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June 30, 2010
Gibbs About Obama's Speech Tomorrow:Obama to Say "We Cannot Have" States Passing Individual Immigration Laws
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs saying that President Obama will use a speech on Thursday to push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Gibbs said Obama will “reiterate” that we “cannot have immigration reform passed individually by each state through a patchwork of laws.”
Gibbs said Obama will also emphasize that it will take “Republican support” to get an Immigration Bill passed, which he said, “has certainly been there in the past.”
The Arizona anti-Illegal Immigration Law really has the Obama crew rattled. They are afraid other states are soon to follow suit, and they want to do something to stop it from happening. But it’s hard to say whether Obama is really ready to go all out to get something passed, or whether he is just window-dressing to make the Latino voters not be so upset with him for not getting some kind of amnesty bill passed.
Wild Thing's comment........
The States are only trying to do the job the Feds won’t do. The FedGov needs to enforce the laws now on the books. However the Regime has another agenda.
Obama knows the only chance he has to keep his job is to flood the polls with illegal aliens, and amnesty is the quickest way for him to do it.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:07 PM | Comments (5)
Democrat Pete "stark raving mad" Stark Mocks Minuteman At Town Hall Meeting About Illegals
From the person that posted the video at YouTube:
THE BORDERS ARE QUITE SECURE. Congressman Pete Stark's Town hall meeting in Fremont CA
Congressman Pete Stark's Town Hall meeting last Saturday (June 26, 2010).
He made some pretty dumb comments as he mocked me including "the borders are quite secure", but it backfired on him.
Stark seemed medicated to me, had swollen ankles and could only sit on the edge of his chair for over an hour and a half. He's well past doing an effective job, but in my opinion, that's probably a good thing for America anyway.
This mocking goes on for a few minutes, you think he's done and he continues mocking saying "we'll go down there and you design the wall..We'll start a ladder company"...This is unbelievable
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Wild Thing's comment........
“Who you gonna kill today?”
How about some drug lords who are attempting to murder US citizens?
THIS is what happens when people vote for Democrats.
Our founding fathers are turning in their graves. Is this what we have let our great Republic become??
We MUST defeat this tyrant and all the rest of them. All DEMOCRATS MUST BE DEFEATED in order to stop Pelosi, Reid and Soetoro...
Back in the Vietnam War years, he had a peace symbol on the outside of his bank. .....freaking hippie! His Berkeley. constituents are getting what they want.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (7)
Obamacare’s First Pledge-Breaking Tax Hike Takes Effect July 1
Obamacare’s First Pledge-Breaking Tax Hike Takes Effect July 1 ( TOMORROW )
Barack Obama has some explaining to do. When he signed the healthcare bill into law, he formally broke his "firm pledge" to the American people that "no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase."
Among the twenty one tax hikes signed into law as part of Obamacare, at least seven directly break Obama's central campaign promise. The first of these tax hikes will take effect on July 1: the excise tax on indoor tanning services -- a 10 percent tax on the retail price of a tanning session.
Leaving no stone unturned in their petty hunt for tax revenue, Senate Democrats in December added the tax behind closed doors at the last minute. There is no exemption made for families making less than $250,000 per year, thus violating Obama's "firm pledge" to the American people.
Local news coverage from around the country has illustrated the paperwork and cost burden to salon owners, employees, and customers. The owner of two salons in Virginia has this to say about the new tax:
"It is very emotional to see your dream being literally shattered by someone in Washington."
Industry estimates from the Indoor Tanning Association show that 30 million Americans visit an indoor tanning facility in a given year, and over 50 percent of salon owners are women.
Obama first broke his tax pledge sixteen days into his presidency when he signed into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco. At that time, Obama was rightly called out by Calvin Woodward of the Associated Press in a piece titled "Promises, Promises: Obama Tax Pledge Up in Smoke."
On April 15 of last year, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama's tax pledge "didn't come with caveats." And to this day, Obama's promise remains for all to see at the Change.gov website: "no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase."
Twice during the month of April, however, Obama tried to amend the terms of his "firm pledge" by claiming his promise applies only to "income taxes" rather than "any form of taxes."
In his April 10 Weekly Radio Address, Obama said:
"And one thing we have not done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000. That's another promise we've kept."
In a speech on the evening of April 15, Obama repeated the truncated promise:
"And one thing we haven't done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year -- another promise that we kept."
Obama's recent claims stand in stark contrast to his original promise:
"I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
What do you say, President Obama?
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To protect you from these tax hikes, Americans for Tax Reform presents the “Obama Tax Hike Exemption Card”.
The card fits neatly in your wallet and contains a list of the tax hikes signed into law by President Obama that violate his tax pledge, as well as a few other taxes that have been threatened: a European-style Value-Added Tax, Cap and Trade taxes, and even a federal soda tax.
Fill out the form below to get your Obama Tax Hike Exemption Card
How to use the card:
Step 1: Present the card to merchants, employers, and tax authorities.
Step 2: If challenged, pleasantly ask: “Are you calling President Obama a liar?”
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:54 AM | Comments (2)
LA Parish Pres. Billy Nungesser on Biden Visit: "I Was Disappointed, We Waited 3 Hours and I Got 30 Seconds With Him"
"We waited with the other Parish Presidents for over 3 hours, he [Biden] walked in, took a picture and was on his way, I got 30 seconds with him"
Biden "walked in, took a picture and was on his way"
Nungesser: "I thought we were gonna sit down and have a meeting... I wanted to show him my 5 point plan why the berms were important, why we have to have a long term plan... I said listen, tell the President it's not too late, but if we don't make some serious changes and a sense of urgency does not take hold here we will lose ths war and it will be his fault"
V.P. Biden has plenty of time to fly to Wisconsin for a fundraiser for Russ Feingold, go to the World Cup and watch soccer, come back and play golf with Obama, but he can't seem to find the time to listen to these Parish Presidents who are facing an absolute crisis in Louisiana..
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On Day 71, US ACCEPTS INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR GULF SPILL
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States is accepting help from 12 countries and international organizations in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico The State Department said in a statement Tuesday that the U.S. is working out the particulars of the help that's been accepted.
The identities of all 12 countries and international organizations were not immediately announced. One country was cited in the State Department statement -- Japan, which is providing two high-speed skimmers and fire containment boom.
More than 30 countries and international organizations have offered to help with the spill. The State Department hasn't indicated why some offers have been accepted and others have not.
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I saw this from Bobby Jindal at Facebook a friend had posted at their page.
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Wild Thing's comment........
All so Biden could give the news a photo to print and say he’d been there
Billy Nungesser on Day 71 (from the video): “And there is no sense of urgency to get it to work. If we brought all that kind of equipment [skimmers] and put it out there and this oil is light and we quit spraying dispersant and surround it with all these fleets from all over world we’d be kicking butt as the President says, out there before it comes ashore underneath the surface.”
Basically confirming that if the skimmers, in particular the Dutch skimmers, were deployed early, none of the oil would have reached the shore.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (5)
Jon "David" Kahn - " AMERICAN HEART "
Jon David releases “American Heart”video just in time for Independence Day.
Filmed on location across America.
Written and performed by Jon David Kahn
Directed by Andrew Marcus
Produced by Maura Flynn
Edited by Michael Kadela and Andrew Marcus
Next Peformance July 1. Troopathon to support soldiers with care packages from home. Hosted by Andrew Breitbart. I will be dedicating "American Heart" to my good friend CPT (CH) John Konugres who is being deployed to Afghanistan in mid July.
From his Facebook page.
""Go on raise the flag. I got stars in my eyes. I'm in love with Her. And I won't apologize"
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It turns out Tea Party regular Jon David, known for his song “American Heart,” is actually famous Hollywood screenwriter Jonathan Kahn.
Wearing a baseball cap and dark glasses, Jonathan Kahn became Jon David and then he took the Tea Party circuit by storm. He opened for Sarah Palin and sang his now famous song “American Heart” coast to coast and turned it into a YouTube sensation.
He also regularly wrote for Andrew Breitbart’s “Big Hollywood.” Kahn says he took the name Jon David and disguised himself with hat and glasses out of fear of retribution in his work life.
Kahn writes screenplays and soundtracks for major motion pictures and he says being a Conservative is the kiss of death in Hollywood.
He doesn’t really care about that anymore according to the WSJ. He says he’s lived in the shadows his entire adult life unable to speak his mind and he’s done with that. Kahn actually had two different mailing addresses and has literally been living a double life.
Wild Thing's comment.......
GREAT song! I like his voice too.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:49 AM | Comments (3)
GOP’s Eric Cantor Calls Obama’s “Bluff"
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GOP Rep. Eric Cantor responding to President Obama’s cryptic assertion that he’s going to “call their bluff” – speaking of Republicans – next year by putting before the American people “some very difficult choices” on reducing the deficit.
Well, Cantor calls Obama’s bluff here, and calls on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to act “this year, not next year.”
Wild Thing's comment........
I love that Eric Cantor did this. More and more we are seeing a good number of our side speaking up and in strong ways. I always let them know too we are watching and remembering those that speak up and to not weaken.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (1)
Sen. Sessions "Taken Aback" By Kagan Remarks
Sen. Jeff Sessions yesterday at the end of his questioning of Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan, saying to her that he was “taken aback” by her attempts to dodge the truth about how she prevented military recruiters from conducting their work at the Harvard Law School when she was Dean there, because she was trying to make a political statement against the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
“I’m just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks, because it’s unconnected to reality. I know what happened at Harvard. I know you were an outspoken leader against the military policy. I know you acted without legal authority to reverse Harvard’s policy and deny those – the military equal access to campus until you were threatened by the United States Government of loss of Federal Funds. This is what happened!”
Obama should never have nominated someone to sit on the Supreme Court who treated our military in this way. If she would act against the military to advance her political and social views, don’t you think she will use her position on the Supreme Court to do the same?
Wild Thing's comment........
With every leftist appointment, with every new czar, with every additional usurpation of our sacred liberties, we march towards the inevitable conclusion to Obama's marxist folly. He will not be happy until there is blood in the streets.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (2)
11 Reasons to Vote for Democrats in November
11 Reasons to Vote for Democrats in November
The members of the Democrat party have given us a lot to consider before voting in November 2010. Here are just 11 reasons to consider voting for the Democrats.
Duane Lester at All American Blogger made this video.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Duane did a good job on this. There is so much he could use it would be a 10 hour video or more if he had put everything in it. But it is excelllent as it is and gives enough info, to a person how bad the dems are.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM
June 29, 2010
Americans Are Fed Up With Obama's Destroy America Agenda And Speaking Out!
The custard shop manager who was called a “smart-ass” by Vice President Joe Biden tells Greta Van Susteren that Biden was “pretty serious” and “wasn’t very happy” when he made the remark.
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Tea Party Protesters Greet VP Joe Biden in IN: “We’re Going to Vote these People out in 2010 and 2012″ – Video CLICK HERE
Louisville, Kentucky – Jeffersonville, Indiana area where Tea Party protesters turned out to greet Vice-President Joe Biden who was making a visit to the area yesterday. Here’s some of the comments from the Tea Party people:
“We’re here because we’re put out with politicians who don’t care what the people think. All of the polls show that the people do not agree with what is going on, and we’ll get it anyway. And we’re here to protest that.”
"We are put out with these politicians who no longer care what the people think," said Bill Crace, who is a member of the Clark County Tea Party Patriots. "All the polls show that the people don't agree with what's going on, but we get it anyway. We're here to protest that."
"I am here in protest of higher taxes, out of control spending the the ramming of legislature down our throats," said Lisa Morris, who is also part of the Clark County Tea Party Patriots. "We feel we're being taxed without representation."
Republican Todd Lally, who is running for Louisville's 3rd district Congressional seat against Rep. John Yarmuth (D), spoke at the rally.
"We're unhappy with the direction of our country," said Lally. "They come in here and they preach about jobs coming to our community when, in fact, we still have 10% unemployment in Jefferson County. I'm here to say you can toot your own horn, but the scoreboard says something else.
"I am just fed up to here with the policies that are going on," said Sandra Scott, from Sellersburg, Indiana. "I've never been an activist, but this year I'm going to be out there and we're going to vote these people out in 2010 and again in 2012."
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Wild Thing's comment........
In the video of the Tea Party people notice the size difference between the biden group and the Tea Party group.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (4)
Dennis Prager Is Asked What Is The Greatest Threat To America
Dennis Prager Q & A At University of Denver.
A highlight reel of Dennis Prager’s remarks from a panel (with Sarah Palin and Hugh Hewitt) put together May 24 at the University of Denver. He talks about the most fundamental threat to America in existence.
The event covered the bases of what constitutes inspiring conservatism.
HERE is theh LINK to the video that Sarah did of her speech. Her video is an hour in length.
http://www.palintv.com/palintv-player/?bcpid=61264526001&bctid=87468957001
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Great speeches and I had not heard about this before.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (2)
Rolling Thunder 2010 - A Marine's Vigil
A solitary Marine holds vigil at full attention during the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally in tribute to fallen comrades.
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Taken from .....
In the Company of the Brave
By Kit Jarrell
I had heard of a Marine who stands in the median and salutes as all the bikes go by. I needed to see this for myself, and when I asked someone about it they said, "The Marine? He's right down there. Just go around this way and down to the corner."
I ran.
It's silly now to think of, but somehow I was afraid he wouldn't be there anymore if I moved slowly, if I took my time walking down there. I should have known better. The Marines never just quit.
As I drew closer to the corner the crowd thickened considerably, and yet everyone moved when I asked to get by. "I need to see the Marine," I would say, and the others would nod and let me pass. They understood.
Finally I stood in the best place I could, and there he was, saluting proudly, wearing his dress blues, medals glinting in the sun. He looked like a lion there, regally standing, ever vigilant. His face was lined with the memories of conflict, but his eyes were those of a resolute warrior. His arm never faltered and his feet never moved, even though standing in the heat and sun must have been incredibly draining. For 45 minutes he stood there with his fingers at his brow - statuesque, a testament to the stamina, the fortitude, and the selflessness of the Marine Corps.
I kept taking pictures until the tears blurred my eyes. My heart simply broke as I watched veteran after veteran ride by this man and salute him back. All these men have given so much, for so long. Everything washed over me then, and I cried for it all: their missing limbs and loved ones, their nightmares and tragedies, their tiny homes underneath white stone at Arlington. They gave themselves, and sometimes lost everything, but in their sacrifice we stand here today, more free than any people on earth. I could not ever repay them. None of us could.
I finish writing this as I sit on my couch in Tulsa, with my little boy playing outside safely and John Wayne leading Marine pilots into battle on the TV. I am blessed, for I live in the company of the brave.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
SSgt. Tim Chambers is stationed in Camp Pendleton and has been saluting the riders of Rolling Thunder for six years. He pays his own way to DC each Memorial Day weekend.
SSgt. Tim Chambers can be reached 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 05:49 AM | Comments (4)
Obama Can Shut Down Internet For 4 Months Under New Emergency Powers
Confronting threats ranging from Chinese superhackers to the release of secret documents on WikiLeaks and other whistleblowing websites, the Obama administration may be on the verge of assuming broad new powers to regulate the Internet on national-security grounds.
“The way it seems to be worded, the bill could easily represent a threat to free speech,” said Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The bill would grant President Obama the power to declare a “national cyber-emergency” at his discretion.
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Obama Can Shut Down Internet For 4 Months Under New Emergency Powers
Obama will be handed the power to shut down the Internet for at least four months without Congressional oversight if the Senate votes for the infamous Internet ‘kill switch’ bill, which was approved by a key Senate committee yesterday and now moves to the floor.
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, which is being pushed hard by Senator Joe Lieberman, would hand absolute power to the federal government to close down networks, and block incoming Internet traffic from certain countries under a declared national emergency.
Despite the Center for Democracy and Technology and 23 other privacy and technology organizations sending letters to Lieberman and other backers of the bill expressing concerns that the legislation could be used to stifle free speech, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed in the bill in advance of a vote on the Senate floor.
In response to widespread criticism of the bill, language was added that would force the government to seek congressional approval to extend emergency measures beyond 120 days. Still, this would hand Obama the authority to shut down the Internet on a whim without Congressional oversight or approval for a period of no less than four months.
The Senators pushing the bill rejected the claim that the bill was a ‘kill switch’ for the Internet, not by denying that Obama would be given the authority to shut down the Internet as part of this legislation, but by arguing that he already had the power to do so.
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Lieberman: China Can Shut Down The Internet, Why Can’t We?
Senator Joe Lieberman, co-author of a bill that would give President Obama a ‘kill switch’ to shut down parts of the Internet, attempted to reassure CNN viewers yesterday that concerns about the government regulating free speech on the web were overblown, but he only stoked more alarm by citing China, a country that censors all online dissent against the state, as the model to which American should compare itself.
“Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war and we need to have that here too,” said Lieberman.
The Senator’s reference to China is a telling revelation of what the cybersecurity agenda is really all about. China’s vice-like grip over its Internet systems has very little to do with “war” and everything to do with silencing all dissent against the state.
Chinese Internet censorship is imposed via a centralized government blacklist of any websites that contain criticism of the state, porn, or any other content deemed unsuitable by the authorities. Every time you attempt to visit a website, you are re-routed through the government firewall, often making for long delays and crippling speeds.
China has exercised its power to shut down the Internet, something that Lieberman wants to introduce in the U.S., at politically sensitive times in order to stem the flow of information about government abuse and atrocities.
Major websites like Twitter, Google and You Tube have also been shut down either temporarily or permanently by Chinese authorities.
Chinese authorities are now going further than merely maintaining a “blacklist” of banned websites by instituting a “whitelist” of allowed websites, a move that “could potentially place much of the Internet off-limits to Chinese readers”. Websites not pre-registered with the government would be completely blocked to all Internet users, meaning “millions of completely innocuous sites” would be banned. This equates to requiring government approval to set up a website, which would obviously not be granted if the person or organization making the application has a history of or is likely to engage in dissent against the state.
President Obama himself has criticized Chinese Internet censorship as a hindrance to the free flow of information and allowing citizens to hold their governments accountable, and yet Lieberman wants to hand Obama similar powers.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Thanks a lot Lieberman.....NOT! It says a committee passed this, so that means it is not final yet. I hope they vote this down and then tell Lieberman the heck off about it.
The dems should hate it as much as we would. Sites like DU and Daily Kos etc. they would also be effected and the dems better remember, these dictator laws they pass will be in effect when WE take our country back. Think about that one Lieberman, want us to shut you up when we get back in the majority and take the WH back?????
....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)
Government Must “Stop Spending, Stop Spending, Stop Spending!”
Rick Santelli on fire, speaking for the American People and shouting to the Obama Administration that they must “Stop Spending, Stop Spending, Stop Spending.”
That's what we want! Stop spending," Rick Santelli yelled from the floor of the Chicago Board of Traders.
"Go back to Russia where you understand the state and the citizen," Santelli told CNBC analyst Steve Liesman after he argued against the benefits of tax cuts.
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Rick Santelli hammering his colleague, and liberal economist Steve Liesman for advocating high government spending as opposed cutting taxes to help the economy. Santelli said it’s time for government to be more prudent, and Liesman challenged him by asking, “When are we going to do that?” Santelli responded with “November 2. November 2 is the day.” He was referring to Election Day, November 2, as the moment when America can turn back from the radical course of the Obama Administration.
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Hotel owner Steve Wynn describes this administration and Congress's policies. As he says repeatedly, it is a combination of the insane spending and regulatory policies of the Democrats and the complete uncertainty this creates for business.
And also this from American Thinker:
by James Simpson
Nothing discourages business more than uncertainty, and the Obama administration has introduced a climate of uncertainty in this country that is unprecedented in our history. Even during war, no American ever seriously believed anyone would come along and attempt to change the fundamental structure of our society. But it is happening now before our eyes!
The corruption of this administration, the fraud occupying the White House and the revolting, despicable scumbags running Congress, defy description. They are corrupt, subhuman slugs.
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Wild Thing's comment........
God bless Rick Santelli and Steve Wynn.
How long before biden calls Santelli and Steve Wynn a “smartass”?
After what Obama did to Las Vegas, it is unforgivable how he destroyed it's economy with his comments and threats.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (2)
Awesome Arizona Governor Brewer Responds After Meeting With Obama's Officials
A Disappointed Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Talks To Press After Meeting With WH Officials
The Texas and Arizona governors criticized the Obama administration's border security plans Monday, saying not enough National Guard troops are being deployed to their states.
"What we heard wasn't anything what we hoped to hear," Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer told reporters after a 90-minue briefing by federal officials sent by President Barack Obama.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican like Brewer, said the deployment to his state was "insufficient to meet the needs of securing the Texas-Mexico border."
A White House statement said plans to deploy 1,200 additional National Guard soldiers along the U.S.-Mexico border would "complement the unprecedented resources and additional efforts already devoted by this administration to securing the Southwest border."
Arizona would get 524 National Guard troops, Texas would get 250, California 224 and New Mexico 72, officials said. Another 130 would be at a national liaison office.
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Wild Thing's comment........
She's pissed and she has every right to be. Governor Brewer is a credit to the United States of America. She deserves a medal.... hopefully, history books will reflect her courage.
Obama should be brought up on charges of treason!
If the Feds get their way on immigration, there will be a complete breakdown of the rule of law. What law-abiding U.S. citizen is going to obey federal laws?
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (4)
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Chicago Gun Ban is Unconstitutional
U.S. Supreme Court Monday struck down Chicago's ban on private ownership of handguns, saying the Second Amendment applies to states and municipalities as well as the federal government.
The high court extended its 2008 ruling in Heller vs. United States, which allowed residents in Washington, a federal enclave, to have guns for self-defense in their homes.
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Supreme Court votes 5-4 Weighs Right to Bear Arms
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Chicago Gun Ban is Unconstitutional
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right to “keep and bear arms” in a decision announced to day to reverse the Chicago gun ban. In making this ruling, the court is essentially making it clear that the right to “keep and bear arms” applies to gun control laws at the local and state level as well as the federal.:
Supreme Court Opinion: Two years ago, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. ___, this Court held that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense and struck down a District of Columbia law that banned the possession of handguns in the home. Chicago (hereinafter City) and the village of Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, have laws effectively banning handgun possession by almost all private citizens. After Heller, petitioners filed this federal suit against the City, which was consolidated with two related actions, alleging that the City’s handgun ban has left them vulnerable to criminals. They sought a declaration that the ban and several re-lated City ordinances violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. Rejecting petitioners’ argument that the ordinances are un-constitutional, the court noted that the Seventh Circuit previously had upheld the constitutionality of a handgun ban, that Heller had explicitly refrained from opining on whether the Second Amendment applied to the States, and that the court had a duty to follow established Circuit precedent. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, relying on three 19th-century cases—United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, Presser v. Illinois, 116 U. S. 252, and Miller v. Texas, 153 U. S. 535— which were decided in the wake of this Court’s interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause in the Slaughter-House Cases, 16 Wall. 36.
Held: The judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded……. FULL OPINION ( PDF )
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Brit Hume explaining liberal hatred of gun rights
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Wild Thing's comment........
Thank God five Supreme Court justices saw fit to, you know, respect that part of the Constitution.
They ALL should have but thank God for the five at least.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (3)
June 28, 2010
NRA Issues Gag Order to Its Board Members on Elena Kagan
NRA Issues Gag Order to Its Board Members on Elena Kagan
Internal Senate emails confirmed by NRA Board Members are highlighting just how far the National Rifle Association has fallen.
The organization recently collaborated with the left to obtain a carve out of the DISCLOSE Act, legislation designed to silence bloggers and outside interest groups like tea party activists. This was a first amendment issue and the NRA gladly took a position and campaigned for its members to take a position on the DISCLOSE Act.
One of the NRA’s chief arguments was that it needed the carve out to be effective in its advocacy of Second Amendment issues. But here’s the problem: these internal Senate emails confirmed by NRA Board Members show that the National Rifle Association’s management team has explicitly and directly told the NRA’s board they are prohibited from testifying about second amendment issues during the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings.
That’s right: the foremost gun rights lobby in the nation is prohibiting its board from testifying in the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings about the second amendment.
The NRA did issue a statement on Friday after the internal Senate email began leaking out informing people of the gag order. The statement noted Kagan’s problematic record on guns, but that’s just smoke and mirrors. Don’t believe them when they say they are working with Senators to investigate her record. If they were really working with Senators, they would have accepted an invitation to testify on the Kagan nomination when they were invited. The gag order on board members is not limited to providing testimony, but it prohibits board members from coming out against Kagan in their individual capacity.
If the NRA is really working with pro-guns Senators and Kagan is really hostile to Second Amendment rights, which she is, they will score her confirmation vote and actually make the score count this time, unlike they did on the confirmation of Sonya Sotomayor. With Sotomayor, they waited until several days after RedState began demanding a score and then, in effect, announced they’d score it and ignore it.
First they collaborated with the left to get the DISCLOSE Act through the House, now they are blocking their own from speaking out against Elena Kagan. Is this the deal the NRA cut with the left? They get a carveout and shut up their board?
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NRA Discourages Board Members From Testifying Against Kagan
On the eve of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan -- and for the second time in two weeks -- the National Rifle Association (NRA) is under fire from conservatives.
According to RedState's Erick Erickson, a prominent conservative blogger, "internal Senate emails confirmed by NRA Board Members show that the National Rifle Association's management team has explicitly and directly told the NRA's board they are prohibited from testifying about second amendment issues" during the Kagan hearings.
It turns out that during the confirmation hearings for then-Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the testimony of former NRA President Sandy Froman angered current NRA leadership, because she didn't obtain permission to appear at the hearing – and because she appeared as former President of the NRA (she's also a Harvard Law grad a practicing attorney). The situation worsened when several members of the NRA board of directors also signed a letter opposing Sotomayor.
As one prominent board member (who asked not to be named) told me, Chris Cox, the executive director of the association's lobbying arm, NRA-ILA, "was livid because he didn't 'authorize' them to speak directly to Congress." After the Sotomayor hearings, a letter was sent to all NRA board members reminding them they did not speak for the NRA or the board.
Of three NRA board members I contacted, only one confirmed "explicitly and directly" receiving any sort of directive that could be interpreted as a "gag order" regarding Kagan. But all three sources confirmed that NRA board members actively opposed to Sotomayor's confirmation have been severely chastised "to the degree that they would not speak out against Kagan" (as one board member – who requested anonymity – told me).
Because most members of the NRA's board of directors are also heavily involved in numerous other conservative organizations, it seems unusual the NRA would expect board members to remain silent on the Kagan nomination (in fact, many have already spoken out).
These conservatives also see the NRA as having become too much a part of the "Washington scene" in recent years.
It is also important to note that it was only after pressure from conservatives that the NRA agreed to "score" the Sotomayor vote. Deciding to score a vote is important because it means Senators who voted for confirmation received a lower grade on the powerful gun lobby's scorecard.
And this perception was reinforced just a couple of weeks ago when the NRA came under heavy public criticism from conservatives – including a member of their board of directors -- for working with Democrats on a "carve out" exempting the NRA from proposed campaign finance disclosure rules that conservatives view as limiting free speech.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
I think the NRA has been infiltrated by the libs. This would never have happened 20 years ago. They need to clean house big time for one thing.
This proves the maxim - if an organization is not specifially conservative, it will eventually drift leftward.
If they go back to being what they used to be I would become a member again. BUT not until they do, it is hard enough to have to fight back aganist the left then to add in fighting back a group etc, that is supposed to be on the side of our Constitution.
The other day someone told me that The Second Amendment Sisters were right on top of the Katrina Gun Grab issue, immediately denouncing it and getting the ball rolling. The NRA came late to the party and as the big dog, got more credit than they deserved. I thought that was interesting, I didn't know that before.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:45 PM | Comments (8)
Senator Robert Byrd Dead at 92 (1917-2010 )
The training of these poor creatures... to turn themselves into fighting machines is simply barbaric. Barbaric. Barbaric! ...Barbaric!
Let that word resound from hill to hill and from mountain to mountain, valley to valley across this broad land!
Barbaric, barbaric.
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Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a Democrat who served in the U.S. Senate since 1959, had been plagued by health problems in recent years. Longest-Serving U.S. Senator dead at 92.
Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the longest-serving senator in American history, died Monday at the age of 92, a spokesman for the family said.
Byrd, a Democrat who served in the U.S. Senate since 1959, had been plagued by health problems in recent years and was confined to a wheelchair. He had skipped several votes in Congress in the past months.
Jesse Jacobs, a family spokesman, said Byrd died peacefully at about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va.
He was the oldest member of the 111th Congress.
The passing of Sen. Byrd will not affect the balance of power in the Senate. West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, a Democrat, will appoint a replacement senator to serve out the remainder of Byrd's term which ends in 2012.
Byrd held a number of leadership roles during his tenure in the Senate, including conference secretary, majority whip and majority leader -- twice.
Prior to his death, Byrd worked as the president pro tempore -- the second highest ranking official in the Senate and the highest ranking senator in the majority party, putting Byrd third in line to the presidency.
He also served as the senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Other committees on which Byrd served were the Senate Budget, Armed Services and Rules and Administration Committees.
Byrd, who never lost an election, cast more than 18,540 roll call votes -- more than any other senator in U.S. history. He had a 98 percent attendance record in his more than five decades of service in the Senate, according to his Web site.
Byrd was born Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr. in North Wilkesboro, N.C., in 1917. When his mother died in the 1918 flu pandemic, he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, who renamed him Robert Carlyle Byrd and raised him in the coal-mining region of southern West Virginia.
He received his law degree from American University in 1963, and his undergraduate degree from Marshall University in 1994 -- at age 76.
Byrd was widely regarded as a pre-eminent expert on constitutional law and legislative procedures. Because of his intimate knowledge of Senate rules, he was both feared and respected by his political opponents.
He helped win ratification of the Panama Canal Treaty and was well known for steering federal dollars to his home state. He was also a strong opponent to the Iraq war and vehemently defended minority party rights in the Senate.
He was elected to Congress in 1952, representing West Virginia's 6th Congressional District. Six years later, he was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Byrd threw his support behind Barack Obama a week after the then-senator lost the West Virginia Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign -- an endorsement that symbolized the shift in his views on race.
Once a member of the Klu Klux Klan, it was the defining moment in his lifelong effort to convince the American public of his changed views on race.
"I have done my best to do the right thing," Byrd said during a March 2005 interview with FOX News, during which he was questioned about his KKK membership in the early 1940s.
"The people of West Virginia know that. They know the history. And they put it aside. They continue to return me. I was wrong, as many young men are wrong today, even when they join groups. That's all in the past," Byrd said.
Byrd characterized himself as a "born-again" Christian whose views on race were changed by "time, reflection and the teachings of the Bible."
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (3)
More THREATS From Obama As He WARNS He'll Present "Very Difficult Choices to the Country" Next Year
Speaking at a press conference at the G20 Summit in Canada yesterday, Obama lectured everyone about how we need to learn that he does what he says he will do.
Obama:
"For some reason people keep being surprised when I do what I said I was going to do. So, I say I’m going to reform our HCR, and people say well gosh that’s not smart politics maybe we should hold off. Or I say we’re going to move forward on DADT and somehow people say well why are you doing that, I’m not sure that’s good politics.
I’m doing it because I said I was going to do it, and I think it’s the right thing to do. And people should learn that lesson about me, because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficit and debt step up cause I’m calling their bluff"
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Look at P.M. Cameron with a confused look on his face while Obama speaks to the media. LOL
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, watches as U.S. President Barack Obama, not seen, talks to media during their bilateral meeting on the sidelinesof the G20 summit in Toronto, Saturday, June 26
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Wild Thing's comment........
He did not say what “choices” he is talking about.
I am so sick of his threats to people, to us as citizens and to heck anyone that disagrees with him.
Go to hell Obama and your wife along with you. Get somebody else to pay for your agenda of reparations and communism.
Obama had his ass handed to him at the G8/G20 conference, where Canada's Stephen Harper prevailed in his call for reduced government spending and no bank tax. Obama sounds like he’s PO’d that he didn’t get his way, so he’s setting it up to fail.
I also hold everyone who voted for this POS to be held accountable!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:40 AM | Comments (4)
General Faces Unease Among His Own Troops, Too
A soldier shielded himself from dust as an Army helicopter took off after picking up wounded Afghan National Army soldiers near Kandahar, Afghanistan
General Faces Unease Among His Own Troops, Too
By C. J. CHIVERS
Riding shotgun in an armored vehicle as it passed through the heat and confusion of southern Afghanistan this month, an Army sergeant spoke into his headset, summarizing a sentiment often heard in the field this year.
“I wish we had generals who remembered what it was like when they were down in a platoon,” he said to a reporter in the back. “Either they never have been in real fighting, or they forgot what it’s like.”
The sergeant was speaking of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and the circle of counterinsurgents who since last year have been running the Afghan war, and who have, as a matter of both policy and practice, made it much more difficult for troops to use airstrikes and artillery in the fight against the Taliban.
No matter the outcome of his meeting on Wednesday in Washington over caustic comments he and his staff made about President Obama and his national security team, the general, or his successor, faces problems from a constituency as important as his bosses and that no commander wants to lose: his own troops.
As levels of violence in Afghanistan climb, there is a palpable and building sense of unease among troops surrounding one of the most confounding questions about how to wage the war: when and how lethal force should be used.
Since last year, the counterinsurgency doctrine championed by those now leading the campaign has assumed an almost unchallenged supremacy in the ranks of the American military’s career officers. The doctrine, which has been supported by both the Bush and Obama administrations, rests on core assumptions, including that using lethal force against an insurgency intermingled with a civilian population is often counterproductive.
Since General McChrystal assumed command, he has been a central face and salesman of this idea, and he has applied it to warfare in a tangible way: by further tightening rules guiding the use of Western firepower — airstrikes and guided rocket attacks, artillery barrages and even mortar fire — to support troops on the ground.
“Winning hearts and minds in COIN is a coldblooded thing,” General McChrystal was quoted as telling an upset American soldier in the Rolling Stone profile that has landed him in trouble. “The Russians killed 1 million Afghans, and that didn’t work.” COIN is the often used abbreviation for counterinsurgency.
The rules have shifted risks from Afghan civilians to Western combatants. They have earned praise in many circles, hailed as a much needed corrective to looser practices that since 2001 killed or maimed many Afghan civilians and undermined support for the American-led war.
But the new rules have also come with costs, including a perception now frequently heard among troops that the effort to limit risks to civilians has swung too far, and endangers the lives of Afghan and Western soldiers caught in firefights with insurgents who need not observe any rules at all.
Young officers and enlisted soldiers and Marines, typically speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect their jobs, speak of “being handcuffed,” of not being trusted by their bosses and of being asked to battle a canny and vicious insurgency “in a fair fight.”
Some rules meant to enshrine counterinsurgency principles into daily practices, they say, do not merely transfer risks away from civilians. They transfer risks away from the Taliban.
Before the rules were tightened, one Army major who had commanded an infantry company said, “firefights in Afghanistan had a half-life.” By this he meant that skirmishes often were brief, lasting roughly a half-hour. The Taliban would ambush patrols and typically break contact and slip away as patrol leaders organized and escalated Western firepower in response.
Now, with fire support often restricted, or even idled, Taliban fighters seem noticeably less worried about an American response, many soldiers and Marines say. Firefights often drag on, sometimes lasting hours, and costing lives. The United States’ material advantages are not robustly applied; troops are engaged in rifle-on-rifle fights on their enemy’s turf.
One Marine infantry lieutenant, during fighting in Marja this year, said he had all but stopped seeking air support while engaged in firefights. He spent too much time on the radio trying to justify its need, he said, and the aircraft never arrived or they arrived too late or the pilots were reluctant to drop their ordnance.
“I’m better off just trying to fight my fight, and maneuver the squads, and not waste the time or focus trying to get air,” he said.
Several infantrymen have also said that the rules are so restrictive that pilots are often not allowed to attack fixed targets — say, a building or tree line from which troops are taking fire — unless they can personally see the insurgents doing the firing.
This has led to situations many soldiers describe as absurd, including decisions by patrol leaders to have fellow soldiers move briefly out into the open to draw fire once aircraft arrive, so the pilots might be cleared to participate in the fight.
Moments like those bring into sharp relief the grand puzzle faced by any outside general trying to wage war in Afghanistan. An American counterinsurgency campaign seeks support from at least two publics — the Afghan and the American. Efforts to satisfy one can undermine support in the other.
The restrictions on using fire support are part of a larger bundle of instructions, known as rules of engagement, that guide decisions on how troops can interact with Afghans, and how they can fight. The rules have shifted frequently over the years, becoming tighter and tighter.
Each change, often at the urging of the government of President Hamid Karzai, has shown the delicacy of the balance.
NATO needs the Afghan government’s support. But restrictions that are popular in Kabul have often alienated soldiers and Marines whose lives are at stake, including rules that limit when Western troops can enter Afghan homes. Such rules, soldiers and Marines say, concede advantages to insurgents, making it easier for them to hide, to fight, to meet and to store their weapons or assemble their makeshift bombs.
It is an axiom of military service that troops gripe; venting is part of barracks and battlefield life. Troops complain about food, equipment, lack of sleep, delays in their transportation and the weather where they work.
Complaints about how they are allowed to fight are another matter and can be read as a sign of deeper disaffection and strains within the military over policy choices. One Army colonel, in a conversation this month, said the discomfort and anger about the rules had reached a high pitch.
“The troops hate it,” he said. “Right now we’re losing the tactical-level fight in the chase for a strategic victory. How long can that be sustained?”
Whatever the fate of General McChrystal, the Pentagon’s Afghan conundrum remains. No one wants to advocate loosening rules that might see more civilians killed. But no one wants to explain whether the restrictions are increasing the number of coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base, and seeding disillusionment among those sent to fight.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
This article is from the NY Times, and it is about Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and our troops.
I hope and pray there will be some big changes in the R.O.E.'s!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (4)
Financial De-form
Financial Deform
Regulation: The financial reform bill that's about to be passed is reform in name only. It does little to correct the problems that led to our meltdown, and may do more harm by giving people a false sense of security.
The media have called this "compromise" legislation the most sweeping change in U.S. financial regulation since the 1930s. Which is saying a lot.
The two sponsors, Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, are as much responsible for the financial crisis as any two people in America. Yet, we're now supposed to believe that they, and their flailing party, which can't even meet its legal obligation to produce a budget, have now fixed our financial system.
President Obama crowed about it in the press, and planned to use the bill as leverage in negotiations with his European counterparts at the G-20 meeting. Obama hopes to sign the bill by July 4.
Before you get too excited, you should know the "compromise" in Dodd-Frank isn't between Republicans and Democrats, but between Democrats and Democrats. In short, it's the left's idea of how to regulate Wall Street. And while some things in the bill aren't bad, most of it is.
We won't go into everything the bill would do, since the 2,000-page tome can't be distilled into a few easy-to-digest bullet points. But what we can tell you is what it doesn't do, which is plenty. In fact, the bill fails to address any of the key issues raised by the 2007-08 market meltdown, while imposing onerous new restrictions on both banks and consumers.
For instance: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were inarguably at the heart of the financial crisis, and which have already cost U.S. taxpayers $146 billion (with hundreds of billions more on the way), aren't addressed in this bill at all.
This is insane, given the role these two government-sponsored enterprises played both in encouraging lending to poor, unqualified homebuyers and repackaging those securitized loans for resale to banks and investors around the world.
Worse, the bill does nothing to amend the "too-big-to-fail" doctrine that has guided U.S. banking policy for decades. Any bank that runs into trouble can still walk up to Uncle Sam's borrowing window and, hand outstretched, ask for money. And if the bank is politically connected or very large, it will get it.
This puts every small bank, investor or lender at a huge disadvantage, since they're most certainly not "too big to fail." This is a big reason why the biggest U.S. banks didn't squawk too much about the legislation. As bad as it is, it gives them a competitive edge.
The bill also gives federal regulators sweeping new powers to seize and break up financial firms. Good idea, you say? Remember: The government also gets to decide what is a "financial" firm. Does GM, which makes loans, fall into that category? How about Wal-Mart, which issues its own credit cards?
In effect, this lets the government seize and dismantle the assets of almost any company — and then force others to pay for it.
The bill also creates a new agency inside the Federal Reserve that will have extensive power over consumer lenders. Hold the applause, because likely new limits on checking account fees and interest on credit cards will mean less access to credit, not more.
Another part of the bill, and one that's gotten little attention, makes changes to the amount of capital banks must keep to back up their loans. Banks eventually will be forced to raise more capital, or to reduce their lending. It also gives the government oversight over the $600 trillion derivatives market, without telling us what the rules will be. That, no doubt, will be left to bureaucrats.
We've just scratched the surface here. We'll have more to say in coming weeks as we plow through this monster of a bill that appears to reform little but harm a lot.
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Lawmakers guide Dodd-Frank bill for Wall Street reform into homestretch
Nearly two years after tremors on Wall Street set off a historic economic downturn, congressional leaders greenlighted a bill early Friday that would leave the financial industry largely intact but facing a more powerful network of regulators who could impose limits on risky activities.
The final bill took shape after a 20-hour marathon negotiation between House and Senate leaders seeking to reconcile their separate versions. The legislation puts a lot of faith in the watchful eye of regulators to prevent another financial crisis. New agencies would police consumer lending, the invention of financial products and the trading of exotic securities known as derivatives. Bank supervisors would have the power to seize large, troubled financial firms whose collapse could threaten the entire system. The bill calls for banks to hold more money in reserve to weather economic storms but leaves the details to regulators.
The House and Senate are set to vote on the legislation next week, and administration officials said President Obama could sign it into law before July 4.
(snipet)
The bill's final passage would set off a rush of activity. Two long-standing bank regulators would be combined, and regulators would have to launch more than 20 studies on controversial topics such as limiting the risky activities of big financial firms and setting precise capital reserve standards for banks.
Some administration officials acknowledged that leaving so much decision-making in the hands of regulators could open the process to lobbying by the financial industry. Many bank supervisors, in fact, work inside the headquarters of the biggest financial firms and have close relationships with the executives of the companies they regulate.
Among the first tasks for the administration would be to set up a new consumer protection bureau that would monitor credit card companies, mortgage brokers and banks to make sure consumers have clear information about financial products.
The new agency, while housed in the Federal Reserve, would have its own budget and director appointed by the president and would have wide authority to write consumer protection rules and enforce them with civil penalties. It could, for instance, force mortgage lenders to be more upfront about possible interest increases in adjustable-rate loans. During the crisis, many borrowers were caught off guard by the rise in rates on such loans.
(snipet)
"It's a great moment. I'm proud to have been here," said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."
Wild Thing's comment........
Kiss individual freedom good-bye and kiss capitalism good-bye.
Soros has been pushing this, wants more global controls on US and our economy.
Look at this that Chris Dodd said sheesh! ......"“It’s a great moment. I’m proud to have been here,” said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. “No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we’ve done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done.”
.... Thank you Jim for sending this to me.
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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)
Obama Agenda Destory America's Economy With His "Stimulus" Bill and Bailouts Costing Over $5 Trillion!!
Harry Reid says the Stimulus Bill is at a Trillion Dollars
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True Cost of Bogus "Stimulus," $3.27 Trillion, Plus Likely Bailouts = Over $5 Trillion (not Including Obama's "Healthcare" and "Environmental" Costs)
It's intentionally destroying the economy, "stupid."
This "stimulus" of manufactured catastrophe: $3.37T + total "bank bailouts": $1.8T + expected state bailouts: $40B+ (I.O's rough estimate) = roughly $5.2-trillion, over the next ten years. That does not include planned "healthcare reform," nor the punitive effects of the "environmental" ploys of the Obama despots (e.g., "cap and trade," socialist make-work projects), etc.
Accumulated, this will not stimulate the economy. It will destroy the economy and our livelihoods. There will not be that much available money in a world this will drive into recession. Therefore, once again: we see the Sorosian tactics of destroying currency (including extreme inflation) and this time, our entire economy -- perhaps, nearly the entire world's economy, as the dominoes fall.
Is there anyone who can deny that these people seek to eliminate the free American economy, as they would send us into depression, and turn the American "masses" into proletariat dependents upon the state?
From the Heritage Foundation...
All of the major news outlets are reporting that the stimulus bill voted out of conference committee last night has a meager $789 billion price tag. This number is pure fantasy. No one believes that the increased funding for programs the left loves like Head Start, Medicaid, COBRA, and the Earned Income Tax Credit is in anyway temporary. No Congress under control of the left will ever cut funding for these programs. So what is the true cost of the stimulus if these spending increases are made permanent?
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) asked the Congressional Budget Office to estimate the impact of permanently extending the 20 most popular provisions of the stimulus bill. What did the CBO find? As you can see from the table below, the true 10 year cost of the stimulus bill $2.527 trillion in in spending with another $744 billion cost in debt servicing. Total bill for the Generational Theft Act: $3.27 trillion.
Do you not understand what Obama, Pelosi, etc. mean by "transformational" and by Obama's claim, "I will change the world?"
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Wild Thing's comment........
We have never seen anything like this before. It is shocking and I have no clue how to stop this insanity. God help us and our country. Obama is running it into the ground.
....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)
Move America Forward's Third Annual Troopathon
Move America Forward's third annual Troopathon is a nationwide campaign to send the largest shipment of care packages to our troops in history. The effort centers on an 8 hour live webcast July 1st, 2010 at Troopathon.org with pro-troop celebrities coming together to support our troops.
You can visit http://www.troopathon.org for more details.
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Mark Williams for Troopathon 2010 "Standing for Our Soldiers"
He speaks about our awesome Vietnam Veterans as well as our troops today. ~Wild Thiing
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Mark Levin will Join Troopathon 2010 “Standing for Our Soldiers”
Laura Ingraham and Michael Graham Join Troopathon Cast
Ambassador John Bolton and Frank Gaffney Join Troopathon Guest List
Andrew Breitbart Returns to Repeat Co-Hosting of Troopathon
Dennis Miller, Mancow Muller and Noel Sheppard Joining Troopathon
see more names further down this post.
Kelsey Grammer for the Troopathon
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Dennis Miller for our troops
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Hollywood legend Jane Russell will be featured on Troopathon
Classic movie goddess Jane Russell — at age 89 — will be part of the burgeoning cast for Troopathon 2010, an 8-hour live broadcast from the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library. The event to raise money for care packages sent to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan was organized by Move America Forward .
Other guests who will join live or via video feed July 1 include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dennis Miller, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Michael Graham, Frank Gaffney — broadcasters all — plus actor Gary Sinise, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton .
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Gary Sinise supports the troops
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (2)
Durbin Asks Obama To Appoint Carp Czar
I typed Carp into YouTube and this video above was at the top of the list. ~ Wild Thing
Durbin asks Obama to appoint carp czar
As concerns mount about the presence of Asian carp near Lake Michigan, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin today urged President Obama to appoint a carp czar to oversee efforts to keep the invasive species out of the Great Lakes.
"We need to have one person who coordinates the efforts of the federal, state and local agencies that are doing everything they can to keep the Asian carp out of Lake Michigan," Durbin said during a news conference at the Shedd Aquarium. "We believe it's absolutely essential."
Durbin was responding to the discovery of a bighead carp, a variety of Asian carp, during routine sampling this week in Lake Calumet, just six miles from Lake Michigan. Standing beside environmental advocates who have championed closing Chicago-area locks as a way to prevent carp from entering Lake Michigan, Durbin called the finding a possible "game changer" and said "we have to take it very seriously."
Durbin said scientists will try to determine where the carp came from, whether it was likely dumped there or whether it reached the lake by swimming up the Chicago water system. That's a critical question as biologists try to figure out how many Asian carp may be lurking below the water's surface.
Durbin said he plans to introduce a bill next week that will ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to look at "hydrologic separation" between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, a potentially massive engineering feat that would require severing the 100-year-old, man-made shipping corridors that now link the two waterways. Durbin expects the Army Corps to deliver its report within 18 months.
"This isn't just a matter of the Asian carp, but any other invasive species that would find its way up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers into our Great Lakes ecosystem," Durbin said.
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Wild Thing's comment........
I have lost count how many Czars there are now.
Besides Obama has already appointed one of his marxist buddies to the position of great lakes czar. He gave Cameron Davis a title and 20 billion dollars and we haven’t heard from him since.
Obama has named Cameron Davis, president of a Chicago environmentalist group, to oversee the administration’s initiative to clean up the Great Lakes.
Davis is president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, one of the organizations that has lobbied for implementation of a restoration program expected to cost more than $20 billion.
So why does there have to be a second one, that is paying for the same thing twice.
....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 (7)
June 27, 2010
Toon Time
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Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (4)
Small Business Manager Tells Joe Biden: “Lower Our Taxes”
Joe Biden traveled to Wisconsin yesterday to campaign with far left Progressive Russ Feingold (D-WI).
Joe ordered a custard at a popular custard shop in Glendale during one of their stops. When Biden approached the manager with some money and asked,
“What do I owe you,” the manager just responded,
“Lower our taxes and we’ll call it even.”
Biden later jokingly called the manager a “smart-ass,” telling him, “Why don’t you say something nice?”
Wild Thing's comment.......
Biden was pretty quick to put the thick fold of cash back in his pocket. He should have at least dropped a big tip.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (3)
Petraeus to Modify Afghanistan Rules of Engagement, Source Says
Petraeus to Modify Afghanistan Rules of Engagement, Source Says
A military source close to Gen. David Petraeus told Fox News that one of the first things the general will do when he takes over in Afghanistan is to modify the rules of engagement to make it easier for U.S. troops to engage in combat with the enemy, though a Petraeus spokesman pushed back on the claim.
Troops on the ground and some military commanders have said the strict rules -- aimed at preventing civilian casualties -- have effectively forced the troops to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.
The military source who has talked with Petraeus said the general will make those changes. Other sources were not so sure, but said they wouldn't be surprised to see that happen once Petraeus takes command.
The rules, put in place by outgoing Gen. Stanley McChrystal, are classified but generally aim to limit civilian casualties by prohibiting troops from firing unless they're shot at -- or from launching bomb or artillery attacks when civilians are near the target.
Petraeus spokesman Col. Erik Gunhus disputed the claim that those rules will be revised, telling Fox News it's too soon to tell whether Petraeus would change the current rules. But he said it is one of many issues the general will take under consideration during his assessment after he's confirmed and after he takes over command in Afghanistan.
Retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales Jr., a Fox News military analyst, said there's no question Petraeus will have to make the changes.
"First of all, to reinforce his commitment to take care of the troops and secondly, because he realizes as does virtually everyone in Afghanistan that these rules are getting soldiers killed," he said.
Any adjustment to the rules of engagement does not mean the counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan will change. President Obama stressed Wednesday -- after he accepted McChrystal's resignation in the wake of a magazine article in which he and his staff were critical of the administration -- that the change-up does not represent a shift in war policy.
Rather, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that Petraeus, currently head of U.S. Central Command and the former U.S. commander in Iraq, will have the flexibility to reconsider "the campaign plan and the approach."
At the same news conference at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said Petraeus will be able to make tactical changes. But he said that does not necessarily mean changes will be made and echoed the president's insistence that the strategy stays as he prepared for a visit to the war zone.
"My message will be clear: Nothing changes about our strategy, nothing changes about the mission," Mullen said.
The issue is likely to be front and center in Senate confirmation hearings for Petraeus next week.
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Wild Thing's comment........
I don't think obama will allow normal ROE's. Obama wants terrorists read rights. He is responsible imo for the added deaths of our troops. The current ROE’s are one of the reasons why more of our troops have been killed.
Current ROE are ridiculous and make it impossible to actually win a war. If we are going to fight, we should fight to win. Kill the enemy, wherever they are. If they hold their weapons caches and safehouses in churches and hospitals then they must be destroyed.
By putting the gloves of “no attack zones” on our soldiers we virtually guarantee the war will never end. If we’re not going to fight to win, we should not fight. All that accomplishes is to get our troops killed.
We must always remember that the CINC is a Marxist Muslim who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about our national security and achieving victory in Afghanistan. He won’t even allow his adminstration to use terms like Radical Islam or the War on Terror. He is ONE OF THEM.
What has happened to us as a nation since WWII? We no longer fight to pacify the enemy, we don't even fight to win, but rather we bend over backwards to win their 'hearts & minds'!! IMHO that is a losing strategy and nothing more than a death wish on our part. Even worse, we're trying to win hearts and minds that CANNOT be won. Islam simply is not compatible with western ideals and values, and it never will be.
Of course there always is this:
Orchides Forum Trahite
Cordes Et Mentes Veniant
Praying it is changed for the better and not the worse.
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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 06:49 AM | Comments (5)
YouCut - A Project to Change the Spending Culture in Washington
YouCut - A Project to Change the Spending Culture in Washington
YouCut – a first-of-its-kind project - is designed to defeat the permissive culture of runaway spending in Congress. It allows you to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House enact. Vote on this page today for your priorities and together we can begin to change Washington's culture of spending into a culture of savings.
For this week's round of YouCut voting, the Economic Recovery Working Group has decided to post the runners up from each of the last five weeks of voting. We've received hundreds of emails from folks asking that we bring back up YouCut proposals from previous weeks that did not win. With these requests in mind, we're giving you another chance. Thanks for voting!
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Wild Thing's comment.......
I think this is a really good idea, and it will also drive the democrats nuts, they would hate something like this.
If you are interested you can get on their email mailing list.
....Thank you Jack for sending this to me.
Army Combat Engineers
Quang Tri & Chu Lai '68 -'69
67-69
Jack's blog is Conservative Insurgent
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (1)
Community Organizer Obama Wants To Bankrupt Europe Along With The USA ~ G20 Says NO Thanks To Obama!
ONLY Obama/Mededev raising hands, Merkel, Harper, Barroso not (G-8 group photo)
Obama began his day by concluding a summit of the leading eight industrial democracies at a resort in Canada's forested Muskoka lakes region, then flew to Toronto for a second, expanded summit of the so-called Group of 20 nations. Those larger meetings, mostly being held on Sunday, were getting underway with a dinner.
Leaders from the Group of 20 leading economies struggled to downplay differences over how to keep the global recovery on track Saturday, as they gathered for a key summit in Toronto.
Leaders from the United States and Europe clashed on how best to prevent a fresh economic crisis, amid fears the global economy may be teetering on the brink of a double-dip recession.
"This summit must be fundamentally about growth," said US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on his arrival in Canada, sending a warning shot to European countries that stress the need for budget cuts over further stimulus.
Britain, Germany and France have vowed to slash spending.
Amid the divisions, both sides have stressed a mantra that both growth and cuts are needed, but allowing for different strategies for different countries.
Canada advocates reducing deficits and putting finances on a sustainable path. Obama. advocates additional spending.
Wild Thing's comment........
The United States of America sends the community organizer Obama, who never had a job or even ran a hot dog stand and tax cheat Timothy Geithner to tell other world leaders how to run their countries. Good grief!
Never thought I’d see the day when Europeans were lecturing us to be more Conservative. God help us!
Obama wants to spend, spend, spend, so then he can tax, tax, tax and totally kill the US economy.
Even socialist Canada and Europe are starting to figure out that spending is not the answer -- all except Obama.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:47 AM | Comments (4)
DOJ Official Resigns OVER OBAMA'S RACISM The Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case
DOJ official resigns over Obama's racism
Department of Justice attorney J. Christian Adams has now officially resigned over Obama's racist refusal to allow the prosecution of armed Black Panthers who openly intimidated voters during Election 2008.
In a letter to the Washington Times, he called the case "the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law" he had ever seen in his entire career at the Justice Department and condemned Obama's bigoted, dishonest handling of the case as "corrupt" and "indefensible."
From the letter:
"Based on my firsthand experiences, I believe the dismissal of the Black Panther case was motivated by a lawless hostility toward equal enforcement of the law. Others still within the department share my assessment. The department abetted wrongdoers and abandoned law-abiding citizens victimized by the New Black Panthers. The dismissal raises serious questions about the department's enforcement neutrality in upcoming midterm elections and the subsequent 2012 presidential election."
What was that about the "post-racial," "post-partisan" candidate for "change?"
Here is the full letter:
ADAMS: Inside the Black Panther case Anger, ignorance and lies
On the day President Obama was elected, armed men wearing the black berets and jackboots of the New Black Panther Party were stationed at the entrance to a polling place in Philadelphia. They brandished a weapon and intimidated voters and poll watchers. After the election, the Justice Department brought a voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party and those armed thugs. I and other Justice attorneys diligently pursued the case and obtained an entry of default after the defendants ignored the charges. Before a final judgment could be entered in May 2009, our superiors ordered us to dismiss the case.
The New Black Panther case was the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career. Because of the corrupt nature of the dismissal, statements falsely characterizing the case and, most of all, indefensible orders for the career attorneys not to comply with lawful subpoenas investigating the dismissal, this month I resigned my position as a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney.
The federal voter-intimidation statutes we used against the New Black Panthers were enacted because America never realized genuine racial equality in elections. Threats of violence characterized elections from the end of the Civil War until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Before the Voting Rights Act, blacks seeking the right to vote, and those aiding them, were victims of violence and intimidation. But unlike the Southern legal system, Southern violence did not discriminate. Black voters were slain, as were the white champions of their cause. Some of the bodies were tossed into bogs and in one case in Philadelphia, Miss., they were buried together in an earthen dam.
Based on my firsthand experiences, I believe the dismissal of the Black Panther case was motivated by a lawless hostility toward equal enforcement of the law. Others still within the department share my assessment. The department abetted wrongdoers and abandoned law-abiding citizens victimized by the New Black Panthers. The dismissal raises serious questions about the department's enforcement neutrality in upcoming midterm elections and the subsequent 2012 presidential election.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the dismissal and the DOJ's skewed enforcement priorities. Attorneys who brought the case are under subpoena to testify, but the department ordered us to ignore the subpoena, lawlessly placing us in an unacceptable legal limbo.
The assistant attorney general for civil rights, Tom Perez, has testified repeatedly that the "facts and law" did not support this case. That claim is false. If the actions in Philadelphia do not constitute voter intimidation, it is hard to imagine what would, short of an actual outbreak of violence at the polls. Let's all hope this administration has not invited that outcome through the corrupt dismissal.
Most corrupt of all, the lawyers who ordered the dismissal - Loretta King, the Obama-appointed acting head of the Civil Rights Division, and Steve Rosenbaum - did not even read the internal Justice Department memorandums supporting the case and investigation. Just as Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. admitted that he did not read the Arizona immigration law before he condemned it, Mr. Rosenbaum admitted that he had not bothered to read the most important department documents detailing the investigative facts and applicable law in the New Black Panther case. Christopher Coates, the former Voting Section chief, was so outraged at this dereliction of responsibility that he actually threw the memos at Mr. Rosenbaum in the meeting where they were discussing the dismissal of the case. The department subsequently removed all of Mr. Coates' responsibilities and sent him to South Carolina.
Mr. Perez also inaccurately testified to the House Judiciary Committee that federal "Rule 11" required the dismissal of the lawsuit. Lawyers know that Rule 11 is an ethical obligation to bring only meritorious claims, and such a charge by Mr. Perez effectively challenges the ethics and professionalism of the five attorneys who commenced the case. Yet the attorneys who brought the case were voting rights experts and would never pursue a frivolous matter. Their experience in election law far surpassed the experience of the officials who ordered the dismissal.
Some have called the actions in Philadelphia an isolated incident, not worthy of federal attention. To the contrary, the Black Panthers in October 2008 announced a nationwide deployment for the election. We had indications that polling-place thugs were deployed elsewhere, not only in November 2008, but also during the Democratic primaries, where they targeted white Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters. In any event, the law clearly prohibits even isolated incidents of voter intimidation.
Others have falsely claimed that no voters were affected. Not only did the evidence rebut this claim, but the law does not require a successful effort to intimidate; it punishes even the attempt.
Most disturbing, the dismissal is part of a creeping lawlessness infusing our government institutions. Citizens would be shocked to learn about the open and pervasive hostility within the Justice Department to bringing civil rights cases against nonwhite defendants on behalf of white victims. Equal enforcement of justice is not a priority of this administration. Open contempt is voiced for these types of cases.
Some of my co-workers argued that the law should not be used against black wrongdoers because of the long history of slavery and segregation. Less charitable individuals called it "payback time." Incredibly, after the case was dismissed, instructions were given that no more cases against racial minorities like the Black Panther case would be brought by the Voting Section.
Refusing to enforce the law equally means some citizens are protected by the law while others are left to be victimized, depending on their race. Core American principles of equality before the law and freedom from racial discrimination are at risk. Hopefully, equal enforcement of the law is still a point of bipartisan, if not universal, agreement. However, after my experience with the New Black Panther dismissal and the attitudes held by officials in the Civil Rights Division, I am beginning to fear the era of agreement over these core American principles has passed.
Added information:
Press release (PDF) on the July 6 hearing in which Adams will testify. Christopher Coates has also been subpoenaed for this hearing, but Justice refuses to let him appear, or respond, or comment.
Wild Thing's comment........
BRAVO for J. Christian Adams ! It's about time someone called them on this!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (5)
Gov. Jan Brewer Speaks Out About Obama and His Failure as President ~ God Bless Brewer!
Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) met with President Obama on June 3rd to discuss our broken border with Mexico. President Obama promised he’d get back with her in two weeks. He didn’t. He blew her off.
But, she did find out from Ecuadorean TV that his administration planned to sue her state. In the meantime, the federal government has ceded three southern Arizona counties to the Mexican drug cartel due to violence and smuggling.
Yesterday she released her latest ad about Obama for failing to do his job.
Governor Brewer takes on Obama's lies that "our border is as safe as it has ever been" and she challenges the President to do his constitutionally mandated job of securing our borders and protecting the citizens of Arizona and of the United States.
Wild Thing's comment.......
What a great woman!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:40 AM | Comments (5)
June 26, 2010
General David Petraeus Honoring Purple Heart Veterans
NEW WINDSOR
Gen. David Petraeus returned to his native Hudson Valley on Friday to honor roughly 130 veterans who were wounded in battles dating back to the 1940s.
His visit comes only days before congressional hearings at which Petraeus will be confirmed to lead an increasingly violent war in Afghanistan.
Petraeus, a son of Cornwall, delivered the keynote speech Thursday afternoon at a tribute to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New Windsor. About 1,200 people — and a cavalcade of national media — filled the ballroom at Anthony's Pier 9 catering hall for the tribute.
The most honored guests were the Purple Heart recipients spanning seven decades, all of them wounded in wartime. They were joined by Gold Star mothers and families who had lost relatives in battle. Petraeus assured all of the veterans and military families that their service and sacrifice was for a grateful nation.
"Thank you for what you did to earn the badge of honor that is sought by none but respected by all," he said. "The depth of our gratitude is inexpressible."
Veterans and friends of Petraeus returned the appreciation. They gave Petraeus his father's Bible, which had been kept at the Cornwall Presbyterian Church. And his classmates presented a stained glass window depicting the Purple Heart medal, which will hang in the museum in Petraeus' honor.
The ceremony also honored the four men known as the "Genesis Group," who steered the dream of having a Purple Heart museum in New Windsor. They included:
*Joseph R. Farina, a Newburgh native and World War II veteran who gained fame for bringing his love of bowling to the country of Australia
* Lt. Gen. James D. Hughes, a West Point alumnus and decorated fighter pilot who served as military assistant to President Richard Nixon. Hughes is a New Windsor resident
* State Sen. Bill Larkin, R-C-Cornwall-on-Hudson, who served in the U.S. Army for 23 years before starting his ongoing 30-year run as a state lawmaker
* Everett Smith, a veteran of the Army National Guard, who founded the Sentinel, a twice-weekly newspaper in Orange County, and became vice president of the Purple Heart Hall of Honor.
The crowd also lauded Daniel Sheehan, a 14-year-old from Texas. For his project to become an Eagle Scout, Sheehan tracked down 55 Purple Heart recipients who were not registered in the Hall of Honor. The teenager got the idea after his grandfather, Andy Komonchak of Bloomingburg, brought him to the hall in 2007.
"I was overwhelmed," Sheehan told the crowd. "It made me think that every Purple Heart recipient has a story to tell."
That includes veterans like Andy Barone of Monroe, whose knuckle was torn off by shrapnel in France during World War II. Or Jose Baez of the Bronx, who earned two Purple Hearts in Vietnam, including one for a bullet that ripped through his cheek while he was carrying a pregnant Vietnamese woman.
"To see a top general come out here — he knows what we went through," Baez said of Petraeus. "It means so much for him just to come and be with us."
And Petraeus, a 40-year military man, made it clear that he was honored, too. He shook hands with every Purple Heart recipient and Gold Star family in attendance, offering each an honorary medal. And on the eve of his next mission in Afghanistan, Petraeus spoke words that described himself as much as any other man or woman in the room.
" Today's troopers stand on the shoulders of those who came before them and because of your service, they stand very tall indeed," he said. . "Whatever the endeavor, whatever the mission, our troopers have always said, 'Send me.'"
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Wild Thing's comment........
I have the utmost respect for General Petraeus and I can’t think of another person better equipped to honor those who have lost so much while giving their all to defend this nation.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (3)
NO CONFIDENCE – WE DEMAND RESIGNATION
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Congressman John Boehner Willing to Present Obama Resignation Petitions to House!!
The Obama resignation letter drive that Major General Paul Vallely spoke about is now in full swing. This project is being spearheaded by Chalice Jackson of Patriots Heart Network, who is also partnered with, Band of Mothers, Veteran Defenders, Stand Up America, and 20 Turns. The goal is to send a message to Obama and gang that we the people are serious and we demand action.
It was also reported that Congressman John Boehner's office confirmed that Rep. Boehner would present the Obama resignation petitions to the House.
Now, it is up to we the people to get the petition letters sent. This is something that can be done in the comfort of your home, with ease. PHN is looking to sign-up at least 1,000 participants by Sunday, help make that happen... The instructions on what to do, posted below full text of the 'No Confidence We Demand Resignation Petition Letter,' below... [note: this project is time-sensitive, so act now.]
NO CONFIDENCE! We Demand Resignation Petition Letter
For High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Oath of Office for the President of the United States of America:
US Constitution, Article II, Section 1
“Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:”
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Be it known to all:
•On January 20, 2009, Barack H. Obama, willingly, and without reservation swore the oath of office, not once, but twice, to clarify the first oath which was possibly not administered correctly;
•Since taking the Oath of Office, numerous and frequent transgressions to this oath have been committed by the oath taker in his capacity as President of the United States of America;
•These transgressions, both in volume and severity, constitute High Crimes and Misdemeanors committed by the oath taker;
•Therefore, the American Citizens undersigned, demand the immediate resignation of the oath taker, and his appointees;
•Absent proper and immediate resignations, the undersigned demand that the United States House of Representatives begin immediate and expedited procedures to strike Articles of Impeachment upon the oath taker for high crimes and misdemeanors.
•Definition of High Crimes and Misdemeanors:"High" in the legal parlance of the 18th century means "against the State". A high crime is one which seeks the overthrow of the country, which gives aid or comfort to its enemies, or which injures the country to the profit of an individual or group. In democracies and similar societies it also includes crimes which attempt to alter the outcome of elections.(Wikipedia 6-20-10)
NO CONFIDENCE – I DEMAND RESIGNATION
We the undersigned, without malice, and with full understanding and clear volition, have no confidence in and do demand the resignation of U.S. President Barack H. Obama, his appointees, and his administration forthwith. Should he not resign his office forthwith, we the undersigned demand that the House and Senate Judiciary Committees begin immediate investigation of Mr. Obama including all actions and activities constituting High Crimes and Misdemeanors. A listing of these offenses are resourced at www.patriotsheart.us for presentation at the Congressional Hearings. In addition, we do demand that the U. S. House of Representatives strike Articles of Impeachment against Mr. Obama on or before September 1, 2010.
Signed by: _______________________________
Print Name: ______________________________
Date: __________________
City and State: _______________________________________
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Send the 5 copies to one each to :
The House Judiciary Committee
House Committee on the Judiciary
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
To the House Minority Leader
John Boehner, Minority Leader
1011 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Patriots Heart Network
Chalice Jackson
728 Northwest Hwy, Box 212
Fox River Grove Il 60021
To the Senate Judiciary Committee
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
To the White House
President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Become part of the spreading grassfire and the grassroots call “NO Confidence and We Demand Resignation” to Mr. Obama and other Officials. From individual Sparks we build Flames as we demand resignation for High Crimes and Misdemeanor.
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Sources....feel free to chek out these websites as well for other information:
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Wild Thing's comment........
The true and only job of the Federal government is the protection of this country and the real American citizens! Every other issue no matter what is a 10th amendment States Rights. Our biggest enemy right now is Obama and our Federal Government! We the people have to get back to our Republic! The Constitution! Capitalism!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM
Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson:"We Need To Pass DISCLOSE So Republicans Don't Win Elections"
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This is the same Congressman who talked about Guam Tipping Over. And Goldman Sacks was a big supporter of Obama and democrats. ~ Wild Thing
Wild Thing's comment......
Amazing, just amazing.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:49 AM | Comments (4)
Obama Knew of Blagojevich Plot
John Harris, Rod Blagojevich's ex-chief of staff, said he was convinced Barack Obama knew of the quid quo pro Blagojevich expected for a Senate nod.
Harris: Obama knew of Blagojevich plot
A top aide to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he believed Barack Obama knew of Blagojevich's plot to win himself a presidential Cabinet post in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett to the U.S. Senate.
John Harris, Blagojevich's former chief of staff, testified Wednesday in the former governor's corruption trial that three days after the Nov. 4, 2008, presidential election, the ex-governor told Harris he felt confident Obama knew he wanted to swap perks.
"The president understands that the governor would be willing to make the appointment of Valerie Jarrett as long as he gets what he's asked for. . . . The governor gets the Cabinet appointment he's asked for," Harris said, explaining a recorded call.
Harris said Blagojevich came away believing Obama knew what he wanted after having a conversation with a local union representative, who in turn spoke with labor leader Tom Balanoff, with whom Blagojevich met to discuss a Jarrett appointment. Jarrett, now a White House adviser, was seeking the appointment to Obama's Senate seat.
Defense lawyers say Harris' testimony contradicts the government's previous public statements that Obama knew nothing about deal-making involving the Senate seat appointment.
The defense on Wednesday moved to force the prosecution to turn over FBI reports of Obama's interview with federal agents in December of 2008. Obama is not accused of wrongdoing.
"Testimony elicited by the government from John Harris and wiretaps played in court raise the issue of President Obama's direct knowledge and communication with emissaries and others regarding the appointment to his Senate seat," lawyers wrote in the filing.
The filing came on the trial's third day of the extensive playback of recordings in which Blagojevich is heard repeatedly discussing ways to personally capitalize on his Senate seat appointment power. Blagojevich could be heard plotting to try to head up a charity; swearing and snapping at his wife, Patti, and dismissing the possibility of a federal position that pays $190,000 a year.
"I make $170 . . . So Fred, that has no appeal to me . . . I want to make money," Blagojevich tells national Democratic consultant Fred Yang. "I might as well go out and find a way to make money."
Obama's 2008 internal report about his staff's contacts with Blagojevich at the time indicates that Balanoff relayed to Jarrett that Blagojevich was interested in a Health and Human Services Cabinet post.
Recordings also revealed that Blagojevich had tried to get the Chicago Tribune's editorial board fired after it ran a series of disparaging write-ups about the then-governor.
Harris testified that he ignored Blagojevich's firing directive.
Also Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Zagel refused to gag the talkative Blagojevich as prosecutors had asked. Zagel said Blagojevich keeps saying he's innocent, and that anyone who says otherwise is a liar.
The repetition, Zagel said, has rendered Blagojevich's out-of-court talk unnewsworthy.
Wild Thing's comment........
And Obama did not report the bribery attempt.......Which is a felony.
Fox news was referencing this as a ‘bomb shell’ report per Blago. . .and Obama.
....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 (2)
Have the Democrats Learned Anything from Vietnam?
Have the Democrats Learned Anything from Vietnam?
By Michael Filozof
The Vietnam War was the defining event for the modern Democratic Party. Nearly four decades after the war ended, we ought to ask if the Democrats learned anything from Vietnam that is applicable to Afghanistan.
In Vietnam, the U.S. fought an insurgency in a remote, forbidding jungle that neutralized our tactical advantage. In Afghanistan, we are fighting an insurgency in remote, forbidding mountains that neutralize our tactical advantage.
In Vietnam, the insurgents had no armor and no air power. They attacked American patrols with jury-rigged explosives called "booby traps." In Afghanistan, the insurgents have no armor and no air power. They attack American patrols with jury-rigged explosives called "IEDs."
In Vietnam, a socialist country tried to defeat the insurgents before the U.S. became involved. It failed. It was called "France." In Afghanistan, a socialist country also tried to defeat the insurgents before the U.S. became involved. It also failed. It was called the "Soviet Union."
In Vietnam, American involvement began by sending advisers, Special Forces, and CIA operatives. Nine years later, we had hundreds of thousands of troops in combat brigades stationed there. In Afghanistan, American involvement began by sending in advisers, Special Forces, and CIA operatives. Nine years later, we have combat brigades and over a hundred thousand troops stationed there.
In Vietnam, the insurgents routinely obtained assistance and sanctuary in a foreign nation where U.S. forces were forbidden to go. It was called "Cambodia." In Afghanistan, insurgents routinely obtain assistance and sanctuary in a foreign nation where U.S. troops are forbidden to go. It is called "Pakistan."
In Vietnam, the U.S. sought to protect the population from insurgents through a program called "Strategic Hamlets." It didn't work. In Afghanistan, the U.S. is seeking to protect the population from the insurgents with a program called "Clear, Build, and Hold." It isn't working, either.
In Vietnam, the U.S. supported a corrupt ruler who rigged elections in an attempt to give his regime a veneer of legitimacy. His name was "Diem." In Afghanistan, the U.S. is supporting a corrupt ruler who rigged elections to give himself a veneer of legitimacy. His name is "Karzai."
In Vietnam, the U.S. declared that its goal was to train and equip an indigenous force to hold off the insurgents by themselves. They were called the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam). The ARVN turned out to be incompetent and corrupt. In Afghanistan, our strategy is to train and equip indigenous forces called the ANA (Afghan National Army). The ANA is also incompetent and corrupt.
We fought in Vietnam for over a decade, but Congress never declared war on Vietnam. We have fought in Afghanistan for nine years with no end in sight, and Congress has not declared war on Afghanistan, either.
The Vietnam War was escalated by a Democratic president named "Johnson." Johnson could not afford to look soft on communism in the 1964 campaign because his Republican opponent was a hawkish fighter pilot from Arizona named "Goldwater." The Afghanistan war was escalated by a Democratic president named "Obama." Obama could not afford to look soft on terrorism in the 2008 campaign, because his Republican opponent was a hawkish fighter pilot from Arizona named "McCain."
Although Johnson was responsible for escalating the Vietnam War, his real interest was in domestic politics, where he presided over a massive expansion of the welfare state and created expensive federal health care programs called "Medicare" and "Medicaid." While Obama is responsible for escalating the Afghan war, his real interest is in domestic politics, where he has massively expanded the welfare state and created an expensive federal health care program called "Obamacare."
Rather than leave the battlefield tactics in Vietnam up to his field commanders, Johnson was known for micromanaging the war and manipulating bombing strategies and other rules of engagement that prevented the U.S. forces from going all-out. In Afghanistan, Obama has micromanaged the war with restrictive rules of engagement that prevent the U.S. forces from going all-out.
In Vietnam, the United States lost. In Afghanistan...we're not winning.
Have the Democrats learned anything from Vietnam? Actually, they have learned many important lessons.
First, they have learned that anti-war riots and protests should be conducted only against Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents. (Isn't it amazing how Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan disappeared after George W. Bush left office?)
Second, they have learned to not send Jane Fonda to enemy territory to pose for enemy propaganda photos. Unlike the warm reception she received in Hanoi, the Taliban would probably behead her live on the internet for failing to wear a burqa.
Third, they have learned that if a Democratic presidential candidate plans to conduct a foreign policy of national self-abasement and groveling before our enemies, it is probably better to not announce it during the campaign. George McGovern promised that he'd "crawl on his hands and knees to Hanoi and beg for peace" in 1972 and lost 49 states. Obama did not apologize to the Muslim world and bow before foreign monarchs until after he was elected.
Finally, the most important lesson the Democrats have learned is that they should not draft long-haired, stoned hippies and America-hating radicals on college campuses and send them to war. They'll only riot and try to bomb the Pentagon (like Bill Ayers did). And it makes no sense to offend the voters who are virtually guaranteed to support the Democratic Party anyway.
It's far better to prosecute a war with patriotic, America-loving volunteers from red states who probably voted Republican in the first place, and to play them for suckers by sending them on a mission about which you've said you're "uncomfortable" using the term "victory."
The Democrats have indeed learned a lot from Vietnam, haven't they?
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Wild Thing's comment........
Goldwater wanted a quick win and less of our troops lives killed, he wanted to bomb the hell out of the North, and force them into submission, and he said so openly. And he was right!! But saying so openly caused him the election. It freaked people out to hear strong talk of how to fight a war to win and people went with LBJ instead.
......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 06:47 AM | Comments (3)
Democrat Boy Lollipop Barney Frank Says Congress' Low Approval is Bush's Fault
Democrat Rep. Barney Frank actually claiming that the low approval rating for his Democrat-led Congress is the fault of George W. Bush and the media.
“Well, part of it, I would revert to the fact that the media — bad news is a better story than good news. Secondly, the depths of the recession that Barack Obama inherited from George Bush were greater than I think, many people, including myself, certainly the President, realized.”
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Wild Thing's comment........
Obama inherited it from the Barney Franks and Chris Dodds of the world. And then proceeded to make it much worse.
The only interview Frank should be giving is to a federal prosecutor about his role in covering up the problems at Fannie and Freddie.
Bawney— the Dems took over Congress in 2006 - that’s when the plundering began in earnest to take America down the chute.
Rush played his Barney Frank/ My Boy Lollipop song yesterday.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (5)
Hero Gov. Bobby Jindal Urges America Hating Obama: "Listen to the Federal Judge"
GOP Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaking at a rally of workers and calling on the U.S. Government to not fight the decision of a Federal Judge to strike down President Obama’s six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling.
“Listen to the Federal Judge. Listen to your own hand-chosen experts who are telling you,’You can drill safely – just provide the proper ovesight.’”
He said it is “important that thousands of Louisianans don’t lose our jobs due to this arbitrary moratorium.”
Wild Thing's comment........
I think Jindal is doing an awesome job and I think the citizens of LA did a great and wise thing electing him.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:40 AM | Comments (3)
June 25, 2010
House Passes DISCLOSE Act: Pro-Life/Grassroots Muzzle Bill Goes to Senate
House Invokes "Martial Law Rule" and Passes DISCLOSE ACT
House Passes DISCLOSE Act: Pro-Life/Grassroots Muzzle Bill Goes to Senate
Critics on both the left and the right say the act will disable grassroots political voices, including Tea Party movement
We are in a constitutional crisis on many levels but today the First Amendment right to free speech has been trampled by Democrats who are hanging on with their fingernails.
The Democrat-controlled House has pulled another fast one in a blatant, desperate attempt to shut down the voices of opposition prior to this November’s elections.
The House has just voted to criminalize speech by grassroots groups. There are criminal provisions in this bill which will can put people in jail for opposing points of view. Let me repeat, there are criminal provisions in this bill which include JAIL for expressing political views and not following the byzantine reporting rules which noone will be able to understand.
The so-called “Disclose Act” is about anything BUT disclosure; it is about placing impossible, confusing and punishing controls on grassroots organizations such as the Tea Party movement, and other conservative groups.
The Supreme Court ruled last year on a case which allowed corporations the same right to take out ads for political candidates as individuals and as you recall, President Obama “called out” Supreme Court justices on their decision to their faces during his state of the union speech this year. He is a Chicago thugga who is attempting to break down every legal and society safety net we have.
You can read below that the Disclose Act was passed by only one vote…with the help of two God-forsaken House Republicans, Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware ( who voted for cap and trade and TARP) , and the Louisiana weenie Rep. “Anh” Cao (R-La.), who also was a critical swing vote on health care reform in December.
If there is any doubt in your mind that this bill was passed to keep Republicans from getting elected this fall….listen to this video of Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) who blatantly said from the House floor today exactly what the agenda is.
This bill now goes to the Senate and it must absolutely be stopped or there may be no chance to win back the Congress this fall.
The mainstream media in this country are not going to be covering this story widely because it doesn’t affect them and they are in the bag for the Democrats. Thus, do NOT be lulled into thinking this is not a “big deal” because you aren’t hearing about it on the networks….you will NOT.
This is happening quickly. There is literally a counter-revolution going on right now to cause chaos in the next few months, to scare these groups into silence for fear of being prosecuted. This could not be more serious.
Call your senator to filibuster and stop this bill. Vote these House members out, God help us, if we have a chance.
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With a political audacity that has become characteristic since the caustic health care debates, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve a campaign finance disclosure bill that critics on both the left and the right say will disable grassroots political voices – including the nascent “Tea Party” movement that has been looking to sweep away liberal incumbents in November.
At approximately 4:30 p.m., the House voted 219-206 to approve H.R. 5175, the “Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act,” which the National Right to Life Committee, other pro-life, pro-family groups, and even the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have condemned as a threat to free speech and free participation in the political process.
The Act would force grassroots organizations to release the names of donors and members of their organizations into a publicly searchable database maintained by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). Opponents of the bill say it would frustrate the ability of grassroots entities to communicate effectively with the public about public policy.
“This is a blatant attack on our organizations, members, and donors,” said Douglas Johnson, NRLC’s Legislative Director. “National Right to Life will do everything possible to keep this bill from coming out of the Senate.”
Johnson said that stopping the Senate from approving its version (S 3295) of the DISCLOSE Act is “a jump ball.”
“I think we have to take it very seriously. There are already 50 cosponsors of the bill in the Senate. But as you know, the Senate has different rules, and we will certainly do our best to persuade any Senator who will listen that this bill is unconstitutional, unprincipled, and nakedly partisan.”
Should the Senate approve the DISCLOSE Act, and should it be signed into law by President Barack Obama, the act would take effect in 30 days, even if the Federal Elections Commission has not yet crafted new guidelines – just in time for the mid-term elections in November.
During the one-hour debate on the bill, Rep. Dan Lungren expressed outrage that unlike every other campaign finance bill passed by the House, this bill has no provision for expedited judicial review. He said the lack of such a provision makes it clear the DISCLOSE Act is meant to influence the outcome of the 2010 midterm elections.
He also expressed frustration that so little time was given the House to debate a matter impacting Americans’ First Amendment rights.
“We have spent 40 hours in this Congress naming post offices. Can’t we spend a little time protecting the Constitution of the United States?” Lungren exclaimed.
“We’re talking about political speech: the essence of the First Amendment.”
Under the bill, all groups subject to the law’s requirements – including most 501(c)4, 501(c)5, 501(c)6, and 527 groups – would have to list all donors of $600 or more with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Groups must also post a hyperlink on their website to the FEC, where a list of the names of their donors can be accessed.
But the DISCLOSE Act exempts large 501(c)4 groups – like the 4 million strong NRA and 750,000 member Sierra Club – from having to report their donors if they have at least 500,000 members, over 10 years of existence, chapters in all 50 states, and receive no more than 15% of total contributions from corporations.
Unions also have significant exemptions. Most union dues are under $600 dollars, and so do not have to be reported. Union to union transfers of money also do not have to be disclosed.
In a letter to Congress, the ACLU noted the irony that a bill ostensibly dedicated to uprooting corruption in the political process would exempt entrenched “mainstream” political interests from its reporting requirements, while “smaller organizations and those just starting out would have to disclose their donors in order to engage in political speech.”
“Those groups not challenging the status quo would be protected; those challenging the status quo would be suppressed,” they concluded.
House members had virtually no time to read the final version of the bill approved yesterday behind closed doors by the House Rules Committee. Instead of waiting for Congressmen and their staff to analyze the final bill, the Democrat leadership forced through today’s vote today by invoking a “Martial Law Rule.”
The Martial Law Rule dispenses with a longstanding House rule (Rule XIII(6)(a)) intended to give U.S. Representatives and the public enough time to understand significant legislation. The rule requires that there be at least one day between a bill’s unveiling and the House floor vote, and can only be suspended if two-thirds of the House agrees – but the Martial Law Rule dispenses with that process entirely.
Critics on both the left and the right have denounced the tactic, saying it empowers a party’s leadership to act in an authoritarian manner and endangers democratic self-government by forcing members to vote blind on measures demanded by their leaders.
The bill requires that every time an organization runs a campaign ad, its CEO must appear in the ad and twice state his name and the organization’s name. The top five funders of the organization behind the ad – even if they had nothing to do with the ad’s funding – must also have their names listed in the ad.
In addition, the most “significant” donor to the organization must list his name, rank, and organization three times in the ad.
Critics of the bill say that the disclaimers effectively devour valuable airtime bought by these groups that would otherwise be used to inform voters about a candidate’s record.
“We’re getting a little silly here. We’re talking about making disclaimers that are going to take the entire time of a commercial,” stated Rep. Lungren during debate.
He also expressed grave concern that individuals – with names and addresses publicly available – would be subject to reprisals for making a political statement. He pointed to the situation in California, where supporters of Proposition 8 have been victims of reprisals by homosexualist activists.
“We are chilling speech already, and now we are getting into direct intimidation by requiring the residence of people living there,” he said.
Other affected entities under the bill will likely include vocal liberal and conservative groups that communicate through the internet. While traditional media organizations like newspapers and television stations are exempt from the bill, bloggers, the vanguard of the “new media,” are not.
How representatives voted – click here.
Contact information for the U.S. House of Representatives - click here.
Contact information for the U.S. Senate - click here.
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NRA Not Concerned with Constitution As A Whole only one issue the 2nd Amendment
NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS ALERT
Vol. 17, No. 24 06/18/10
Statement From NRA-ILA Executive Director
Chris W. Cox On H.R. 5175, The “DISCLOSE Act”
We believe that any restriction on political speech is repugnant. But some of our critics believe we should put the Second Amendment at risk over a First Amendment principle to protect other organizations. That’s easy to say — unless you have a sworn duty to protect the Second Amendment above all else, as I do.
Rather than focusing on opposing this bill, some have encouraged people to blame the NRA for this Congress’s unconstitutional attack on free speech. That’s a shame. If you oppose this bill, I hope you will contact your Member of Congress and Senators so they can hear from you.
Statement From David Keene, NRA First
Vice-President On H.R. 5175, The “DISCLOSE Act”
NRA has one major mission . to defend the right of its members and all Americans to Keep & Bear Arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Therefore, the NRA served notice on Congress that since the act threatened our very existence, we were prepared to do anything and everything that might be required to defeat it unless it was changed so that we could continue to represent the views of our members in the public arena. The letter, sent on May 26, was public. The NRA did not engage in back room shenanigans, but told Congressional leaders quite clearly that we would do whatever we needed to do to protect the rights of our members and our ability to defend the Second Amendment.
Last week Democratic leadership in the House capitulated by agreeing to exempt the NRA from the act — not in return for NRA support, but to avoid a political war that might cost them even more seats this fall.
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NRA exemption shows campaign disclosure bill's cynical, fatal flaws
By Cleta Mitchell ...(The writer is a partner at Foley & Lardner who works in campaign finance law and is a member of the NRA's board of directors.)
Here's just an excerpt:
The cynical decision this week by House Democrats to exempt the National Rifle Association from the latest campaign finance regulatory scheme is itself a public disclosure. It reveals the true purpose of the perversely named Disclose Act (H.R. 5175): namely, to silence congressional critics in the 2010 elections.
The NRA "carve-out" reaffirms the wisdom of the First Amendment's precise language: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech."
Congress can't help itself. Since 1798, with the Alien and Sedition Acts, incumbent politicians have yearned for legal duct tape for their opponents' mouths. The Disclose Act is a doozy of a muzzle.
For its part, the NRA -- on whose board of directors I serve -- rather than holding steadfastly to its historic principles of defending the Constitution and continuing its noble fight against government regulation of political speech instead opted for a political deal borne of self-interest in exchange for "neutrality" from the legislation's requirements. In doing so, the NRA has, sadly, affirmed the notion held by congressional Democrats (and some Republicans), liberal activists, the media establishment and, at least for now, a minority on the Supreme Court that First Amendment protections are subject to negotiation. The Second Amendment surely cannot be far behind.
Receiving less attention than the NRA "carve-out" but no less cynical is the bill's sop to organized labor: Aggregate contributions of $600 or more would be disclosed. Why start at $600? Why not $200 or, say, $500? Because most union members' dues aggregate less than $600 in a calendar year and thus members' contributions to labor's campaign-related spending wouldn't need to be disclosed . . . even to the union members whose dues are spent for political purposes.
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Mark Levin had Cleta Mitchell on his show last night.l....discussing the Disclose Act threatens the First Amendment
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Wild Thing's comment......
I feel sick. Really. Does it bother anyone else that we are PAYING THESE PIECES OF GARBAGE to screw us? OMG I'm pissed.
I for one will never stop speaking out.
We up the pressure on our Senators until HR 5175 is dead, dead, dead!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (6)
Law Breaker Obama Using TAXPAYER DOLLARS to Get Equal Pay for ILLEGALS
Labor Dept. Offers Assistance to Illegal Immigrants Facing Wage Disparities
Republican lawmakers are expressing shock over a Labor Department ad campaign that offers government assistance to illegal immigrants who think they're getting shortchanged for their work -- and at least one of them is planning to write to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis for an explanation.
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz says he wants to know why taxpayers are being asked to spend money to ensure that illegals get assistance for fair wages while millions of unemployed Americans struggle to find jobs.
"That's insane," Chaffetz told FoxNews.com on Wednesday. "That's just unbelievable."
But the Labor Department stood by the campaign, saying in a written statement to FoxNews.com that "through Democratic and Republican administrations, the Department of Labor has consistently held that the country's minimum wage and overtime law protects workers regardless of their immigration status."
In a public service announcement posted on the department's website, Solis says workers -- legal or not -- have the right to fair wages.
"You work hard, and you have the right to be paid fairly," she says. "And it is a serious problem when workers in this country are not being paid every cent they earn. Remember, every worker in America has the right to be paid fairly, whether documented or not. So call us."
The ad then offers a toll-free number -- in English and Spanish -- to call for assistance in recovering additional income.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PAGE WITH ALL THE ADS THEY ARE RUNNING
The announcement is part of a bilingual national awareness campaign called "We Can Help," launched in April to reach out to the nation's "low-wage and vulnerable workers." Actor Jimmy Smits and other activist celebrities are featured in the spots.
It is not clear how much the campaign costs.
In a press release issued at the launch of the campaign, the Labor Department said it seeks to help workers learn how to file a complaint with the department's wage and hour division to recover owed wages. Solis said in the press release that she has added more than 250 new field investigators nationwide to participate in the campaign.
"I'm here to tell you that your president, your secretary of labor and this department will not allow anyone to be denied his or her rightful pay -- especially when so many in our nation are working long, hard and often dangerous hours," Solis said. "We can help and we will help. If you work in this country, you are protected by our laws. And you can count on the U.S. Department of Labor to see to it that those protections work for you."
The initiative appears to contradict labor law -- cited on the Labor Department's own website -- which states that employers may hire only people who work legally in the United States. The Obama administration has vowed to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, employers that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has called "evildoers."
But the Labor Department says protecting undocumented workers from exploitation benefits all U.S. workers by ensuring there's a level playing field when they seek employment.
"Consider the lost advantage to U.S. workers when unscrupulous employers purposely pass them over to hire workers who are afraid to file a complaint about not being paid the minimum wage or often not being paid at all," the department said in a statement to FoxNews.com.
"Second, no employer should gain an economic edge by hiring undocumented individuals who feel that they must accept working conditions below those required by law," the statement read. "Good employers that abide by the law should not suffer the consequences of those businesses engaged in a race to the bottom."
But Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, the ranking member on the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, called the announcement "an explicit invitation for illegal immigrants to bring the resources and power of the Department of Labor to bear against American employers."
"It is shameful that Secretary Solis has to be reminded that her primary duty is owed to the American people, and not to those who have illegally entered our country," King said in a written statement. "The Obama administration needs to realize that the American people have a right to have their immigration laws enforced."
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, called it "astounding" that in an era of double-digit unemployment, the Department of Labor would spend time and "our taxpayer money worrying about fair wages for individuals who are in our country illegally."
"Maybe they should focus their attention on protecting American jobs and enforcing our labor laws," he said in a written statement to FoxNews.com. "After all, it is illegal to hire workers that are in our country illegally."
The unemployment rate is officially 9.7 percent, though many states report unemployment at higher than 10 percent. Including underemployed workers and people who have given up looking for work, the rate moves closer to 17 percent.
The other day I posted this ad the communists are running where they want the illegals to report an employeer that does not pay them the full wage Obama and his ilk say they deserve. ~ Wild Thing
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Wild Thing's comment........
And the nightmare continues.
I hate the Obama government and I despise HIM!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (2)
Al Gore A "Crazed Sex Poodle?" ~ That is an insult to Poodles!
JUNE 24--In a bizarre statement to police, the Oregon woman who claims that Al Gore fondled and groped her during a massage session described the former Vice President as a giggling "crazed sex poodle" who gave a "come hither" look before pouncing on her in a Portland hotel suite.
In a taped January 2009 interview with cops, the 54-year-old woman, a licensed masseuse whose name has been redacted from police records, read from a lengthy prepared statement that detailed her alleged October 2006 encounter with Gore at the Hotel Lucia. Excerpts from the Portland Police Bureau transcript of the 2009 interview can be found on the following pages.
In December 2006, a lawyer for the woman told police about the purported encounter, but after the masseuse cancelled three interview appointments, the case was closed due to her refusal to "cooperate with the investigation or even report a crime."
It is unclear why, two years later, she approached Portland police and sought to memorialize her allegations against Gore, who she portrayed as a tipsy, handsy predator who forced her to drink Grand Marnier, pinned her to a bed, and forcibly French kissed her.
The woman's statement--which could be mistaken for R-rated Vice Presidential fan fiction--describes Gore as a man with a "violent temper as well as extremely dictatorial commanding attitude besides his Mr. Smiley Global Warming concern persona." After fleeing Gore's suite, the woman returned home to discover, a la Lewinsky, "stains on the front of my black slacks."
Suspecting that the stains were Gore bodily fluids, the woman made sure not to clean them. "I carefully hung them up and decided to be sure not to launder them until I knew more what to do with what had happened. Just my intuition." While the masseuse hired a civil attorney, "I was not interested in making any money from this case," she told cops. "I did not want to be labeled a gold digger like the women in this situation are often labeled."
The woman recently eased off this principled stand when she offered to sell her story to the National Enquirer for $1 million.
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From the Telegraph co.uk.
The woman, who recalled telling Mr Gore he was behaving like a "crazed sex poodle", claims he pinned her to his bed and forcibly French kissed her.
Mr Gore, 62, was staying in an expensive hotel in Portland in October while delivering a speech about climate change in October of that year had registered as "Mr Stone".
He allegedly asked the hotel to call the massage therapist to his suite, complaining to her during the $540 (£360) session about the physical rigours of his heavy travel schedule.
The accuser, after contacting police in late 2006, subsequently cancelled three interviews with detectives and said she did not want the investigation to proceed.
However, she contacted them again in January 2009 and gave a detailed statement.
A spokesman for Mr Gore, who announced his separation from his wife, Tipper, on June 1, said he had no comment.
In her statement, made public by police, the masseuse said she arrived at the St Lucia Hotel's VIP suite to find Mr Gore drinking beer.
He greeted her with a hug and told her to call him "Al", she told police.
However, the nearly three-hour therapy session soon went sour after Mr Gore angrily insisted she massage him around his groin and then pounced on her, she claimed.
"He pleaded, groped me, grabbed me, engulfed me in embrace, tongue kissed me, massaged me
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Ack! I need brain bleach! Pronto! A 300-pound “crazed sex poodle.” Not a pretty sight.
Al Gore, committing crimes so you don’t have to. I mean ....Everybody knows Republicans don’t have sex. heh heh
....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 06:49 AM | Comments (4)
'You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?' by Andy McCarthy
'You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?'
Why would General Stanley McChrystal give that kind of access to a lefty rock-n-roll magazine? Maybe because he's a kindred spirit who felt the need to assure Rolling Stone's Michael Hastings that he voted for Obama — even against McCain, a military legend who shares McChrystal's transnational progressive outlook.
"Now it can be told," elaborates Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic "The story about [McChrystal] voting for Obama is not contrived. He is a political liberal. He is a social liberal. He banned Fox News from the television sets in his headquarters. Yes, really."
Yes, really. The revealing Rolling Stone profile also tells us that the general "banned alcohol on base [and] kicked out Burger King and other symbols of American excess." (Recall the very similar Obama edict that American forces not fly the Stars and Stripes at their base during their humanitarian mission in Haiti — a self-loathing trend that has also taken hold on college campuses.) Even McChrystal's undoing here — ironically, by Rolling Stone, not Fox News — is, as VDH suggested yesterday, attributable to a disturbing contempt for authority and decorum that McChrystal and his top aides made little effort to conceal from Hastings. (Byron has more on that, here.)
I got in some hot water here last year for arguing that Gen. McChrystal, for all his undeniable valor, is a progressive big-thinker who has been conducting a sociology experiment in Islamic nation-building. It's a flawed experiment that assumes Afghan Muslims will side with us — i.e., the Westerners their clerical authorities tell them are infidel invaders and occupiers — against their fellow Afghan Muslims.
Nothing in the ensuing months changes my mind. To the contrary, what I've seen lately indicates that, while our troops are imperiled under strait-jacketing rules of engagement imposed by Gen. McChrystal to avoid offending Afghans, Christian missionaries have been suspended for preaching (proselytism for any belief-system other than Islam is illegal in Afghanistan).
I've seen Asia News's report that Afghan converts to Christianity have been sentenced to death for apostasy. All this, moreover, is happening under the new constitution we helped write, which (as the State Department bragged in 2004) enshrines sharia as Afghanistan's fundamental law. That is, the Afghan Muslim population our troops are fighting and dying to protect has institutionalized the persecution of other populations (when the said Muslims are not otherwise busy killing each other).
In the Examiner, Byron points to Rolling Stone's account of a frustrated American soldier, lamenting the death of a fellow soldier killed because of the rules of engagement. "You sit and ask yourself," says the soldier, "What are we doing here?" I don't know, but whatever it is, it is not what Americans thought they were sending our military to Afghanistan to do.
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From Rush Limbaugh:
"In some people's opinion, look at what's happened here is in order to save his bacon, Obama's had to go get a "Bush general his party hates in order to save his bacon in the war in the Afghanistan, and despite Obama being the commander-in-chief, it's really Petraeus now 'cause he holds all the cards 'cause he is the safety valve."
"Even more about McChrystal: now it can be told. The story about him voting for Obama is not contrived. He is a political liberal. He is a social liberal," and he is a wacko environmentalist liberal. "He banned Fox News from the television sets in his headquarters." He has banned fast food, Burger King and all that from his headquarters and from people in his command.
this explains why he trusted some reporter from Rolling Stone. If this guy is as far left as he is -- and, by the way, if this is true (and I happen to believe it now), if this is the case, you can't say that Obama got rid of McChrystal for politics. They're two peas in a pod here. The guy voted for Obama. So whatever PR somebody wants to attach to it. Obama just got rid of a like-minded soul except for the fact that McChrystal likes to pull the trigger and kill the bad guys and Obama doesn't. McChrystal likes to win. Obama doesn't. But now Obama has been maneuvered into a position where the only option is to win, because that's what you go get Petraeus for. That's why you get rid of McChrystal. So now Obama's really screwed himself and the left-wing base because he'd made it clear he's hired Bush's most hated general -- the successful architect of Iraq, of the surge, counterinsurgency strategy -- and charged him with winning. What do you do bet that July 11th withdrawal date gets moved now?
I cannot emphasize this enough. McChrystal and Obama, policy-wise, were on the same page. They were in total agreement on policy. In this Rolling Stone piece whatever McChrystal and his aides said was aimed at the folks who opposed Obama's policy, and who were they? Vice President Bite Me, John Kerry (who served in Vietnam), Jim Jones his national security guy, Richard Holbrooke, and this guy Eikenberry. But those guys are kept on in the national security team, and the general -- who was on the same page with Obama policy-wise, other than the number of troops on the ground. McChrystal didn't get the boots he wanted and he doesn't like the time frame, but in terms of everything else they were pretty much on the same page. So he goes. If Obama really wanted to get rid of the division, getting rid of the general was the wrong guy to get rid of.
Get rid of the clowns in his own national security team. Vice President Bite Me, Holbrooke, and Eikenberry especially. That's where the rift is, or was.
Rush had read this article and others and in case you would like to read it too, CLICK HERE for the link.
The Night Beat: Obama Borrows the Military Back
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Wild Thing's comment........
Pretty rich irony, isn’t it? Obama fired a progressive General who voted for him, and replaced him with Bush’s General. I peeked in over at DU to see how they were reacting to all of this and they are not happy about it.
So it appears that Obama was forced to sack someone who emulated his liberalism. This is just bizarre.
There is also this:
From The Washington Examiner
But the bigger problem with McChrystal’s leadership has always been the general’s devotion to unreasonably restrictive rules of engagement that are resulting in the unnecessary deaths of American and coalition forces. We have had many, many accounts of the rules endangering Americans, and the Rolling Stone article provides more evidence. In the story, a soldier at Combat Outpost JFM who had earlier met with McChrystal was killed in a house that American officers had asked permission to destroy. From the article:
The night before the general is scheduled to visit Sgt. Arroyo’s platoon for the memorial, I arrive at Combat Outpost JFM to speak with the soldiers he had gone on patrol with. JFM is a small encampment, ringed by high blast walls and guard towers. Almost all of the soldiers here have been on repeated combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and have seen some of the worst fighting of both wars. But they are especially angered by Ingram’s death. His commanders had repeatedly requested permission to tear down the house where Ingram was killed, noting that it was often used as a combat position by the Taliban. But due to McChrystal’s new restrictions to avoid upsetting civilians, the request had been denied. “These were abandoned houses,” fumes Staff Sgt. Kennith Hicks. “Nobody was coming back to live in them.”
One soldier shows me the list of new regulations the platoon was given. “Patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourselves with lethal force,” the laminated card reads. For a soldier who has traveled halfway around the world to fight, that’s like telling a cop he should only patrol in areas where he knows he won’t have to make arrests. “Does that make any f–king sense?” Pfc. Jared Pautsch. “We should just drop a f–king bomb on this place. You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?”
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (4)
MacArthur Defeats Truman: The Real McChrystal Message by Jeffrey Lord
MacArthur Defeats Truman: The Real McChrystal Message
By Jeffrey Lord
Harry Truman was no dove.
But Douglas MacArthur made him look like one.
And the political consequences for Democrats of Truman's legendary dismissal of the iconic hero of World War II -- at the height of the Korean War -- were both dramatic and long-lasting. In fact, those consequences are part of the political baggage of the American left -- and the Obama administration -- to this day. It is a history that stirs yet again with the decision of President Obama to fire General Stanley McChrystal in the wake of the now infamous Rolling Stone interview with the General and his aides.
First, the history.
World War II was over, and the world celebrated. Within a month of Truman's decision to drop two atomic bombs -- the brand new weapon of the day -- on Japan, the Japanese had finally yielded. General Douglas MacArthur, the hero of the Pacific Theater, had accepted the Japanese surrender onboard the battleship USS Missouri.
MacArthur was quickly installed as, in effect, the American Shogun of Japan in the aftermath of the war. Working effectively to keep the Japanese tradition of the Emperor yet melding it with a solid constitutional underpinning of democracy, the General played no small role in helping the Japanese people recover and thrive as the Asian democracy they have been ever since.
Yet while MacArthur was busy reconstructing Japan, Truman was coming to the recognition that the Soviet Union was turning from an American ally against Hitler to its central dream of imposing a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship on the world. The Cold War had begun.
Americans, still celebrating and trying to resume the joys of a normal civilian life, were finding themselves increasingly caught up in a bewildering if not frightening new world they simply hadn't seen coming. It wasn't the peace they thought they had won.
Startling accusations flew along with a host of new names.
Gone were FDR and the bulk of the household names that had filled the newspapers, radio newscasts and newsreels since 1932. In their place were tumultuous allegations of Communist spies in the government, secretly salted throughout the Roosevelt and now Truman administrations. A young California Congressman named Richard Nixon burst on the scene helping a Time magazine editor named Whittaker Chambers expose an ex-FDR aide named Alger Hiss as a Communist spy. A Wisconsin veteran styling himself "Tail-Gunner Joe" McCarthy was elected to the U.S. Senate in the 1946 elections and soon was making accusations of communists in government. Abroad, the United States was finding itself in one crisis after another with Communism. Berlin was blockaded, Greece was under assault, Mao Tse-tung toppled the Chinese government. Winston Churchill pronounced the reality of what he called "The Iron Curtain." The Russians -- with the help of American spies -- had gotten their hands on The Bomb.
And inside the Democratic Party an at-first almost invisible fissure began to widen and show itself, separating Truman from self-described left-wing "progressives" as represented by his predecessor as FDR's vice president, Henry Wallace. The dividing line? How to deal with the Soviet Union and its increasingly relentless drive to remake the world -- by murderous force -- in the Communist image of Marx and Lenin.
In this new era, on June 25, 1950, Communist North Korea invaded South Korea, stunning both Truman and the world. No slouch in taking action, Truman quickly arranged for the new United Nations -- a decision from which the Soviets had deliberately absented themselves -- to call for a police action and send member country troops to South Korea. MacArthur, the hero of World War II who had spent much of his career in Asia, was called from Japan to take command.
Which, in his usual and famously imperious fashion, he did. In MacArthur's world Truman, while president, was little more than the failed haberdasher and crass World War I artillery captain that was the caricature of Truman's political enemies. The notion that fate would have Truman giving orders to MacArthur simultaneously amused and infuriated.
There were increasing clashes between the two. Most behind the scenes, but increasingly some leaking into the media of the day. Even more irritatingly to Truman -- and, in retrospect a sign of the historic division to come -- MacArthur was picking up allies among prominent Republican conservatives in Congress.
In particular, the once isolationist-leaning GOP of the 1930s was now focusing on the new Communist threat. And what it perceived as the growing problem internal to the Democrats, as exemplified by Henry Wallace and his "progressives." The problem? Weakness towards Communism, a philosophy that was, with increasing clarity, seen as a sworn enemy of America, freedom and democracy. A re-start of the war just ended by other means. In the vernacular of a day that was belatedly yet correctly sensitive to the rise of Hitler -- Republicans saw this as appeasement. Appeasement of Communism. And this time, the GOP had no intention of sitting on the sidelines as many felt it had during Hitler's rise to power and war.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Interesting read. The essence of the Spectator article is that McArthur was tougher on communism that Truman and from that time on the American people saw democrats as weaker on communism than republicans. In fact, the article states that the firing of McArthur was the beginning of the transformation of the democrat party into the party of appeasement which has culminated in the Obama presidency. The article concludes that since the American people support toughness over appeasement, Truman may have fired McArthur but McArthur won in the end.
Obama is no Truman. McChrystal is no MacArthur. MacArthur was a Republican and McChrystal is a democrat. And he’s certainly not the only or even principal cause for Obama’s precipitously declining approval ratings. But we can at least hope that the above article and snipet of history gets repeated.
Truman lost China and was a wimp on Communism. If MacArthur had his way we would not be worrying about China or North Korea.
Truman didn’t run in 52 cause his approval rating was in the tank.
....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 (4)
Stupid DEMOCRAT County Supervisor Peggy West Supports AZ.Boycott BUT Doesn't Know AZ. Borders Mexico
Democrat County Supervisor Peggy West is a strong advocate for the City of Milwaukee to boycott Arizona over its immigration law. Shockingly, during a speech West revealed that she doesn’t realize Arizona shares a border with Mexico. West said,
“If this was Texas, which is the state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this…I would have to look twice at this. But, this is a state that is a ways removed from the border.”
It seems like she believes Texas is the only state that borders Mexico!
Wild Thing's comment........
It amazes me how ignorant and uninformed so many liberals are. She could hurt herself. LOL
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (5)
Democrat Rep. Paul Kanjorski Says He Helps “good average American people,” NOT “minorities” or “defective” People...OMG
Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) made the comments Wednesday during the House and Senate conference on the financial reform bill. He was defending a Pennsylvania program that provides assistance to low-income people facing foreclosure on their homes.
Democrat Rep. Paul Kanjorski – of Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District – during a hearing where he said his office has been helping during the economic crisis “good average American people,” which he qualified as not being “minorities” or “defective” people.
“Because of the longevity of this recession, these are people and they’re not minorities and they’re not defective and they’re not all the things you’d like to insinuate that these programs [are] about, these are average, good American people.”
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Good grief. The entire Democrat party should flush itself down a toilet.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:44 AM | Comments (2)
Remembering The Korean War 1950 - 1955
On June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army began an offensive to invade South Korea that resulted in the capture of the republic’s capital, Seoul, within four days. The United States, the United Kingdom and other members of the United Nations moved to actively defend South Korea – an effort that would last until July 27, 1953, when negotiations concluded and fighting finally ended.
North Korea attacks across 38th parallel, 60 years ago
Sixty years ago, the Korean War became the first major armed clash between the free world and Communist forces, as the so-called Cold War turned hot.
This is a wonderful website about the Korean War.
PLEASE CLICK HERE to see it. There are several articles and also photos..
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This is also a great story that goes along with the Korean War. I am posting it again for those that have not seen it before. ~ Wild Thing
Tootsie rolls and pops sweeten the lives of battle-weary men
When I was a little girl, I received 25 cents as a weekly allowance. During those days, it cost one cent for a Tootsie Pop, a penny for "littles" Tootsie Rolls and five cents for "biggies."
We were Navy people. My father served during WWII in Hawaii; my big brother, Charlie, served in Korea, and my baby brother, Jerry, served during Vietnam.
Not having any real idea what "War" was all about, I used to write to daddy in my little-girl handwriting, telling him of all the things my friends and I were doing. I remember asking him to please hurry home because Dubble Bubble gum was being rationed and we had to stand in line for just one piece. Being my big strong dad, I was sure he would do something about it.
Often, I placed my pennies in a wooden matchbox to save enough to send him some candy along with my letters. Once I'd saved enough money, I would troop across the street to Pete's corner store and proudly place all my pennies on the counter and ask how many Tootsie rolls and Tootsie lollipops my coppers could buy. Taking them home, I wrote my letter and wrapped the candies in old Boston Post newspaper pages and shipped them off. I always sent his favorite yellow Tootsie pops. When I could afford it, I sent "biggies" Tootsie rolls. Many times the post office didn't charge me for stamps. Now, I realize that it was probably the counter person who paid for the postage.
When my father finally came home, he brought me a real grass hula skirt from Hawaii -- and as a reminder of my gifts to him, two yellow Tootsie roll lollipops. Following that, he regularly reminded me of those little girl gifts and how happy they made him during the war. I also sent my two brothers Tootsie Rolls and Pops when they were in the Navy. They never forgot, either.
Even now, I distribute Tootsie Roll pops to my "One Woman Comedy Show" audiences thanks to Tootsie Roll Industries. It's fun to watch adults become children again while they search the basket full of lollipops for their favorite flavor.
Tootsie Roll Industries has been a long-time friend of men and women serving their country.
History tells about a time in November, 1950, during the Korean War. The First Marine Division with part of two U.S. Army combat teams and a detachment of British Commandos along with some South Korean Policemen -- about 15,000 in all -- faced 120,000 Chinese Communists. The confrontation took place at a mountain reservoir called Chang Jin (the Americans called it "Chosin.") Temperatures ranged from minus five degrees below zero in the day to minus twenty-five below zero at night. The ground froze so hard that bulldozers could not dig emplacements for Artillery. The cold impeded weapons from firing automatically. It also numbed minds and froze fingers and toes.
The troops were surrounded, outnumbered 10 to 1 and desperately in need of food and mortars. With freezing temperatures, military-supplied rations were frozen solid and inedible.
Using the code word "Tootsie Rolls" (that meant mortars, not candy) a radioman sent a message asking for ammunition.
Misunderstanding the call, the Air Force airdropped thousands of Tootsie Rolls to the trapped men in the Chosin Reservoir.
The men were close to starvation and the chocolate Tootsie Rolls (biggies) withstood the cold and provided food and energy. Some were kept close to the men's bodies to soften them and were often used to plug holes in fuel drums, radiators and gas tanks that had been riddled with bullets after enemy attacks. Once in place, the softened Tootsie Roll froze again and made a perfect plug.
The Air Force finally caught on and sent additional mortar ammunition.
On December 10, 1950, the men fought their way out of North Korea. Overall, seventeen Medals of Honor were awarded, thirteen during the officially recognized dates of November 15 to December 10, 1950. Rarely in the annals of military history has a force been up against such unfavorable odds, both in terms of numbers and the elements, and still prevailed.
In the 1980s, Marines who survived the battle formed an organization aptly named the Chosin Few. For many years, the group held reunions and Tootsie Rolls were always present.
Over the years, the survivors formed a special relationship with the company and the candies. "We are honored to share a bond with these heroic men and will always take pride in the small role we played in this epic battle," said Melvin J. Gordon, chairman of the board of Tootsie Roll Industries. "Tootsie Roll has been involved with every major U.S. military engagement during the last century, but this is the only incident we know of in which Tootsie Rolls saved lives."
One survivor, Bob Weisham of San Diego, said, "No matter where or when we get together, the tables always have handfuls of Tootsie Rolls on them. "It probably sounds funny that such small things as Tootsie Rolls can make a difference." He added, "For us, they made all the difference."
Tootsie Roll lollipops also helped serve the men in Vietnam. Carl Jacob, a member of Delta Company 196 Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam, sent the Tootsie Roll Company a photograph taken in 1970 depicting Jacob and several other members of his unit enjoying Tootsie Pops in the heat during some downtime.
....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 (4)
June 24, 2010
Missouri Man's Sign on U.S. 71 Draws Fire
A Missouri man’s sign painted on the side of an empty trailer along U.S. 71 has been torched twice in recent weeks. David Jungerman placed the trailer and sign in his field along the major highway, saying:
Are you a Producer or Parasite
Democrats – Party of the Parasites
David Jungerman farms 6,800 acres of river bottom land in western Missouri.
He’s not the kind of guy who posts on Twitter or has a Facebook profile.
So when the 72-year-old Raytown man wanted to speak out politically, he used what he had handy: a 45-foot-long, semi-truck box trailer.
Are you a Producer or Parasite
Democrats - Party of the Parasites
He planted the trailer with its professionally painted message in his Bates County cornfield along heavily traveled U.S. 71 about an hour south of Kansas City. He wanted lots of people to see it.
They did. Including at least one with a good case of outrage, matches and a can of gas.
On May 12, Jungerman’s trailer was torched. The Rich Hill volunteer fire department responded. A week later, it was set afire again. The firefighters put it out again.
Then flames erupted in an empty farm house that Jungerman owns.
“They don’t like free speech,” said Jungerman. He put out a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
The sign is harder to read now because some of the letters are charred; the trailer tires burnt to nothing.
“Things are getting a little out of hand out there,” said Chief Deputy Justin Moreland of the Bates County Sheriff’s Office.
Local Democrats don’t want to be linked to the arsons. Jungerman has every right to speak his mind, said Kay Caskey, a Bates County Democrat and wife of longtime state Sen. Harold Caskey.
“Obviously our country is in disarray now because of economics, jobs and foreclosures,” she said. “We are hurting as a country. But there are too many people who want to tear it down instead of build it up. Yes, there is anger out there, and we are a long way from Washington.
“This man has a right to do what he did, but around here some people might wonder at what point do you cross the line?”
Jungerman said he didn’t mean to direct his sign at local Democrats. Many of those are old-fashioned Harry Truman Democrats, he said.
“They’re more conservative than many Republicans,” he said. “I should have put an ad in the paper to explain that. No, I meant the national Democrat parasite base that is sucking this country dry. The ones that just take from the government and not give anything back.”
Jungerman says he’s not even a die-hard Republican. He voted for Claire McCaskill when she won a U.S. Senate seat in 2006.
He put the sign out to make a point, but also to stir up some fun.
“You should have heard the truckers talking on the CB radio,” he said with a chuckle. “One would like the sign and another would tell him to pull over up ahead so he could whup him.”
Jungerman grew up on a farm, but got tired of the tail of a Jersey milk cow hitting him in the face so he told his father he was going to town to get a job.
“I’ve worked 80 to 90 hours a week ever since,” he said.
He’s a staunch believer in personal responsibility. In 1990, he and his daughter confronted four teens they caught fishing in a pond on their Raytown land. The boys called them names and threatened them, Jungerman said, and one spit on Jungerman’s daughter.
Jungerman pulled a snub-nosed .38-caliber and held them until police arrived.
The police, however, arrested him, took his Rolex watch and threw him in jail. The next day when he made bail, police did not return the watch. They said they didn’t remember him having one.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge.
Five years later, against advice, he sued the city of Raytown for the value of the watch. He represented himself in a three-day trial that he won. But the judge overturned the verdict and the jury’s award of $9,175.
Jungerman appealed, won again and got his money.
Today, he owns a baby furniture company. He manages to get down to his farmland two or three times a week.
His problem now is that corn is looking good. Soon, it will obscure his trailer sign from highway traffic.
“Well, I would have pulled it out of there by now if they hadn’t burned the tires off.”
Wild Thing's comment........
I guess the truth isn’t particularly palatable to the parasites. This man is absolutely right! They are parasites.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:55 AM | Comments (11)
Remains of 72 people found at World Trade Center site
Remains of 72 people found at World Trade Center site
The sifting of more than 800 cubic yards (612 cubic meters) of debris recovered from ground zero and underneath roads around the lower Manhattan site began in April and ended Friday.
The greatest number of remains – 37 – were found from material underneath West Street, a highway on the west side of ground zero. The new debris was uncovered as construction work made new parts of the site accessible.
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Wild Thing's comment........
We are still finding bodies of Americans from September 11th, 2001.
And every bone shard and personal effect found comes to you courtesy of the religion of bloodthirsty barbarians everywhere, Islam.
And NY is letting them build a mosque on top of them. Insult upon insult!! I wonder if the mosque be blaring the Muslim call to prayer
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:50 AM | Comments (6)
Obama Halts Sand Berm Dredging Gov. Jindal and Louisiana Parish Pres. Nungesser Pleads With President To Allow Work To Continue
The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.
The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done.
Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who was one of the most vocal advocates of the dredging plan, has sent a letter to President Barack Obama, pleading for the work to continue.
Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who was one of the most vocal advocates of the dredging plan, has sent a letter to President Barack Obama, pleading for the work to continue.
Nungesser said the government has asked crews to move the dredging site two more miles farther off the coastline.
"Once again, our government resource agencies, which are intended to protect us, are now leaving us vulnerable to the destruction of our coastline and marshes by the impending oil," Nungesser wrote to Obama. "Furthermore, with the threat of hurricanes or tropical storms, we are being put at an increased risk for devastation to our area from the intrusion of oil.
Nungesser has asked for the dredging to continue for the next seven days, the amount of time it would take to move the dredging operations two miles and out resume work. Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday also joined Nungesser in asking for an extension.
Nungesser's letter includes an emotional plea to the president.
"Please don't let them shut this dredge down," he wrote. "This requires your immediate attention!"
– They have only accepted assistance from 5 of 28 countries.
– It took the Obama Administration 53 days to accept help from the Dutch and British.
– It took 58 days to mobilize the US military to the Gulf.
– They shut down crude-sucking barges due to fire extinguisher concerns.
– They ignore oil boom manufacturers that have miles of product stockpiled in their warehouses.
– They only have moved 5 of 2,000 oil skimmers to the disaster area off of Florida.
– The president continues to hit the golf course, ball games, hold BBQ’s and party while the coast drowns in oil.
And, now the feds are shutting down the sand berm dredging off of the Louisiana coast.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Obama is purposely NOT doing anything that can help slow the flow of oil or protect the shoreline. He is actively fighting against every single protection of the gulf coast.
Nungesser who is always on CNN cheerleading Obama now gets stabbed in the back for it, as Obama does everyone eventually.
....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 01:48 AM | Comments (6)
Mexican Drug Cartel Threatens Nogales, AZ Police Officers with Snipers
Mexican Drug Cartel Threatens Nogales, AZ Police Officers with Snipers
On the same day 15 Federales were gunned down in Mexico by drug cartel gunman, the cartel has threatened American police in Nogales, AZ with gunman and sniper attack if they again interfered in drug smuggling activity while off duty.
This follows an incident in early June when off-duty Nogales officers conducted a drug bust while off duty. Nogales police said they would not turn a blind eye to illegal activity when not on duty, but the threats are a new and menacing signal that Mexican-style murder and reprisals against law enforcement may be coming to America sooner than thought.
Gunmen kill 15 Mexican officers in 2 attacks
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Wild Thing's comment........
The stench of weakness from Washington has not gone unnoticed. This is what happens when we “elect” a government that has no interest in securing its borders.
Remember when Calderon visited the White House Obama stated “We are not a nation defined by our borders.”
Here is the Stand With Arizona website at Facebook.
Stand With Arizona (and Against Illegal Immigration)
They are also discussing it over at AR15.com. They do not like it at all either.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1056131
....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 01:47 AM | Comments (4)
Pelosi Asks For Donations To Fend Off Potential GOP Investigations
Pelosi asks for donations to fend off potential GOP investigations
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is asking supporters for contributions to help prevent the "subpoenas and investigations" that would result from a GOP majority.
In a fundraising letter for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Pelosi says if Republicans take back the House, they'll initiate "endless investigations against President Obama" and "bring back the days of Ken Starr and the politics of personal destruction."
"Remember a Republican-controlled Congress that devoted more time to subpoenas and investigations than to solving our country's problems?" Pelosi asks. "There is far too much at stake for our country now to allow it to happen again."
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, has shown himself willing and eager to be a thorn in the side of the Obama administration on everything from the BP oil spill to the Joe Sestak job offer. Few doubt that he would use a chairmanship to ramp up those efforts.
Wild Thing's comment........
San Fran Nan sees the writing on the wall. She not only didn't 'drain the swamp' but allowed corruption by Dems to flourish. November is just over 4 months away and she feels the heat.
No problem Nancy, just stop your 18,000/month SF office expense heh heh
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:45 AM | Comments (4)
Obama Declares War -- on Arizona
Obama declares war -- on Arizona
By: Byron York
The Obama administration has a lot of fights on its hands. Putting aside real wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there's the battle against leaking oil in the Gulf, the struggle against 9.7 percent unemployment across the country, and clashes over the president's agenda on Capitol Hill.
Despite all that, the White House has found time to issue a new declaration of war, this time against an unlikely enemy: the state of Arizona.
The Justice Department is preparing to sue Arizona over its new immigration law. The president has stiffed Gov. Jan Brewer's call for meaningful assistance in efforts to secure the border. And the White House has accused Arizona's junior senator, Republican Jon Kyl, of lying about an Oval Office discussion with the president over comprehensive immigration reform. Put them all together, and you have an ugly state of affairs that's getting uglier by the day.
First, the lawsuit. Last week, Brewer was appalled to learn the Justice Department's intentions not from the Justice Department but from an interview done by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with an Ecuadorian TV outlet. "It would seem to me that if they were going to file suit against us," Brewer told Fox News' Greta van Susteren last week, "they definitely would have contacted us first and informed us before they informed citizens ... of another nation."
But they didn't.
"There certainly seems to be an underlying disrespect for the state of Arizona," says Kris Kobach, the law professor and former Bush administration Justice Department official who helped draft the Arizona law. Kobach points out that during the Bush years, several states openly flouted federal immigration law on issues like sanctuary cities and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Respecting the doctrines of comity and federalism, the Bush administration didn't sue. Now, when Arizona passes a measure that is fully consistent with federal law, the Obama administration, says Kobach, "goes sprinting to the courthouse door."
Then there is the matter of the White House's assistance, or nonassistance, in Arizona's border-security efforts. On June 3, the president, under criticism for refusing to meet or even talk to Brewer, reluctantly granted her an audience in the Oval Office. After the meeting, Brewer told reporters Obama pledged that administration officials would come to Arizona within two weeks with details of plans to secure the border.
June 17 marked two weeks, and there were no administration officials and no plans. There still aren't. "What a disappointment," Brewer told van Susteren. "You know, when you hear from the president of the United States and he gives you a commitment, you would think that they would stand up and stand by their word. It is totally disappointing."
And now, there's the Kyl controversy. On June 18, Kyl told a town meeting in North Phoenix that Obama personally told him the administration will not secure the U.S.-Mexico border because doing so would make it politically difficult to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
"I met with the president in the Oval Office, just the two of us," Kyl said. "Here's what the president said. The problem is, he said, if we secure the border, then you all won't have any reason to support comprehensive immigration reform."
"In other words," Kyl continued, "they're holding it hostage. They don't want to secure the border unless and until it is combined with comprehensive immigration reform."
After Kyl's statement went viral on the Internet, the White House issued a sharp denial. "The president didn't say that and Senator Kyl knows it," communications director Dan Pfeiffer wrote on the White House blog. "There are more resources dedicated toward border security today than ever before, but, as the president has made clear, truly securing the border will require a comprehensive solution to our broken immigration system."
Kyl is not backing down. "What I said occurred, did occur," he told an Arizona radio station. "Some spokesman down at the White House said no, that isn't what happened at all, and then proceeded to say we need comprehensive immigration reform to secure the border. That is their position, and all I was doing was explaining why, from a conversation with the president, why it appears that that's their position."
Even if it didn't have so many other fights on its hands, it would be unusual for an administration to align itself against an American state. But that's precisely what has happened.
Soon it will be up to the courts and voters to decide whether Obama's campaign against Arizona will succeed or fail
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Wild Thing's comment........
I hate the way this clown believes that America is his enemy. If only he’d go after the enemies of America the way he goes after Americans.
....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 01:40 AM | Comments (5)
June 23, 2010
Obama Replaces McChrystal with Petraeus - Complete Video
This is the complete video of President Barack Obama’s announcement today, June 23, 2010, that he has relieved Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his duties by “accepting his resignation,” and has replaced him with Gen. David Petraeus. Petraeus will now assume direction of the U.S. War effort in Afghanistan. Despite saying this was not about “personal insult” as a result of McChrystal’s quoted comments in a “Rolling Stone” magazine, it is hard to come to any other conclusion since Obama praised McChrystal as “one of America’s finest soldiers.”
Petraeus moves to take over the Afghan war effort from his post as head of the Central Command, where he has been in charge of all U.S. forces in the Middle East. He previously commanded U.S. forces in Iraq and was credited with implementing a strategy that turned the tide against insurgents and sectarian groups in that war.
Statement By Gen. Stanley McChrystal
This morning the President accepted my resignation as Commander of U.S. and NATO Coalition Forces in Afghanistan.
I strongly support the President's strategy in Afghanistan and am deeply committed to our coalition forces, our partner nations, and the Afghan people. It was out of respect for this commitment — and a desire to see the mission succeed — that I tendered my resignation.
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Posted by Wild Thing at 02:55 PM | Comments (5)
" This is why Gen. McChrystal & His Staff Mocked Obama & Biden " ~ Mark Levin
THIS is why General McChrystal and his staff mocked Obama and Biden, et al ... because THIS White House trashed our military in leaks to the leftist Jonathan Alter, who used their quotes in his book ... which was intended to make the military look bad. This is NOT how a commander-in-chief is supposed to conduct himself.
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Secrets From Inside the Obama War Room
From The Promise: President Obama, Year One
by Jonathan Alter
To be published on May 18 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. © 2010 by Jonathan Alter.
The first of 10 “AFPAK” meetings came on Sept. 13, when the president gathered 16 advisers in the Situation Room in the basement of the White House. This was to be the most methodical national-security decision in a generation. Deputy national-security adviser Tom Donilon had commissioned research that backed up an astonishing historical truth: neither the Vietnam War nor the Iraq War featured any key meetings where all the issues and assumptions were discussed by policymakers. In both cases the United States was sucked into war inch by inch.
The Obama administration was determined to change that. “For the past eight years, whatever the military asked for, they got,” Obama explained later. “My job was to slow things down.” The president had something precious in modern crisis management: time. “I had to put up with the ‘dithering’ arguments from Dick Cheney or others,” Obama said. “But as long as I wasn’t shaken by the political chatter, I had the time to work through all these issues and ask a bunch of tough questions and force people to sharpen their pencils until we arrived at the best possible solution.”
Obama’s approach in the meetings was the same as always. He was, according to one participant, “clear-eyed, hardheaded, and demanding.” More than once the president felt obliged to remind those briefing him that it wasn’t 2001 anymore. The United States had been in Afghanistan for eight years, and doing more of the same wasn’t going to cut it. The war in Afghanistan was destined soon to pass Vietnam (11 years) as the longest war in American history.
The AfPak sessions led to an explosion of unauthorized disclosures, spin, and cutthroat bureaucratic gamesmanship, including the leak of the McChrystal Report to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post. The president later admitted privately that his administration had handled the assigning of the report “stupidly.” Instead of simply asking Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, for a status report on the deteriorating situation on the ground, he let Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, dispatch McChrystal with a vague assignment that included making recommendations. He figured he should have known that any report would inevitably get out if put on paper.
The flap over the leak did nothing to chasten the Pentagon. In fact, the military, practiced in the ways of Washington, now ran PR circles around the neophytes in the Obama White House, leaking something to the Pentagon reporters nearly every day. The motive for all the leaks seemed clear to the White House: to box the president into the policy that McChrystal had recommended, at least another 80,000 troops and an open-ended commitment lasting 10 years or more.
Admiral Mullen, the son of a Hollywood publicist whose clients included Bob Hope and Jimmy Stewart, looked unassuming but knew how to handle himself in the press. Gen. David Petraeus, the CentCom commander, of course was a pro at cultivating reporters. Even before the leaking of the report, McChrystal, working with Mullen’s approval, made himself shockingly accessible to the press. He sat for a long, colorful interview with 60 Minutes, appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine, and dismissed the Biden plan (few troops, targeting Al Qaeda with drones) to NEWSWEEK.
Mullen dug himself in especially deep at his reconfirmation hearings for chairman of the Joint Chiefs when he made an aggressive case for a long-term commitment in Afghanistan. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was enraged at Mullen’s public testimony and let the Pentagon know it. When Petraeus gave an interview to Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson on Sept. 4 calling for a “fully resourced, comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign,” the chief of staff was even angrier. Mullen and Petraeus thought the whole thing was a big misunderstanding. They said that once they heard the policy was under review, they stopped talking. “Hey, Denis, don’t worry,” Petraeus told NSC chief of staff Denis McDonough, “I get it.”
If so, apparently McChrystal didn’t get the word. Scheduled to give a speech on Oct. 1 before the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, McChrystal wasn’t sure if he should make the trip, but Mullen told him he should definitely go; it would help the transatlantic alliance. The speech was unexceptional until the question period, when McChrystal crossed his commander in chief in ways that would have consequences. When a questioner asked if he could support a presidential decision to fight the war with drone aircraft and Special Forces that focused on defeating Al Qaeda, McChrystal replied, “The short, glib answer is no.”
If the president sided with Biden, the commanding general couldn’t support it? This was insubordination, and the White House was livid. Was McChrystal out of control or just naive? (The consensus was naive.) Obama and his senior staff believed this had Mullen’s and Petraeus’s fingerprints all over it. They were using McChrystal to jam the president, box him in, manipulate him, game him—use whatever verb you like. The president had not yet decided on a policy and didn’t appreciate the military sounding in public as if he had.
Some aides worried at least briefly that Petraeus was politically ambitious and was making an implied threat: decide Afghanistan my way or I just might resign my command and run for president in 2012. It wasn’t a crazy thought. Rep. Peter King and various blogs were promoting him for high office. Although he insisted he was uninterested, Petraeus was a registered Republican in New Hampshire and well positioned to run as a Colin Powell–style alternative to Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, or anyone else in the 2012 presidential primaries. When asked about it, Petraeus was, as he later put it, “Shermanesque.” Not interested. “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” he said.
On the day after the London speech, McChrystal was summoned to Copenhagen to meet with Obama, who was trying—and failing—to lure the Olympics to Chicago. They talked alone for 25 minutes while Air Force One sat on the tarmac. It was only the second time the two had met since McChrystal took over in June. The president wasn’t happy, but he held his temper in check, as usual. By this time the White House had concluded that McChrystal was simply in over his head in the media world, a pawn in Mullen and Petraeus’s game.
Obama found that he liked McChrystal personally and thought he had the right approach for completing the mission. Of course he wanted more troops, Obama figured. All battlefield generals do. But Obama was perfectly aware of the box he was now in. He could defer entirely to his generals, as President Bush had done, which he considered an abdication of responsibility. Or he could overrule them, which would weaken their effectiveness, with negative consequences for soldiers in the field, relations with allies, and the president’s own political position. There had to be a third way, he figured.
In the meantime it was important to remind the brass who was in charge. Inside the National Security Council, advisers considered what happened next historic, a presidential dressing-down unlike any in the United States in more than half a century. In the first week of October, Gates and Mullen were summoned to the Oval Office, where the president told them that he was “exceedingly unhappy” with the Pentagon’s conduct. He said the leaks and positioning in advance of a decision were “disrespectful of the process” and “damaging to the men and women in uniform and to the country.” In a cold fury Obama said he wanted to know “here and now” if the Pentagon would be on board with any presidential decision and could faithfully implement it.
“This was a cold and bracing meeting,” said an official in the room. Lyndon Johnson had never talked to Gen. William Westmoreland that way, or George H.W. Bush to Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. Presidents Kennedy, Carter, and Clinton had all been played by the Pentagon at various points but hadn’t fought back as directly. Now Obama was sending an unmistakable message: don’t toy with me. Just because he was young, new, a Democrat, and had never been in uniform didn’t mean he was going to get backed into a corner.
Mullen described himself as “chagrined” after the meeting. He had always felt strongly about the importance of civilian control of the military, and in 2008 had delivered a message to the armed forces reminding all service personnel to stay out of politics. Now he and Gates pledged support and told the president that the conduct would change, and it did. On Oct. 5, Gates said in a speech to the Association of the United States Army that it was “imperative” that generals provide their advice “candidly but privately.” (He felt the White House was just as guilty of damaging leaks as the Pentagon, and he hoped his message of discretion was heard there, too.) Mullen and Joint Chiefs vice chairman Gen. James Cartwright stopped selling the McChrystal plan and told Petraeus and McChrystal to stop talking publicly until the policy deliberations were resolved. “They swore loyalty,” said one senior civilian official. “And we chose to believe them.”
The Nov. 11 Veterans Day meeting, the eighth on AfPak, would prove pivotal. “I don’t want to be going to Walter Reed for another eight years,” Obama told the group. That day the president gave preliminary approval to the plan presented to him by the military, which called for 40,000 more troops to be sent to Afghanistan over 21 months. But the timetable stuck in his craw. Already in a snappish mood, he found it appalling that in the world of modern military transport it would take nearly two years to get those boots on the ground. In the Gulf War in 1990–91, the military got half a million troops to the region in less than six months.
“I don’t know how we can describe this as a surge,” Obama said sharply. The president then turned to Petraeus. “Am I mistaken in remembering that the 30,000 troops in Iraq arrived in a six-month window in 2007?”
“No,” Petraeus said, “you’re not.” The president was treading in a sensitive area. “Any time Iraq was mentioned it was like putting a hot rod under Petraeus. He would practically levitate,” said one person in the room. Obama bore in: “So why is this surge taking place over 21 months if that one was done in six months?”
Petraeus replied that the Afghanistan surge was not modeled on Iraq. “Well, your presentation earlier was on Iraq,” Obama reminded him.
The general always threw in the caveat that Iraq and Afghanistan were very different countries. Afghanistan would need new runways, ammo storage, billets, and other military infrastructure before many more U.S. troops could arrive. But the whole thrust of his analysis, the basis of his prestige, was that what he had learned in Iraq could be applied to Afghanistan and other nations. They had talked about this for hours in previous meetings and now the president was calling Petraeus’s bluff, as one note taker at the meeting put it. “The only way we’ll consider this is if we get the troops in and out in a shorter time frame,” Obama said.
Obama was moving out of his probing mode and toward conclusions and eventually presidential orders. This would not be a five- to seven-year nation-building commitment, much less an open-ended one. The time frame the military was offering for both getting in and getting out must shrink dramatically, he said. There would be no nationwide counterinsurgency strategy; the Pentagon was to present a “targeted” plan for protecting population centers, training Afghan security forces, and beginning a real—not a token—withdrawal within 18 months of the escalation.
On Sunday, Nov. 29, having made his decision, the president decided to hold a final Oval Office meeting with the Pentagon brass and commanders in the region who would carry out his orders. He wanted to put it directly to the military: Gates, Mullen, Cartwright, Petraeus, and national-security adviser Jim Jones, without any of the others. Obama asked Biden to come back early from Thanksgiving in Nantucket to join him for the meeting.
As they walked along the portico toward the Oval Office, Biden asked if the new policy of beginning a significant withdrawal in 2011 was a direct presidential order that couldn’t be countermanded by the military. Obama said yes. The president didn’t need the reminder. Obama had already learned something about leaving no room for ambiguity with the military. He would often summarize his own meetings in a purposeful, clear style by saying, “Let me tell you where I am,” before enumerating points (“One, two, three”) and finishing with, “And that’s my order.”
Inside the Oval Office, Obama asked Petraeus, “David, tell me now. I want you to be honest with me. You can do this in 18 months?”
“Sir, I’m confident we can train and hand over to the ANA [Afghan National Army] in that time frame,” Petraeus replied.
“Good. No problem,” the president said. “If you can’t do the things you say you can in 18 months, then no one is going to suggest we stay, right?”
“Yes, sir, in agreement,” Petraeus said.
“Yes, sir,” Mullen said.
The president was crisp but informal. “Bob, you have any problems?” he asked Gates, who said he was fine with it.
The president then encapsulated the new policy: in quickly, out quickly, focus on Al Qaeda, and build the Afghan Army. “I’m not asking you to change what you believe, but if you don’t agree with me that we can execute this, say so now,” he said. No one said anything.
“Tell me now,” Obama repeated.
“Fully support, sir,” Mullen said.
“Ditto,” Petraeus said.
Obama was trying to turn the tables on the military, to box them in after they had spent most of the year boxing him in. If, after 18 months, the situation in Afghanistan had stabilized as he expected, then troops could begin to come home. If conditions didn’t stabilize enough to begin an orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces (or if they deteriorated further), that would undermine the Pentagon’s belief in the effectiveness of more troops. The commanders couldn’t say they didn’t have enough time to make the escalation work because they had specifically said, under explicit questioning, that they did.
It wasn’t a secret that someone in the military would likely have been fired had Biden been president. But the vice president admitted to other advisers that it was better that Obama was in charge and showing more mercy toward the Pentagon. The generals thought they were working him over, Biden said privately, but the president had the upper hand. He was a step ahead of them, and as much as some of them thought they had obliterated the July 2011 deadline for beginning a withdrawal, they were mistaken.
When he spoke to McChrystal by teleconference, Obama couldn’t have been clearer in his instructions. “Do not occupy what you cannot transfer,” the president ordered. In a later call he said it again: “Do not occupy what you cannot transfer.” He didn’t want the United States moving into a section of the country unless it was to prepare for transferring security responsibilities to the Afghans. The troops should dig wells and pass out seeds and all the other development ideas they had talked about for months, but if he learned that U.S. soldiers had been camped in a town without any timetable for transfer of authority he wasn’t going to be happy.
At the conclusion of an interview in his West Wing office, Biden was adamant. “In July of 2011 you’re going to see a whole lot of people moving out. Bet on it,” Biden said as he wheeled to leave the room, late for lunch with the president. He turned at the door and said once more, “Bet. On. It.”
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Sorry for so many posts today. There is so much happening with the jerk obama whew!
Posted by Wild Thing at 09:50 AM | Comments (6)
Furious Obama Summons Gen. Stanley McChrystal to D.C
Furious President Obama summons Gen. Stanley McChrystal to D.C.
Obama declared Gen. Stanley McChrystal guilty of “poor judgment” Tuesday but said he won’t make a decision on the commander’s fate until he talks with him first.
McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, was summoned to Washington today for a face-to-face meeting with the president....
“Gen. McChrystal is on his way here, and I am going to meet with him. Secretary Gates will meet with him as well,” Obama said Tuesday evening. “I think it's clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed poor judgment, but I also want to talk to him directly before I make any final decisions."
Asked earlier in the day whether McChrystal’s job is on the line, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that “everything is on the table.”
McChrystal apologized for the article Tuesday morning.
“It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened,” McChrystal said. “Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity. What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard. I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team, and for the civilian leaders and troops fighting this war, and I remain committed to ensuring its successful outcome.”
But the apology wasn’t enough to counter a flood of criticism from Washington – including harsh words from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
McChrystal has been instructed to fly from Kabul to Washington to attend Obama’s regular monthly security team meeting .
A top military official in Afghanistan told The Associated Press that McChrystal hasn't been told whether he will be allowed to keep his job. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions between Washington and the general's office in Kabul.
McChrystal spent Tuesday calling several of those mentioned in the article to apologize, officials said, including Gates and Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy to Pakistan.
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General Stanley McChrystal tenders his resignation
A senior Capitol Hill source tells me that General Stanley McChrystal had tendered his resignation to President Barack Obama and that the White House is actively discussing a replacement who could be quickly confirmed by the Senate.
The source said that among the names being touted as possible successors are General James Mattis, the outgoing head of the US Joint Forces Command and due to retire after being passed over as US Marine Corps commander, and Lieutenant General William Caldwell, commander of Nato’s Training Mission in Afghanistan.
Of course, offering to resign is not the same as actually resigning and it remains to be seen whether Mr Obama will accept the resignation.
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McCain, Graham and Lieberman back Obama over McChrystal
Three key senators on Tuesday joined the Washington chorus questioning the judgment of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, adding that his fate is in the hands of President Obama.
The statement by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham is important because it gives the Obama administration political cover if the president decides to fire McChrystal. The three senators are longtime backers of the military.
“We have the highest respect for General McChrystal and honor his brave service and sacrifice to our nation,” the trio said in prepared statement. “General McChrystal’s comments, as reported in Rolling Stone, are inappropriate and inconsistent with the traditional relationship between commander-in-chief and the military. The decision concerning General McChrystal’s future is a decision to be made by the president of the United States.”
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From the Al Sharpton Show - General McChrystal 'A Cancer' That Must Be Stopped
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Wild Thing's comment........
I wish Obama would quit, along with the entire Obama administration.
Just a side note first before my rant....... I was surprised to see the Gen voted for Obama.
OK I have to do this so sorry about the bad language.
We are sending our most precious lives to fight this war against Islam. Our troops since Obama was elected have been stuck with the most evil CIC our country has ever had. The R.O.E.'s they have had to try and live with are death sentences to our troops and victory for the enemy. Mirandizing the enemy is another thing that is over the top in how to lose a war.
Add in to all of this ANY General, anyone in the upper command that is not bent on winning, and goes after the enemy with a force that would put the fear of God around the world should get out no matter what IMO. Obama has stated in the past he does not care about victory. That shocked every one of us as it should. But even worse to know our troops also know Obama said such a thing, Obama should have been hung ala Abe Lincolns quote about treason and what it meant to him.
When from the top ( the CIC ) down there is so little regard for those doing the actual fighting then our troops are not only fighting the terrorists but also those in charge.
I have been ticked for a long time, from day one with Obama even during the campaign at his hate for our military. Bush may not have been perfect, but one could feel his love for our troops and they for him. They KNEW he cared about them!!
All I know is I want a Chesty or a Patton in charge, I want Obama kicked the hell out of office along with Pelosi and the rest of anyone either side of the isle that does not put America first, America's security first and will say OUT LOUD the enemy is ISLAM. Not radical Islam, not some kind of watered down version of terrorism, but ISLAM. And like N.J. Gov. Chris Christie said to the moron teachers, if you don't like it then get out. Well if the freaking Muslims don't like it then they should get the hell out of their Islam and stop being a part of something that is a death cult.
IMO this crap with Gen. Stanley McChrystal is more then the article in Rolling Stone, it is every death of one of our troops. It is all I said above with Obama as CIC, the R.O.E.'s and on and on. It is the insane way this war has gone from being called a war to touchie feelie renaming it by the F * ing MUSLIM OBAMA.
YES YOU FREAK Barack HUSSEIN Obama!
I realize Obama is their CIC and there is a thing about not speaking up, not speaking badly about the Commander and Generals etc. BUT and here is the BUT of it for me.
Wouldn't it have been awesome IF even ONE of the Generals had told Obama to go suck an egg when he handed down his R.O.E.'s???? Just an FU Obama no way will I put MY men in that kind of idiotic harms way so you can kiss up to your Muslim brothers. Go F yourself CIC Obama. We WILL fight this war and we will do it the ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE, MARINES and COAST GUARD WAY. Not get out of our way and we will let you know when we are done and have WON.
You see what I don't get is when do the lives of our troops, and the WAY a war is fought take more power then obeying the CIC and not speaking ill of those higher ups.
....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 (6)
Obama Orders Signed Copy of "New Yorker" Cover Showing Him "Walking on Water"
I thought obama's ego could not get any bigger. I was wrong!
New Yorker Editor David Remnick talking with Howard Kurtz on “Reliable Sources,” where he revealed that President Obama ordered a signed copy of the magazine’s cover earlier this year of him “walking on water.”
To make it worse, this is the same President Obama who unceremoniously got rid of the bust of U.S. World War II friend and ally Winston Churchill, but has now brought in an art piece of himself walking on water.
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Wild Thing's comment........
He is soooooo disgusting!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:54 AM | Comments (3)
Fly Interrupts Obama Speech ~ What Is It They Say About Flys?
Wild Thing's comment.......
LOL remember how obama's wife said Barack smelled bad. This is the second time a fly has bothered Obama.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (3)
Obama's Most Controversial Nominee Yet ~ Judge Robert Chatigny
Obama's Most Controversial Nominee Yet
'Hannity' Special Investigation: Judge accused of sympathizing with serial killer gets Senate panel OK
Obama Judicial Nominee Believed “Sexual Sadism” Should be “Mitigating Factor” in Serial Killer Case
This video is from Sean Hannity last night who reported that President Obama is trying to appoint a man to the bench as a Federal Judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, who has been sympathetic toward a serial killer.
Michael Ross was “the most notorious serial killer in the state of Connecticut.” Between 1981 and 1984 he raped and murdered eight young women. Ross was sentenced to death by a Connecticut jury in 1987.
But Judge Robert Chatigny went out of his way to keep the execution from taking place. In fact, GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions says he has never seen a judge go so far in preventing a sentence from being carried out. Obama has nominated Chatigny to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Chatigny outrageously said Ross suffered from “sexual sadism,” and that it should have been a “mitigating factor” in considering Ross’s situation. He has even said Ross should possibly have not been convicted because of it.
In hearings it came out that Chatigny even exchanged letters with Ross before the case came to him. In hearings, Chatigny said he never disclosed his personal involvement with Ross because he forgot about it! Huh? How could anyone forget they exchanged letters with a serial killer? Chatigny actually stayed Ross’s execution just two hours before it was to be carried out, putting the victims’ families through torment. His stay was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, and Ross was executed in 2005.
Incredibly, Obama has nominated this man to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have advanced his nomination now to the full Senate.
Wild Thing's comment........
Every single person associated with or conneted to obama in any way are the sickest, they are all the most vile people in our society. This speaks volumes again abou9t the kind of person obama is as much as it does about the Judge himself.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:49 AM | Comments (1)
Europe Slams Obama's Stimulus Plan
Europe Slams Obama's Stimulus Plan; History Shows Obama's Plan is Ass Backwards
Obama is hanging out to dry all by himself as ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and British Prime Minister David Cameron are all wisely going ahead with austerity measures instead of the stimulus measures that Obama and his Keynesian clown advisors want.
Trichet Tells Obama To Shove It
The New York Times reports.....
Despite Obama’s Plea, European Bank Renews Call for Austerity
European countries need to keep a sharper eye on one another’s finances, and sanctions against fiscal rule-breakers should kick in automatically, the European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said on Monday.
The remarks, to members of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, meeting in Brussels, showed that Mr. Trichet continued to take a hard line on government spending despite a call by President Obama for Europe not to withdraw economic stimulus too hastily.
Mr. Trichet stuck to the argument he has made in recent weeks that fiscal prudence is the best medicine for the European economy. Unless Europeans believe that governments can get control of their budgets, “then households are going to be frightened, they will not spend,” he said. “Companies will not prepare for the future.”
Without mentioning Obama's name directly, Trichet's comments amount to one of the biggest "take your stimulus and shove it" calls you will ever see.
Cameron Bets on Prosperity from Austerity
Inquiring minds note British Prime Minister Cameron Betting on Prosperity From Austerity while Obama Delays
World leaders from the U.K.’s David Cameron to Naoto Kan of Japan are betting they can deliver fiscal austerity without derailing economic prosperity. History suggests they may be right.
Obama's Plan is Ass Backwards
It is rare that I have praise for anyone at Moody's but Thomas Byrne has it correct.
Reckless government spending takes money from the private sector while adding to the national debt and thus digging a deeper hole.
Obama is raising taxes and wants to add to the debt pile although the problem is debt. Instead he should be cutting taxes and reducing government spending.
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Wild Thing's comment........
And now the Europeans are the fiscal conservatives. Obama’s administration is imploding.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (2)
Senators Challenge Pres. Obama on Rumors of Executive Order Amnesty
Senators Challenge Pres. Obama on Rumors of Executive Order Amnesty
Eight Senators seem to think so. They have sent Obama a letter asking for a guarantee that he will not use an Executive Order to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants already in the United States:
Several Senators have learned of a possible plan by the Obama Administration that would provide a mass Amnesty for the nation’s 11-18 million illegal aliens. Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), eight Senators addressed a letter to the President asking for answers to questions about a plan that would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide an amnesty if they can’t secure enough votes for a bill in the Senate.
The Letter signed by Sens. Grassley, Hatch (R-Utah), Vitter (R-La.), Bunning (R-Ky.), Chambliss (R-Ga.), Isakson (R-Ga.), Inhofe (R-Okla.), and Cochran (R-Miss.):
Dear President Obama:
We understand that there’s a push for your Administration to develop a plan to unilaterally extend either deferred action or parole to millions of illegal aliens in the United States. We understand that the Administration may include aliens who have willfully overstayed their visas or filed for benefits knowing that they will not be eligible for a status for years to come. We understand that deferred action and parole are discretionary actions reserved for individual cases that present unusual, emergent or humanitarian circumstances. Deferred action and parole were not intended to be used to confer a status or offer protection to large groups of illegal aliens, even if the agency claims that they look at each case on a “case-by-case” basis.
While we agree our immigration laws need to be fixed, we are deeply concerned about the potential expansion of deferred action or parole for a large illegal alien population. While deferred action and parole are Executive Branch authorities, they should not be used to circumvent Congress’ constitutional authority to legislate immigration policy, particularly as it relates to the illegal population in the United States.
The Administration would be wise to abandon any plans for deferred action or parole for the illegal population. Such a move would further erode the American public’s confidence in the federal government and its commitment to securing the borders and enforcing the laws already on the books.
We would appreciate receiving a commitment that the Administration has no plans to use either authority to change the current position of a large group of illegal aliens already in the United States, and ask that you respond to us about this matter as soon as possible.
Wild Thing's comment........
GOD I HATE THIS GUY!!!
They need to KILL THIS THING dead in its tracks. Another example of Obama’s elitist resolve to explicitly thwart popular will and pass a law that would be extremely harmful to America.
“Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), eight Senators addressed a letter to the President asking for answers to questions about a plan that would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide an amnesty if they can’t secure enough votes for a bill in the Senate.”
Notice is says Napolitano. This way his Highness can say it wasn’t him. Now I know where John Gotti learned to be the Teflon Don.
Obama will cause a constitutional crisis. I hope I'm wrong but I can see it coming.
With obama, the law of the jungle has replaced the Law of the Land!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:47 AM | Comments (3)
Obama's Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Says He Will Impose NEW Drilling Moratorium
Interior Secretary says he will impose new drilling moratorium
New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday called a six-month halt on deepwater drilling "needed, appropriate and within our authorities" in announcing he will issue a new order on a moratorium just hours after a federal judge blocked such a mandate.
"We see clear evidence every day, as oil spills from BP's well, of the need for a pause on deepwater drilling," Salazar said in a statement. "That evidence mounts as BP continues to be unable to stop its blowout, notwithstanding the huge efforts and help from the federal scientific team and most major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico."
Salazar's statement did not give an exact date for when the new order would be imposed, saying only "in the coming days."
He promised that the new order will include evidence that "eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities."
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans, Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday against the ban, which halted all drilling in more than 500 feet of water and prevented new permits from being issued. The White House said it would appeal the ruling.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the government will immediately appeal the ruling to the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
"The president strongly believes, as the Department of Interior and Department of Justice argued yesterday, that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense," Gibbs said. Such drilling "puts the safety of those involved, potentially puts safety of those on the rigs and the safety of the environment and the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now."
In issuing the ruling, Feldman said, "the court is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings (of the government) and the immense scope of the moratorium. The plaintiffs assert that they have suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable harm as a result of the moratorium. The court agrees."
Transocean President Steve Newman, whose company owned the Deepwater Horizon, said Tuesday that he supported ending the moratorium, and the office of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal filed a brief in support of blocking the moratorium.
Jindal and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, were among those asking the Obama administration Tuesday not to appeal the ruling.
"I'm going to strongly urge the administration not to appeal this ruling, but to try to find a way forward that would achieve the president's goals for safety and responsibility, but at the same time would not jeopardize and threaten a very vibrant and necessary industry for decades," Landrieu told reporters during a conference call.
Legendary Texas oil and gas executive T. Boone Pickens also said such a ban is not needed. "The accident that BP has had could be likened to qualified pilots in an airliner and they have pilot error," he told CNN's "Campbell Brown" program Tuesday night. "(An) airliner crashes, starts a 50,000-acre forest fire and we shut down all flying? No more airlines until we have six months to see what happened?"
Ken Wells, the president of the Offshore Marine Service Association, said Tuesday that while the ruling is positive for his group -- which represents many of the ships that service oil rigs -- the decision is "tempered by the realization this is a big, strong government. And if they want to keep fighting on this, they will keep fighting."
Wells told CNN that many of the small business owners and workers who support the rigs felt "like innocent bystanders in all this," adding that many of them are losing their jobs left and right. He said Feldman's decision "may help our industry survive."
Wild Thing's comment.......
This really ticks me off. Obama is bound and determined to ban drilling.
Unchecked power. It’s not a freaking ball game, it’s peoples lives they are messing with.
People depend on drilling in the US and its waters. He can’t just stop comerce and jobs to help his commie friends on the left.
....Thank you Brad for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (3)
Deepwater Drilling Ban Lifted by New Orleans Federal Judge
Deepwater Drilling Ban Lifted by New Orleans Federal Judge
A New Orleans federal judge lifted the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed by President Barack Obama following the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Drilling services shares jumped on the news.
Obama temporarily halted all drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet on May 27 to give a presidential commission time to study improvements in the safety of offshore operations. More than a dozen Louisiana offshore service and supply companies sued U.S. regulators to lift the ban. The U.S. said it will appeal the decision.
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman today granted a preliminary injunction, halting the moratorium. He also “immediately prohibited” the U.S. from enforcing the ban. Government lawyers told Feldman the ban was based on findings in a U.S. report following the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig off the Louisiana coast in April.
“The court is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings and the immense scope of the moratorium,” Feldman said in his 22-page decision. “The blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.”
Separate Order
“The court cannot substitute its judgment for that of the agency, but the agency must ‘cogently explain why it has exercised its discretion in a given manner,’” Feldman said, citing a previous ruling. “It has not done so.”
Feldman in a separate order today “immediately prohibited” the U.S. from enforcing the drilling moratorium, finding the offshore companies would otherwise incur “irreparable harm.”
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that “continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense.”
The U.S. will ask Feldman to stay his ruling pending an appeal, Justice Department attorney Michael Thorp said today at a court hearing in a separate lawsuit challenging the ban. The government didn’t indicate how soon it will request a stay.
If Feldman denies the request to halt enforcement of his order, the U.S. could file an emergency application to the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans to stay enforcement, said Anthony Sabino, a law professor at St. John’s University.
The appeals court isn’t likely to reinstate the moratorium, said Sabino, an expert in complex federal litigation.
‘Proper Application’
“The judge’s decision is the proper application of the law,” he said in an interview. “There’s no question the government’s action was extremely broad.”
Transocean Ltd., which leased the Deepwater Horizon to BP Plc, jumped as much as 3.5 percent in New York Stock Exchange composite trading after the decision was announced. Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc., which brought the suit, surged as much as 11 percent. Both later retreated, with Transocean shares down $1.42, or 2.6 percent, to $52.49 and Hornbeck down 24 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $15.32 at closing.
The U.S. argued that the moratorium was necessary to assure public safety.
“We need to make sure deepwater drilling is as safe as we thought it was the day before this incident,” Brian Collins, a lawyer for the government, told Feldman in a court hearing June 21. “It is crucial to take the time because to fail to do so would be to gamble with the long-term future of this region.”
Biggest Quantity
BP has two pipes collecting oil and gas from the ocean floor. They collected 25,830 barrels of oil yesterday, the biggest quantity diverted from the Gulf of Mexico since the April 20 spill began, London-based BP said in a statement. David Nicholas, a BP spokesman, declined to comment on the ruling, saying the company wasn’t a party to the case.
Lawyers for the drilling companies told Feldman the moratorium illegally sidesteps a required industry comment period. They also said regulators failed to tell Obama that all active deepwater rigs passed an immediate re-inspection after the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank, with only two rigs reporting minor violations and the rest getting approval to continue operations.
Henry Dart, special counsel for the Louisiana attorney general, told Feldman that federal regulators failed to consult with state officials about the impact of the drilling ban, allegedly violating U.S. law.
Jobs in Danger
“Even after the catastrophic events of Sept. 11, the government only shut down the airlines for three days,” Louisiana said in court papers seeking to lift the ban.
Lawyers for the state and oilfield companies told Feldman that the ban could cost as many as 20,000 jobs if the moratorium lasted 18 months.
“The defendants trivialize such losses by characterizing them as merely a small percentage of the drilling rigs affected, but it does not follow that this will somehow reduce the convincing harm suffered,” Feldman said. He said the economic impacts of the ban would “clearly ripple throughout the economy of this region.”
Feldman granted the injunction after finding it likely the oilfield companies will succeed in proving “the agency’s decision was arbitrary and capricious,” which violates federal law governing policy decisions.
‘Immeasurable’ Effect
“An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in the country,” Feldman said.
Feldman’s ruling “is another bad decision in a disaster riddled with bad decisions,” U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey said today in a statement. “There are serious safety risks that must be examined with these 33 deepwater rigs before they start drilling again.”
The ban didn’t shut down the oil industry in the Gulf, the Massachusetts Democrat said. “Ninety-seven percent of the manned rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are up and running,” he said.
“Today’s ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman is an important step in returning thousands of oil service workers to their jobs,” Royal Dutch Shell Plc spokesman Bill Tanner said in an e-mailed statement.
“Shell remains confident in its expertise and procedures to safely drill and complete deepwater wells.” Shell’s safety standards often exceed regulatory requirements and include rigorous training program for well engineers, Tanner said.
Kjersti Torgersen, a spokeswoman for Statoil ASA in Houston, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. Todd M. Hornbeck, CEO of Hornbeck Offshore, didn’t immediately return a call for comment.
Little Change
Realistically, not a lot has changed, said Jud Bailey, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in Houston.
“It’s a small victory for the industry, but clearly the administration has dug in its heels and is going to try to keep this moratorium, come hell or high water,” Bailey said today in a telephone interview. “Investors, as it relates to the drillers, are for the most part staying away. There’s too much uncertainty, too much headline risk.”
Bailey said he doesn’t think many operators would run out and immediately try to resume operations. “You run the risk of this getting overturned by the appellate court,” he said.
The case is Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar, 2:10-cv-01663, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans).
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Wild Thing's comment........
This news is so uplifting...the tyranny of the democrat party is reeling with this news. America has a chance as long as we have judges with the courage to follow the constitution and individuals with courage enough to bring suit to the courts!!! This hopefully will encourage other groups to pursue through the courts all this unconstitutional tyrannical efforts of this administration.
Now we just have to hope they agree on the appellate court level.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:40 AM
June 22, 2010
The Rolling Stone Article ( FULL Article) and I Say Obama is the WORST CIC Ever!
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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answering questions on President Obama’s reaction to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s critical comments aimed at Obama, Vice-President Biden, and others. Gibbs said it is clear McChrystal has “made an enormous mistake,” and will now have to answer for it to the President. Gibbs would not say McChrystal’s job remains secure. “We’ll have to see” what comes out of his meeting with the President, Gibbs said.
Gibbs would not respond to whether the substance of McChrystal’s criticism was accurate or not.
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The Runaway General
Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House
This article originally appeared in Rolling Stone 1108/1109 from July 8-22, 2010.
'How'd i get screwed into going to this dinner?" demands Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It's a Thursday night in mid-April, and the commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is sitting in a four-star suite at the Hôtel Westminster in Paris. He's in France to sell his new war strategy to our NATO allies – to keep up the fiction, in essence, that we actually have allies. Since McChrystal took over a year ago, the Afghan war has become the exclusive property of the United States. Opposition to the war has already toppled the Dutch government, forced the resignation of Germany's president and sparked both Canada and the Netherlands to announce the withdrawal of their 4,500 troops. McChrystal is in Paris to keep the French, who have lost more than 40 soldiers in Afghanistan, from going all wobbly on him.
"The dinner comes with the position, sir," says his chief of staff, Col. Charlie Flynn.
McChrystal turns sharply in his chair.
"Hey, Charlie," he asks, "does this come with the position?"
McChrystal gives him the middle finger.
The general stands and looks around the suite that his traveling staff of 10 has converted into a full-scale operations center. The tables are crowded with silver Panasonic Toughbooks, and blue cables crisscross the hotel's thick carpet, hooked up to satellite dishes to provide encrypted phone and e-mail communications. Dressed in off-the-rack civilian casual – blue tie, button-down shirt, dress slacks – McChrystal is way out of his comfort zone. Paris, as one of his advisers says, is the "most anti-McChrystal city you can imagine." The general hates fancy restaurants, rejecting any place with candles on the tables as too "Gucci." He prefers Bud Light Lime (his favorite beer) to Bordeaux, Talladega Nights (his favorite movie) to Jean-Luc Godard. Besides, the public eye has never been a place where McChrystal felt comfortable: Before President Obama put him in charge of the war in Afghanistan, he spent five years running the Pentagon's most secretive black ops.
"What's the update on the Kandahar bombing?" McChrystal asks Flynn. The city has been rocked by two massive car bombs in the past day alone, calling into question the general's assurances that he can wrest it from the Taliban.
"We have two KIAs, but that hasn't been confirmed," Flynn says.
McChrystal takes a final look around the suite. At 55, he is gaunt and lean, not unlike an older version of Christian Bale in Rescue Dawn. His slate-blue eyes have the unsettling ability to drill down when they lock on you. If you've fucked up or disappointed him, they can destroy your soul without the need for him to raise his voice.
"I'd rather have my ass kicked by a roomful of people than go out to this dinner," McChrystal says.
He pauses a beat.
"Unfortunately," he adds, "no one in this room could do it."
With that, he's out the door.
"Who's he going to dinner with?" I ask one of his aides.
"Some French minister," the aide tells me. "It's fucking gay."
The next morning, McChrystal and his team gather to prepare for a speech he is giving at the École Militaire, a French military academy. The general prides himself on being sharper and ballsier than anyone else, but his brashness comes with a price: Although McChrystal has been in charge of the war for only a year, in that short time he has managed to piss off almost everyone with a stake in the conflict. Last fall, during the question-and-answer session following a speech he gave in London, McChrystal dismissed the counterterrorism strategy being advocated by Vice President Joe Biden as "shortsighted," saying it would lead to a state of "Chaos-istan." The remarks earned him a smackdown from the president himself, who summoned the general to a terse private meeting aboard Air Force One. The message to McChrystal seemed clear: Shut the fuck up, and keep a lower profile
Now, flipping through printout cards of his speech in Paris, McChrystal wonders aloud what Biden question he might get today, and how he should respond. "I never know what's going to pop out until I'm up there, that's the problem," he says. Then, unable to help themselves, he and his staff imagine the general dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner.
"Are you asking about Vice President Biden?" McChrystal says with a laugh. "Who's that?"
"Biden?" suggests a top adviser. "Did you say: Bite Me?"
When Barack Obama entered the Oval Office, he immediately set out to deliver on his most important campaign promise on foreign policy: to refocus the war in Afghanistan on what led us to invade in the first place. "I want the American people to understand," he announced in March 2009. "We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan." He ordered another 21,000 troops to Kabul, the largest increase since the war began in 2001. Taking the advice of both the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he also fired Gen. David McKiernan – then the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan – and replaced him with a man he didn't know and had met only briefly: Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It was the first time a top general had been relieved from duty during wartime in more than 50 years, since Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur at the height of the Korean War.
Even though he had voted for Obama, McChrystal and his new commander in chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. "It was a 10-minute photo op," says an adviser to McChrystal. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his fucking war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed."
From the start, McChrystal was determined to place his personal stamp on Afghanistan, to use it as a laboratory for a controversial military strategy known as counterinsurgency. COIN, as the theory is known, is the new gospel of the Pentagon brass, a doctrine that attempts to square the military's preference for high-tech violence with the demands of fighting protracted wars in failed states. COIN calls for sending huge numbers of ground troops to not only destroy the enemy, but to live among the civilian population and slowly rebuild, or build from scratch, another nation's government – a process that even its staunchest advocates admit requires years, if not decades, to achieve. The theory essentially rebrands the military, expanding its authority (and its funding) to encompass the diplomatic and political sides of warfare: Think the Green Berets as an armed Peace Corps. In 2006, after Gen. David Petraeus beta-tested the theory during his "surge" in Iraq, it quickly gained a hardcore following of think-tankers, journalists, military officers and civilian officials. Nicknamed "COINdinistas" for their cultish zeal, this influential cadre believed the doctrine would be the perfect solution for Afghanistan. All they needed was a general with enough charisma and political savvy to implement it.
As McChrystal leaned on Obama to ramp up the war, he did it with the same fearlessness he used to track down terrorists in Iraq: Figure out how your enemy operates, be faster and more ruthless than everybody else, then take the fuckers out. After arriving in Afghanistan last June, the general conducted his own policy review, ordered up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The now-infamous report was leaked to the press, and its conclusion was dire: If we didn't send another 40,000 troops – swelling the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan by nearly half – we were in danger of "mission failure." The White House was furious. McChrystal, they felt, was trying to bully Obama, opening him up to charges of being weak on national security unless he did what the general wanted. It was Obama versus the Pentagon, and the Pentagon was determined to kick the president's ass.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
Last fall, with his top general calling for more troops, Obama launched a three-month review to re-evaluate the strategy in Afghanistan. "I found that time painful," McChrystal tells me in one of several lengthy interviews. "I was selling an unsellable position." For the general, it was a crash course in Beltway politics – a battle that pitted him against experienced Washington insiders like Vice President Biden, who argued that a prolonged counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan would plunge America into a military quagmire without weakening international terrorist networks. "The entire COIN strategy is a fraud perpetuated on the American people," says Douglas Macgregor, a retired colonel and leading critic of counterinsurgency who attended West Point with McChrystal. "The idea that we are going to spend a trillion dollars to reshape the culture of the Islamic world is utter nonsense.
In the end, however, McChrystal got almost exactly what he wanted. On December 1st, in a speech at West Point, the president laid out all the reasons why fighting the war in Afghanistan is a bad idea: It's expensive; we're in an economic crisis; a decade-long commitment would sap American power; Al Qaeda has shifted its base of operations to Pakistan. Then, without ever using the words "victory" or "win," Obama announced that he would send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, almost as many as McChrystal had requested. The president had thrown his weight, however hesitantly, behind the counterinsurgency crowd.
Today, as McChrystal gears up for an offensive in southern Afghanistan, the prospects for any kind of success look bleak. In June, the death toll for U.S. troops passed 1,000, and the number of IEDs has doubled. Spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the fifth-poorest country on earth has failed to win over the civilian population, whose attitude toward U.S. troops ranges from intensely wary to openly hostile. The biggest military operation of the year – a ferocious offensive that began in February to retake the southern town of Marja – continues to drag on, prompting McChrystal himself to refer to it as a "bleeding ulcer." In June, Afghanistan officially outpaced Vietnam as the longest war in American history – and Obama has quietly begun to back away from the deadline he set for withdrawing U.S. troops in July of next year. The president finds himself stuck in something even more insane than a quagmire: a quagmire he knowingly walked into, even though it's precisely the kind of gigantic, mind-numbing, multigenerational nation-building project he explicitly said he didn't want.
Even those who support McChrystal and his strategy of counterinsurgency know that whatever the general manages to accomplish in Afghanistan, it's going to look more like Vietnam than Desert Storm. "It's not going to look like a win, smell like a win or taste like a win," says Maj. Gen. Bill Mayville, who serves as chief of operations for McChrystal. "This is going to end in an argument."
The night after his speech in Paris, McChrystal and his staff head to Kitty O'Shea's, an Irish pub catering to tourists, around the corner from the hotel. His wife, Annie, has joined him for a rare visit: Since the Iraq War began in 2003, she has seen her husband less than 30 days a year. Though it is his and Annie's 33rd wedding anniversary, McChrystal has invited his inner circle along for dinner and drinks at the "least Gucci" place his staff could find. His wife isn't surprised. "He once took me to a Jack in the Box when I was dressed in formalwear," she says with a laugh.
The general's staff is a handpicked collection of killers, spies, geniuses, patriots, political operators and outright maniacs. There's a former head of British Special Forces, two Navy Seals, an Afghan Special Forces commando, a lawyer, two fighter pilots and at least two dozen combat veterans and counterinsurgency experts. They jokingly refer to themselves as Team America, taking the name from the South Park-esque sendup of military cluelessness, and they pride themselves on their can-do attitude and their disdain for authority. After arriving in Kabul last summer, Team America set about changing the culture of the International Security Assistance Force, as the NATO-led mission is known. (U.S. soldiers had taken to deriding ISAF as short for "I Suck at Fighting" or "In Sandals and Flip-Flops.") McChrystal banned alcohol on base, kicked out Burger King and other symbols of American excess, expanded the morning briefing to include thousands of officers and refashioned the command center into a Situational Awareness Room, a free-flowing information hub modeled after Mayor Mike Bloomberg's offices in New York. He also set a manic pace for his staff, becoming legendary for sleeping four hours a night, running seven miles each morning, and eating one meal a day. (In the month I spend around the general, I witness him eating only once.) It's a kind of superhuman narrative that has built up around him, a staple in almost every media profile, as if the ability to go without sleep and food translates into the possibility of a man single-handedly winning the war.
By midnight at Kitty O'Shea's, much of Team America is completely shitfaced. Two officers do an Irish jig mixed with steps from a traditional Afghan wedding dance, while McChrystal's top advisers lock arms and sing a slurred song of their own invention. "Afghanistan!" they bellow. "Afghanistan!" They call it their Afghanistan song.
McChrystal steps away from the circle, observing his team. "All these men," he tells me. "I'd die for them. And they'd die for me."
The assembled men may look and sound like a bunch of combat veterans letting off steam, but in fact this tight-knit group represents the most powerful force shaping U.S. policy in Afghanistan. While McChrystal and his men are in indisputable command of all military aspects of the war, there is no equivalent position on the diplomatic or political side. Instead, an assortment of administration players compete over the Afghan portfolio: U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, Special Representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, National Security Advisor Jim Jones and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, not to mention 40 or so other coalition ambassadors and a host of talking heads who try to insert themselves into the mess, from John Kerry to John McCain. This diplomatic incoherence has effectively allowed McChrystal's team to call the shots and hampered efforts to build a stable and credible government in Afghanistan. "It jeopardizes the mission," says Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who supports McChrystal. "The military cannot by itself create governance reform."
Part of the problem is structural: The Defense Department budget exceeds $600 billion a year, while the State Department receives only $50 billion. But part of the problem is personal: In private, Team McChrystal likes to talk shit about many of Obama's top people on the diplomatic side. One aide calls Jim Jones, a retired four-star general and veteran of the Cold War, a "clown" who remains "stuck in 1985." Politicians like McCain and Kerry, says another aide, "turn up, have a meeting with Karzai, criticize him at the airport press conference, then get back for the Sunday talk shows. Frankly, it's not very helpful." Only Hillary Clinton receives good reviews from McChrystal's inner circle. "Hillary had Stan's back during the strategic review," says an adviser. "She said, 'If Stan wants it, give him what he needs.' "
McChrystal reserves special skepticism for Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating the Taliban. "The Boss says he's like a wounded animal," says a member of the general's team. "Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. He's a brilliant guy, but he just comes in, pulls on a lever, whatever he can grasp onto. But this is COIN, and you can't just have someone yanking on shit."
At one point on his trip to Paris, McChrystal checks his BlackBerry. "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke," he groans. "I don't even want to open it." He clicks on the message and reads the salutation out loud, then stuffs the BlackBerry back in his pocket, not bothering to conceal his annoyance.
"Make sure you don't get any of that on your leg," an aide jokes, referring to the e-mail.
By far the most crucial – and strained – relationship is between McChrystal and Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador. According to those close to the two men, Eikenberry – a retired three-star general who served in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2005 – can't stand that his former subordinate is now calling the shots. He's also furious that McChrystal, backed by NATO's allies, refused to put Eikenberry in the pivotal role of viceroy in Afghanistan, which would have made him the diplomatic equivalent of the general. The job instead went to British Ambassador Mark Sedwill – a move that effectively increased McChrystal's influence over diplomacy by shutting out a powerful rival. "In reality, that position needs to be filled by an American for it to have weight," says a U.S. official familiar with the negotiations.
The relationship was further strained in January, when a classified cable that Eikenberry wrote was leaked to The New York Times. The cable was as scathing as it was prescient. The ambassador offered a brutal critique of McChrystal's strategy, dismissed President Hamid Karzai as "not an adequate strategic partner," and cast doubt on whether the counterinsurgency plan would be "sufficient" to deal with Al Qaeda. "We will become more deeply engaged here with no way to extricate ourselves," Eikenberry warned, "short of allowing the country to descend again into lawlessness and chaos."
McChrystal and his team were blindsided by the cable. "I like Karl, I've known him for years, but they'd never said anything like that to us before," says McChrystal, who adds that he felt "betrayed" by the leak. "Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so.' "
The most striking example of McChrystal's usurpation of diplomatic policy is his handling of Karzai. It is McChrystal, not diplomats like Eikenberry or Holbrooke, who enjoys the best relationship with the man America is relying on to lead Afghanistan. The doctrine of counterinsurgency requires a credible government, and since Karzai is not considered credible by his own people, McChrystal has worked hard to make him so. Over the past few months, he has accompanied the president on more than 10 trips around the country, standing beside him at political meetings, or shuras, in Kandahar. In February, the day before the doomed offensive in Marja, McChrystal even drove over to the president's palace to get him to sign off on what would be the largest military operation of the year. Karzai's staff, however, insisted that the president was sleeping off a cold and could not be disturbed. After several hours of haggling, McChrystal finally enlisted the aid of Afghanistan's defense minister, who persuaded Karzai's people to wake the president from his nap.
This is one of the central flaws with McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy: The need to build a credible government puts us at the mercy of whatever tin-pot leader we've backed – a danger that Eikenberry explicitly warned about in his cable. Even Team McChrystal privately acknowledges that Karzai is a less-than-ideal partner. "He's been locked up in his palace the past year," laments one of the general's top advisers. At times, Karzai himself has actively undermined McChrystal's desire to put him in charge. During a recent visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Karzai met three U.S. soldiers who had been wounded in Uruzgan province. "General," he called out to McChrystal, "I didn't even know we were fighting in Uruzgan!"
Growing up as a military brat, McChrystal exhibited the mixture of brilliance and cockiness that would follow him throughout his career. His father fought in Korea and Vietnam, retiring as a two-star general, and his four brothers all joined the armed services. Moving around to different bases, McChrystal took solace in baseball, a sport in which he made no pretense of hiding his superiority: In Little League, he would call out strikes to the crowd before whipping a fastball down the middle.
McChrystal entered West Point in 1972, when the U.S. military was close to its all-time low in popularity. His class was the last to graduate before the academy started to admit women. The "Prison on the Hudson," as it was known then, was a potent mix of testosterone, hooliganism and reactionary patriotism. Cadets repeatedly trashed the mess hall in food fights, and birthdays were celebrated with a tradition called "rat fucking," which often left the birthday boy outside in the snow or mud, covered in shaving cream. "It was pretty out of control," says Lt. Gen. David Barno, a classmate who went on to serve as the top commander in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. The class, filled with what Barno calls "huge talent" and "wild-eyed teenagers with a strong sense of idealism," also produced Gen. Ray Odierno, the current commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.
The son of a general, McChrystal was also a ringleader of the campus dissidents – a dual role that taught him how to thrive in a rigid, top-down environment while thumbing his nose at authority every chance he got. He accumulated more than 100 hours of demerits for drinking, partying and insubordination – a record that his classmates boasted made him a "century man." One classmate, who asked not to be named, recalls finding McChrystal passed out in the shower after downing a case of beer he had hidden under the sink. The troublemaking almost got him kicked out, and he spent hours subjected to forced marches in the Area, a paved courtyard where unruly cadets were disciplined. "I'd come visit, and I'd end up spending most of my time in the library, while Stan was in the Area," recalls Annie, who began dating McChrystal in 1973.
McChrystal wound up ranking 298 out of a class of 855, a serious underachievement for a man widely regarded as brilliant. His most compelling work was extracurricular: As managing editor of The Pointer, the West Point literary magazine, McChrystal wrote seven short stories that eerily foreshadow many of the issues he would confront in his career. In one tale, a fictional officer complains about the difficulty of training foreign troops to fight; in another, a 19-year-old soldier kills a boy he mistakes for a terrorist. In "Brinkman's Note," a piece of suspense fiction, the unnamed narrator appears to be trying to stop a plot to assassinate the president. It turns out, however, that the narrator himself is the assassin, and he's able to infiltrate the White House: "The President strode in smiling. From the right coat pocket of the raincoat I carried, I slowly drew forth my 32-caliber pistol. In Brinkman's failure, I had succeeded."
After graduation, 2nd Lt. Stanley McChrystal entered an Army that was all but broken in the wake of Vietnam. "We really felt we were a peacetime generation," he recalls. "There was the Gulf War, but even that didn't feel like that big of a deal." So McChrystal spent his career where the action was: He enrolled in Special Forces school and became a regimental commander of the 3rd Ranger Battalion in 1986. It was a dangerous position, even in peacetime – nearly two dozen Rangers were killed in training accidents during the Eighties. It was also an unorthodox career path: Most soldiers who want to climb the ranks to general don't go into the Rangers. Displaying a penchant for transforming systems he considers outdated, McChrystal set out to revolutionize the training regime for the Rangers. He introduced mixed martial arts, required every soldier to qualify with night-vision goggles on the rifle range and forced troops to build up their endurance with weekly marches involving heavy backpacks.
In the late 1990s, McChrystal shrewdly improved his inside game, spending a year at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and then at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he co-authored a treatise on the merits and drawbacks of humanitarian interventionism. But as he moved up through the ranks, McChrystal relied on the skills he had learned as a troublemaking kid at West Point: knowing precisely how far he could go in a rigid military hierarchy without getting tossed out. Being a highly intelligent badass, he discovered, could take you far – especially in the political chaos that followed September 11th. "He was very focused," says Annie. "Even as a young officer he seemed to know what he wanted to do. I don't think his personality has changed in all these years."
By some accounts, McChrystal's career should have been over at least two times by now. As Pentagon spokesman during the invasion of Iraq, the general seemed more like a White House mouthpiece than an up-and-coming commander with a reputation for speaking his mind. When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made his infamous "stuff happens" remark during the looting of Baghdad, McChrystal backed him up. A few days later, he echoed the president's Mission Accomplished gaffe by insisting that major combat operations in Iraq were over. But it was during his next stint – overseeing the military's most elite units, including the Rangers, Navy Seals and Delta Force – that McChrystal took part in a cover-up that would have destroyed the career of a lesser man.
After Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former-NFL-star-turned-Ranger, was accidentally killed by his own troops in Afghanistan in April 2004, McChrystal took an active role in creating the impression that Tillman had died at the hands of Taliban fighters. He signed off on a falsified recommendation for a Silver Star that suggested Tillman had been killed by enemy fire. (McChrystal would later claim he didn't read the recommendation closely enough – a strange excuse for a commander known for his laserlike attention to minute details.) A week later, McChrystal sent a memo up the chain of command, specifically warning that President Bush should avoid mentioning the cause of Tillman's death. "If the circumstances of Corporal Tillman's death become public," he wrote, it could cause "public embarrassment" for the president.
"The false narrative, which McChrystal clearly helped construct, diminished Pat's true actions," wrote Tillman's mother, Mary, in her book Boots on the Ground by Dusk. McChrystal got away with it, she added, because he was the "golden boy" of Rumsfeld and Bush, who loved his willingness to get things done, even if it included bending the rules or skipping the chain of command. Nine days after Tillman's death, McChrystal was promoted to major general.
Two years later, in 2006, McChrystal was tainted by a scandal involving detainee abuse and torture at Camp Nama in Iraq. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, prisoners at the camp were subjected to a now-familiar litany of abuse: stress positions, being dragged naked through the mud. McChrystal was not disciplined in the scandal, even though an interrogator at the camp reported seeing him inspect the prison multiple times. But the experience was so unsettling to McChrystal that he tried to prevent detainee operations from being placed under his command in Afghanistan, viewing them as a "political swamp," according to a U.S. official. In May 2009, as McChrystal prepared for his confirmation hearings, his staff prepared him for hard questions about Camp Nama and the Tillman cover-up. But the scandals barely made a ripple in Congress, and McChrystal was soon on his way back to Kabul to run the war in Afghanistan.
The media, to a large extent, have also given McChrystal a pass on both controversies. Where Gen. Petraeus is kind of a dweeb, a teacher's pet with a Ranger's tab, McChrystal is a snake-eating rebel, a "Jedi" commander, as Newsweek called him. He didn't care when his teenage son came home with blue hair and a mohawk. He speaks his mind with a candor rare for a high-ranking official. He asks for opinions, and seems genuinely interested in the response. He gets briefings on his iPod and listens to books on tape. He carries a custom-made set of nunchucks in his convoy engraved with his name and four stars, and his itinerary often bears a fresh quote from Bruce Lee. ("There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.") He went out on dozens of nighttime raids during his time in Iraq, unprecedented for a top commander, and turned up on missions unannounced, with almost no entourage. "The fucking lads love Stan McChrystal," says a British officer who serves in Kabul. "You'd be out in Somewhere, Iraq, and someone would take a knee beside you, and a corporal would be like 'Who the fuck is that?' And it's fucking Stan McChrystal."
It doesn't hurt that McChrystal was also extremely successful as head of the Joint Special Operations Command, the elite forces that carry out the government's darkest ops. During the Iraq surge, his team killed and captured thousands of insurgents, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. "JSOC was a killing machine," says Maj. Gen. Mayville, his chief of operations. McChrystal was also open to new ways of killing. He systematically mapped out terrorist networks, targeting specific insurgents and hunting them down – often with the help of cyberfreaks traditionally shunned by the military. "The Boss would find the 24-year-old kid with a nose ring, with some fucking brilliant degree from MIT, sitting in the corner with 16 computer monitors humming," says a Special Forces commando who worked with McChrystal in Iraq and now serves on his staff in Kabul. "He'd say, 'Hey – you fucking muscleheads couldn't find lunch without help. You got to work together with these guys.' "
Even in his new role as America's leading evangelist for counterinsurgency, McChrystal retains the deep-seated instincts of a terrorist hunter. To put pressure on the Taliban, he has upped the number of Special Forces units in Afghanistan from four to 19. "You better be out there hitting four or five targets tonight," McChrystal will tell a Navy Seal he sees in the hallway at headquarters. Then he'll add, "I'm going to have to scold you in the morning for it, though." In fact, the general frequently finds himself apologizing for the disastrous consequences of counterinsurgency. In the first four months of this year, NATO forces killed some 90 civilians, up 76 percent from the same period in 2009 – a record that has created tremendous resentment among the very population that COIN theory is intent on winning over. In February, a Special Forces night raid ended in the deaths of two pregnant Afghan women and allegations of a cover-up, and in April, protests erupted in Kandahar after U.S. forces accidentally shot up a bus, killing five Afghans. "We've shot an amazing number of people," McChrystal recently conceded.
Despite the tragedies and miscues, McChrystal has issued some of the strictest directives to avoid civilian casualties that the U.S. military has ever encountered in a war zone. It's "insurgent math," as he calls it – for every innocent person you kill, you create 10 new enemies. He has ordered convoys to curtail their reckless driving, put restrictions on the use of air power and severely limited night raids. He regularly apologizes to Hamid Karzai when civilians are killed, and berates commanders responsible for civilian deaths. "For a while," says one U.S. official, "the most dangerous place to be in Afghanistan was in front of McChrystal after a 'civ cas' incident." The ISAF command has even discussed ways to make not killing into something you can win an award for: There's talk of creating a new medal for "courageous restraint," a buzzword that's unlikely to gain much traction in the gung-ho culture of the U.S. military.
But however strategic they may be, McChrystal's new marching orders have caused an intense backlash among his own troops. Being told to hold their fire, soldiers complain, puts them in greater danger. "Bottom line?" says a former Special Forces operator who has spent years in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I would love to kick McChrystal in the nuts. His rules of engagement put soldiers' lives in even greater danger. Every real soldier will tell you the same thing."
In March, McChrystal traveled to Combat Outpost JFM – a small encampment on the outskirts of Kandahar – to confront such accusations from the troops directly. It was a typically bold move by the general. Only two days earlier, he had received an e-mail from Israel Arroyo, a 25-year-old staff sergeant who asked McChrystal to go on a mission with his unit. "I am writing because it was said you don't care about the troops and have made it harder to defend ourselves," Arroyo wrote.
Within hours, McChrystal responded personally: "I'm saddened by the accusation that I don't care about soldiers, as it is something I suspect any soldier takes both personally and professionally – at least I do. But I know perceptions depend upon your perspective at the time, and I respect that every soldier's view is his own." Then he showed up at Arroyo's outpost and went on a foot patrol with the troops – not some bullshit photo-op stroll through a market, but a real live operation in a dangerous war zone.
Six weeks later, just before McChrystal returned from Paris, the general received another e-mail from Arroyo. A 23-year-old corporal named Michael Ingram – one of the soldiers McChrystal had gone on patrol with – had been killed by an IED a day earlier. It was the third man the 25-member platoon had lost in a year, and Arroyo was writing to see if the general would attend Ingram's memorial service. "He started to look up to you," Arroyo wrote. McChrystal said he would try to make it down to pay his respects as soon as possible.
The night before the general is scheduled to visit Sgt. Arroyo's platoon for the memorial, I arrive at Combat Outpost JFM to speak with the soldiers he had gone on patrol with. JFM is a small encampment, ringed by high blast walls and guard towers. Almost all of the soldiers here have been on repeated combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and have seen some of the worst fighting of both wars. But they are especially angered by Ingram's death. His commanders had repeatedly requested permission to tear down the house where Ingram was killed, noting that it was often used as a combat position by the Taliban. But due to McChrystal's new restrictions to avoid upsetting civilians, the request had been denied. "These were abandoned houses," fumes Staff Sgt. Kennith Hicks. "Nobody was coming back to live in them."
One soldier shows me the list of new regulations the platoon was given. "Patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourselves with lethal force," the laminated card reads. For a soldier who has traveled halfway around the world to fight, that's like telling a cop he should only patrol in areas where he knows he won't have to make arrests. "Does that make any fucking sense?" asks Pfc. Jared Pautsch. "We should just drop a fucking bomb on this place. You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?"
The rules handed out here are not what McChrystal intended – they've been distorted as they passed through the chain of command – but knowing that does nothing to lessen the anger of troops on the ground. "Fuck, when I came over here and heard that McChrystal was in charge, I thought we would get our fucking gun on," says Hicks, who has served three tours of combat. "I get COIN. I get all that. McChrystal comes here, explains it, it makes sense. But then he goes away on his bird, and by the time his directives get passed down to us through Big Army, they're all fucked up – either because somebody is trying to cover their ass, or because they just don't understand it themselves. But we're fucking losing this thing."
McChrystal and his team show up the next day. Underneath a tent, the general has a 45-minute discussion with some two dozen soldiers. The atmosphere is tense. "I ask you what's going on in your world, and I think it's important for you all to understand the big picture as well," McChrystal begins. "How's the company doing? You guys feeling sorry for yourselves? Anybody? Anybody feel like you're losing?" McChrystal says.
"Sir, some of the guys here, sir, think we're losing, sir," says Hicks.
McChrystal nods. "Strength is leading when you just don't want to lead," he tells the men. "You're leading by example. That's what we do. Particularly when it's really, really hard, and it hurts inside." Then he spends 20 minutes talking about counterinsurgency, diagramming his concepts and principles on a whiteboard. He makes COIN seem like common sense, but he's careful not to bullshit the men. "We are knee-deep in the decisive year," he tells them. The Taliban, he insists, no longer has the initiative – "but I don't think we do, either." It's similar to the talk he gave in Paris, but it's not winning any hearts and minds among the soldiers. "This is the philosophical part that works with think tanks," McChrystal tries to joke. "But it doesn't get the same reception from infantry companies."
During the question-and-answer period, the frustration boils over. The soldiers complain about not being allowed to use lethal force, about watching insurgents they detain be freed for lack of evidence. They want to be able to fight – like they did in Iraq, like they had in Afghanistan before McChrystal. "We aren't putting fear into the Taliban," one soldier says.
"Winning hearts and minds in COIN is a coldblooded thing," McChrystal says, citing an oft-repeated maxim that you can't kill your way out of Afghanistan. "The Russians killed 1 million Afghans, and that didn't work."
"I'm not saying go out and kill everybody, sir," the soldier persists. "You say we've stopped the momentum of the insurgency. I don't believe that's true in this area. The more we pull back, the more we restrain ourselves, the stronger it's getting."
"I agree with you," McChrystal says. "In this area, we've not made progress, probably. You have to show strength here, you have to use fire. What I'm telling you is, fire costs you. What do you want to do? You want to wipe the population out here and resettle it?"
A soldier complains that under the rules, any insurgent who doesn't have a weapon is immediately assumed to be a civilian. "That's the way this game is," McChrystal says. "It's complex. I can't just decide: It's shirts and skins, and we'll kill all the shirts."
As the discussion ends, McChrystal seems to sense that he hasn't succeeded at easing the men's anger. He makes one last-ditch effort to reach them, acknowledging the death of Cpl. Ingram. "There's no way I can make that easier," he tells them. "No way I can pretend it won't hurt. No way I can tell you not to feel that. . . . I will tell you, you're doing a great job. Don't let the frustration get to you." The session ends with no clapping, and no real resolution. McChrystal may have sold President Obama on counterinsurgency, but many of his own men aren't buying it.
When it comes to Afghanistan, history is not on McChrystal's side. The only foreign invader to have any success here was Genghis Khan – and he wasn't hampered by things like human rights, economic development and press scrutiny. The COIN doctrine, bizarrely, draws inspiration from some of the biggest Western military embarrassments in recent memory: France's nasty war in Algeria (lost in 1962) and the American misadventure in Vietnam (lost in 1975). McChrystal, like other advocates of COIN, readily acknowledges that counterinsurgency campaigns are inherently messy, expensive and easy to lose. "Even Afghans are confused by Afghanistan," he says. But even if he somehow manages to succeed, after years of bloody fighting with Afghan kids who pose no threat to the U.S. homeland, the war will do little to shut down Al Qaeda, which has shifted its operations to Pakistan. Dispatching 150,000 troops to build new schools, roads, mosques and water-treatment facilities around Kandahar is like trying to stop the drug war in Mexico by occupying Arkansas and building Baptist churches in Little Rock. "It's all very cynical, politically," says Marc Sageman, a former CIA case officer who has extensive experience in the region. "Afghanistan is not in our vital interest – there's nothing for us there."
In mid-May, two weeks after visiting the troops in Kandahar, McChrystal travels to the White House for a high-level visit by Hamid Karzai. It is a triumphant moment for the general, one that demonstrates he is very much in command – both in Kabul and in Washington. In the East Room, which is packed with journalists and dignitaries, President Obama sings the praises of Karzai. The two leaders talk about how great their relationship is, about the pain they feel over civilian casualties. They mention the word "progress" 16 times in under an hour. But there is no mention of victory. Still, the session represents the most forceful commitment that Obama has made to McChrystal's strategy in months. "There is no denying the progress that the Afghan people have made in recent years – in education, in health care and economic development," the president says. "As I saw in the lights across Kabul when I landed – lights that would not have been visible just a few years earlier."
It is a disconcerting observation for Obama to make. During the worst years in Iraq, when the Bush administration had no real progress to point to, officials used to offer up the exact same evidence of success. "It was one of our first impressions," one GOP official said in 2006, after landing in Baghdad at the height of the sectarian violence. "So many lights shining brightly." So it is to the language of the Iraq War that the Obama administration has turned – talk of progress, of city lights, of metrics like health care and education. Rhetoric that just a few years ago they would have mocked. "They are trying to manipulate perceptions because there is no definition of victory – because victory is not even defined or recognizable," says Celeste Ward, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation who served as a political adviser to U.S. commanders in Iraq in 2006. "That's the game we're in right now. What we need, for strategic purposes, is to create the perception that we didn't get run off. The facts on the ground are not great, and are not going to become great in the near future."
But facts on the ground, as history has proven, offer little deterrent to a military determined to stay the course. Even those closest to McChrystal know that the rising anti-war sentiment at home doesn't begin to reflect how deeply fucked up things are in Afghanistan. "If Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular," a senior adviser to McChrystal says. Such realism, however, doesn't prevent advocates of counterinsurgency from dreaming big: Instead of beginning to withdraw troops next year, as Obama promised, the military hopes to ramp up its counterinsurgency campaign even further. "There's a possibility we could ask for another surge of U.S. forces next summer if we see success here," a senior military official in Kabul tells me.
Back in Afghanistan, less than a month after the White House meeting with Karzai and all the talk of "progress," McChrystal is hit by the biggest blow to his vision of counterinsurgency. Since last year, the Pentagon had been planning to launch a major military operation this summer in Kandahar, the country's second-largest city and the Taliban's original home base. It was supposed to be a decisive turning point in the war – the primary reason for the troop surge that McChrystal wrested from Obama late last year. But on June 10th, acknowledging that the military still needs to lay more groundwork, the general announced that he is postponing the offensive until the fall. Rather than one big battle, like Fallujah or Ramadi, U.S. troops will implement what McChrystal calls a "rising tide of security." The Afghan police and army will enter Kandahar to attempt to seize control of neighborhoods, while the U.S. pours $90 million of aid into the city to win over the civilian population.
Even proponents of counterinsurgency are hard-pressed to explain the new plan. "This isn't a classic operation," says a U.S. military official. "It's not going to be Black Hawk Down. There aren't going to be doors kicked in." Other U.S. officials insist that doors are going to be kicked in, but that it's going to be a kinder, gentler offensive than the disaster in Marja. "The Taliban have a jackboot on the city," says a military official. "We have to remove them, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't alienate the population." When Vice President Biden was briefed on the new plan in the Oval Office, insiders say he was shocked to see how much it mirrored the more gradual plan of counterterrorism that he advocated last fall. "This looks like CT-plus!" he said, according to U.S. officials familiar with the meeting.
Whatever the nature of the new plan, the delay underscores the fundamental flaws of counterinsurgency. After nine years of war, the Taliban simply remains too strongly entrenched for the U.S. military to openly attack. The very people that COIN seeks to win over – the Afghan people – do not want us there. Our supposed ally, President Karzai, used his influence to delay the offensive, and the massive influx of aid championed by McChrystal is likely only to make things worse. "Throwing money at the problem exacerbates the problem," says Andrew Wilder, an expert at Tufts University who has studied the effect of aid in southern Afghanistan. "A tsunami of cash fuels corruption, delegitimizes the government and creates an environment where we're picking winners and losers" – a process that fuels resentment and hostility among the civilian population. So far, counterinsurgency has succeeded only in creating a never-ending demand for the primary product supplied by the military: perpetual war. There is a reason that President Obama studiously avoids using the word "victory" when he talks about Afghanistan. Winning, it would seem, is not really possible. Not even with Stanley McChrystal in charge.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:20 PM | Comments (3)
Obama's Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Will Now Sue U.S. Companies To Get Minimum Wage For Illegal Aliens!!!
Obama's Department of Labor Will Now Sue U.S. Companies To Get Minimum Wage For Illegal Aliens!!!
Obama's DOL Secretary Hilda L. Solis: You Have the Right to Be Paid Fairly Whether Documented or Not
Obama's Nicaraguan-Mexican-"American" DOL Secretary Hilda L. Solis Promotes Illegal Immigration, 'You Have the Right to Be Paid Fairly Whether Documented or Not'
Wild Thing's comment........
We are turning into a lawless nation, where even our highest officials openly advocate disregarding the law.
She actually says, in her words, that it doesn't matter if a worker is "documented," the government "will help!"
You can't make this stuff up!
Our tax dollars are paying for this!
First they refuse to enforce the law, then they sue for illegals right to be here, now they say illegals have a right to be paid minimum wage.
“The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have receiv’d them as a fair Inheritance from our worthy Ancestors: They purchas’d them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us without a struggle; or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.” - Samuel Adams
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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 05:55 AM | Comments (6)
Kagan, Obama’s Radical Mominee to the Supreme Court: " Bork hearings were the best thing that ever happened to Constitutional Democracy.”
From her speech at Case Western Reserve, 1997: “And I, like Professor Toulouse, I loved what happened in the Bork hearings. I wrote a review of Stephen Carter’s book recently where I said, “no, he has it all wrong. The Bork hearings were great, the Bork hearings were educational. The Bork hearings were the best thing that ever happened to Constitutional Democracy.” So, I share that view with Professor Toulouse.”
In 1987, Judge Robert Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan, but the Senate rejected his nomination.
, Robert Bork announced that he would publicly oppose Kagan for the Supreme Court.
Bork to publicly oppose Kagan for Supreme Court
Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork is joining anti-abortion activists to publicly oppose confirming Elena Kagan as a justice.
Bork plans to detail his criticisms of Kagan during a Wednesday news conference organized by Americans United for Life. The group calls itself the country’s first national pro-life organization, and brands Kagan a pro-abortion activist.
Bork was nominated in 1987 by then-President Ronald Reagan to serve on the high court, but the Senate rejected him after an intensely partisan debate.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Good grief! The Bork hearings were a witch hunt against arguably the greatest legal minds! Robert Bork is, quite possibly, the most brilliant Constitutional legal mind this side of Antonin Scalia. The country would’ve been a better place if he were on the high court alongside Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas. We’d never lose.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (3)
Great RNC Ad ~ "Obama's Chicago Network "
Great ad from the RNC hitting Sestak, Gibbs and Romanoff
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (2)
Gov. Bobby Jindal Files Legal Brief Asking Federal Judge To Lift Anti-America Obama's Ban On Drilling
Jindal steps up battle against Obama's 6-month deepwater drilling moratorium
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has spent weeks throwing political punches at the Obama administration’s six-month freeze on deepwater oil-and-gas drilling, alleging it will wreak havoc on the region’s already battered economy.
Now, Jindal is battling the moratorium in the courtroom, too.
Jindal and state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell on Sunday filed a legal brief in support of a Louisiana-based offshore services company that’s asking a federal judge to lift the ban.
The ban is “effectively turning an environmental disaster into an economic catastrophe for the state,” the brief alleges.
The ban is in place while the administration and a White House-created independent commission review drilling safety in the wake of the BP oil spill.
Jindal’s brief — filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana — alleges the Interior Department “completely ignored” the effect the ban will have on Louisiana’s economy.
Offshore oil-and-gas is a $3 billion annual industry in the state, the brief claims, noting the salaries of rig workers, the scores of companies that have boat, food and other types of contracts, and many other ways the state's economy is tethered to drilling.
The brief claims that once deepwater rigs move out of the Gulf, they will become tied up as companies make long-term commitments for projects in Brazil, Africa and elsewhere.
“Having to wait an additional year or more for available rigs will turn the short-term adverse effects of the moratorium into a long-term economic disaster for Louisiana,” their filing states.
The brief supports a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Hornbeck Offshore Services, which alleges the ban violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
Jindal is raising his own claims, too. The brief cites language in the offshore statute that calls for federal officials to work with states in making decisions about development policy in federal waters.
“Inasmuch as the State of Louisiana was completely ignored by Defendants in the establishment of the moratorium for alleged safety reasons, the question arises whether that failure renders Defendants’ action invalid,” the brief states.
Wild Thing's comment........
A friend of mine who is from Louisiana says you do NOT mention the name Obama there. They are fit to be tied.
br>
....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 (3)
Obama & Holder: “YOU have NO standing to ask any Questions!”
Obama & Holder: “YOU have NO standing to ask any Questions!”
By JB Williams
No matter the political agenda of any American citizen, one reality should send shivers down every American’s spine. The Obama administration has made it known that according to their form of “justice,” NO soldier or citizen has “legal standing” to question anything about Obama, his many corrupt friends, his anti-American policies or his full court press to destroy all things American.
Barack Hussein Obama remains a complete mystery. His birth, college, travel, passport and entire personal history remains under lock and key unlike any president before him. His policies have proven destructive to the US economy, US sovereignty and security as well as both states and individual rights.
The Obama administration is operating like a pure dictatorship at odds with the vast majority of American citizens and no matter what peaceful course of redress the people attempt, they have repeatedly been informed that they have “NO STANDING” to ask any questions.
Lt. Colonel Terrence Lakin
LTC Lakin is not a private fresh out of boot camp that lost his nerve for the field of battle and refused to comply with deployment orders. He is a senior officer who stands charged with upholding his oath.
“I - do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.”
As reported by Family Security Matters,LTC Lakin’s numerous awards and decorations include the Army Flight Surgeon Badge, Combat Medical Badge, the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Achievement Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Service Star, the Armed Forces Expedition Medal, the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon sixth award and the NATO service medal.He has served previously in Honduras, Bosnia, Korea, and Afghanistan.
Until very recently, his senior command described him as “an extremely talented, highly knowledgeable senior Army clinician with significant field and consultant experience…”
Like all military officers, Lakin is obligated under his oath to question his command when he suspects that the orders being given are in any way “unlawful.” Unlawful orders would most certainly include orders given by an “unlawful” command.
Yet LTC Lakin stands courts martial for attempting to uphold his officer’s oath, and he is indeed guilty of attempting to uphold his oath. He is prepared to present what he believes to be clear and convincing evidence that Barak Hussein Obama is NOT a “lawful” Commander-in-Chief. An increasing number of soldiers and citizens agree… but it is LTC Lakin who faces charges, not the illegal Command.
LCDR Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III
Most Americans know only this definition of the word “riot” -
a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets;
But the Obama run justice system prefers to use this definition of “riot” as a means to silence all voices of dissent…
a disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons;
This definition provides very broad powers to law enforcement anytime that three or more persons gather in public for any purpose. Under this definition, any public assembly of three or more individuals can be accused of participating in or inciting a “riot.”
Such was the case on April 1, 2010 when LCDR Fitzpatrick attempted to affect a citizen’s arrest of local officials whom he accuses of corruption and obstruction in Monroe County Tennessee.
When a small group of Internet supporters showed up to video tape the citizen’s arrest in Monroe County, Fitzpatrick found himself arrested and charged with “committing actual RIOT” - resisting arrest (better described as resisting assault) - interrupting a [illegal] meeting and disorderly conduct.
Fortunately, video tape of the incident is up at YouTube which clearly demonstrates that these charges are false. LCDR Fitzpatrick sought peaceful redress via a criminal complaint filed with the Monroe County Grand Jury more than a year earlier. Tennessee law supports the actions of Mr. Fitzpatrick, but evidence of local corruption brought to light through his efforts has made Fitzpatrick the target of judicial vengeance in his local community.
LCDR Fitzpatrick has since been arrested a second time on June 8, 2010, a retaliation from the Monroe County Grand Jury which has added two felony charges to the previous misdemeanors dating April 1st.
Taking a page right out of Obama’s Southern Poverty Law Center book on “domestic terrorism” the Monroe County Grand Jury is now claiming that Fitzpatrick is acting against illegal Grand Jury Foreman Gary Pettway on the basis of “race” in violation of civil rights laws.
Of course, unlike his accusers, Fitzpatrick spent a lifetime defending the United States in uniform, working alongside soldiers of all races and religions in the common defense of the American way of life. Further, Pettway is far from the only individual whom Fitzpatrick has accused of criminal wrong-doing, although he is the only “black” individual listed in Fitzpatrick’s criminal complaint. All others are white.
LCDR Fitzpatrick has uncovered numerous violations of Tennessee law in the existing justice system operating in Monroe County. He possesses very compelling evidence to support his accusations of corruption and obstruction in Monroe County.
On the basis of recently uncovered evidence concerning Jury Foreman Gary Pettway and Foreperson Angela Davis, Fitzpatrick is openly accusing the Monroe County justice system of “jury rigging”—in addition to his past charges of corruption and obstruction.
This entire ongoing circus is the direct result of Fitzpatrick’s efforts to present evidence against Barack Hussein Obama in a courtroom allegedly intended for just such a purpose. He is scheduled to face his accused (and accusers) in Monroe County court on 28 June 2010.
Major General Paul Vallely
Former FOX News military analyst Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely is openly calling for the immediate resignation of Barack Hussein Obama and all of his co-conspirators within his administration and congress.
“Being a representative republic, not a democracy, “rising up” means something other than revolution by means of arms. The people must “rise up” from the grass roots across this great country as we think of the greater good of this and future generations. We are limited in the peaceful transfer of power…resignation, natural death, elections, and impeachment.
“We the People” have had enough. The Obama Administration and identifiable Members of Congress are now on a death march and are bankrupting and weakening the country. We have watched them violate their sacred oath of office.”
“We, the People” cannot wait for and solely rely on the next round of elections in November of this year. It is now and each day that these public servants must put the citizen’s interests above self-interest by resigning immediately. Therefore the “people” must decide. A civil uprising is brewing. We now must call for the immediate resignation of Barry Soetero (AKA President Barack Hussein Obama)...based on Incompetence, Deceit, Fraud, Corruption, Dishonesty, and Violation of the US Oath of Office and the Constitution.
This is as serious as it gets folks!
Career military officers face jail sentences for their efforts to stand by their oaths.
These are not children fresh out of boot camp who have had a change of heart about serving in a forward combat position. These are decorated career officers who have more than earned the right to ask who in the hell Barack Hussein Obama really is and why he seem so hell-bent upon destroying the greatest nation ever known to mankind.
Whether you like Obama’s political leap into global socialism or not - no decent American citizen or soldier can afford to tolerate the idea that these brave men have “no standing” to demand a “lawful” command. We the People cannot afford to let these men fall victim to a corrupt government intent upon imprisoning them for attempting to uphold their oaths.
This isn’t about any single individual, including Barack Obama or Barry Soetoro, whatever name or social security number he is operating under this month.
This is about the US Constitution and American Justice.
Every American citizen, but especially those who have served in uniform have not only the right, but the responsibility to demand answers to questions that Obama has been running from since 2004.
Candidate for US Senate Barack Obama was quite proud to refer to himself as “Kenyan born.” But presidential candidate Barack Obama has since insisted that he is American born and meets all constitutional eligibility for the office of Commander-in-Chief. One of the two stories is not true…
A growing number of decorated officers are stepping forward to demand answers that Obama is ill-prepared to give. I believe that there is no actual birth certificate from Hawaii and that this is the reason he has spent more than $2 million in legal fees to avoid making that birth certificate public. I also believe that he cannot meet Article II—Section I requirements for the Oval Office no matter where he might have been born.
As a writer who has done extensive research on Barack Obama and the subject of Natural Born Citizen, I am completely convinced that these military heroes and others like them are right to question the legitimacy of their command. There can be no legitimate orders from an illegitimate Commander-in-Chief. Every order would be illegal…
God help us if the American people fail to stand with these men who demand answers to their very legitimate questions. If we allow the corrupt justice system to jail these men, then that system will be free to jail any individual who dares to question elected officials in support of the Law of this Land.
If the people allow these men to fall prey to this corrupt government, they will stand alone against this government in the end.
The time for true patriots to stand and be counted has arrived.
Obama MUST answer these charges or NO citizen will be free.
Wild Thing's comment.......
This is one of the best informative articles I have read about this.
Why is it the best US political writings seem to come from the Canada Free Press and the Times Online UK??
Many people have died for this country and I refuse to “go quietly into the night”!
....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)
FL Sen. George LeMieux Slams Obama for "Anemic" Gulf Response: "Where are the Skimmers?"
Florida GOP Sen. George LeMieux speaking on the Senate Floor today, June 21, 2010, where he blasted the Obama Administration’s response to the Gulf Oil Spill Crisis.
He particularly slammed Obama for the fact that there are still only 20 skimmers working off the coast of Florida to keep the oil at bay. This despite the fact LeMieux was told there are 2,000 skimmers available in the U.S. alone, in addition to international offers of help with skimmers.
LeMieux said he was told only 20 skimmers were in use to contain the massive Gulf Oil Spill because others may be needed “for an oil spill!” Are you kidding? Imagine the difference it would make if you had 2000 skimmers at work in the Gulf instead of 20. Sen. LeMieux said he will return to the Senate floor every day to ask, “Where are the skimmers?”
Wild Thing's comment.......
Obama has been dragging his feet on this from day one. It is painfully obvious. He is dancing in his heart about this oil spill, in his mind it is a tool he is using to ban drilling for oil. What an evil, evil man he is.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM
A Little of This and That For Today
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Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM
June 21, 2010
AZ Senator Kyl on his conversation with Obama and why the borders won't be secured!
AZ Senator Kyl on his conversation with Obama and why the borders won't be secured!
On June 18, 2010, Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl told the audience at a North Tempe Tea Party town hall meeting that during a private, one-on-one meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office.....
SEN. JON KYL: I met with the president in the Oval Office, just the two of us… Here’s what the president said. “The problem is,” he said, "If we secure the border, then you all won’t have any reason to support comprehensive immigration reform.”
[gasps from the audience]
KYL: In other words they’re holding it hostage. They don’t want to secure the border unless and until it is combined with comprehensive immigration reform. I explained, “You and I have an obligation to secure the border. That’s an obligation. It also has some potentially positive benefits. You don’t have to have comprehensive immigration to secure the border, but you have to have a secure border to get comprehensive immigration reform. You may be surprised, maybe you don’t think that there’d be any more incentive, but I’m not so sure that that’s true. In any event, it doesn’t matter we’re supposed to secure the border.”
That’s why this is being done. They want to get something in return for doing their duty. And that’s—
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Chicago politics.
KYL: Yeah.
Sen. Kyl also said he reminded President Obama that the President and the Congress has an obligation, a duty, to secure the border.
Wild Thing's comment........
This is absolutely disgusting!!
Obama cannot stop his hate for America.
This gross refusal to uphod and abide by our Constitution and enforce U.S. law is total TREASON. This IS treason. He is responsible for the security of the nation and he is flat out taking a pass on it.
......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 07:55 AM | Comments (7)
Report: Rahm Emanuel Expected to Quit
Report: Rahm Emanuel Expected to Quit
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is expected to leave his job within six to eight months because he is fed up with the "idealism" of President Barack Obama's closest advisers, The London Daily Telegraph reported Monday.
The newspaper cited Washington insiders, who said Congress veteran Emanuel, 50, is also concerned about burning out and losing touch with his three children due to the pressure of the job.
"I would bet he will go after the midterms," said one source, a leading Democratic consultant.
"Nobody thinks it's working, but they can't get rid of him -- that would look awful. He needs the right sort of job to go to, but the consensus is he'll go."
"It might not be his fault, but the perception is there," said the consultant. "Every vote has been tough, from health care to energy to financial reform.
"Democrats have not stood behind the President in the way Republicans did for George W. Bush, and that was meant to be Rahm's job."
Emanuel is known as an abrasive pragmatist who has clashed with the idealistic inner circle around Obama.
Although he is believed to have a cordial working relationship with the President, The Telegraph reported Obama aides are frustrated that Emanuel "failed to deliver a smooth ride for the President's legislative program that his background promised."
The newspaper said Emanuel had told friends he envisaged the high-pressure White House role as an 18-month job. He is reportedly interested in running for mayor of Chicago, his home town.
Wild Thing's comment........
Incredible quote from the article:
“Democrats have not stood behind the president in the way Republicans did for George W Bush, and that was meant to be Rahm’s job.”
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:50 AM | Comments (9)
Napolitano: Internet Monitoring Needed to Fight Homegrown Terrorism
Napolitano: Internet Monitoring Needed to Fight Homegrown Terrorism
Fighting homegrown terrorism by monitoring Internet communications is a civil liberties trade-off the U.S. government must make to beef up national security, the nation's homeland security chief said Friday.
As terrorists increasingly recruit U.S. citizens, the government needs to constantly balance Americans' civil rights and privacy with the need to keep people safe, said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
But finding that balance has become more complex as homegrown terrorists have used the Internet to reach out to extremists abroad for inspiration and training. Those contacts have spurred a recent rash of U.S.-based terror plots and incidents.
"The First Amendment protects radical opinions, but we need the legal tools to do things like monitor the recruitment of terrorists via the Internet," Napolitano told a gathering of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
Napolitano's comments suggest an effort by the Obama administration to reach out to its more liberal, Democratic constituencies to assuage fears that terrorist worries will lead to the erosion of civil rights.
The administration has faced a number of civil liberties and privacy challenges in recent months as it has tried to increase airport security by adding full-body scanners, or track suspected terrorists traveling into the United States from other countries.
"Her speech is sign of the maturing of the administration on this issue," said Stewart Baker, former undersecretary for policy with the Department of Homeland Security. "They now appreciate the risks and the trade-offs much more clearly than when they first arrived, and to their credit, they've adjusted their preconceptions."
Underscoring her comments are a number of recent terror attacks over the past year where legal U.S. residents such as Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad and accused Fort Hood, Texas, shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan, are believed to have been inspired by the Internet postings of violent Islamic extremists.
And the fact that these are U.S. citizens or legal residents raises many legal and constitutional questions.
Napolitano said it is wrong to believe that if security is embraced, liberty is sacrificed.
She added, "We can significantly advance security without having a deleterious impact on individual rights in most instances. At the same time, there are situations where trade-offs are inevitable."
As an example, she noted the struggle to use full-body scanners at airports caused worries that they would invade people's privacy.
The scanners are useful in identifying explosives or other nonmetal weapons that ordinary metal-detectors might miss -- such as the explosives that authorities said were successfully brought on board the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He is accused of trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear, but the explosives failed, and only burned Abdulmutallab.
U.S. officials, said Napolitano, have worked to institute a number of restrictions on the scanners' use in order to minimize that. The scans cannot be saved or stored on the machines by the operator, and Transportation Security Agency workers can't have phones or cameras that could capture the scan when near the machine.
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Bill Would Put DHS in Charge of All Civilian Computer Networks
New legislation expected to be introduced today would give the Homeland Security Department broad new authorities and powers over federal civilian networks.
The bill, however, does not include a “kill switch” for private sector networks, as widely reported previously.
The legislation, Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.), would move the responsibility of civilian agency cybersecurity to DHS from the Office of Management and Budget, according to a summary of the bill obtained by Federal News Radio.
The responsibility to develop, oversee and enforce IT security throughout the federal government would fall to a new office in DHS, the National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications. A director confirmed by the Senate would lead the NCCC.
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Legislation that would put DHS in charge of civilian cybersecurity to get hearing
By Gautham Nagesh
06/13/10
Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee introduced a far-reaching cybersecurity bill on Thursday that would give the president new emergency authority over private networks.
“Under the bill, DHS’s new National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC) would be responsible for protecting against — and responding to — attacks on federal civilian networks as well as any private-sector assets deemed critical, a job that currently resides in the White House.”
The bill also would allow the president to declare a national cyber-emergency. After notifying Congress, he could order immediate measures be taken to safeguard any critical assets.
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Wild Thing's comment......
Napolitano said it is wrong to believe that if security is embraced, liberty is sacrificed.
She added, "We can significantly advance security without having a deleterious impact on individual rights in most instances. At the same time, there are situations where trade-offs are inevitable."
I say BS. From the very founding of the nation it was understood:
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. ~Ben Franklin
There is no illusion about what they attempt, and it is so against the grain for “We the People” that it will not stand. It will Not.
Can you imagine the noise that would have been heard if Bush had proposed such an idea?? They had their panties in a wad over the Patriot Act — and that was monitoring overseas sourced telephone transmissions (as I recall).
....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 07:49 AM | Comments (5)
An Unexpected Result for Some Census Takers: the Wrath of Irate Americans
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An unexpected result for some census takers: the wrath of irate Americans
By Carol Morello
This is the scary season for the nation's census takers.
Since they began making follow-up house calls in early May, census takers have encountered vitriol, menace and flashes of violence. They have been shot at with pellet guns and hit by baseball bats. They have been confronted with pickaxes, crossbows and hammers. They've had lawn mowers pushed menacingly toward them and patio tables thrown their way. They have been nibbled by ducks, bitten by pit bulls and chased by packs of snarling dogs.
Some days, being cursed at seems part of the job description.
So far, the Census Bureau has tallied 379 incidents involving assaults or threats on the nation's 635,000 census workers, more than double the 181 recorded during the 2000 census. Weapons were used or threatened in a third of the cases.
Now, with just three weeks to go in the door-knocking phase of the count, the number of census takers has dwindled, and the remaining households are the toughest.
While most homeowners have received census takers graciously, some say they have been surprised at the degree of anger exhibited by Americans who consider them the embodiment of intrusive government.
"I came across loads of hostility," said Douglas McDonald, who summoned police in Deltona, Fla., after a tug-of-war with an irate homeowner over a census form. The homeowner threw his ripped half in the toilet.
McDonald, 70, a District native who retired from the Labor Department after 30 years as an investigator, said he wasn't prepared for the level of anti-government fervor he encountered.
"There's so much anger and bitterness, with people losing their homes and their jobs," said McDonald, who eventually quit. "They're not too fond of the government. They don't want to talk to you."
Sherri Chesney, 46, said she was cursed and spat at during follow-up visits in Houston. One day, she encountered a woman working in her garden. Chesney showed her census badge, she said, prompting the woman to launch into a tirade: "I don't need the blankety-blank government snooping in my business." Then she threw a metal patio table at Chesney, who escaped injury by ducking.
"I was stunned, I really was, that America is so mad at the government," said Chesney, who no longer works for the census. "People don't know what it's like out there. It's scary and dangerous, and it's not worth my life."
Census officials say they do not consider anti-government sentiment more widespread than usual this year. But Fernando Armstrong, the Philadelphia regional census director responsible for Maryland and the District, said it seems to be more vociferous.
"It's the degree of passion they have," he said. "When they don't want to participate, they really don't want to participate."
In the Washington area, the threats made to census takers have been infrequent, and no one has been harmed.
Some of the attacks elsewhere represent random violence, such as a robbery at knifepoint in Richmond, Va., and a carjacking in Connecticut. In some situations, the job turned unexpectedly dangerous, as for the Baltimore crew leader who was fatally shot seven times while sitting in his car and the Wisconsin census taker who knocked on the door of a man who tried to drag her into his apartment.
Other workers were beset by mean-tempered animals. Wendy Soto, who was knocking on doors in California, still can't move two fingers after being attacked by a pit bull that pushed open a security door.
Among the more troubling were incidents that arose from residents' seething resentment that anyone from the government would seek their personal information.
Some people pointedly mentioned President Obama.
While conducting follow-ups in an upscale Seattle neighborhood, Grover Ellis said he came across a woman who considered him an agent of Obama, not the U.S. government.
"The idea of the census just enraged her," said Ellis, 64, stressing that the overwhelming majority of people he met were welcoming and responsive. "The way she saw the census, she was required to help Obama. And she wasn't going to do anything to help out Obama."
Police have been dispatched after confrontations between census takers and property owners who posted No Trespassing signs. As federal government employees, the census takers are not breaking the law by disregarding the signs.
But try telling that to a homeowner with a crossbow.
In a rural part of California's Nevada County northeast of Sacramento, two census workers told authorities that a man ordered them off his land. He mentioned his submachine gun, then followed them down the drive with a crossbow in hand. No charges were brought against the resident, the sheriff's department said.
A homeowner in Marion, Ohio, called police, saying he had just used his baseball bat against a stranger on his property. The perceived interloper was a census taker who told police the resident flew off the handle as soon as he mentioned the word census. The census taker was struck in the forearm, warding off blows from the aluminum bat. The resident was charged with felonious assault.
Dallas regional director Gabriel Sanchez said occasional encounters with dogs and protective property owners are par for the course in any census.
"It's not that people are waiting to gun down a government worker or waiting to assault a census worker," he said. "Some people have a strong need for privacy and being left alone. I'm sure they would treat the FedEx man the same way."
Soto, the pit bull victim, says census takers should be permitted to carry weapons, such as pepper spray, to ward off harm.
"If I'd had pepper spray in my pocket, I probably would have had a good chance of not losing my hand," said Soto, 38, who was earning $15 an hour and saving for a vacation with her children and a used car.
The dog bit Soto in the stomach, leg and hand. The census is paying for her doctor's bills, medication and replacement clothing. She doesn't know when she will be physically able to return to her regular job as a special-education teacher's aide.
Steven Jost, a spokesman for the Census Bureau, said it is unlikely that the policy prohibiting census workers from carrying weapons will be rescinded. After the 2010 census is completed, officials will examine all incidents to determine whether changes are needed to reduce risks, for both workers and the public. The number of verified incidents might go down after analysis.
Chesney, for one, won't be back for another census unless she's offered an office position.
"I want to help my country," she said. "I want us to have funding for schools, and all the things that are involved with the census. But I'm not putting my life at risk."
Wild Thing's comment........
LOL Christopher Walken answering a census. it is great !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XtuPvwBa2U
I realize there are good people that get jobs and take the census. Where we live there were three couples that are on the board at the Golf Club here that went around and took the census. They would not allow outside census takers in to the area I live, it is a very guarded community. We were glad and apparently they made a deal to do it within our community and then turn in the information instead of letting the government workers do it. LOL All they did wss drive up in a golf cart, rang the door bell and asked Nick how many lived in our house and was it our main residence. Then they said have a great day and left. hahaha We had already filled out and mailed in that stupid card anyway.
The thing is we have learned a lot about how ACORN and other obama people were to go out and take the census. Heck I was hoping they would come to our house just so I could tell them off for voting for obama. heh heh
It is hard to have any sympathy for anyone that voted for obama no matter what the situation. Just how I feel about it and them.
....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 07:48 AM | Comments (4)
Remembering Bob Hope's Service
I LOVE ths scene with Bob Hope!!
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Remembering Bob Hope's Service
"Who was Bob Hope?"
To anyone over 35, that seems like such a strange question. Bob Hope, everyone knows, was one of the greatest American entertainers of the 20th century, and whose greatest public service was his decades-long commitment to U.S. troops all over the world for many decades, which earned him the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other honors.
And yet it's quite possible that a senior graduating from high school this month would scrunch up his face with a puzzled look over the question. It is why it was refreshing to hear that the Library of Congress has a new exhibit called "Hope for America: Performance, Politics and Pop Culture," drawn from the Bob Hope Collection, which was donated to the Library by the Hope family in 1998.
Unfortunately, as with so much that affects our popular culture, this man's legacy is also an excuse to unveil a leftist political agenda, the likes of which Hope would be the first to denounce.
On display are items from Hope's personal papers, joke files, films, and radio and TV broadcasts. This exhibit really makes you feel that the 20th century was more like distant history. It follows that it would be educational to walk students through exhibits like this to give them information that we older people have deeply ingrained in our memories.
Alan Gevinson, the Library of Congress exhibit curator, told CNSNews.com that Hope's daughter Linda and son Kelly have seen the exhibit and approved of it. But that doesn't mean a Bob Hope fan wouldn't expect more than this.
Unfortunately, this exhibit seems to consider Hope merely an excuse for a much broader exhibit sprawling all over a myriad of topics. It gives the impression that what the library calls its "treasured" Hope Collection would fit in about three boxes. Much of its Hope Collection material is contained in the very back of the exhibit space in dimly lit corners where it's hard to even read the exhibits.
Instead, the first thing a visitor would notice and absorb is the video presentation, hosted by Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert. Think of all the archival television material they could use to showcase Bob Hope entertaining the troops, and remembering all the stars who generously donated their time to bringing the home front to the war front, especially at Christmas time. But the Library of Congress displays its boredom with Hope in the interests of a broader topic. But while they broadened the subject, the exhibit didn't have the slightest whisper of interest in who's been entertaining the troops in the last few decades, and honoring them.
Instead we get Colbert, in his usual self-absorbed shtick, showing clips of himself joking with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton: "Why are you undressing me with your eyes now?"
The library's bureaucrats found room for a section touting "Government Support for the Arts," and how "federal support for the arts remained unrealized until the twentieth century," with the founding of the National Endowment for the Arts. There was no space for debating the wisdom or the controversies of that agency.
But there was space for debating Bob Hope. A letter is on display written by feminists who claim they want to stage their own U.S.O. show, since Hope was an incorrigible sexist. "Since this is a counter-U.S.O. show, we think that the script should have none of the sexist scenes in it that Bob Hope specials have, dancing girls or any portrayal of Women (sic) being inferior to men (which they aren't)," the feminists declare.
Political correctness seems to overwhelm the supposed exhibit topic of "American comedians commenting on the political scene in satires that have entertained and rattled the political establishment." In the video, Colbert proclaims Hollywood movies "draw the nation's attention to matters of urgent importance," with scenes shown from the union-glorifying film "Norma Rae" and the movie "Milk," Sean Penn's portrayal of a slain gay San Francisco city councilman.
Under the title "Causes and Controversies," exhibit highlights include video footage of Jane Fonda visiting North Vietnam, the polar opposite of Bob Hope. There's an exhibit on "A Climate of Fear," how "the entertainment industries suffered greatly" from McCarthyism.
This isn't about comedians or satire at all.
In this exhibit in our nation's capital, Bob Hope deserves better than to be treated as a mere introductory point to shoehorn in every other political controversy of the last century.
An unabashed Republican, Hope bent backward to keep politics out of his performances when entertaining troops or doing anything as an "ambassador" of the United States. It's why he was beloved by people in both parties. If people wanted today to find a role model for national unity and civility, they could no better than that.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Bob and his wife Dolores were wonderful. They were real and truly loved America and our troops and Veterans.
Every time liberals get their hands on anything they try to destroy it. Especially history the way they re-write it, and to do anything that is less then praise of Bob Hope really ticks me off.
No other way to say it, Colbert and the feminists can kiss my ass!!!!
Thank God there was a Bob Hope. I cherish my memories of him.
......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 07:47 AM | Comments (5)
Obama's HATE For Drilling for OIl Shows In His Anti-Oil Spill Commission
Photo taken from a commercial jet over the Gulf of Mexico. This is what they don't want you to see. The big picture, oil as far as the eye can see.
Obama spill panel big on policy, not engineering
The members picked for Obama’s Oil Spill Commission are radical environmentalists and have no technical expertise or experience in the oil industry.
The panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is short on technical expertise but long on talking publicly about “America’s addiction to oil.” One member has blogged about it regularly.
Only one of the seven commissioners, the dean of Harvard’s engineering and applied sciences school, has a prominent engineering background — but it’s in optics and physics. Another is an environmental scientist with expertise in coastal areas and the after-effects of oil spills. Both are praised by other scientists.
The five other commissioners are experts in policy and management.
The White House said the commission will focus on the government’s “too cozy” relationship with the oil industry. A presidential spokesman said panel members will “consult the best minds and subject matter experts” as they do their work.
The commission has yet to meet, yet some panel members had made their views known.
* Environmental activist Frances Beinecke on May 27 blogged: "We can blame BP for the disaster and we should. We can blame lack of adequate government oversight for the disaster and we should. But in the end, we also must place the blame where it originated: America's addiction to oil." And on June 3, May 27, May 22, May 18, May 4, she called for bans on drilling offshore and the Arctic.
Two other commissioners also have gone public to urge bans on drilling.
Co-chairman Bob Graham, a Democrat who was Florida governor and later a senator, led efforts to prevent drilling off his state's coast. Commissioner Donald Boesch of the University of Maryland wrote in a Washington Post blog that the federal government had planned to allow oil drilling off the Virginia coast and "that probably will and should be delayed."
Boesch, who has made scientific assessments of oil spills' effects on the ecosystem, said usually oil spills are small. But he added, "The impacts of the oil and gas extraction industry (both coastal and offshore) on Gulf Coast wetlands represent an environmental catastrophe of massive and underappreciated proportions."
What some are saying about this Obama anti oil hand picked commiission:
Jerry Taylor of the libertarian Cato Institute described the investigation as "an exercise in political theater where the findings are preordained by the people put on the commission."
Iraj Ersahaghi, who heads the petroleum engineering program the University of Southern California, reviewed the names of oil spill commissioners and asked, "What do they know about petroleum?"
Ersahaghi said the panel needed to include someone like Bob Bea, a prominent petroleum engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who's an expert in offshore drilling and the management causes of manmade disasters.
So here it is so far..........
Barack Obama, accompanied by BP Oil Spill Commission co-chairs former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, left, and former EPA Administrator William Reilly, speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.
Members of the presidential commission investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
--Co-chairman: Former Democratic Sen. and Gov. Bob Graham of Florida. He often has pushed for a drilling ban off the Florida coast.
--Co-chairman: William K. Reilly, Environmental Protection Agency administrator under President George H.W. Bush and during the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989.
--Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
--Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science.
--Terry Garcia, a National Geographic Society executive and former chief lawyer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under President Bill Clinton.
--Cherry Murray, dean of Harvard's engineering school and former president of the American Physical Society.
--Frances Ulmer, chancellor of the University of Alaska, Anchorage, and former Democratic lieutenant governor of Alaska.
Wild Thing's comment........
Obama big on fascism, not on freedom.
We can blame lack of adequate government oversight for the disaster and we should. But in the end, we also must place the blame where it originated: America's addiction to oil."
The fruitcake idiots to the left hate America sooo much that they are willing to give up everything for change.
"Oil", it's the lubricant of freedom.
One would almost think the Democrat party is owned subsidiary of OPEC.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:40 AM
June 20, 2010
Happy Fathers Day!
To all Team Theodore Fathers, and all military Dad's...a very happy Fathers Day to you!
May God bless and protect all of our brave soldiers that are keeping America safe on this Father's day.
*hugs* ~ Wild Thing
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:55 AM | Comments (7)
Dictator Obama: 'America Will be Watching' to See if GOP Will Cooperate"
GOP strikes back after Obama criticism: 'Americans looking for leadership, not complaints'
Republican leaders fired back Saturday after President Barack Obama blamed them for holding up key legislation, including unemployment and energy measures.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama criticized Republicans' "dreary and familiar politics" that he said "get in the way of our ability to move forward on a series of critical issues that have a direct impact on people's lives."
Responding,House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, "The American people are looking to Washington Democrats -- including the president -- for leadership on tough issues like jobs and spending, not complaints."
Obama repeatedly took aim at Republicans.
Obama said GOP leaders are preventing a vote in the Senate on removing a $75 million cap on the amount oil companies are obligated to pay to people and small businesses who sustain economic losses from oil spills. He also criticized Republicans for holding up votes on 136 of his nominees to positions in the federal government.
"I know the political season is upon us in Washington," he said. "But gridlock as a political strategy is destructive to the country."
Obama implored, should be more productive and less partisan.
"Whether we are Democrats or Republicans, we’ve got an obligation that goes beyond caring about the next election. We have an obligation to care for the next generation," he said. "So I hope that when Congress returns next week, they do so with a greater spirit of compromise and cooperation. America will be watching."
Wild Thing's comment.......
"What we need is a willingness in Washington to put the public’s interests first..."
What a total jerk! Every thing he has passed has been against the will of the majority of Americans!
"Whether we are Democrats or Republicans, we’ve got an obligation that goes beyond caring about the next election. We have an obligation to care for the next generation," he said. "So I hope that when Congress returns next week, they do so with a greater spirit of compromise and cooperation. America will be watching."
Loose translation: I need the Republicans to cave into my demands so my socialist agenda can move forward.
What a piece of work! I realy think he is insane.
America is watching alright.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:50 AM | Comments (7)
Mexican Military Units Fire On Border Patrol To Help Drug Traffickers
Armed Stand Off Between Mexican Military And Texas Lawmen
Mexican Military fire on Border Patrol to help Drug Traffickers enter the US. Mexican Military has entered the US more than 200 times this year.
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Combat Operations in the Border Zone
By T.J. Woodard
( TJ Woodard is a retired Army officer who lives less than ten miles from the Mexican border. He carries a pistol even in his own house in order to be prepared to defend his family whenever necessary.)
Elites on the coasts don't want to recognize what can be described only as combat operations conducted north of the U.S. - Mexican border.
On April 30, a Pinal County Sheriff deputy was wounded by drug traffickers in a shootout about fifty miles south of Phoenix. Deputy Louie Puroll confronted five illegals who attacked him in an ambush. Puroll fought a twenty-minute gun battle with men armed with AK-47 assault rifles before being hit from behind. He was able to call for assistance on his cell phone. But until help arrived, Puroll fought the traffickers off with his pistol and his AR-15, the law enforcement version of the M-16 rifle issued to the U.S. military.
When that assistance arrived, along with a sheriff department helicopter, the chopper also came under fire. Eventually seventeen illegal immigrants were apprehended after a force of more than two hundred lawmen responded to Deputy Puroll's shooting.
In west Texas, Mexican Army vehicles cross the border supporting drug trafficking. One report indicated an Army vehicle, with machine guns mounted on it, two hundred yards inside the U.S. border. Agents from the Fort Hancock Border Patrol Station called for backup after confronting six men in Mexican military uniforms and driving military vehicles north of the Rio Grande. Chief Deputy of Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department Mike Doyal said, "It happens quite often here."
Also in Texas, helicopters from the Mexican Army and Navy have crossed the border. Several civilians and members of law enforcement witnessed these crossings. This cannot be a helicopter that is lost or having navigational problems -- the Rio Grande clearly delineates Mexico from the United States at that location. There is no reasonable explanation coming from the U.S. or Mexican government why these helicopters are in American airspace.
It doesn't take my 23 years of military service to recognize that these are combat patrols. The ambush is one of the most basic tactics trained by every army in the world. Deputy Puroll engaged a number of suspects and was shot from behind. That indicates that the drug traffickers maneuvered on the deputy -- one man provided "cover fire" while another moved in for the shot. A combat patrol with automatic weapons, front and rear security, and moving in proper intervals indicates at least a certain level of military training. Incursions into American airspace by Mexican helicopters and ground vehicles, ground fire against a sheriff department chopper, and armed men protecting drugs on ranches in Arizona are all indications of a force conducting combat operations.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Mexican military is helping them. Then add in to that obama will sue AZ for wanting to protect its citizens and obey the law about immigration and what to do with illegals.
I agree with the author of this article, I would have a gun handy too if I lived there or even 200 miles in range of this happening. Put the gun right on my night stand or table in the living room. This is WAR and I don't blame any citizen for wanting to be sharp and at the ready, but dear God what a way to live, to be in fear every day.
This information should be shared as much as possible so people know how bad it is. Every American should be letting Obama know how disgusting it is that he would sue AZ for doing the right thing and how evil he is not to.
......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 07:49 AM | Comments (5)
Britain Today......Is America Next?
Title of video : BRITAIN TODAY
Date of video : April 07, 2010
The whole of Britain is affected by Islam now. Very Sad. Its like having a nightmare.
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Wild Thing's comment........
The installation of Sharia within our societies is part of the overall Jihad movement. The duty and object of Jihadists is to overtake western institutions by any means possible - not only through terror - to ultimately establish Islam as the dominant government in all countries in the world. It's the final decree of the Prophet, Muhammed. It's the calling that has been loyally followed by Muslims in the world since 632 A.D. It's not going away. Any forms of capitulation by western governments is seen not just as weakness, but one more step toward victory as Sharia creeps inside the free world.
They are looking for political candidates that show signs of weakness and compromise. As we have seen John Brennan's Obama's man kissing up to Islam and others dems doing the same thing, and some of the rino's as well. Not wanting to say it like it is, that the enemy is Islam and the wording moderate muslims etc.
....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 07:48 AM | Comments (5)
OOH-RAH!!!!! Marines To Obama!
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Wild Thing's comment........
LOL I LOVE it!!!!
....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 (2)
Manhood Challenged Obama and His Trying To Weaken The Marine Corps
How The Obama Is Weakening the Marine Corps
When the first battle of Fallujah in April 2004 reached its climax and it appeared that the Marines and soldiers assaulting the city were close to securing the insurgent stronghold, General John Abizaid travelled to Anbar to order General James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division, to stop the assault. Disingenuous news reports from Arab media outlets which painted the assault as a massacre of innocent civilians had caused an outcry in the international community and as a result the Bush administration and its Iraqi allies waivered in its support for the operation. Abizaid met Mattis in his command post outside the city, where he had been leading the battle from the front for weeks. Over three dozen soldiers, sailors, and Marines had died in the assault. Mattis’s own command element had been attacked multiple times by this point and had suffered casualities. His uniform was soiled and dirty from the weeks of constant combat. When Abizaid (a four-star general in charge of CENTCOM) told Mattis (a two-star divisional commander) to stop the assault Mattis looked Abizaid in the eye and growled IF YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE VIENNA TAKE FUCKING VIENNA. Abizaid just nodded and Mattis stormed out of the room.
That story for me is the embodiment of General James Mattis, whom I think many Marines would agree is the greatest Marine general since Chesty Puller.
Mattis has been an infantry officer for close to forty years. He led a battalion in Desert Storm, led the first Marines into Afghanistan in 2001, and then commanded the legendary 1st Marine Division in the initial invasion of Iraq and when the division occupied Anbar province in 2004. He is credited with developing many of the counterinsurgency tactics that would eventually lead to victory in Iraq (the phrase “No better friend, no worse enemy” encapsulates his beliefs about counterinsurgency warfare and would become the 1st Marine Division’s motto). He was also a constant advocate for the enlisted Marine, especially the grunts. He even advocated at one point giving special duty pay to squad leaders in infantry units, recognizing their extra burdens and responsibilities in the war in Iraq. Every Marine that I met who served with him in the 1st Marine Division spoke of him in only the highest terms. It was natural to assume that this fine infantry officer who had contributed so much to the Corps would be chosen to be its next commandant. He met all the standards that almost every previous commandant had established. He was an infantry officer, he had led men in combat, he had commanded everything from a rifle platoon to a Marine Expeditionary Force, and he even held important joint billets at places like Joint Forces Command. He is also unmarried and has absolutely nothing but the Marine Corps to devote his life to. However, the Obama administration did not think that this great Marine who has already had such a great impact on the Corps was worthy of its top job.
This quote from the AP sums up why Mattis was passed over for Commandant:
In choosing him, the Pentagon passed over Gen. James Mattis — an expert in counterinsurgency warfare but also expected to pose a stiffer challenge to proposed budget changes.
“This guy is a very blunt, clear thinker,” Loren Thompson, a defense analyst who heads the Lexington Institute, said of Mattis. “He thinks big ideas and doesn’t suffer fools.”
Thompson said he thinks the Pentagon’s decision to pick Amos to lead the Marines was a signal that it doesn’t want push-back if some of the service’s most cherished programs, like the Marine’s Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, are scaled back.
In Marine-speak: They wanted a bitch for Commandant. General James Amos is the type of general officer who doesn’t rock the boat. He is an air-winger and most of his operational commands were of air-wing units. I am not saying Amos is a bad officer or general, but he can’t hold a candle to Mattis and what he has accomplished.
Amos also doesn’t have a problem with political correctness like Mattis does. As you can probably tell from the opening paragraph in this post, Mattis isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. In 2005, Mattis got in trouble for saying this about the Taliban:
“You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right upfront with you, I like brawling.”
Of course many in the media blew a gasket over that and Mattis was forced to apologize. But you know what, 99 percent of the Marine Corps feels that way and so do most people in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The media of course ignored some of the more insightful statements Mattis made about operation in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly the lack of a coherent strategy in both those countries. A guy like Mattis however probably would offend the delicate sensibilities of a limp-wrist like Obama.
Mattis would also call bullshit on Robert Gates’s plan to weaken the Marine Corps. Over the past several months, Gates has been attacking the Marine Corps plans to field a new amphibious assault vehicle (the EFV), the Joint Strike Fighter, and requests for new amphibious assault ships for the Navy. Gates has repeatedly said he doesn’t forsee any forced-entry ampihibious operations in the future. However, Gates clearly is ignorant of the fact that almost every year that Marine Corps conducts real-world amphibious operations (Haiti anymore? How bout New Orleans?). Potential future operations in places like Somalia, Iran, or even North Korea clearly could require an ampihibious assault. Not to mention at the very least these ships provide a lift capacity to move massive amounts of equipment (not only for Marine Corps either) and not require a major port to unload it.
Gates’s criticism of the Marine Corps is similar to President Truman’s in the late 1940s’, when that President tried to abolish the Corps altogether. The Corps won that battle with the help of its allies in Congress and because of strong general officers who were leading the Corps during that time. Gates and Obama clearly don’t want accomplished general officers who aren’t to afraid to speak their mind like General Mattis leading the Marine Corps. And sadly probably not the Army, Navy, or Air Force either.
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Wild Thing's comment........
I have always liked Chesty Puller and this write up is right, those quotes of Mattis remind me of Chesty.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (5)
Grand Isle, Louisiana Residents Vent Their Feelings About America Hater and Failure Obama and Hero Jindal!
Grand Isle, Louisiana residents vent their feelings
Wild Thing's comment...........
It would be great if some of these people would send their signs to the WH, fill up the Obama oval office with thousands of angry signs.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:40 AM | Comments (5)
June 19, 2010
Singer Trace Adkins on Obama's Drilling Moratorium
TWO different interviews with his various comments throughout.:
Trace Adkins on Obama's Drilling Moratorium:
"Most Idiotic Juvenile Overreeaction, Like Kicking a Man When He's Down"Adkins has experience working in the oil industry, he tells AC360
Adkins has experience working in the oil industry, he tells AC360 that he worked in the Gulf on drilling rigs for 6 years.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Oil worker turned country star Trace Adkins on career, oil rig disaster
At 6' 6", Trace Adkins is an imposing figure. When he sings, it's in a baritone that's sometimes tender, sometimes ironic and occasionally raucous. But when he speaks, he's generally pretty serious.
This is a man of strong convictions, a former hellraiser who straightened up, stopped drinking and suddenly found himself an icon of integrity, as seen during his 2008 stint on "The Celebrity Apprentice," where he came in second. In the meantime, his career keeps gaining momentum -- at age 48.
Not bad for a guy who spent his 20s as an oil rigger off the coast of his native Louisiana. Even in the wake of the deaths of 11 men in the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, even in the wake of the oil spill that's gumming up the Gulf of Mexico, he defends offshore drilling.
“Until we find another alternative, that’s what we gotta do,” he says during a break in the filming of his new music video.
He recently spoke with CNN about his career and the Gulf Coast oil disaster.
CNN: You’re 48, yet your career seems to be on the upswing.
Trace Adkins: Well, because we keep working hard. I don’t ever take anything for granted. Until I decide that I don’t want to do this anymore, I’m going to approach every day like it’s the last day of my career.
CNN: The beginning was a bit of a rough ride. How’d that all turn around?
Adkins: Maturity, age, wisdom and a good woman — all those things. And a lot of kids. (He has five daughters)
CNN: What is it that really turned the corner for you?
Adkins: Well, when I quit drinking, really — if you want to get down to brass tacks, that’s when things started to get a lot better for me. When I quit using, things got better. Simple as that.
CNN: Sounds like a nice incentive to not revisit that lifestyle.
Adkins: I’m not saying that I wouldn’t ever, but I won’t do it again unless my accountant tells me I can. (Chuckles)
CNN: Back in the day, you were an oil rigger.
Adkins: I worked in the oil field for 10 years.
CNN: Did you ever imagine something like this disaster could happen?
Adkins: Sure. We trained for it; we drilled for it. It was something that we were always cognizant of — always knew there was a possibility. I went to work for Golden Marine drilling company, and it was right after they had lost a drill ship called the Java Sea. 170-something men, I think, they lost on that drill ship. I’ve seen the hurt, because it’s like a big family.
CNN: Oil is headed for the shore in the Gulf.
Adkins: It’s just the price of doing business in the petroleum world, unfortunately. And people think, “If we just quit using petroleum in our cars.” The day we stop using petroleum, you’d better find a way to make plastics, all kinds of medicines and clothes that we wear and the shoes that we wear, the houses that we live in. All that stuff is made out of petroleum, so don’t just think it’s gasoline.
CNN: Are you for offshore drilling?
Adkins: Absolutely. I mean, I don’t know how many years now we’ve been drilling off-shore, but you’ve had one case where this has happened in all those years, and all these tens of thousands of wells that have been drilled out there. I’m all for weaning ourselves off of oil, don’t get me wrong, but until we find another alternative, that’s what we gotta do.
CNN: A lot of criticism is being levied at the national news agencies for not giving enough of a spotlight to flood victims in Nashville.
Adkins: I don’t feel slighted in any way. I’m not worried about it because I think that Nashville — as a community and as a city — will cowboy up and will take care of the situation. We’ll take care of it. We don’t need everybody in the country to come run to our aid.
CNN: Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. That's what you've done in your life.
Adkins: Sure. You know, life's not always fair, man. You're going to get dealt a bad hand every now and then. You've just got to play the hand you're dealt, you know, and do the best you can.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Trace is a former oil rig worker who knows his stuff. I once heard him say, “If I had my say, you’d walk from Mississippi to Mexico without touching water. A rig every ten feet.”
He spent his 20s as an oil rigger off the coast of his native Louisiana.
Posted by Wild Thing at 08:55 AM | Comments (3)
Not Hiring Ilegals Opens Up Job Opportunities For Americans!
Stand With Arizona.com
"Doing the jobs we won't do" my ass! As ALWAYS happens no matter what the business, as soon as a company fires illegal aliens workers, folks RUSH in to grab the jobs. Especially teens who have been hard hit by illegals that have stolen jobs teens USED to do from coast to coast. Whether a poulty plant in AR last year, which resulted in 2,000 mostly blacks to form lines around the block desperate for the jobs, or this posh Atlanta resort which GOT BUSTED by the local patriotic CBS affiliate, forcing them to can their illegals.
Wild Thing's comment.......
More of those jobs-Americans-wont-do that Americans are lining up to do. Amazing. And those pushing illegals on us, like McCain etc. have said in the past how only the illegals want these jobs.
WOW, kick Illegals to the curb and bingo... Americans get their jobs back.
Somebody call Juan McCain.... Oh wait on second thought he’s “tough” on illegals for now at least till the next election. LOL what a liar he is.
Posted by Wild Thing at 08:50 AM | Comments (4)
Give U.S. Troops Time To Win, Generals Say
Maj. Gen. Anthony Jackson, commander of Marine Corps Installations West.
Give U.S. troops time to win, generals say
Questions mount over Afghanistan
As skepticism mounts over President Barack Obama’s plan to quell the insurgency in Afghanistan and begin withdrawing combat forces next summer, military leaders from San Diego to Kabul are urging Americans to give the troops enough time to prevail.
Marines are used to long odds, and the fight in Iraq once seemed unwinnable before U.S. forces — including thousands of troops from Camp Pendleton — helped pacify Anbar province, Maj. Gen. Anthony Jackson said Wednesday during a meeting of the San Diego Military Advisory Council.
“We are not there to tame Afghanistan. That is for the Afghan people to do. We are there to ensure that our homeland is not attacked again and that the Afghan people have the opportunity to make choices not based on terror,” Jackson said.
Jackson noted that Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the British and the Russians didn’t last long in Afghanistan. Now, again, it appears that time is on the side of the insurgents.
“They have 100 years, the Taliban does — in their mind — to win. We’ve been given a timeline for our combat troops: a year. Don’t believe it,” Jackson said. “I think I can say that fairly, you don’t accomplish those things in a year.”
Congress appears to be losing patience six months after Obama called for a surge of 30,000 more troops, many of them Camp Pendleton Marines sent to the Taliban stronghold of southern Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a Senate panel, “I think that we are regaining the initiative.”
But some legislators cast doubt on Gates’ view that U.S. forces are “making headway” in Afghanistan. Several Senate Democrats expressed frustration over the military campaign there. They included Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who questioned whether it would ever be possible for the Afghan government to rein in tribal leaders, and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who said, “We’ve committed so many lives, so much money here, and we’ve neglected so many things inside the borders of the United States.”
Obama has directed that combat troops start pulling out from Afghanistan by July 2011. A growing chorus of people inside and outside the military say that timeline could prove unrealistic.
In a separate hearing Wednesday, Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, said he might recommend a push-back in the timeline if security in Afghanistan has not improved significantly by next summer.
“I did believe there was value in sending a message of urgency — July 2011 — as well as the message the president was sending of commitment: the additional, substantial numbers of forces,” Petraeus testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“But it is important that July 2011 be seen for what it is: the date when a process begins, based on conditions, not the date when the U.S. heads for the exits. We’re doing all that is humanly possible to achieve those conditions.”
Jackson commands Marine Corps Installations West, which includes Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms and other Western bases where Marines train for advanced combat operations.
He drew a parallel between the counterinsurgency fight in Afghanistan and Marine efforts to pacify the western region of Iraq, where the insurgency had been most violent.
“You lose good people in those wild places. But the Marines were tenacious. They stuck to their mission,” Jackson said.
With help from soldiers, aviators and Navy Seabees, the Marine Corps became the “20th tribe” in Iraq and eventually the strongest tribe, he said.
All the other generals living in his Fallbrook neighborhood are serving in Afghanistan now because the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force took control of Marine operations there this spring.
Nearly 10,000 troops from the force, which is based at Camp Pendleton, are fighting in Helmand province, where poppy fields supply much of the world’s opium and Taliban funding. Five Marines from that contingent died there during combat last week.
Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, the head Marine in Afghanistan, also assumed command this week of NATO forces in the southwestern provinces of Helmand and Nimruz.
Efforts to clear the area around Marjah, in Helmand province, after a major Marine operation there in February have been more difficult than expected, the head of international forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, conceded recently. Plans to sweep the Taliban out of their spiritual birthplace in neighboring Kandahar province this summer also have been delayed.
Last week, Brig. Gen Joseph L. Osterman, head of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Division in Afghanistan, dispatched a battalion of reconnaissance Marines to help in Marjah.
“This operation is designed to drive the insurgent forces even further from the populated area of Marjah, pursuing the enemy in the process and making it increasingly difficult to affect Marjah from exterior areas that serve as insurgent havens,” Osterman said from Afghanistan.
The United States gained major ground during the early years of the war but has lost the momentum, said Eli Berman, a research director for the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.
“Now that the insurgency is entrenched, it is very, very difficult to get it out,” said Berman, who has traveled to Afghanistan twice.
Because of the country’s mountainous geography, weak central government and widespread corruption, among other reasons, the task of winning over the people there is much more daunting than it was in Iraq, he added.
“It is very difficult in the Afghan context to convince the local population that a viable government is possible,” Berman said.
“At the same time that the international force is fighting the insurgency, they also have to develop the government and the economy. In Iraq, you could concentrate most of the effort on fighting the insurgency, but in Afghanistan, you have to try to do all three.”
The way it looks now, the time frame to begin troop withdrawals in a year seems “totally unrealistic,” said Kabul-based Candace Rondeaux, senior Afghanistan analyst for the International Crisis Group.
“It will be a huge turning point” if the current schedule holds, Rondeaux said. “It will plunge (Afghanistan) into civil war.”
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NEVER FOGET what THIS ASSHOLE Obama said !!!....
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Wild Thing's comment........
Dang it I can't stand Obama, he is soooo dangerous to our troops. He gives them the worst R.O.E.'S and then is not even supportive of them. He has said he does not want Victory and the list goes on and on of the things he has said and done against them.
Our troops want to win, they are warriors and they are sooo good at what they do.
....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 08:49 AM | Comments (2)
LIAR Obama Breaks Promise To Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Hillary Clinton Says Obama To Sue AZ. Over SB1070
Governor Jan Brewer Learns of President's Directive to Sue Arizona via Ecuadorean Television Interview
PHOENIX
Governor Jan Brewer said she was stunned and angered to learn during an Ecuadorean television interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Obama Administration had decided to sue Arizona over its recently passed anti-illegal immigration law, SB1070.
Secretary Clinton announced during the interview on June 8th that President Obama has directed the U.S. Justice Department to “bring a lawsuit against the Arizona law.”
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“This is no way to treat the people of Arizona,” said Governor Brewer. “To learn of this lawsuit through an Ecuadorean interview with the Secretary of State is just outrageous. If our own government intends to sue our state to prevent illegal immigration enforcement, the least it can do is inform us before it informs the citizens of another nation.”
Governor Brewer said, “I just visited with the President in the Oval Office about our differences over immigration policy, and the one firm understanding we had was that within two weeks he would provide details of his commitment to deploy National Guard troops to the border. While I am grateful that communications have taken place about a possible visit by Administration staff before the end of the month, there is not yet a confirmed date. More importantly, no information about additional troop and border security enhancements has been provided by the Obama Administration to the citizens of Arizona.”
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Arizona Governor Vows to Fight Any Federal Lawsuit Over Immigration Law
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer expressed outrage Thursday over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's comments that the Obama administration will sue over Arizona's controversial immigration law -- and Brewer said she's ready for a fight.
Clinton said in an interview with a TV station in Ecuador that the Obama administration "will be bringing" suit against Arizona for its immigration law, though the Justice Department for weeks has said that the issue is still under review.
"What a disappointment," Brewer told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren on Thursday, saying she was shocked the administration would make such an announcement on foreign TV without giving Arizona officials the news first. Her office hadn't heard from the administration as of Thursday evening.
"We are not going to back away from this issue," Brewer said. "We are going to pursue it, we're going to be very aggressive," Brewer said. "We'll meet them in court ... And we will win."
She added: "The population of America agrees with Arizona."
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Last night Greta talked to Gov. Brewer on the phone while she was doing her show.
Obama: We'll get back to you within 2 weeks.
Greta: Have you heard anything from the President?
Governor Brewer: "We've not heard a word"...
2 Republican Governors, Brewer and Jindal, that have states in absolute crisis keep getting snubbed by a President who promised to end the bitter partisan divide
Greta: "He made some promises about deploying the National Guard...Have you heard anything today?"
Brewer: "We have not and you know, I was so hopeful, I was so hopeful that today that during the early hours we would hear from the Obama Administration but unfortunately it is night and we've not heard a word on what they are gonna deploy or how many troops we're going to get and I am really disappointed, what can I say, you know you make a commitment, people there with us, we all heard the same thing, 2 weeks...This is unacceptable, unacceptable"
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Wild Thing's comment........
Poll after poll have conclusively demonstrated overwhelming support for Arizona's immigration law by a majority
of Americans. But the administration is not concerned with what Americans want only with what illegal immigrants want.
The Arizona law simply enforces Federal immigration statutes.
Obama and his people will be the number one top LAW breakers in our country.
Posted by Wild Thing at 08:48 AM | Comments (3)
Charlie “Judas, Benedict Arnold” Crist by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired
Charlie “Judas, Benedict Arnold” Crist
by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired
Someone recently labeled Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist as “Judas” Crist, an apt description. Surprised? It really should not be to anyone who has observed his motivation and modus operandi. Those characteristics are well established: Crist’s motivation has been, is and will be self-aggrandizement, and his modus operandi, self-serving.
So, just who is Charlie Crist? If voters are satisfied with more of the same from Democrats in Washington for the last four years, Crist would fit their expectations perfectly. He is a careerist politician whose modus is an anemometer that automatically aligns itself with whatever direction, and turning at the same velocity that the wind happens to be blowing; always with his finger in the air.
So, if the economy is blowing in the direction of freedom and free markets, that would be Crist’s mantra. If however, it is free market bashing, Crist would stand tall with the bashers, à la Obama. If it is about smaller government, Crist would mouth “smaller government,” but if public sentiment were in favor of strong centralized government, Crist would be at the head of the line. Like all careerist politicians, Crist is in it for Crist and voters are the “little people” who both serve him and to whom Crist panders for votes.
Crist’s inherently leftist self came to the surface in recent months and is accurately reflected in a June 16th article on the Politico website, by Jonathan Martin. The writer stated:
“The governor has vetoed an education reform bill teachers unions didn’t like, vetoed a bill abortion rights advocates didn’t like, reversed his stance on gays in the military, reversed his support for offshore drilling and come out for the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan, after opposing Sonia Sotomayor when he was running as a Republican.”
Any politician who decides to change his fundamental beliefs, if he had them in the first place, is another indicator of what is wrong with this country. All one had to do is be present in Northwest Florida during the 1994 elections to observe Democrat politicians abandon their Party by the horde and flock en masse to the Republican Party because at the time it became the “only game in town.”
Even local U.S. Representative, Jeff Miller, a Republican, made the switch from Democrat to the Republican Party days before running for State office. To his credit he has consistently voted “conservative,” but to his political damnation he is a careerist, and political careerism is central to the economic and social damage that this country has suffered for the past sixty years. They make one sick!
Two years ago it was evident to anyone who bothered to study Obama understood that he would intentionally attempt to crash the economy. Exercising normal powers of observation and common sense one can tell that Obama’s and Democrats’ effort in that regard has not waned with the passage of time.
When Rush Limbaugh created a tempest in a tea pot by “hoping that Obama fails,” he, along with all rational observers understood that the direction that Obama was going to take the country was radically different than the preceding two hundred thirty two years of unprecedented and unequalled success.
By his own words and actions Obama eschews the U.S. Constitution while feigning respect for it; by his actions, notwithstanding his words, he is antipathetic to the core American principles and values of hard work, creativity, exceptional-ism, honesty, integrity and leadership.
One reader was astonished when nearly eighteen months ago I wrote that Obama would work to intentionally reduce the U.S. to third world status. It should now be evident to anyone, given his track record thus far and his present abysmally incompetent handling of the worst ecological disaster in U.S. history, (in which I believe he is both complicit and has intentionally exacerbated), that he is succeeding beyond his wildest dreams.
He may actually feel sorry for the people who are suffering, but that suffering is at Obama’s hand. With even minor understanding of the blowout catastrophe Obama would have immediately waived the Jones Act and allowed the Dutch to loan containment vessels (and still could), that would have contained the majority of the spill but continues largely unabated, and will until relief wells are completed later this summer.
So, why would he intentionally try to harm the US economy? The answer is simple if one has taken the time to study Obama, and I have. He is doing it in order to fraudulently acquire extra-constitutional powers and impose a form of socialism with an Islamic twist from whence he sprang, upon the nation. Alas, Khrushchev’s prediction, “we will bury you” will come true unless Americans show their children that there is a better way; and that way is the Christian faith, free market economy, and liberty and justice for all.
Obama’s Sharia Islamic socialism would be infinitely worse than Stalin’s and Khrushchev’s Soviet communism that accounted for about one hundred million killed during their reign of terror. His Muslim roots and vision for America carried through to fruition would inflict a form of servitude that no generation of Americans, including the dark days of slavery has ever experienced. It is a disaster that could come true; remember “Hope and Change?” What the world is witnessing is “Hope and Change” Obama style, enabled by Democrats like of back stabbing Arlen Specter, Charlie “Judas Benedict Arnold” Crist, and other likeminded political traitors.
Our children and grandchildren deserve better!
L. A. St.Onge CW4, USA (Ret) writes: “Politicians won't vote term limits for themselves so we must do it for them.”
Semper Fidelis
Wild Thing's comment........
Thamk you so much Col.Pappas!!! I hope and pray Crist does NOT get elected.
And he is right about Obama too.
" He is doing it in order to fraudulently acquire extra-constitutional powers and impose a form of socialism with an Islamic twist ..."
....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 08:47 AM | Comments (3)
Obama Urging G20 Leaders to Continue to SPEND More!
Barack Obama sent a letter to G20 leaders this week urging them to continue to run high budget deficits in order to “keep economic growth strong.” Obama believes that running high deficits will actually improve the economy. However, European and Chinese leaders disagree with Obama on this dangerous path of economic destruction. They are working to reduce deficits in their countries.
Not Obama.
Barack Obama is having a difficult time talking world leaders into continuing to pile up massive budget deficits.
He tripled the US deficit his first year in office.
The president noted that “significant weaknesses” linger among the major and developing economic powers. He told his summit partners “it is essential that we have a self-sustaining recovery that creates the good jobs that our people need.” The White House released a copy of the letter on Friday.
In the letter, Obama said that the June 25-27 summit should also focus on efforts to stabilize public deficits in the “medium term,” a reference to the administration’s position that governments need to run huge deficits currently to provide the stimulus needed to ensure a sustained recovery but then move in future years to deficit reduction efforts.
But several European nations including Germany, France and Britain are already moving to attack high deficits in an effort to calm global financial markets which have stumbled in recent weeks over concerns that Greece or other highly indebted nations could default on their loans.
Obama is having a tough time making the argument for increased deficit spending at home as well. The Senate has blocked a scaled-down jobs bill with critics complaining that the $120 billion pricetag is still too high.
Wild Thing's comment........
All part of his agenda to spread chaos throughout the earth.
I hope the countries saying NO to this jerk stay strong and fight him.
Posted by Wild Thing at 08:45 AM | Comments (2)
More Evidence: IHH Leader Urges Men to Throw Israelis Overboard 30 May2010
New footage from the Mavi Marmara was released by the Foreign Ministry on Friday afternoon, this time showing IHH head Bülent Yildirim inciting to violence against Israeli commandos hours before the encounter that claimed the lives of nine Turkish passengers.
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In this footage, taken on board the Mavi Marmari on 30May2010, IHH leader Bulent Yildirim clearly instructs his followers to throw the Israeli commandos overboard when they land on the ship. His speech was made in Turkish and repeated in Arabic by a translator.
This shows the “peaceful” flotilla crew being instructed hours before the incident to throw the Israeli soldiers “into the sea, Allah willing.”
“They are telling us: ‘We will launch a military fleet, and the soldiers will board the ship!’ If they board the ship we will throw them into the sea, Allah willing!”
Wild Thing's comment......
But of course even with so much evidence showing the truth of what happened. They will still blame Israel.
Posted by Wild Thing at 08:40 AM
June 18, 2010
AWESOME Dale Peterson for Alabama Ag Commissioner Latest Ad
Dale Peterson, the world's most famous candidate for Alabama Ag Commissioner, makes his endorsement!
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Wild Thing's comment........
I love this guy. Can you imagine if he was President today instead of that THING that is there now??!!!!!
This is the best political ad I think I have ever seen.
Here is Dale Peterson's Facebook page.
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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 06:55 AM | Comments (3)
Alert Issued for 17 Afghan Military Members AWOL From U.S. Air Force Base
Alert Issued for 17 Afghan Military Members AWOL From U.S. Air Force Base
A nationwide alert has been issued for 17 members of the Afghan military who have gone AWOL from a Texas Air Force base where foreign military officers who are training to become pilots are taught English, FoxNews.com has learned.
The Afghan officers and enlisted men have security badges that give them access to secure U.S. defense installations, according to the lookout bulletin, "Afghan Military Deserters in CONUS [Continental U.S.]," issued by Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Dallas, and obtained by FoxNews.com.
The Afghans were attending the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The DLI program teaches English to military pilot candidates and other air force prospects from foreign countries allied with the U.S.
"I can confirm that 17 have gone missing from the Defense Language Institute," said Gary Emery, Chief of Public Affairs, 37th Training Wing, at Lackland AFB. "They disappeared over the course of the last two years, and none in the last three months."
Each Afghan was issued a Department of Defense Common Access Card, an identification card used to gain access to secure military installations, with which they "could attempt to enter DOD installations," according to the bulletin. Base security officers were encouraged to disseminate the bulletin to their personnel.
"The visas issued to these personnel have been revoked, or are in the process of being revoked. Lookouts have been placed in TECS," it reads.
Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), which is shared by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is a computer-based database used to identify people suspected of violating federal law.
Included in the bulletin are photos of the 17 men, accompanied by their dates of birth and their TECS Lookout numbers.
The bulletin requests, "If any Afghan pictured herein is encountered, detain the subject and contact your local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, the FBI or NCIS."
A senior Defense Department official in Washington told Fox News he had no direct knowledge of the 17 men being AWOL. The official added that this is not the first time foreign trainees have gone missing, and said some cases in the past have turned out to be more of an immigration concern than a national security threat.
The FBI and NCIS did not respond to requests for comment. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman referred FoxNews.com to the FBI.
The following 17 Afghan military members have gone AWOL from an Air Force base in Texas and are being sought in a nationwide alert in the U.S.
They only give their names and once again NO photo of the person. What is it with this no photo, is that because Obama would say it is profiling????
I added a photo ~ Wild Thing
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Abdul Ghani Barakzai, born 8/8/1977
Mohd Ali Karimi, born 9/3/1982
Mohammad Nasim Fateh Zada, born 12/4/1966
Aminullah Sangarwal, born 8/27/1982
Mohd Ahmadi, born 5/5/1978
Ahad Abdulahad, born 5/5/1984
Sayed Qadir Shah Habiby, born 5/7/1985
Javed Aryan a.k.a. Aryan Javed, born 1/1/1987
Mirwais Qassmi, born 4/24/1974
Barsat Noorani, born 6/3/1981
Atiqullah Habibi, two dates of birth are listed on the alert: 6/2/1982 and 7/2/1982
Ahmad Sameer Samar, born 5/2/1983
Mohamed Fahim Faqier, born 6/1/1987
Obaiddullah Abrahimy, born 8/1/1979
Sayed Nasir Hashimi, born 4/5/1972
Shawali Kakar, born 12/31/1979
Khan Padshah Amiri, born 4/1/1978
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Wild Thing"s comment.......,.
I have got to ask this. Why didn't they train these men have been trained just as well in, oh, I don’t know, Afghanistan or something?
This entire story is insane. I don't know where to begin.
Didn't it occur to ANYBODY that AWOL foreign nationals with CAC cards are a risk, BEFORE 17 went missing?
Anyway, it should also be a concern when someone has two birthdays:
Atiqullah Habibi, two dates of birth are listed on the alert: 6/2/1982 and 7/2/1982
Maybe one day is on his Hawaii certificate and the other is on his Kenyan BC.
And WTH is this??!!
"They disappeared over the course of the last two years"
It has taken the authorities THIS long to alert us to the fact that possible terrorists are on the loose?? God help us!
Since Obama was sworn in and then this............
" The visas issued to these personnel have been revoked, or are in the process of being revoked"
I mean God help us all. SOME of the visas issued are STILL in the process of being revoked?????????????
Sheesh They’ve been running off over the last two years and they are just now revoking the visas for some of them? Incredibly stupid.
DNI & CIA Chief Predict Terrorist Attack In Next 6 Months ( date on the video is Feb. 2010)
Excerpt:
A video documenting the sighting of a mysterious periscope off the coast of Florida. This may or may not tie into the four unmanned subs that went missing a few weeks back.Navy loses four underwater unmanned vehicles off Norfolk ...from June 8,2010
Hampton RoadsFour underwater unmanned vehicles went missing Sunday during training to conduct search, classify and map missions.The Navy, Coast Guard and local authorities were searching for the missing vehicles in the Thimble Shoals Channel between the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a Navy news release said.Communication was lost with four of the 13 unmanned vehicles Sunday about 1 p.m. while the vehicles were using bottom-mapping sonar to look for mine-like contacts in the water as part of the training. Search and recovery operations began immediately.Efforts continued Monday using small-craft, shore-based teams, air assets and marine mammal systems, which could include sea lions and dolphins trained to hunt mines.The cause of the vehicles’ disappearance is under investigation. The missing vehicles do not pose a danger to civilians or the environment, the Navy release said, but if an unmanned vehicle is discovered floating in the water, boaters should avoid it as they would any other navigation hazard.If one of the missing vehicles is found, please call the U.S. Second Fleet commander at (757) 443-9821. The unmanned vehicles were being used as part of a larger training exercise with about 2,500 personnel from Canadian and U.S. military forces and government civilian agencies. The annual training exercise will continue through Friday.
These unmanned underwater vehicles were equipped to handle explosives. At the very least, this deserves a second thought.
Sub Spotted on the Coast of Florida - Navy Missing Mini Subs ( this one is just YESTERDAY June 17, 2010 — We have had numerous reports of missing subs throughout the United States.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (2)
Obama Orders Jindal Shut Down 16 Oil Sucking Barges, so Life Vests, Fire Extinguishers Can bBe Checked
59 Days Into Oil Crisis, Gulf Coast Governors Say Feds Are Failing Them
Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor's wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.
"It's the most frustrating thing," the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. "Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges."
Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.
"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.
Coast Guard Orders Barges to Stop
So why stop now?
"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"
But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Obama is deliberately sabotaging Bobby Jindal and using the Coast Guard to harrass and delay him by checking fire extinguishers and floation vests on the oil-sucking barges!! Obama burying Louisiana in paperwork and only granting a fraction of what was requested!!
Obama probably heard it was working and HE didn’t come up with the idea so he can’t take credit.
“The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board”
JEEZ LOUISE! How long does it take to board and inspect 16 barges for life jackets and fire extinguishers whan you’ve got THE ENTIRE US MILITARY AT YOUR DISPOSAL????
These orders come from the very top....from Obama!
The governor said he didn't have the authority to overrule the Coast Guard's decision, though he said he tried to reach the White House to raise his concerns.
TRIED to reach the White House??? Given the gravity of this situation, it shouldn't take the governor of an affected state more than a few minutes to get through to a responsible party at the White House who can see to it that his concern is addressed very promptly. This means he is NOT getting through, his calls are NOT being taken STAT!
DAMN YOU OBAMA BURN in HELL!
Hussein Obama hates America and is lashing out in any way he can.
Treasonous Obama makes it very clear with every day that the goal here is the complete destruction of all private business in the region, and to make every person there completely dependent on the government for generations to come. That's exactly how the Obama administration wants it.
This is not an accident. It's becoming clearer that Obama WANTS the ecological disaster to continue, and worsen.
The Obama Regime does not want anyone or anything to clean up the oil. The longer this goes on and the worse the problem gets, the easier it will be for the Democrats to cram their will down our throats.
Screw the life jackets. Get your ass out of the way!! Obama is political history!! BP is NOT the problem it is Obama and these damned DEMOCRATS!! Stop this madness!!! Skim the oil and screw the JONES ACT . All we have is this grand standing Democrat Congress. God bless Joe Barton and these weak Republicans telling him to apologize better watch their political ASS.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (6)
Ooh-rah! Mass. Governor Signs Bill, Saves Marine's Job
On June 9th I posted about Maj. Stephen L. Godin
Marine: "Union bullying me to pay $500"
And there is a wonderful UPDATE to the story!!!
Ooh-rah! Mass. Governor Signs Bill, Saves Marine's Job
The Massachusetts governor signed a bill on Wednesday afternoon that saves the job of a retired Marine and public high school ROTC instructor who refused to pay teachers union fees.
Gov. Deval Patrick signed a supplemental bill that included language added as an amendment by state senator Richard R. Tisei that exempts Junior ROTC instructors at public high schools across the state from having to pay union fees. Juan Martinez, Patrick's press secretary, confirmed that the ROTC provision was signed.
It was passed by the Massachusetts Senate and House earlier this week.
Sen. Tisei introduced legislation last week on behalf of Maj. Stephen L. Godin, a retired Marine and senior naval science instructor at the Naval Junior ROTC at North High in Worcester. Godin told who said he receives medical and dental benefits and half his salary from the military and refused to join the union or pay it's "agency fee," which is assessed to offset the union's collective bargaining costs.
On Monday, Tisei, who is also running for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket, reintroduced the bill as an amendment to a supplement bill that was passed by the Massachusetts Senate and House. The language added to the bill exempts public school junior ROTC teachers across the state from having to pay union fees.
Patrick, a Democrat is running for re-election against Republican Charlie Baker, whose running mate is Tisei.
Godin has told FoxNews.com that he has been teaching in Worcester for 15 years without having to join the teacher's union or pay the agency fee. But last month he said he received a letter from school officials telling him he'll lose his job if he doesn't pay up by Tuesday.
"I just want to save my job here," the 58-year-old father of two told FoxNews.com. "I've been doing this for 15 years. Nobody has ever told me to join the union or be terminated."
An official with the Massachusetts Teachers Association said state law requires public employees--including teachers at public schools--to join unions as a condition of employment or to pay an agency fee.
Godin, who earns roughly $75,000 a year, said he has asked for arbitration no fewer than five times, but never heard back from the teacher's union. Now, he’s waiting to hear back from the school district as the Tuesday deadline nears.
"It's really nothing," Godin said of the $500 fee. "It's the principle of the matter. I think they're trying to extort money from me. They do nothing for me."
Godin says he should be exempt from the law since he receives military benefits, including medical and dental insurance.
"So that's nothing to do with Worcester there," he said. "Neither the union nor the Worcester Public Schools have allowed me to make that argument. It's just the union that wants my money."
Godin, who retired from the Marines in 1994 after logging more than 2,000-plus hours flying F-4 Phantoms and five overseas deployments, said he has not hired an attorney.
"That would cost me money, too," he said.
Several messages seeking comment from officials at Education Association of Worcester and North High School, including Principal Matthew Morse, were not returned.
In a statement to FoxNews.com, Dr. Melinda Boone, superintendent of Worcester Public Schools, said she had not issued "any official position statement" to Godin or the union.
"I've asked our legal counsel to research my responsibility and obligations as superintendent in this matter," Boone said in a statement.
Wild Thing's comment........
This makes me very, very happy!
They just got their head handed to them on a plate. Unions 0; Military 1.
Even Deval the Dunce couldn’t ignore this issue. But do not be fooled: Deval Patrick is Obama’s Mini-Me. And he's running for re-election.
Good for Major Godin!
....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 (3)
Republican Rep. Joe Barton To BP Rush On Dictator Obama's Speech
Joe Barton Is ‘Ashamed’ of the White House; Apologizes to BP for What ‘Amounts to a Shakedown’
Republican Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP for what he says “amounts to a shakedown.” Barton said, “I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a ‘shakedown,’ in this case a 20 billion dollar shakedown.”
Rep. Joe Barton apologized to BP chairman Tony Hayward for what he called a ’shakedown’ from the White House for the $20 billion in funds to cover the likely expenses of the Gulf oil spill. Barton later apologized for the remarks.
“Speaking totally for myself, I’m not speaking for the Republican Party, I’m not speaking for anybody in the House of Representatives but myself; but I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I characterize as a shakedown.”
Here is the apology issued by Rep. Barton: ~ I so wish he had not apologized after he was soo strong and did so great in the above video. ~ Wild Thing
“I apologize for using the term ’shakedown’ with regard to yesterday’s actions at the White House in my opening statement this morning, and I retract my apology to BP,” Barton said in a statement. “As I told my colleagues yesterday and said again this morning, BP should bear the full financial responsibility for the accident on their lease in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I regret the impact that my statement this morning implied that BP should not pay for the consequences of their decisions and actions in this incident.”
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Rush Limbaugh Compares Obama’s Speech to Jimmy Carter’s “Malaise” Speech
Rush Limbaugh comparing President Obama’s speech from the Oval Office on the Gulf Oil Spill with Jimmy Carter’s disastrous “malaise” speech back on July 15, 1979. Limbaugh said both speeches prescribe the same kind of Left-wing, liberal fixes that just don’t work.
Limbaugh said the liberals continue to get a chance to do their disastrous work because of a media that enables them, by portraying them as the ones who really are compassionate about people, and that makes them seem like they are the majority and won’t tell the truth about them.
Rush said Carter was a “bumbling fool,” but that Obama is not. Obama has a “road map” he wants to follow, and Limbaugh said “We are on his road. And we are speeding down that road.”
Limbaugh warned that if Obama does not withdraw his six-month moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling, it will cost 120,000 jobs in the Gulf Region, and the oil companies will shut down those rigs and move on to somewhere else.
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Joe Barton is Right: There Was a $20 Billion Shakedown in the White House
What happened in the White House yesterday was a “shakedown” of Godfather-like proportions.
Lets review:
1) BP agreed to pay $20 billion over four years to an “independent” party;
2) BP immediately identified $20 billion in U.S. assets that could be liquidated should BP not be able to pay on time;
3) BP received no assurances that the ultimate economic damages would not be higher;
4) BP is still liable for all individual and state claims in court;
5) The fund is completely separate from any environmental damages, which the Obama administration says could top $30 billion;
6) BP paid another $100 million for workers made unemployed by President Obama’s indefinite ban on offshore oil drilling;
7) BP received no assurance that the White House would not ask for more money if the ban becomes permanent.
All of this was “negotiated” while Attorney General Eric Holder, who has already threatened BP with criminal prosecution, stood in the corner. And what did BP get in return? A single statement from the President saying he did not want to drive BP into bankruptcy. Of course he doesn’t. The mob can’t collect from a bankrupt business. Clinton administration Deputy Attorney General turned BP lawyer Jamie Gorelick let slip what the game is really all about: “We know what it looks like when a company is driven into bankruptcy. The claims that come first are the creditors, then the employees, then the environmental claims, and then the likes of shrimpers. This would not be a good result for anyone.” Well, not anyone who expects the law to be followed.
Yesterday’s White House victim was not BP. It was the rule of law. Just as the Obama administration junked the bankruptcy code last year to protect their union allies, they are doing the exact same thing this time for their environmental ones.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Hey Joe, STOP APOLOGIZING WHEN YOU GET IT RIIIIIIIGT!!!
(sorry for the allcaps)
UGH!!! WHY DO THESE PEOPLE KEEP APOLOGIZING?!?!
We want Representatives with CAJONES!
I am not saying BP are victims, but the heavy handed way the THUG Obama has delt with them is uncalled for. Especially since Obama has screwed this up from day one. Barton was correct but could not stand the pressure. That is why the Republican Party is called ‘stupid’. Not only was it a shakedown it was government extortion.
There is something in the genes of Republicans. One of them finally gets tough, catch a little flack, and ham handedly apologize. Just stick with Cheney’s line: “Go F Yourself!”
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (2)
Twin Baby Moose in Sprinkler
If you listen really close in the audio you can hear the woman who is recording this trying to keep her kids quiet in the background.
Worth listening to several times, and the music is absolutely perfect for the video.
Wild Thing's comment.........
I love this so much. With all that is happening, I really needed this, what a wonderful thing to see.
....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 (2)
Radical Islamist Group Is Returning to Chicago for Major Recruitment Drive
EMERGING WORLD ORDER: How the Khilafah will shape the world
Khilafah Conference 2010
Date: Sunday, July 11th 2010
Time: 1:00PM - 6:00PM
Venue: Chicago Marriott Oak Brook
1401 W. 22nd St.
Oak Brook, IL 60523
**FREE ADMISSION**
Radical Islamist Group Is Returning to Chicago for Major Recruitment Drive
By Diane Macedo
The radical Islamist group that kicked up controversy for its “Fall of Capitalism & Rise of Islam” conference last year is slated to return to Chicago next month to hold its second Khilafah Conference, “Emerging World Order: How the Khilafah Will Shape the World."
They're back. A radical Islamist group critics say has links to Al Qaeda is gearing up to host its second annual U.S. recruiting event.
The group, Hizb ut-Tahrir America, which is committed to establishing a caliphate, or international Islamic empire, kicked up controversy in Chicago last year with its first U.S. conference, “Fall of Capitalism & Rise of Islam.”
Speakers at the conference blamed capitalism for everything from two World Wars to Michael Jackson's decision "to shed his black skin." It drew more than 500 attendees, dozens of protesters and a heavy police presence.
Now the group is coming back to the Windy City with its second conference, “Emerging World Order: How the Khilafah Will Shape the World," scheduled to begin July 11 at the Chicago Marriott Oak Brook. According to a video promoting the event, the goal is to persuade attendees to “answer the call” to "join the campaign" for a Khilafah, or global Islamic empire.
Despite the charged message, the group insists that it advocates change only through nonviolent means.
Terrorism "is not in our dictionary," spokesman Mohammad Malkawi told reporters last year. "We condemn it by all means … From our perspective, our records are clean on this issue."
But some experts say the group's rhetoric masks its true role: preparing the infantry for groups like Al Qaeda by indoctrinating young jihadists.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir realized that U.S. laws, in this stage, allow them to work undetected as long as they use a narrative that fools the public and law enforcement,” Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told FoxNews.com.
He said the group’s vision of a worldwide caliphate is "is identical to the Taliban regime but spanning on three continents, as a first stage."
Former Hizb ut-Tahrir member Ishtiaq Hussain agreed.
"They don’t believe Israel should exist, some of their leaders have denied the Holocaust, and they believe homosexuals should be thrown off the highest building," Hussain, now a trainer for the Quilliam Foundation, told FoxNews.com. "... It's actually a very dangerous group."
Phares said Hizb ut-Tahrir's list of alumni -- including confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- speaks for itself.
“The bottom line here," he said, "is that we are witnessing the emergence and the expansion of a jihadist recruitment factory in our midst, openly calling for jihad and for the establishment of a caliphate instead of many governments... and in its last stage to what they call jihadism against America and its allies, that is, technically speaking, terrorism and massacre."
Hizb ut-Tahrir America did not respond to requests for comment sent by e-mail. The group's website lists neither a phone number nor a mailing address.
At a recent conference in the United Kingdom, Hizb ut-Tahrir spoke directly against the U.S., mocking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's warning of severe consequences if a Pakistani connection to the Times Square bomber was discovered, and contending that the U.S. was behind terror attacks in Pakistan.
Whether there will be similar rhetoric at next month's conference in Chicago is unclear. Unlike last year, the group has no itinerary laid out on its website for this year's conference.
The Chicago Marriott Oak Brook confirmed that it would be hosting the conference, but it would not comment on whether it had reviewed the group or was aware of its specific plans for the conferenc