organizer in Chicago. Gold teeth, hang downs flashing gang signs.
Obama will never be my president!!!! I have zero respect for him and he will always be a community organizer scam artist in my eyes.And that isn't even the half of it or how I feel about him.
I swear he makes my skin crawl!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (7)
B.HUSSEIN Obama's Fundraising Trips Leave Taxpayers With Hefty Tab
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President Obama left Tuesday for a two-day fundraising tour in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The Democratic National Committee is expected to pick up part of the cost, but if history is any gauge, taxpayers will pick up most of the tab.
Obama has the star power to raise millions of dollars for the candidates and organizations he graces with his stump speech.
But when the president hit the road Tuesday for a two-day fundraising tour to pack the party coffers, he also was racking up a $265,000 partisan bill for just one leg of the trip, according to a watchdog group -- part of which taxpayers, regardless of party affiliation, will have to pay.
Obama started out in Las Vegas, where he stumped that night for state Democrats and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. On Wednesday night he was to attend a two-tiered donor dinner for the Democratic Party in Los Angeles.
But sandwiched between political appearances, Obama squeezed in some quick public remarks on energy, ironically before burning fuel to Los Angeles, at Nevada's Nellis Air Force Base. It was a key stop, because it gives the entire trip an air of official legitimacy and allows the White House to write off part of the trip under rules governing travel, said Pete Sepp, vice president for policy and communications at the National Taxpayers Union.
"You've got to have some official (business) in the trip somewhere. It becomes almost a game to find some official function to hang the trip on," Sepp said.
The rest, though, is all politics. And, if history is any gauge, the American taxpayer will pick up a large portion of the tab.
Sepp estimated that the purely political part of the trip -- the distance from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and back, with no public events -- would cost at least $265,000, just for air travel expenses.
He said the minimum domestic travel package for the president consists of one Boeing 747, which serves as Air Force One, one back-up dummy plane and one C17 cargo plane. The cost estimate is based on past hourly operational costs for the three aircraft, adjusted for inflation.
White House travel rules, which were developed under the Reagan administration, state that the Air Force pays all costs for the use of the aircraft, but that the government must be reimbursed for airfare, food, lodging and other expenses incurred during whatever portion of the trip is political.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the Democratic National Committee is paying its share for this trip.
"The DNC is paying 100 percent of the legally mandated costs for the trip from Nevada to California, and we are complying fully with all legal requirements," Vietor wrote in an e-mail to FOXNews.com.
But reimbursement for political activities involves a tricky formula, and actual reimbursements typically come nowhere close to compensating the government for the cost of such trips. Secret Service costs, for one, are always footed by the government.
A 2006 report for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that during 2002, political campaigns reimbursed the federal government for $198,000 of the $6.5 million in flight expenses racked up by campaign-related stops made by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. That's 3 percent of the total cost.
Taxpayers paid the remaining $6.3 million.
"The president and vice president can legally participate in campaign and fundraising events for candidates," the report said. "But when they do so, the taxpayer bears most of the cost."
That Obama is raising funds while in office is hardly unusual. Both Bush and Bill Clinton made similar political trips in their presidencies.
Watchdog groups don't suggest that the president shouldn't travel, or even that the president should not travel to political events. Rather, they say the White House should be more forthcoming with its travel expenses and details and establish a more equitable reimbursement program.
"You can't keep the president from traveling. That's what he does. ... No one would suggest he not travel," said Leslie Paige, media director for Citizens Against Government Waste. "What is most important for taxpayers is how much is it costing for this stuff."
"Having more realistic reimbursement rules for political legs of these trips would be quite helpful," Sepp said.
Paige said more transparency is needed, noting it's "very hard" to pry the full costs of these trips from any administration.
The DNC did not respond to a request for comment; Sepp said any DNC reimbursement for Obama's trip this week would be minimal.
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Wild Thing's comment........
So the President of the USA's job description is:
"fly around the world in your private 747 and read from a teleprompter"
He tells us to cut back, to sacrifice and he just keeps spending. The thing that ticks me off with trips like the Vegas one and the one to Los Angeles, THEY ARE FOR HIM, FOR HIS POLITICAL PARTY. They have nothing to do with running the country. So why in the HELL doesn't the cost for the trips come out of the funds of the DNC! ??!!
Obama is a snake!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:47 AM | Comments (2)
Obama and His Justice Dept.Protecting New Black Panthers!
Let's begin here, rememebr last year ( Nov. 4th). when this video was posted here at Theodore's World and many other blogs as well. It was also on the news, well mostly on FOX but it was HUGE what had happened. Intimidation and threatening with a knife to the reporter by the New Black Panthers.
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Protecting Black Panthers: The Obama administration ignores voter intimidation
Imagine if Ku Klux Klan members had stood menacingly in military uniforms, with nightsticks, in front of a polling place. Add to it that they had hurled racial threats and insults at voters who tried to enter.
Now suppose that the government, backed by a nationally televised video of the event, had won a court case against the Klansmen except for the perfunctory filing of a single, simple document - but that an incoming Republican administration had moved to voluntarily dismiss the already-won case.
Surely that would have been front-page news, with a number of firings at the Justice Department.
The flip side of this scenario is occurring right now. The culprits weren't Klansmen; they belonged to the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.
One of the defendants, Jerry Jackson, is an elected member of Philadelphia's 14th Ward Democratic Committee and was a credentialed poll watcher for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party when the violations occurred.
Rather conveniently, the Obama administration has asked that the cases against Mr. Jackson, two other defendants and the party be dropped.
The Voting Rights Act is very clear. It prohibits any "attempt to intimidate, threaten or coerce" any voter or those aiding voters.
The explanation for moving to dismiss the case is shocking. According to the Department of Justice: "These same Defendants have made no appearance and have filed no pleadings with the Court. Nor have they otherwise raised any other defenses to this action. Therefore, the United States has the right ... to dismiss voluntarily this action against the Defendants."
In other words, because the defendants haven't tried to defend themselves, the Justice Department won't punish them.
By that logic, if a murderer doesn't respond to the charges, he should be let free. That's crazy.
The Obama Justice Department did take one action against one of the four defendants: It forbade him from again "displaying a weapon within 100 feet of any open polling location" in Philadelphia.
Given that it already was illegal to display a weapon at a polling place and that he was not even enjoined from carrying a weapon at polling places outside of Philadelphia, it is hard to see what this order accomplished.
We asked the Justice Department if it was unable to provide any explanation for dropping the case. Justice press aide Alejandro Miyar merely said: "That is correct." Multiple times we asked both the department and the White House to comment on charges that the dismissals represented political bias. We received no substantive response.
Hans Von Spakovsky, a legal scholar at the Heritage Foundation and a former commissioner at the Federal Election Commission, tells us, "In my experience, I have never heard of the department refusing to take a default judgment... . If a Republican administration had done this, it would be front-page news and every civil rights group in the country would be screaming about it."
Consider that the behavior of the defendants was so bad that witness Bartle Bull, a former Robert F. Kennedy organizer who did extensive legal work on behalf of black voters in Mississippi, testified it was "the most blatant form of voter discrimination I have encountered in my life."
Eric Eversole, a former litigation attorney with the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, told us: "It is truly unprecedented for the Voting Section to voluntarily dismiss a case of such blatant intimidation. The video speaks for itself."
We couldn't agree more. After the 2000 Presidential election, Democrats complained about voter intimidation in Florida by pointing to a police car that had been two miles away from a polling place. The police didn't do anything to anyone, but their presence was deemed sufficient to vaguely intimidate people en route to the polls. In this case, the New Black Panther Party actually blocked access to a poll.
Unlike the Florida incident, this case involving the New Black Panthers screams out for tough justice. Instead, the Obama administration looks the other way. This all but invites racial violence at future elections.
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This was from Obama's campaign website during the election. They pulled it after we bloggers spoke out about it. But a lot of us saved it. ~ Wild Thing
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BLACK PANTHERS WITH NIGHT STICKS BLOCK POLLING PLACE IN PHILLY
Two black panthers were blocking the doorway at a polling place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rick Levanthal of Fox News is reporting live.
One of the panthers said "the black man was going to win the White House no matter what."
Brandishing a night stick, and swinging it menacingly, the police were called - one of the black panthers and his night stick were moved.
Do you think little old white ladies would want to walk past the black panther with a night stick?
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Wild Thing's comment.........
They are just as vile a group as the original Black Panthers were. And THEY were and have been supporters of B. Hussein Obama. See wikipedia for more information. Totally disgusting!
Anyone that had any decency would stay clear of these people. And for a president or a wanna be president to associated with them as Obama does is unforgivable.
I think Obama loves the Black Panther’s because they are “militant” and he does not trust our military to support him. Plus all that garbage and hate he agreed on at Rev. Wright's church.
The old saying remains true, you are who you associate with. This is another reason why people are buying guns.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (5)
Abbas Expects US Pressure to Push Out Netanyahu
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expects US pressure to push out Netanyahu
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will not resume negotiations with Israel unless the Netanyahu government agrees to a complete settlement freeze and publicly accepts a two-state solution, Abbas has told the Washington Post in an interview.
And since he does not believe Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will lift his opposition on these issues, Abbas and his leadership expect American pressure to gradually force Netanyahu out of office, the paper reported on Friday. "It will take a couple of years," it quoted one of Abbas's officials as saying.
Abbas was interviewed the day before his Thursday meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama.
Setting out what the newspaper called "a hardline position," the Palestinian leader conditioned a resumption of talks with Israel on Netanyahu's agreement to a halt in all settlement building - a demand being repeatedly stressed by Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other senior US officials - and formal Israeli government acceptance of Palestinian statehood.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
First the most noticable thing is the photo, see how friendly Obama is with Abbas, he sure as heck was not like that with BiBi. Nope not even close.
It is so sad, but Israel is on it's own. I wish so mcuh, pray so much that we would continue to be a friend to
Israel. Obama is a traitor to our country and to Israel's friendship.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:44 AM | Comments (3)
U.S. Army Parachute Team The Golden Knights Make Historical Jump
The Golden Knights, the U.S. Army's official parachute demonstration team, made a historical jump as part of their 50th Anniversary onto the grounds of the Statue of Liberty in New York City, as part of the Memorial Day weekend kick-off.
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U.S. Army Parachute Team Makes Historical Jump
by Cheryle Rivas
FORT BRAGG, N.C.
The Golden Knights, the U.S. Army's official parachute demonstration team, made a historical jump as part of their 50th Anniversary, onto the grounds of the Statue of Liberty in New York City. The demonstration was part of the Memorial Day weekend kick-off as members of the Gold demonstration team glided effortlessly toward Liberty Island, before a crowd of more than 3,000 spectators.
In 1959, 13 men who were to comprise the Strategic Army Corps Sport Parachute Team reported for duty at Fort Bragg, N.C. Over the next two years the team performed so well that the Army officially activated it as the U.S. Army Parachute Team--the Defense Department's aerial-demonstration team--in 1961.
The "Golden Knights," as they're known today, are so called because of their many victories during the years in which the then-Soviet Union dominated the international sport of skydiving.
"The last time we jumped at the Statue of Liberty was in 1978," said Capt. Michael Funderburk, Operations Officer for the Parachute Team. "We have been carefully planning and coordinating the demonstration at the Statue as part of our 50-year celebration, and to coincide with the Bethpage Air Show demonstration at Jones Beach, N.Y."
Approval for the Parachute Jump had been coordinated through the New York Mayor's Office, New York City Police Harbor Unit, FAA, Coast Guard, National Park Service and U.S. Army Public Affairs.
"Looking over the 1978 pictures, it's an honor to be a part of making history again," said the team's Public Affairs Officer Donna Dixon. "We proudly represent the U.S. Army with every jump we make, this year is even more special, because it's part of our 50th year as a team," added Dixon.
The team will also continue to perform at air shows, compete on an international level and perform high-profile tandem jumps. In addition, the Golden Knights will visit high schools to work with local recruiters and help show young adults the variety of opportunities available in the U.S. Army.
Wild Thing's comment..........
Fantastic! It would be wonderful to see them in person. I would LOVE to try sky diving. I almost had a chance several years ago, but my Mom when she was alive asked me to wait until she was gone.
LOL I asked her where was she going I wasn't thinking of her dying. But that is what she meant. She explained she wanted me to wait till she was no longer around before I did it. She has pasted away since then and I just haven't gotten back into finding out about it.
Nicholas did it when he was in the Navy and he loved it. He also had the job of packing the chutes which he said he took very seriously. He said when a person packed the chutes they put their own name there on each one so they knew who had packed them.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:40 AM | Comments (4)
May 28, 2009
Secret Service Remove Woman Trying To Give Obama a Letter
Secret Service personnel remove Brenda Lee from near Air Force One after Lee attempted to give President Obama a letter.
A reporter for a small newspaper was forcibly removed from a press area near Air Force One shortly before President Barack Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to depart California early Thursday.
Secret Service personnel remove Brenda Lee from near Air Force One after Lee attempted to give President Obama a letter, Thursday May 28, 2009, at LAX.
Airport security officers carried the woman away by the feet and arms as she protested her removal.
She later identified herself as Brenda Lee, a writer for the Georgia Informer in Macon and said she has White House press credentials. The newspaper's Web site says it is a monthly publication, and a Brenda Lee column is posted on it.
Calls to the newspaper and the White House press office were not immediately returned.
Lee said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that she wanted to hand Obama a letter urging him "to take a stand for traditional marriage."
She said she asked a Secret Service agent to give the president her letter, but he refused and referred her to a White House staffer. Lee said she refused to give the staffer the letter.
"I said, 'I'll take my chances if (the president) comes by here,'" said Lee, who identified herself as a Roman Catholic priestess who lives in Anaheim, Calif. "He became annoyed that I wouldn't give him the letter."
Lee, who was wearing what she described as a cassock, said she protested when she was asked to leave.
"I said, 'Why are you bothering me?' They escorted me outside the gate," she said.
She said security officers allowed her to return when she promised she would not yell or wave, but then other officers arrived and told her to leave.
"I said, 'I'm not leaving,'" she said. "They tried to drag me out."
Two officers then picked her up and carried her out. An Associated Press photographer photographed the incident.
"I was afraid you could see under my clothes," she said, her voice choking up.
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Wild Thing's comment......
LOL......She did have a good message, about being in favor of traditional marriage. But I guess she had no clue about how tight security is for any President. Especially if she wanted to give him a letter in person. It could have had anthrax in it or something else.
Not that I would give a boo hoo about Obama, but I don't want him to be a martyr. Then we might never win back the Presidency or any other office. Cold??? You bet, my blood runs cold when it comes to Obama and his party.
But with all he is doing there are legal ways to get him out of office as the most dangerous president this country has ever had.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 PM | Comments (6)
Fox News Discusses Obama Birth Certifcate
Fox news (Bret Bair) , it was on Special Report with Bret Baier.....Including the clip by Gibbs at the WH news conference.
Just reported on the petition for BHO birth Certificate. Commented on the BC posted on the web and the questions regarding it. Reported 400,000 names on petition and had the WH newspersons comments.
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'burgeoning...controversy'
By ALEXANDER BURNS
The issue didn’t go away with the campaign, and now it’s found its way into the West Wing.
At Robert Gibbs’ Wednesday briefing, radio host Lester Kinsolving asked whether the White House would satisfy several hundred thousand petitioners by releasing “a certified copy of [Obama’s] long-form birth certificate.”
Gibbs appeared incredulous. “You’re looking for the president’s birth certificate? It’s on the Internet, Lester.”
“Long-form, listing his hospital and physician,” Kinsolving clarified.
Laughing, Gibbs replied: “Lester, this question, in many ways, continues to astound me. The state of Hawaii provided a copy with the seal of the president’s birth.
“I know there are, apparently, at least 400,000 people who continue to doubt the existence of and the certification by the state of Hawaii, of the president’s birth there,” he continued. “But it’s on the Internet because we put it on the Internet for each of those 400,000 to download. I certainly hope by the fourth year of our administration that we’ll have dealt with this burgeoning birth controversy.”
Not Letting Up
FOX news
And four months into President Obama’s term, the controversy surrounding his original birth certificate continues to dog his administration.
The Obama campaign, you’ll remember, posted a copy of what it said was the document on its Web site to try to dispel rumors that he is not an American citizen. But, an online petition calling for the release of what it describes as the president’s complete birth certificate with the hospital name has almost 400,000 signatures.
Today the president’s press secretary was incredulous that the issue just won’t go away. In a White House briefing he said: “This question, in many ways, continues to astound me. The state of Hawaii provided a copy, with a seal, of the president’s birth… I certainly hope, by the fourth year of our administration, that we’ll have dealt with this burgeoning birth controversy.”
— FOX News Channel’s Lanna Britt contributed to this report.
Wild Thing's comment..........
I saw that too- was amazed that someone apparently brought it up at the White House press briefing and asked Gibbs about it.
Gibbs said it might be disclosed at end of his four year term" or something like that.
All I can say is God Bless Bret Bair!!! I love his show anyway , but this just makes me even prouder of him for mentioning this.
The den of liars that is the Obama Whitehouse needs to come to the understanding that they work for us, not the other way around.
The US Constitution is specific in the requirements for holding the office of President. To date, 0bama has not provided ANY SHRED of evidence that he is eligible to hold the office.
Backup of video in case YOUTube takes it down. Or if Obama has them take it down.
He talks about it at the 57 seconds mark on the video.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (9)
Biden Jokes About Breaking Obama's Teleprompter
After the wind blows down the teleprompter of Vice President Biden at the Air Force Academy graduation he joked:
"what am I going to tell the President when I tell him his teleprompter is broken? What will he do then?"
There was a little laughter and chuckle and some barely audible clapping by a few.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
LMAO too funny. OH boy is JOE going to be in trouble now. At lesst we can have some laughs from Joe Biden.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (9)
Media Find Eligibility Billboard Campaign Irresistible
Media find eligibility billboard campaign irresistible
'Where's the birth certificate?' effort covered by London Times
When WND Editor and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Farah launched his billboard campaign focusing attention on Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility for office, he predicted the effort would attract media curiosity – perhaps even more than the central issue of whether the president is truly a "natural born citizen."
Less than a week after the billboard campaign began, media have already begun showing interest – even though, so far, only one billboard, an electronic one, is up and running as a result of the more than $50,000 raised so far.
Over the weekend, the London Times found it an interesting business story, reporting, "A right-wing website has collected more than $10,000 so far to help to fund a series of billboards to be erected around America questioning Barack Obama's credentials for holding office. 'Where's The Birth Certificate?' the posters will demand."
Back stateside, the Washington Examiner also picked up on the campaign.
"The buzz is starting," promised Farah. "Directly investigating why Obama steadfastly refuses to show his birth certificate is considered bad form by most of my colleagues. But they don't mind beating around the edges of this story – especially if involves poking fun at the one news service that is out of step with the rest."
Wild Thing's comment.........
Great news, this won't go away becauae it is not some whim, it is about our Constitution and that WILL be taken seriously.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (4)
Air Force Academy Graduation 2009
Graduate Chelsey Fitch shows of her diploma during ceremonies
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COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - MAY 27: Air Force Academy graduates celebrate as a team of F-16 Thunderbirds flies over during the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation ceremony at Falcon Stadium on May 27, 2009 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A total of 1,046 graduates from the Class of 2009 were to walk across the stage in the traditional ceremony in front of tens of thousands of family and friends. Vice President Joe Biden gave the commencement speech.
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I saved this one from last year. I loved this photo. We will never see Obama doing anything even close to this. The troops of all our branches love Bush. They know he respects them and that he loves our country, unlike Obama. ~ Wild Thing
U.S. President George W. Bush poses with a graduate during the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado May 28, 2008.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (2)
Gov. Charlie Crist May Veto Right-to-carry Licensing Fund raid
Florida: Gov. Crist may veto right-to-carry licensing fund raid
Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday he may veto a raid on a trust fund that supports right-to-carry licensing. Faced with an extraordinarily tough budget year, lawmakers have proposed spending $6 million of the roughly $8.5 million trust fund in other areas. That has prompted protests from the National Rifle Association as well as Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, who oversees the right-to-carry permitting program.
Weapons-licensing fund raid at risk
Tampa Bay Online
TALLAHASSEE
The $66.5 billion state budget Gov. Charlie Crist will sign Wednesday is likely to appease at least one vocal Florida constituency: gun owners.
Crist will sign a budget balanced with $2 billion in tax and fee increases, including a dollar-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax, the first such tax hike since 1990.
But he plans to veto a $6 million transfer, or what critics call a raid, on a fund backed by fees that people pay to seek or renew their concealed weapons permits, which are valid for seven years.
"I'm inclined that way," said Crist, noting that he met last week with Marion Hammer, the longtime lobbyist for the National Rifle Association who led a well-organized, grass roots effort to oppose the transfer. "She is a tremendous advocate, and I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment."
Hammer said the money is needed to repair and improve computers and add more temporary workers to process an unprecedented backlog of permit applications. The Legislature siphoned the money as part of $600 million in similar transfers to avoid higher tax increases or deeper budget cuts.
By vetoing the transfer, Crist can reinforce political support among gun owners at a pivotal time: He has just begun a U.S. Senate campaign in which his Republican rival, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, openly questions Crist's conservatism.
The NRA bought radio ads in support of Crist's 2006 candidacy for governor, citing his support for a law that clarified the right of private citizens to defend themselves when attacked in their homes.
More than 30,000 people have flooded the governor's e-mail inbox in support of a veto. Some drew a blunt connection between gun ownership and Crist's senatorial ambitions.
"I realize you are busy preparing for a run in the Senate, but you need to start listening to your voters," wrote Dwight Cooke of Largo, a retired police detective who said he did not own a firearm. "Without your assistance, I'm afraid I see no reason to vote for you or recommend others to vote for you in the future."
The demand for gun permits is at an all-time high in Florida. Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, whose agency issues gun permits, has added dozens of temporary employees to reduce a backlog of applications.
By law, the state must issue a permit within 90 days of receipt of a complete application. Otherwise, the applicant can demand a license even if a criminal background check is not complete.
The director of the state licensing division, Connie Crawford, said 88,084 applications for permits or renewals were awaiting review Tuesday. That number included applications by private investigators, security guards and others who may carry firearms.
Crawford said the average processing time is 12 to 14 weeks, which is slightly more than 90 days, and she said "it is conceivable" that some applicants may wait up to six months for their permits. But she added it's not unusual for applications to be incomplete, such as by not being notarized or missing a required photo.
Rep. Jim Frishe, a St. Petersburg Republican, defended the $6 million budget transfer in a May 21 e-mail to a constituent. He said the fund would still have $18 million next year and that trust fund transfers were unavoidable to help pay for "the core missions of state government: education, health care and public safety."
Hammer, the NRA lobbyist, disagreed. "In an economy where gun ownership is growing," she said, "this is an area of government that is growing."
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Wild Thing's comment........
Charlile Crist is a “Say What I Have To Say To Get Elected” type of politician. Charlie Crist is a RINO. As long as he is Gov. I sure hope he stays strong about the 2nd Amendment.
Marion Hammer is a one-woman RKBA army. The state of Florida is blessed to have her. They don’t mess with Marion! Thank God!
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....Thank you Richard for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:46 AM
Obama's Green Guru Calls for White Roofs
Obama's green guru calls for white roofs
Professor Steven Chu, the US Energy Secretary, said the unusual proposal would mean homes in hot countries would save energy and money on air conditioning by deflecting the sun's rays.
More pale surfaces could also slow global warming by reflecting heat into space rather than allowing it to be absorbed by dark surfaces where it is trapped by greenhouse gases and increases temperatures
The Nobel Prize-winning physicist said the US was not considering any large scale "geo-engineering" projects where science is used to reverse global warming, but was in favour of "white roofs everywhere".
He said lightening roofs and roads in urban environments would offset the global warming effects of all the cars in the world for 11 years.
"If you look at all the buildings and if you make the roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of colour rather than a black type of colour and if you do that uniformally, that would be the equivalent of... reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars in the world by 11 years – just taking them off the road for 11 years," he said.
Secretary Chu said he was optimistic the US could lead the way through energy efficiency measures and boosting the use of renewables like solar, wind, nuclear and clean coal.
"The US will move, inevitably it will move first, as a more developed country we should be moving first, and I hope China will follow," he said.
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The Science Behind White Roofs
It turns out that three huge proponents of the idea to paint the town white are former colleagues of Secretary Chu from the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) and they're looking for their share of stimulus loot:
"It's also well timed. Akbari pointed out that by his and his colleagues' calculations, the plan could save Americans $2 billion annually in unspent air conditioning, even after taking into account the increased need for heating in winter. Moreover, he argued, it dovetails with the president's economic and environmental goals."
"The Obama administration has made it clear that it wants a substantial portion of the stimulus package to go toward creating a greener economy, but that desire has to be balanced against the imperative to immediately circulate cash and create jobs. Painting or resurfacing roofs or pavement, Akbari said, would nicely fulfill both objectives. The technology exists and is readily available, and since a substantial portion of the country's home and commercial real-estate owners are going to need to re-roof at some point in the near future anyway, it's about as shovel-ready as any proposal currently on the table."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Department of Energy needs to be renamed to the Department of Idiocy! This guy Kook-Kook-a-Chu is a whacko!
Hmmm, white roofs. I’ll put that idea right next to the ‘safer guns and safer bullets’ gemstone from Jocelyn Elders.
Plus the fact that they are using this Global warming LIE to for thei rown purposes. Just like Gore has done with his huge increase in income.
From Rush Limbaugh:
"The proponents, be they from science, be they from the lay community, are all looking for money. They're looking for donations; they're looking for grants from the government to advance a cause. They're looking for money and whatever it takes to get the money they will claim they're researching, and then of course they'll be duty-bound to produce the results that the grantor wants.
So we gotta go out and paint roofs white, and that's the only story -- you have to go to a blog to find out why. The Drive-Bys, in reporting that Steven Chu wants you to paint your roof white don't tell you why. "Oh, you save the planet." They don't tell you that two of his colleagues are behind the ruse in order to get stimulus money, stimulus money which is supposed to be creating new jobs. How is that stimulus money working for you, if you're unemployed? How is that hope and change working for you? So now environmentalist wackos want their fists on the stimulus money under the guise of saving the planet with white roofs. "
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (11)
Transporting Detainees (Terrorists Prisoners)
Detention operations center escorts explain the process of transporting a detainee to his legal visit at Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Camp 4, May 5. Sailors from the Navy Expeditionary Guard Battalion conduct detainee operations as part of the ongoing detention mission at Joint Task Force Guantanamo. JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees, including those convicted by military commission and those ordered released. The JTF conducts intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination for the protection of detainees and personnel working in JTF Guantanamo facilities and in support of the Global War on Terrorism. JTF Guantanamo provides support to the Office of Military Commissions, to law enforcement and to war crimes investigations. The JTF conducts planning for and, on order, responds to Caribbean mass migration operations.
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Properly Transporting Detainees
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba
In order to ensure safe, humane, legal and transparent care of the detainees in custody at Joint Task Force Guantanamo, troopers are assigned to escort detainees to medical appointments, lawyer appointments and commissions.
The Naval Expeditionary Guard Battalion conducts detainee escorts at JTF Guantanamo as part of the ongoing detention mission. They also escort contractors who come into the camps to do enhancement projects.
"My mission is to support detainee movements," said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian, non-commissioned officer-in-charge for Detention Operation Center escorts. "We also escort contractors throughout the camps."
Most of the troopers who are escorts were guards in the camps for several months until earning the opportunity to become escorts.
"They normally work in the camps for a few months until they learn about the environment," said Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Glen Porter, senior enlisted advisor for the escorts. "They are then properly trained on how to be an escort."
The escorts are broken into teams, and a dispatcher assigns the team's task.
"When I come into the office, I lay out a plan for the day," said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler, an escort dispatcher. "There are [many] detainee movements every day and it is imperative to make sure everyone is on time."
The escorts pick up the detainee at the camp, where he has already been informed of an appointment.
"We go pick up the detainee as a team, then safely transport him," Porter said.
The detainee has the right to refuse to be transported. They are never forced to attend an appointment of any sort.
"If they refuse to go, we cannot force them," Tyler said. "If it is an appointment that is important, someone will visit them at their location."
The escorts are also responsible for maintaining the flag program. This program supports trooper morale by affording the opportunity to have a flag flown over Camp Delta. After the flag is flown, the individual for whom the flag is flown receives an official certificate for the flag.
The troopers of the DOC escort program work hard and have daily struggles like many others who are deployed, but that doesn't change their focus on the mission.
"I think we are doing what needs to be done here," Tyler said in regards to the mission at JTF Guantanamo. "I am proud to be here during this historical period."
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Wild Thing's comment.........
I was surprised about this, I always thought the doctors and lawyers came to the prison not the other way around.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:44 AM | Comments (2)
Hillary Clinton Warns North Korea for ‘Belligerent’ Behavior
Clinton Warns North Korea for ‘Belligerent’ Behavior in Region
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said North Korea must face consequences for its “belligerent and provocative behavior” after Kim Jong Il’s regime threatened military action against South Korea.
Clinton spoke in Washington after North Korea’s official news agency said Kim’s government would no longer abide by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War and may respond militarily to South Korea’s participation in a U.S.-led program that would block ships suspected of carrying nuclear weapons or material for export.
The U.S. takes “very seriously” its commitments to defend South Korea and Japan, its principal allies in the region, Clinton said. She called on North Korea to return to the so- called six party talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear arms program.
“The Korean People’s Army will not be bound to the Armistice Agreement any longer,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement today. Any attempt to inspect North Korean vessels will be countered with “prompt and strong military strikes.”
North Korea raised the specter of a maritime confrontation. The dispatch by the Korean Central News Agency said North Korea can’t guarantee the safety of ships passing through its western waters. The statement specified five islands controlled by the South that were the site of naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
“What they are saying is that they will take military action if there is any action taken on behalf of the program such as boarding their ships, stopping and searching and so on,” said Han Sung Joo, a former South Korean foreign minister.
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Recap:
-North Korea tests nuke
-Obama gives speech saying he's outraged, then goes golfing
-North Korea fires two missiles
-Obama's UN Ambassador, Susan Rice (the same woman that the 911 Commission says turned down Sudan's offer to hand over Osama Bin Laden) goes on Today Show and says UN is going to meet, threatens more UN sanctions on the already fully isolated country
-UN meets, doesn't pass new sanctions, does send "stern letter"
-North Korea responds by test firing another anti-ship missile
-Obama Press Secretary is pressed by ABC News Jake Tapper to explain what Obama's next attempt will be,
Gibbs dodges (clearly had no idea & Admin is fully stumped)
-Russia goes on military alert concerned there could be nuclear war
-North Korea responds by announcing it is no longer bound by the 50+ yr old cease-fire/armistice, and that it will take action.
-North Korea also restarts its shut down nuclear facilities
-North Korea then declares it will attack US and/or South Korean ships
Article HERE.........
My Way News
NKorea threatens to attack US, SKorean warships
SEOUL, South Korea
North Korea threatened military action Wednesday against U.S. and South Korean warships plying the waters near the Koreas' disputed maritime border, raising the specter of a naval clash just days after the regime's underground nuclear test.
Pyongyang, reacting angrily to Seoul's decision to join an international program to intercept ships suspected of aiding nuclear proliferation, called the move tantamount to a declaration of war.
"Now that the South Korean puppets were so ridiculous as to join in the said racket and dare declare a war against compatriots," North Korea is "compelled to take a decisive measure," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement carried by state media.
North Korea warned Wednesday that any attempt to stop, board or inspect its ships would constitute a "grave violation."
The regime also said it could no longer promise the safety of U.S. and South Korean warships and civilian vessels in the waters near the Korea's western maritime border.
"They should bear in mind that the (North) has tremendous military muscle and its own method of strike able to conquer any targets in its vicinity at one stroke or hit the U.S. on the raw, if necessary," it said.
A North Korean newspaper, Minju Joson, said in commentary Wednesday that Pyongyang does not fear repercussions for its actions.
"It is a laughable delusion for the United States to think that it can get us to kneel with sanctions," it said. "We've been living under U.S. sanctions for decades, but have firmly safeguarded our ideology and system while moving our achievements forward. The U.S. sanctions policy toward North Korea is like striking a rock with a rotten egg."
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Wild Thing's comment........
Oh, well if Hillary CLINTON has warned them, the I guess they have no CHOICE but to back down. I mean this is about a nuclear bomb after all.
Will she throw an ashtray? Or will she send out one of her Arkancide guys? She’ll invite L’il Kim in for a meeting in Fort Marcey Park —or maybe Starbucks, on that corner in Adams Morgan.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (10)
May 27, 2009
'Reid must go,' Say Protesters on Las Vegas Strip ~ Obama Should Too!!!!
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'Reid must go,' say protesters on Strip
As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama prepared for a fundraiser Tuesday evening to help get Reid re-elected, about 100 protesters worked the Strip in hopes of preventing just that.
Carrying signs and chanting slogans such as "Heave ho! Reid must go!" the protesters in front of Caesars Palace, where the fundraising concert was to take place, criticized Reid's "tax-and-spend," "big government" ways.
"I'm not a big fan of what's going on in D.C.," said the 6-foot-4, heavily tattooed Dan Stephens, a local tattoo artist who brought his three young daughters and also-heavily-tattooed wife to the protest. "It seems like our representatives have forgotten who hired them."
The mostly Republican protesters said they want representatives who advocate for small government and are against tax increases.
"We need someone who shares our core principles: family, self-sufficiency, low taxes and getting government out of our lives," said Dean Meek, a 51-year-old property manager who was carrying a sign that read: "Don't tax me, bro."
The protest was organized by Our Country Deserves Better PAC, a conservative, California-based political action committee that is campaigning against Reid's re-election.
The committee held a news conference Tuesday morning in Las Vegas to highlight its $100,000 anti-Reid ad campaign. Radio, television and Internet ads calling Reid a tax-and-spender who does not respect the military were airing statewide, timed to coincide with the president's visit.
Many of the protesters Tuesday evening said they heard about the event on talk radio.
Passers-by cheered or jeered. Curious tourists stopped to ask: "Who's Harry Reid?"
Hundreds others lined access roads to Caesars hoping to catch a glimpse of Obama as he made his way to the venue.
"I came down to support Obama. He's such a refreshing change," said Parris Lane, 50, who waved a small American flag and chanted Obama's name in response to the protesters. "We have someone really smart in charge, who makes everyone feel like part of things."
Inside, the line to get into the fundraiser snaked through the casino. Well-dressed concertgoers said they came to support Reid and could not pass up the opportunity to see Obama in person.
"We supported him all the way from Italy," said Giovanni Coinu, a constitutional law professor there who was thrilled that his Vegas vacation coincided with the fundraiser. "We had T-shirts made up, and we followed him all the way to the presidency."
Jeanne, a local, "over-50" business executive who declined to give her last name, said the $300 she forked out for her ticket would be well worth it.
"I wanted to hear what the president had to say about Las Vegas," she said. "Plus, we get entertainment on top of it."
Protesters outside criticized what the president had to say about Las Vegas not long ago, when Obama mentioned Vegas junkets as the type of corporate excess that federal dollars shouldn't be funding.
"Shame on President Obama, pointing fingers at Las Vegas, and here he is campaigning for Harry Reid," said protester Karina Ostenberg, 29.
"Reid needs to stand up for us," she added.
Sharron Angle, a Republican former assemblywoman from Reno who is a possible Reid challenger for 2010, agreed.
"He should at least have defended us," Angle said as she shook protesters' hands.
At the morning news conference, Angle had urged donations to the exploratory committee for her candidacy, saying the strength of the financial support would determine whether she decides to run. Angle declined to disclose how much she has raised so far.
"Money talks," she said. "With Harry Reid, it's going to take more than just good intentions. It's going to take a lot of money to take him out."
Wild Thing's comment.........
Ok so I add the Obama should too to the title. And he should GO! He has been the one to blame for the economy going down hill, for the devastating decline of tourism and business meetings cancelling their trips to Vegas and NO ONE ELSE IS TO BLAME!
Obama is the worst president our country has ever had!!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 PM | Comments (9)
Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate
Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate
Obama is expected to announce late this week that he will create a "cyber czar," a senior White House official who will have broad authority to develop strategy to protect the nation's government-run and private computer networks, according to people who have been briefed on the plan.
The adviser will have the most comprehensive mandate granted to such an official to date and will probably be a member of the National Security Council but will report to the national security adviser as well as the senior White House economic adviser, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are not final.
The announcement will coincide with the long-anticipated release of a 40-page report that evaluates the government's cybersecurity initiatives and policies. The report is intended to outline a "strategic vision" and the range of issues the new adviser must handle, but it will not delve into details, administration officials told reporters last month.
Cybersecurity "is vitally important, and the government needs to be coordinated on this," a White House official said Friday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "The report give conclusions and next steps. It's trying to steer us in the right direction."
The document will not resolve the politically charged issue of what role the National Security Agency, the premier electronic surveillance agency, will have in protecting private-sector networks. The issue is a key concern in policy circles, and experts say it requires a full and open debate over legal authorities and the protection of citizens' e-mails and phone calls. The Bush administration's secrecy in handling its Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, most of which was classified, hindered such a debate, privacy advocates have said.
Obama was briefed a week ago and signed off on the creation of the position, the sources said. But as of Friday, discussions were continuing as to what rank and title the adviser would have. The idea is to name someone who can "pick up the phone and contact the president directly, if need be," an administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Obama pledged during his presidential campaign to elevate the issue of cybersecurity to a "top priority" and to appoint a national cybersecurity adviser "who will report directly to me."
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Bush did wire taping to help keep our country safe, it was not abused, it was not to intimidate citizens that were obeying the law and were only discussing politics and supporting our troops. But with Obama since he finds anyone that disagree's with him and is NO fan of our troops or Veterans one has to wonder just how broad the mandate will be.
When Obama does make his announcement of who it will be it will be for real, spying on everything, all in the name of what? Man caused disasters? Or political enemies -— Yep, that’s it.
Yoohoo, brain dead liberals, where are you?
Hugo Chvez sits in our white house, and ignorant Americans put him there.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (10)
Obama To Visit Saudi Arabia To Bow Again on June 3rd
Obama Adds Saudi Arabia to Middle East
US President Barack Obama will visit Saudi Arabia on June 3 for talks on Iran's nuclear program and Washington's renewed push for a Middle East peace plan, the White House said on Tuesday.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama would meet Saudi King Abdullah and would also discuss terrorism.
The addition of Saudi Arabia to the Middle East tour indicates added determination by President Obama to forge a regional peace in the face of hardening positions by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
"The president will meet with his majesty King Abdullah to discuss a range of important issues, including Middle East peace, Iran and terrorism,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said late Tuesday. He is scheduled to deliver a major speech in Egypt, where he will continue attempts to reach out to the Muslim world.
The president’s aides said the speech will focus on “safety and security” for Americans and Muslim nations.
Before leaving for the Middle East and Europe, President Obama will receive Abbas, two weeks after a visit by Prime Minister Netanyahu, with whom the president “agreed to disagree.”
Wild Thing's comment.........
Gibbs said the two leaders would meet in Riyadh on 3 June to discuss the Mid-East peace process, Iran’s nuclear programme and terrorism.....Afterwards, he will travel to Cairo to give a major policy speech addressed to the Muslim world, and then go on to Germany and France. ( source BBC )
I guess he has been practicing his bowing and wants to show off!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (10)
Visiting Our Troops Through Images
Buck is a medic with 25th Infantry Division's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. William Greer
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ROOFTOP SECURITY - U.S. Army Pfc. Paul Mandrell watches for possible enemy activity from the roof of Joint Security Station Oubaidy near Sadr City, Iraq, after a series of attacks. He is assigned to the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade.
by U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jason T. Bailey
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ZODIAC PATROL - U.S. Marines carry Zodiac boats into the Euphrates River below the Haditha Dam in Iraq to conduct security patrols with Provisional Security Forces. The Marines are assigned to Company W, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Tyler Hil
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Posted by Wild Thing at 06:49 AM | Comments (6)
Sotomayor Ruled Against Gun Rights!
Sotomayor believes 2nd Amendment not for Individuals
By Mathew D. Staver
Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the seat of retiring Justice David Souter. If confirmed, Sotomayor would become the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the High Court.
Sotomayor is a graduate of Princeton and obtained her law degree from Yale. She served in private practice and as Assistant District Attorney in New York County and was nominated to the Second Circuit federal Court of Appeals by President George H. W. Bush in 1991.
Despite 17 years on the bench, Sotomayor has never directly decided whether a law regulating abortion is constitutional. In Center for Reproductive Law & Policy v. Bush, she wrote an opinion that upheld the Mexico City Policy prohibiting federal funding of overseas abortions.
Sotomayor does not believe that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to individuals. While on a panel discussion at Duke Law School, she argued that the “Court of Appeals is where policy is made.” Judge Sotomayor has had 5 decisions reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, 3 of which have been reversed. She has carried 11 of 44 possible votes during those cases. In Knight v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Chief Justice Roberts stated that her method of reading the statute in question “flies in the face of the statutory language.”
She has written in support of Affirmative Action, upheld the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and in Amandola v. Town of Babylon, she wrote that denying use of a town hall annex for their worship services violated the First Amendment. She has written a book called “The International Judge,” which suggests that international law and policy should be considered in some court decisions.
Some have described her temperament on the bench as a “bully” and “abusive” to lawyers.
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Sotomayor Nomination an Obama Slap at Second Amendment
and The Liberty Sphere via Atlas Shrugs
BELLEVUE, WA
The nomination of Second Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court is a slap at gun rights and the Second Amendment, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.
Judge Sotomayor, a New York native, ruled on a Second Circuit Appeals Court panel that the Second Amendment is not a fundamental right and does not apply to the states in the case of Maloney v. Cuomo. This ruling is in direct conflict with a Ninth Circuit Court ruling in the Nordyke v. King case in California that the Second Amendment is incorporated through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
“While Democrats in Congress have been making great strides in the gun rights arena, refusing to consider a renewal of the Clinton gun ban, and offering overwhelming bipartisan support for legislation allowing citizens to carry firearms in national parks, President Obama just demonstrated that he prefers judges who oppose Second Amendment rights,” said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb.
Incorporation may be taken up by the high court during its next session beginning in October, because attorneys in the Maloney case plan to appeal in late June.
“If the Maloney appeal is accepted by the Supreme Court,” Gottlieb wondered, “would Justice Sotomayor – provided she is confirmed – recuse herself from deliberations?”
Judge Sotomayor has written an opinion that declined to order the release of certain information under the Freedom of Information Act. In one case, according to SCOTUSblog, she wrote that the “unwarranted invasion of privacy” for individuals whose names would be release under an FOIA request outweighed the public interest.
“Would a Justice Sotomayor be just as protective of the privacy rights of concealed carry permit holders if a newspaper wanted to publish that information,” Gottlieb asked. “We hope that during Senate confirmation hearings, someone asks about her positions on incorporation and the privacy rights of gun owners. The Second Amendment needs to be expanded, not eviscerated.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.
Wild Thing's comment........
Obama and Sotomayer can 'rule' that the second doesn't apply all day long.,but it doesn't mean many of us would not fight back.
Here are some words from the past.........
“Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
“This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” ~~Frederick Douglass August 4, 1857
Douglass was, of course, speaking of the slavery then extant here.
So, too, are we.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (8)
Judge Sotomayor and Five Million Criminal Votes for Obama
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Judge Sotomayor and Five Million Criminal Votes for Obama
There are 5.3 million votes for Obama out there, the only problem is that they happen to belong to murderers, rapists, armed robbers and other convicts and ex-convicts.
That golden box of 5+ million votes is being unlocked by Democrats in one of two ways. The first relies on changing state laws that prevent felon voting at the state level. Their greatest success has arguably been Florida, a crucial swing state with over a million ex-felons. When Governor Charlie Crist promised to let criminals vote during the election and then implemented it once in office, the impact on the 2008 Presidential election was quite sizable.
With anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000 new votes available, the Obama campaign ran a "You can Vote Too!" registration drive for ex-felons. And since Obama won Florida by barely 200,000 votes, the newly enfranchised murderers, rapists and pedophiles no doubt did their share to help put him in the White House.
Iowa restored felon voting in 2005, and between 2004 to 2008, swung from Republican to Democratic.
In 2007 Colorado struck down the requirement that ex-felons have to at least complete their parole before becoming eligible to vote, overriding a Colorado Supreme Court ruling. In 2008 Colorado voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate for the first time in 26 years.
Virginia, which also began legalizing felon voters, became another swing state that swung unexpectedly to Obama.
While legalizing felons alone did not swing any of these states, they were part of a larger program to liberalize the voting base, which is why such laws were invariably championed by Democrats and Liberal Republicans. Bringing in millions of new votes changes the game. And that was what happened in 2008.
However giving criminals voting rights on a state by state level has been a long slow process, and that is where the second method comes in, to strike down any bans on felon voting at the Federal level.
The key argument used by felon voting advocates is that barring criminals from voting is a form of racial discrimination, since a disproportionate number of convicted felons are black or members of other minority groups. This brings in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into the picture. Using the VRA, the Supreme Court could potentially strike down any state laws banning criminals from voting. Even convicts still in jail.
This would immediately unlock that golden box of 5 million votes for Obama, even more than local state measures of ACORN's voting fraud, which relied heavily on ex-cons, did.
And the Voting Rights Act is where Judge Sotomayor comes into the picture. While the Supreme Court currently has not chosen to hear any cases involving felon voting, allowing state circuit courts to maintain the ban, Judge Sotomayor is an enthusiastic judicial advocate of applying the VRA to felon voting, treating criminals as a discriminated against group being denied their civic rights.
In Hayden vs Pataki, a case brought by Joseph "Jazz" Hayden, who stabbed a sanitation worker to death, and has since become a campaigner for letting felons vote, Judge Sotomayor dissented from the majority by arguing that the VRA in no way excludes or was meant to exclude felons.
SOTOMAYOR, Circuit Judge, dissenting:
"It is plain to anyone reading the Voting Rights Act that it applies to all “voting qualification[s].” And it is equally plain that § 5-106 disqualifies a group of people from voting. These two propositions should constitute the entirety of our analysis. Section 2 of the Act by its unambiguous terms subjects felony disenfranchisement and all other voting qualifications to its coverage.
What that means is that Sotomayor believes that any voting qualification, including bans on having convicted murderers and rapists vote, is a violation of the Voting Rights Acts. Felons can be treated as a "group" that has been discriminated against by being banned from the right to vote.
This would allow Obama to "crack" more conservative states where felon voting enfranchisement has not made any headway, by treating felon disenfranchisement as a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
By nominating Sotomayor, Obama is very clearly looking ahead to 2012, by first nominating an Hispanic Woman, secondly a left wing judicial advocate, more specifically one whose views on ballot access will help open up that golden box of millions of votes, and in the case of a Bush vs Gore type Supreme Court case, will always argue on the side of inadequate access.
And of course Sotomayor's ruling in Ford vs McGinnis that Islamic rights for prisoners can be entirely at the whim of the prisoner, can't hurt. Nor her open position that her job is to make policy, rather than rule on the constitutionality of the laws.
Like Obama her nomination is being treated as a "historical nomination", though Justice Benjamin Cardozo was arguably the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice (who naturally doesn't count because he's Jewish), and her judicial advocacy views, her identity politics, will be treated as assets, in the same way that they were for Obama.
But the bigger picture is that Sotomayor is meant to be Obama's ace in the hole for the 2012 election.
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Wild Thing's comment........
GREAT article and information. I remember when Charlie Crist did this I was so angry!!
I was so ticked off this morning when she was announced and then immediately the bush bashing, the racists speak. The party of no is going to say no. They had a whole script prepared because they knew she was a racist and has made racist comments. As always they are making this about race.
Her saying that her court made policy and then she caught herself because she was being taped. Then someone came ot make light of that and said some stupiud thing like that was a discussion among students. So that made it okay? Obama likes the radical who will go against their given rights within their position.
And to those on TV saying she is a moderate. If Sotomayor is moderate than so were Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin.
There is a dark side to this lady. Very dark.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:47 AM | Comments (4)
Obama's War on Talk Radio
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Obama's War on Talk Radio
By Dick Morris And Eileen McGann
Obama’s liberal philosophy dictates that when the news is bad, shoot the messenger. The newest data from Arbitron, the company charged with measuring the size of radio audiences, suggests that listenership to hip hop, inner city, and minority radio has been overstated in the past and that the popularity of conservative talk radio has been under-reported.
This conclusion - ideologically inconvenient for Obama - comes from the company’s decision to dispense with the Stone Age way it has been measuring radio audiences - by hand written diaries based on listener memory - with modern machines which automatically record what the person is listening to and for how long.
The opening barrage in Obama’s efforts to reign in talk radio was fired by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week when its acting Chairman Michael J. Copps announced an investigation of Arbitron’s radio measuring technology called the Portable People Meter. (Not to be confused with the Purple People Eater celebrated in song in the 1950s).
Arbitron is the company tasked with rating radio listenership. The equivalent of the Neilson television ratings, its measurements of audience share are revered like Scripture by station managers, owners, and advertisers. Traditionally, Arbitron relied on hand written diaries. Since the diaries were based on memory, they were often faulty. So Arbitron availed itself of new technology in launching its Portable People Meter (PPM) - a cell phone sized unit the listener wears on his or her belt which automatically notes what station they are tuning in and when they switch or stop.
The PPM measurements concluded that hip hop, urban rock, and minority-oriented radio stations reached fewer listeners and for shorter periods of time than the diaries had indicated. It found that talk radio had a larger listenership.
The left saw an ideological bias at work and the states of New York and New Jersey sued Arbitron alleging discrimination in its choice of the sample charged with wearing the PPMs. It said that the ratings agency, which presumably recruited its sample by phone, was under-representing people without landlines who used only cell phones and hence under-counted minorities.
Now the FCC is launching its own investigation.
But almost all political polling is done by telephone and samples cannot include cell phones because one cannot determine the residence of the user from the number. Since survey researchers draw their samples geographically, they do not know which cell phone numbers are for which neighborhoods. (Land lines distribute the first three numbers of an exchange geographically).
If Arbitron is flawed, so is all polling, political and otherwise. The accuracy of most polling in predicting election results suggests that the flaws cannot be too bad.
What is really at work here is an effort by the FCC to stack the deck to help left-wing and minority stations earn higher advertising revenues than those to which their real market share would entitle them. Solicitous of the financial viability of its liberal allies on radio and anxious to undermine the balance sheets of conservative stations, the FCC is lending itself to the president’s political agenda.
This investigation is, of course, only the first shot of the war against conservative radio. Soon the FCC will try to strip right wing stations of their licenses or impose fines on them payable to National Public Radio.
In our forthcoming book, Catastrophe, we explain how this offensive will work and what will be its likely consequences.
But the opening salvo has been fired by the FCC which is willingly lending itself to stations with Democratic bias in an effort to swell their advertising revenues and to stop the growth of talk radio. Because the FCC will do much more to try to destroy the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Neil Boortz, we must be vigilant if we hope to keep free speech alive, even if it comes from the right side of the stage.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Obama is trying to eliminate dissent and dissent is heard on talk radio, a medium that liberals have not managed to keep interesting or dominate.
Obama and the dems remind me of the terrorists. They want to kill off anyone that does not agree with them. They may not do it physically like the terrorists do but other then that it is very similar. They have tried to destroy people and their reputations like Joe the Plumber, Gov. Sarah Palin, Rush, Ann Coulter, and others, anyone that speaks out against what the left is up to.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (4)
DeMint Takes Lead in Criticizing High Court Pick
DeMint takes lead in criticizing high court pick
WASHINGTON
Sen. Jim DeMint, was more critical than his Republican colleagues Tuesday about President Barack Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
While most Republicans took a cautious approach, DeMint, of South Carolina, sounded warnings about Sotomayor's record and philosophy as a federal district and appellate judge from New York.
"Some of her writings seem to raise serious questions about her approach to the Constitution and the role of the federal judiciary, but I will withhold judgment about her nomination until she has the opportunity to fully present her views before the Senate," DeMint said.
DeMint's aides pointed to a case last year in which Sotomayor ruled that the city of New Haven, Conn., had acted properly in rejecting discrimination claims by white firefighters. The case, Ricci v. DeStefano, is now before the Supreme Court.
"Few things are more central to our duty than confirming Supreme Court justices who will uphold the law and apply it equally for all Americans, not rewrite it from the bench based on personal opinion," DeMint said.
DeMint is not on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold confirmation hearings for Sotomayor.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who does sit on the judiciary panel, was more guarded in his response to Obama's choice of Sotomayor as the first Hispanic nominated for the high court.
"I do not know Judge Sotomayor," Graham said. "I look forward to meeting with her and discussing the important issues confronting the court."
Graham was among the Senate Judiciary Committee members Obama called last week to discuss his pending high court nomination. Graham was out of the country Tuesday, but his aides said they didn't believe Obama had named Sotomayor during their phone talk.
Graham said he intends "to be fair and firm in (his) questioning of the nominee" during the committee confirmation sessions.
"The hearings can be a valuable public service, as they give us a window into the nominee's philosophy and disposition," Graham said. "I hope we will have a meaningful opportunity to explore the qualifications, judicial temperament and judicial philosophy of Judge Sotomayor."
Republican President H.W. Bush appointed Sotomayor to the federal district bench in 1992. Democrat Bill Clinton elevated her to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
After an extensive delay over political disputes, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 67-29 in October 1998 to confirm Sotomayor's promotion to the appellate court.
The late Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond voted against Sotomayor. Sen. Fritz Hollings, a Charleston Democrat, was one of four senators who chose not to vote.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., called Sotomayor "a superb pick" by Obama to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
"The president has demonstrated that he is dedicated to nominating justices who have life experiences that will enable them to both sympathize and empathize with all Americans," Clyburn said.
Sotomayor, 54, grew up in a Bronx housing project with a single mom after her father died when she was 9.
Only the Senate will vote on Sotomayor's confirmation.
Oran Smith, head of the Palmetto Family Council, criticized Sotomayor as an activist judge.
"Judge Sotomayor's judicial record and writing clearly show she believes a court is not an applier of law written by elected representatives, but just another political advocate for social change," Smith said
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From Rush Limbaugh........
"So, here you have a racist. You might want to soften that and you might wanna say a reverse racist. And the libs, of course, say that minorities cannot be racists because they don't have the power to implement their racism. Well, those days are gone because reverse racists certainly do have the power to implement their power. Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist and now he's appointed one -- getting this, AP? -- Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court ...
So she's not the brain that they're portraying her to be, she's not a constitutional jurist. She is an affirmative action case extraordinaire and she has put down white men in favor of Latina women. She has claimed that the court is all about making policy. So yes, there's a golden opportunity. Take this to the mat. Take it to the wall. The people need to know what Obama really believes in and this is how it could happen. Now will the Republicans do it? That's another question."
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Wild Thing's comment...........
DeMint, one of the few with a spine!!!
For the time being our days as a Constitutional Republic are almost over. I know that sounds down and depressing but that is what is showing up.
Founding Documents provide that, if any branch of our government ever exceeds its Constitutionally limited authority and ceases to be lawfully of, for and by the people, we the people have both the duty and the unwavering obligation to remove it and restore a Constitutional one again.
This in-over-his-head rent-a-meat-puppet in the White House swore an oath to uphold and defend our Constitution even as he paid a team of lawyers to prevent him having to abide by it.
The Constitution does not grant to the president the authority to fire CEO's of corporations, take over huge companies, dictate what cars can be built, take over the country's health-care or own and run the banks.
Unless and until we remove this larcenous, traitorous, pathalogically-deceitful usurper from the White House, we are no longer a Constitutional Republic for right now.
This will be a good test to see who is trustable and who is not. There should be no mistaking RINOs for republicans anymore.
The thing our side I wish would learn, I mean the politicans that say they are Republicans. We are aware we are outnumbered in both houses. But if they can show US, we the people that they at least speak out and make it known they do not go along with this kind of thing each time they need to, we WILL remember later when it comes time to vote. Just as we WILL remember those that turned to mush and stayed silent.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:40 AM | Comments (5)
May 26, 2009
Iran Sends 6 Warships to Int. Waters in 'Saber Rattling' Move
Iran Sends 6 Warships to International Waters in 'Saber Rattling' Move
Iran has sent six warships into international waters in a move security experts are calling a "muscle flexing" show of defiance following missile tests last week.
"Iran has dispatched six ... warships to international waters and the Gulf of Aden region in a historically unprecedented move by the Iranian Navy," Iranian Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told a gathering of armed forces officials, Reuters reported.
Sayyari said the ships were moved to preserve Iran's territorial integrity in its southern waters, but foreign policy experts are calling it an aggressive move targeted at a Western audience as much as for regional powers like rival Saudi Arabia.
The deployment is "a signal of military strength, resolve and continued defiance to U.S. and U.N. Security Council efforts to end the impasse over Iran's nuclear program," said Jim Phillips, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Institute.
"What's very important here is the timing of this move — and this naval muscle flexing comes after Iran's missile test earlier this week, which was saber rattling that was meant to send the same signal as this naval dispatch."
Wild Thing's comment........
What a joke we have become, we have North Korea and Iran showing how they can push us around, or at least trying to show the rest of the world.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:55 AM | Comments (8)
Venezuela, Bolivia Supplying Iran With Uranium for Nuclear Program
Israel: Venezuela, Bolivia Supplying Iran With Uranium for Nuclear Program
JERUSALEM
Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran's nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel.
"There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program," the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions. It added, "Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran."
The report concludes that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is trying to undermine the United States by supporting Iran.
The Israeli government report also charges that the Iran-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon have set up cells in Latin America. It says Venezuela has issued permits that allow Iranian residents to travel freely in South America.
The report concludes, "Since Ahmadinejad's rise to power, Tehran has been promoting an aggressive policy aimed at bolstering its ties with Latin American countries with the declared goal of 'bringing America to its knees."'
The document says Venezuela and Bolivia are violating the United Nations Security Council's economic sanctions with their aid to Iran.
As allies against the U.S., Ahmadinejad and Chavez have set up a $200 billion fund aimed at garnering the support of more South American countries for the cause of "liberation from the American imperialism," according to the report.
Venezuela is helping Iran circumvent the Security Council's economic sanctions and is also suspected of providing Tehran with uranium, while Hizbullah is setting up terror cells in south America, this according to an official Foreign Ministry document obtained by Ynet.
Ministry officials explain that Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez share a common interest – to defy the United States.
The Ministry also details the economic ties between Tehran and South America. According to the report, trade between Brazil and Iran is estimated at a billion dollars; Uruguay sells $100 million worth of rice to Iran, while Chile purchases Iranian oil.
Pro-American countries such as Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, who receive aid from Venezuela, may also be subject to Iranian influence, the report says, adding that even Argentina is steadily increasing its trade relations with Iran.
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Wild Thing's comment........
“according to a secret Israeli government report”
Either they stole it, or Israel leaked it as in that is what happens when the false messiah messes with Bibi! It might be that since he is ticked at Obama as he should be.
Iran wants Israel off the map, Chavez is supplying the uranium and Hussein Obama is cozening up to Chavez all the while Obama is telling Israel to split up their country. SO 52% of America this is what you wanted for the highest office in the free world. sheesh!
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:50 AM | Comments (4)
North Korea Test-fires 2 More Missiles
NKorea test-fires 2 more missiles
North Korea launched tests of two more short-range missiles a day after detonating a nuclear bomb underground, a news report said, pushing the regime's confrontation with world powers further despite the threat of U.N. Security Council action.
Two missiles — one ground-to-air, the other ground-to-ship — with a range of about 80 miles (130 kilometers) were test-fired from an east coast launch pad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed government official.
South Korean spy chief Won Sei-hoon had informed lawmakers earlier Tuesday that a missile test was likely, according to the office of Park Young-sun, a legislator who attended the closed-door briefing.
Yonhap reported that North Korea was preparing to launch a third missile from a west coast site, again citing an unnamed official.
North Korea appeared to be displaying its might a day after conducting an underground atomic test in the northeast that the U.N. Security Council condemned as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program.
The U.N. Security Council is condemning North Korea's nuclear test as a clear violation of its resolutions.
The council said in a statement Monday that it will begin work immediately on a new legally binding resolution addressing North Korea's violations.
The U.N.'s most powerful body held an emergency meeting at Japan's request after North Korea conducted its second nuclear test earlier Monday.
The council is demanding that North Korea abide by two previous resolutions, which among other things banned further nuclear tests and called for a return to six-party talks aimed at eliminating its nuclear program.
Obama: North Korea 'Recklessly Challenging' International Community
North Korea's nuclear test is a "matter of grave concern," President Obama said Monday, as officials in Washington accused the rogue regime of blatantly defying the international community.
The communist country said it had carried out a powerful underground nuclear test, much larger than one conducted in 2006. The regime also test-fired three short-range, ground-to-air missiles later Monday from the same northeastern site where it launched a rocket last month, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.
The twin moves were roundly condemned in Washington.
"These actions, while not a surprise given its statements and actions to date, are a matter of grave concern to all nations," Obama said in a written statement, calling them an apparent violation of international law. "North Korea's attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security."
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Wild Thing's comment............
“UN Security Council condemns NKorea nuke test”
That’ll show ‘em!
“A strongly worded letter may be next.”
Following that a devastating set of incentive packages will follow.
Do UN Resolutions beat Nuclear Bombs in the same way that Paper covers Rock?????
And from Obama.........he might as well have said......“And if you don’t stop we’re going to say even MEANER things about you....”
Obama did say......
North Korea 'Recklessly Challenging' International Community
He isn't challenging the community Obama, he is challenging you!
Obama's words mean nothing and our enemies know that. He is a joke.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:48 AM | Comments (9)
Are Democrats Planning an Attack on Military Retiree Health Benefits?
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Are Democrats Planning an Attack on Military Retiree Health Benefits?
May 19th
Thomas D. Segel
While the Obama Administration loudly proclaims that it has a mandate to make health care available to every American, a move is underway by the Democrats, through the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to effectively reduce such care for some of the most vulnerable of military veterans.
Legislation has already been prepared that will drastically change and reduce the Tricare for Life benefit plan that assists military retirees over the age of 65.
The Tricare for Life plan was established by law after a decades long fight to make the government live up to its promise to provide earned health care to military retirees and their dependents, who had faithfully served their nation for more than 20 years. Though a battle on this issue traveled all the way to the Supreme Court, it was determined that the Armed Forces of the United States did in fact promise lifetime health care to career service personnel, but did not have the authority to make such promises. Congress was admonished to take corrective action.
The end result was only half a loaf. Congress agreed to provide a supplement to Medicare for those military retirees above the age of 65. That supplement, titled Tricare for Life, would cover any additional costs not paid by Medicare. However, the retiree would still be required to enroll in Medicare and accept the services that program offered.
Many of these retired military veterans were in desperate need of these medical services when the law was enacted. Those needs continue today. These men and women, many of whom suffer the after effects of combat related wounds, illnesses associated with everything from Agent Orange to the Gulf War Syndrome and multiple ailments inflicted upon them during years of military operations on foreign shores, are among our most vulnerable senior citizens.
This appears to mean little to our new administration and a majority congressional membership that campaigned for election and reelection on the backs of the leftist anti-war, anti-military faction of this country. Now with an almost unstoppable majority in the legislative branch of government, they are seeking to severely alter a medical service previously awarded to a very deserving body of retired service personnel, because, according the CBO, these retirees "overuse" their health care program. There seems to be no thought given to the fact that these particular senior citizens are more medically impaired than the average American of similar age.
The CBO is now seeking passage of their draft legislation that would require these retired military personnel to pay the first $525 of medical cost and 50% of the next $4,750 per person. They claim these changes are needed to help pay for the other programs the President has promised his constituents.
Such a change will effectively end the Tricare for Life program that has offered comfort to those who spent their lives defending the nation. Anyone who has worn the uniform of this country should voice their concerns to their elected officials about this legislation.
Wild Thing's comment........
I have always felt that our government should take complete care of those that served our country. That NO Veteran should have to pay for any medicinal care,any dental or eye care either. That if they needed even an aspirin it would be free to a Veteran. Hospital stays free too, all care on any level and to any degree.
That money for our military's need for equipment etc., and for Veterans should never even be an issue of how much is spent. An open check book so to speak!
There are plenty of other places where cut backs can be taken that are simply things that kiss up to the voters in a politicians backyard and have nothing to do with the rest of the country. Lots of money there to take from and the abundant and stupid grants that so many are waste of tax payers dollars.
BUT our military, our Veterans......America's heroes deserve to be treated First Class all the way.
They should not be given the poor treatment they are so often given. That’s what this article is about. It’s about Congress once again cutting the military first.
Long ago when I entered college, my dream was not the career that I ended up with, my goal was to be a physical therapist, and my dream was to one day open places across our country for Veterans. Places they could heal physically and emotionally, get first class physical therapy, a place to live if they wanted to with homes and apartments that would be free to them, much like we see in Golf communities where homes outline the golf course. These would be homes and apt.'s and medical buildings etc. shopping centers, movie theaters, social places so many things all for Veterans and their family or single Veterans.
A place where this could all be available for them if they wanted. Also if a Veteran needed a place to get back on his/her feet if they had a ruff go of it. Courses could be taught as well if they were interested for careers. They could live there for good or for just the time they needed before going out in the civilian world with it's own unique challenges.
After meeting and seeing so many Veterans and how they had been treated after Vietnam I would made a list of the things I saw and heard happening. Vets kept out of some of the colleges and why? Because they were told it would be too disruptive to have Vietnam Veterans at the school. That sent my blood boiling to say the least. So all these things I would include in what would be needed at these places scattered across our country for Veterans.
My life took a different course but that dream is still is in my heart. When Nick and I talk about our wish list if we ever win the Lotto, this is at the top of my list. No government funding, it would be paid for every penny and no debt owed to man or political beast. haha
Anyway, when I read things like this article and have yet to hear any politician even run on the issues for our Veterans and God forbid in the past even mention POW-MIA's. I have to wonder just how many realize what our Freedom has cost and who has given it to us. I know the reality is that will not change, but by God it should. The few times I got to meet a politician that was running for office I have always asked him about our Veterans and our POW-MIA's. Each time it has caught them off guard. Their eyes take on a deer in the headlights look and they come up with the lingo.... yes we must always remember our Veterans and do what we can for them. Hello-o-o-o how about specifics, how about what YOUR plan is for standing up for them.
Regarding this article I would ask:
How much of the Congressional medical benefits will be offered to be reduced or modified to help offset the budget crisis? For that matter, how much of any Congressional pensions, benefits, perks, payola or graft will be terminated or reduced to help those who fought for the rights of this country?
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.....Thank you DH for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:47 AM | Comments (13)
" My Hometown" ~ US ARMY ad
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Wild Thing's comment......
I love these ads our military makes. This one is for the Army and it is from years ago, but still a great one!!!
God bless our soldiers!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:46 AM | Comments (2)
Child of Fallen Marine From Iraq War
Child of Fallen Marine Accepts American Flag
Choking back tears, Christian Golczynski accepted the flag from his father's casket.
Photographer Aaron Thompson described this moment as "the most emotionally moving event I may have ever witnessed and may ever witness in my life."
Christian Golcznski, Child of a Fallen Marine From The Iraq War Receives American Flag from Marine Lt. Col. Ric Thompson During a Military Funeral for Staff Sgt. Marcus Golczynski
It’s been said that one picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is this one worth? Priceless! This photo of Christian Golcznski shows so much courage in such a young man. Unfortunately, photos like this one are absent in most daily news and media programs today.
U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Marcus A. Golczynski, 30, was killed in Iraq on March 27 in Iraq while on his second tour of duty. Golczynski, also known as "Sergeant Ski," was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's Third Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Fourth Marine Division, Nashville.
He had been set to return home by Easter, friends said. In a recent e-mail, the Marine expressed some of his feelings about his service in Iraq.
"We are warriors," he wrote. "And as warriors have before us, we joined this organization and are following orders because we believe what we are doing is right. Many of us volunteered to do this a second time due to our deep desire to finish the job we started. We fight and sometimes die, so our families don't have to."
Daily News Journal photographer Aaron Thompson captured Marc Golczynski’s teary-eyed son, 8-year-old Christian, accepting a U.S. flag from his father’s casket.
This amazing picture has drawn a lot of comments from readers of the Nashville paper, The Tennessean.
Dear Tennessean:
The Tennessean’s April 5 photograph of young Christian Golczynski accepting the American flag from Marine Lt. Col. Ric Thompson is one of the most moving and emotion provoking images I have ever seen.
My wife and I attended funeral services for Christian’s father, Staff Sergeant Marcus Golczynski, on April 4, along with our six year-old son, dozens of Marines, and several hundred others who came to pay tribute to this fallen hero.
As one would expect, many of your readers were touched by this incredible picture. Staff Sergeant Golczynski had previously served one full tour in Iraq. Shortly before his death on March 27 he wrote to his family that he had volunteered to do this a second time due to our deep desire to finish the job we started. In his letter he said, “We fight and sometimes die so that our families don’t have to.” Tragically, Staff Sergeant Golczynski had only two weeks remaining on his second tour. We look at the photograph of Christian every day. It is displayed prominently in our home. Our hearts ache for Christian and for all those who have lost loved ones in this controversial conflict.
Our nation is at a historical crossroads. Do we call an end to the struggle in Iraq or press on? Staff Sergeant Golczynski eloquently told his son how he felt about not giving up. Perhaps there is a lesson for all of us in this man’s life and the choices he made. He was undeniably a man of tremendous courage and conviction. America must now choose whether to complete the job.
When looking at the face of Christian Golczynski I am reminded that doing what is right is not always easy and doing what is easy is not always right. Christian’s dad knew that too.
James Drescher
Franklin, TN
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Too many have sacrificed their all to purchase our libverty and they are watching from above, wondering if we will allow their sacrifice to have been in vain. They know that freedom is not free. It never has been, and never will be.
America's Heroes have paid the price of freedom, both here on our own shores, and abroad throughout the world. From Concord, to Bunker Hill, to Trenton, to Lake Champlain, to Valley Forge, to Cowpens, to Yorktown...to Tripoli...to Ft. Mieg, to Lake Erie, to Horseshoe Bend, to Chippewa and to New Orleans... to The Alamo, San Jacinto, Buena Vista, Palo Alto, Monterrey and the Halls of Montezuma...to Bull Run (twice), Antietam, Fredericksburg, Shiloh, Vicksburg, The Wilderness, Gettysburg, Atlanta and Appomattox...to Manila Bay, Guantanamo Bay, to Santiago and San Juan Hill...to Chateau Thierry and the Argonne Forest...to Pearl Harbor, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, to Normandy, Luxembourg, to islands and atolls throughout the Pacific, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, to the Philippines...to Seoul, Pusan, Inchon, Chosin, Chipyoongi, Pork Chop Hill and throughout Korea...to Ia Drang, Khe Sahn, Dak To, Hue, Kim Son, Hamburger Hill, "Downtown" Hanoi, An Loc and all across South Vietnam into Cambodia and Laos...to Grenada and Panama…to Kuwait…to Fallujah, the Debecka Pass, Nasiriyah, Haditha, Baghdad, Al Anbar, Mosel, Ramadi and throughout the Sunni Triangle...to Mazari Sharif, to Kabul, to Takur Ghar, to Kandahar, to Tora Bora, to Operation Anaconda and throughout Afghanistan to name but a small few. Americans have shed their blood by the millions for freedom, and that freedom stretches from the United States throughout the world.
Let us never forget it...let us never allow our elected officials, from the President, and particularly our new president, down through representatives, senators, governors, and mayors and city councils to ever forget it.
God bless & keep all who serve in defense of this Republic & her Constitution.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:45 AM | Comments (3)
The Ultimate Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder
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Wild Thing's comment.........
LOL My Dad would have loved a bird feeder like this. He always tried to feed
both the birds and the squirrel's year round. But the cute little squirrel's would eat their good and then go try to party with the birds food too. haha
This squirrel is so cute and the sound effects are perfect. giggle
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:42 AM | Comments (6)
Communist Party Official Shares Obama's Ambitious Agenda
Top Red's dream come true
With Obama as president, health care and the economy can be "reformed," U.S. troops can be evacuated from the Middle East, a second stimulus bill can be passed, the criminal justice system can be overhauled and union rights can be expanded – in other words, it's a Christmas list come true – declared the leader of the Communist Party USA.
"All these – and many other things – are within our reach now!" exclaimed Sam Webb in a New York banquet speech for the People's Weekly World, the official newspaper of the Communist Party USA.
Webb's speech was entitled, "The impossible becomes possible."
Webb declared that under Obama, "We can dream again, knowing that the gap between our dreams and reality is bridgeable."
"I am confident the American people in their millions – reeling under the weight of this terrible economic crisis and yearning for a more decent, equal, peaceful and just world – will follow their example and turn this country into a more perfect union," stated Webb.
Webb continued:
* In this new political climate, we can foresee winning a public option, like Medicare, in the current legislative fight over health care reform.
* We can visualize enacting tough regulatory reforms on the financial industry that brought the economy to ruin.
* We can imagine bringing the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, while being part of a regional process that brings peace and stability to the entire region.
* In this new political climate, the expansion of union rights in this legislative session is not only sensible, it's doable.
* Much the same can be said about winning a second stimulus bill, and we sure need one, given the still rising and likely long term persistence of unemployment with the heaviest burden, as usual, falling on communities of color.
* Isn't it possible in the post-Bush era to launch a vigorous attack on global warming and create millions of green jobs in manufacturing and elsewhere?
* Can't we envision taking new strides in the long journey for racial and gender equality in this new era, marked at its beginning by the election of the first African American to the presidency?
* And isn't the overhaul of the criminal justice and prison system – a system steeped in racism and employing punitive treatment as it organizing principle – no longer pie in the sky, but something that can be done in the foreseeable future?
Webb explained how unions and grassroots organizations can help bring about important changes.
Indeed, labor unions were instrumental in electing Obama. A Political Affairs article just after last November's election titled "Special Interest or Class Consciousness? How Labor Put Obama in the White House" reported on polling data released that revealed the extent of union support for Obama.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, or AFL-CIO, sponsored a poll showing union members supported Obama by a 68-30 margin and strongly influenced their family members.
Reacting to Webb's speech, Communist researcher Trevour London of the New Zeal blog stated:
"Now we know every major item on the Communist Party's agenda. Socialized healthcare, increased union power, massive controls on the finance sector, ending the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, a heavily regulated 'green economy', a second 'stimulus' bill, weakening of the 'racist' prison system. ... Tick the items off as the Obama administration acts on each and every one of them."
Wild Thing's comment........
Evidently, no one on Planet Earth learned anything at all from the catastrophic failure of the Soviet experiment except the Soviets themselves.
The UNIONS are always there when it comes to this communist, socialist stuff. I wish when we talk to people about this they would listen. It sure is hard to get through to UNION members if there is one in the family.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:40 AM | Comments (4)
May 25, 2009
Dueling Muslims? ~ Ahmadinejad Wants to Debate Obama at the U.N.
Iran's Ahmadinejad Wants to Debate Obama at the U.N.
Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling for a face-to-face debate with his American counterpart Barack Obama at the United Nations.
The offer by Ahmadinejad came at news conference Monday as he steps up his campaign for his re-election in the June 12 presidential vote.
If returned to office, Ahmadinejad says he wants to meet Obama during the U.N. General Assembly in September to debate ``world issues and the way toward peace.''
Ahmadinejad is in a four-way race against a fellow hard-liner and two pro-reform candidates.
The campaign has grown more bitter in recent days with reformists accusing authorities of trying to undercut their strength by blocking the social
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Wild Thing's comment........
Can we just send the teleprompter in Obama’s place, same difference. And besides what is there to debate? They both hate Israel and the U.S. equally.
"I agree with you"
"No, I agreee with you."
Wait a minute, I said I agree with you!"
"Well, I agree with you!"
"There you go again...I agree with you."
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 PM | Comments (6)
A Vietnam Nurse's Story at the Wall
Mary "Edie" McCoy Meeks, ARMY Nurse, speaks at ceremony commemmorating the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1stLieutenant Mary “Edie” McCoy Meeksserved in the Army Nurse Corps.from 1968-1970 and served for oneyear in Vietnam, splitting timebetween the 3rdField Hospital inSaigon and the 71stEvac Hospitalin Pleiku. She is a member of Rolling Thunder, Inc. and often spends her timevisiting with the sick at Veterans’Hospitals. She now works as a clinicalspine specialist in the Hudson Valley of New York.
Wild Thing's comment.........
Two of my aunts were nurses during the Korean war and one during WW11.
As this nurse shares her story we can know too the lives she got to know even for a short time will live within her always.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:10 PM | Comments (7)
Memorial Day
"Tell them, tell them when you get home that I gave all of my tomorrows so they could have today!"
Those are the words on a tombstone, far across the Pacific, of someone who gave up his life for our future.
Were those words uttered so that those of us who are left could just enjoy our lives without "getting involved", or were they written to remind us that the work of freedom and liberty is never done?
Were those words written to suggest to us that it is not our job nor our responsibility to keep alive what they fought and died for, or were they written to remind us that we were given the opportunity of life so that we would continue to defend, and keep alive the memory of what they gave their last full measure for?
Let us here today, tonight, tomorrow, next month and next year - remember these gallant defenders of our freedom.
Most were not heroes as defined by the most hallowed Medal of Honor nor even as defined by the silver or bronze star.
They were ALL Heroes
Yes they were heroes, because without hesitation they fought for our country when they were asked to defend her.
They left their families, friends and good times behind and went to fight for our freedom without hesitation.
Some -- never even fired their weapons because they were killed before they ever reached the beach.
But they were heroes because they were there, ready to fight for America - for family, flag and country.
Most were scared to death as they prepared to meet the enemy. Their stomachs were turned upside down and they prayed to God and wished they were with their moms, dads and sweethearts rather than being where they were.
But they were where they were, fighting an enemy that was threatening their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They were fighting an enemy because they believed in America, they loved Her flag and they wanted to protect Americans' right to worship as they chose.
They were there, without hesitation, fighting for what they believed in and dying for what they believed in so you and I could live the way we choose in a free country. But they did not die so that we would stop fighting for what they believed and died for.
They fought and died knowing that we, the living, would go on fighting for that same freedom, that same country, that same flag and for that same right to worship as we choose. Abraham Lincoln, at Gettysburg, said:
"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."
It is for us the living to go on defending what they died for. It is for us the living not to allow history to forget what they gave up all their tomorrows for.
If when we attacked Guadalcanal and landed at Salerno, we found that "they" were going to fight back, we didn't give up because they fought back. We continued to fight because we knew our cause was right!
When Americans rode in the landing craft before storming the beaches at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Sicily, Anzio, Normandy, Peleliu, Saipan, Iowa Jima, Okinawa, Inchon and many other places we had never heard of before and when they fought in North Africa, the Philippines, Italy, France, Bastonne, Germany, Korea and Vietnam -- most were scared to death; their stomachs were turned upside down and they wanted to be back home with their loved ones.
But that did not stop them from attacking America's enemies bravely and without hesitation. They fought, and many died, but they did not give up because someone shot back at them.
It is for us the living to continue to defend and keep known what they fought and died for -- what they gave up all of their tomorrows for.
They did not die so that we could become complacent; nor did they die so that when we, the living, reached a single obstacle --- we should quit
They died knowing that we would go on defending their actions, defending history and defending what they gave up all their tomorrow's for.
If WE don't remember ---if WE don't defend what they fought and died for and what we fought for -- who will remember? Who will care?
How many of them and you who fought for our flag and our country and remember the feeling as Old Glory" was being raised over a piece of land we fought for ---- and many died for?
How many remember seeing or hearing about our valiant warriors, who were fighting on Iowa Jima, as they stood and cheered when they saw the flag being raised over Mt. Suribachi.
We take this time on Memorial Day to salute our Fallen Heroes who through the history of our country have fought and died for all of us.
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In ithe Shadow of the blade, the WHOP WHOP WHOP of the Huey was Vietnam's soundtrack, echoing through the landscape like a drum call to war. Most Veterans will tell you they can sense an approaching Huey long before anyone else can either see or hear it.
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Airborne-Hymn To The Fallen
"Blood on the Risers" is an American paratrooper song from World War II. It is sung by the United States 82nd Airborne Division, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division and the United States 101st Airborne Division. This song has been featured on the television mineseries Band of Brothers and the video game Brothers in Arms. Sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", the song tells of the final jump of a paratrooper whose parachute does not work. This results in him falling to his death.
Wild Thing's comment...........
In Memory of all those that served !
....Thank you Jack for sending this to me.
Army Combat Engineers
Quang Tri & Chu Lai '68 -'69
67-69
United States Army
1965-1971
Vietnam
1968-1969
Jack's blog is Conservative Insurgent
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they heeded the call
They took up arms
"Freedom For All"
They went to serve
in a far away land
In battles they fought,
they took a stand
For those who died, our Country sadly mourned
There were many who fell and gave their lives
Leaving behind children, mothers, fathers and wives
In honor of that, their praises we sing
To those who died, we salute you all
And give our thanks for heeding the call
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Wild Thing's comment..........
May all who observe this day, remember and never forget everyday the rest of the year as well.
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....Thank you Richard for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (16)
The Death of Israel
The Death of Israel
By Dick Morris And Eileen McGann
From Caroline Glick, deputy editor and op-ed writer for the Jerusalem Post, comes alarming news. An expert on Arab-Israeli relations with excellent sources deep inside Netanyahu’s government, she reports that CIA chief Leon Panetta, who recently took time out from his day job (feuding with Nancy Pelosi) to travel to Israel “read the riot act” to the government warning against an attack on Iran.
More ominously, Glick reports (likely from sources high up in the Israeli government) that the Obama administration has all but accepted as irreversible and unavoidable fact that Iran will soon develop nuclear weapons. She writes, “…we have learned that the [Obama] administration has made its peace with Iran’s nuclear aspirations. Senior administration officials acknowledge as much in off-record briefings. It is true, they say, that Iran may exploit its future talks with the US to run down the clock before they test a nuclear weapon. But, they add, if that happens, the US will simply have to live with a nuclear-armed mullocracy.”
She goes on to write that the Obama administration is desperate to stop Israel from attacking Iran writing that “as far as the [Obama] administration is concerned, if Israel could just leave Iran’s nuclear installations alone, Iran would behave itself.” She notes that American officials would regard any harm to American interests that flowed from an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities as Israel’s doing, not Iran’s.
In classic Stockholm Syndrome fashion, the Obama administration is empathizing more with the Iranian leaders who are holding Israel hostage than with the nation that may be wiped off the map if Iran acquires the bomb.
Obama’s end-of-the-year deadline for Iranian talks aimed at stopping its progress toward nuclear weapons is just window dressing without the threat of military action. As Metternich wrote “diplomacy without force is like music without instruments.” By warning only of possible strengthening of economic sanctions if the talks do not progress, Obama is making an empty threat. The sanctions will likely have no effect because Russia and China will not let the United Nations act as it must if it is to deter Iranian nuclear weapons.
All this means is that Israel’s life is in danger. If Iran gets the bomb, it will use it to kill six million Jews. No threat of retaliation will make the slightest difference. One cannot deter a suicide bomber with the threat of death. Nor can one deter a theocracy bent on meriting admission to heaven and its virgins by one glorious act of violence. Iran would probably not launch the bomb itself, anyway, but would give it to its puppet terrorists to send to Israel so it could deny responsibility. Obama, bent on appeasement, would likely not retaliate with nuclear weapons. And Israel will be dead and gone.
Those sunshine Jewish patriots who voted for Obama must realize that we, as Jews, are witnessing the possible end of Israel. We are in the same moral position as our ancestors were as they watched Hitler rise but did nothing to pressure their favorite liberal Democratic president, FDR, to take any real action to save them or even to let Jewish refugees into the country. If we remain complacent, we will have the same anguish at watching the destruction of Israel that our forebears had in witnessing the Holocaust.
Because one thing is increasingly clear: Barack Obama is not about to lift a finger to stop Iran from developing the bomb. And neither is Hillary Clinton.
Obama may have held the first White House seder, but he’s not planning to spend next year in Jerusalem.
Strip away the smiles from the Obama-Bibi press conference and we are Left with obsessive, delusional behavior
By Caroline B. Glick
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday was baptism of fire for Israel's new premier. What emerged from the meeting is that Obama's priorities regarding Iran, Israel and the Arab world are diametrically opposed to Israel's priorities. During his ad-hoc press conference with Netanyahu, Obama made clear that he will not lift a finger to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
And acting as Obama's surrogate, for the past two weeks CIA Director Leon Panetta has made clear that Obama expects Israel to also sit on its thumbs as Iran develops the means to destroy it.
* Obama set a non-binding timetable of seven months for his policy of appeasement and engagement of the ayatollahs to work. That policy, he explained will only be implemented after next month's Iranian presidential elections. And those direct US-Iranian talks must be given at least six months to show results before they can be assessed as successful or failed.
But Israel's military intelligence has assessed that six months may be too long to wait. By the end of the year, Iran's nuclear program may be unstoppable.
* Then there is Obama's "or else." Obama made clear that in the event that in December or January he concludes that the Iranians are not negotiating in good faith, the most radical step he will be willing to take will be to consider escalating international sanctions against Teheran.
* Finally there was Obama's contention that the best way for the US to convince Iran to give up its nuclear program is by convincing Israel to give away more land to the Palestinians. As Obama put it, "To the extent that we can make peace with the Palestinians -- between the Palestinians and the Israelis, then I actually think it strengthens our hand in the international community in dealing with a potential Iranian threat."
This statement encapsulates the basic lack of seriousness and fundamental mendacity of Obama's approach to "dealing with a potential Iranian threat." Iran has made clear that it wants Israel destroyed. The mullahs don't care how big Israel is. Their missiles are pointing at Tel Aviv not Beit El.
As for the international community, the Russians and Chinese have not been assisting Iran's nuclear and missile programs for the past fifteen years because there is no Palestinian state. They have been assisting Iran because they think a strong Iran weakens the US. And they are right.
The Arab states, for their part are already openly siding with Israel against Iran. The establishment of a Palestinian state will not make their support for action to prevent Iran from acquiring the means to dominate the region any more profound.
Obama's intention to unveil his Middle East peace plan in the course of his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4, like his decision to opt out of visiting Israel in favor of visiting a Nazi death camp, make clear that he does not perceive Israel as either a vital ally or even as a partner in the peace process he wishes to initiate. Israeli officials were not consulted about his plan. Then too, from the emerging contours of his plan, it is clear that he will be offering something that no Israeli government can accept.
According to media reports, Obama's plan will require Israel to withdraw its citizens and its military to the indefensible 1949 armistice lines. It will provide for the free immigration of millions of Israel-hating Arabs to the Palestinian state. And it seeks to represent all of this as in accord with Israel's interests by claiming that after Israel renders itself indefensible, all 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (including Iran) will "normalize" their relations with Israel. In short, Obama is using his peace plan to castigate the Netanyahu government as the chief destabilizing force in the region.
During his meeting with Obama, Netanyahu succeeded in evading the policy traps Obama set for him. Netanyahu reserved Israel's right to act independently against Iran and he conceded nothing substantive on the Palestinian issue. While itself no small achievement, Netanyahu's successful deflection of Obama's provocations are not a sustainable strategy. Already on Tuesday the administration began coercing Israel to toe its line on Iran and the Palestinians by engaging it in joint "working groups."
So what must Netanyahu do? What would a strategy to contain the Obama administration's pressure and maintain international attention on Iran look like?
Netanyahu government's best bet is to introduce its own peace plan to mitigate the impact of Obama's plan. To blunt the impact of Obama's speech in Cairo, Netanyahu should present his peace plan before June 4.
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Wild Thing's comment........
NONE of this is good, this is so horrible what Obama is doing to our friend, Israel. Bibi will do the right thing to save his country. He can no longer count the United States as an ally.
It is extreme arrogance on the part of the Obama administration to read the "riot" act to Israel.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (7)
A Story About a Big Squirrel and a Baby Squirrel
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Wild Thing's comment......
This is so adorable, I love it! Watch what happens and how it progresses......I don't want to share too much
and give away what happens. But it is very much worth watching.
....Thank you Tom for sending this to me.
Tom
US Army Aviation
Vietnam 1966-68
US Army Special Forces
1970-72
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (6)
Netanyahu Rejects Obama's Call to Fly UN Flag Over Western Wall
Netanyahu rejects Obama's call to fly UN flag over Western Wall
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem Thursday night that the Israeli flag will continue to fly over the Western Wall (Kotel). The first prime minister in years to appear at the venerable yeshiva on Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), he ignored U.S. President Barack Obama’s apparent trial balloon that he wants to see the United Nations flag fly over the Old City holy sites.
Prime Minister Netanyahu declared, "The flag that flies over the Kotel is the Israeli flag... Our holy places, the Temple Mount -- will remain under Israeli sovereignty forever.”
Between 1949 and 1967, the religious sites in the City, as well as all of Judea and Samaria, had been under the control of Jordan, which forbid entry of Jews to the Western Wall (Kotel) and other holy places, as well as barring Christians from churches. Israel immediately opened all holy sites to all religions after the entire city was re-united in 1967, returning the Old City to Israeli sovereignty after nearly 2,000 years
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Wild Thing's comment........
The NERVE this took or insanity or hate, yessss it has to be out right hate Obama has for Israel. This is really disgusting!!!!!!
Could B. Hussein Obama be any more of a terrorist supporter? Can you imagine someone from another country telling us NOT to fly our Flag over our White House and to replace it with the UN flag? No Way!
Obama is not a friend of Israel or America.
God bless BiBi, he is really being put through a lot. There is a LOT of pressure on him right now from many sides.
* Something.....and Half of Something ( Linda's blog)
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (8)
Thank You BiBi! ~ "Netanyahu defies Obama on Israeli settlement freeze"
Netanyahu defies Obama on Israeli settlement freeze
* Netanyahu rejects full freeze to settlement growth
* Obama wants halt to settlement activity
* Palestinians see settlements as threat to statehood
JERUSALEM, May 24
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed U.S. calls to impose a freeze on all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, setting the stage for friction with President Barack Obama.
"We do not intend to build any new settlements, but it wouldn't be fair to ban construction to meet the needs of natural growth or for there to be an outright construction ban," Netanyahu told his cabinet, according to officials.
The note of defiance came less than a week after Netanyahu held talks in Washington with Obama, who wants Israel to halt all settlement activity, including natural growth, as called for under a long-stalled peace "road map".
Netanyahu's comments reaffirmed a position he took in his bid for the premiership in a February election. By natural growth, Israel refers to construction within the boundaries of existing settlements to accommodate growing families.
Obama was expected to prod Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume long-stalled peace talks during a major speech in Cairo early next month.
Abbas has ruled out restarting those talks until Netanyahu, whose right-leaning government took office on March 31, commits to a two-state solution and halts settlement expansion.
Obama has surprised Israel with his activism on the settlement issue, but it is unclear how much pressure he will put on Netanyahu to freeze construction entirely, Israeli and Western officials said. Former President George W. Bush called for a freeze but building continued largely unchecked, Israeli anti-settlement advocacy groups say.
Half a million Jews live in settlement blocs and smaller outposts built in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.
The World Court says all are illegal. The United States and European Union regard them as obstacles to peace.
Palestinians see the settlements as a land grab meant to deny them a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
PEACE TALKS
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, said the fate of existing settlements should be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians. "In the interim period, we have to allow normal life in those communities to continue," he said.
Netanyahu has so far balked at committing to entering negotiations with the Palestinians on territorial issues.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu's government hoped to sidestep U.S. pressure by committing to uproot smaller hilltop outposts built without official authorisation, a step also set by the road map.
"Moving on outposts is relatively easy" compared to freezing growth of larger settlements, which Israel wants to keep as part of any future peace deal, the Israeli official said.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Welcome BiBi!! I would suppose after this that Netanyahu is most likely added to the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s terrorist list. heh heh Well if he is he would be in the grandest company of all ......our Veterans and Spouses.
"...Obama, who wants Israel to halt all settlement activity, including natural growth,..."
Natural growth = births , this is about population control of Jews. Anytime we see these words natural growth that is what they are talking about. (Gore/Obama/Pelosi etc. all have been pushing population control and using this phrasing "Natural Growth")
Not very hard to see whose side commiebama is on...that would be Iran and the other enemies of Israel. No doubt when Kenya breath Hussein Obama bowed to the prince he kissed his ring and promised to "take care of the Israel problem".
I've noticed a common phrasing in many stories out now, and it is "Obama wants...". Well, the only saying is, he can want in one hand and...well you know the rest.
No doubt the grandma he threw under the bus doted on him to relieve her guilt and he got his way a lot - you can see that when someone defies him and he gets in one of his snits.
The only difference is, now that he has "power", it's not "What little Barry wants, he gets." Now it's "What the Kenyan wants, he TAKES."
The “settlement policy” is a huge, stinking pile of bullsh*t.
It’s all part of the same, Big Lie, that “Jews stole land from Palestinians.” You know, the same peaceful “Palestinians” who occupy Israel and who danced in the street on 9/11? The same ones who shouted, “Death to Jews” in this country, in New York City, San Francisco, and Ft Lauderdale.
There is no such place as Palestine. There has never been an independent nation or state known as Palestine. “Palestinians” are Arabs and not a distinct group of people. There are no “Palestinian lands.” Ninety percent of the Arabs living in the West Bank and Jerusalem came there AFTER Israel became a state.
PLO admits Palestinian People is a myth.
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism." PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, March 31, 1977
There already is an independent “Palestinian” state called, Jordan, which consists of 80% of the land mandated by the League of Nations/United Nations to be the Jewish Homeland.
Jews have lived continuously in the West Bank for over 3,000 years. Jewish settlements are not illegal and never were.
No other nation in the history of the world has ever had to give back land it captured while fighting a DEFENSIVE WAR — especially NOT the land that belonged to them in the first place.
There are, however, hundreds of thousands of ILLEGAL ARAB SETTLEMENTS throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem. These are Arab squatters on Jewish land and have no right to be there. It is the Arabs who are making the land grabs, not the Jews.
Look at the world map, in its 60 year history, Israel has not even expanded out to its original borders that existed 2,000 years before the myth of “Palestine and the Palestinians” was created in 1964 by Yassir Arafat and the terrorist PLO.
In the same period, Muslims have waged a bloody, worldwide conquest of non-Muslim countries extending from Eurasia to Africa to Eastern Europe, and onto Western Europe.
Muslims insist that Spain belongs to them because they briefly captured it during their first worldwide conquest of foreign land: a Muslim Empire that began in the 7th Century and ended in the early part of the 20th with the defeat of the Ottomans. Why not force Spain to give up their land?
Muslims believe that if they once occupied a piece of land, even for a day, it is theirs for eternity.
They’ll be coming for our land next if we as a country don’t wake up to the real danger we face.
As Israel goes, so goes America.
There are things in life worth fighting, and dying for. Giving over our own property, freedom, and God given rights for the sake of "just getting along" with an unreasonable neighbor, is not living: it's simply existing in horrible bondage.
Our founding fathers understood this all too well, and they made a stand. Many of them lost everything they had, including their lives for it. But they passed on a heritage in this country which has been the greatest force for good ever known to civilization, our military fought to keep it so, and up until a few months ago, you and I have been benefiting in more ways that we may never even realize until our individual freedoms are gone.
"I will plant them [the Jewish people] in their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them..." - Amos 9:15
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM
Susan Boyle Makes it To Semi-Finals and Now On To Finals
Her first appearance on the show broke the internet record for most views in one week. This dear lady has grabbed the hearts of millions around the world. She deserves all good things to come her way.
After she sung what you see on this video from the semi-finals , Susan Boyle makes the FINALS, meaning she will sing again in the contest's final next Saturday.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
God bless her and I hope she wins. It feels good to cheer on someone so well deserving. It also feels good
to have such a happy story to share with all of you.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:44 AM | Comments (6)
Soros's Obama Can Now Claim Being Billboard Barack
A national fund-raising campaign to erect billboards around the country questioning Barack Obama's eligibility for office was an instant hit with WND readers in its first 24 hours, said Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of the company and the man who came up with the idea.
"One thing I can say for certain after Day 1 of this campaign – billboards will soon be going up around the country," said Farah.
Wild Thing's comment..........
I hope this issue does NOT bite the dust. It’s talking about the future of our nation.
Love the billboard but some people are so clueless it will go right over theirs heads. It should mention Obama's name.
From Obama:
“I will never hide the truth because it is uncomfortable.”
“On all of these matters related to the disclosure of sensitive information, I wish I could say that there is a simple formula,” Obama said. “But there is not. These are tough calls involving competing concerns, and they require a surgical approach. But the common thread that runs through all of my decisions is simple: we will safeguard what we must to protect the American people, but we will also ensure the accountability and oversight that is the hallmark of our constitutional system. I will never hide the truth because it is uncomfortable. I will deal with Congress and the courts as co-equal branches of government. I will tell the American people what I know and don’t know, and when I release something publicly or keep something secret, I will tell you why.”
And this........Comments Obama made in the confirmation of John Roberts
"Let me also say that I remain distressed that the White House during this confirmation process, which overall went smoothly, failed to provide critical documents as part of the record that could have provided us with a better basis to make our judgment with respect to the nomination. This White House continues to stymie efforts on the part of the Senate to do its job. I hope with the next nominee who comes up for the Supreme Court that the White House recognizes that in fact it is its duty not just to the Senate but to the American people to make sure we can thoroughly and adequately evaluate the record of every single nominee who comes before us."
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:42 AM
Yo! Colin Powell Get The Heck Out Of The GOP You Are NOT Wanted!!!
Colin Powell told Face the Nation ( Sunday May 24th,2009 yesterday) that he's not leaving the GOP. Powell made the statement today after being attacked by Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh for supporting Far Left socialist candidate Barack Obama in the last election. Powell hopes to head up the socialist cut-and-run wing of the GOP.
Wild Thing's comment........
Don't you just love it when Democrats give Republicans advice on how to win — as if that’s the outcome they’d like to see.
Colin Powell can kiss where the sun dont shine. In fact he is good at that, It gave him a great career.
Powell is mouthing and they say Cheney should keep his mouth shut? Which one will I listen to...take a guess. LOL
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:41 AM | Comments (6)
Obama's Fault Dollar Hits New Multimonth Low
Dollar hits new multimonth low vs euro, pound, yen
NEW YORK
The dollar kept falling Friday, notching fresh multimonth lows against the euro, pound and yen as a warning that Britain's debt level may result in its credit rating being cut ricocheted into worries about the massive U.S. deficit.
The 16-nation euro rose to $1.4015 in morning trading from $1.3889 in New York late Thursday—its first time above $1.40 since Jan. 2.
The British pound rose to $1.5916 from $1.5890, peaking at $1.5945 earlier in the session, its highest point since Nov. 6.
Meanwhile, the dollar edged up to 94.51 Japanese yen from 94.23 yen—after earlier falling to 93.82, its lowest point since Feb. 23.
On Thursday, Standard & Poor's said Britain may have its rating cut because of rising debt levels. Though the ratings agency reaffirmed the country's actual long-term credit rating at "AAA," it said the outlook had deteriorated because of massive borrowing to deal with the recession and the banking crisis.
Because Britain is pursuing similar policies to the U.S.—with both the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve injecting billions of dollars in their economies by buying assets from banks—the move also weighed on U.S. assets and the dollar. Treasurys sold off Thursday, and continued to do so Friday.
S&P's announcement "wound up creating more problems for the U.S. dollar than for the British pound," HSBC analysts said in a research note.
"The problem for the U.S. is particularly acute because of its reserve status," said UBS analyst Brian Kim in an e-mail to investors Friday. Major holders of U.S. debt, such as Middle Eastern sovereign funds and the Chinese government, have not been shy about calling the U.S. out for what it sees as policies that will trigger inflation, shrinking the value of their Treasury holdings.
"The dollar has weakened as dollar bears have now added concerns on U.S. credit ratings to their arsenal," Kim said.
Earlier this month, the Obama administration hiked its forecast for this year's federal deficit to $1.84 trillion. The deficit is approaching $1 trillion for the budget year that began Oct. 1.
Big deficits mean the government has to borrow more, which could put its credit rating at risk. They can also put upwards pressure on inflation, thus cutting the purchasing power of the dollar.
In other trading, the dollar fell to 1.1235 Canadian dollars from $1.1404 and slid to 1.0833 Swiss francs from 1.0936 francs late Thursday.
Wild Thing's comment..........
They’re plan to destroy the US dollar and force Americans into a global currency controlled by a world bank is working perfectly for them on their agenda. I guess Soros is bursting at the seams with joy.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (2)
May 24, 2009
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day
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From my website:
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (16)
Special Words from Ronald Reagan ~ Memorial Day
"Once each May, amid the quiet hills and rolling lanes and breeze-brushed trees of Arlington National Cemetery, far above the majestic Potomac and the monuments and memorials of our Nation's Capital just beyond, the graves of America's military dead are decorated with the beautiful flag that in life these brave souls followed and loved.
This scene is repeated across our land and around the world, wherever our defenders rest. Let us hold it our sacred duty and our inestimable privilege on this day to decorate these graves ourselves -- with a fervent prayer and a pledge of true allegiance to the cause of liberty, peace, and country for which America's own have ever served and sacrificed. ... Our pledge and our prayer this day are those of free men and free women who know that all we hold dear must constantly be built up, fostered, revered and guarded vigilantly from those in every age who seek its destruction.
We know, as have our Nation's defenders down through the years, that there can never be peace without its essential elements of liberty, justice and independence. Those true and only building blocks of peace were the lone and lasting cause and hope and prayer that lighted the way of those whom we honor and remember this Memorial Day.
To keep faith with our hallowed dead, let us be sure, and very sure, today and every day of our lives, that we keep their cause, their hope, their prayer, forever our country's own." --Ronald Reagan
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Our country has been truly blessed to have such great men and women serve in our military. I love what President Reagan said, he knew why we have been able to live in the land of the free.
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......Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion - 1st Aviation Brigade - Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (7)
Remembering Our Heroes
An Emmy award documentary of a powerful and emotional story about school nurse Marlene Horton's experiences during the Viet Nam War.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Thank you Marlene Horton for being there for our Heroes. You are a Hero too.
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....Thank you Jack for sending this to me.
United States Army
1965-1971
Army Combat Engineers
Quang Tri & Chu Lai '68 -'69
67-69
Jack's blog is Conservative Insurgent
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (5)
Tribute To Our Flag
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Please CLICK HERE to go to a tribute to our Flag.
A Tribute to our Flag. by Bob Thompson, Retired Military Veteran, Panama City, Florida
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Wild Thing's comment........
This is wonderful and I like how he added music with it, Elvis is singing "America The Beautiful".
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (3)
New RNC Ad has Pelosi in Washington Version of James Bond ~ LOL
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Wild Thing's comment.........
LMAO the Democrats don't like it.
RNC's below-the-belt shot at Nancy Pelosi
But when you see Nancy Pelosi, the Republican National Committee wants you to think “Pussy Galore.”
At least that’s the takeaway from a video released by the committee this week – a video that puts Pelosi side-by-side with the aforementioned villainess from the 1964 James Bond film “Goldfinger.”
The RNC video, which begins with the speaker’s head in the iconic spy-series gun sight, implies that Pelosi has used her feminine wiles to dodge the truth about whether or not she was briefed by the CIA on the use of waterboarding in 2002. While the P-word is never mentioned directly, in one section the speaker appears in a split screen alongside the Bond nemesis – and the video’s tagline is “Democrats Galore.”
More of the article HERE it is VERY funny and they are really upset.
So typical of the democrats to be more upset about this then they were about what Pelosi did.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:46 AM | Comments (6)
Obama's European Apology Tour: Next stop - Dresden
Obama's European Apology Tour: Next stop - Dresden
Obama will probably make a stop at Dresden while on his second European trip that will climax with a speech in Normandy on June 6 marking the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
Rosenthal points out a little misdirection from the administration in that they will also probably schedule a stop at Buchenwald, the notorious concentration camp that Obama believes his uncle helped liberate in 1945.
The message Obama intends to send by visiting both sites is clear; while the Germans did bad things during World War II, they were also victims of Allied atrocities:
The symbolic significance of a visit to Dresden by the American president - especially one undertaken in connection with a D-Day commemoration in France - may be missed by some Americans, but it is absolutely unmistakable for the German public. For Germans, Dresden is the symbol bar none of German suffering at the hands of the Allies. The city was heavily bombed by British and American air forces in February 1945, toward the end of the war. According to the most recent estimates of professional historians, anywhere from 18,000 to at most 25,000 persons died in the attacks. These numbers come from a historical commission established by the city of Dresden itself. But far higher numbers - ranging into the hundreds of thousands - have long circulated in Germany and beyond. The bombing of Dresden is commonly described as a "war crime" in German discussions.
Alleged crimes committed by the Allies against Germans and Germany have indeed become a sort of German literary obsession in recent years, with numerous books being devoted to the subject.
The President of the United States may be planning on equating the strategic bombing of a German city with the deliberate murder of millions of innocents.
Indeed, Rosenthal states that it would be impossible for Obama to go to Dresden and not mention the bombing. And what of his stop at Buchenwald?
It is virtually unthinkable that Obama could give a speech in Dresden and not allude to the bombing of the city. Most of the city's historical monuments - which Obama's advance team were apparently inspecting - were severely damaged or destroyed in the bombing and had to be rebuilt. Moreover, for Obama to visit both Dresden and Buchenwald would suggest precisely the sort of outrageous parallels that have become commonplace in Germany at least since the publication of Friedrich's The Fire.
Barack Obama is fulfilling the dreams of liberals who, for more than 40 years have seen the role played of the United States in world affairs since before World War I as having a disasterous effect on mankind. This kind of thinking explains the "Blame America First" mentality that has guided liberal foreign policy since the 1960's, turning the policies practiced by Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson which recognized America's leading role in world affairs into an orgy of self-loathing and a desire to subsume American interests in favor of a squishy internationalism guided by the thugs and fools at the UN.
No doubt Obama will speak strongly against Nazi terror while in Dresden. But what does it say about our president that he may very well equate what happened to the Jews with what happened to German citizens during the war? Is he capable of recognizing the moral difference? Is he capable of recognizing evil at all?
If a big enough stink is made before the itinerary is set, it may be possible to dissuade the president from making a moral idiot of himself. But given the cheerleading he will receive from his leftist friends, that may not be possible.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
When will this insanity stop! Will he be apologize for the Pilgrims????
We've seen this coming from the far left and media for a long time, that Dresden and Hiroshima should be considered "war crimes." And Obama owns the left and takes it even further left.
I bet traitor Obama is definitely going to apologize for America’s role in WWII. There’s no other reason for him to go to Dresden. This is getting really sick. I hope the veterans’ groups get all over the Whitehouse and the press before he can pull this off.
We couldn't have fought WWII under the conditions imposed by the Dims and MSM. I can just imagine all the prosecutions of troops that would have come after especially nasty fights like the Bulge after the Malmedy Massacre or on many of the Pacific atolls, where very few prisoners were taken. They're just a bunch of hypocrites the way they feign praise on the WWII vets and trash the Vietnam and Iraq vets.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (7)
"Cheney Takes On The Man"...... by Kevin Jackson
I love it when the bad guy wins and gives it to "the man." Finally in the Bizarro World that is now Amerika (it's spelled 'left'), the bad guy finally won. Of whom do I speak? I speak of Cheney, a true patriot—publicly exposing Obama, a complete fraud.
Lamestream media to the rescue, because their messiah is getting publicly flogged. To think that we were told how "smart" Obama is. Well if brains were dynamite, Obama couldn't blow his nose! So taking on Cheney, a true intellectual with a real track record of achievement is just asking for trouble.
So we get reports that America is experiencing "Cheney overload." This is liberal code for "Cheney is too effective, let's create public opinion that he is the Anti-Christ." Maybe the Left is tired of Cheney, but conservatives are energized. I predict many fence-sitters are as well. "Feels good don't it!"
In confronting the worst president in history (and Obama ain't even finished polishing his turd) Cheney was absolutely brilliant—the epitome of leadership. Cheney has no dog in this fight, no agenda. As he said, he has "no favors to garner." Cheney desires but one thing…to protect America.
He speaks with eloquence and passion—backed with substance! For you liberal idiots who think the teleprompter president is riveting, take a gander at "the bad guy," the old white Republican boogeyman. Cheney speaks with the passion of reality, and not the fad of idealism.
Meanwhile, "Junior" is still trying to sell America on the idea that he is willing to do anything to protect America—anything except [fill in the blank]. In typical Obama style, he accomplishes two things in his speech: (1) demonize the previous administration for protecting us, and (2) blame America for terrorists wanting to kill us.
According to Obama, Americans are barbarians, and Bush is the former Chief of the Barbarians. Sort of like another "great" racist Democrat president Andrew Jackson calling the Native Americans "savages" for protecting their lands and families. That makes me a proud "savage."
No surprise here, but Obama wants to reserve the right to do exactly what the Bush administration did! [pp] "Just in case I need to, I reserve the right to unsay what I just said, and do what Bush did." What else is new?
Yet again Obama confirmed what conservatives know about liberals—they don't love America; they tolerate America. Liberals want to declare veterans and hard-working taxpaying conservatives as extremists; and declare terrorists as "man-made disasters."
It is long overdue that somebody stepped up and confronted the lunacy of the Left. Who better than a 40-year veteran of Washington, and no-nonsense guy like Cheney—a man of real accomplishment and credentials. Cheney has forgotten more about running a country, than the no talent hack currently occupying the void will ever know.
Barack "Empty-suit Apologist" Obama believes that the way America treats people trying to kill us has made the people trying to kill us more determined. Really? How much more determined can you get than vowing and attempting to kill us? Is there a level of heinous above that?
Here's the wrap:
Obama has produced no evidence that harsh interrogation didn't work. However, he has implied that he may have been able to coax critical information out of our enemies—maybe?
Coincidentally, the documents are unavailable—ObamaSpeak for "the documents are being altered so that I won't look like a liar. If not doctored, they will be destroyed." Or they are being put in the same vault that holds his university records and his Kenyan birth certificate.
America is fortunate to have true a patriot, a real "bad guy" like Cheney to confront the evil that now occupies the White House. I love the irony this time of the bad guy winning and sticking it to "the man." I also like that America is finally exposing who "the man" really is.
That's my rant!
Kevin Jackson
The Black Sphere blog
A lilttle about Kevin.........
"Due to the death of my mother when I was 5, I was raised by my grandparents who were staunch Democrats. I recall as a child watching Reagan give a speech in his unsuccessful run for the presidency. After Reagan finished, I said to my grandparents, “Why are we Democrats, when what we believe is what that guy [Reagan] just said?” Thus was the birth of The Black Sphere.
I am just a poor kid, who was fortunate enough to have been exposed to what the world has to offer, and I was raised to be an optimist. My grandparents instilled in me a “no excuses mentality” and work ethic. That is my definition of America,"
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Love it from the Guardian....
"Dick Cheney: Washington trembles at the return of 'Darth Vader'"
Dick Cheney was a formidable backroom operator during his eight years as vice-president in the Bush administration. Having abandoned his short-lived retirement in Wyoming, he is now leading the Republican charge against Obama from the front.
Part of the explanation for the bout of jitters is that Obama is struggling to contain an ever-growing row over the future of Guantánamo Bay and the security apparatus created by the Bush administration as part of its "war on terror". But there is another factor: the return of an opponent the Democrats had thought of as politically dead: Dick Cheney. The sinister, reclusive figure at the heart of the Bush administration, who attracted labels such as Darth Vader and Dr Strangelove, has returned to the heart of Washington and is causing havoc.
He has forced Obama on the defensive for the first time since becoming president, giving demoralised Republicans something finally to cheer about.
"Cheney is seriously the only person who's got the White House to change its policy," Dan Senor, a foreign policy adviser in the Bush administration, told the Washington Post
Cheney has rattled Obama over the proposed closure of Guantánamo and the CIA's use of waterboarding. And not only Obama, but the next most prominent Democrat after him, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who on Friday refused to answer any more questions about whether she had been briefed by the CIA about torture six years ago. She denies she was: the CIA says it did.
The conservative Weekly Standard is also cheering. Another influential conservative, William Kristol, writing in the current issue, said: "While most senior Bush alumni were in hiding, Dick Cheney - Darth Vader himself, Mr Unpopularity, the last guy you'd supposedly want out there making the case - stepped on to the field. He's made himself the Most Valuable Republican of the first four months of the Obama administration."
LOL I love this so much! The democrats are hating it, Obama is not liking it and uncomfortable.
Have any of you noticed yestersday when they played snipets of Obama talking his voice is weak. At first I thought he might be sick or have a cold. But honeslty the more I thiink about it and the reaction Cheney has gotten, I have to wonder if it is just that Obama has gotten the wind knocked out of him by VP Dick Cheney.
Thank you God!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:44 AM | Comments (8)
Cartoonist Honoring Memorial Day
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Wild Thing's comment.........
These are so good and I am so glad the cartoonist here are not as liberal as the media with the alaphabet channels. These are really well done.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (2)
May 23, 2009
In 100+ Days Obama Drives America Into Debt and Now He says " We're Out Of Money!"
'WE'RE OUT OF MONEY'
Sat May 23 2009 10:32:18 ET
In a sobering holiday interview with C-SPAN, President Obama boldly told Americans: "We are out of money."
C-SPAN host Steve Scully broke from a meek Washington press corps with probing questions for the new president.
SCULLY: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?
OBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we've made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we've seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.
So we've got a short-term problem, which is we had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system, we had to deal with the auto companies, a huge recession which drains tax revenue at the same time it's putting more pressure on governments to provide unemployment insurance or make sure that food stamps are available for people who have been laid off.
So we have a short-term problem and we also have a long-term problem. The short-term problem is dwarfed by the long-term problem. And the long-term problem is Medicaid and Medicare. If we don't reduce long-term health care inflation substantially, we can't get control of the deficit.
So, one option is just to do nothing. We say, well, it's too expensive for us to make some short-term investments in health care. We can't afford it. We've got this big deficit. Let's just keep the health care system that we've got now.
Along that trajectory, we will see health care cost as an overall share of our federal spending grow and grow and grow and grow until essentially it consumes everything...
SCULLY: When you see GM though as “Government Motors,” you're reaction?
OBAMA: Well, you know – look we are trying to help an auto industry that is going through a combination of bad decision making over many years and an unprecedented crisis or at least a crisis we haven't seen since the 1930's. And you know the economy is going to bounce back and we want to get out of the business of helping auto companies as quickly as we can. I have got more enough to do without that. In the same way that I want to get out of the business of helping banks, but we have to make some strategic decisions about strategic industries...
SCULLY: States like California in desperate financial situation, will you be forced to bail out the states?
OBAMA: No. I think that what you're seeing in states is that anytime you got a severe recession like this, as I said before, their demands on services are higher. So, they are sending more money out. At the same time, they're bringing less tax revenue in. And that's a painful adjustment, what we're going end up seeing is lot of states making very difficult choices there...
SCULLY: William Howard Taft served on the court after his presidency, would you have any interest in being on the Supreme Court?
OBAMA: You know, I am not sure that I could get through Senate confirmation...
Developing...
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Wild Thing's comment.........
He just figured this out? I mean what an idiot, we have been borrowing from China, they got fed up and cut us off and who knows who else is fed up with Obama and his spending money we do not have.
A trillion Dollar Bail out followed by a trillion dollar stimulus that didn’t stimulate jack by the way followed by a couple of hundred of billion dollar auto bail out followed by a 3 trillion dollar budget all approved by Obama !
So, it’s all about health care, is it????? What the heck?
Democrats Sub prime mortgages
Democrats Fannie and Freddie corruption
Obama Unions destroying the auto industry
Obama Highest corporate taxes
All health care’s fault???? He’s blaming this on HEALTH CARE???? OMG It looks like he is trying to justify ‘Obamacare’......which is his next BIG push.
OBAMA: "Well, we are out of money now."
Well that was a fun 100 days! Asshat! $800 billion stimulus fraud, $400 billion extra budget appropriation, $800 billion current budget deficit fiscal 2009.
That's $2 trillion in the whole on your watch asshat and fiscal 2009 isn't even over!
We all knew he would sink the economy, but who could have guessed the pace at which he would succeed.
1. Stop printing more money.
2. Stop spending.
3. Cut the number of Federal Government employees by 50%.
Sincerely,
We The People
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 PM | Comments (9)
Miller Lite Salutes Memorial Day and Veterans
This is at our grocery store, Miller Lite Salutes Veterans. The have it at the entrance of the store and it's first thing you see when you walk in.
When I was thanking the manager of the store for having it and acknowledging our Veterans.He said he was Veteran too and that only one person complained.
It has a lot of detail but the camera does not pick it up that well. I wanted to show it to you.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 PM | Comments (4)
Rolling Thunder Not Expecting Obama Greeting
Rolling Thunder not expecting Obama greeting
The last time Rolling Thunder roared into Washington, the president welcomed the riders in the White House driveway with a smile on his face and heartfelt personal greeting. This year, maybe not.
"We initially got a call this year saying the president wasn't going to greet us," said Artie Muller, founder of the group that is marking its 22nd annual patriotic motorcycle ride through Washington to draw attention to policy issues influencing veterans, active-duty military, prisoners of war and those still missing in action.
But a second call in recent days revealed that the White House would do something.
"We expect it will be a member of the staff, not a meeting with President Obama. We really won't know until sometime on Friday afternoon. But this is a step in the right direction," said #Nancy Regg, a spokeswoman for the group, which has 88 chapters across the country and expects to draw as many as a half-million bikers for a "Freedom Ride" on Sunday from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
An administration official confirmed Thursday that a group of Rolling Thunder members were expected at the White House on Friday, but was unsure with whom they would meet.
The official said the bikers would meet separately with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki.
Rolling Thunder, meanwhile, is still on a mission. Whether Mr. Obama greets them or not, the organization has information to share.
"We've got a letter to pass on to the president about our issues and concerns. But we won't really know until Artie gets there," Ms. Regg said.
President George W. Bush, on the other hand, was very comfortable in the biker realm, as he was around pickup trucks and NASCAR. He was the first and only president to formally greet Rolling Thunder members, Ms. Regg said.
President Bush Meets With Rolling Thunder 5-25-2008
In 2008, Mr. Bush was made an honorary member of the group, accepted a cowhide biker's vest and posed for multiple photos. He also met with the group in the Oval Office.
"And I am just so honored to welcome you back. I want to thank you and all your comrades for being so patriotic and loving our country as much as you do. I don't know if this is the eighth time we've been together here, but it's pretty close.," Mr. Bush told the group, which included Mr. Muller.
"You've done a lot for the country, and the troops appreciate you, and the veterans appreciate you and your president appreciates you," Mr. Bush added.
Several Bush administration members rode with the group over the years, including Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, top economic adviser Edward Lazear and Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten.
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Wild Thing's comment........
This is not Swivel Heads’ type of crowd!!!!
"But a second call in recent days revealed that the White House would do something. "
Sure. A cardboard cutout of The First Thug which of course will have much more personality then the original..
The last time they came into town, we had a president. This year there is no president, but only an imposter in chief.
Obama is reminded of everything he is not. First on the list is they are Americans.
And we must not forget these are a bunch of Veterans that are on the DHS Terrorist list.
This is a two way kind of feeling.
1. I can't stand this creep Obama, so I would prefer he is not around any of our Veterans or our troops today. He is so far beneath them he would have to dig his way up from under the earth thousands of feet to even be able to see the bottom of our Veterans shoes.
2. I guess if it was a MUSLIM Saudi then Obama could show up in person to thank Rolling Thunder and appreciate all they have done and do. He could have another chance to bow again and he would like that.
BUT since this a group of macho, American Heroes that continue the fight for our POW-MIA's and oh dear just might have taken out a communist in the Vietnam war.... a communist like Obama he just can't show up to meet these men, these American Heroes in person. The roar of the bikes might hurt his ear drums, and so many Flags, so much patriotism would just be too much for HUSSEIN Obama to handle.
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Obama, Rolling Thunder meet privately
Washington Times
At 3:30 p.m. Friday, President Obama met privately with representatives of the group famous for its support of active-duty military, veterans and prisoners of war not to mention its distinctive blend of patriotism that includes Old Glory and motorcycles.
The moment was totally unexpected.
"The president stopped by while members of Rolling Thunder were meeting with administration officials about veterans' issues," said White House spokesman Nick Shapiro.
"He was very happy to meet with them," he added.
The group included Rolling Thunder founder Artie Muller, national vice president Lynne Jenks and national president Gary Scheffmeyer.
The situation has been somewhat of a cliffhanger.
Things did not seem quite so friendly with the new administration, however. The culture of the White House appeared to have changed.
Last week, Mr. Muller told The Washington Times that he received word from the White House that Mr. Obama would not follow suit.
"They said he was too busy," Mr. Muller said at the time.
But the situation began to evolve. Mr. Muller a Vietnam-era Army veteran and Harley rider learned a few days later that "someone" from the White House would at least be there to accept a letter from Rolling Thunder that outlined the group's concerns about veterans, soldiers and POWs.
Who was this "someone?" An official? A Cabinet member? Bo, the White House pooch? No one knew.
In the end, it was the president. Mr. Obama came through at the close of a busy week .
The meeting was brief but cordial.
"We're here for the veterans, for our military, for America. And we want them to know we will never forget them," said Rolling Thunder spokeswoman Nancy Regg.
As for Mr. Obama, he'll get a rest with the wife and children at Camp David this weekend.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:55 AM | Comments (10)
Never Forget! This is What Traitor OBAMA Calls America's European Arrogance!
In light of Memorial Day and a recent speech given by someone who presumes to speak for America, here's a view of our "Arrogance towards Europeans"...
1. The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne , France . A total of 2289 of our military dead. We Apologize.
2. The American Cemetery at Ardennes , Belgium . A total of 5329 of our dead
3. The American Cemetery at Brittany, France . A total of 4410 of our military dead. Excuse us.
4. Brookwood , England American Cemetery. A total of 468 of our dead.
5. Cambridge , England . 3812 of our military dead.
6. Epinal , France American Cemetery. A total of 5525 of our Military dead.
7. Flanders Field , Belgium . A total of 368 of our military.
8. Florence , Italy . A total of 4402 of our military dead.
9. Henri-Chapelle , Belgium . A total of 7992 of our military dead.
10. Lorraine , France . A total of 10,489 of our military dead.
11. Luxembourg , Luxembourg . A total of 5076 of our military dead.
12. Meuse-Argonne. A total of 14246 of our military dead.
13. Netherlands , Netherlands . A total of 8301 of our military dead.
14. Normandy , France . A total of 9387 of our military dead.
15. Oise-Aisne , France . A total of 6012 of our military dead.
16. Rhone , France . A total of 861 of our military dead.
17. Sicily , Italy . A total of 7861 of our military dead.
18. Somme , France . A total of 1844 of our military dead.
19. St. Mihiel, France . A total of 4153 of our military dead.
20. Suresnes , France . a total of 1541 of our military dead.
The Americans buried at the cemeteries above is 104,366, and we recently had to watch an American elected leader (guess who?) apologize to Europe and the Middle East that our country is "arrogant"!
Apologize to no one. Remind those of our sacrifice and don't confuse arrogance with leadership.
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Wild Thing's comment............
First of all Obama, we CAN be as arrogant as we want to about our country, we have been proud of our United States of America unlike YOU and wife. And we are not just grateful on Memorial Day or Veterans day for our military, for our troops, our Veterans and those that gave their lives, we are grateful and proud every day.
When did Europe assume a leading role in the free world? Not in my lifetime!
And all the men in my family, and Nicholas, and two of my Aunts, oh yes how arrogant they were to have the nerve to serve our country. Normandy, the Chosin Reservoir, the Battle of the Bulge, Korean War, WW1 and WW11, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Afghanistan and Iraq. Hussein Obama insulted all who served our country and made the awesome effort to do something that mattered, that made a difference in the world and to our country and many others around the world.
America's Shame: Obama Calls U.S. "Arrogant" & "Dismissive" in Speech in France
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:50 AM | Comments (12)
Radical Cap and Trade Bill Largest Tax Increase in History
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Cap and trade bill includes unemployment benefits - Largest tax increase in history
by Dianna Cotter
Hold onto your hats folks, here it comes…
In a revealing editorial today, the Washington Examiner (not related to Examiner.com) revealed a huge unemployment package buried in the Waxman-Markley Cap and trade energy bill.
At first glance this just seems like more of the usual Washington shuck-n-jive. However, when one considers the implications of this, it becomes apparent that the writers of the cap and trade bill are very clearly aware that this bill will cost thousands of jobs. So much so that unemployment benefits for those losing their jobs because of it will go for THREE YEARS, 156 weeks. Obviously they are not expecting these hapless folks to find new work easily! The Washington examiner reports that these victims of Washington DC legislation and Congress will get 80% of their insurance premiums paid, a 1500$ relocation allowance, and job search expenses of up to 1500$.
If this is an energy bill… which by the way, is being sold as legislation that will create higher paying “Green” jobs, in higher numbers than those lost, then what are unemployment benefits for up to three years doing in it?
Note to all of those who are supporting this bill, both Nationally and locally here in Oregon, be prepared for your energy costs to go up by a minimum of 50%, and by some estimates up to 90%. Let’s put some numbers with that. Say your average electric bill for a year is 100$ a month. That’s 1200$ a year. Your bill will go up to 150$ a month, for a total of 1800$ a year with just a 50% increase. With a 90% increase that number will be 2280$, or 190$ a month. But that’s not all; the cost of your Natural gas will go up similarly. So will the grocery store’s electric bill, 50% higher refrigeration costs = 50% higher cost passed on to you the consumer. Your Hairdresser’s electricity cost will go up, and so will the cost of your shampoo blow-dry, and Color. Every single industry that uses power of any sort will go up, and your cost of living will rise exponentially.
All this for less that 2 tenths of a degree cooling over the next century, which will absolutely crack up the Chinese and Indians who are praying (if the communist government of China would admit to praying) that this legislation passes! Why?
Because it will absolutely kill the productive engine that is the lifeblood of the United States of America, the economic engine of the world! Of course they want it to pass, it will make them the world’s only superpower. Throw in the fact they own a huge swath of our national debt, and you should now be seeing a very dark black cloud rising over our future.
It should be stressed here, that even a COMMUNIST Government will not institute legislation that will destroy its economy to the extent that this bill will.
This is no doom and gloom prediction, clearly the writers of the bill know it too, or there would not be three years worth of unemployment benefits in it. The section we are speaking of it on page 781 of the 946 page bill. “Title IV, Subtitle B, Part2, Section 426 of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” Ah such innocuous and lovely sounding poison they come up with now a days!
Would you like that with a side of Arsenic? Hemlock perhaps?
Exactly where is all of the money going to come from to pay for all those unemployment benefits? The Rich? They will leave the country and take their money with them, just as they did in Cuba so long ago. Big Business? Oh no, they will leave too if they can, or they will fold and be Nationalized as well as GM and 2/3rds of the Auto industry. The Small business owner? They will go out of business. The only ones left will be the little guys, and that means all the rest of us. Can you smell the tax hike coming? There is no fiscal way this can be done without raising taxes to pay for the huge numbers of unemployed that are expected to need this craftily buried unemployment package. Assuming you aren’t on it that is. But don’t expect that to protect you, you still have to pay taxes on your unemployment benefits. A delicious irony no?
Forget Electric cars the only truly green alternative, they will be too darned expensive to charge. The irony of this is just too precious not to comment on…. The only possible alternative to liquid fueled cars will be legislated right out of existence before they can even get produced! Paradox of all green paradoxes! I think the space time continuum just wrinkled a bit… the only truly green car… the contradiction is just too perfect.
Has Washington lost its collective mind? Who is running this place and why are they trying to kill us and our livelihoods? Why are they deliberately trying to take food out of the mouths of our kids? That’s what they are doing. For 2 tenths of a degree? Certainly as China and India make up for our non-productivity, and with the knowlage that they indeed will not institute legislation as stupid and financially unsound as this, it is pointless. They have publically stated they will not do such damage to their economies. Knowing this... that 2 tenths of 1 degree seems likely to get swallowed up by an increase in Chinese and Indian productivity. Can you think of anything more pointless than this? Spitting into the wind perhaps?
Folks the insanity being considered in Washington DC may well make it impossible to live in the United States and live a successful prosperous life. Mexicans won’t be coming here anymore; it will be Americans going to Mexico looking for jobs.
That’s no joke.
The Washington Examiner quotes Ben Lieberman of the Heritage Foundation: “The fact that generous unemployment benefits are buried in the bill means that “green jobs are bunk,”” The Foundation found that “Waxman-Markey is the largest, most intrusive energy tax increase in American history. It would reduce the nation’s GDP by 7.4 Trillion, raise electricity rates 90 percent and gasoline prices 74%.”
So, how do you like that “Hope and Change” now? This what you were expecting and voted for? We were warned by Obama himself, he said he was going to do it in the campaign, kill coal… this is your government at work.
Unless you stop it by contacting your congressperson now.
Otherwise get ready for the worst; you might want to buy a lot of extra blankets while the prices are still low.
For more info: Washington Examiner
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Wild Thing's comment............
Fantastic article. The best one I have seen on the cap and trade legislation now wending its way thru Congress.
Pray for America.
At the current rate we will spend 26 Trillion in the first year of the Obama regime. Yep killing the economy is the agenda and they are doing a fine job of it.
“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.” —Winston Churchill
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:48 AM | Comments (3)
Teacher Slams Obama
April 17, 2009
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America . You are responsible to the citizens of the United States .. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.
I personally resen t that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe ? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?
Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States ? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia . You don't show Great Britain , our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia . How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey . You offended our dead and every vet eran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?
I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.
You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't!
Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do.
We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.
I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities.
I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
Sincerely,
Every real American
P.S. I rarely ask that emails be 'passed around'...PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR EMAIL LIST...it's past time for all Americans to wake up!
Ms Kathleen Lyday
Fourth Grade Teacher
Grandview Elementary School
Hillsboro , MO
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Wild Thing's commnet.........
What a GREAT letter!! I love to see people speaking out about Obama. Excellent letter by Kathleen Lyday.
UPDATE note:
I checked on truth and fiction regarding this letter. The person signing the letter is real and she is a teacher at this school, but she denies authoring it. It is an excellent letter though. ~ Dave L
I agree it is a fantastic letter.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:47 AM | Comments (6)
Eric Holder Supports Terrorists
Eric Holder on Terrorist Organizations
At an oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, the sharpest questioning came from Republicans who challenged Holder about the possibility that the administration will seek to bring some terror detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States.
“They could be released into American communities and become a threat to our families and neighbors,” warned the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas). “They will certainly give new purpose to neighborhood watch committees. Their detention facilities could become a target for attack by sleeper cells here and around the world.”
Holder said the Justice Department had not yet studied the risks the inmates could pose to Americans, because there is no plan yet about precisely where they would be sent. “We’re not going to do anything — anything — that is going to put the American people at risk. Nothing,” the attorney general underscored.
“It seems to me that there would be zero risk if we brought zero people to the United States of America,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) accused Holder of being “so hellbent on not using waterboarding” that he would allow a terrorist attack to take place rather than use the technique, which the attorney general has described as torture.
Smith also joined the growing ranks of members demanding greater disclosure from the transparency-touting Obama administration.
“Before a single detainee is transferred anywhere, all unclassified records regarding their backgrounds should be made public,” Smith insisted. “I am concerned in its first months in office the administration has engaged in a pattern of behavior that is endangering the American people.”
Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) used colorful language as he pressed Holder on whether detainees brought to the U.S. might be eligible for welfare.
“I don’t want to be portrayed as an inflexible, redneck coot, but I believe that would be a reckless fiscal exercise to provide assistance to that end,” Coble said.
The attorney general was cagey on whether he supports the idea of creating a blue-ribbon panel to investigate claims that aggressive interrogation techniques authorized by the Bush administration amounted to torture.
“You could just say yes,” suggested Conyers.
“The decision to do such a thing I will leave in your good hands,” Holder said.
When Conyers asked what factors Holder would use in considering whether to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Bush-era interrogation program, the attorney general also gave an exceedingly general response.
“We will allow the law and the facts to take us wherever is appropriate,” Holder said.
Holder shed little light on the outcome of an internal investigation of the former Justice Department lawyers who wrote memos giving a legal green light to interrogation techniques many view as torture. He said he hadn’t seen the report, which is said to recommend that some of the lawyers be referred for possible discipline by state bar authorities. “I would think that we’re looking at a matter of weeks before it will be complete,” Holder said.
Holder also faced questions about President Barack Obama’s decision to reverse course and fight court rulings requiring the disclosure of photos of alleged detainee abuse by the U.S. military. The attorney general appeared to reach his limit on transparency when he rebuffed a request from Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) to share the Justice Department’s initial conclusion that it would be “hopeless” to pursue the case to the Supreme Court.
“I have great reluctance in saying that I would share internal Justice Department memoranda that deal with decision making in particular cases,” Holder said.
Despite the serious subject matter, the hearing had moments of levity. At one point, Rep. Steven Cohen (D-Tenn.) said he hoped Holder didn’t regard the pitcher of water on the witness table as “some sort of intimidation.”
“As long as it’s not poured down my nose, I think I’m OK,” Holder said.
Wild Thing's comment.........
Listen to Lamar Smith in the video as he asks Eric Holder the same question over and over. He has to reword it to try and get Holder to answer a simple question.
Let's you and I put the question another way. A man enlists and goes to Boot Camp in the USArmy, he goes through all the training. Now let's ask this....Is the man that went into the Army, went through and completed Basic training, is this man a soldier? The same for the NAVY is the man a sailor, the Marines,is the man a Marine.
OR like Eric Holder says we cannot answer that until we check
"you have to individualize the determinations about a particular person"
WTF sorry but can't send Eric Holder to GITMO and put HIM in one of the jail cells with one of the terrorists? He seems to really like them and he obviously would enjoy their company. Because he sure as heck could care less about American lives.
America's tombstone will read: 'At least we were politically correct'
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:45 AM | Comments (4)
Obama Accuses Military of Billions in Overspending
Obama accuses military of billions in overspending
President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill aimed at tightening the controls on defense spending, saying it is "long overdue."
Standing with leading congressional players Friday morning on South Lawn of the White House, Obama said he was "extraordinarily proud" to sign the bill, which passed unanimously in both the House and Senate this week.
Obama noted one study which found that roughly $295 billion of taxpayers' money was wasted last year on cost overruns involving 95 defense programs.
He said wasteful defense spending "is unacceptable" at a time when the country is fighting two wars and trying to overcome a deep recession at home.
Wild Thing's comment..........
This angers me so much. Obama is spending money like crazy, but it is NOT ok with him to spend much on our military. GRRRRRRRRRRRR HOw omuch does he think we can take of his BS.
Spend, Spend, spend, but oh it's for the Military? Then from Obama we get Hell no. sheesh
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:44 AM | Comments (2)
Renovating Private Parking Garages for U.S. House
Parking garage outside Longworth House Office Building. (CNSNews.com photo/Penny Starr)
Renovating Private Parking Garages for U.S. House Will Cost Taxpayers $156,322 Per Congressman
As it is considering legislation that would cap carbon emssions and significanly increase energy prices of U.S. consumers in the name of controlling global warming, the U.S. House of Representatives is also considering spending $68 million to renovate two parking garages that are used exclusively by members of Congress and their staff.
Given that there are only 435 members of the House, the renovation of these exclusive garages would cost $156,322 per congressmen.
The garages are just south of the House office buildings that form part of the complex surrounding the U.S. Capitol. They are also adjacent to a station of the Washington Metro subway system that members of Congress and their staff could use to get to work if they did not want to drive a car and emit carbon into the atmosphere.
Terrell Dorn, the director of physical infrastructure issues for the Government Accountability Office (GAO), on May 6, testified before the House Committee on House Administration about plans by the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to renovate the East and West garages, which serve several House buildings.
Approximately $38 million of the request is attached to a project to overhaul the Cannon House Office Building at an overall cost of $753 million.
“Renovations of the Cannon Building and East and West Garages are needed to maintain the integrity and safety of these facilities and reduce the likelihood of unplanned outages and associated cost,” Dorn’s written testimony stated.
Dorn told CNSNews.com that the funding request is still being considered by the House Appropriations Committee and has yet to be approved by House Leadership.
According to the Architect of the Capitol, problems with the structures will require action to be taken “within the next 2 to 4 years.”
Wild Thing's comment..........
What part of “knock this crap off” do these congressmen don’t understand?
Deduct the parking garage from the overpaid Congress’ salaries.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:40 AM
May 22, 2009
It's all attitude! Enjoy!
Fran & Marlo Cowan an older couple walked into the lobby of the Mayo Clinic and spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year.
Wild Thing's comment.......
I love this and it really is true about a good attitude.
......Thank you so much Dap22 for sending this to me.
Major ( RET) Dustoff 22 (Dave)
Dustoff 22
USArmy
45th Medical Company Fort Bragg to Long Binh
VN (67-68)
Flight Instructor
USArmy Helicopter Training Center
70-88
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:24 PM | Comments (5)
Obama to Try Terror Suspect in NYC, First Gitmo Detainee Brought to U.S.
Obama to Try Terror Suspect in NYC, First Gitmo Detainee Brought to U.S.
The Obama administration is pressing ahead with its plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, deciding to put a "high value" detainee on trial in New York City despite resistance from some in Congress.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced early Thursday that Ahmed Ghailani will be sent to New York City for trial, which would make him the first Guantanamo detainee brought to the U.S. and the first to face trial in a civilian criminal court.
Ghailani was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa -- attacks that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. It was not immediately clear when the transfer would occur.
"By prosecuting Ahmed Ghailani in federal court, we will ensure that he finally answers for his alleged role in the bombing of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya," Holder said in a statement.
"This administration is committed to keeping the American people safe and upholding the rule of law, and by closing Guantanamo and bringing terrorists housed there to justice we will make our nation stronger and safer," the attorney general said.
Ghailani, a Tanzanian, was categorized as a high-value detainee by U.S. authorities after he was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and transferred to the detention center at the U.S. naval base in Cuba two years later.
The decision on the first U.S. trial of a Guantanamo detainee comes as President Barack Obama faces pressure from across the political spectrum on his plan to close the detention center by January 2010. Democrats have said they want to see the president's plan for closing the base before it approves money to finance it, and Republicans are fighting to keep Guantanamo open.
Some lawmakers have already voiced opposition to bringing Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. for trial, even in heavily guarded settings.
Obama is scheduled to give a major speech addressing Guantanamo and national security Thursday morning.
The Associated Press reported in March that Ghailani was among a handful of high-value suspects that prosecutors were considering bringing to trial in the United States on charges that predate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Trying Ghailani for the embassy attacks may help prosecutors avoid legal challenges surrounding Ghailani's detention and treatment.
U.S. authorities say he helped plan and deliver the explosives in the embassy attack, and later rose up through the Al Qaeda ranks.
He has denied knowing the TNT and oxygen tanks would be used to make a bomb. He also denied buying a vehicle used in the attack, saying he could not drive.
Just before the embassy bombings, Ghailani flew to Pakistan.
Last year, military prosecutors charged that after the 1998 bombings, Ghailani worked for Al Qaeda as a document forger, trainer at a terror camp and bodyguard to Usama bin Laden.
The Ghailani decision revives a long-dormant case charging bin Laden and top Al Qaeda leadership with plotting the Aug. 7, 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The blasts killed more than 200 people and injured thousands, including many who were blinded by shards of flying glass. The attacks prompted then-President Bill Clinton to launch cruise missile attacks two weeks later on bin Laden's Afghan camps.
Four other men have been tried and convicted in the New York courthouse for their roles in the embassy attacks. All were sentenced to life in prison.
Wild Thing's comment........
Obama cares more about the “rights” of terrorists than the safety of Americans. You have to hate your country to do something like this. I don’t trust Obama or the courts to keep these terrorists off our streets.
Also when he is moved from military custody into federal court jurisdiction the rules change. And he’ll get the best legal talent for free because of the news media coverage which could turn him into a folk hero. The costs of logistics, security and disruption of normal business will be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Nightmare waiting to happen that It will take one Muslim or America-hating leftist juror to hang the jury. And then he would walk!
Just one more thing, it is so obvious that Obama and his administration will do whatever they want to. We see that now more then ever. They have no intention of listening even to those in their own political party. Arrogance to this extreme is treacherous and of the most dangerous kind to someone that has been put in charge as president.
OBAMA IS THE NUMBER ONE MOST DANGEROUS PERSON IN AMERICA!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (11)
Say NO to KOH Nomination!!!
JUDGES should interpret the Constitution according to other nations' legal "norms." Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts. The United States constitutes an "axis of disobedience" along with North Korea and Saddam-era Iraq.
Those are the views of the man on track to become one of the US government's top lawyers: Harold Koh.
President Obama has nominated Koh -- until last week the dean of Yale Law School -- to be the State Department's legal adviser. In that job, Koh would forge a wide range of international agreements on issues from trade to arms control, and help represent our country in such places as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice.
It's a job where you want a strong defender of America's sovereignty. But that's not Koh. He's a fan of "transnational legal process," arguing that the distinctions between US and international law should vanish.
(snipet)
The primacy of international legal "norms" applies even to treaties we reject. For example, Koh believes that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child -- a problematic document that we haven't ratified -- should dictate the age at which individual US states can execute criminals. Got that? On issues ranging from affirmative action to the interrogation of terrorists, what the rest of the world says, goes.
Including, apparently, the world of radical imams. A New York lawyer, Steven Stein, says that, in addressing the Yale Club of Greenwich in 2007, Koh claimed that "in an appropriate case, he didn't see any reason why sharia law would not be applied to govern a case in the United States."
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His nomination is out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He will go before the Senate in June. You must contact your Senators. GO HERE.
There is a wealth of documentation and evidence here.
Here are my past posts here at Theodore's World about this horrible man:
Critics Decry Obama Nominee for State Dept. Legal Adviser Harold Koh
B.Hussein Obama's Most Perilous Legal Pick Harold Koh
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If you go HERE there are serveal letters and articles about NO on KOH
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Here is just one of them...................
Oliver North writes in the Fox News Forum on May 15, 2009:
It is said that there are two kinds of lawyers: Those who know the law and those who know the judge. And then there is Harold Koh, the man who is likely to be the next legal adviser to the State Department.
Koh most recently served as dean of the Yale Law School and before that as assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Labor and Human Rights in the Clinton administration. He is a prolific author and a legal activist of the left. Earlier this week, his nomination to be Foggy Bottom’s barrister was voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 12-5; his pending appointment has received scant attention from the media or the Senators who will decide his fate.
KOH's opinion of the Second Amendment. “What kind of global gun control regime could we and should we try to build?” Koh asked in an essay entitled A World Drowning in Guns. He urged “a global regulatory” scheme prohibiting the ownership of firearms could be achieved through a “process whereby rules negotiated among governments at a horizontal, intergovernmental level and interpreted through the interaction of transnational actors in these law-declaring fora are brought down vertically into the domestic law of each participating country — ‘brought home’ if you will — and internalized into the domestic statutes, executive practice, and judicial systems of those participating nations.”
In short, this means that U.S. law — constitutional or otherwise — must be amended or revised to comport with “international standards.” Presumably this same concept would apply not only to our Second Amendment, but to U.S. federal and state laws pertaining to abortion, same-sex marriage, pornography, drug use, private property rights or presumably, child molesting. In the Koh legal universe, these issues should be debated in the United Nations’ numerous institutions and commissions. Then, non-governmental organizations from around the globe will opine, a U.N. body will issue a report and the U.S. Congress and state legislatures will be given a deadline within which to pass conforming legislation. The will of the American people will no longer matter if it is contrary to that of the “world community.”
The Koh perspective on national security is equally alarming. In October, 2002 after Congress had already authorized the use of force against Iraq, he wrote in the Hartford Courant: “I believe… that it would be a mistake for our country to attack Iraq without explicit United Nations authorization,” because, “such an attack would violate international law.” Since the U.S. did not seek or obtain U.N. “permission” before liberating Iraq, Koh included the United States, Iraq and North Korea in what he described as an “Axis of Disobedience.”
In another time, this kind of record would disqualify any aspirant for an office requiring confirmation by the U.S. Senate. But these are indeed different times.
Wild Thing's comment.......
This man cannot get this nomination!!!!
Koh is scary, America hating idiot. He supports Muslims rights to be judged by Sharia Law as well. He also wants to hurt the arms manufacturers as much as he can.
Soros, B.Hussein Obama and KOH all thinking America is the bad guy, all hating our country and the rest of Obama's administration as well.
God Help us all.
.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (7)
Obama Wants U.S. to Loan $100 BILLION to Global Bailout
Obama Wants U.S. to Loan $100 Billion to Global Bailout Fund
Obama has asked Congress to authorize $100 billion in loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help create a $500 billion global bailout fund.
If passed by both the Senate and the House, the bill would allow the IMF to borrow up to $100 billion from the U.S. and increase the U.S. fiscal contribution to the IMF by $8 billion.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the loans would not cost the U.S. more than $5 billion.
“It’s a new appropriation,” Rob Blumenthal of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the committee that drafted the bill, told CNSNews.com.
“No money is required upfront. We’re not writing a check for 108 billion. So in the long term, if loans go into default, then what the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) is saying is that it might cost us up to $5 billion, but there’s no immediate outplay of funds.”
But the move is questioned by some lawmakers who are skeptical about lending money when the nation’s debt continues to climb – and who are concerned about the fact that the U.S. will have to borrow the money at some point to pay the $100 billion.
“Forcing taxpayers to borrow another $100 billion from China to bailout foreign countries makes no sense when we’re already facing record debt,” Wesley Denton, spokesman for Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), said.
Contributions from the U.S. and other countries would triple the IMF’s lending power and double its lending resources for low-income countries.
World leaders began on the global bailout initiative, called the New Arrangement for Borrowing (NAB), at the G-20 summit in early April. The president agreed at that time to make the additional funds available.
Last week, he sent letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner to seek their support.
“The NAB is a mechanism through which the IMF can obtain supplemental financial resources for use in its lending operations when the IMF’s existing resources are substantially drawn down in the face of circumstances that threaten the stability of the international monetary system,” Obama wrote.
“Treasury Secretary Geithner concluded that the size of the NAB is woefully inadequate to deal with the type of severe economic and financial crisis we are experiencing, and I agree with him,” the letter said.The Treasury Department released another letter to Pelosi and Reid Monday to express support for the plan. Japan has already signed a $100 billion pledge and the European Union, Norway, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea and Australia have also pledged billions of dollars for the global bailout. The IMF is a coalition of 185 countries that assesses the global financial situation and fosters stability and trade. Although its programs have been criticized in recent years, managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he is optimistic about the member-states’ cooperation in this new borrowing arrangement.
“This is the most coordinated stimulus ever,” Strauss-Kahn said at the G-20 summit in April.
“We have already finalized with the Japanese a $100 billion loan. The Europeans have committed another $100 billion. And we have other partners to complete the first rung of $250 billion, and then will come the second rung to create this NAB proposed by (U.S. Treasury Secretary) Tim Geithner, which altogether will increase the resources by $500 billion.
“$500 billion plus the $250 billion we already have makes – how do you say that? – a fire,” Strauss-Kahn, former French finance minister, said.
Wild Thing's comment.........
Obama is a TAX WHORE!
Hell will freeze over before Obama does anything that is NOT against our country. Barack Obama pledged $100 billion in foreign aid to help bail out the ailing International Monetary Fund in April. Only after he announced it did he go to Congress and make his case for the money.
Obama wants....Obama needs...Obama wants...Obama needs....narcissistic Kenyan bastard. RAPING every current and future citizen of this country. Why not just shoot ‘em in the head once you have FINISHED, Marxist!
It is for the good of the neighborhood.....Que Mr. Rogers!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (10)
Why Pelosi Must GO!
And there is also this article at
WHY PELOSI MUST GO
by Dick Morris
It’s obvious that either Leon Panetta, Obama’s head of the CIA, or Nancy Pelosi, his party’s Speaker of the House, has to go. No administration can tolerate a permanent, public civil war between two such high-ranking officials.
Especially when their disagreement stems not from issues of policy but from matters of veracity and credibility, the battle must end in one of their resignations. You cannot have the head of the nation’s first line of defense against terrorism calling the Speaker of the House a liar and being attacked by her in turn.
Obviously, Obama cannot fire Panetta. First of all, he just appointed him. And second, to cave in to Pelosi (D-Calif.) would earn him the massive disrespect and disapproval of the very operatives on whom he must depend to keep the nation safe.
Already skeptical of his leftist credentials, the analysts at the CIA would regard it as a massive vote of no confidence if their chief were fired for believing in them.
Like Clinton — whose draft-dodging made his relationship with the military problematic — Obama takes office amid reservations about him on the part of the intelligence community. He has taken pains to reach out to both the uniformed and white-collar intelligence officials to smooth his way and win their trust.
Panetta took over as CIA chief under the cloud of his agency’s distrust of the man who appointed him. Now he is standing firm for his agency and winning its loyalty and support.
Obama cannot pull the rug out from under him without incurring the agency’s permanent animosity. Before Sept. 11, 2001, that may have been an acceptable risk. Now it is not.
But Pelosi is expendable. The job of a Democratic Speaker is to pass the program of the Democratic president. Her ability and track record is measured on a scale of effectiveness. If she is ineffective, she’s not up to the job.
There is no way that Nancy Pelosi can be effective while she is engaged in a war of words with the Democratic head of the CIA.
House members have a shark’s instinct for blood in the water and know full well that satisfying Pelosi is likely to be an unrewarding occupation.
With House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) waiting in the wings, few congressmen would be willing to treat the IOUs from Pelosi they get for casting difficult votes as worth much more than Confederate currency.
Remember that Pelosi won by only 118-95 in her election as Speaker. Her support was not overwhelming to begin with. She is a movement liberal. Her political antecedents come from the McGovern wing of the party. She is a leftist/reformer. An insurgent.
But Hoyer is a regular Democrat. Representing a district in the D.C. suburbs of Maryland, he is almost a civil servant himself. He is no radical.
While he can be counted on to pass Obama’s programs like a good Democrat, he is not the kind of guy who will get out in front of the president to upstage or pressure him.
He will fit right in, unobtrusively backing the president. (Full disclosure: He’s a former client. Very former.)
Above all, Obama cannot allow the distraction and disruption of a feud between Speaker and CIA head to sow the image of an administration at war with itself.
The Speaker is the hired help. She exists to serve her president. And, right now, he needs this fight like he needs a hole in the head.
Wild Thing's comment........
Pelosi has made some BIG enemies so I honestly can't tell if the dems will throw her under the bus and the heck out ot Congress even or just let what she has done slide like they do all their other criminals.
I agree with Morris, she has to go and I don't think Obama likes her. heh heh That might make a difference in her having to leave too.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (4)
Harley-Davidson in Vanity Fair Salutes Women Riders
The behind the scenes footage from Harley-Davidson's new print campaign in the June Issue of Vanity Fair that salutes women riders and encourages females who have not yet hit the road on two wheels to "experience life with no regrets."
The women featured are health and wellness expert and NBCs The Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels; Grammy®-winning singer-songwriter Jewel; television and film actor Tricia Helfer; and Los Angeles rider/entrepreneur Deborah DiMiceli.
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Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (1)
US Navy Presidential Ceremonial Honor Guard Drill Team
US Navy Presidential Ceremonial Honor Guard Drill Team
This was about three years ago.
Our Navy Ceremonial Guard Silent Drill Team was invited to compete in an International Tattoo in Norway ...
They competed against military units from all over NATO.
They won first place.
Wild Thing's comment......
Fantastic, I love drill teams. They always amaze me!!!
....Thank you Horace for sending this to me.
Horace
U.S.Army
Horace Smith, Pvt. E-1, USAR
1956-1964
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (6)
Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Weekend ~ " We Will Never Forget"
Washington D.C. Memorial Day Weekend
May 24,2009
POW-MIA
“WE WILL NEVER FORGET”
Keynote Speaker (Sunday, May 24)
Col. Michael D. Steele, U.S. Army
Mike Steele is a Colonel in the United States Army. He was a company commander in the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment during the Somalia mission Operation Gothic Serpent, which resulted in the now famous book and movie Black Hawk Down, in which he was portrayed by actor Jason Isaacs.
Col. Steele was raised in north Georgia, and attended the University of Georgia, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and served as offensive guard for the Bulldogs, a team that won three Southeastern Conference Championships and the 1980 National Championship.
After college, Col. Steele was commissioned in the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in 1983, and has served in a variety of leadership and staff positions in the 25th Infantry Division (Light), 10th Mountain Division (Light), the 82d Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division, and the 75th Ranger Regiment. His deployments are numerous.
In addition to his service in Somalia, he was a Major serving as the Operations Officer of an airborne battalion to secure the Panama Canal; as a Battalion Commander in Bosnia for Operation Joint Forge; as a Division Operations Officer in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom; and as a Brigade Commander in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Colonel Steele’s current assignment is as the Chief of Training Division, United States Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Atlanta. He has two Master’s degrees: one in Administration from Central Michigan University, and one in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College. His awards include the Combat Infantryman’s Badge
Second Award, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, Master Parachutist Badge, Freefall Parachutist Badge, and the Air Assault Badge.
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Wild Thing's comment............
One time before I die, I would love to go to this. I am so glad Rolling Thunder does this every year. It is such a special time and in memory of our POW-MIA's Never to be forgotten ever.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:44 AM | Comments (6)
"Me Love you long time"
U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.
Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.
Previous studies in Asia and Africa and our own data from FSWs [female sex workers] in China suggest that the social norms and institutional policy within commercial sex venues as well as agents overseeing the FSWs (i.e., the 'gatekeepers', defined as persons who manage the establishments and/or sex workers) are potentially of great importance in influencing alcohol use and sexual behavior among establishment-based FSWs," says the NIH grant abstract submitted by Dr. Li.
"Therefore, in this application, we propose to develop, implement, and evaluate a venue-based alcohol use and HIV risk reduction intervention focusing on both environmental and individual factors among venue-based FSWs in China," says the abstract.
The research will take place in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi.
Guangxi is ranked third in HIV rate among Chna's provinces--and is a place where the sex business is pervasive, Li said.
“The purpose of the project is to try and develop an intervention program targeting HIV risk and alcohol use,” Li told CNSNews.com. “So basically, it’s an alcohol and HIV risk reduction intervention project."
The doctor said the heart of the study involves “a community-based cluster randomized controlled trial among 100 commercial sex venues in Beihai, a costal tourist city in Guangxi.”
“We want to get some understanding of the fundamental role of alcohol use and HIV risk,” he said. “We use the population in China as our targeted population to look at the basic issues. I think the findings will benefit the American people, too.”
Li said minimal research has been conducted on the link between alcohol use and prostitution as it relates to HIV.
“Alcohol has been a part of the commerce of sex for many, many years. Unfortunately, both global-wise (and) in the United States, very few researchers are looking at the complex issue of the inter play between alcohol and the commerce of sex,” he told CNSNews.com.
The grant is one of several “international initiatives” sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
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Wild Thing's comment........
So I guess they could call this the ChiHo project.
What a scam artist this guy is, so he has all this money, our tax dollars for his grant. More wasted tax dollars.
2.6 million so the “researcher” can go out drinking with prostitues and not even American. Can't they at least make grants only for Americans???
This is so stupid it goes beyond stupid.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (2)
May 21, 2009
VP Dick Cheney Makes Direct Hit and Kicks Obama's Punk Ass!
Text of Cheney's AEI ( American Enterprise Institute) Speech
Thank you all very much, and Arthur, thank you for that introduction. It’s good to be back at AEI, where we have many friends. Lynne is one of your longtime scholars, and I’m looking forward to spending more time here myself as a returning trustee. What happened was, they were looking for a new member of the board of trustees, and they asked me to head up the search committee.
I first came to AEI after serving at the Pentagon, and departed only after a very interesting job offer came along. I had no expectation of returning to public life, but my career worked out a little differently. Those eight years as vice president were quite a journey, and during a time of big events and great decisions, I don’t think I missed much.
Being the first vice president who had also served as secretary of defense, naturally my duties tended toward national security. I focused on those challenges day to day, mostly free from the usual political distractions. I had the advantage of being a vice president content with the responsibilities I had, and going about my work with no higher ambition. Today, I’m an even freer man. Your kind invitation brings me here as a private citizen – a career in politics behind me, no elections to win or lose, and no favor to seek.
The responsibilities we carried belong to others now. And though I’m not here to speak for George W. Bush, I am certain that no one wishes the current administration more success in defending the country than we do. We understand the complexities of national security decisions. We understand the pressures that confront a president and his advisers. Above all, we know what is at stake. And though administrations and policies have changed, the stakes for America have not changed.
Right now there is considerable debate in this city about the measures our administration took to defend the American people. Today I want to set forth the strategic thinking behind our policies. I do so as one who was there every day of the Bush Administration –who supported the policies when they were made, and without hesitation would do so again in the same circumstances.
When President Obama makes wise decisions, as I believe he has done in some respects on Afghanistan, and in reversing his plan to release incendiary photos, he deserves our support. And when he faults or mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer. The point is not to look backward. Now and for years to come, a lot rides on our President’s understanding of the security policies that preceded him. And whatever choices he makes concerning the defense of this country, those choices should not be based on slogans and campaign rhetoric, but on a truthful telling of history.
Our administration always faced its share of criticism, and from some quarters it was always intense. That was especially so in the later years of our term, when the dangers were as serious as ever, but the sense of general alarm after September 11th, 2001 was a fading memory. Part of our responsibility, as we saw it, was not to forget the terrible harm that had been done to America … and not to let 9/11 become the prelude to something much bigger and far worse.
That attack itself was, of course, the most devastating strike in a series of terrorist plots carried out against Americans at home and abroad. In 1993, they bombed the World Trade Center, hoping to bring down the towers with a blast from below. The attacks continued in 1995, with the bombing of U.S. facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the killing of servicemen at Khobar Towers in 1996; the attack on our embassies in East Africa in 1998; the murder of American sailors on the USS Cole in 2000; and then the hijackings of 9/11, and all the grief and loss we suffered on that day.
Nine-eleven caused everyone to take a serious second look at threats that had been gathering for a while, and enemies whose plans were getting bolder and more sophisticated. Throughout the 90s, America had responded to these attacks, if at all, on an ad hoc basis. The first attack on the World Trade Center was treated as a law enforcement problem, with everything handled after the fact – crime scene, arrests, indictments, convictions, prison sentences, case closed.
That’s how it seemed from a law enforcement perspective, at least – but for the terrorists the case was not closed. For them, it was another offensive strike in their ongoing war against the United States. And it turned their minds to even harder strikes with higher casualties. Nine-eleven made necessary a shift of policy, aimed at a clear strategic threat – what the Congress called “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” From that moment forward, instead of merely preparing to round up the suspects and count up the victims after the next attack, we were determined to prevent attacks in the first place.
We could count on almost universal support back then, because everyone understood the environment we were in. We’d just been hit by a foreign enemy – leaving 3,000 Americans dead, more than we lost at Pearl Harbor. In Manhattan, we were staring at 16 acres of ashes. The Pentagon took a direct hit, and the Capitol or the White House were spared only by the Americans on Flight 93, who died bravely and defiantly.
Everyone expected a follow-on attack, and our job was to stop it. We didn’t know what was coming next, but everything we did know in that autumn of 2001 looked bad. This was the world in which al-Qaeda was seeking nuclear technology, and A. Q. Khan was selling nuclear technology on the black market. We had the anthrax attack from an unknown source. We had the training camps of Afghanistan, and dictators like Saddam Hussein with known ties to Mideast terrorists.
These are just a few of the problems we had on our hands. And foremost on our minds was the prospect of the very worst coming to pass – a 9/11 with nuclear weapons.
For me, one of the defining experiences was the morning of 9/11 itself. As you might recall, I was in my office in that first hour, when radar caught sight of an airliner heading toward the White House at 500 miles an hour. That was Flight 77, the one that ended up hitting the Pentagon. With the plane still inbound, Secret Service agents came into my office and said we had to leave, now. A few moments later I found myself in a fortified White House command post somewhere down below.
There in the bunker came the reports and images that so many Americans remember from that day – word of the crash in Pennsylvania, the final phone calls from hijacked planes, the final horror for those who jumped to their death to escape burning alive. In the years since, I’ve heard occasional speculation that I’m a different man after 9/11. I wouldn’t say that. But I’ll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities.
To make certain our nation country never again faced such a day of horror, we developed a comprehensive strategy, beginning with far greater homeland security to make the United States a harder target. But since wars cannot be won on the defensive, we moved decisively against the terrorists in their hideouts and sanctuaries, and committed to using every asset to take down their networks. We decided, as well, to confront the regimes that sponsored terrorists, and to go after those who provide sanctuary, funding, and weapons to enemies of the United States. We turned special attention to regimes that had the capacity to build weapons of mass destruction, and might transfer such weapons to terrorists.
We did all of these things, and with bipartisan support put all these policies in place. It has resulted in serious blows against enemy operations … the take-down of the A.Q. Khan network … and the dismantling of Libya’s nuclear program. It’s required the commitment of many thousands of troops in two theaters of war, with high points and some low points in both Iraq and Afghanistan – and at every turn, the people of our military carried the heaviest burden. Well over seven years into the effort, one thing we know is that the enemy has spent most of this time on the defensive – and every attempt to strike inside the United States has failed.
So we’re left to draw one of two conclusions – and here is the great dividing line in our current debate over national security. You can look at the facts and conclude that the comprehensive strategy has worked, and therefore needs to be continued as vigilantly as ever. Or you can look at the same set of facts and conclude that 9/11 was a one-off event – coordinated, devastating, but also unique and not sufficient to justify a sustained wartime effort. Whichever conclusion you arrive at, it will shape your entire view of the last seven years, and of the policies necessary to protect America for years to come.
The key to any strategy is accurate intelligence, and skilled professionals to get that information in time to use it. In seeking to guard this nation against the threat of catastrophic violence, our Administration gave intelligence officers the tools and lawful authority they needed to gain vital information. We didn’t invent that authority. It is drawn from Article Two of the Constitution. And it was given specificity by the Congress after 9/11, in a Joint Resolution authorizing “all necessary and appropriate force” to protect the American people.
Our government prevented attacks and saved lives through the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which let us intercept calls and track contacts between al-Qaeda operatives and persons inside the United States. The program was top secret, and for good reason, until the editors of the New York Times got it and put it on the front page. After 9/11, the Times had spent months publishing the pictures and the stories of everyone killed by al-Qaeda on 9/11. Now here was that same newspaper publishing secrets in a way that could only help al-Qaeda. It impressed the Pulitzer committee, but it damn sure didn’t serve the interests of our country, or the safety of our people.
In the years after 9/11, our government also understood that the safety of the country required collecting information known only to the worst of the terrorists. And in a few cases, that information could be gained only through tough interrogations.
In top secret meetings about enhanced interrogations, I made my own beliefs clear. I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program. The interrogations were used on hardened terrorists after other efforts failed. They were legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do. The intelligence officers who questioned the terrorists can be proud of their work and proud of the results, because they prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people.
Our successors in office have their own views on all of these matters.
By presidential decision, last month we saw the selective release of documents relating to enhanced interrogations. This is held up as a bold exercise in open government, honoring the public’s right to know. We’re informed, as well, that there was much agonizing over this decision.
Yet somehow, when the soul-searching was done and the veil was lifted on the policies of the Bush administration, the public was given less than half the truth. The released memos were carefully redacted to leave out references to what our government learned through the methods in question. Other memos, laying out specific terrorist plots that were averted, apparently were not even considered for release. For reasons the administration has yet to explain, they believe the public has a right to know the method of the questions, but not the content of the answers.
Over on the left wing of the president’s party, there appears to be little curiosity in finding out what was learned from the terrorists. The kind of answers they’re after would be heard before a so-called “Truth Commission.” Some are even demanding that those who recommended and approved the interrogations be prosecuted, in effect treating political disagreements as a punishable offense, and political opponents as criminals. It’s hard to imagine a worse precedent, filled with more possibilities for trouble and abuse, than to have an incoming administration criminalize the policy decisions of its predecessors.
Apart from doing a serious injustice to intelligence operators and lawyers who deserve far better for their devoted service, the danger here is a loss of focus on national security, and what it requires. I would advise the administration to think very carefully about the course ahead. All the zeal that has been directed at interrogations is utterly misplaced. And staying on that path will only lead our government further away from its duty to protect the American people.
One person who by all accounts objected to the release of the interrogation memos was the Director of Central Intelligence, Leon Panetta. He was joined in that view by at least four of his predecessors. I assume they felt this way because they understand the importance of protecting intelligence sources, methods, and personnel. But now that this once top-secret information is out for all to see – including the enemy – let me draw your attention to some points that are routinely overlooked.
It is a fact that only detainees of the highest intelligence value were ever subjected to enhanced interrogation. You’ve heard endlessly about waterboarding. It happened to three terrorists. One of them was Khalid Sheikh Muhammed – the mastermind of 9/11, who has also boasted about beheading Daniel Pearl.
We had a lot of blind spots after the attacks on our country. We didn’t know about al-Qaeda’s plans, but Khalid Sheikh Muhammed and a few others did know. And with many thousands of innocent lives potentially in the balance, we didn’t think it made sense to let the terrorists answer questions in their own good time, if they answered them at all.
Maybe you’ve heard that when we captured KSM, he said he would talk as soon as he got to New York City and saw his lawyer. But like many critics of interrogations, he clearly misunderstood the business at hand. American personnel were not there to commence an elaborate legal proceeding, but to extract information from him before al-Qaeda could strike again and kill more of our people.
In public discussion of these matters, there has been a strange and sometimes willful attempt to conflate what happened at Abu Ghraib prison with the top secret program of enhanced interrogations. At Abu Ghraib, a few sadistic prison guards abused inmates in violation of American law, military regulations, and simple decency. For the harm they did, to Iraqi prisoners and to America’s cause, they deserved and received Army justice. And it takes a deeply unfair cast of mind to equate the disgraces of Abu Ghraib with the lawful, skillful, and entirely honorable work of CIA personnel trained to deal with a few malevolent men.
Those personnel were carefully chosen from within the CIA, and were specially prepared to apply techniques within the boundaries of their training and the limits of the law. Torture was never permitted, and the methods were given careful legal review before they were approved. Interrogators had authoritative guidance on the line between toughness and torture, and they knew to stay on the right side of it.
Even before the interrogation program began, and throughout its operation, it was closely reviewed to ensure that every method used was in full compliance with the Constitution, statutes, and treaty obligations. On numerous occasions, leading members of Congress, including the current speaker of the House, were briefed on the program and on the methods.
Yet for all these exacting efforts to do a hard and necessary job and to do it right, we hear from some quarters nothing but feigned outrage based on a false narrative. In my long experience in Washington, few matters have inspired so much contrived indignation and phony moralizing as the interrogation methods applied to a few captured terrorists.
I might add that people who consistently distort the truth in this way are in no position to lecture anyone about “values.” Intelligence officers of the United States were not trying to rough up some terrorists simply to avenge the dead of 9/11. We know the difference in this country between justice and vengeance. Intelligence officers were not trying to get terrorists to confess to past killings; they were trying to prevent future killings. From the beginning of the program, there was only one focused and all-important purpose. We sought, and we in fact obtained, specific information on terrorist plans.
Those are the basic facts on enhanced interrogations. And to call this a program of torture is to libel the dedicated professionals who have saved American lives, and to cast terrorists and murderers as innocent victims. What’s more, to completely rule out enhanced interrogation methods in the future is unwise in the extreme. It is recklessness cloaked in righteousness, and would make the American people less safe.
The administration seems to pride itself on searching for some kind of middle ground in policies addressing terrorism. They may take comfort in hearing disagreement from opposite ends of the spectrum. If liberals are unhappy about some decisions, and conservatives are unhappy about other decisions, then it may seem to them that the President is on the path of sensible compromise. But in the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground, and half-measures keep you half exposed. You cannot keep just some nuclear-armed terrorists out of the United States, you must keep every nuclear-armed terrorist out of the United States. Triangulation is a political strategy, not a national security strategy. When just a single clue that goes unlearned … one lead that goes unpursued … can bring on catastrophe – it’s no time for splitting differences. There is never a good time to compromise when the lives and safety of the American people are in the balance.
Behind the overwrought reaction to enhanced interrogations is a broader misconception about the threats that still face our country. You can sense the problem in the emergence of euphemisms that strive to put an imaginary distance between the American people and the terrorist enemy. Apparently using the term “war” where terrorists are concerned is starting to feel a bit dated. So henceforth we’re advised by the administration to think of the fight against terrorists as, quote, “Overseas contingency operations.” In the event of another terrorist attack on America, the Homeland Security Department assures us it will be ready for this, quote, “man-made disaster” – never mind that the whole Department was created for the purpose of protecting Americans from terrorist attack.
And when you hear that there are no more, quote, “enemy combatants,” as there were back in the days of that scary war on terror, at first that sounds like progress. The only problem is that the phrase is gone, but the same assortment of killers and would-be mass murderers are still there. And finding some less judgmental or more pleasant-sounding name for terrorists doesn’t change what they are – or what they would do if we let them loose.
On his second day in office, President Obama announced that he was closing the detention facility at Guantanamo. This step came with little deliberation and no plan. Their idea now, as stated by Attorney General Holder and others, is apparently to bring some of these hardened terrorists into the United States. On this one, I find myself in complete agreement with many in the President’s own party. Unsure how to explain to their constituents why terrorists might soon be relocating into their states, these Democrats chose instead to strip funding for such a move out of the most recent war supplemental.
The administration has found that it’s easy to receive applause in Europe for closing Guantanamo. But it’s tricky to come up with an alternative that will serve the interests of justice and America’s national security. Keep in mind that these are hardened terrorists picked up overseas since 9/11. The ones that were considered low-risk were released a long time ago. And among these, it turns out that many were treated too leniently, because they cut a straight path back to their prior line of work and have conducted murderous attacks in the Middle East. I think the President will find, upon reflection, that to bring the worst of the worst terrorists inside the United States would be cause for great danger and regret in the years to come.
In the category of euphemism, the prizewinning entry would be a recent editorial in a familiar newspaper that referred to terrorists we’ve captured as, quote, “abducted.” Here we have ruthless enemies of this country, stopped in their tracks by brave operatives in the service of America, and a major editorial page makes them sound like they were kidnap victims, picked up at random on their way to the movies.
It’s one thing to adopt the euphemisms that suggest we’re no longer engaged in a war. These are just words, and in the end it’s the policies that matter most. You don’t want to call them enemy combatants? Fine. Call them what you want – just don’t bring them into the United States. Tired of calling it a war? Use any term you prefer. Just remember it is a serious step to begin unraveling some of the very policies that have kept our people safe since 9/11.
Another term out there that slipped into the discussion is the notion that American interrogation practices were a “recruitment tool” for the enemy. On this theory, by the tough questioning of killers, we have supposedly fallen short of our own values. This recruitment-tool theory has become something of a mantra lately, including from the President himself. And after a familiar fashion, it excuses the violent and blames America for the evil that others do. It’s another version of that same old refrain from the Left, “We brought it on ourselves.”
It is much closer to the truth that terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by, not by some alleged failure to do so. Nor are terrorists or those who see them as victims exactly the best judges of America’s moral standards, one way or the other.
Critics of our policies are given to lecturing on the theme of being consistent with American values. But no moral value held dear by the American people obliges public servants ever to sacrifice innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things. And when an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them.
As a practical matter, too, terrorists may lack much, but they have never lacked for grievances against the United States. Our belief in freedom of speech and religion … our belief in equal rights for women … our support for Israel … our cultural and political influence in the world – these are the true sources of resentment, all mixed in with the lies and conspiracy theories of the radical clerics. These recruitment tools were in vigorous use throughout the 1990s, and they were sufficient to motivate the 19 recruits who boarded those planes on September 11th, 2001.
The United States of America was a good country before 9/11, just as we are today. List all the things that make us a force for good in the world – for liberty, for human rights, for the rational, peaceful resolution of differences – and what you end up with is a list of the reasons why the terrorists hate America. If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field. And when they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations, or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don’t stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along. Instead the terrorists see just what they were hoping for – our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted. In short, they see weakness and opportunity.
What is equally certain is this: The broad-based strategy set in motion by President Bush obviously had nothing to do with causing the events of 9/11. But the serious way we dealt with terrorists from then on, and all the intelligence we gathered in that time, had everything to do with preventing another 9/11 on our watch. The enhanced interrogations of high-value detainees and the terrorist surveillance program have without question made our country safer. Every senior official who has been briefed on these classified matters knows of specific attacks that were in the planning stages and were stopped by the programs we put in place.
This might explain why President Obama has reserved unto himself the right to order the use of enhanced interrogation should he deem it appropriate. What value remains to that authority is debatable, given that the enemy now knows exactly what interrogation methods to train against, and which ones not to worry about. Yet having reserved for himself the authority to order enhanced interrogation after an emergency, you would think that President Obama would be less disdainful of what his predecessor authorized after 9/11. It’s almost gone unnoticed that the president has retained the power to order the same methods in the same circumstances. When they talk about interrogations, he and his administration speak as if they have resolved some great moral dilemma in how to extract critical information from terrorists. Instead they have put the decision off, while assigning a presumption of moral superiority to any decision they make in the future.
Releasing the interrogation memos was flatly contrary to the national security interest of the United States. The harm done only begins with top secret information now in the hands of the terrorists, who have just received a lengthy insert for their training manual. Across the world, governments that have helped us capture terrorists will fear that sensitive joint operations will be compromised. And at the CIA, operatives are left to wonder if they can depend on the White House or Congress to back them up when the going gets tough. Why should any agency employee take on a difficult assignment when, even though they act lawfully and in good faith, years down the road the press and Congress will treat everything they do with suspicion, outright hostility, and second-guessing? Some members of Congress are notorious for demanding they be briefed into the most sensitive intelligence programs. They support them in private, and then head for the hills at the first sign of controversy.
As far as the interrogations are concerned, all that remains an official secret is the information we gained as a result. Some of his defenders say the unseen memos are inconclusive, which only raises the question why they won’t let the American people decide that for themselves. I saw that information as vice president, and I reviewed some of it again at the National Archives last month. I’ve formally asked that it be declassified so the American people can see the intelligence we obtained, the things we learned, and the consequences for national security. And as you may have heard, last week that request was formally rejected. It’s worth recalling that ultimate power of declassification belongs to the President himself. President Obama has used his declassification power to reveal what happened in the interrogation of terrorists. Now let him use that same power to show Americans what did not happen, thanks to the good work of our intelligence officials.
I believe this information will confirm the value of interrogations – and I am not alone. President Obama’s own Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Blair, has put it this way: “High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al-Qaeda organization that was attacking this country.” End quote. Admiral Blair put that conclusion in writing, only to see it mysteriously deleted in a later version released by the administration – the missing 26 words that tell an inconvenient truth. But they couldn’t change the words of George Tenet, the CIA Director under Presidents Clinton and Bush, who bluntly said: “I know that this program has saved lives. I know we’ve disrupted plots. I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency put together have been able to tell us.” End of quote.
If Americans do get the chance to learn what our country was spared, it’ll do more than clarify the urgency and the rightness of enhanced interrogations in the years after 9/11. It may help us to stay focused on dangers that have not gone away. Instead of idly debating which political opponents to prosecute and punish, our attention will return to where it belongs – on the continuing threat of terrorist violence, and on stopping the men who are planning it.
For all the partisan anger that still lingers, our administration will stand up well in history – not despite our actions after 9/11, but because of them. And when I think about all that was to come during our administration and afterward – the recriminations, the second-guessing, the charges of “hubris” – my mind always goes back to that moment.
To put things in perspective, suppose that on the evening of 9/11, President Bush and I had promised that for as long as we held office – which was to be another 2,689 days – there would never be another terrorist attack inside this country. Talk about hubris – it would have seemed a rash and irresponsible thing to say. People would have doubted that we even understood the enormity of what had just happened. Everyone had a very bad feeling about all of this, and felt certain that the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville were only the beginning of the violence.
Of course, we made no such promise. Instead, we promised an all-out effort to protect this country. We said we would marshal all elements of our nation’s power to fight this war and to win it. We said we would never forget what had happened on 9/11, even if the day came when many others did forget. We spoke of a war that would “include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success.” We followed through on all of this, and we stayed true to our word.
To the very end of our administration, we kept al-Qaeda terrorists busy with other problems. We focused on getting their secrets, instead of sharing ours with them. And on our watch, they never hit this country again. After the most lethal and devastating terrorist attack ever, seven and a half years without a repeat is not a record to be rebuked and scorned, much less criminalized. It is a record to be continued until the danger has passed.
Along the way there were some hard calls. No decision of national security was ever made lightly, and certainly never made in haste. As in all warfare, there have been costs – none higher than the sacrifices of those killed and wounded in our country’s service. And even the most decisive victories can never take away the sorrow of losing so many of our own – all those innocent victims of 9/11, and the heroic souls who died trying to save them.
For all that we’ve lost in this conflict, the United States has never lost its moral bearings. And when the moral reckoning turns to the men known as high-value terrorists, I can assure you they were neither innocent nor victims. As for those who asked them questions and got answers: they did the right thing, they made our country safer, and a lot of Americans are alive today because of them.
Like so many others who serve America, they are not the kind to insist on a thank-you. But I will always be grateful to each one of them, and proud to have served with them for a time in the same cause. They, and so many others, have given honorable service to our country through all the difficulties and all the dangers. I will always admire them and wish them well. And I am confident that this nation will never take their work, their dedication, or their achievements, for granted.
Thank you very much.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
OMG this is the best speech!!! He takes Obama down in such a awesome way. One hit after the other. I will try to get the videos later if they are posted. But if you have the time, this speech is so fantastic it is worth the read if you missed seeing it on TV.
It was so GREAT to hear from the American side !!! Unlike Obama and his Obama me me me and Muslim terrorists loving side. OMG I LOVE this speech, I wish Cheney was President!
We saw two men speak today, one is a true patriot and continues to work for our security and the good of our country, the other works for power, political advantage, personal gain and the very destruction of our country.
Cheney is slicing and dicing the Long Legged Mac Daddy.
Thank God for Cheney.
"Feigned outrage based upon a false narrative"...... calling Obama a liar!
“Triangulation is a political strategy, not a national security strategy” - Dick Cheney
“There is no time for splitting differences when the lives of American people hang in the balance.” - Cheney
“Our enemies see weakness” - nailed it.
“The missing 26 words that tell an inconvenient truth.”
"I believe this information will confirm the value of interrogations – and I am not alone. President Obama’s own Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Blair, has put it this way: “High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al-Qaeda organization that was attacking this country.” End quote. Admiral Blair put that conclusion in writing, only to see it mysteriously deleted in a later version released by the administration – the missing 26 words that tell an inconvenient truth. But they couldn’t change the words of George Tenet, the CIA Director under Presidents Clinton and Bush, who bluntly said: “I know that this program has saved lives. I know we’ve disrupted plots. I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency put together have been able to tell us.” End of quote. "
"Our government prevented attacks and saved lives through the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which let us intercept calls and track contacts between al-Qaeda operatives and persons inside the United States. The program was top secret, and for good reason, until the editors of the New York Times got it and put it on the front page. After 9/11, the Times had spent months publishing the pictures and the stories of everyone killed by al-Qaeda on 9/11. Now here was that same newspaper publishing secrets in a way that could only help al-Qaeda. It impressed the Pulitzer committee, but it damn sure didn’t serve the interests of our country, or the safety of our people."
Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense while Obama was still screwing around with organizing communities.
Cheney’s is the speech of a grownup, of a chief executive, of a statesman. He’s sober, realistic and concrete, stands up for his country and its public officials, and has an acute awareness of the consequences of the choices one makes as a public official and a willingness to take responsibility for those choices.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:55 PM | Comments (12)
Obama's Speech? A snit fit on national TV!
Obama’s Speech on Detainees and National Security
The prepared remarks of President Barack Obama at the National Archives Museum on detainee policy and national security.
These are extraordinary times for our country. We are confronting an historic economic crisis. We are fighting two wars. We face a range of challenges that will define the way that Americans will live in the 21st century. There is no shortage of work to be done, or responsibilities to bear.
And we have begun to make progress. Just this week, we have taken steps to protect American consumers and homeowners, and to reform our system of government contracting so that we better protect our people while spending our money more wisely. The engines of our economy are slowly beginning to turn, and we are working toward historic reform of health care and energy. I welcome the hard work that has been done by the Congress on these and other issues.
In the midst of all these challenges, however, my single most important responsibility as President is to keep the American people safe. That is the first thing that I think about when I wake up in the morning. It is the last thing that I think about when I go to sleep at night.
This responsibility is only magnified in an era when an extremist ideology threatens our people, and technology gives a handful of terrorists the potential to do us great harm. We are less than eight years removed from the deadliest attack on American soil in our history. We know that al Qaeda is actively planning to attack us again. We know that this threat will be with us for a long time, and that we must use all elements of our power to defeat it.
Already, we have taken several steps to achieve that goal. For the first time since 2002, we are providing the necessary resources and strategic direction to take the fight to the extremists who attacked us on 9/11 in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We are investing in the 21st century military and intelligence capabilities that will allow us to stay one step ahead of a nimble enemy. We have re-energized a global non-proliferation regime to deny the world’s most dangerous people access to the world’s deadliest weapons, and launched an effort to secure all loose nuclear materials within four years. We are better protecting our border, and increasing our preparedness for any future attack or natural disaster. We are building new partnerships around the world to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates. And we have renewed American diplomacy so that we once again have the strength and standing to truly lead the world.
These steps are all critical to keeping America secure. But I believe with every fiber of my being that in the long run we also cannot keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values. The documents that we hold in this very hall – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights –are not simply words written into aging parchment. They are the foundation of liberty and justice in this country, and a light that shines for all who seek freedom, fairness, equality and dignity in the world.
I stand here today as someone whose own life was made possible by these documents. My father came to our shores in search of the promise that they offered. My mother made me rise before dawn to learn of their truth when I lived as a child in a foreign land. My own American journey was paved by generations of citizens who gave meaning to those simple words – “to form a more perfect union.” I have studied the Constitution as a student; I have taught it as a teacher; I have been bound by it as a lawyer and legislator. I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief, and as a citizen, I know that we must never – ever – turn our back on its enduring principles for expedience sake.
I make this claim not simply as a matter of idealism. We uphold our most cherished values not only because doing so is right, but because it strengthens our country and keeps us safe. Time and again, our values have been our best national security asset – in war and peace; in times of ease and in eras of upheaval.
Fidelity to our values is the reason why the United States of America grew from a small string of colonies under the writ of an empire to the strongest nation in the world.
It is the reason why enemy soldiers have surrendered to us in battle, knowing they’d receive better treatment from America’s armed forces than from their own government.
It is the reason why America has benefited from strong alliances that amplified our power, and drawn a sharp and moral contrast with our adversaries.
It is the reason why we’ve been able to overpower the iron fist of fascism, outlast the iron curtain of communism, and enlist free nations and free people everywhere in common cause and common effort.
From Europe to the Pacific, we have been a nation that has shut down torture chambers and replaced tyranny with the rule of law. That is who we are. And where terrorists offer only the injustice of disorder and destruction, America must demonstrate that our values and institutions are more resilient than a hateful ideology.
After 9/11, we knew that we had entered a new era – that enemies who did not abide by any law of war would present new challenges to our application of the law; that our government would need new tools to protect the American people, and that these tools would have to allow us to prevent attacks instead of simply prosecuting those who try to carry them out.
Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions. And I believe that those decisions were motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people. But I also believe that – too often – our government made decisions based upon fear rather than foresight, and all too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions. Instead of strategically applying our power and our principles, we too often set those principles aside as luxuries that we could no longer afford. And in this season of fear, too many of us – Democrats and Republicans; politicians, journalists and citizens – fell silent.
In other words, we went off course. And this is not my assessment alone. It was an assessment that was shared by the American people, who nominated candidates for President from both major parties who, despite our many differences, called for a new approach – one that rejected torture, and recognized the imperative of closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Now let me be clear: we are indeed at war with al Qaeda and its affiliates. We do need to update our institutions to deal with this threat. But we must do so with an abiding confidence in the rule of law and due process; in checks and balances and accountability. For reasons that I will explain, the decisions that were made over the last eight years established an ad hoc legal approach for fighting terrorism that was neither effective nor sustainable – a framework that failed to rely on our legal traditions and time-tested institutions; that failed to use our values as a compass. And that is why I took several steps upon taking office to better protect the American people.
First, I banned the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques by the United States of America.
I know some have argued that brutal methods like water-boarding were necessary to keep us safe. I could not disagree more. As Commander-in-Chief, I see the intelligence, I bear responsibility for keeping this country safe, and I reject the assertion that these are the most effective means of interrogation. What’s more, they undermine the rule of law. They alienate us in the world. They serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists, and increase the will of our enemies to fight us, while decreasing the will of others to work with America. They risk the lives of our troops by making it less likely that others will surrender to them in battle, and more likely that Americans will be mistreated if they are captured. In short, they did not advance our war and counter-terrorism efforts – they undermined them, and that is why I ended them once and for all.
The arguments against these techniques did not originate from my Administration. As Senator McCain once said, torture “serves as a great propaganda tool for those who recruit people to fight against us.” And even under President Bush, there was recognition among members of his Administration – including a Secretary of State, other senior officials, and many in the military and intelligence community – that those who argued for these tactics were on the wrong side of the debate, and the wrong side of history. We must leave these methods where they belong – in the past. They are not who we are. They are not America.
The second decision that I made was to order the closing of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.
For over seven years, we have detained hundreds of people at Guantanamo. During that time, the system of Military Commissions at Guantanamo succeeded in convicting a grand total of three suspected terrorists. Let me repeat that: three convictions in over seven years. Instead of bringing terrorists to justice, efforts at prosecution met setbacks, cases lingered on, and in 2006 the Supreme Court invalidated the entire system. Meanwhile, over five hundred and twenty-five detainees were released from Guantanamo under the Bush Administration. Let me repeat that: two-thirds of the detainees were released before I took office and ordered the closure of Guantanamo.
There is also no question that Guantanamo set back the moral authority that is America’s strongest currency in the world. Instead of building a durable framework for the struggle against al Qaeda that drew upon our deeply held values and traditions, our government was defending positions that undermined the rule of law. Indeed, part of the rationale for establishing Guantanamo in the first place was the misplaced notion that a prison there would be beyond the law – a proposition that the Supreme Court soundly rejected. Meanwhile, instead of serving as a tool to counter-terrorism, Guantanamo became a symbol that helped al Qaeda recruit terrorists to its cause. Indeed, the existence of Guantanamo likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained.
So the record is clear: rather than keep us safer, the prison at Guantanamo has weakened American national security. It is a rallying cry for our enemies. It sets back the willingness of our allies to work with us in fighting an enemy that operates in scores of countries. By any measure, the costs of keeping it open far exceed the complications involved in closing it. That is why I argued that it should be closed throughout my campaign. And that is why I ordered it closed within one year.
The third decision that I made was to order a review of all the pending cases at Guantanamo.
I knew when I ordered Guantanamo closed that it would be difficult and complex. There are 240 people there who have now spent years in legal limbo. In dealing with this situation, we do not have the luxury of starting from scratch. We are cleaning up something that is – quite simply – a mess; a misguided experiment that has left in its wake a flood of legal challenges that my Administration is forced to deal with on a constant basis, and that consumes the time of government officials whose time should be spent on better protecting our country.
Indeed, the legal challenges that have sparked so much debate in recent weeks in Washington would be taking place whether or not I decided to close Guantanamo. For example, the court order to release seventeen Uighur detainees took place last fall – when George Bush was President. The Supreme Court that invalidated the system of prosecution at Guantanamo in 2006 was overwhelmingly appointed by Republican Presidents. In other words, the problem of what to do with Guantanamo detainees was not caused by my decision to close the facility; the problem exists because of the decision to open Guantanamo in the first place.
There are no neat or easy answers here. But I can tell you that the wrong answer is to pretend like this problem will go away if we maintain an unsustainable status quo. As President, I refuse to allow this problem to fester. Our security interests won’t permit it. Our courts won’t allow it. And neither should our conscience.
Now, over the last several weeks, we have seen a return of the politicization of these issues that have characterized the last several years. I understand that these problems arouse passions and concerns. They should. We are confronting some of the most complicated questions that a democracy can face. But I have no interest in spending our time re-litigating the policies of the last eight years. I want to solve these problems, and I want to solve them together as Americans.
And we will be ill-served by some of the fear-mongering that emerges whenever we discuss this issue. Listening to the recent debate, I’ve heard words that are calculated to scare people rather than educate them; words that have more to do with politics than protecting our country. So I want to take this opportunity to lay out what we are doing, and how we intend to resolve these outstanding issues. I will explain how each action that we are taking will help build a framework that protects both the American people and the values that we hold dear. And I will focus on two broad areas: first, issues relating to Guantanamo and our detention policy; second, issues relating to security and transparency.
Let me begin by disposing of one argument as plainly as I can: we are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security, nor will we release detainees within the United States who endanger the American people. Where demanded by justice and national security, we will seek to transfer some detainees to the same type of facilities in which we hold all manner of dangerous and violent criminals within our borders – highly secure prisons that ensure the public safety. As we make these decisions, bear in mind the following fact: nobody has ever escaped from one of our federal “supermax” prisons, which hold hundreds of convicted terrorists. As Senator Lindsey Graham said: “The idea that we cannot find a place to securely house 250-plus detainees within the United States is not rational.”
We are currently in the process of reviewing each of the detainee cases at Guantanamo to determine the appropriate policy for dealing with them. As we do so, we are acutely aware that under the last Administration, detainees were released only to return to the battlefield. That is why we are doing away with the poorly planned, haphazard approach that let those detainees go in the past. Instead, we are treating these cases with the care and attention that the law requires and our security demands. Going forward, these cases will fall into five distinct categories.
First, when feasible, we will try those who have violated American criminal laws in federal courts – courts provided for by the United States Constitution. Some have derided our federal courts as incapable of handling the trials of terrorists. They are wrong. Our courts and juries of our citizens are tough enough to convict terrorists, and the record makes that clear. Ramzi Yousef tried to blow up the World Trade Center – he was convicted in our courts, and is serving a life sentence in U.S. prison. Zaccarias Moussaoui has been identified as the 20th 9/11 hijacker – he was convicted in our courts, and he too is serving a life sentence in prison. If we can try those terrorists in our courts and hold them in our prisons, then we can do the same with detainees from Guantanamo.
Recently, we prosecuted and received a guilty plea from a detainee – al-Marri – in federal court after years of legal confusion. We are preparing to transfer another detainee to the Southern District of New York, where he will face trial on charges related to the 1998 bombings of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania – bombings that killed over 200 people. Preventing this detainee from coming to our shores would prevent his trial and conviction. And after over a decade, it is time to finally see that justice is served, and that is what we intend to do.
The second category of cases involves detainees who violate the laws of war and are best tried through Military Commissions. Military commissions have a history in the United States dating back to George Washington and the Revolutionary War. They are an appropriate venue for trying detainees for violations of the laws of war. They allow for the protection of sensitive sources and methods of intelligence-gathering; for the safety and security of participants; and for the presentation of evidence gathered from the battlefield that cannot be effectively presented in federal Courts.
Now, some have suggested that this represents a reversal on my part. They are wrong. In 2006, I did strongly oppose legislation proposed by the Bush Administration and passed by the Congress because it failed to establish a legitimate legal framework, with the kind of meaningful due process and rights for the accused that could stand up on appeal. I did, however, support the use of military commissions to try detainees, provided there were several reforms. And those are the reforms that we are making.
Instead of using the flawed Commissions of the last seven years, my Administration is bringing our Commissions in line with the rule of law. The rule will no longer permit us to use as evidence statements that have been obtained using cruel, inhuman, or degrading interrogation methods. We will no longer place the burden to prove that hearsay is unreliable on the opponent of the hearsay. And we will give detainees greater latitude in selecting their own counsel, and more protections if they refuse to testify. These reforms – among others – will make our Military Commissions a more credible and effective means of administering justice, and I will work with Congress and legal authorities across the political spectrum on legislation to ensure that these Commissions are fair, legitimate, and effective.
The third category of detainees includes those who we have been ordered released by the courts. Let me repeat what I said earlier: this has absolutely nothing to do with my decision to close Guantanamo. It has to do with the rule of law. The courts have found that there is no legitimate reason to hold twenty-one of the people currently held at Guantanamo. Twenty of these findings took place before I came into office. The United States is a nation of laws, and we must abide by these rulings.
The fourth category of cases involves detainees who we have determined can be transferred safely to another country. So far, our review team has approved fifty detainees for transfer. And my Administration is in ongoing discussions with a number of other countries about the transfer of detainees to their soil for detention and rehabilitation.
Finally, there remains the question of detainees at Guantanamo who cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people.
I want to be honest: this is the toughest issue we will face. We are going to exhaust every avenue that we have to prosecute those at Guantanamo who pose a danger to our country. But even when this process is complete, there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United States. Examples of that threat include people who have received extensive explosives training at al Qaeda training camps, commanded Taliban troops in battle, expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden, or otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans. These are people who, in effect, remain at war with the United States.
As I said, I am not going to release individuals who endanger the American people. Al Qaeda terrorists and their affiliates are at war with the United States, and those that we capture – like other prisoners of war – must be prevented from attacking us again. However, we must recognize that these detention policies cannot be unbounded. That is why my Administration has begun to reshape these standards to ensure they are in line with the rule of law. We must have clear, defensible and lawful standards for those who fall in this category. We must have fair procedures so that we don’t make mistakes. We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified.
I know that creating such a system poses unique challenges. Other countries have grappled with this question, and so must we. But I want to be very clear that our goal is to construct a legitimate legal framework for Guantanamo detainees – not to avoid one. In our constitutional system, prolonged detention should not be the decision of any one man. If and when we determine that the United States must hold individuals to keep them from carrying out an act of war, we will do so within a system that involves judicial and congressional oversight. And so going forward, my Administration will work with Congress to develop an appropriate legal regime so that our efforts are consistent with our values and our Constitution.
As our efforts to close Guantanamo move forward, I know that the politics in Congress will be difficult. These issues are fodder for 30-second commercials and direct mail pieces that are designed to frighten. I get it. But if we continue to make decisions from within a climate of fear, we will make more mistakes. And if we refuse to deal with these issues today, then I guarantee you that they will be an albatross around our efforts to combat terrorism in the future. I have confidence that the American people are more interested in doing what is right to protect this country than in political posturing. I am not the only person in this city who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution – so did each and every member of Congress. Together we have a responsibility to enlist our values in the effort to secure our people, and to leave behind the legacy that makes it easier for future Presidents to keep this country safe.
The second set of issues that I want to discuss relates to security and transparency.
National security requires a delicate balance. Our democracy depends upon transparency, but some information must be protected from public disclosure for the sake of our security – for instance, the movements of our troops; our intelligence-gathering; or the information we have about a terrorist organization and its affiliates. In these and other cases, lives are at stake.
Several weeks ago, as part of an ongoing court case, I released memos issued by the previous Administration’s Office of Legal Counsel. I did not do this because I disagreed with the enhanced interrogation techniques that those memos authorized, or because I reject their legal rationale – although I do on both counts. I released the memos because the existence of that approach to interrogation was already widely known, the Bush Administration had acknowledged its existence, and I had already banned those methods. The argument that somehow by releasing those memos, we are providing terrorists with information about how they will be interrogated is unfounded – we will not be interrogating terrorists using that approach, because that approach is now prohibited.
In short, I released these memos because there was no overriding reason to protect them. And the ensuing debate has helped the American people better understand how these interrogation methods came to be authorized and used.
On the other hand, I recently opposed the release of certain photographs that were taken of detainees by U.S. personnel between 2002 and 2004. Individuals who violated standards of behavior in these photos have been investigated and held accountable. There is no debate as to whether what is reflected in those photos is wrong, and nothing has been concealed to absolve perpetrators of crimes. However, it was my judgment – informed by my national security team – that releasing these photos would inflame anti-American opinion, and allow our enemies to paint U.S. troops with a broad, damning and inaccurate brush, endangering them in theaters of war.
In short, there is a clear and compelling reason to not release these particular photos. There are nearly 200,000 Americans who are serving in harm’s way, and I have a solemn responsibility for their safety as Commander-in-Chief. Nothing would be gained by the release of these photos that matters more than the lives of our young men and women serving in harm’s way.
In each of these cases, I had to strike the right balance between transparency and national security. This balance brings with it a precious responsibility. And there is no doubt that the American people have seen this balance tested. In the images from Abu Ghraib and the brutal interrogation techniques made public long before I was President, the American people learned of actions taken in their name that bear no resemblance to the ideals that generations of Americans have fought for. And whether it was the run-up to the Iraq War or the revelation of secret programs, Americans often felt like part of the story had been unnecessarily withheld from them. That causes suspicion to build up. That leads to a thirst for accountability.
I ran for President promising transparency, and I meant what I said. That is why, whenever possible, we will make information available to the American people so that they can make informed judgments and hold us accountable. But I have never argued – and never will – that our most sensitive national security matters should be an open book. I will never abandon – and I will vigorously defend – the necessity of classification to defend our troops at war; to protect sources and methods; and to safeguard confidential actions that keep the American people safe. And so, whenever we cannot release certain information to the public for valid national security reasons, I will insist that there is oversight of my actions – by Congress or by the courts.
We are launching a review of current policies by all of those agencies responsible for the classification of documents to determine where reforms are possible, and to assure that the other branches of government will be in a position to review executive branch decisions on these matters. Because in our system of checks and balances, someone must always watch over the watchers – especially when it comes to sensitive information.
Along those same lines, my Administration is also confronting challenges to what is known as the “State Secrets” privilege. This is a doctrine that allows the government to challenge legal cases involving secret programs. It has been used by many past Presidents – Republican and Democrat – for many decades. And while this principle is absolutely necessary to protect national security, I am concerned that it has been over-used. We must not protect information merely because it reveals the violation of a law or embarrasses the government. That is why my Administration is nearing completion of a thorough review of this practice.
We plan to embrace several principles for reform. We will apply a stricter legal test to material that can be protected under the State Secrets privilege. We will not assert the privilege in court without first following a formal process, including review by a Justice Department committee and the personal approval of the Attorney General. Finally, each year we will voluntarily report to Congress when we have invoked the privilege and why, because there must be proper oversight of our actions.
On all of these matter related to the disclosure of sensitive information, I wish I could say that there is a simple formula. But there is not. These are tough calls involving competing concerns, and they require a surgical approach. But the common thread that runs through all of my decisions is simple: we will safeguard what we must to protect the American people, but we will also ensure the accountability and oversight that is the hallmark of our constitutional system. I will never hide the truth because it is uncomfortable. I will deal with Congress and the courts as co-equal branches of government. I will tell the American people what I know and don’t know, and when I release something publicly or keep something secret, I will tell you why.
In all of the areas that I have discussed today, the policies that I have proposed represent a new direction from the last eight years. To protect the American people and our values, we have banned enhanced interrogation techniques. We are closing the prison at Guantanamo. We are reforming Military Commissions, and we will pursue a new legal regime to detain terrorists. We are declassifying more information and embracing more oversight of our actions, and narrowing our use of the State Secrets privilege. These are dramatic changes that will put our approach to national security on a surer, safer and more sustainable footing, and their implementation will take time.
There is a core principle that we will apply to all of our actions: even as we clean up the mess at Guantanamo, we will constantly re-evaluate our approach, subject our decisions to review from the other branches of government, and seek the strongest and most sustainable legal framework for addressing these issues in the long-term. By doing that, we can leave behind a legacy that outlasts my Administration, and that endures for the next President and the President after that; a legacy that protects the American people, and enjoys broad legitimacy at home and abroad.
That is what I mean when I say that we need to focus on the future. I recognize that many still have a strong desire to focus on the past. When it comes to the actions of the last eight years, some Americans are angry; others want to re-fight debates that have been settled, most clearly at the ballot box in November. And I know that these debates lead directly to a call for a fuller accounting, perhaps through an Independent Commission.
I have opposed the creation of such a Commission because I believe that our existing democratic institutions are strong enough to deliver accountability. The Congress can review abuses of our values, and there are ongoing inquiries by the Congress into matters like enhanced interrogation techniques. The Department of Justice and our courts can work through and punish any violations of our laws.
I understand that it is no secret that there is a tendency in Washington to spend our time pointing fingers at one another. And our media culture feeds the impulses that lead to a good fight. Nothing will contribute more to that than an extended re-litigation of the last eight years. Already, we have seen how that kind of effort only leads those in Washington to different sides laying blame, and can distract us from focusing our time, our effort, and our politics on the challenges of the future.
We see that, above all, in how the recent debate has been obscured by two opposite and absolutist ends. On one side of the spectrum, there are those who make little allowance for the unique challenges posed by terrorism, and who would almost never put national security over transparency. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who embrace a view that can be summarized in two words: “anything goes.” Their arguments suggest that the ends of fighting terrorism can be used to justify any means, and that the President should have blanket authority to do whatever he wants – provided that it is a President with whom they agree.
Both sides may be sincere in their views, but neither side is right. The American people are not absolutist, and they don’t elect us to impose a rigid ideology on our problems. They know that we need not sacrifice our security for our values, nor sacrifice our values for our security, so long as we approach difficult questions with honesty, and care, and a dose of common sense. That, after all, is the unique genius of America. That is the challenge laid down by our Constitution. That has been the source of our strength through the ages. That is what makes the United States of America different as a nation.
I can stand here today, as President of the United States, and say without exception or equivocation that we do not torture, and that we will vigorously protect our people while forging a strong and durable framework that allows us to fight terrorism while abiding by the rule of law. Make no mistake: if we fail to turn the page on the approach that was taken over the past several years, then I will not be able to say that as President. And if we cannot stand for those core values, then we are not keeping faith with the documents that are enshrined in this hall.
The Framers who drafted the Constitution could not have foreseen the challenges that have unfolded over the last two hundred and twenty two years. But our Constitution has endured through secession and civil rights – through World War and Cold War – because it provides a foundation of principles that can be applied pragmatically; it provides a compass that can help us find our way. It hasn’t always been easy. We are an imperfect people. Every now and then, there are those who think that America’s safety and success requires us to walk away from the sacred principles enshrined in this building. We hear such voices today. But the American people have resisted that temptation. And though we have made our share of mistakes and course corrections, we have held fast to the principles that have been the source of our strength, and a beacon to the world.
Now, this generation faces a great test in the specter of terrorism. Unlike the Civil War or World War II, we cannot count on a surrender ceremony to bring this journey to an end. Right now, in distant training camps and in crowded cities, there are people plotting to take American lives. That will be the case a year from now, five years from now, and – in all probability – ten years from now. Neither I nor anyone else can standing here today can say that there will not be another terrorist attack that takes American lives. But I can say with certainty that my Administration – along with our extraordinary troops and the patriotic men and women who defend our national security – will do everything in our power to keep the American people safe. And I do know with certainty that we can defeat al Qaeda. Because the terrorists can only succeed if they swell their ranks and alienate America from our allies, and they will never be able to do that if we stay true to who we are; if we forge tough and durable approaches to fighting terrorism that are anchored in our timeless ideals.
This must be our common purpose. I ran for President because I believe that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together. We will not be safe if we see national security as a wedge that divides America – it can and must be a cause that unites us as one people, as one nation. We have done so before in times that were more perilous than ours. We will do so once again. Thank you, God Bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Obama shows weakness that is unparalleled in a president.
What a thin skinned spoiled brat!
Good lord, back to "I want to be perfectly clear" for the upteenth time. I swear this is something he says constantly!!!!!!!!!!
Whine, whine, whine. Every screw up Oboma has ever made is always Bush's fault. It's really getting old.
I'll bet up until the very day he was affermatived into the presidency, he blamed his mother for everything, too.
Obama is such a whiner!
If you summarize everything he’s saying, it’s all about how smart and wonderful he is, and how lucky we are he’s in charge now. This guy defines a new category of narcissism. Good God, how embarrassing. This is the most defensive speech I have ever seen given by a president.
He hasn’t stopped campaigning. I would love to see some bumbling intern walk by and “accidentally” trip over the teleprompter’s power cord and unplug it. To hear Obama say that we must “adhere to the rule of law” is particularly grating, offensive, and disingenuous, considering how he has demonstrated a complete disregard for sections of the Constitution when he finds it convenient to do so.
Obama accused the right of using scare tactics. You suck Obama!
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:50 PM | Comments (5)
4 Arrested in New York Terror Plot
4 Arrested in New York Terror Plot
Federal authorities arrested four men on Wednesday night on charges of plotting to bomb two synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx and to use antiaircraft missiles to shoot down military planes at a military base in Newburgh, N.Y., 60 miles north of New York City.
ARRESTED:
JAMES CROMITIE, a/k/a "Abdul Rahman," a/k/a "Abdul Rehman,"
DAVID WILLIAMS, a/k/a "Daoud," a/k/a "DL,"
ONTA WILLIAMS, a/k/a "Hamza,"
LAGUERRE PAYEN, a/k/a "Amin," a/k/a "Almondo,"
The charges, which include conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use antiaircraft missiles, represent some of the most significant allegations of domestic terrorism in some time. They come months into a new presidential administration, and as President Obama grapples with the question of how to handle detainees at the Guantánamo naval base in Cuba.
Mr. Cromitie, who is described as the lead defendant, is said to have told an F.B.I. informer that he had ties with Jaish-e-Muhammad, a jihadist group based in Pakistan. None of the defendants actually obtained weapons of mass destruction, according to the authorities. The men were, however, given an antiaircraft missile system that was incapable of being fired, as well as homemade bombs containing inert plastic explosives, as part of the undercover investigation, the authorities said.
For complete story please go HERE
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They planted what they thought were explosives in a parked car outside the house of worship.
One acted as a lookout, while the other three allegedly drove up the block to the Riverdale Jewish Center and planted two more bags of "explosives" in cars.
Unbeknownst to them, their explosives were duds -- supplied by authorities who had been monitoring their plan for more than a year.
Cops swooped in and arrested them right after they allegedly planted the last of the phony bombs.
One of the suspects, James Cromitie, a k a Abdul Rahman, bragged that blowing up the synagogues would be a "piece of cake," the feds said.
"I hate those motherf - - -ers, those f - - -ing Jewish bastards . . . I would like to get a synagogue," Cromitie told an informant, according to a criminal complaint.
The alleged terrorists' hatred also included the US military.
After bombing the temples, the men planned to split up and head to the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport in their hometown and shoot down a plane with a weapon they believed was a Stinger surface-to-air guided missile, sources said.
"They [the United States military] are killing Muslim brothers and sisters in Muslim countries, so if we kill them here [in the United States] with IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and Stingers, it is equal," one of the busted men, Onta Williams, allegedly told the informant.
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FBI arrest four in alleged plot to bomb Bronx synagogues, shoot down plane”
Updated
SNIPPET: “All four men were US-born.
Arrested was alleged ringleader James Cromitie of Newburgh, the son of an Afghan immigrant and his wife.
Cromitie served a long stretch in prison in the past.
Alleged henchment David Williams, Onta Williams and Leguerre Payen were busted with him.
Sources said the three were jailhouse converts to Islam.”
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Wild Thing's comment........
Four Obama voters doing what comes natural to them Hopefully they are being sent to Gitmo to join their relatives, now that it will be open for business awhile longer.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (9)
I Guess They Would Be Called .... AFRONAUTS
ENTEBBE, Uganda
(AFP)
Africans must travel to the moon to investigate what developed nations have been doing in outer space, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Saturday.
"The Americans have gone to the moon. And the Russians. The Chinese and Indians will go there soon. Africans are the only ones who are stuck here," Museveni said, addressing a meeting of the Uganda Law Society in Entebbe.
"We must also go there and say: 'What are you people doing up here?'."
Museveni urged the assembly of Uganda's top lawyers to support East African integration, arguing that one of the region's goals should be to develop a space programme.
"Uganda alone cannot go to the moon. We are too small. But East Africa united can. That is what East African integration is all about," he said. "Then we can say to the Americans: 'What are you doing here all alone?'."
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Wild Thing's comment............
"....he said. "Then we can say to the Americans: 'What are you doing here all alone?'
ROTFLMAO
“The Americans have gone to the moon. And the Russians. The Chinese and Indians will go there soon."
Is this guy a nephew of 57 States Obama? Perhaps Joe Biden illegitimate son Of the 4 Nations he listed only, America has landed on the moon.
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......Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion - 1st Aviation Brigade - Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (14)
Democrats Seek Money for Minority-owned Broadcasters
Democrats seek financial rescue of minority-owned broadcasters
High-ranking House Democrats are urging the Treasury Department to prop up minority-owned broadcasters suffering from a lack of capital and lost advertising revenue amid the economic slump.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is leading an effort to convince Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to take “decisive action” by extending credit to this sector of the broadcasting industry.
Clyburn and other senior members, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), argue that minority-owned broadcasters are sound businesses, but that the recession could undermine the government’s efforts to diversify the airwaves.
A number of members from the Congressional Black Caucus signed the letter, too.
“While many jobs are at stake, a more important principle — the government’s fundamental interest in promoting a diversity of voices, including service to underserved communities — is severely threatened,” the members write in a draft of a letter that was scheduled to be sent Tuesday.
The letter comes as some of the biggest recipients of government bailout money, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, jockey to repay government bailout money. As banks seek a way out from the government’s restrictions, other industries struggle and seek government support. Some firms seeking to repay the government argue that the government’s restrictions have burdened their businesses.
The congressmen suggest the Treasury Department could provide access to capital to minority-owned broadcasters, which they say represent less than 7 percent of full-power radio stations and a “negligible” ownership of television stations.
“They are looking for continued access to capital to continue their otherwise fundamentally sound operations,” the members write.
The letter suggests Treasury could set up a credit facility specific to the industry, similar to the government’s efforts to support auto suppliers, or possibly set up a program for bridge financing and government-backed loans until the economy improves.
“In addition to the credit crisis, also weighing heavily on minority broadcasters is a significant decline in advertising revenues, particularly the loss of automobile advertising,” the congressmen write.
The members are asking for a meeting with the Treasury Department and minority-owned broadcast entities and representatives from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.
Other members signing the letter are Democratic Reps. Bobby Rush (Ill.), Edolphus Towns (N.Y.), Maurice Hinchey (N.Y.), Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), Maxine Waters (Calif.), Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), G.K. Butterfield (N.C.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Lynn Woolsey (Calif.) and Bennie Thompson (Miss.)
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Wild Thing's comment.........
I think this is Racist!
“They are looking for continued access to capital to continue their otherwise fundamentally sound operations,” the members write.
Scratching my head, I don't get it. If they are " otherwise fundamentally sound operations", then why are they looking for a handout. Wouldn't they have their own capitol? They own backing from advertisers etc. This just does not make sense to me.
From Rush on this, he gave a great take on this:
When Tim Geithner and Barack Obama buy companies, they run them. What's happening here, this is about statists owning media. This is the first step toward Obama and the government owning minority radio stations. Crisis is an opportunity, after all, remember? "High-ranking House Democrats are urging the Treasury department to prop up --" I mean they propped up GM, they own it, right? They propped up the banks, they own it, the mortgages, they own it, right? Propped up minority-owned broadcasters suffering from lack of capital and lost advertising revenue.
Now, later in the story, here's the irony: "In addition to the credit crisis, also weighing heavily on minority broadcasters is a significant decline in advertising revenues, particularly the loss of automobile advertising." Ha! Make me laugh! It is Obama who has slashed the advertising budgets of the auto companies! Obama, the first black president, has cut the Chrysler ad budget in half; he's going to do the same thing to General Motors. That hurts the media, and particularly the minority-owned media, according to this story.
So Obama will get an opportunity to buy into the broadcasting business. This is shades of Hugo Chavez. But the unintended consequences of these people taking over the automobile companies -- they haven't stopped to think. Shutting down all of these dealerships? Did they know how important to communities dealerships are, these owners, what they do, they donate to charity, they prop up the local symphony, they do a lot of things, and they're being shut down.
The lack of revenue in local communities that will result from these dealerships being shut down is going to be devastating. It's going to mean more people out of work, not just at the dealership. It's going to mean less charitable operating revenue in these communities
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (8)
The Sad CAFE
The Obama administration’s proposed mileage standards that will be announced today may kill more Americans at a faster rate than the Iraq War, his signature issue in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Obama’s standards will require automakers to meet a 35 miles-per-gallon standard by 2016, four years earlier than the same standard imposed by the Energy Security and Independence Act of 2007.
The only way for carmakers to meet these standard is to make smaller, lighter -- and deadlier cars.
The National Academy of Sciences has linked mileage standards with about 2,000 deaths per year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that every 100-pound reduction in the weight of small cars increases annual traffic fatalities by as much as 715.
In contrast in the more than six years since the Iraq war began, there have been 4,296 deaths among American military personnel.
And what will be gained by the new mileage standards?
The Natural Resources Defense Council said that the 35 MPG standard would save about one million gallons of gas per day. So how does that savings balance against the 2,000 fatalities per year that the National Academy of Sciences says are caused by those same lighter cars?
For the sake of being utilitarian, let’s generously assume that the mileage standards reduced the price of gasoline by $1. That would translate to a daily savings of $1 million. Is that savings worth killing more than five people per day, plus other non-fatal injuries and property damage?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- for the purposes of risk assessment -- values a single human life at $6.9 million dollars. So the new mileage standards would cost about $35 million per day in human lives (not including non-fatal injuries) to save $1 million in gas.
There’s also another lesson hidden in the proposed standards, one that applies to businesses trying to game global warming legislation.
Carmakers lobbied hard against overly stringent mileage standards in the 2007 energy bill, finally negotiating with Congress a compromise standard they thought they at least had a chance to meet. President Obama has now pulled the rug out from under the carmakers and their 2007 deal with Congress.
This ought to serve as a lesson for businesses that are trying to negotiate a climate deal they think they can survive. Rest assured that as soon as business groups agree to a climate deal, the Greens and the Obama administration will go to work the next day figuring out ways to bulldoze the deal in order to make greenhouse gas limitations more stringent and more expensive.
Businesses often operate under the misimpression that they can cut lasting, win-win compromise deals with environmental groups. But such dealing is an impossibility since the Green Left is ideologically driven and will not be happy until capitalism is stamped out. The Greens are not interested in compromise. Like blood in the water to sharks, compromise by businesses signals weakness and vulnerability, and, therefore, opportunity for the Green movement to impose an agenda that is costly in treasure, and costlier in human lives and suffering.
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Worse or Worser: Automakers consider new mpg standard to prevent Senate bill
In the Wild West, the order would have been "Cut them off at the pass!" For carmakers today battling with wildly fluctuating forecasts for mpg, CO2, and CAFE standards, the mission is to cut them off at the Capital. Taking matters upon themselves, some manufacturers are considering a proposal that would require 36 mpg for cars and 30 mpg for light trucks.
That proposal is being offered in an attempt to derail the fuel economy measure being taken up by the Senate in a couple of weeks. That's the one that calls for a CAFE standard of 35 mpg fleetwide by 2020 and a 4% increase every year for ten years, to which the automakers have unanimously replied, 'never gonna happen.'
Environmentalists are trying to make that bill even stronger, seeing that is has a provision allowing the government to reduce the standard if it is found to be too technologically or financially difficult for automakers to achieve.
Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who's a friend of the industry, is proposing an alternative that mandates 36 mpg for cars by 2022, and a 30 mpg for trucks by 2025.
Let's see -- that would give a 33 mpg average for cars and trucks in a maker's fleet by 2025, which is 2 mpg and 5 years shy of the CAFE standard requested in the bill the carmakers don't like. Is it us, or is this really just about timing?
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Obama just took over the job of Congress by passing his own laws, what are we paying those clowns on the Hill for.
The Obama & Congress have nationalized the Auto Industry and is forcing it to build 'Mickey Mouse Cars' that no one wants to buy.
The Obama & Congress have refused to lets us drill for oil, natural gas, use of coal that would free us from foreign imports.
The Obama & Congress are willing to Sacrafice/Kill 2,000 people a day in "MIckey Mouse Cars" at a cost of 35 million dollars to save 1 million dollars worth of gas made from foreign oil.
All of this regardless of the fact that we could produce cheaper gas from our own oil and save 2,000 lives a year or more with cars people want.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (6)
ACORN Logo on Fake 'Obama Dollar Bill'
Seen at Union Square (NYC).
On the 'Obama 44 dollar bill', instead of the United States Treasury Seal, they put the ACORN logo.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Good grief, I know this is fake money, but ACORN on the money???? Sheesh! God help us from Obama and the ACORN people.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (2)
Limbaugh Shows How Absurd LIBERAL Colin Powell Has Become
Rush Limbaugh resigned as the head of the GOP today and appointed Colin Powell as the new head of the Republican party. Rush's action demonstrated the absurdity of claiming he was the head of the Republican party to begin with.
Powell to Rush, Cheney: Room for me among 'emerging' Republican Party
Colin Powell issued a sharp rebuke Tuesday night to Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney for trying to exclude him from the backbiting Republican Party.
Before some 1,500 business leaders in Boston, as well as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and wife Gisele Bundchen, the retired general and former secretary of state spoke openly of the dispute roiling the Grand Old Party after election setbacks and polls putting its popularity at roughly one of five Americans.
"Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party.' Dick Cheney says, 'He's already out.' I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again," Powell told the crowd.
Limbaugh hit back at Powell on his radio show yesterday .
Transcript from Rush Limbaugh Show:
"The version of the party that he's waiting to emerge is not the Reagan wing of the party. Does Powell have the pulse of the Republican Party, folks? He's for more spending. He's for higher taxes. He's against raising the social issues. He's for affirmative action. He's for amnesty for illegals. He endorsed Obama.
"And now there's an agenda -- an emerging agenda -- that he's waiting for for the Republican Party? The only thing emerging here is Colin Powell's ego. Colin Powell represents the stale, the old, the worn-out GOP that never won anything. The party of Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Bill Scranton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and those types of people. Has anybody heard Colin Powell say a single word against Obama's radicalism -- or Pelosi or Reid, for that matter? Maybe he has but his fawning media sure hasn't reported if he has said it."
Last November's election, Powell delivered his prized endorsement to President Obama, giving him a major last-month boost.
Powell, who was talked about as a presidential candidate himself over the year, called Obama "a transformational figure" who "brings a fresh set of eyes, a fresh set of ideas" at a time the nation urgently needs them. "He has met the standard of being president," he said.
The most recent tiff started earlier this month when Powell told a group of corporate executives that “the Republican Party is in deep trouble” and blamed Limbaugh, saying he “diminishes the party” and corrupts our public life with “a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without.”
Limbaugh Responds to RINO/Liberal Powell
“I don’t care what Colin Powell says,” Limbaugh responded soon after. “This kind of stuff is said about me three times a day … and Colin Powell is just another liberal.”
“What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat,” Limbaugh said.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
LOL I love how Rush kills them with sarcasm I am not too good at that, and am always amazed when someone like Rush can fire a shot to the enemy and have me laughing at the same time.
It would be fine with me if Powell, McCain and the trash mouth Meghan McCain decided to join the Democrat party. I would not miss any of them. I have had it with the attacks on Conservatives.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:44 AM | Comments (4)
A Special Monday Morning at Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)
This video was made in the Antwerp, Belgium Central Station (train).
On a Monday morning, with no warning to the passengers passing through the station, a recording of Julie Andrews comes on the public address system singing “Do, Re, Mi.” As the bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances.
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Wild Thing's comment......
This is wonderful and I love how the joy of the music and dancing touched people and we can also see people that were not part of the professioinal dancers group joined in on their own.
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.....Thank you John G. for this wonderful video.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:42 AM | Comments (2)
Obama May Grab for Guns
Obama May Grab for Guns
by Jillian Bandes
Obama voiced his support for an anti-gun treaty with such wide ranging implications that it could ban everything from assembling guns in kits to repackaging spent shells.
The treaty was signed by former President Clinton, but never approved by Congress. It has gained approval in 29 other countries. Obama put his weight behind it during his whirlwind tour abroad late last month.
Yesterday’s passage of legislation that revoked the longstanding ban on guns in national parks proved that this treaty would probably fall by the wayside once more, said Larry Provost, President of Gun Owners of America. But the fact that Obama voiced his support for it speaks volumes about the President’s view of the Second Amendment, after his famous claim to not “take away guns” from law-abiding Americans.
The treaty would “pretty clearly would require, without a whole lot of extrapolation, a regulation of all firearms in the United States,” said Provost.
Called the “Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials,” the legislation’s bans are multitudinous:
The manufacture or assembly of firearms, ammunition, explosives, and other related materials: a. from components or parts illicitly trafficked; or b. without a license from a competent governmental authority of the State Party where the manufacture or assembly takes place: or c. without marking the firearms that require marking at the time of manufacture.
These sweeping regulations could affect everything from BB guns to toy guns, and could even prevent the individual re-loading of guns by the owners themselves. It could potentially require matching insignia on bullets and shells, meaning that re-use of cases would be illegal – a practice that is more common during a recession.
The regulations could also affect gun clubs, by banning “association or conspiracy” with illegal gun activities. So if an NRA member commits an offense, clubs or advocacy groups could be liable.
The treaty could even call for action against the dealer who sold an offender a weapon. If Mexico calls for the extradition of a gun dealers, the U.S. would be obligated to resolve it by “other means of peaceful settlement” that are yet undefined.
In addition to a Presidential signature, sixty-eight out of 100 Senate members are needed in order for an international treaty to be approved in the United States. But the move to overturn the National Parks gun ban gained 67 signatures, meaning passing further gun restrictions is unlikely, said Provost.
“You have [Senators] who you’re just really surprised are voting pro-gun,” he said.
Another post I did on this:
Wild Thing's comment.............
I really believe Obama seeks destruction of the Second Amendment. But what about this below:
Article I, Section 10, paragraph 1 declares: “No State shall enter into any Treaty...”
All civil magistrates are bound by oath to abide by the U.S. Constitution, and nowhere in the U.S. Constitution is any authority given for these United States to be subject to and bound by any earthly piece of paper that abrogates or is alien to the Constitution of the United States. As a matter of fact, Article VI, paragraph 2, the latter half of which is quoted at the outset above, in its first half, says only three (3) pronouncements are “the supreme Law of the Land”:
1) “THIS [the U.S.] Constitution,”
(2) “the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof” (i.e., as permitted by, in conformity with, and to implement this Constitution), and
(3) “all treaties made....under the Authority of the United States” (”under” designates that treaties are not over, not above, and not even equal to the authority of the United States granted to it by the States via the U.S. Constitution - but remain under, inferior to its jurisdiction).
A treaty may not do or exceed what the Congress is charged to do or what it is forbidden to do. Constitutional authority supersedes, overrules, and precludes any contrary treaty authority.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (8)
May 20, 2009
American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper
American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper
Stanislav Mishin
The article has been reprinted with the kind permission from the author and originally appears on his blog, Mat Rodina
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years