August 13, 2010
Tell The Terminally Ill To 'trust God,' get Yourself Fired
Tell the terminally ill to 'trust God,' get yourself fired
Tribunal affirms town decision to dismiss counselor over remark
The dismissal of a town employee who had an unblemished record of counseling housing clients for 18 years has been affirmed by a job tribunal because he mentioned God to a terminally ill woman.
The startling decision is being reported by the Christian Legal Centre, which argued the case on behalf of Duke Amachree against the decision by the Wandsworth town council.
"We are stunned that the tribunal failed to recognize the draconian way in which Mr. Amachree was treated," said Andrea Minichiello Williams, director of the organization that advocates on behalf of religious rights across the United Kingdom.
"We are dismayed that they found that Mr. Amachree had not been discriminated against on the grounds of his faith. This decision will send yet more shock waves through the Christian community when they realize that a couple of comments encouraging faith in God can lead to a person being dismissed for gross misconduct," Williams said.
Officials said an appeal will be filed in the case, in which Amachree was fired for "gross misconduct for suggesting to a client with an incurable illness not to give up hope and to try putting her faith in God."
Wandsworth fired Amachree, and an employment tribunal now has determined that action was reasonable.
"The tribunal also found that the council had not discriminated against Mr. Amachree on the basis of his religion. In addition, the tribunal took the view that Duke had breached confidentiality by publicizing his case," the report said.
Duke, a committed Christian and father of two, lost the job he'd held for 18 years for the incident. His comments came in one brief visit to a client, and resulted in six months of investigations and three interviews by town officials.
His defense counsel even was told by the city that saying "God bless" would require an investigation if word was brought to officials.
The Christian Legal Centre reported gross misconduct more often covers behavior including violence or theft.
The town had accepted that the motivation for the speech was one of compassion and evidence indicated Amachree never had been told small talk in a housing interview was prohibited.
"I am devastated by the outcome," Amachree said in a statement released by the center. "This is a sad day for Christians who simply want to live out their faith in the workplace without fear."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
My gosh it really is like the entire world is upside down.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (2)
August 11, 2010
Students Told to Stop Singing National Anthem at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C
Students Told to Stop Singing National Anthem in D.C.!
A group of students were taking a monument tour of the nation’s capital when they made a spur-of-the-moment decision to sing the national anthem at the Lincoln Memorial, but were told to stop by U.S. Park Police.
Police tell students to stop singing national anthem at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Yes, the one in America!
Students at Lincoln Memorial Told to Stop Singing National Anthem
A group of high school students attending a conservative leadership conference in Washington, D.C. said they were ordered by a security guard to stop singing the national anthem during a June 25 visit to the Lincoln Memorial.
“They told them to stop singing,” said Evan Gassman, a spokesman for the Young America’s Foundation. “I was taken aback. You wouldn’t expect a display of national patriotism to be censored."
U.S. Park Police confirmed that the students were in violation of federal law and their impromptu performance constituted a demonstration in an area that must remain “completely content neutral.”
“The area they were standing in and singing is an area that is restricted for this type of activity,” said Sgt. David Schlosser. “The United States Park Police is absolutely content-neutral when it comes to any sort of demonstrations in these areas.”
Schlosser explained that performances, regardless of content, are banned to “maintain a contemplative and reverent area for the Lincoln Memorial, for the other guests and visitors.”
The incident occurred on June 25 as students were taking a monument tour of the nation’s capital. The decision to sing the national anthem at the memorial was a spur of the moment event, according to Shawn Balcomb, of Richmond Hill, GA.
“We got maybe two lines in and a police officer came over and he was yelling,” Balcomb said in a telephone interview. “He quieted us down.” Balcomb, 17, said the officer told the group they were being too loud. “I was dumbfounded,” he said.
“I didn’t realize there was something wrong with singing the national anthem.”
Schlosser said the students would have been in compliance had they moved approximately 25 steps from where they were standing.
“It’s not the content of their activity – that being the national anthem – it’s the location,” he said. “A couple steps and it would have been no problem whatsoever.”
Instead of doing as they were instructed, Gassman said the students resumed the song – an impromptu form of civil disobedience.
“If their idea of civil disobedience is singing the national anthem, then so be it,” Gassman said. “Let them disobey.”
YAF posted video reportedly shot just after the alleged encounter with the security officer. It shows students loudly singing the anthem.
“That’s the most offensive thing out of all this,” he said.
“They really did not provide the students a reason,” said Gassman. Balcomb, who is a high school senior, said they didn’t intend on creating a ruckus – they just wanted to show their patriotism.
“It’s not like we sounded great or anything,” he said.
“We just wanted to pay respect to our nation – in our capital.”
Schlosser, who commended the students on their musical ability, said the students were not cited and to his knowledge no report was filed.
“We need to make certain that all other visitors that don’t want to be a part of that or just choose to be tourists are able to do so in the same light that probably President Lincoln wanted – which is completely content neutral,” he said.
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Wild Thing's comment........
The “content” is why the memorial is there in the first place!
God forbid you sing America’s National Anthem at a National Memorial in America!
They’re not in a library, or China, for that matter. They’re in America. We have the right to openly express our patriotism in a public place such as this.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (12)
August 10, 2010
Love This! Second Try at Lemonade Stand Nets Huge Profit
Wild Thing's comment........
I love happy endings and this is one of them.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (2)
July 20, 2010
Teen Charged After Crash of Horse and Buggy in Chase
Teen charged after crash of horse and buggy in chase
LEON—An Amish teen who tried to flee police faces charges of alcohol possession and “overdriving an animal” after he crashed his getaway vehicle— a horse and buggy.
Cattaraugus County sheriff’s deputies reported over the weekend that Levi E. Detweiler, 17, ran a stop sign and refused officers’ attempts to stop the buggy. Deputies chased Detweiler for about three quarters of a mile, and when he tried an unsafe turn into a driveway, he crashed the horse and buggy in a ditch. The teen then fled on foot but was found later in the area.
The Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Bureau completed an investigation and charged the youth with possession of alcohol by someone under 21, overdriving an animal, seconddegree reckless endangerment, failure to stop at a stop sign and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle in the incident that occurred at about 1:30 a. m. last Monday. He is free on $500 bail.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Wow…so not a story you hear every day!
I don't like that he mistreated the horse and left it hooked up with the buggy overturned.
Did they drive up on the kid and hit the siren?
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (5)
July 14, 2010
Thousands of Laptops Stolen During Nine-hour Heist
On March 6, as many as seven people broke into iGov Technologies at 9211 Palm River Road and stole 3,000 laptops and other electronics, according to a search warrant.
Thousands of laptops stolen during nine-hour heist
Thousands of laptops have been stolen from the Florida office of a private contractor for the U.S. military's Special Operations Command.
Surveillance cameras caught up to seven people loading the computers into two trucks for nine hours.
U.S. Special Operations Command coordinates the activities of elite units from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. A spokeswoman said Tuesday that none of the stolen laptops contained military information or software.
The Virginia-based company iGov was awarded a $450 million contract earlier this year to supply mobile technology services linking special operations troops worldwide. A company executive says iGov is cooperating with authorities and the March 6 break-in at its Tampa facility remains under investigation.
Laptops stolen from government contractor
TAMPA, Fla., July 13 (UPI) -- Thieves allegedly took an estimated 3,000 laptop computers from the Florida warehouse of a military contractor, police said.
The thieves arrived by car at iGov Technologies in Tampa, a contractor for the top secret U.S. Special Operations Command, and broke in through the roof, the St. Petersburg Times reported Monday.
The heist took place during a 9-hour period on March 6 -- a Saturday, when no one was around. The intruders loaded up two semi-trailer trucks with the computers and other equipment, police said.
The Times said the details of the alleged burglary came to light only recently, when a sheriff's detective, having notified the FBI, requested a search warrant in Hillsborough County Circuit Court to find phone records for one of the suspects, which he obtained on June 23.
The warrant sought the phone records for Oddit Perez-Reyes, 39, the owner of the car that pulled up to the warehouse, records showed.
Based on the phone information, the FBI and the Miami-Dade Police Department said they found 1,911 items of the stolen goods in a warehouse in Miami.
Earlier this year the Department of Defense awarded iGov a $450 million contract to provide mobile technology services connecting special operations troops all over the world.
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Thieves swipe thousands of laptops from Special Ops contractor
TAMPA — The thieves hit on a weekend when no one was around.
The target: a military contractor for the super secret Special Operations Command, the elite commandos who help coordinate the war on terror.
The intruders entered through the roof, gaining access to iGov Technologies, which occupies suite 110 in the beige corporate center at 9211 Palm River Road.
For the next nine hours, they loaded up more than 3,000 laptop computers and other equipment into two waiting semitrailer trucks .
Those details came to light only recently, when a Hillsborough County sheriff's detective filed a search warrant in Hillsborough County Circuit Court seeking phone records for one of the suspects.
What was on the laptop computers? Was it a crime of economics or a crime of security? Did the burglary compromise the safety of any troops?
The answers remained a mystery Monday.
A SOCom spokeswoman said officials are aware of the iGov break-in, but she could not immediately provide a response.
Earlier this year, iGov was awarded a $450-million contract by the Department of Defense to supply mobile technology services linking special operations troops all over the world.
The company is headquartered in McLean, Va., with locations in Springfield, Va., and near Tampa. An iGov facility manager referred calls to the corporate office. Officials there did not return a call for comment.
According to the warrant, the operation went down on March 6, a Saturday. A surveillance camera captured images as a red Lincoln Navigator drove up to the business and as many as seven people piled out.
They broke in through the roof and spent nine hours gathering loot, which included about 3,000 Panasonic Toughbook laptops and other electronics.
The Sheriff's Office notified the FBI. Sheriff's Detective David Thatcher obtained a search warrant June 23.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said that she was unaware of the theft and that Thatcher no longer had the case. It was assigned to a second detective who also was transferred, and she did not know which detective was now handling it.
The Sheriff's Office records division was unable to find a report of the break-in on Monday. A clerk did locate a record of when the call was received and which officers responded.
The warrant seeks phone records for the owner for the Lincoln Navigator, a man named Oddit Perez-Reyes, 39.
Perez-Reyes' cell phone was in contact with four phone numbers the day of the heist. Satellite records tracked each of the four phones to the iGov office that day, the warrant stated.
Sprint Communications said the phones were on prepaid accounts and cautioned that subscriber names could be fictitious, the warrant said.
Detectives filed for access to Perez-Reyes' cell phone for records that include contact information, messages, calls and pictures and videos.
As a result of the investigation, the FBI and the Miami-Dade Police Department located a warehouse in Miami that was used to store the stolen property, the warrant stated, and about 1,911 items were recovered.
A spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department said Monday he could find no record of property seized at the warehouse within the past four months.
Hillsborough sheriff's records show iGov's facility manager, Mike Kalinowski, reported the missing computers to the Sheriff's Office after he arrived at work March 8.
However, when a Times reporter asked him about the case, Kalinowski responded: "I don't even know anything about that."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
OMG 9 HOURS???? 9 HOURS!
They have everyone who every email/text/voice call records in analytics systems 24/7. This had to be an inside job.
They say they don't know if any data was compromised? They don't even know what detective is investigating the case?
This stinks of an inside job all the way!
It says it happened on March 6th. And this is the first they are sharing about what happened.
....Thank you JohnE PFC U.S. Army for sending this to me.
Soldier/Generator Mechanic
Companies: 288TH Q.M. Co
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:49 AM | Comments (3)
July 08, 2010
A Humble Act of Patriotism: Homeless Man Saves Fallen American Flag...Thank you Sir!
"The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing." (USC Title 4. Chapter 4. § 8j)
During a weekend storm last Sunday, an American Flag displayed on a pole outside of a federal contractor's (METI Inc.) building in El Paso, Texas fell to the ground in driving wind and rain. When employees arrived the following morning, they found their flag folded military style and the pole secured alongside the building. Mystified as to how Old Glory found such a cozy resting place, they turned to their surveillance cameras only to find that the patriotic act was the handiwork of a simple passer-by; a Good Samaritan who happened to be walking past the location when the flag fell to the pavement at 1:40 AM.
The story would have been heartfelt and may have even invoked a sense of pride in this great nation and its loyal citizens if the heroic tale ended there, but this story revealed an even greater picture of devotion to one's country regardless of the hand that may have been dealt to an individual in this Land of Opportunity.
The Good Samaritan; the altruistic passer-by; was a homeless man. Gustus Bozarth to pay him his full respect. He lives in a makeshift apartment in the back of a nearby warehouse. He was simply walking by the night the flag fell amidst an onslaught of wind and rain and felt a duty to his country and all that it represents to show our national symbol the respect that it deserves.
The video above , tells the tale of Gustus traveling the country and once working as a security guard in Tampa where he learned how to properly fold a flag. It also features a few words from this wonderful patriot where he tells the reporter that the flag symbolizes Freedom.
One man - a homeless man- understands the duty owed to his nation's flag, and despite all that he must overcome on a daily basis, still has enough admiration and respect for his great nation that he would never allow the Stars and Stripes to be soiled. He said "It's a small respect, folding the flag like that." After all that he has undoubtedly overcome and all that he must continue to face on a daily basis, he still has love for the nation that affords him the opportunity to live as he chooses and doesn't begrudge that nation for his current situation.
I have searched endlessly for more information on Gustus and have yet to find anything related to his current situation, how he got there, or what lies ahead for him. The local Fox affiliate posted on its webpage that it received hundreds of emails and phone calls from people around the country wanting to lend a hand to Gustus. I can only hope that these wonderfully compassionate people and those in his local community are able to reach out to Gustus and do whatever they can to show this wonderful patriot the respect that he so effortlessly and brilliantly showed them and their great nation through this humble act.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
“...One man - a homeless man- understands the duty owed to his nation’s flag, and despite all that he must overcome on a daily basis, still has enough admiration and respect for his great nation that he would never allow the Stars and Stripes to be soiled...”
Gustus is more man than Obama will or could ever be! Thank you, Sir! God bless you.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (5)
Dodge Challenger Car Commercials
The new Chrysler that is certainly trying to appeal to the patriotism of Americans. It shows an impending Revolutionary War battle when suddenly three Dodge Challengers come to the rescue, led by one driven by George Washington himself. At the end of the ad, it says:
“Here’s a couple of things America got right: Cars….and Freedom.”
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2010 Dodge Challenger: Designed by people who really really love cars for people who really really love cars to drive past people who really don't care about cars at all.
TAKE THAT enviroMENTALists!!!!!!!!! ~ Wild Thing
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:40 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)
June 21, 2010
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)
June 18, 2010
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)
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)
June 14, 2010
Country Music Legend Jimmy Dean Dies at His Virginia Home ~ 1928-2010
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Jimmy Deans PT-109 Theme Song Set To The Movie Of The Same Name Staring Cliff Robertson
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Jimmy Dean: 1928-2010
Country music legend dies at his Virginia home
The legendary country singer Jimmy Dean has passed away unexpectedly in Richmond, Virginia at the age of 81. Dean is best known for his hit song “Big Bad John” and for the sausage company he started that bears his name.
CBS News: Country music singer and business entrepreneur Jimmy Dean has died at the age of 81.
The country music legend, singer, television host, actor, and businessman died Sunday night inside his Henrico (Va.) home overlooking the James River, reports CBS station WTVR in Richmond.
The station spoke with Dean’s wife, Donna, Sunday night. She was grieving and said the following:
“I definitely need my privacy right now, and am not available for interviews. My husband died of natural causes, and funeral services are pending”.
Donna Dean told the station her husband died at 7:54 p.m. Sunday night.
She told The Associated Press that he had some health problems but was still functioning well, so his death came as a shock. She said he was eating in front of the television. She left the room for a time and came back and he was unresponsive.
"He was amazing," she said. "He had a lot of talents."
Four months ago, Dean, who had a number one hit "Big Bad John" in 1961, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Born in 1928, Dean was raised in poverty in Plainview, Texas, and dropped out of high school after the ninth grade. He went on to a successful entertainment career in the 1950s and '60s that included the nationally televised "The Jimmy Dean Show."
In 1969, Dean went into the sausage business, starting the Jimmy Dean Meat Co. in his hometown. He sold the company to Sara Lee Corp. in 1984.
Dean lived in semiretirement with his wife, who is a songwriter and recording artist, on their 200-acre estate just outside Richmond, where he enjoyed investing, boating and watching the sun set over the James River.
In 2009 a fire gutted their home, but his Grammy for "Big Bad John," a puppet made by Muppets creator Jim Henson, a clock that had belonged to Prince Charles and Princess Diana and other valuables were saved. Lost were a collection of celebrity-autographed books, posters of Dean with Elvis Presley and other prized possessions.
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Wild Thing's comment........
I’m sorry to hear this....RIP Big Jim!
May God bless his family.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM
June 13, 2010
Barbara Boxer: Our Greatest National-Security Threat Facing Our Troops and USA ...Carbon Dioxide
We've had four terrorist attacks in less than a year, two of which succeeded in killing people and another two which only failed because of the incompetence of the terrorist. Iran is a year or less away from getting a nuclear weapon. Turkey is rapidly sliding towards Islamism. North Korea is doing their best to restart the Korean War.
And what does Barbara Boxer think is the greatest national-security threat facing us in the next generation? Carbon dioxide.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Please God make it stop!
She has the IQ of a roll of toilet paper I swear!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (13)
June 09, 2010
Marine: "Union bullying me to pay $500"
Marine: Union bullying me to pay $500
A retired U.S. Marine who runs a high school ROTC program in Worcester says he faces the boot for refusing to pay local union dues, leaving the 58-year-old father of two crying foul and school administrators bewildered.
“It just seems crazy that they’re gonna fire me over $500,” said Maj. Stephen L. Godin, senior naval science instructor at the Naval Junior ROTC Unit of North High School. “Everyone’s talking about finding good teachers - I haven’t missed a day in 14 years.”
Indeed, North High School Principal Matthew Morse praised Godin yesterday as an “excellent” instructor who has turned his program into a top junior ROTC academy.
Godin, a 20-year Marine veteran until 1994, who flew F-4 Phantoms and was deployed five times, said he refuses to join the union because he receives all his benefits, including health insurance and half his salary, from the military. Unlike other teachers, he doesn’t earn a stipend for after-school activities, such as the hours he spends coaching the high school’s regional champion drill team. His salary is dictated by the U.S. Military, not labor negotiators, Godin said.
Officials from the Education Association of Worcester did not return repeated calls, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association declined comment.
State law requires certain public employees to join unions as a condition of employment or pay a so-called agency fee, which goes toward the cost of collective bargaining. But Godin said he shouldn’t have to pay the $500 fee because he receives no benefit from the local union. He provided a letter from the local union demanding he join or pay the fee by the school year’s end. Godin said in 14 years of teaching in Worcester public schools, he’s never been asked to pony up for the union.
“I’ve always worked hard,” he said. “I’m a loyal Marine. Now they’re chasing me away.”
Worcester schools superintendent Melinda J. Boone said she has asked the district school attorney to investigate a way to keep Godin on board, but added, “this is really a union matter.”
Wild Thing's comment.......
Way to go, Marine...Maj. Stephen L. Godin!. God bless this man.
I have yet to ever read how wonderful Unions are..... because they aren't. Not across the board how they do things, treat people and run things. THUGS just like 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 06:49 AM | Comments (8)
June 04, 2010
Brecksville-Broadview Heights Ryan Nowlin Heading to The United States Marine Band
Under the direction of Ryan Nowlin, Rachel Mangan practices with the Marching Bees for the 2009 high school football season.
Brecksville-Broadview Heights ( OHIO) Marching Bee band director Ryan Nowlin heading to The United States Marine Band
Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School Band Director Ryan Nowlin announced his new position of staff arranger for“The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C.
Nowlin said the five-month long audition and interview for the staff arranger job was kept “close to his heart” throughout the process. He said he was not actively looking to leave his present position, which he’s held for the past five years.
“The hardest day for me, without a doubt, was the day I told the students,” Nowlin said. “The students were especially proud of me once they heard what I was doing. They were very encouraging and I was very touched. The impact of these students, my colleagues, and the community on my life and family has been enormous and I am forever grateful.”
Nowlin learned about the pending vacancy of the Marine Band staff arranger through a musician friend in the band. Once he submitted his resume, Nowlin had to arrange several musical arrangements before the selection process began.
After the semi-final decision, he learned he was selected as one of the top two finalists upon returning from the BBHHS band trip to Walt Disney World in April.
After the review of more musical arrangements, Nowlin learned that he had been selected for the position. The other finalist was the staff arranger for the United States Air Force Band, so Nowlin thought he would be selected.
“I thought it was fun while it lasted,” said Nowlin, noting that the other finalist, originally from Medina, showed up for the final interview in his Air Force dress uniform.
“This career change is something I never foresaw,” Nowlin said.
Nowlin said he is pleased to say that three of his grandfathers were all in the military during World War II.
“I wasn’t that man, but I can serve this way,” he said. “I feel I have the skill set for this - not as the person who won five Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts like my grandfather.”
Before beginning his position in late summer, Nowlin said he will have to officially become a Marine, meet with his Marine Corps recruiter here, transfer to Washington, DC, and undergo two to four weeks of training.
The Marine Band is comprised of 130 members who perform in four musical groups; the marching band, the chamber orchestra, the concert band and chamber ensemble. The group performs at state functions for the President, including the presidential inauguration.
Additionally, the band tours nationally and performs as a back-up to musical guests at the White House among other duties.
Nowlin said his music department colleagues at BBHHS and the middle school, Jason Wyse, Steve Cocchiola, Chuck Valley, Brady Sark, Ivory Kovach, and Debbi Scheufler, and Julie Sterman have been supportive and very excited for him.
Wild Thing's comment........
How exciting for Ryan Nowlin to be chosen for this. News like this is so great to hear about with so many things happening that make us angry and frustrated.
CONGRATULATIONS Ryan Nowlin!!
.... Thank you Jan for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (3)
June 01, 2010
The Avenue of the Flags
American flags for as far as the eye can see greet visitors as they enter the Hillcrest Memorial Park in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. The park is visited by people from all over the world.
The Avenue of the Flags: A Graphic Demonstration of American Patriotism
The Iranian hostage crisis triggered a resurgence of patriotism in our nation. Because not only 53 citizens, but America herself was held hostage for 444 days.
Hope and confidence were sustained by a renaissance of American patriotism. Nowhere in the country was this spirit more graphically demonstrated than in Hermitage, Pennsylvania with The Avenue of Flags.
These bright banners, each flag representing one day of captivity, became the internationally recognized symbol of American's support for the hostages and our hope for their safe return.
Eight members of our nation's armed forces gave their lives in the ill-fated attempt to rescue the prisoners. The citizens of Scranton joined Hermitage in expressing the national spirit by contributing a beautiful permanent monument in memory of these brave men, to be placed in The Avenue of Flags.
The days of captivity are over. The hostages have returned home to enjoy, once again, the freedom of life in the United States. But the memory of those fateful days and the fire of patriotism that they kindled live on.
At Hillcrest Memorial Park in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, the 444 banners of freedom still wave, and the eternal flame shines steadily before the monument to the eight who have their lives in the mission to free their countrymen. This patriotic display is open to the public year-round.
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The Hermitage Historical Society
Over 1,000 flags were used to keep the flags flying during the original 444 days, as the flags needed to be replaced three to four time a year. All but 100 of these original flags were donated by supporters from all around the world. Most of them had once draped the casket of an American veteran. The flags represented periods in history from the Spanish-American War through the Vietnam conflict. One Canadian flag also flies on the Avenue in recognition of the Canadian embassy's help in saving six hostages from captivity and eventually returning them to freedom.
Donations of flags or money for the purchase of flags are still received. However, today most of the flags are purchased new by Hillcrest at an annual investment of over $12,000. The flags fly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but are lowered to half-mast for such solemn occasions as the Challenger space shuttle explosion.
On days when the sound of these 444 symbols of American pride can be heard flapping in the wind from a distance, visitors are filled with a sense of pride and remembrance of a time when America was held hostage, and many have been seen to leave the park with tears filling their eyes.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
This is so special and really wonderful that they did this. I am thrilled too that they keep it going. Fantastic!!!
....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 02:48 AM | Comments (4)
May 27, 2010
Art Linkletter Passed Away At 97 R.I.P. Thank You For The Laughter Art!
Art Linkletter died yesterday at the age of 97. Linkletter was a household name TV Host for decades, known for his segment on “House Party,” called “Kid’s Say the Darndest Things.” The video gives a good taste of what Linkletter was like.
These kids are soooo adorable, I laughed all the way through the video. ! Wild Thing
Art Linkletter, the genial radio and television host who spent more than two decades interviewing children and getting them to say "the darndest things," has died. He was 97.
He died today at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported, citing his son-in-law, Art Hershey.
Linkletter gained fame as a sympathetic interviewer on "House Party," a daytime variety show that aired on CBS radio and TV from 1945 to 1969. In the show's best-known segment, "Kids Say the Darndest Things," Linkletter would draw amusing answers from schoolchildren by asking who did the housework at home, or whom they wanted to marry.
He capitalized on the popularity of the routine through a series of books, including "Kids Say the Darndest Things" (1957), which topped the best-seller list for two straight years. CBS revived the concept and title for a primetime show in 1998, with Bill Cosby as host and Linkletter as a contributor.
Linkletter also hosted the NBC program "People Are Funny," which ran from 1954 to 1961. The show put ordinary people into extraordinary situations to capture their varying reactions. Some critics now call it one of television's first reality shows.
Linkletter said his first radio interview with a child was in 1943 with his son Jack, then 5. Asked about his first day at school, Jack said he wasn't going back.
"I said, why not? He says, 'Well, I can't read and I can't write and they won't let me talk.'"
More than 25 years of such interviews followed. "Kids under 10 and people over 70" were best on the show, Linkletter said. "The old people don't care, and the kids don't know what they're saying," he said.
Asked what's good about aging, Linkletter gave the answer he once got from a 100-year-old woman: "There's so little peer pressure.'"
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (2)
May 24, 2010
Gov. Jindal Blasts Obama Inaction, Moves on Sand Booms
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says with oil pushing at least 12 miles into the state's marshes and two major pelican rookeries coated in crude, the state is working on a chain of sand berms to protect the coastline from the leaking crude oil. (May 23)
Gov. Jindal blasts Obama inaction, moves on sand booms
Jindal tired of waiting for approval, to build sand booms
This is leadership on the front lines, not just on the sidelines. Louisiana GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal has been working non-stop over the past month to protect his state from the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill — and from the bureaucratic delays in the Obama administration.
Click HERE to watch the full video of his latest press conference as Gov. Jindal explains what he is doing to contain the damage:
Gov. Jindal was critical of the amount of boom his state received to ward off the oil seeping toward the coastline. But his major gripe comes at the expense of the Army Corps of Engineers, who have yet to give the go-ahead for the building of sand booms to protect the Louisiana wetlands. He used photographic evidence of oil breaking through hard booms, soft booms and another layer of protection, before being finally being corralled by a sand boom built by the National Guard.
"It is so much better for us. We don't want oil on one inch of Louisiana's coastline, but we'd much rather fight this oil off of a hard coast, off of an island, off of an island, off of a sandy beach on our coastal islands, rather than having to fight it inside in these wetlands," Gov. Jindal said, making the case for sand booms.
The governor said he has been forced to protect Louisiana without the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is weighing the ecological impact of the construction of more sand booms.
"We are not waiting for them. We are going to build it," Jindal said.
"We can either fight battle -- we can fight this oil -- on the Barrier Islands 15 to 20 miles off of our coast, or we can face it in thousands of miles of fragmented wetlands," Gov. Jindal said, clearing favoring the first option. "Every day we're not given approval on this emergency permit to create more of these sand booms is another day when that choice is made for us, as more and more miles of our shore are hit by oil."
The oil spill, which has lasted 33 days since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, has yet to be stopped by British Petroleum at the source. The situation is dire for Gulf coast states.
"It is clear the resources needed to protect our coast are still not here," Gov. Jindal said. "Oil sits and waits for cleanup, and every day that it waits for cleanup more of our marsh dies."
At least one federal official is taking some responsibility:
The oil mass continues moving west, and as the toxic sludge begins to make landfall in Terrebonne, Capt. Edwin Stanton, who heads up the Coast Guard’s response, is taking blame.
“The governor is right. It’s too slow, and if it’s anybody’s fault, it’s mine, for not pushing (BP) hard enough perhaps,” Stanton said.“We did have a problem with getting boom down here to begin with, but there seems to be boom that is in the staging areas that needs to be put out.”
Then, in an exchange with a reporter, he went further.
Stanton: “It’s my job to direct this response in Louisiana.”
Reporter: “Why didn’t you do it?”
Stanton: “Well, the why — is that really important?”
Reporter: “Yes sir, we live here.”
Stanton: “Well, I guess I’m just slow and dumb.”
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Louisiana Officials Threaten Action if Spill Response Proves Inadequate
Gov. Bobby Jindal recited a timeline of his requests to BP and the Coast Guard for containment boom, skimmers and other supplies, saying that the resources were still far from adequate weeks later.
Around 65 miles of Louisiana coastline had been “oiled,” he said, as local officials held aloft pictures of oil-coated pelicans and a porpoise.
Saying that promises of more supplies frequently fell through, Mr. Jindal said he was going to send members of the Louisiana National Guard and Wildlife and Fisheries agents to monitor the oil and even to locate boom and other response supplies, which he and other officials said were available but sitting unused.
Mr. Jindal also urged the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately approve a plan to build artificial barrier islands out of sand to hold back the oil, a plan widely praised by local parish officials but questioned by some experts. He said he would raise the issue with President Obama in a conference call on Monday.
In response to increasing criticism that the White House has not acted aggressively enough on the spill, the Obama administration is sending Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano into the region on Monday at the head of a bipartisan Congressional delegation.
Continue with article HERE
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ABC News Absolves Obama of Oil Spill Blame by Bashing Sarah Palin...from Newsbusters
ABC News on Sunday marvelously absolved President Obama of any blame concerning the Gulf oil spill by bashing former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
After "World News Sunday's" opening segment about the crisis and how local citizens are being impacted, anchor Dan Harris said, "As we reported, the President is turning up the heat on BP, but the President is also feeling some heat himself with many critics questioning the way the White House is handling this crisis."
He then asked senior Washington editor Rick Klein, "Is there any evidence to substantiate the claim that the White House has been somehow abdicating responsibility and allowing BP to pick up too much of the heavy-lifting in this crisis?"
Strangely, Klein's response involved Palin .
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Wild Thing's comment........
Considering that Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama all went for McCain in 2008, it is clear Obama does not give a crap what happens to those states and their coastal industry. It also explains why Tennessee hasn’t gotten much help with their flooding.
Jindal is the only government official taking decisive action, and the obamanoids don't like it. They have instructed the media whorehouse to raise a blanket of silence against his creative and innovative steps, and the obaman EPA will do everything in its power to see that the environment suffers maximum damage.
If Bush was President they be crucifying him for doing nothing! Obama, again, gets a pass from the MSM!
....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)
May 17, 2010
7 Year Old Sings National Anthem
This young man sings the National Anthem prior to a college basketball game.
Notice two of the players in tears. He is only 7 years old.
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Wild Thing's comment........
This is wonderful, he is good and I would bet his parents are not lefties either.
God bless the children.
....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 06:47 AM | Comments (2)
May 08, 2010
Graham Prays at Pentagon, says 'Islam got a pass'
Graham prays at Pentagon, says 'Islam got a pass'
Evangelist Franklin Graham prayed on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon Thursday after his invitation to a prayer service inside was withdrawn because of comments that insulted Muslims.
"It looks like Islam has gotten a pass," he told reporters. "They are able to have their services, but just because I disagree ... I'm excluded."
In 2001, Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, described Islam as evil. More recently, he said he finds Islam offensive and wants Muslims to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins. The Pentagon's chaplain office called those comments inappropriate and, at the request of the Army, withdrew Graham's invitation to attend a multi-denominational "National Day of Prayer" service that was held in the Defense Department auditorium.
He came anyway, arriving in the Pentagon parking lot just before 8 a.m. EDT - his party of a half dozen people forming a circle on the sidewalk and praying.
They stood there for about five minutes, heads bowed, as people arriving for work passed by - a man with a briefcase, one on a bike, a woman carrying breakfast pastry in a bag and another man carrying a skateboard.
Then the group walked to the Pentagon's Sept. 11 memorial roughly a couple of hundred feet away, where media had gathered because it's one of the few places were cameras are allowed on the Pentagon property. There, Graham held a news conference that lasted nearly twice as long as the prayer.
Asked why he had come, Graham said it was to pray for the men and women serving at the warfront, including his son, who he said had already been wounded in Iraq and now serves in Afghanistan.
He said he doesn't believe "all religions are equal" but does believe there is only "one way to God" - and that is through Jesus.
Asked if he still believes Islam is evil, he said: "I believe the way they treat women is evil, yes I do." And, can he understand how some of his comments would be offensive to Muslims? "Oh, I'm sure," he said. "But I find what they teach and what they preach and what's on the Internet - I find that to be offensive, too."
Another moment in the news conference, he said people shouldn't be offended because it's simply a disagreement in what people believe.
Graham said many American Christians "feel we are losing our freedoms while people of other faiths are gaining their freedom. It's a perception, whether it's right or wrong."
While Graham spoke outside, some 80 people attended a service inside the Pentagon that included Roman Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Protestant chaplains.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Good! This is political/social/cultural jujitsu — using the opponents own moves, size, strength, against them.
I weep that our nation has become so enslaved to the Muslim demands, to the demands of THOSE who have members who would KILL US, that our own MILITARY would demand that a Christain minister be dis-invited to participate in an AMERICAN DAY OF PRAYER! Nothing Franklin said was a LIE! And worse....this man has a SON serving our nation right now!!!
I HATE THIS ADMINISTRATION. And I mean HATE! Anyone with a ounce of common sense and decency should abhor the actions of the absolute crazy people that make up this joke of an administration in DC.
.... Thank you Jim for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (6)
May 07, 2010
Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees
Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees
Freedom of expression or cultural disrespect on Cinco de Mayo?
On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population.
Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office.
"They said we could wear it on any other day," Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today."
The boys said the administrators called their T-shirts "incendiary" that would lead to fights on campus.
"They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended," Dominic Maciel, Galli's friend, said.
The boys really had no choice, and went home to avoid suspension. They say they're angry they were not allowed to express their American pride. Their parents are just as upset, calling what happened to their children, "total nonsense."
"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel's mom, said. "All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They're expressing their individuality."
But to many Mexican-American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday.
"I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."
As for an apology, the boys and their families say, 'fat chance.'
"I'm not going to apologize. I did nothing wrong," Galli said. "I went along with my normal day. I might have worn an American flag, but I'm an American and I'm proud to be an American."
The five boys and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official Wednesday night. The district and the school do not see eye-to-eye on the incident and released the following statement:
The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions.
The boys will not be suspended and were allowed to return to school Thursday. We spotted one of them when he got to campus -- and, yes, he was sporting an American flag T-shirt.
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Thanks for the graphic with Obama.
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Wild Thing's comment........
How dare they kick the kids out of school for wearing the American Flag..what in the HELL is wrong with these idiots!!!!
They act like this is really Mexico and we are the occupiers.
They should come back wearing a Remember the Alamo t-shirt.
One more thing, this holiday is NOT celebrated in Mexico, and not even in in Puebla. It is NOT Mexican Independence Day, which is Sept. 16. Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the defeat of the French in the city of Puebla, Mexico. It is a minor event to most of Mexico as they don’t celebrate it. It seems a little strange, because people in Mexico — or at least, people in Mexico City — don’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo. No one has the day off.
......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
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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 (5)
Jim Cramer Talking Through Violent Dow Jones Swing; Sources Say Caused by "Trader Error"
Here is amazing video from CNBC this afternoon of stock guru Jim Cramer on air with Erin Burnett and others as they watched the Dow drop to nearly 1,000 points down and then rebound dramatically to a drop of less than 400 points.
When the video begins, it shows Cramer talking about Proctor & Gamble being down to $47.01, off over $15 for the day. Cramer said PG was worth more than that, and urged people to buy it at that price. By the time the video ends, it had rebounded to over $60 a share, and was only off a little more than $1 for the day.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Amazing!! Can you imagine being there when all this happened. The panic they had to feel.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (2)
May 01, 2010
Mark Levin Caller: Man That Said He Was On Oil Rig Explosion was NOT Terrorism
Mark Levin has posted that audio from the caller, labeled “Part 1 of Mark’s interview” on his website. This video above is part 2.
LINK for Levins page
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Wild Thing's comment......
It is very sad. The world will wring its hands over oily birds, but the men lost are not mentioned
Eleven men were missing presumed dead after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded last week.
Dale Burkeen, 37, was a crane operator on the platform and was trained to lower crew members to boats in an emergency.
He had returned to the rig from Neshoba, near Philadelphia, about a week before the explosion. He and wife, Rhonda, have two children, Aryn, 14 and Timothy, 6.
Donald Clark, 49, of Newellton, Louisiana, was expected to leave the rig the day after the explosion for a three-week break. He was an assistant driller.
Roy Wyatt Kemp, 27, has two children, Kaylee, 3, and 3-month-old Maddison, with his wife, Courtney.
He loved fishing and the outdoors and attended a Baptist church in Jonesville, Louisiana, where a memorial service for him will be held today.
Jason Anderson, was a father of two from Bay City, Texas.
Stephen Curtis was an assistant driller on the rig from Georgetown, Louisiana.
Gordon Jones, 28, of Louisiana, was expecting to become a father to a second son with his wife, Michelle.
Karl Kleppinger, 38, of Natchez, Mississippi was a Desert Storm veteran who spent more than ten years working on oil rigs. He was a floorman who made about $75,000 a year working off the Louisiana coast.
Blair Manuel, 56, resident of Gonzales, Louisiana, was a chemical engineer on the rig.
Dewey Revette, 48, from State Line, Mississippi, was a father who had worked for the company as an oil driller for 29 years.
Shane Roshto, 22, was from Franklin County, Mississippi. His family were named on law suits filed by Louisiana’s fisheries industry, accusing BP and Transocean, the rig operator, of negligence.
Adam Weise, 24, of Yorktown, Texas, came straight from high School to work on the rig in 2005. He loved to hunt and fish and play football. He was the youngest of four children.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (2)
April 29, 2010
High Court Says Mojave Cross In Calif. Can Remain
US Supreme Court rules Mojave cross can stay, rejecting the church-state challenge by the ACLU. This was a huge defeat for American communists.
The Supreme Court has said a federal court went too far in ordering the removal of a congressionally endorsed war memorial cross from its longtime home in California.
The justices said Wednesday that federal judges in California did not take sufficient notice of the government’s decision to transfer the land in a remote area of California to private ownership to eliminate any constitutional concern about a religious symbol on public land.
The ruling was 5-4, with the court’s conservatives in the majority.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars erected the cross more than 75 years ago atop an outcropping in the Mojave National Preserve.
It has been covered with plywood for the past several years following the court rulings. Court papers describe the cross as 5 feet to 8 feet tall.
Wild Thing's comment........
Thank God!
The ruling was 5-4 ...
I hate Liberals, Progressives or whatever label those four, Godless commies are hiding behind. God help us if that court ever flips so that the majority are liberal. It is insane that 4 voted against it.
Leftist liberals are a cancer upon any nation. The only freedoms they rally for always seem to cause destructions of cherished values. They thrive in this nation paid for with the blood of patriots .
....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 06:55 AM | Comments (9)
April 24, 2010
Navy To Name Next Ship After Late Rep. John Murtha ~ Shame On The Navy!
Navy to name next ship after late Rep. John Murtha
JOHNSTOWN, Pa.
The Navy is naming its next amphibious ship after the late western Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus made the announcement Friday at the Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. Murtha's family and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were in attendance.
Murtha, a former Marine, represented the Johnstown area for more than 35 years. He died in February at age 77 from complications of gallbladder surgery.
The USS John P. Murtha will be a 10th San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport vessel. With a crew of more than 360, it will transport 700 Marines, their equipment and supplies.
The keel for the ship is expected to be laid in about a year. It should set sail three years after that.
Wild Thing's comment........
The traitor was giving aid and comfort to the terrorist enemy during the height of the Iraq war and now they want to name a Navy ship after him????
You have got to be effing kidding me. I'm going to be sick.
Here's the message - slander our troops while they fight America's enemies in foreign lands, while you as a elected official are ass-deep in all kinds of corruption, graft, bribery and other unsavory corporate largess, and you too can have your name on a Navy ship.
It's sickening.
It should be a garbage scow,or a gunnery target ship, and call it the USS POS!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (10)
Feds Invade Farm For 5 a.m. Inspection
Feds invade farm for 5 a.m. inspection
Federal agents invaded an Amish farm in Pennsylvania at 5 a.m. to inspect cow-milking facilities then followed up the next day with a written notice that the farmer was engaged in interstate sale of raw milk in violation of the Public Health Services Act.
A failure to correct the situation could result in "seizure and/or injunction," the warning letter from Kirk Sooter, district director of the Philadelphia office of the Department of Health and Human Services, told farmer Dan Allgyer of Kinzers, Pa., on Wednesday.
The farm invaded Tuesday is the one agents visited in February, driving past "Private Property" signs to demand Allgyer open his property for their inspection, saying, "You have cows. You produce food for human consumption."
The case is being publicized by the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, which promotes traditional methods of linking farmers with consumers.
Spokeswoman Deborah Stockton told WND Allgyer "is the type of farmer who exemplifies what we are trying to restore." On her organization's website is the commitment "to promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade that fosters availability of locally grown or home-produced food products."
She reported she got details directly from Allgyer of Tuesday's early-morning inspection, which highlights the growing conflict between farmers who want to provide health food locally and federal regulators.
Allgyer could not be reached immediately for comment.
The farmer told NICFA he came out of his house about 4:30 a.m. for his milking routine and noticed a lot of traffic on Kinzer Road.
Shortly later, the cars were coming up his lane.
"I stood back in the dark barn to see what they were going to do. They drove past my two 'Private Property' signs, up to where my coolers were, with their headlights shining right on them," Allgyer reported.
He called to the five men as they were preparing to knock on his home, where his wife and family remained asleep.
"Two were from the FDA, agent Joshua C. Schafer who had been there in February and another. They showed me identification, but I was too flustered to ask for their cards. I remember being told that two were deputy U.S. marshals and one a state trooper. They started asking me questions right away. They handed me a paper, and I didn't realize what it was," he said.
"Schafer told me they were there to do a 'routine inspection.' At 5:00 in the morning, I wondered to myself? 'Do you have a warrant?' I asked, and one of them, a marshal or the state policeman, said, 'You've got in your hand buddy.' I asked, 'What is the warrant about?' Schafer responded, 'We have credible evidence that you are involved in interstate commerce,'" the farmer reported.
WND telephone calls and e-mails to the FDA requesting comment did not generate a response.
Allgyer said he confirmed his identification but then said he wouldn't answer anything further.
He said he questioned their arrival at his farm at 5 a.m. when the warrant clearly stated it was valid during "reasonable times during ordinary business hours," but one of the agents said "ordinary business hours for agriculture start at 5 a.m."
The agents spent their time "rooting around, like a couple of pigs, in the freezer and cooler area and took many pictures," Allgyer reported.
"They came in the dark, shining bright flashlights while my family was asleep, keeping me from milking my cows, from my family, from breakfast with my family and from our morning devotions, and alarming my children enough so that the first question they asked my wife was, 'Is Daddy going to jail?'" Allgyer said.
The subsequent warning letter was an all-inclusive notice that federal regulations prohibit "the delivery into interstate commerce of milk and milk products in final package form for direct human consumption unless they have been pasteurized."
"It is your responsibility to ensure adherence with all requirements. … Failure to make prompt corrections could result in regulatory action without further notice," the letter said.
The letter directed Allgyer to notify Compliance Officer Richard Cherry of the corrections.
Stockton warned the requirement now is for federal agents to claim they have "credible evidence" regarding a case, but a proposed federal change would strike those words in the law and replace them with "reason to believe."
"The phrase 'reason to believe' would be inserted 14 times into the code with S. 510," she said. "If this bill goes through, the FDA will have control of farms. They will not need 'credible evidence' to act. They will essentially be given a free hand to act as they want. And look at how they already act, even with the existing constraints in place."
Allgyer previously had told the officers that as a private farmer, he does not sell to the public.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Sheesh.....those Amish radical jihadists.At least to Obama's government anyway.
I never had raw milk and so am not familar about it at all. But this kind of thing in the article we need to know about I think because they can do this with other things too.
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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 (6)
Fantastic Video ...."Behind the Scenes of "Hummingbirds"
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Wild Thing's comment.....
This is an amazing video on hummingbirds.
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....Thank you Jack for sending this to me.
United States Army
1965-1971
Army Combat Engineers
Quang Tri & Chu Lai '68 -'69
67-69
Jack's blog is Conservative Insurgent
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (4)
April 23, 2010
One Of The Three US Navy SEALs Cleared In Iraq Abuse Case
EXCELLENT video on what happened......It was 2004: Fallujah, Iraq. Four civilian U.S. contractors were transporting supplies for a catering company. They were ambushed, killed, their bodies burned and dragged through the streets, then hung from a bridge on the Euphrates River. A NAVY SEAL TEAM captured one of the military's "most wanted" terrorists, the one responsible for the heinous crime.
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One of the Navy SEALS was cleared of charges in Iraq yesterday.
The SEALS were accused of mistreating a wanted Iraqi terrorist who was behind the murder of 4 US contractors in Fallujah in 2004.
U.S. military jury cleared a Navy SEAL Thursday of failing to prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding a 2004 attack that killed four American security contractors.
The contractors’ burned bodies were dragged through the streets and two were hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates river in the former insurgent hotbed of Fallujah, in what became a major turning point in the Iraq war.
The trial of three SEALs, the Navy’s elite special forces unit, has outraged many Americans who see it as coddling terrorists.
On Thursday, a six-man Navy jury found Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas not guilty of dereliction of duty and impeding the investigation. The jury heard too many differences between the testimony of a sailor who claimed he witnessed the Sept. 1 assault at a U.S. base outside Fallujah and statements from a half-dozen others who denied his account.
Smiling and composed as he left the courthouse at the U.S. military's Camp Victory on Baghdad's western outskirts, Huertas said he felt vindicated.
"It's a big weight off my shoulders," said Huertas, 29, of Blue Island, Illinois. "Compared to all the physical activity we go through, this has been mentally more challenging."
Huertas said he would rejoin the SEALs, the Navy's elite special forces, as soon as possible. His was the first trial of three SEALs accused in the assault of Ahmed Hashim Abed and its alleged cover up.
The case has drawn fire from at least 20 members of Congress and other Americans who see it as coddling terrorists to overcompensate for the notorious Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Thursday's verdict was met by anger and sad shrugs from Iraqis who said they no longer expect to see U.S. troops held accountable for atrocities or other abuses.
Huertas did not take the stand to defend himself, but is expected to testify in Keefe's trial, which begins Friday at the military base in Baghdad. Lombardi said Huertas is expected to offer few, if any, details of the case, and will testify that he was cleared of the same charge that Keefe also is accused of: dereliction of duty. Many of the same witnesses in Huertas' trial also will testify in Keefe's, although a new jury will be seated.
Only McCabe, of Perrysburg, Ohio, was charged with assaulting Abed, and his is the only trial to be held at the Virginia Naval base where the three SEALs are stationed. His trial is scheduled to begin May 3.
Wild Thing's comment........
These guys shouldn't even be on trial. That alone is a gross injustice! To put these men & their families through this is so wrong. It makes my blood boil.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:55 AM | Comments (4)
April 21, 2010
MRFF Group Wants Evangelist Franklin Graham Pentagon Event Canceled
Sunday, May 24, 2009 file photo, Franklin Graham prepares to give the invocation before the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C
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MRFF (Military Religious Freedom Foundation )
Group wants evangelist's Pentagon event canceled
A watchdog group objected Tuesday to an evangelist's invitation to speak at the Pentagon next month, saying his past description of Islam as "evil" offended Muslims who work for the Department of Defense and the appearance should be canceled.
Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said inviting evangelist Franklin Graham to speak May 6, the National Day of Prayer, "would be like bringing someone in on national prayer day madly denigrating Christianity" or other religious groups.
It would also endanger American troops by stirring up Muslim extremists, Weinstein said.
Graham is the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham and president and CEO of both Samaritan's Purse, a Christian international relief organization in Boone, N.C., and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, in Charlotte, N.C.
He said through a spokesman that he will be a guest of the Pentagon and will speak only if he's still invited. A military spokeswoman said she was locating officials to respond to the criticism.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Graham said Islam "is a very evil and wicked religion." In a later op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, Graham wrote that he did not believe Muslims were evil because of their faith, but "as a minister .... I believe it is my responsibility to speak out against the terrible deeds that are committed as a result of Islamic teaching."
Graham hasn't changed his views on Islam, said his spokesman, Mark DeMoss.
DeMoss quoted Graham as saying,
"As the father of a son serving in his fourth combat tour, I'd be glad to know someone was leading a prayer service at the National Day of Prayer, or any other day."
Weinstein, the foundation president, also criticized the Pentagon's working relationship with the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a Colorado group that organizes Christian events for the prayer day, designated by Congress.
Weinstein said that while he doesn't object to the day of prayer, the Pentagon chaplain's office has effectively endorsed the task force by using its materials and routinely inviting its honorary chairman to speak at the Pentagon. Weinstein said that amounts to preferential treatment in violation of Defense Department rules.
Graham is honorary chairman this year for the National Day of Prayer Task Force, based in Colorado Springs. A spokesman for the task force didn't immediately return a telephone message.
Weinstein said the task force is entitled to organize Christian-oriented events. But he said the Pentagon chaplain shouldn't be closely affiliated with the task force because it requires that all its events be conducted by Christians, although those with other beliefs are welcome to attend.
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Penetration Even At The Pentagon: Muslim Spies Setting Muslim Policy
The internal threat from Muslim extremists in the military extends to high-level Defense Department aides who have undermined military policy. In fact, one top Muslim adviser pushed out an intelligence analyst who warned of the sudden jihad syndrome that led to the Fort Hood terrorist attack.
An honored guest of the Ramadan dinner at the Pentagon this September was Hesham Islam, who infiltrated the highest echelons of the Ring despite proven ties to U.S. terror front groups and a shady past in his native Egypt.
As senior adviser for international affairs to former deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, Islam ran interference for the Islamic Society of North America and other radical fronts for the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, the subject of my new book "Muslim Mafia."
For example, Islam persuaded brass to sack a Pentagon analyst, Stephen Coughlin, after he advised cutting off outreach to ISNA, which he accurately ID'd as part of a covert terror-support network in the U.S. -- something the Justice Department recently confirmed in a major terror finance trial.
Islam invited ISNA officials to lunch with the avuncular England, known by insiders as Gullible Gordon, who in turn spoke at ISNA confabs. Islam also helped set up a Pentagon job booth at one recent ISNA convention to recruit Muslim chaplains and linguists.
Most disturbing, Islam met regularly with Saudi and other embassy officials lobbying for the release and repatriation of their citizens held at Gitmo. He in turn advised England, who authorized the release of dozens of Gitmo detainees. Some have resumed terrorist activities.
No one really knew who Islam was when he was promoted -- in fact, the Pentagon removed his bio from its Web site after reporters noted major inconsistencies in it -- yet he was allowed to get inside the office of the Pentagon's No. 2 official.
"In effect," a senior U.S. Army intelligence official told me, "we've got terrorist supporters calling the shots on our policies toward Muslims from the highest levels."
Meanwhile, politically incorrect prophets like Coughlin have been frozen out. After the betrayal at Fort Hood, the military could use his analysis of Islamic doctrine more than ever.
I attended a private briefing by Coughlin in February. In a PowerPoint presentation, he detailed how jihadists use the Quran to justify their actions. Some of his slides matched almost word-for-word Hasan's own PowerPoint slides extolling the virtues of jihad and martyrdom. Both, for instance, quoted from the same Quranic passage known as the "Verse of the Sword."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
More crapola from supporters of Islam. Islam IS evil. I hope they let Graham keep his invitation and be there.
The group against Graham is called the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and its AGAINST religious freedom.
Typical leftists
Mikey Weinstein is a vicious anti-Christian bigot and a liar. Whenever he speaks about Christianity it is with hatred and he consistently uses disease metaphors to refer to Christians and Christianity. He falsely accused Christian Air Force Academy Cadets of harassing his son.
Meanwhile, politically incorrect prophets like Coughlin have been frozen out. After the betrayal at Fort Hood, the military could use his analysis of Islamic doctrine more than ever.
Coughlin predicted Hasan's mind-set. He first began briefing the Pentagon on this jihadist doctrine in 2002. So brass can't say they didn't know.
They were warned that the enemy was drawing on religious principles, and that our own Muslim soldiers could succumb to such thinking.
And they were warned that by using ISNA and other radical Brotherhood fronts to endorse Muslim chaplains and recruit Muslim soldiers, they were courting enemies of the U.S. — and courting disaster. But they were too drunk with political correctness to listen.
The 82nd Airborne is based out of Fort Bragg, which is part of North Carolina state Sen. Larry Shaw's home district. Shaw is CAIR's new chairman. He is also a minority contractor who operates Shaw Food Services Co. near Fort Bragg. According to the legislator's financial disclosure form, Shaw Food customers include the Defense Department.
Yet CAIR, like ISNA, is an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator. The FBI says CAIR is a terrorist front group and has cut off formal ties to it. So should the military.
Also I highly recommend Major Coughlin's Thesis as a good reference tool as well among your favorites.
“TO OUR GREAT DETRIMENT”: IGNORING WHAT EXTREMISTS SAY ABOUT JIHAD
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:40 AM | Comments (3)
April 20, 2010
Aged Tires: A driving hazard! Please Watch This Video!
Aged Tires: A driving hazard.
The video is well worth watching. Please watch until the end, because some of the most important stuff you need to hear and see are past the middle of the segment. It could save your life or that of someone you love.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Please also forward the video to others.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (5)
Right To Laugh Trailer
A Preview of the new show Right To Laugh on RightNetwork.
Find more at http://rightnetwork.com
Join some of the most popular stand up comedians around for an evening of big laughs, political satire, pop culture skewering and a message we can all get behind... more laughter in our lives.
This is their YouTube page
http://www.youtube.com/user/RightNetwork
This is new so we will have to see how it really is once it gets started. But I am all for good things that our side does.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:49 AM
April 14, 2010
Bill Mauldin Stamp Honors Grunts' Hero
More photos HERE click LINK
The post office gets a lot of criticism. Always has, always will.
And with the renewed push to get rid of Saturday mail delivery, expect complaints to intensify.
But the United States Postal Service deserves a standing ovation for something that's going to happen this month: Bill Mauldin is getting his own postage stamp.
Mauldin died at age 81 in the early days of 2003. The end of his life had been rugged. He had been scalded in a bathtub, which led to terrible injuries and infections; Alzheimer's disease was inflicting its cruelties. Unable to care for himself after the scalding, he became a resident of a California nursing home, his health and spirits in rapid decline.
He was not forgotten, though. Mauldin, and his work, meant so much to the millions of Americans who fought in World War II, and to those who had waited for them to come home. He was a kid cartoonist for Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper; Mauldin's drawings of his muddy, exhausted, whisker-stubbled infantrymen Willie and Joe were the voice of truth about what it was like on the front lines.
Mauldin was an enlisted man just like the soldiers he drew for; his gripes were their gripes, his laughs were their laughs, his heartaches were their heartaches. He was one of them. They loved him.
He never held back. Sometimes, when his cartoons cut too close for comfort, his superior officers tried to tone him down. In one memorable incident, he enraged Gen. George S. Patton, and Patton informed Mauldin he wanted the pointed cartoons -- celebrating the fighting men, lampooning the high-ranking officers -- to stop. Now.
The news passed from soldier to soldier. How was Sgt. Bill Mauldin going to stand up to Gen. Patton? It seemed impossible.
Not quite. Mauldin, it turned out, had an ardent fan: Five-star Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe. Ike put out the word: Mauldin draws what Mauldin wants. Mauldin won. Patton lost.
If, in your line of work, you've ever considered yourself a young hotshot, or if you've ever known anyone who has felt that way about himself or herself, the story of Mauldin's young manhood will humble you. Here is what, by the time he was 23 years old, Mauldin had accomplished:
He won the Pulitzer Prize. He was featured on the cover of Time magazine. His book "Up Front" was the No. 1 best-seller in the United States.
All of that at 23. Yet when he returned to civilian life and he grew older, he never lost that boyish Mauldin grin, he never outgrew his excitement about doing his job, he never big-shotted or high-hatted the people with whom he worked every day.
I was lucky enough to be one of them; Mauldin roamed the hallways of the Chicago Sun-Times in the late 1960s and early 1970s with no more officiousness or air of haughtiness than if he was a copyboy. That impish look on his face remained.
He had achieved so much. He had won a second Pulitzer Prize, and he should have won a third, for what may be the single greatest editorial cartoon in the history of the craft: his deadline rendering, on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, of the statue at the Lincoln Memorial slumped in grief, its head cradled in its hands. But he never acted as if he was better than the people he met. He was still Mauldin the enlisted man.
During the late summer of 2002, as Mauldin lay in that California nursing home, some of the old World War II infantry guys caught wind of it. They didn't want Mauldin to go out that way. They thought he should know that he was still their hero.
Gordon Dillow, a columnist for the Orange County Register, put out the call in Southern California for people in the area to send their best wishes to Mauldin; I joined Dillow in the effort, helping to spread the appeal nationally so that Bill would not feel so alone. Soon more than 10,000 letters and cards had arrived at Mauldin's bedside.
Even better than that, the old soldiers began to show up just to sit with Mauldin, to let him know that they were there for him, as he, long ago, had been there for them. So many volunteered to visit Bill that there was a waiting list. Here is how Todd DePastino, in the first paragraph of his wonderful biography of Mauldin, described it:
"Almost every day in the summer and fall of 2002 they came to Park Superior nursing home in Newport Beach, California, to honor Army Sergeant, Technician Third Grade, Bill Mauldin. They came bearing relics of their youth: medals, insignia, photographs, and carefully folded newspaper clippings. Some wore old garrison caps. Others arrived resplendent in uniforms over a half century old. Almost all of them wept as they filed down the corridor like pilgrims fulfilling some long-neglected obligation."
One of the veterans explained to me why it was so important:
"You would have to be part of a combat infantry unit to appreciate what moments of relief Bill gave us. You had to be reading a soaking wet Stars and Stripes in a water-filled foxhole and then see one of his cartoons."
Mauldin is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This month, the kid cartoonist makes it onto a first-class postage stamp. It's an honor that most generals and admirals never receive.
What Mauldin would have loved most, I believe, is the sight of the two guys who are keeping him company on that stamp.
Take a look at it.
There's Willie. There's Joe.
And there, to the side, drawing them and smiling that shy, quietly observant smile, is Mauldin himself. With his buddies, right where he belongs. Forever.
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Bill Mauldin, on top of a jeep (his favored mode of transportation), was a hero to soldiers for his cartoons.
The cartoonist beloved by GIs and regular guys
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Wild Thing's comment........
This is GREAT news I love that they are doing this.
....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 06:50 AM | Comments (8)
April 12, 2010
The implosion of Texas Stadium
This is the implosion of Texas Stadium yesterday morning, April 11, 2010. Texas Stadium was the home of the Dallas Cowboys from 1971-2008. They moved into Cowboys Stadium to begin the 2009 season.
Wild Thing's comment.....
This was kind of sad to me. When I lived in Dallas I went to a ton of the Cowboy games so there are a lot of memories of this Stadium.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (2)
April 10, 2010
Polish President Lech Kaczynski dies in plane crash
A plane carrying Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president, has crashed near Smolensk airport in western Russia, killing all on board, Russian officials have reported.
Polish officials confirmed on Saturday that Kaczynski was on board the flight with his wife, as well as Slawomir Skrzypek, the president of Poland's central bank, Andrzej Kremer, the deputy foreign minister and the army chief of staff.
The crash occurred about 1.5km from Smolensk airport in foggy conditions.
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President Lech Kaczynski and scores of other senior Polish figures have been killed in a plane crash in Russia.
“They were in Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when Soviets killed thousands of Poles.
The Russian emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass news agency the plane crashed at 1056 Moscow time (0656 GMT).”
SNIPPET: “Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufiev told Russian TV that no-one had survived.
“As it was preparing for landing, the Polish president’s aircraft did not make it to the landing strip,” he said.
“According to preliminary reports, it got caught up in the tops of trees, fell to the ground and broke up into pieces. There are no survivors in that crash.”
Polish TV worker Slawomir Wisniewski said he had seen the crash from his hotel near the airport.
"I saw through the fog, the aeroplane flying very low with the left wing pointing to the ground," he said.
"I heard something being broken and then that thudding sound. Two flashes of fire next to each other."
Mr Putin visited the crash site, after saying he would personally oversee the investigation into the crash.
"Everything must be done to establish the reasons for this tragedy in the shortest possible time," he said.
He was to meet his Polish counterpart, Mr Tusk, in Smolensk.
Russian officials said all the bodies had been recovered from the scene and were being taken to Moscow for identification.
Russia's Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said both of the plane's flight information recorders had been found and were being examined.
Partial list of those dead:
Lech Kaczyński - the President
Maria Kaczyńska - the First Lady
Ryszard Kaczorowski - last Polish President in exile
Jerzy Szmajdziński - Vice Speaker of the Lower House (left wing leader)
Krzysztof Putra - Vice Speaker of the Lower House
Władysław Stasiak - chief of the President's Chancellary
Aleksander Szczygło - chief of the Office for National Security
Paweł Wypych - presidential Secrtetary of state
Mariusz Handzlik - as above
Andrzej Kremer - vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
gen. Franciszek Gągor - chief of staff of the Polish Army
Przemysław Gosiewski - rigth wing prominent politician
Zbigniew Wassermann - as above
Janusz Kochanowski - Polish ombudsman
Sławomir Skrzypek - chief of the Polish National Bank
Janusz Kurtyka - chief of the institute for the National Rememberance
Bishop Tadeusz Płoski - Catholic field bishop of the Polish Army (head Catholic chaplain)
Archbishop Miron Chodakowski - Orthodox field bishop of the Polish Army
And many, many, many others ....
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Wild Thing's comment........
Greatest country in Europe these days. Long live Poland. What a loss! What an unimaginable tragedy! Prayers for Poland. A terrible loss for all freedom loving people. How terribly sad.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:20 PM | Comments (3)
4 Missing Miners Found Dead in West Virginia Coal Mine
4 Missing Miners Found Dead in West Virginia Coal Mine
Search teams found the bodies of four men missing almost a week since an explosion rocked a West Virginia coal mine, bringing the death toll to 29 in the worst U.S. mining disaster in a generation.
Crews who held out hope that survivors might have made it to an airtight chamber awaiting rescue instead discovered their bodies Friday in the Upper Big Branch Mine, officials said.
"We did not receive the miracle that we prayed for," Gov. Joe Manchin said early Saturday. "So this journey has ended and now the healing will start."
Officials say the mission now is to recover all 22 bodies still inside the Upper Big Branch mine 30 miles of Charleston. Seven other bodies were recovered after the blast Monday and two other miners were injured.
The raised death toll makes it the worst coal mine disaster in the U.S. since 1970 when 38 were killed at Finley Coal Co. in Hyden, Ky.
Wild Thing's comment.....
I HATE this. I hate that miners have to die. God be with the families and watch over them. Coal mining is a very dangerous business, God protect our miners. This is so sad, so terrible.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:50 AM | Comments (4)
April 08, 2010
Taiwanese Talent Show Contestant Blows Minds of Everyone
Lin Yu Chun, a contestant on the Taiwanese Talent show 'Super Star Avenue,' is the latest to rock the Internet with his version of Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You.'
Chun is a favorite to win the million dollar grand prize on the show — and they are already calling him the next Susan Boyle.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Amazing how he hits such high notes and does not scream. He is really good.
......Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion - 1st Aviation Brigade - Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (2)
April 07, 2010
25 Killed In West Virginia Mine Blast ~ Prayers For These Families
Montcoal, West Virginia
The death toll from the massive explosion at a sprawling coal mine in West Virginia rose to 25 early Tuesday, making it the deadliest U.S. mining disaster in 25 years. Crews halted their efforts to reach four miners still unaccounted for at the Upper Big Branch Mine following the blast Monday afternoon.
Concentrations of methane and carbon monoxide inside the mine made it a safety risk for crews to proceed, said Kevin Stricklin of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration at a 2 a.m. briefing to reporters. Officials planned to drill bore holes from the surface 1,200 feet into the mines to help ventilate it and to collect samples. However, they will first have to use bulldozers to clear a path to reach the part of the mine where they can drill.
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Wild Thing's comment........
This is so sad, prayers for these families and loved ones.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:40 AM | Comments (3)
March 24, 2010
Check Out The Various Cockpits Of Your Favorites ~ Awesome!
This is awesome and it is at Code One website. Code One Magazine is a quarterly publication of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company.
After connecting to the site, click on any plane & and it will show you the cockpit of that airplane!
Click on: COCKPIT
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Wild Thing's comment......
This is really neat to be able to see the different cockpits, I like how the site is set up too.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:45 AM | Comments (2)
March 15, 2010
Actor Peter Graves Dies at 83
Peter Graves, the cool spymaster of television’s “Mission Impossible” and the dignified host of the “Biography” series, who successfully spoofed his own gravitas in the “Airplane” movie farces, died Sunday. He was 83.
He died of a heart attack at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., said Fred Barman, his business manager.
It was a testament to Mr. Graves’s earnest, unhammy ability to make fun of himself that after decades of playing square he-men and straitlaced authority figures, he was perhaps best known to younger audiences for a deadpan line in “Airplane!” (“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”) and one from a memorable Geico car insurance commercial (“I was one lucky woman”).
Born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, the blond, 6-foot-2 .Mr. Graves served in the Army Air Force in 1944-45, studied drama at the University of Minnesota under the G.I. Bill and played the clarinet in local bands before following his older brother, James Arness, to Hollywood.
A journeyman actor with more than 130 film and TV credits listed on the Internet Movie Database Web site, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last Oct. 30.
The younger brother of Jim Arness of "Gunsmoke" fame, Graves made his film debut in the 1951 crime drama "Rogue River." Two years later, he portrayed a German spy placed among allied prisoners of war in "Stalag 17."
One of his early TV credits was as Jim Newton on the Saturday morning children's series "Fury," about a horse and the boy who loved him, which ran from 1955-60.
In 1967, Graves was cast to replace Steven Hill as the leader of the Impossible Missions Force following the first season of the CBS spy drama "Mission: Impossible."
Graves played Jim Phelps, who would receive instructions for his team's next mission via a tape that would memorably self-destruct in five seconds, until the series' cancellation in 1973. Graves reprised the role on a 1988-90 revival on ABC.
In a departure from most of his dramatic roles, Graves starred as Capt. Clarence Oveur in the classic 1980 spoof of disaster movies "Airplane!"
Graves parlayed his portrayal of authority figures on "Mission: Impossible" and "Airplane!" into the hosting role on A&E's "Biography" from 1994-2006.
Graves' other movie credits included "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell"; "A Rage to Live"; "The Raid"; "The Ballad of Josie"; "The Long Grey Line"; "Texas Across the River"; "Five Man Army"; "Spree"; "Number One with a Gun"; "Savannah Smiles"; "Survival Run" "Cruise Missile"; "Black Tuesday" and "Fort Defiance."
Graves also appeared in the ABC miniseries "The Winds of War" and its sequel, "War and Remembrance."
His last performance was as the narrator in 2010's "Darkstar."
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Wild Thing's comment........
Rest in Peace Peter Graves. I met his brother, James Arness is 86, one time, a really nice man.
Graves was great in Stalag 17, but absolute perfection in Airplane.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (2)
March 12, 2010
Skydiving from 120,000 Feet
Felix Baumgartne, skydiving expert and test to jump pilot, discusses his attempt to break the record for highest skydive.
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Record-Breaking Skydive This Year Will Include First Supersonic Free Fall
The Red Bull Stratos mission endeavors to shatter many long-held records in parachuting and balloon aviation
A privately funded team will attempt this year to break a 50-year-old record for the highest-altitude parachute jump, floating a balloon well into the stratosphere before its pilot leaps out for a supersonic free fall.
If all goes as planned, a towering helium balloon will loft Austrian-born skydiver and BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner, 40, roughly 37 kilometers into the air before he begins his descent. (BASE stands for "buildings, antennas, spans, Earth"—the places and structures from which a BASE parachutist jumps.) Baumgartner could set new records for the highest manned balloon flight and the longest free fall as well as become the first person to break the sound barrier without a protective craft. Baumgartner said he would exceed the speed of sound within about 35 seconds of free fall but would not pull his chute for another five minutes.
"It's human nature to want to go faster, farther," said Joe Kittinger, 81, the retired U.S. Air Force pilot who made the highest jump on record in 1960, parachuting from a balloon 31 kilometers above Earth's surface. Kittinger is the Stratos mission's capcom (short for capsule communicator), which means that he will be the voice in Baumgartner's helmet. Kittinger's advice to his successor: "Have fun, enjoy it, and tell us all about it when you get down."
Baumgartner, who called Kittinger a "childhood hero," is perhaps best known for gliding across the English Channel in 2003 with a carbon-fiber wing strapped to his back. Baumgartner said that jump, from about 10 kilometers, is his highest to date. The Stratos mission is incremental, with two lower-altitude jumps set to precede the final attempt; even the first jump, from roughly 20 kilometers, would double Baumgartner's personal altitude record.
The Stratos team claimed that Baumgartner's jump will be more than a dangerous stunt—Kittinger said that the collection of physiological data is central to the mission. Medical director Jonathan Clark noted that Kittinger's 1960 jump as part of the Air Force's Project Excelsior was in some ways a precursor to manned U.S. space missions, which began the next year. Similarly, Clark said, investigating the effects of a high-altitude bailout could benefit the fledgling commercial spaceflight industry.
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The current record has stood for 50 years and his held by Joseph Kittinger, a retired United States Air Force Colonel. It was set on 16 August 1960 and stands at 102,800 feet.
Felix Baumgartner otherwise known as “Fearless Felix” or “God of the Skies” is a renowned skydiver who has become known for his high adrenalin stunts and BASE jumping. Some of his feats include BASE jumping from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; landing on top of the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden, only to then BASE jump off it! Now thats one creative way around all the security!
Felix also became the first person to cross the English Channel in free-fall, by using a carbon-fibre wing to fly. He jumped from 32,000 feet and used the altitude to get himself across to France.
The Red Bull Stratos project has collected some of the leading specialists in aerospace, medicine and engineering to ensure the success of the record attempt. They will use a stratospheric balloon to carry Felix to the edge of space, 120,000ft.
He will also attempt to become the first human to break the speed of sound during his free fall, getting up to Mach 1.0 (about 690 mph or 1,070 km/h). In comparison, during a normal jump a skydiver reaches a top speed of about 120 mph (190 km/h) during free fall in a standard belly down position.
The current record for speed during free fall, is held by Col. Joseph Kittinger is 614 mph (equivalent to Mach 0.9 or 980 km/h).
If successful, Fearless Felix will also hold the record for the highest manned balloon flight. The current record of 113,740ft, was established on May 4, 1961, and is held by Lt. Cdr. Victor A. Prather, Jr., and Cdr. Malcolm Ross.
And yet another record would be the longest free fall duration, which would most likely be approximately 5 minutes and 35 seconds before his main parachute deploys. The current record is 4 min and 36 secs, held by Col. Joseph Kittinger on the same record breaking jump 50 years ago.
The original record jump was done to collect useful medical and scientific data for the American space program. Now 50 years later Felix’s jump will also be used to collect useful scientific information, especially the next generation of full pressure suits. Perhaps with this research, we could bring astronauts back to earth safely on their own.
50 years is a long time for a record to stand. There have been many attempts, some even ending in the loss of life. The most recent was made by the Frenchman Michel Fournier in 2008, who planned for years and then watched helplessly as his balloon broke free, before he could get aboard and climbed into the stratosphere without him
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Wild Thing's comment........
Wow! This is fascinating.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM
March 08, 2010
Sheppard AFB Was Under Lock Down, Man With Gun Arrested
Sheppard AFB On Lock Down
Wichita Falls KS
Updated: Mar 08, 2010 12:42 AM EST Sheppard AFB Police have confirmed to Newschannel 6 that Sheppard Air Force Base is under lock down, and all incoming traffic is being halted.
Sheppard AFB Police have confirmed to Newschannel 6 that Sheppard Air Force Base is under lock down, and all entrances and exits have been sealed until further notice.
George Woodward, Sheppard's Public Information Officer, tells Newschannel 6 that police apprehended a man carrying a shotgun on base.
There were no shots fired or hostages taken, he said.
All airmen have been accounted for as Sheppard continues to operate under lock down until further notice.
Newschannel 6 will continue to monitor the situation. Stay tuned for updates throughout the night and tomorrow morning.
UPDATE:
George Woodward, Sheppard’s Public Information Officer, tells Newschannel 6 that police apprehended a man carrying a shotgun on base.
There were no shots fired or hostages taken, he said.
All airmen have been accounted for as Sheppard continues to operate under lock down until further notice.
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UPDATE:
Gun scare at Sheppard Air Force Base
Officials at Sheppard Air Force Base say a man was arrested late Sunday night following reports of an armed man on base.
The public affairs office tells 7News officers located the man, who did have a gun, and took him into custody. Sheppard officials say contrary to rumors, no shots were fired and no hostages were taken. A lock down at the base was expected to be lifted shortly after midnight Sunday.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Not much info—but prayers up for the safety of our military.
Sheppard AFB is a technical training center. All Air Force Basic training is at Lackland, in San Antonio.
There is also this from last Friday on another Base. I have been to Nellis AFB many, many times.
Man Held After Bomb Threat at Nellis Air Force Base
The main gate at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas was locked down on Friday afternoon after a man made a bomb threat, according to local reports.
Metro Police said the man had been taken into custody without incident and is now in the hands of federal officials, www.ktnv.com said.
The main gate remains closed while the investigation continues.
A spokesman at Nellis told Fox News the gate was closed because of what he described as a minor incident, although he did not have details.
He called the situation "routine" and said there was "no ongoing threat to the public."
The base's other gates remain open.
Traffic around the area was diverted after the incident at around 3 p.m.
Nellis is the location of the United States Air Force Warfare Center and is a major training location for both U.S. and foreign military aircrews.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM
Compilation of Some Explosions and JDAMs ~ Awesome!
Wild Thing's comment.......
Booom! Shaka laka, Boom! LOVE it!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (2)
March 02, 2010
GM To Recall 1.3 Million Compact Cars
GM To Recall 1.3 Million Compact Cars Automaker cites power steering motors that can fail in Chevys, Pontiacs
By JUSTIN HYDE
WASHINGTON
General Motors said tonight it will recall 1.3 million cars in North America to replace a power steering motor that could fail, following a federal probe launched in January.
GM said the recall would cover 2005-2010 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2007-10 Pontiac G5s and similar models sold in Canada and Mexico.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Agency in January had opened a probe of 905,000 Cobalts from the 2005 through 2009 model year following 1,132 complaints of power steering failures that could make the cars hard to control. The complaints included reports of 14 crashes and one injury.
"After our in-depth investigation, we found that this is a condition that takes time to develop. It tends to occur in older models out of warranty," said Jamie Hresko, GM vice president of quality, in a statement. “Recalling these vehicles is the right thing to do for our customers' peace of mind.
GM said even if the problem occurred, the vehicles are “safe to drive” but would require more steering effort under 15 m.p.h., with a chime and “Power Steering” warning light coming on.
The recall, the largest by GM in a number of years, comes as Congress scrutinizes the auto industry’s regulation by NHTSA following a string of Toyota recalls linked to sudden acceleration problems.
GM recalled 2.2 million vehicles in 2009, and its total number of vehicles recalled had been falling in recent years as the company said it was catching problems earlier in production.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Shouldn’t they call Obama since he is the highest ranking person involved with the owners of GM?
When there isn't the same treatment Obama’s thugs gave Toyota this will be the proof that they are abusing the government apparatus to promote Government Motors.
Knowing this and what is happening with Toyota:
"Toyota executives have been summoned to testify before congressional committees investigating the company's actions and whether the NHTSA did enough to make sure the Toyotas are safe."
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (6)
March 01, 2010
Desperation Grows In Chile After 8.8 Magnitude
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Death Toll is now 708. This is so horrible, so sad.
One of the world's most powerful earthquakes in a century battered Chile on Saturday.
Buildings caught fire, bridges collapsed and debris blocked streets across swathes of central Chile.
A 15-storey building collapsed in Concepcion, the closest major city to the epicenter, and overturned cars lay scattered below a fallen overpass in the capital Santiago. Telephone and power lines went down, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage and loss of life.
"It came in waves and lasted so long. Three minutes is an eternity. We kept worrying that it was getting stronger, like a terrifying Hollywood movie," said Santiago housewife Dolores Cuevas.
But it was the fifth-largest earthquake since 1900 and dealt a blow to the economy and infrastructure of the world's No. 1 copper producer and one of Latin America's most developed and stable countries.
"This will be a major blow to the country's infrastructure; there has been major damage to roads, airports, which are now suspended, ports and also in housing," Chilean President-elect Sebastian Pinera said.
The quake halted operations at two oil refineries and two major copper mines and the government said an estimated half a million homes were severely damaged.
President Michelle Bachelet said a huge wave hit the Juan Fernandez islands, an archipelago where Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned in the 18th century, inspiring the novel Robinson Crusoe.
"There was a series of waves that got bigger and bigger, which gave people time to save themselves," pilot Fernando Avaria told TVN television by telephone from the main island. Three people were killed and four missing there, he said.
Chilean seaside resort of Pelluhue has been washed away; municipality had about 1,000 residents
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Wild Thing's comment......
There are a lot more dead than being reported then first reported. The numbers grow as they find the missing people. Prayers for those that survived in Chile.
One news commentator said that Chile had high building standards because they were so earthquake-prone. That probably helped keep the damage down. Even so, an 8+ is going to do damage.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:45 AM | Comments (2)
February 26, 2010
Top US Marine Rejects Obama Plan To Repeal Gay Ban
General James Terry Conway, USMC
34th Commandant of the Marine Corps (2006 - present)
Commandant of the US Marine Corps General James T. Conway . The head of the US Marines said on Thursday he opposed ending the ban on gays serving openly in the military, the first top officer to break openly with President Barack Obama over the issue.
The head of the US Marines said on Thursday he opposed ending the ban on gays serving openly in the military, the first top officer to break openly with President Barack Obama over the issue.
General James Conway told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he disagreed with Obama's plan to repeal the ban.
"My best military advice to this committee, to the (defense) secretary, and to the president would be to keep the law such as it is."
Conway said the current policy worked and any bid to lift the ban should answer the question: "do we somehow enhance the war fighting capabilities of the United States Marine Corps by allowing homosexuals to openly serve?"
Conway's public rejection of his commander-in-chief's stance is sure to fuel debate in Congress on the issue and reflects apprehension among some senior military officers about changing the 1993 law.
The chiefs of the US Army and Air Force also expressed doubts about lifting the ban at congressional hearings this week, saying they were concerned about putting the military under further strain in the midst of two wars.
But Conway went further, making it clear he opposed lifting the ban that requires gay service members to keep quiet about their sexual orientation or face expulsion from the military.
His comments contrasted sharply with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who has spoken forcefully in favor of ending the ban.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called for a review of the issue to survey service members and examine the possible effect of changing the law, known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Senator Joe Lieberman disagreed with Conway, saying he believed the review would show that allowing gays to serve openly would bolster the military's battle readiness.
"This has to pass the test of military readiness. I believe it will based on my knowledge of what's happened in other militaries," he said, citing British and Canadian forces who serve alongside American troops inAfghanistan.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Latest military polling indicates the same sentiments.....
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (10)
February 02, 2010
Lech Walesa.... "America is Moving Towards Socialism"
Lech Walesa tells his American Audience that the United States no longer leads the world politically or morally Interviewer asks President Walesa if he thinks America is slipping toward Socialism. His Answer? Yes!
Andrzejewski is running on a platform of forensically auditing Illinois’ books and exposing corruption by making the details of the audit available to the public.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Lech would certainly know communism and socialism when he sees it and right now he is seeing red.
We have passed socialism and are moving straight ahead to communism!
The free market (Capitalism) did not cause this crisis, the government (Socialism) did.
The free market did not take us off the gold standard, the government did.
The free market did not dump trillions of dollars of cheap money into the system, the government did.
The free market did not create multiple trillion-dollar entitlement programs, the government did.
The free market did not create Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae and Ginnie Mae, the government did.
The free market did not write a tax code that favors one product (real estate) over others, the government did.
The free market did not destroy our public school system and graduate (or fail to graduate) generations of civically and financially illiterate citizens, the government did.
The free market did not pass laws that force banks to lend to those who do not qualify for a loan, the government did.
The free market does not try to engineer society or buy votes, the government does.
The government caused this crisis, the free market did not.
The government cannot fix the crisis, the free market can.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM
January 31, 2010
Mother Teresa: Should a Saint Get Postal Service's Stamp of Approval?
The stamp features a portrait of Mother Teresa painted by award-winning artist Thomas Blackshear II of Colorado Springs, CO.
Mother Teresa: Should a Saint Get Postal Service's Stamp of Approval?
If anything qualifies as a no-brainer, it would seem to be honoring Mother Teresa of Calcutta on a stamp. Not really the biggest laurel the late Nobel Prize winner and sure-fire saint will ever merit, but nothing to sniff at -- especially given the price of a stamp these days.
But of course, you knew someone would find something objectionable about the decision, and in this case it is The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a leading atheist organization that is organizing a boycott and letter-writing campaign against the stamp, which was one of 23 new issues the United States Postal Service recently unveiled for 2010.
The thing is, the atheists have a point.
Now before you start sputtering in the comment boxes, note the Postal Service's own list of a dozen criteria for who can qualify for "stamphood," specifically item No. 9:
"Stamps or stationery items shall not be issued to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs."
As FFRF leaders Annie Laurie Gaylor told FoxNews.com, "Mother Teresa is principally known as a religious figure who ran a religious institution. You can't really separate her being a nun and being a Roman Catholic from everything she did."
Well, USPS spokesman Roy Betts tried.
"This has nothing to do with religion or faith," Betts said in response. "Mother Teresa is not being honored because of her religion, she's being honored for her work with the poor and her acts of humanitarian relief." (Actually, the Postal Service press release notes that she followed "a divine inspiration." But Betts is stuck between a rock and a hard place, it seems.)
At First Things, Joe Carter begs to differ and to side with Gaylor -- though with regret, and justifiable annoyance:
"Mother Teresa should certainly appear on a stamp -- but only after we change the law. We shouldn't look for loopholes that require denying the importance of her faith in order for her to qualify. Mother Teresa should be honored for who she really was -- a Catholic nun motivated by the love of Christ -- and not as a faux, secular saint."
Such a change in the law would also help avoid the Postal Service -- and groups like The Freedom From Religion Foundation -- from having to come up with tortured arguments justifying, or criticizing, certain honorees.
For example, previous postal honorees with obvious religious identities include Malcolm X, the former chief spokesman for the Nation of Islam, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1986, the Post Office issued a stamp in honor of Father Edward J. Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, that is still widely used.
In explaining their conflicting positions on those, both the USPS and the FFRF get a bit tied up in contradictions.
Postal spokesman Betts said Flanagan was "honored for his humanitarian work." Annie Laurie Gaylor doesn't agree. But she doesn't have any problem with King or Malcolm X. Martin Luther King "just happened to be a minister," she said, and "Malcolm X was not principally known for being a religious figure."
Gaylor does object to the "darker side" of Mother Teresa's religious activism, chiefly her opposition to abortion. Then again, in its press release objecting to the Mother Teresa stamp, the FFRF urges its followers to buy the Katherine Hepburn stamps the Postal Service is producing this year, because Hepburn publicly described herself as an atheist and was featured in an FFRF ad campaign.
And the Virgin Mary? She has been on Christmas stamps since the 1960s. But she's principally known as a mom. So that's okay.
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Wild Thing's comment........
I see nothing wrong with Mother Teresa being on a stamp. She did a lot for so many people and touched so many lives..
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (9)
January 30, 2010
Buried Body ID'd As Missing Fla. Lottery Winner
Remains Identified as Missing Florida Lottery Winner
PLANT CITY, Fla
Winning millions of dollars in the Florida Lottery should have been the best thing that ever happened to Abraham Shakespeare.
But with his newfound wealth in 2006 — $17 million in a lump sum payment — came a string of hangers-on who constantly hit him up for money. Nine months ago, he vanished.
Friends and family hoped he was on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean. But on Friday, detectives confirmed that a body buried under a concrete slab in a rural backyard was his.
The home Shakespeare was found behind belongs to the boyfriend of a woman who befriended him in 2007. Authorities believe he was murdered and the woman may know something about it, but they do not yet know how he died and have not arrested anyone.
Shakespeare's brother, Robert Brown, said Friday that Shakespeare often wished he had never bought the winning ticket.
"'I'd have been better off broke.' He said that to me all the time," Brown said.
Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives used fingerprints to identify Shakespeare's body, which they found covered by a concrete slab.
Before 2006, Shakespeare was an assistant truck driver who lived with his mother. He was barely literate and had a criminal record. After he won the lottery, he bought a million-dollar home and was extremely generous to others.
"He really didn't understand it at all," said Samuel Jones, a friend since childhood. "It was moving so fast. It changed his life in a bad way."
Jones said Abraham would tell him, "I thought all these people were my friends, but then I realized all they want is just money."
Among those new friends was Dorice Donegan "DeeDee" Moore. She told him she was interested in writing a book about his life, but officials said she was interested in his money.
Moore, whose known phone numbers were all disconnected Friday, became something of a financial adviser to Shakespeare. Property records show her company, American Medical Professionals, bought his home for $655,000 a year ago. Not long afterward, detectives said, she helped him open a company and gave herself the ability to sign for money.
She withdrew $1 million and later told detectives Shakespeare gave her the cash as a gift. She bought a Hummer, a Corvette and a truck, and went on vacation.
"DeeDee Moore is a con artist," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news release earlier this month. "DeeDee Moore has cheated Abraham Shakespeare out of his money, and possibly his life."
A tip led detectives to Shakespeare's grave site this week, behind a home owned by 26-year-old Shar Krasniqi, identified by Judd as Moore's boyfriend.
Meanwhile, friends and family puzzled Friday over Shakespeare's rapid rise and fall. Jones said his friend lived a humble life, and just before he bought the winning ticket he joined a church and was baptized.
"When he won the lottery," Jones said, "he forgot about being saved."
Wild Thing's comment.......
From the artilce it sounds like he was turning his life around.
If I won the lotto I would see if I could do it anonymously and not have my name in a newspaper etc. But I am not sure if the law says one has to have the win in print or not.
....Thank you Jack for sending this to me.
United States Army
1965-1971
Army Combat Engineers
Quang Tri & Chu Lai '68 -'69
67-69
Jack's blog is Conservative Insurgent
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:45 AM | Comments (6)
January 25, 2010
McCain-Backed GOP Senate Candidate Carly Fiorina Hearts Jesse Jackson
McCain-backed GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina hearts Jesse Jackson — and radical gender politics
H/t Michelle Malkin
As if California GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina’s massive bailout-supporting economic advice for John McCain wasn’t bad enough (reminder from yesterday’s column: “In California, McCain’s PAC supports former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina – a celebrity name with deep pockets of her own, massive media exposure, and a checkered business record. Fiorina served as the economic adviser to McCain, who supported the $700 billion TARP bailout, the $25 billion auto bailout, a $300 billion mortgage bailout, and the first $85 billion AIG bailout.”), now comes the revelation of that she has had a long political love affair with Jesse Jackson.
It’s on tape, via Neil Stevens of RedState:
“When Carly Fiorina speaks on the campaign trail here in California, running to be the Republican nominee to unseat Barbara Boxer, she tries to prohibit recording of her speeches. However somebody snuck in an audio recorder to an event yesterday, and these clips seem to show why she would do that. The real, private Carly seems to be a bit different from the public, ‘conservative’ Carly.”
Listen for yourselves as she coos about “the Reverend Jesse Jackson” and panders to gender quota-mongers at a women’s conference held last week:
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Carly Fiorina: Radical Feminist
Philip Klein at the American Spectator has a partial transcript :
“And I thought about something that the Reverend Jesse Jackson said to me several years ago. He very graciously came to the offices of Hewlett Packard to visit me, because we were doing some work together for his Rainbow Coalition. And he said to me, ‘You know, Carly, every game is better when everybody gets to play.’ And I thought it was such a great way of describing why everything is better when all people, regardless of color or nationality or gender, get to play. Sports are better. Business is better. Politics are better. The world is better when everybody gets to play in things that matter.”
Fiorina continues to cast herself as a “mainstream conservative.” But what exactly is “mainstream” or “conservative” about heaping praise on one of this country’s greediest and unrepentant race hustlers?
Reminder:
Jackson has repeatedly threatened businesses and corporations, black and white, with boycotts, racially biased criticism, and (implicitly) outright violence, if they refused to enrich him or his organizations. Among the companies: Coca-Cola, Texaco, Viacom, AT&T, Boeing, and Coors. In addition, his organizations have received at least $50 million from the U.S. government.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Don't you just love these people that are NOT conservatives and then go and call themselves just that.
I am so tired of their lies. McCain being one of the biggest and apparently Carly not far behind. These people scream bipartisan; when what they are doing is prostituting themselves at our expense to the other side. They really need to go.
She also engaged in hijinx with Deutsche Bank to get them to vote with her against Bill Hewlett’s son. The deal was to promise DB investment banking work for their vote. Thank God HP dumped her and the other broad who broke the law. The current CEO is a good guy and knows his stuff.
....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 (5)
January 21, 2010
Charlie Daniels Suffers Mild Stroke While Snowmobiling
January 19, 2010
Legendary recording artist Charlie Daniels suffered a mild stroke while snowmobiling in Colorado on Friday, Jan. 15th. He was treated at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango, CO then airlifted to Swedish Medical Center in Denver, CO. Daniels was released from Swedish Medical Center on Sunday, Jan. 17th and returned to his home in Colorado, where he has been on vacation since Dec. 27th.
There are no plans to cancel any concert dates. Charlie is doing well and looking forward to beginning The Charlie Daniels Band 2010 concert dates on Feb. 27th in Ft. Pierce, FL and Feb. 28th in Brooksville, FL.
Charlie and his family appreciate and are grateful for everyone's thoughts and prayers during this time.
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Different Strokes
by Charlie Daniels
The day was magnificent. The snow was smooth and deep and the trail had just been groomed. We were skimming across the snow at a good clip doing one of my favorite things in the whole world, snowmobiling in the beautiful Rocky Mountain backcountry with our snowmobile buddies Cy and Jeannie Scarborough and some other friends, hitting the high spots and just having a wonderful time.
I noticed that my left hand was getting numb and thought that it was because I had been hanging on to the handle bars of my snowmobile for so long that it had gone to sleep, but then I felt the left side of my mouth starting growing numb and my left foot started getting hard to control and I knew something was happening to me. I knew I'd better get back down the mountain and get some help.
I told Cy how I was feeling and we immediately headed to the trailhead, for the longest 15-mile snowmobile ride I ever hope to take.
When we got to where we were parked, Jeannie gave me three baby aspirin and we got in Cy's vehicle and tore out for Mercy Regional Medical Center about 30 miles away in Durango.
I had so little coordination on my left side that I needed a wheel chair to make it to the emergency room where the staff hurriedly started diagnostic procedures.
A few minutes later, the doctor on duty told me what I was pretty sure of already. I was having a stroke in the right part of my brain, the part that controls the left hand side of your body, probably caused by a blood clot in the brain
They gave me a shot of a drug called tPA (Tissue Plasminogen Activator), which breaks up blood clots and in a few minutes I was loaded aboard an ambulance plane and hurried off to Swedish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, where I was hurriedly taken into the emergency room and examined by a very, very capable staff of doctors including a neurologist and was put in the critical care ward where I was hooked up to a battery of diagnostic machines and IVs and began the many tests I would be given in the next two days.
The early consensus of the doctors was that I had indeed had a stroke in the right hand part of my brain, as a CAT scan was later to confirm.
The only effect that it seemed to have left behind was a numbness in my left hand and a stiffness in my left arm.
They released me on Sunday morning and I went back to Durango, where I am writing this column.
I begin physical therapy today to relieve the stiffness and numbness in my left hand and arm.
That's kind of it in a nutshell. I'm doing fine but there are a few details I'd like to share with you.
First of all, if you begin to feel a stiffness in your limbs or face or if one or more of your limbs start to become difficult to control immediately chew up a couple of aspirin and head for the nearest hospital or clinic.
Don't procrastinate or try to tell yourself it's going to go away. You only have three hours from the time you feel a stroke coming on to get a shot of tPA into your system to break up the blood clots that are causing the stoke. So don't play with your life, get help.
The other thing I wanted to share with you is how the fingerprints of God were all over my experience.
First of all, we were snowmobiling on the side of Durango where Mercy Regional Medical Center -the only hospital in Durango- is located. We could have easily have been on the opposite side of town and much further away.
Cy and Jeannie Scarborough -who always haul their own snowmobiles- had decided to ride my two extra machines that day which meant that we had a vehicle with no snowmobile trailer to unhook and could hurry to the hospital without delay.
Our other friends Tom and Anita loaded our snowmobiles and drove our vehicle down off the mountain.
By the time I got to the hospital and the doctors got me diagnosed, I only had fifteen or twenty minutes left to take the shot of tPA to break up the blood clot in my brain.
Swedish Medical Center -the hospital they took me to in Denver- has one of the top neurological units in the country.
Of course Hazel immediately got on the phone and started calling our pastor and our Christian friends. The prayers were making their way to heaven even as I was making my way to Denver.
I have seen the hand of God extended over me in the past when I was in a dangerous situation and I knew He was near.
There were so many things that made me know that God was ordering our steps.
We could have easily been snowmobiling a lot farther away from the hospital.
The fact that Cy's vehicle had no snowmobile trailer to remove saved us precious minutes.
Everything worked like clockwork; there was a plane available to take me immediately to Denver.
And here's the mind-boggling part, Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango had only been stocking tPA in their pharmacy for about three months. If they hadn't had it, there would have been no way for me to get the shot in time to prevent the stroke from doing major damage.
As I said, nothing less than the hand of God.
One other note. My wife Hazel is a very emotional person and will shed tears at the drop of a hat. On the way to the hospital I heard her tell Jeannie, I've got to be strong for him."
And she was, she has been a rock.
On the way to the hospital, I called my son, Charlie, and after telling him what had happened I simply said, "Your mom needs you."
He and my manager and friend David Corlew were on the next plane heading our way and met us in Denver.
Thank God for family and friends.
Well that's about it, I'm doing fine and I want to thank all of you who got the news and prayed for me.
Looking forward to another great touring year.
See ya on the road.
What do you think?
Pray for our troops, and for our country.
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
.
Wild Thing's comment........
Charlie is a legend
According to Charlie Daniels: "The fingerprints of God were all over my experience."
Praying for Charlie, he is such a wonderful person and has also done sooo much for our troops too.
He's 73, goes snowmobiling and suffers a stroke and that doesn't stop him from performing. Amazing.
.... Thank you Jim for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (18)
January 19, 2010
Pointing The Hubble Space Telescope To A Seemingly Blank Patch Of Sky
Hubble Ultra Deep Field 3D
What happens when you point the Hubble Space Telescope to a seemingly blank patch of sky? A view that takes you to the edge of the universe!
Wild Thing's comment.........
This is so amazing, so awesome.
....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 03:50 AM | Comments (6)
January 17, 2010
Operation Pierre Pan May Start at Miami Hospitals
Operation Pierre Pan May Start at Miami Hospitals
Miami advocates are pushing to relocate Haitian children to the U.S.
Some of Haiti's most fragile - its children - have arrived at Miami area hospitals and for a few, Miami may become their new home.
So far, 23 patients from the earthquake have been treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital, with countless more likely to be airlifted from the island for treatment. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has contacted all the children's hospitals in Florida and requested that they receive critically injured Haitian children in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Nelson on Friday said he also plans to introduce a "major Haitian relief bill."
But the injured won't likely be the only children coming to Florida.
"Operation Pierre Pan," as its being called, is an effort to relocate the thousands of children likely orphaned by the natural disaster in Port-au-Prince. Many of the children could already have relatives in Miami and around the U.S.
A similar effort occurred decades ago when "Operation Pedro Pan" was launched to help the children of Cuba during the political upheaval in that island neighbor. Some 14,000 children were relocated to the United States, many of them settling in South Florida.
While advocates mobilize for a push to help find the children new families if not reunite them with stateside relatives, there are several hurdles that need to be overcome.
The movement would need the approval of the U.S. government to at the very least grant the orphans temporary status in the country.
Still, agencies in Miami-Dade and Broward are gearing up for the possible influx of children in need of a home, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
We've already begun to make preparations and are willing to do our part," said Mark Riordan, Broward County spokesman for the state's Department of Children and Families.
.
Haitians in country illegally can stay
The Obama administration says it will allow Haitians already in the U.S. illegally to remain because of this week's catastrophic earthquake.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano granted the temporary protected status on Friday.
The protection is only available to Haitians already in the country as of last Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Napolitano temporarily halted deportations of Haitians, even those already in detention.
Temporary protected status is granted to foreigners who may not be able to return safely to their country because of a natural disaster, armed conflict or other reasons.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Here is a link to a news video about the 45,000 coming to Florida. It states they will be brought to Miami, Orlando and Tampa.
http://www.wftv.com/video/22242604/index.html
I am stil ticked off how it took Obama three days to respond to the Christmas Day Fruit of Kaboom Bomber, three days. And when he came out after those three days, he was clearly irritated that he had to do it. He didn't want to do it. He comes out here in less than 24 hours to speak about Haiti.
....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 (4)
January 15, 2010
Thank You Patrick Henry Hughes For Being A Light In This World
A member of the Louisville Cardinals marching band -- who is blind and in a wheelchair -- never fails to inspire when he takes the field with the help of his father.
Patrick Henry Hughes was born without eyes and can't straighten his arms or legs. And yet, he will play trumpet with the 220-member Cardinal marching band while his father pushes his wheelchair around the field, jogging, spinning and maneuvering the chair in tricky formations.
He has performed piano concerts at a congressional breakfast on Capitol Hill and at the Grand Ole Opry, and regularly mesmerizes passersby at shopping-mall shows. People learn quickly that think he'll play elementary piano, and then he wows them with Chopin, Mozart, Ray Charles and Duke Ellington.
Hughes was born with bilateral anophthalmia, the rarest and most severe form of eye deformity. He also has a birth defect that does not allow his elbows and knees to function properly. He had two titanium rods surgically attached to his spine in 1999 to correct scoliosis.
Wild Thing's comment.........
What a beautiful story and what an incredibly inspiring family!
God bless Patrick and his family.
....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 03:48 AM | Comments (4)
January 13, 2010
Berlin, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf all Visited By Demonstrators Against Full Body Scanners
Merkel government says full body scanners will be "fast tracked" for use within a year
Berlin, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf all visited by demonstrators
.
The full-body scanners use high-frequency radio waves to produce an image of a passengers naked body beneath clothes. Anything a passenger is carrying against the body — weapons, drugs or explosives — would be exposed. The scanners would also reveal the presence of prosthetic devices and breast implants.
As such, there have been privacy and legal concerns raised about the invasive equipment, particularly because its unclear if the scanners would be able to detect explosives hidden in body cavities and would therefore likely provide only minimal security.
Pirate Party protests 'naked' scanners in their underpants
Pirate Party supporters demonstrated over the weekend at several German airports to show their opposition to controversial “naked” scanners planned for security checks.Despite the frigid temperatures outside, the protesters assembled nearly naked groups at airports in Berlin, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf on Sunday afternoon.
The participants stripped down to their underpants, marching behinds signs that read: “No need to scan us – we’re already naked.”A statement on the party's website said they opposed the new security scanners because they threaten the “private sphere and the personal rights of passengers.”
Critics are concerned that the devices, which allow security personnel to see through clothing, have not been improved enough to protect passengers' personal rights. Meanwhile Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives said use of the scanners would be fast-tracked for introduction within the year.
Wild Thing's comment........
ICH BIN EIN BARELOINER ???
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:47 AM | Comments (2)
January 12, 2010
Pearl Harbor Day Left OFF Calendars and Islamic New Year In It's Place
Pearl Harbor Day erased! Happy Islamic New Year
Explosive outrage as Dec. 7 remembers Muslims instead of Japan attack on U.S.
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – Explosive outrage is being unleashed on a popular supermarket chain after it published a 2010 calendar marking the date of Dec. 7 with the Islamic New Year, while eliminating any mention of Pearl Harbor Day, commemorating the 1941 attack on the U.S. by Japan.
Joyce Kaufman, a talk-show host on WFTL Radio in South Florida, made the "date which will live in infamy" the centerpiece of her broadcast today, expressing outrage at Publix Supermarkets for its calendar omission.
"We have guys that are fighting Islamic fundamentalists right now in Afghanistan and guarding them from ruining what little freedom they have achieved in Iraq," said Kaufman. "And now I gotta celebrate their new year over here in my country when they're getting on airplanes and trying to blow up planes out of the sky in Detroit? I gotta have their New Year's Day on my calendar and not Pearl Harbor Day? We've lost our minds!"
Kaufman and many callers to her station called it a "slap in the face" to all those who fought for America's freedoms over the years.
"I'm done," she said. "I'm not walking into a Publix until there's a formal apology. I'm not walking into a Publix until the calendars have all been pulled. I'm not walking into a Publix until they reissue a calendar and re-evaluate what they put on their calendars. It's a free country, but I don't have to shop there."
Kimberly Jaeger, the media and community-relations manager for the Miami division of Publix, sent Kaufman an e-mail stating:
For several years, Publix has given away calendars with valuable coupons inside. Traditionally, our calendars have solely noted holidays. Due to the number of holidays in a calendar year, days of remembrance have not been noted.
This year, Islamic New Year happens to fall on Dec. 7 (like Chinese New Year, which is also a holiday, Islamic New Year rotates dates), is a holiday, and is noted on the calendar as such.
We regret that the day of remembrance – Pearl Harbor – is not noted, and as a result of customer feedback, we will add Pearl Harbor to next year's calendar. The calendars are no longer available at retail.
Livid Americans blast back over Pearl Harbor snub
Many 'incensed' by U.S. calendars promoting Islamic New Year Dec. 7th
A date which will live in infamy."
That's how President Franklin Roosevelt immortalized Dec. 7, 1941, the day Japanese forces stunned the U.S. with a sudden attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, prompting the U.S. to jump into the Second World War.
Just don't expect to find any mention of that on your calendar this year.
Nearly seven decades after the onslaught, many U.S. calendars produced by American companies are ignoring Pearl Harbor Day, and are displaying instead the Islamic New Year on Dec. 7.
Even calendars promoting the Holy Bible take note of the Muslim observance, while completely omitting the day on which more than 2,000 Americans lost their lives in the surprise attack.
"I have a Psalms calendar, which has a Bible verse on each month's picture, made by BrownTrout Publishers, Inc., and it also has Dec. 7 as the Islamic New Year. No mention of Pearl Harbor Day," said Donna Brandt of Marshalltown, Iowa. "I am incensed and will be giving the BrownTrout Publishers a piece of my mind! Thank you for calling my attention to this blasphemy."
Jim Jones of Waco, Texas, also bought a BrownTrout calendar, and says, "We are going to get rid of it. I think I am going back to the store where we bought it (Petsmart) and ask for my money back. I do not want to honor a bunch of fanatics who are trying to kill us infidels. My thinking is all Islamists, if they believe and follow the Quran, are fanatics, and I have no use for them."
WND obtained several calendars from a variety of publishers, including San Francisco-based BrownTrout, which bills itself as the largest calendar publisher in the world, producing about 1,000 separate varieties each year.
In its 2010 Bible calendar, which features a 1563 painting of the Tower of Babel on its cover, the Dec. 7 entry specifies "Islamic New Year," with Pearl Harbor Day completely absent.
Perusing the rest of its December page, the BrownTrout calendar notes Dec. 23 is the "Emperor's Birthday" in Japan, Dec. 26 is when Kwanzaa begins as well as St. Stephen's Day in Ireland, and Dec. 27 is a "Bank Holiday" in the United Kingdom. Popular observances such as Christmas Day and New Year's Eve are also included on Dec. 25 and 31, respectively.
"Pearl Harbor day is not a federal holiday," said Mrs. Wendover Brown, owner of BrownTrout, which excludes mention of Pearl Harbor from all its datekeepers. "It's a day of mourning which is not normally indicated as a holiday."
She admitted, "We've had many, many letters questioning our patriotism," and called it an "unfortunate overlap" that Islamic New Year, which is a floating, lunar-based observance, happens to fall on Dec. 7 of this year.
"I apologize to anyone who feels we were unpatriotic or dismissive of Pearl Harbor Day. We're not," she told WND. "We're a very patriotic company and we're very American. Tolerance is a good quality of the plurality of our country."
"We feel that the purpose of a calendar is to alert people when regular business is closed," she continued. "We certainly don't have a political agenda to impose. We apologize if our products have not reflected the wonderful country we all enjoy. We will be reviewing holiday citations on our products for future editions. We will promise to be responsive to what our consumers tell us."
Brown, 56, says her own brother is a 27-veteran of the U.S. Marines, and is about to retire next month from his post at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida.
She also points out that within 10 days of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, her company produced two special calendars to raise some $741,000 for the Uniformed Firefighters of Greater New York to help families of the heroes killed in the line of duty.
"We gave so much money to that fund, they said they couldn't take any more because they were having trouble distributing it," she said.
Mrs. Brown says the 2011 calendar is already being printed and does not include Pearl Harbor Day on Dec. 7, so the next possible chance to include it would be for the 2012 edition. The company does provide refunds to those who request them.
Meanwhile, popular 2010 calendars published by Blue Mountain Arts of Boulder, Colo., including "A Sister's Love is Forever" and "Mom, I Love You So Much," all cite Dec. 7 as the Islamic New Year without any citation for Pearl Harbor Day.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
This is so horrible that they did this.
This is what happens when a Muslim becomes President of the United States.
Publix has been known to be a conservative business so I trust they knew nothing about this till they found out about it from others letting them know. Publix is an outstanding grocery chain with courteous, motivated employees and conservative, responsible management. Publix even closes for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter so its people can be with their families on those holidays -- and proudly advertises the fact.
BUT the people that make the calendars KNEW and they are to blame for making the decision to do such a thing.
My calendar I use is one that the USO sends me, it is perfect and has all the correct holidays and special days in it. I only use this one because it also lists the birthdays for the Army, Navy. Airforce, Marines and Coast Guard and other important military dates. They send it out sometime in September for the coming year.
In case anyone would like one, they send it when you donate to the USO, I have the link in my sidebar if anyone is interested.
.
....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 02:50 AM | Comments (9)
January 10, 2010
6.5 Magnitude Earthquake That Struck Off The Northern California Coast
At 4:28 PM Pacific Standard Time on January 9, an earthquake with preliminary magnitude 6.4 occurred 15 miles/24 Km southwest of Eureka, California.
There were a lot of gas leaks and evacuations in Humboldt CA
.
Wild Thing's comment..........
To all our friends in California, hope all is ok where you live, and especially that YOU are ok.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (4)
January 09, 2010
"One Nation Under God" - Jon McNaughton
One Nation Under God - Jon McNaughton
This simple phrase, added to the pledge of allegiance over 50 years ago has been the source of unbelievable debate and heated controversy. Likewise, the phrase 'In God We Trust' on our currency has been targeted and continues to be attacked as improper and politically incorrect. Lawsuits have been filed and legal minds employed to ascertain whether such statements violate the concept of 'separation of church and state'.
As this debate continues, some so called experts have implied or concluded that our Founding Fathers and Patriots were not religious. These secular champions, in an effort to further their own causes, have even painted these great men and women from our history as being devoid of religious passions or even a belief in God. This is a part of their strategy to remove any discussion of God from the public forum.
These men and women were passionately religious and saw the hand of God all around them. To God they gave Thanks for His Hand in the founding of this great nation. To Him, according to their own testimony they turned for wisdom and strength when life and liberty hung in the balance. Certainly the debate on separation of church and state will continue. But no one can dispute how our Founding Fathers and Patriots felt about God. The record is clear!
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Wild Thing's comment.........
WOW! This is so awesome!
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (10)
January 07, 2010
Searching and Information
Religion always causes a stir when it is debated, and Google seems to know it. Google is not taking a fair approach to the way that it handles searches for different religions.
When you search for the major religions of the world, the monotheistic faiths for example, Google serves up suggestions for the search “Christianity is” such as, “a lie,” or false.” Try it on a a number of faiths, and then Islam.
Notice any difference?
Google is systematically blocking, it seems, all search suggestions for Islam. Why? To remove the chance of an adherent of the faith from being offended by a perhaps severe search suggestion? Why not treat all search terms equally?
Given the complete lack of suggestions, not just terms that could be perceived as negative, it seems that Google is covering its, well, behind.
Wild Thing's comment.....
Interesting, I also tried typing in Muslim is to see what I would get.
I noticed awhile back when I was searching for something on GW Bush that the search was heavy on negative like page after page of lies instead of just answering my search for what I was looking for.
......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 02:49 AM | Comments (8)
January 03, 2010
For Mustang Fans ~ New 2011 Ford Mustang 5.0 V8
The new Mustang GT continues Fords powertrain offensive with an all-new 5.0-liter V-8, which uses advanced technology to deliver 412 horsepower and projected unsurpassed highway mileage of 25 mpg.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Obama will prolly throw a conniption fit every time they sell one. I hope he has lots of conniption fits.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:49 AM | Comments (6)
December 28, 2009
Newborn Calif. Giraffe Makes His Debut
The public has gotten its first look at the first giraffe born at Calfornia's Six Flags Discovery Kingdom .
The baby boy stands 6 feet tall and weighs about 150 pounds. Park officials say he's part of a giraffe breeding program. (Dec. 27)
Wild Thing's comment.........
So adorable, and to be able to see this little new born baby Giraffe is so neat. I love it. I thought you all might like to see it too.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:48 AM
December 16, 2009
2nd Grader Boy Gets Psych Evalution For Drawing Jesus
School goes ballistic when 2nd-grader draws Jesus
Boy, 8, gets psych evaluation after sketch of Christ on cross called 'violent'
An 8-year-old boy has been suspended from school and forced to undergo a psychological evaluation after he drew a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.
A teacher at Lowell Maxham Elementary School in Taunton, Mass., said the second-grade student created a violent drawing, the Taunton Daily Gazette reported.
The boy's picture portrayed a crucified Jesus with Xs over his eyes to indicate that he had died on the cross.
The child's father, outraged at the school's action, asked to remain anonymous to protect his son. He said his boy drew the picture after returning from a family trip to see the Christmas display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, a Christian retreat.
When the teacher asked students to draw something that reminded them of Christmas on Dec. 2, the boy recalled his trip and created a portrait of Christ on the cross.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're violating his religion," he told the newspaper.
Associated Advocacy Center educational consultant Toni Saunders said, "I think what happened is that because he put Xs in the eyes of Jesus, the teacher was alarmed and they told the parents they thought it was violent."
Saunders said the boy has special needs, and the school reacted inappropriately.
"They made him leave school, and they recommended that a psychiatrist do an evaluation," she said.
But the boy's father told the newspaper the school required an evaluation – at the parents' expense – before the student would be allowed to return.
"When she told me he needed to be psychologically evaluated, I thought she was playing," he said.
Superintendent Julie Hackett refused to discuss the drawing when reporters contacted her, calling it a "confidential matter regarding a student.
"Generally speaking, we have safety protocols in place," Hackett told the Gazette. "If a situation warrants it, we ask for outside safety evaluations if we have particular concerns about a child's safety. We followed all the protocols in our system."
The father said his son, who receives special reading and speech instruction, has never shown a propensity toward violence.
"He's never been suspended," he said. "He's 8 years old. They overreacted."
The boy returned to school on Dec. 7, but he said his son has been traumatized and will be transferred to another school in the district.
Bloggers have overwhelmingly reacted to the school's actions by demanding that the teacher be fired. They posted the following responses:
The Taunton School District needs to be examined. How could a teacher's concern get this far? Let's not forget that several administrators had to agree with the teacher's reaction in order to have the child sent home and request exam. What do they have to say for themselves?
This was not a mistake. It is an intentional anti-Christ slap in the face at Christmas. If something like this was done to a child of any other minority religion the teacher would be fired.
I hope the parents consider transferring the child to a parochial school where his religious understanding will be more sensitively recognized. Shame on the school administrators.
I would like to start a petition to suspend this teacher immediately pending a full investigation into whether or not she should be terminated. Some parents try very hard to instill the values of religion in their children, and for this teacher to tell this student he did something wrong is disgusting. If my kids were in her class, I would pull them out and demand a new teacher or a change of schools.
I'm a liberal, non-religious individual and even I think this is totally ridiculous! Since Christmas is a religious holiday, the teachers should have expected some religious imagery from little kids!
How does one make the crucifixion non-violent?
Teacher needs a lesson in church. Jesus Christ's death was violent.
The teacher is the one with the issues; this qualifies as abuse.
I believe that this teacher needs to be removed from teaching put in a mental institution. This teacher is mentally disturbed and a psycho and danger to society.
This teacher needs to be fired! She traumatized an 8-year-old, Fire her! No discussion necessary!
Concerned individuals may e-mail Maxham Elementary School or call Principal Rebecca Couet at:
(508)821-1265,
or fax to (508) 821-1274.
The Taunton Public Schools district office may be reached by calling (508) 821-1100
or e-mailing Superintendent Julie Hackett
Look at this in comparison..............
Second Graders Sing About Allah?
A battle over religion is brewing in central Indiana after a public school wanted second graders to sing a song declaring, “Allah is God.” The phrase was removed just before the performance after a national conservative group launched a protest.
The principal of Lantern Road Elementary School in Fishers, IN, said they were trying to teach inclusiveness through their holiday production. It included references to Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Las Posadas and Kwanzaa. However, no other deity, other than Allah, was referenced in the show.
“It went off…without a hitch,” Danielle Thompson told the Indianapolis Star. “Several families thought it was a nice program.”
But others did not – especially David Hogan. His daughter came home with a copy of the lyrics just days before the production. Hogan, a Christian, told the American Family Association, a conservative advocacy group, that he was deeply concerned to learn that his daughter had been singing, “Allah is God.”
Here’s what the children were assigned to sing:
“Allah is God, we recall at dawn, Praying ‘til night during Ramadan At this joyful time we pray happiness for you, Allah be with you all your life through.”
But when it came time to perform the “Christian” part of Christmas, children were assigned to say:
“I didn’t know there was a little boy at the manger. What child is this? I’m not sure if there was a little boy or not. Then why did you paint one on your nativity window? I just thought if there was a little boy, I’d like to know exactly what he (sic) say.
Micah Clark, executive director of the Indiana AFA, launched an Internet protest once he heard about the allegations.
“What surprised me here is that we’ve had a secular scrubbing of Christmas for so long and the school apparently didn’t see the problem with kids singing to Allah,” he told FOX News Radio. “You won’t even mention Jesus and you’re going to force my child to sing about Allah?
Wild Thing's comment.............
Sheesh!
I guess if the boy sang praises to Allah, the teacher would have given him a gold star for being so enlightened.
It shocks me how people do not read up about Islam and it's agenda for the entire world. It does not even matter to them the attacks, killings etc. that Islam the death cult delivers wants to take the lives of these teachers as well.
....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
.
....Thank you Darth for sending this to me.
Darth
U.S. Airforce
C-5 loadmaster
84-97
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:49 AM | Comments (8)
December 10, 2009
TSA (Transportation Security Administration) Leaves Online Love Note For al-Qaeda
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TSA leaves online love note for al-Qaeda
Rick Moran
Please put down any beverage you may be consuming and lock up all sharp objects in the house before reading this.
The Transportation Security Administration "inadvertently" released a document on its website that gives a blueprint for terrorists on how to beat our airport security measures.
This document doesn't hint around. It spills the beans on exactly what terrorists might do to circumvent TSA airport security to bring bombs on board or other weapons.
Brian Ross and Matt Hosford broke the story for ABC News:
Massive TSA Security Breach As Agency Gives Away Its Secrets
Online Posting Reveals a "How To" for Terrorists to Get Through Airport Security
By BRIAN ROSS and MATT HOSFORD
Dec. 8, 2009
In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inadvertently posted online its airport screening procedures manual, including some of the most closely guarded secrets regarding special rules for diplomats and CIA and law enforcement officers.
The most sensitive parts of the 93-page Standard Operating Procedures manual were apparently redacted in a way that computer savvy individuals easily overcame.
The document shows sample CIA, Congressional and law enforcement credentials which experts say would make it easy for terrorists to duplicate.
The improperly redacted areas indicate that only 20 percent of checked bags are to be hand searched for explosives and reveal in detail the limitations of x-ray screening machines.
~snipet~
"This manual provides a road map to those who would do us harm," said Collins. "The detailed information could help terrorists evade airport security measures." Collins said she intended to ask the Department of Homeland Security how the breach happened, and "how it will remedy the damage that has already been done."
~snipet~
The document contains a list of items for which screening is not required including wheelchairs, footwear of disabled individuals, casts and orthopedic shoes.
The redacted portions also indicate which law enforcement personnel are specially screened or exempt from some screening procedures, and indicate what requirements they must meet to be eligible for special screening.
The only words that come to mind at the moment that describe this incredible stupidity can be found in old Anglo Saxon dictionaries and are unprintable on our family friendly website.
As you know, the Obama administration has determined that we are not at war. Good thing for whoever is responsible. Do you think that "inadvertent treason" would be an affirmative defense?
Maybe TSA believed that al-Qaeda was at too much of a disadvantage and wanted to "level the playing field." This seems to be a favorite pastime of this administration when it comes to the economy and everything else. Why not try a little affirmative action with our enemies?
It would be very difficult to overhype this story. This isn't just a disaster. It has the potential to absolutely destroy domestic air travel - if the MSM bothered to cover it. We'll see what the spin will be as the day goes on.
Exit question; If you've made travel plans for Christmas, do you still feel confident enough to fly the friendly skies?
The site below has some interesting reading in the “Criticisms and scandals” section:
Transportation Security Administration
Criticisms and scandals
Criticisms
The TSA has faced a high level of criticism since its inception. These criticisms include:
Failure of TSA screeners to detect fake bombs brought through security by undercover TSA agents, with detection levels much lower than private security agents on the same tests. In the most recent tests, conducted in 2006, security screeners at LAX failed to identify 75% of fake bombs, while Chicago O'Hare screeners missed 60% of the bomb components. Private screeners in San Francisco missed only 20% of the prospective bomb parts.[15]
Invasive screening procedures, mistreatment of passengers, and sexual harassment by TSA officers[16][17][18][19]
Engaging in security theater.[20][21]
Theft by TSA employees.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]
Lavish spending by the TSA on events unrelated to airport security.[30]
Sales of banned items collected from passengers.[31]
TSA employees bypassing security checks.[32]
Allegations of wasteful spending in its hiring practices.[33]
Employees sleeping on the job.[34][35][36][37]
Failure to use good judgment and common sense.[38][39][40]
The "Terror Watch List" is currently criticized for having over one million names listed, including the name of a CNN reporter who claims he was added to the terror list within the time frame of the release of his critical reports of the Federal Air Marshal Service. According to the TSA, the watch list, which is maintained by the Department of Justice, contains approximately 400,000 people[citation needed], most of whom are not US persons. The TSA denies Drew Griffin's claim that he is on the list.[41][42] The TSA reacted to complaints of misidentification by announcing its intent to penalize airlines with $25,000 fines for wrongfully informing travelers of their being on a government watchlist.[43]
Security checkpoint problems at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration viewing areas, which left thousands of ticket holders excluded from the event and in dangerously overcrowded conditions.[44][45]
Scandals
Covert security test failures
Undercover operations to test the effectiveness of the airport screening processes are routinely carried out by the TSA's internal affairs unit and the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's office.
A report by the Inspector General found that TSA officials had collaborated with Covenant Aviation Security at San Francisco International Airport to alert screeners of undercover tests. From August 2003 until May 2004, precise descriptions of the undercover personnel were provided to the screeners. The handing out of descriptions was then stopped, but until January 2005 screeners were still alerted whenever undercover operations were going on.[46]
A report on undercover operations conducted in October 2006 at Newark Liberty International Airport was leaked to the press. The screeners had failed 20 of 22 undercover security tests, missing numerous guns and bombs. The Government Accountability Office had previously pointed to repeated covert test failures by TSA personnel.[47][48] Revealing the results of covert tests is against TSA policy, and the agency responded by initiating an internal probe to discover the source of the leak.[49]
In July 2007, The Times Union of Albany, New York reported that TSA screeners at Albany International Airport failed multiple covert security tests conducted by the TSA, including the failure to detect a fake bomb.[50]
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Our government geniuses at work. Again. ......And they want to manage our health care...
I’m betting it was not inadvertent or an "accident ".
“Inadvertant” - eh ......No muslim 5th column inside the TSA- none at all????
TSA is a view into the future of Obamacare.
Look at this, they didn't bother with passwords:
http://www.wanderingaramean.com/2009/12/tsa-makes-another-stupid-move.html
The document is marked SSI and includes this footnote on every page:
SENSITIVE SECURITY INFORMATION
WARNING: THIS RECORD CONTAINS SENSITIVE SECURITY INFORMATION THAT IS CONTROLLED UNDER 49 CFR PARTS 15 AND 1520. NO PART OF THIS RECORD MAY BE DISCLOSED TO PERSONS WITHOUT A “NEED TO KNOW,” AS DEFINED IN 49 CFR PARTS 15 AND 1520, EXCEPT WITH THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION OR THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION. UNAUTHORIZED RELEASE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL PENALTIES OR OTHER ACTION. FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, PUBLIC DISCLOSURE GOVERNED BY 5 U.S.C. 552 AND 49 CFR PARTS 15 AND 1520.
So the decision to publish it on the Internet is probably a questionable one. On top of that, however, is where the real idiocy shines. They chose to publish a redacted version of the document, hiding all the super-important stuff from the public. But they apparently don’t understand how redaction works in the electronic document world. See, rather than actually removing the offending text from the document they just drew a black box on top of it. Turns out that PDF documents don’t really care about the black box like that and the actual content of the document is still in the file.
Yup, their crack legal staff managed to screw this one up pretty badly. Want to know which twelve passports will instantly get you shunted over for secondary screening, simply by showing them to the ID-checking agent? Check out Section 2A-2 (C) (1) (b) (iv). Want to know the procedure for CIA-escorted passengers to be processed through the checkpoint? That’s in the document, too. Details on the calibration process of the metal detectors is in there. So is the procedure for screening foreign dignitaries.
It is pretty pathetic that the folks supposedly responsible for administering this “security” program cannot even be bothered to do the simplest parts of their job correctly. Then again, passing through the checkpoint every time I fly it is pretty clear that they do a lot of things incorrectly. Just chalk this one up to more of the same idiocy.
......Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion - 1st Aviation Brigade - Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (10)
December 05, 2009
New Haven Firefighters Promoted After Winning Landmark Supreme Court Case
New Haven Firefighters Promoted After Winning Landmark Supreme Court Case
New Haven's Board of Fire Commissioners has approved the promotions of 14 city firefighters who won a reverse discrimination case in a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
NEW HAVEN, Conn.
New Haven's Board of Fire Commissioners has approved the promotions of 14 city firefighters who won a reverse discrimination case in a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A formal promotion ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 10.
Matt Marcarelli, who earned the top score on the captain's exam in 2003 and assumed his new rank on Tuesday, says the action by the board was historic. The board approved the promotions after another city board certified the results of the 2003 exam that was at the center of the legal dispute.
Thirteen white city firefighters and one Hispanic firefighter were promoted to lieutenants and captains. They were among the firefighters who sued after the city threw out of the test results because too few minorities would have been promoted.
Wild Thing's comment........
Whites should not have to go to court every time they are denied promotion based on race.
Stop, preferences, “affirmative action”, and diversity fraud NOW!
....Thank you Darth for sending this to me.
Darth
U.S. Airforce
C-5 loadmaster
84-97
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (3)
December 01, 2009
Seattle Police Kill Suspect in Officer Slayings ~ GOOD!!!!
Police officer in Seattle shot Maurice Clemmons dead early Tuesday morning. Clemmons killed 4 police officers in an ambush Sunday at a coffee house in Lakewood, Washington.
A policeman investigating a stolen car on a Seattle street shot dead the man accused of gunning down four police officers at the weekend, US police say.
Maurice Clemmons, aged 37, was killed in Seattle early on Tuesday, said Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel.
He said the officer recognised Clemmons and told him to stop, before opening fire after the suspect tried to flee. Four people have been arrested for allegedly helping the suspect elude authorities during the two-day manhunt.
Clemmons told his acquaintances about his intentions beforehand. They did not notifiy the authorities.
The man suspected of gunning down four police officers in a suburban coffee shop was shot and killed by Seattle police early Tuesday, a sheriff’s spokesman said. Three other people were arrested for allegedly helping him elude authorities during a massive two-day manhunt.
Maurice Clemmons was shot to death in a working-class south Seattle neighborhood after police tracked him down using possible hiding spots supplied by Pierce County investigators, said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the county sheriff. Troyer told Fox News a single officer found Clemmons and shot and killed him. A couple dozen police officers milled around at the scene where Clemmons was apparently shot, shaking hands and patting each other on the back.
Authorities say Clemmons, 37, singled out the Lakewood officers and spared employees and other customers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.
On Monday, officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated the suspect’s gunshot wound.
“We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up,” Troyer said.
Troyer didn’t immediately give the names of the three people arrested on suspicion of rendering criminal assistance. Police said a network of friends and family gave Clemmons place to stay, medical aid, rides and money while he was on the run.
Sergeant Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42, were ambushed at a cafe in Tacoma, south of Seattle, on Sunday. All were married with children.
As the officer was doing his paperwork, he caught something moving behind him. He turned around and saw a man walking on the street behind his car, approaching the driver’s side. The officer got out of his car, immediately recognized the man as Clemmons and ordered him to show his hands and stop.
Clemmons refused, and while the officer was drawing his gun, the man reached into his waist and moved, police said.
“He wouldn’t stop,” Pugel said. “The officer fired several rounds.”
Clemmons was struck at least twice, police said. After Clemmons was pronounced dead, officers found a gun in Clemmons’ front pocket. Clemmons also had sustained a serious gunshot wound from one of the four officers killed in the coffee-shop shooting.
Police planned to arrest more people who helped Clemmons.
“We expect to have maybe six or seven people in custody by the day’s end,” said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County sheriff. “Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives. Now they’re all partners in crime.”
Huckabee clemency record revisted after shootings
Clemmons had a criminal history in Arkansas and Washington. In May 2000, Huckabee commuted his 108-year prison sentence to make him immediately eligible for parole, which was granted by the parole board two months later. Clemmons had been sentenced to 95 years, to run after time he was already serving on previous convictions.
In a statement on the conservative news Web site Newsmax.com, Huckabee wrote that he commuted Clemmons' sentence from 108 years to 47 years. Reports that he had pardoned Clemmons or set him free were erroneous, he said.
"I take full responsibility for my actions of nine years ago," Huckabee said. "I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000. If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. But if the same file was presented to me today, I would have likely made the same decision."
But the Arkansas prosecutor who put Clemmons behind bars told CNN on Tuesday that Huckabee was issuing clemency at "an astounding rate" during his tenure as governor.
"He was exercising the clemency power at what I call a wholesale rate," Larry Jegley said. "He was letting murderers out, he was letting rapists out, and he was letting the likes of Mr. Clemmons out."
One survey, he said, showed Huckabee issued more clemencies from 1996 to 2004 than the governors of all six surrounding states, including Texas.
He said he didn't know why so many clemencies were granted. "That was part of the frustration that we felt with the entire process. ... We never felt as though he gave victims, their families, jurors, law enforcement and the community in general an adequate explanation as to why he felt compelled to let people of proven danger go in our community."
Clemmons was among 1,033 people who were pardoned or had their sentences reduced during Huckabee's 10 1/2 years as governor. Bill Clinton, Frank White and Jim Guy Tucker granted 507 clemencies in the 17 1/2 years they served. Beebe, Huckabee's Democratic successor, has issued 273 commutations and pardons since taking office in January 2007 — all but one of them were pardons after the completion of the inmates' prison terms.
Huckabee's role in gaining the release of a convicted rapist, Wayne DuMond, was the subject of an attack ad during his presidential run. While Huckabee's predecessor, Tucker, reduced DuMond's sentence making him eligible for parole, Huckabee took steps almost immediately after taking office to win DuMond's release.
Two members of the state parole board said Huckabee pressured them to show DuMond mercy, while Huckabee publicly questioned whether DuMond was guilty of the rape of a teenage girl. During the presidential primaries, a conservative group aired television commercials in South Carolina featuring the mother of Carol Sue Shields, whom DuMond killed in 2000 after his release.
Black Muslim Group Celebrates “Brother & Martyr” Maurice Clemmons
“For Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen.” BOW Martyr Against White Terrorist & Racist Police Regime (Maurice Clemmons) Adorned With Virgins, Jewelry & Crowned; “When the Battle is Over, We Shall Wear a Crown.” – Seattle Black Foot Soldiers
The Seattle Blackfoot Soldiers, an offshoot of the Nation of Islam, celebrated cop killer Maurice Clemmons.
From a website called Black Male Felon...CHECK IT OUT
There’s more. The website also asks:
“Who’s Your Favorite Officer Down: Mark Renninger, Tina Griswold, Greg Richards or Ronald Owens;” Seattle Black Foot Soldiers: Shootings a Preemptive Strike on Terrorists
The Last Crusade reportedly has learned from an Arkansas law enforcement official, became a member of the Nation of Islam while serving time in the Cummins Prison.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Thank God they killed him. This time there will be no parole or commutation. Hello Huckabee are you listening?!!!
And those websites about the killer being a Muslim convert , what sick places on the internet they are. What horrible people!!!
The Black Muslims in the U.S. are mostly Black Liberation communists like Bill Ayers, the Weather Underground and Obama’s “reverend” Wright. Farrakhan is a big fan of Mao. The Nation Of Islam is arm in arm with the New Black Panther Party who are also revolutionary communist.
....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 08:25 PM | Comments (5)
November 30, 2009
4 Police Officers Murdered in Deadly Ambush Near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma
Four Lakewood (WA) police officers shot and killed in 'ambush'
PARKLAND, Wash. - Four Lakewood Police officers were shot and killed Sunday morning in what authorities called a targeted ambush at a coffee shop.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says the officers - four male and one female - were in full uniform and wearing bulletproof vests, sitting in Forza coffee shop near 116th Street and Steele Street on the east side of the Air Force base at about 8:30 a.m.
Troyer says the officers were preparing for their shift when a suspect or suspects "walked in with a handgun, opened fire multiple times and then fled the scene," said Troyer.
Troyer called it an "ambush."
"They had marked police cars, marked uniforms, there were other people inside the facility, they weren't shot, wounded or hurt or even aimed at, just the police officers were," said Troyer.
It wasn't clear whether the officers even had time to draw their weapons to return fire, Troyer said.
"This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers," Troyer said.
With no known suspects, there was no indication of any connection with the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer. The suspect in that shooting remains hospitalized.
"We won't know if it's a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved," Troyer said. "We don't even have a suspect ID right now."
Troyer would not release the names of the victims in Sunday's shooting. He said Lakewood has a small police force and the deaths represent a loss of 10 percent to 15 percent of the department.
Troyer estimates a couple hundred officers from the Washington State Patrol and multiple surrounding police agencies in the area are at the scene, with some coming on their own time.
"We have no motive at all," Troyer said. "I don't think when we find out what it is, it will be anything that makes any sense or be worth it."
Two employees and a few other customers were in the shop during the attack. All are being interviewed by the Pierce County Sheriff's investigators.
"Some are in shock. They are very upset," Troyer said. "They are the ones who are going to put together for us how this happened."
The Forza Coffee Shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma. The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.
Brad Carpenter, founder and owner of Forza Coffee, said his staff was OK and being interviewed by police, and that his main concern was with the families of the police officers.
"I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me," he said.
Roads are blocked around the scene. Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at Foot Mart about a block away from the coffee shop, told the News Tribune that all was quiet when he opened the store at 8 a.m.
About 30 minutes later, "All of a sudden a million cops were zooming up and down the road," he said.
Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said "this is an example of the danger that police officers and deputy sheriffs and state troopers face every day."
"The person or people who did this not only harmed us they harmed the good that we can do in the community. They harmed the good that we work to do every day in the community," he said.
"This is an example of the cost that is sometimes paid by people who believe in duty and obligation and sacrifice and people who do that on behalf of the community."
"We've lost people that we care about, we've lost people I'm sure the good people in the community care about as well," said Pastor.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was "shocked and horrified" by the killings.
"Our police put their lives on the line every day, and tragedies like this remind us of the risks they continually take to keep our communities safe," she said in a written statement. "My heart goes out to the family, friends and co-workers of these officers, as well as the entire law enforcement community."
Troyer said there were several active scenes that officers were working. A white pick-up truck was impounded from a parking lot at one scene and a person was taken into custody at another.
He said they are looking to see if there is any surveillance cameras that may have caught the suspect on video.
Troyer said the suspect is a black male, 5-foot-7 to 6 feet tall, 20s to 30s, scruffy appearance, wearing a black coat with a gray sweatshirt underneath, and blue jeans.
A $10,000 reward is being offered for information. Tips can be called in to (253) 591-5959 or 866-977-2362.
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Violent felon granted clemency by Huckabee now sought in Lakewood, WA police ambush
A deadly ambush at a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington on Sunday morning left four police officers dead. A vigil attended by an estimated 700 mourners and well-wishers was held Sunday night for the fallen at Champion’s Center church in Tacoma.
The man being sought by police was granted clemency by former GOP Arkansas Mike Huckabee despite his violent history and vehement protestations from prosecutors and victims’ family members.
He was most recently in jail for alleged second-degree rape of a child.
This isn’t Huckabee’s first Horton moment.
Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers this morning, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.
Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protestations of prosecutors.
Maurice Clemmons, man wanted for questioning, has long criminal history
Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers this morning, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.
Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protestations of prosecutors.
"This is the day I've been dreading for a long time," Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' Pulaski County said Sunday night when informed that Clemmons was being sought in connection to the killings.
Clemmons' criminal history includes at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington. The record also stands out for the number of times he has been released from custody despite questions about the danger he posed.
Clemmons had been in jail in Pierce County for the past several months on a pending charge of second-degree rape of a child.
He was released from custody just six days ago, even though he was wanted on a fugitive warrant out of Arkansas and was staring at eight felony charges in all out of Washington state.
.
Brian D. Wurts, President
Lakewood Police Independent Guild"
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Police surround Seattle home where person of interest in police shooting may be hiding
A SWAT team and police negotiators have surrounded a home in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood where the man sought for questioning in the Lakewood police shooting might be hiding.
Shortly after 12 a.m. today, a King County sheriff's armored vehicle was brought to the home, which was bathed in bright lights. Police began using loudspeakers, asking whoever was inside to call 911.
Police yelled over the loudspeakers, "Mr. Clemmons we want to minimize the situation."
Police responded to the home at East Yesler Way and 32nd Avenue South around 8:44 p.m. A woman who was leaving the home was stopped by officers and told them Maurice Clemmons was on the property and bleeding, according to a law enforcement source.
The woman told police that someone had dropped Clemmons off at a home, on East Superior Street.
"Whether he's in there or not is yet to be determined," said Ed Troyer, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman. "We have multiple operations going on ... We've found evidence of him at other locations and we have several operations going on."
.
.
Tacoma Fire Department raised their Ladders as the Motorcade arrived at the Pierce County Medical Examiners Office. Crowds gathered to show their support, American Flags held high and lined both sides of the street. It was quiet, an eerie silence, and tears fell as the motorcade passed.
.
Mike Huckabee's Statement Regarding Washington State Slayings
"The senseless and savage execution of police officers in Washington State has saddened the nation, and early reports indicate that a person of interest is a repeat offender who once lived in Arkansas and was wanted on outstanding warrants here and Washington State. The murder of any individual is profound tragedy, but the murder of a police officer is the worst of all murders in that it is an assault on every citizen and the laws we live within.
Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State. He was recommended for and received a commutation of his original sentence from 1990, making him parole eligible and was paroled by the parole board once they determined he met the conditions at that time. He was arrested later for parole violation and taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him. It appears that he has continued to have a string of criminal and psychotic behavior but was not kept incarcerated by either state. This is a horrible and tragic event and if found and convicted the offender should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our thoughts and prayers are and should be with the families of those honorable, brave, and heroic police officers."
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Prayers for the officers and their loved ones. Nine children between the four cops. This is so sad.
This is so horrible. They said there were other people in the place but Clemmons only fired at the police officers and no one else.
Regarding Huckabee's statement, I'd like to feel the sincerity here, but given his record on clemency while he was Governor of Arkansas, I see this as no more than a swan-song for a has-been politician. I must have missed the mea culpa. have used at least an “I regret...” in there somewhere. He can’t even admit to making the decision to grant clemency, in fact he’s lying by omission when he claims the parole board released him. That the judge and prosecutor was against the release obviously didn’t sway Huckabee’s opinion. The parole board was forced to vote on parole, triggered by Huckabee’s clemency request. While they hold some blame for approving the request, Huckabee got the entire ball rolling.
That he refuses to admit to his part shows how little ethics means to Huckabee. But we all saw during last years campaign for President how he whined and constantly blamed Romney etc. for picking on him. Again I am NOT impressed with this man Huckabee at all.
As I am posting this it is around 4:30 a.m. Monday morning, the police are still looking for the Clemmons. Pray they find him soon.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:35 AM | Comments (12)
October 15, 2009
The Mystical Flight of the Arrow as Healer
Uncle Ted with young Makon Lynn. Strength in numbers.
The Mystical Flight of the Arrow as Healer
By Ted Nugent
The young archer's gaze was intense, animal like, wild eyed. Master athletes refer to this ultra focused intensity as 'in the zone'. You can feel it in the eyes and twitching nerve endings of a killer cat in the final stages of its sneak attack, just before the kill pounce. Locked in.
Makon was there, mind, body, heart, soul and full on spirit as he carefully pulled back the bowstring with all he had, his eyes squinting in the blazing Texas sun, brow furrowing, head slightly cocked, arrow pointing naturally toward the vitals of the 3D deer target ahead. As the arrow nock touched his lip, the bow silently flexed and sent the feathered shaft on its mystical way.
Thunk! Dead center into the golden triangle of the deer's forward chest, right where the pumpstation and lungs converge for a perfect bowhunter's kill shot. A broad smile overpowered the sunshine.
This daily ritual is not all that out of the ordinary at the more than three million bowhunting families target ranges across America, but on this particular day, this was not a normal, everyday arrow or bowhunter. Macon Lynn is just five years old, had never shot a bow before this day, and had just recently endured the ravaging agony of chemo therapy and radiation treatment for his inoperable brain cancer. This may very well have been the most important arrow in the history of archery, for young Macon was in desperate need of escape from the ravages of this life threatening disease, and he and his family figured an escape to Uncle Ted's SpiritWild Ranch bowhunting epicenter might very well be just what the Dr. ordered. He did.
Nearly wearing himself out, Makon shot arrow after arrow for most of the afternoon, and we couldn't get the bow out of his hands. Archers and bowhunters know why, for we are convinced that our next arrow will be a better arrow, and we never give up trying. We also know what Macon and all the terminally ill kids discover when in that mystical flight of the arrow trance; that there is nothing else beyond our arrow and its next flight. It is that powerfully mesmerizing. Intoxicating. Joyous. Cleansing. Healing.
Makon joined the Nugent family through the assistance of the wonderful 'Wish Upon A Star' charity. A few weeks later, Make A Wish Foundation made the arrangements for seven year old Brianna to visit us at SpiritWild Ranch and other special need kids have been helped by Hunt Of A Lifetime and our own Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids charities. When people really need help, Americans always give it all they got, and we are genuinely moved by the heartfelt love and generosity of so many great American families everytime. We salute them all.
Over the years, many Americans have been moved to show appreciation for the dedication and sacrifices of the heroes of the United States Military warriors. Those who pay attention, and care, painfully understand that freedom comes with a price, and that the American Dream is fertilized by the blood and guts of warriors who valiantly volunteered to put their lives on the line for the benefit of others. This is the greatest of human virtuousness, and we stand in awe of their service.
Having saluted way too many flag draped coffins and stood strong with too many grieving families, we created our Freedom's Angel's nonprofit charity a few years ago to help the wounded warriors who have given so much. Upon visiting the severely burned heroes at Brookes Army Medical Facility in San Antonio, Texas, we were reminded that most of the military heroes are avid outdoorsmen and women, but with their burned skin slowly healing, there was no way for them to be exposed to the blistering Texas sun and were therefore confined indoors.
Through the undying generosity of many, Freedom's Angels was able to construct a beautiful outdoor patio where the burn victims could be in their beloved out of doors, but shielded from the rays of the burning sun.
As a proud and official representative of the Coalition To Salute America's Heroes (saluteheroes.org) I have been honored and privileged to host many wounded warriors at our SpiritWild Ranch for hunting, fishing, offloading, shooting, archery and BBQ fun. I am convinced that this is the most powerful healing therapy in the world, and we are throttling ahead to do more for them.
Though the BBQ is great, the machinegun shooting spectacular, and all our outdoor fun remedial, there is no question that the most smiles occur on the 3D archery range. Some of the guys and gals are experienced archers and bowhunters, but many are newcomers. Each and everyone of them light up as arrows are fired downrange and archery form and control is discovered and cultivated.
With exuberant support across the board, we are now putting together the details of our next Freedom's Angels project and creating a state of the art archery range for the troops near the Brookes Medical facility so they can shoot more conveniently and develop their archery skills.
Daniel Vargas, our gung-ho BloodBrother at Saluteheroes.org is working on the details and I wish to thank everyone who so generously helps to make this a reality.
Never underestimate the healing powers of the mystical flight of the arrow. If you would like to say thank you to the US Military heroes, visit Saluteheroes.org and give what you can. Godbless the US warriors all!
Wild Thing's comment........
What a special wonderful little boy and story. Ted Nugent is a good guy.
Ted said awhile back...."We have the perfect president for a nation that doesn’t care.”
.... Thank you Jim for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (6)
October 06, 2009
A Proud American Walks To Thank Her!
Army and National Guard veteran Sinh Tho Nguyen, of Fort Worth, is walking across America to honor America and its troops. Nguyen said his father was a U.S. soldier in Vietnam but that they never met. In 1992, Nguyen applied for a visa to come to the United States and was approved in 60 days. He enlisted in the National Guard and Army after moving to the United States.
A Proud American Walks To Thank Her!
This gentleman’s name is Sinh Tho Nguyen, a resident of Ft. Worth, Texas, but his history is more interesting than his current residence.
Born in Viet Nam in 1969 to a Viet Namese mother, and a U.S. Army father he never knew, Sinh immigrated to the U.S. in 1992. Since that time he has become a U.S. citizen, graduated from the University of Texas-Arlington, served in the U.S. Army, and earned his Masters degree while serving at Fort Mead, Maryland, taking night courses.
Just over a year and a half ago he got the idea to walk from shore to shore to thank America, and it’s military active duty and vets. Working as a contract meter reader in Ft. Worth, he was able to fund his journey with twenty five thousand dollars, and some good advice, not to cross from California to Texas in the summer. Sinh’s original plan was to cross from San Diego, California to Atlantic Beach, Florida, near Jacksonville. Instead, he reversed his course, and began his trek at Atlantic Beach.
As recently as 26 Sep 09, he was in Mesa, Arizona, with a planned arrival in San Diego by Thanksgiving, averaging about twenty four miles a day.
Sinh’s planned trip required a two week stay in Ft. Worth, as his badly battered feet required medical attention, due to the blisters and bruises caused by the heat, the walking, and the wearing of Croc shoes.
Carrying a U.S. flag, with a sign on his back which states “Shore to Shore, A walk across America to honor those who serve,” Sinh has an infectious positive attitude, and a radiant smile. Taking time off from his Phd program, Sinh has nearly completed his journey, and has found out more about the true nature of America for his effort. Not only is he expressing his love of this country, he has found many that share that feeling, and have given back to him what they could in support of his effort.
I hope one day I can meet with Sinh. His expression of patriotism is inspiring, and he possesses the gratitude that too many Americans have never known, or forget unless reminded.
While Sinh’s story won’t command the headlines that the latest salacious celebrity faux pas or our current president’s apology for America’s existence will, he is truly a man to be admired and respected.
Fort Worth man puts heart, soles into message with walk across America
The 40-year-old said his mission is to remind Americans to have faith in their country and take pride in their nation. And, on Wednesday, he finally made it to Dallas-Fort Worth – home for one week before he hits the road again.
"I owe to America so much, and I don't have any talent at all," Nguyen said. "I have two legs and a heart. So I decided to walk across America to give thanks to her."
The water-meter reader – whose walking-intensive job gave him the idea to walk across America – is not getting paid for his cross-country trek or raising money for a cause. The walk, he said, is just his way of saying thanks to America and its troops.
"This walk is about America and those who suffer," he said.
Nguyen said his father was a U.S. soldier in Vietnam but that they never met. In 1992, Nguyen applied for a visa to come to the United States and was approved in 60 days. He enlisted in the National Guard and Army after moving to the United States.
Nguyen's 2,600-mile journey began in Atlantic Beach, Fla. Nguyen's co-worker David Dominguez drives behind him in his silver FordFocus, which sometimes doubles as the men's lodging. Nguyen hopes to reach his destination, San Diego, by Thanksgiving.
Nguyen always carries an American flag and has a sign strapped to his back displaying his message: "Shore to Shore: A Walk Across America to Honor Those Who Serve."
He arrived in Dallas on Wednesday wearing a U.S. Army-issued T-shirt and Crocs on his feet – with padded inserts at the bottom.
The shoes, which have traveled 700 miles of the trip, were falling apart – and Nguyen's feet were showing wear as well. While he is back in Fort Worth, Nguyen said he will have a doctor look at his feet. He joked that the blisters on his soles formed the shape of America.
Nguyen said the support he gets from people keeps him going. He told of folks bringing him homegrown tomatoes and money – and offering words of encouragement.
"Without their support, I don't think I could make this far," he said.
Nguyen added: "This is about America and it belongs to the troops and their family members. I am a messenger. I carry the flag. America is behind me now."
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Wild Thing's comment........
God bless Sinh. I love to see people love our country and Sinh’s love is special. I also love how he appreciates our Vietnam Vets and all Veterans and those who serve today. How he respects our Flag and he knows what it stands for.
What a marvelous story and man.
....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 06:55 AM | Comments (12)
September 16, 2009
Bus Camera Shows Attack on Belleville West Student
Police are calling the Monday morning attack of a Belleville West High School student on a school bus racially motivated.
Two black juvenile suspects are in custody after they allegedly beat a white student on a bus heading to Belleville West, police and school officials said.
The 17-year-old victim was one of just a few white students on the crowded bus about 8 a.m. A surveillance video from a camera mounted inside the bus shows the victim being choked and punched by two other students, ages 14 and 15.
"By watching the video, it looks like it was racially motivated," Belleville Police Capt. Don Sax said. "It stands out to me."
According to a news release, the victim sat on a bus seat next to one of the suspects, and the suspect told the older student not to sit there. There were few open seats available on the bus.
In the video, one of the suspects attempted to push the older student out of his seat and began punching the victim in the face and choking him.
Many of the students stood up and began cheering on the fight. The bus driver can be heard telling the students to "sit down." After the fight broke up, the victim put in his ear phones and sat in the seat alone.
BELLEVILLE Illinois
A Belleville West High School student was beaten aboard a bus on the way to school Monday, and a police spokesman said the beating could be racially motivated.
The 17-year-old victim was white and the teen assailants were black. Police released a video of the beating, which shows the victim being punched repeatedly while other students on the bus gather to watch, some cheering. It doesn't appear that the victim did anything to provoke an attack and tried only to defend himself. Police said it all unfolded in a five-minute span.
The victim was trying to find a seat and was told by two students he could not sit next to them, police said. When he did sit down, one teen tried to push him out of his seat then began grabbing the victim's neck and punching him in the face.
The victim eventually returned to his seat, but another student began taunting him a few minutes later. The victim was then struck in the face.
"In my estimation, it's racially motivated," said Capt. Don Sax of the Belleville Police Department. He said one reason he had formed this opinion was that many of the students, most of whom were black, yelled their support for the beating.
"There was absolutely no justification for the beating either time," Sax said.
Two teens were taken into custody; authorities will apply for charges today. Both students have been suspended, said Superintendent Greg Moats.
He also said there had been no racial problems at the school and said that he wanted to talk further with police to determine why they believe race could have been a motivator in the fight. He also said the school will do everything possible to make sure students are safe, but he wouldn't elaborate.
Wild Thing's comment........
Where do they learn such hate?
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (13)
August 27, 2009
Florida Students Sent Home After Wearing 'Islam Is of the Devil' Shirts
Aug. 25: A Gainesville, Fla., high school student displays a T-shirt proclaiming "Islam is of the Devil," as her father looks on.
Florida Students Sent Home After Wearing 'Islam Is of the Devil' Shirts
A handful of students were sent home from Florida schools this week after showing up in shirts proclaiming that "Islam is of the Devil," part of a fiery church campaign to "expose" Islam as a religion of violence.
Three high schoolers were forced to leave Tuesday for wearing the shirts made by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., where school officials say violated the district's dress codes.
A middle schooler was also asked to change clothes because of the shirt, which got a 10-year-old fifth grader sent packing on Monday, when the incidents began.
"Students have a right of free speech, and we have allowed students to come to school wearing clothes with messages," school district staff attorney told the Gainesville Sun.
"But this message is a divisive message that is likely to offend students. Principals, I feel reasonably, have deemed that a violation of the dress code."
Wittmer told the paper that the school district is obligated to protect all students from religious discrimination regardless of their faith, and had to ensure equal treatment for all students.
"The next kid might show up with a shirt saying 'Christianity is of the Devil,'" Wittmer said.
The Dove center has come under fire already for posting a sign with the same message, which it says will help "expose" Islam as "a violent and oppressive religion" that is trying to deceive and destroy society.
"It is time that all Christians unite, stop being passive and selfish and stand up and fight for the truth," says a posting on the church's Web site.
Muslim advocates have pressed the church to remove the sign and say the anti-Islam message should not be accepted when "schools are supposed to be teaching tolerance for others," the Gainesville Sun reported.
"It's pretty offensive, isn't it?" said Saeed R. Khan, president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida.
"Particularly in a school setting where you are trying to create an atmosphere where people are supposed to respect each other and live with each other, where we have people of every ethnicity and every religion," he told the paper.
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Wild Thing's comment........
“It's pretty offensive, isn't it?” said Saeed R. Khan, president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida.”
NO, not offensicve like Islam is offensive. offensive as Muslims killing and burning the homes of Christians as they do in Muslim countries Saeed. Considering what Muslims are doing all over the world, it isn't offensive it is simply factual.
I like the nice big red lettering.
....Thank you Richard for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:46 AM | Comments (6)
August 18, 2009
Columnist Robert Novak Dies After Battle With Brain Cancer
Columnist Robert Novak Dies After Battle With Brain Cancer
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, one of the nation’s most influential journalists, who relished his “Prince of Darkness” public persona, died at home here early Tuesday morning after a battle with brain cancer.
“He was someone who loved being a journalist, love journalism and loved his country and loved his family, Novak’s wife, Geraldine, told the Sun-Times on Tuesday.
Novak’s remarkable and long-running career made him a powerful presence in newspaper columns, newsletters, books and on television.
On May 15, 1963, Novak teamed up with the late Rowland Evans Jr. to create the “Inside Report” political column, which became the must-read syndicated column. Evans tapped Novak, then a 31-year old correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, to help with the workload of a six-day-a-week column.
Evans and Novak were the od d couple: Evans a Philadelphia blue blood and Yale graduate; Novak from Joliet, Ill. who attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana campus.
Novak handled the column solo after Evans retired in 1993. The Chicago Sun-Times has been Novak’s home paper since 1966.
Robert David Sanders Novak, 78, was born and raised in Joliet and his first newspaper jobs were with the Joliet Herald-News and, while a student at the University of Illinois, the Champaign-Urbana Courier. Novak maintained a lifelong tie to the University of Illinois with the school creating the Robert D. Novak chair of Western Civilization and Culture in 200X.
Mrs. Novak said that her husband passed away at 4:30 a.m., returning home after being hospitalized between July 10 and July 24. Novak’s malignant brain tumor was discovered July 27, 2008.
"Bob was always the pro," said Don Hayner, the Sun-Times' editor in chief. "No matter what he had going on, he was always at the ready to help out on stories, and he broke more than his share. Even as he became a national figure, he was always proud to be part of the Sun-Times. And we were proud of him."
Besides Mrs. Novak, survivors include a son Alex, 41, who's a marketing executive for Eagle Publishing, and a daughter Zelda, 44, who is married to the journalist Christopher Caldwell. Novak also is survived by grandchildren Jane, Philip, Eliza and George Caldwell, and Max, Sam, Gloria and Joseph Novak.
Wild Thing's comment......
"Always love your country — but never trust your government!" Robert Novak as quoted by The Chicago Sun-Times.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:47 PM | Comments (4)
August 13, 2009
Will Americans follow orders to take flu shots? (H1N1.. 'swine flu' vaccine)
Avian flu viruses like this one have raised worries in the past similar to those being raised by this year's swine flu
Will Americans follow orders to take flu shots?
Alarmist language sparking fears of mandatory vaccinations, quarantines
By Bob Unruh
Alarmist language over possible outbreaks of swine flu as well as a series of moves by the federal government are fueling fears federal agents will soon be forcing citizens to be vaccinated – prompting one political party to launch a pre-emptive defense against any such effort.
The Constitution Party, a fast-growing alternative to the dominant Democratic and Republican parties in many elections, has come out strongly in opposition to any "mandatory injections" of " potential toxic (H1N1) 'swine flu' vaccine."
Citing the Fourth Amendment, which says, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons … shall not be violated," Constitution Party National Committee Chairman Jim Clymer said the issue isn't that complex.
"It comes down to the most fundamental of all freedoms. If government can force potentially dangerous substances into our bodies what, then, can't government do to us?" he said.
"Whether mandated by the federal government, the individual states such as Massachusetts or international organizations like the World Health Organization or the United Nations, forcing potentially dangerous chemicals on a free people is tyranny," Clymer said.
The Constitution Party cited the research of Bill Sardi, who noted the "cozy relationship" where the WHO "prematurely" declares a pandemic, forcing dozens of governments to buy flu vaccines. Then, he wrote, public health authorities invoke mandatory vaccination programs for children.
The enriched vaccine makers then "funnel profits back to the politicians."
The party noted the alarmist behavior on the part of the U.S. Departments of Health and Homeland Security, which earlier this year when "several people" were "diagnosed" with swine flu, declared a national public health emergency.
When that was declared in April, schools were closed, people quarantined and pharmaceutical companies awarded billion dollar contracts, the party explained.
Condemnation also has come from Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who cited the swine flu vaccination program in 1976. The effort killed more than two dozen people – not from the flu but from the vaccine.
Paul said he was concerned that "nearly $8 billion will be spent to address a 'potential pandemic flu' which could result in mandatory vaccinations for no discernable reason other than to enrich the pharmaceutical companies that make the vaccine."
Clymer also expressed concern about turning over decisions inside the United States to an international organization like the WHO. Adding other pieces to the puzzle, such as the Pentagon's involvement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, just adds to his worries, he said.
According to a Fox report, the Pentagon is planning to make available military troops – if they are needed – to help FEMA respond to a flu outbreak.
The report said Defense Secretary Robert Gates is preparing to sign an order letting the military set up regional teams to help FEMA.
"Americans should be gravely concerned when all the pieces are put together," Clymer said. "We have a strain of flu which has produced mild symptoms so far, and yet it appears there's a well-orchestrated world-wide effort to put draconian measures in place for a 'pandemic.'"
Clymer also cited the WHO recommendations that would provide, essentially, for an indefinite stay in a quarantine camp for those who refuse a vaccination. He said the procedures that follow a "Level 6 Pandemic" allow international precedent to override U.S. constitutional guarantees of freedom.
The party statement said, "All liberty-loving Americans should shudder at the WHO directives which state: 'During a pandemic, it may be necessary to overrule existing legislation or (individual) human rights. Examples are the enforcement of quarantine (overruling individual freedom of movement), use of privately owned buildings for hospitals, off-license use of drugs, compulsory vaccination or implementation of emergency shifts in essential services."
No such extraordinary efforts are needed, the Constitution Party said, because according to the Centers for Disease Control, "the fear mongering regarding this flu is not warranted by forensic evidence that H1N1 is the potentially devastating plague the hyperbole purports it to be."
According to the Fox report, the bird flu frenzy during 2005 prompted the Bush administration to add influenza to the government's list of diseases for which quarantines are allowed, creating a path through which people who exhibit symptoms could be detained by government order.
Governors, however, according to a report from The Hill, are objecting to the potential involvement of the feds.
Gov. Jim Douglas, R-Vermont, head of the National Governors Association, and Vice Chairman Gov. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., wrote, "We are concerned that the legislative proposal … would invite confusion on critical command and control issues, complicate interagency planning, establish stove-piped response efforts, and interfere with governors’ constitutional responsibilities to ensure the safety and security of their citizens," Douglas and Manchin wrote to Paul Stockton, assistant secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and America's Security Affairs.
And the Fox report said even a spokesman for the Defense Department acknowledged the concerns "about civil liberties and the use of force."
Attorney Robert L. Shannon told the network the military generally isn't allowed to intervene in peoples' lives, "But it's important to remember that the president has the option and authority to use federal troops in a national emergency."
An ACLU spokesman told Fox that the idea of forced vaccinations or detentions would raise constitutional questions, and Michel Chossudovsky, writing on the Global Research website, said the implications are "far-reaching."
"The decision points toward the establishment of a police state," he said.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting that Americans in eight cities are preparing to take a swine flu vaccine that still is in the testing stages, in manufacturers' hopes that the vaccine will be on the market soon.
This is a snipet from an article HERE
The following is an incomplete (but significant) list of vaccine ingredients: GlaxoSmithKline Plc based in London Vaccine Ingredients: Aluminum adjuvant: an aluminum-containing compound. It releases the antigen [an active substance that is capable of generating an enhanced immune response from the body, and then reacting with the products from that response], causing strong, enhanced antibody response what Dr. Mercola calls a "turbo-charge" to the body's immune system. It has been linked to Gulf War Syndrome that has caused tremendous permanent damage to thousands of military.(7) Aluminum is a known cause of cognitive dysfunction.
AS03: The company's proprietary squalene adjuvant. (See: squalene below)
Daronrix: Glaxo's H5N1 bird flu vaccine:
Disodium phosphate: a white powder, water-soluble salt. It is used as an anti-caking additive in powdered products. This inorganic chemical is also used as a fungicide and microbiocide.
Formaldehyde: a known carcinogen and reproductive or developmental toxicant. Interestingly, according to PANNA, in 2007, California used 30,328 pounds of this carcinogen, as a microbiocide [a drug or other agent that can kill microbes] on the top 50 crops grown in the state.(8)
Octoxynol 10: (Also known as Triton X-100) A detergent, emulsifier, wetting and defoaming agent. [Octoxynol-9 is a spermatocide.] It can alter metabolic activity, damage membranes, and cause a rapid decline in cell function.
Polysorbate 80: Also known as Tween 80. It is used as an emulsifier in cosmetics, and is one of the ingredients in Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine that is being mandated promoted for teen-age girls. This ingredient is known to cause infertility, grand mal convulsions, spontaneous abortions, and life-threatening anaphylactic shock. So far, 28 Gardasil deaths have been reported.
Sodium Chloride: Refined table salt. Salt is a naturally occurring complex mineral that balances the water inside and outside our cells. Refined salt, sodium chloride, is chemically treated and contains many other hidden chemicals that destroy natural salt's healing abilities. The body can get most of its daily requirement by eating a well-balanced, organic diet --eliminating processed foods. A good source is untreated, natural sea salt.
Squalene: A natural oil found in sharks (mostly found in their livers) and humans. The American Journal of Pathology (2000) reported that rats injected with squalene triggered "chronic, immune-mediated joint-specific inflammation," i.e., rheumatoid arthritis. How will this affect people who already have an immune inflammation, or will it cause untold new cases (lupus, chronic fatigue)? Squalene is being added to all new vaccines. It is linked to the thousands of military who have contracted "Gulf War Syndrome" and have suffered irreparable auto-immune damage, including lupis, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis.(9)
Thimersol: (MERCURY). Put in all multiple doses of vaccines. Any amount of mercury is highly toxic. There is no safe level. This is has been repeatedly linked to the increasing rates of autism, multiple sclerosis, and ADD.(10)
A little more on The Effects of Squalene Adjuvant
Oil-based vaccination adjuvants like squalene have been proved to generate concentrated, unremitting immune responses over long periods of time according to a 2000 article in The American Journal of Pathology. The study demonstrated that a single injection of the adjuvant squalene into rats triggered a chronic, immune-mediated joint-specific inflammation, also known as rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers concluded the study raised questions about the role of adjuvants in chronic inflammatory diseases.
Your immune system recognizes squalene as an oil molecule native to your body. It is found throughout your nervous system and brain. In fact, you can consume squalene in olive oil and not only will your immune system recognize it, you will also reap the benefits of its antioxidant properties.
The difference between "good" and a "bad" squalene is the route by which it enters your body. Injection is an abnormal route of entry which incites your immune system to attack all the squalene in your body, not just the vaccine adjuvant.
Your immune system will attempt to destroy the molecule wherever it finds it, including in places where it occurs naturally, and where it is vital to the health of your nervous system, according to award-winning investigative journalist Gary Matsumoto, who explains there is a "close match between the squalene-induced diseases in animals and those observed in humans injected with this oil: rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus."
So squalene which causes your body to attack parts of your nervous system.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
I think it is important we know what we are putting into our bodies. Over the years Nicholas has always gotten a flu shot and I think I have only done it 5 times in the last 25 years.
So right now I have no idea what I will do. I do know I don't like the stuff that it says are the ingredients, that scares 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 06:45 AM | Comments (10)
Obama Liberals Lobby to Remove Words from Textbooks—No More 'Elderly', 'Senior Citizens'
Wild Thing's comment......
Just some more stupid changes from the land of OZ ........ make that the land of liberals trying to lower the IQ of our nation.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:44 AM | Comments (2)
August 12, 2009
New Words That Are Banned From Text Books
The New Words That Are Banned From Text Books
An eye-opening book titled The Language Police lists about 500 words that are banned from school textbooks. Some are amusing, some stupid (probably a banned word), and some are chilling. Here is a very partial list of banned words:
Founding Fathers—Banned as sexist. Replace with Founders or Framers.
Caveman—Banned as sexist, replace with cave dweller.
Disadvantaged—Banned, replace with reference to the resources or rights that are absent in an individual’s life circumstances.
Courageous—Banned as patronizing when referring to persons with disabilities.
Lunatic—Banned as offensive, replace with person with a psychiatric illness.
Soda—Banned for regional bias, replace with Coke, Pepsi.
Teenager—Banned, replace with adolescent.
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Wild Thing's comment......
This is crazy and there is no way I will follow this. How are kdis supposed to grow up normal today, with all this fear of using the wron word and PC taking over so completely. God bless these kids that have to put up with this insanity.
This blog Theodore's World is still PC Free Zone and it always will be.
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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 (18)
July 12, 2009
Sotomayor Backers Urge Reporters to Probe New Haven Firefighter
Sotomayor backers urge reporters to probe New Haven firefighter
Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who's at the center of Sotomayor's most controversial ruling.
On the eve of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearing, her advocates have been urging journalists to scrutinize what one called the "troubled and litigious work history" of firefighter Frank Ricci.
This is opposition research: a constant shadow on Capitol Hill.
"The whole business of getting Supreme Court nominees through the process has become bloodsport," said Gary Rose, a government and politics professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.
On Friday, citing in an e-mail "Frank Ricci's troubled and litigious work history," the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way drew reporters' attention to Ricci's past. Other advocates for Sotomayor have discreetly urged journalists to pursue similar story lines.
Specifically, the advocates have zeroed in on an earlier 1995 lawsuit Ricci filed claiming the city of New Haven discriminated against him because he's dyslexic. The advocates cite other Hartford Courant stories from the same era recounting how Ricci was fired by a fire department in Middletown, Conn., allegedly, Ricci said at the time, because of safety concerns he raised.
The Middletown-area fire department was subsequently fined for safety violations, but the Connecticut Department of Labor dismissed Ricci's retaliation complaint.
No People for the American Way officials could be reached Friday to speak on the record about the press campaign.
"To go after so sympathetic a plaintiff as Frank Ricci . . . is a new low in the politics of personal destruction," said Roger Pilon, the director of the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies. "If they were smart, they'd keep a low profile."
Ricci, though, has his own advocates, including conservative commentators such as CNN's Lou Dobbs and Fox's Sean Hannity.
Nor is he the only Supreme Court confirmation witness to receive sharp elbows. In 1991, for instance, then-Senate Minority Leader Alan Simpson of Wyoming warned that witness Anita Hill would be "injured and destroyed and belittled and hounded and harassed" if she testified against nominee Clarence Thomas. Hill was preparing to testify that she'd been sexually harassed by Thomas.
Hill's subsequent testimony threw into question Thomas's confirmation, during a hearing he likened to a "high-tech lynching." A closely divided Senate ultimately confirmed him.
The 35-year-old Ricci was the lead plaintiff in the case Ricci v. DeStefano, challenging New Haven's refusal to promote white firefighters after African-American and all but one Hispanic firefighters failed to score high enough on a promotion exam.
Sotomayor and a majority of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the city's claim that it was justifiably concerned about a potential civil rights suit being filed by the African-American firefighters.
"Sotomayor and her panel colleagues were bound by long-standing precedent and federal law," People for the American Way executive vice president Marge Baker said in a June statement. "They applied the law without regard to their personal views."
Last month, however, the Supreme Court overturned the 2nd Circuit by 5-4.
"Once . . . employers have made clear their selection criteria, they may not then invalidate the test results, thus upsetting an employee's legitimate expectation not to be judged on the basis of race," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.
With his awards for bravery, some 17 years of fire department service and history of overcoming dyslexia, Ricci has become a compelling human character in the Sotomayor confirmation drama. Senate Republicans have summoned him, along with Lt. Ben Vargas of the New Haven Fire Department, as two of their 14 witnesses next week.
Though even Republicans concede Sotomayor appears poised to win confirmation, the hearing — and Ricci's part in them — could be exploited politically. The case is symbolic of race-based preferences, which conservatives have long rejected.
"Affirmative action remains a potentially useful issue for the GOP," Rose noted, and "this case has the potential of perhaps mobilizing the Republican party again."
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina added that many Americans can identify with Ricci, making him an especially attractive witness for the GOP and potentially dangerous for Democrats.
"He took on a second job and worked hard, but was denied due to the same legal concepts" that were designed to protect people's rights, Graham said.
Wild Thing's comment.......
The “politics of personal destruction” raises its ugly head once again. This is a sure sign of desperation.
This is ialso one of the reasons these creeps want to go after the firefighter.
This guy has a great story. A very hard working and deserving man who was callously thrown under the bus by a very flippant and superficial ruling by Sotomayer.
Washington (AP/WTNH) - Republicans plan to call a white firefighter whose reverse discrimination claim was rejected by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to testify against her.
New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci brought a lawsuit challenging his city's decision to scrap the results of a promotion test because too few minorities scored highly enough to qualify. He's one of 14 witnesses Republicans will call during Senate hearings on Sotomayor's confirmation that open Monday.
Sotomayor was part of an appellate court panel that rejected Ricci's claim. The Supreme Court reversed the ruling last week.
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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 (10)
July 10, 2009
Obama To Resettle 1,700 Palestinians From Iraq in USA
US to resettle 1,350 Palestinians from Iraq
The US State Department confirmed Tuesday that as many as 1,350 Iraqi Palestinians - once well-treated guests of Saddam Hussein and now estranged from Iraqi society - will be resettled in the US, mostly in southern California, starting this fall, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
The US, which takes in about 80,000 refugees annually, hopes to bring 17,000 Iraqi refugees this year.
It will be the largest-ever resettlement of Palestinian refugees into the US - and welcome news to the Palestinians who fled to Iraq after 1948, but who have had a tough time since Hussein was ousted in 2003. Targeted by Iraqi Shi'ites, the Palestinians, mostly Sunni Muslims, have spent recent years in one of the region's roughest refugee camps, Al Waleed, near Iraq's border with Syria in the west.
"Really for the first time, the United States is recognizing a Palestinian refugee population that could be admitted to the US as part of a resettlement program," Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch in Washington told CSM.
Considering that the US in the past was reluctant to resettle Palestinians - only seven were accepted in 2007 and only nine in 2008 - the effort could become a point of contention between Israel and the US.
For many in the State Department and international community, the resettlement is part of a moral imperative the US has to clean up the refugee crisis created by invading Iraq. The US has already stepped up resettlement of Iraqis, some whom have struggled to adjust to life in America.
The resettlement of Iraqi Palestinians is "an important gesture for the United States to demonstrate that we're not heartless," Alon Ben-Meir, a professor of international relations and Middle Eastern studies at New York University told the publication.
But some critics say the State Department is sloughing off its problems onto American cities, especially since in this case the Palestinians were sympathizers of the Iraqi tyrant.
"This is politically a real hot potato," said Mark Krikorian, director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, adding, "America has become a dumping ground for the State Department's problems - they're tossing their problems over their head into Harrisburg, Pa., or Omaha, Neb."
Palestinian refugees came to Iraq in successive waves over several decades, first in 1948, then in 1967, and in 1991. They were treated well under Hussein but were also used to attack Israeli policies, and their presence was resented by many locals.
After Hussein was removed from power in 2003, many of these Palestinians were driven out of their homes and now live "at the mercy of the weather" in rough camps along the Syrian and Jordanian border, said Mr. Ben-Meir. The number of Palestinians in Iraq has fallen from around 34,000 to an estimated 15,000, with about 2,773 living in camps, according to the State Department.
While the US generally doesn't accept Palestinians, Todd Pierce, a spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said that the Iraqi population of Palestinians falls under a different category from those in Gaza and the West Bank. Each applicant will be carefully scrutinized for terrorist ties, he added.
The US reluctance to accept Palestinians is because it "doesn't want the refugee program to become an issue in its relationship with Israel," said a diplomat in the region on condition of remaining anonymous. But these Palestinians, he said, would be processed as refugees from Iraq.
Mr. Krikorian said the US should be the last refuge for those fleeing persecution. Only Jordan of all the Arab countries routinely grants citizenship to Palestinian refugees, he noted. More recently, said Mr. Frelick, Jordan has also shut its borders to Palestinians coming from Iraq.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Obama is importing more Muslim terrorist's to our soil. Obama is destroying this country on purpose. This will end badly. When it all explodes it is going to literally rip apart this country.
This is national suicide. I guess there are not enough terrorist bombings to suit Obama.
Why? Why bring them here? Who wakes up in the morning and asks themselves, why don't we have more Palestinians running around in the United States? Obviously not someone who wants America to be safe or worries about our best interests.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (20)
June 30, 2009
Obama Insists Zelaya Remains the President of Honduras ~ LMAO Hello Obama
Obama Says Honduras Coup Illegal
Barack Obama said on Monday the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was illegal and would set a "terrible precedent" of transition by military force unless it was reversed.
"We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there," Obama told reporters after an Oval Office meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
Zelaya, in office since 2006, was overthrown in a dawn coup on Sunday after he angered the judiciary, Congress and the army by seeking constitutional changes that would allow presidents to seek re-election beyond a four-year term.
The European Union and a string of foreign governments have voiced support for Zelaya, who was snatched by troops from his residence and whisked away by plane to Costa Rica in his pajamas.
Obama said he would work with the Organization of American States and other international institutions to restore Zelaya to power and "see if we can resolve this in a peaceful way."
Wild Thing's comment.......
Obama is a LIAR and he disgusts me with his many lies.
There was illegal, fraudulent activity that involved the shipment of ballots from Venezuela.
There was a court ruling with regard to the above.
There was an an arrest and exile to another country for the perpetrator's own safety.
There was a formal impeachment by Parliament.
Everything was legal.
Roberto Micheletti is the interim President of Honduras, according to Honduran law and due process.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:46 AM | Comments (8)
June 29, 2009
Supreme Court Reverses Sotomayor Decision About White Firefighters
Supreme Court Reverses Sotomayor Decision Sides With White Firefighters Who Say They Were Discriminated Against
WASHINGTON
The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.
The white firefighters argued they were discriminated against when the city tossed out the results of a promotion exam because too few minorities scored high enough on it. Sonia Sotomayor, who has been nominated to take Souter's seat, was one of three appeals court judges who ruled that New Haven officials acted properly.
New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision.
The controversy started when New Haven voided its entire 2003 promotional exam after the results made 18 whites - but no blacks - eligible to become officers. When the city decided to promote no one, the white firefighters called that invalid under the Constitution.
The city said it acted because it might have been vulnerable to claims that the exam had a "disparate impact" on minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and sought to avoid lawsuit from minorities who were turned down following the test.
When the case reached the appeals court Judge (now Supreme Court nominee) Sonia Sotomayor was on the three-judge panel that rejected the reverse discrimination complaint.
"Fear of litigation alone cannot justify the City's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy. "Discarding the test results was impermissible under Title VII, and summary judgment is appropriate for petitioners on their disparate-treatment claim." Justices Kennedy was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
Title VII prohibits both intentional acts of employment discrimination based on race, color, religion sex and national origin (or disparate treatment), and policies or practices that intentional or not have a disproportionately adverse discriminatory effect on minorities (or disparate impact).
Under Title VII, an employer can engage in an act of intentional discrimination for the purposes of avoiding or remedying a disparate impact only if there is evidence that the employer would be subject to disparate-impact liability. The Justices did not feel New Haven's action rose to that level.
The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide, potentially limiting the circumstances in which employers can be held liable for decisions when there is no evidence of intentional discrimination against minorities.
In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the white firefighters "understandably attract this court's sympathy. But they had no vested right to promotion. Nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them."
Ginsburg said that "it is indeed regrettable that the City's noncertification decision would have required all candidates to go through another selection process. But it would have been more regrettable to rely on flawed exams to shut out candidates who may well have the command presence and other qualities needed to excel as fire officers. Yet that is the choice the Court makes today. It is a choice that breaks the promise of Griggs that groups long denied equal opportunity would not be held back by tests 'fair in form, but discriminatory in operation.'"
She was joined in dissent by Justices Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens.
It's Justice David Souter's last day on the Supreme Court. Souter said he'd retire when the court rises for the summer recess. He was named to the court in 1990.
Court Opinion is here:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-1428.pdf
Wild Thing's comment......
Anyone else notice how there are waaaaaaaaaaay too many 5-4 decisions. Is our Constitution hanging on by a thread?
One of our nephews is a firefighter in New York, and the stories he tells about things that have happend at their Station because of giving in to the affirmative action horrible. ONe big thing that went on a few years ago was lockers being broken into and things stolen. Personal items just poof taken at whim and no respect for the other firefighters.
Then there is also the danger involved in allowing people, heck anyone, through when they have NOT passed the tests given. It is similar to the military in that there is training and everyone has got to know how to do things the right way or lives can be put in danger.
So I am extremely pleased about this decision of the Court and I just wish more of the Judges wanted to respect our Constiution and our firefighters as well.
Obama at first said he was looking for someone with lots of "empathy" for the "hopes and struggles" of losers, but with Sonia Sotomayor it looks like he decided to zero in on *stupid* instead. In Sotomayor, Obama had found someone in the likeness of Obama and even looks a lot like Manuel Noriega.
Among Sotomayor's much-heralded "disadvantages" is apparently the lack of any brains.
Obama Defends Sotomayo
White House defends Sotomayor after ruling reversed
H/T Gateway Pundit
The White House came to the defense of President Obama's pick to be the newest Supreme Court justice after Judge Sonia Sotomayor's ruling in a racially charged case was reversed by the Supreme Court.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs all but accused the current court of "judicial activism," a buzz term used by conservatives in recent years, in overturning what the White House saw as Sotomayor's upholding of precedent.
The highest court ruled Monday that a group of white firefighters in New Haven, Conn. were discriminated against after the city threw out a promotion test after one Hispanic and no African-Americans passed. Sotomayor ruled in favor of the city as an appeals court judge.
Republicans on Monday sought to use the case to question Sotomayor's qualifications and buy more time before her confirmation hearings are set to begin on July 13.
But Gibbs said that the case "denotes that [Sotomayor] is a follower of precedent," and the arguments over judicial activism "seem to be at the very least upside-down in this case."
Gibbs said the case proves "she doesn't legislate from the bench."
"I think it is an interesting new interpretation of a law that has been reviewed by many judges in many courts, judges appointed by Democrats and Republicans."
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:27 PM | Comments (6)
June 28, 2009
Honduran President wanting to Be Ruler Forever is Ousted by Honduran Armed Forces
Soldiers stormed the house of leftist President Manuel Zelaya in a predawn raid Sunday, arresting him and removing him from power amid a growing crisis over Mr. Zelaya's plans to try to get re-electe
The Honduran Supreme Court of Justice has confirmed that Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was detained this morning by the military in compliance with an order of the courts of law.
Obama Worked To Prevent Ouster of Honduras President
By Jay Solomon, Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Manuel Zelaya's ouster, said a senior U.S. official. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Barack Obama wouldn't support any nondemocratic transfer of power in the Central American country.
"We had some indication that a move against Mr. Zelaya was afoot," said a U.S. official briefed on the diplomacy. "We made it clear it was something we didn't support."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Obama Sunday in criticizing the Honduran coup and calling for the restoration of the democratic process.
"We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law, to reaffirm their democratic vocation, and to commit themselves to resolve political disputes peacefully and through dialogue," Clinton said in a statement.
CARACAS, June 28 (Reuters)
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put his troops on alert over a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was attacked or kidnapped.
Giving voice to the deep fears that sparked the military’s action, retired Honduran general Daniel Lopez Carballo justified the move against the president, telling CNN en Espanol that Mr. Zelaya was a stooge for Mr. Chavez. He said if the military had not acted, Mr. Chavez would eventually be running Honduras by proxy.
Nicaraguan paper La Prensa Gráfica reports that the Venezuelan ambassador to the Organization of American States claims that the ambassadors for Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in Honduras were kidnapped, hooded, and beaten. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza announced he will travel to Honduras.
Chavez warns Honduras with “war” if anything happens to the Venezuelan ambassador in Honduras....thank you to Fausta for the translation:
President Hugo Chavez has warned the Honduran military behind the coup today with “war” if anything happens to our ambassador in Tegucigalpa, or if the Venezuelan embassy is taken.
Chavez said that it would be “a declaration of war” and Venezuela would be forced to send troops. “The Venezuelan Armed Forces are on alert.”
“The military junta would be entering on a de-facto state of war. We would have to act even militarily. I wouldn’t be able to remain with my arms crossed knowing they are assaulting our ambassador.”
He then went on to say he’d teach those gorillas a lesson, and concluded by saying he would overthrow the president designated to substitute Zelaya. Globovision quotes Chavez as saying that “If they swear in Roberto Micheletti (the head of the Honduran Congress), we’ll overthrow him.”
An official statement of the Supreme Court of Justice explained that the Armed Forces acted under lawful grounds when detaining the President of the Republic, and by decommissioning the materials to be used on the illegal poll which aimed to bring forth Executive Power against a judicial order.
Other sources verified that the president of the Congress, Roberto Micheletti, will assume the presidency of the republic in a few hours.
Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was detained this morning by the military in compliance with an order of the courts of law.
President Roberto Micheletti, ... New Honduran president sworn in
Congress swiftly appointed its speaker Roberto Micheletti - a member of Mr Zelaya's Liberal Party, but an opponent of him - as acting head of state.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Soldiers stormed the house of leftist President Manuel Zelaya in a predawn raid Sunday, arresting him and removing him from power amid a growing crisis over Mr. Zelaya's plans to try to get re-elected. Mr. Zelaya called the action a kidnapping, and said he was still president of Honduras...
The Honduran Congress named its leader, Roberto Micheletti, to replace Zelaya following his military ouster and forced exile in Costa Rica. A resolution read on the floor of Congress accuses Mr. Zelaya of "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting in present danger the state of law," a reference to his refusal to obey a Supreme Court ruling against holding a constitutional referendum.
...Congress voted Sunday to remove Mr. Zelaya, and appointed Mr. Micheletti as the new chief executive, as is mandated by the constitution....In Honduras, television stations were off the air, and electricity was out in parts of the capital..
Reaction to the apparent coup was swift. U.S. President Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned" and called on all political actors in Honduras to "respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference," he said.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Good for them for doing this. This was the Honduran Armed Forces working with the blessing of the Courts taking action against a tyrant. Zelfaya the president of Honduras was trying to stage an “auto-golpe,” meaning a self-coup where an elected leader takes over all powers and gets himself permanently in power. He had been told by the Courts and parliament that he couldn’t do it, but he was going to go ahead with the faux “referendum” anyway, so the authorities had every right to get rid of him.
Zelfaya is a stooge for Chavez.
Obama and Hillary are completely and openly on Chavez side.
A special hat tip and thank you to Fausta and also for her translations to English of the news articles on this.
* Fausta's blog
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 PM | Comments (14)
June 17, 2009
Store Clerk Murdered; Customers Keep Shopping
GARY, Ind. (CBS)
A 26-year-old convenience store clerk was shot and killed in broad daylight in Gary, Ind., and police say witnesses stood by and did nothing. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports there are critical clues that may help crack the case.
Police say one of the four men caught on surveillance video bursting into the clerk's booth at the convenience store was about to commit murder. The video shows a man in red run up an aisle and kick in the door to the booth. Within seconds, the clerk, Gurjeet Singh, was shot in the neck.
"It was senseless. And really all homicides are senseless but what we gather from this, there was very little resistance," said Gary Police Department Commander Anthony Titus. "It didn't have to end the way it did."
But Titus says what's even more senseless is the apparent inaction of bystanders standing near the front door almost the whole time.
Police say there were several customers walking around the store after the crime. But only one called 911 for help.
When asked what he finds most disturbing about the surveillance footage, Titus said, "The fact that people went in and out of the store and didn't call police. There is a man laying there. Nobody thinks to dial 911 or check to see if he's OK or anything."
Police want to talk to people who saw the four men at the mini-mart on 15th and Grant just before 5:20 p.m. Sunday.
At a news conference on Wednesday, community organizers demanded Gary police offer a reward for information about the case. They said the people of Gary needed financial incentive to come forward. Investigators said no reward was planned.
Investigators say two suspects were dressed in black shirts, like one man on the tape who looks to be holding a gun. The other two had red shirts. Police think they were driving a burgundy compact car.
"It's clear enough to the point that if you're familiar with that person, you'd be able to look at it and go, that's someone I know," Titus said.
Investigators hope someone who sees this video will be able to help bring Singh's family some closure. He was doing his job one minute and losing a fight for his life seconds later.
Wild Thing's comment.........
Some would think this is a racist comment; it is only reality.
Gary, Indiana is a virtually all-Black city. The perps were Black, the vic was not. There was no “don't move or we well shoot you,” He was simply killed as the opening act of this crime. In Gary, that's pretty much Ok, as long as the vic is not Black.
Look at how society accepts ACORN stealing on a grand scale, and getting away with it because they are Black
I truly hate to think that way, but history proves it. It is not right and sad too, but it is the truth.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 PM | Comments (11)
June 08, 2009
Obama Drives USA into Socialism While EU Turns Right
Conservatives racing ahead in EU parliament voting
BRUSSELS
Conservatives raced toward victory in some of Europe's largest economies Sunday as initial results and exit polls showed voters punishing left-leaning parties in European parliament elections in France, Germany and elsewhere.
Some right-leaning parties said the results vindicated their reluctance to spend more on company bailouts and fiscal stimulus amid the global economic crisis.
First projections by the European Union showed center-right parties would have the most seats — between 263 and 273 — in the 736-member parliament. Center-left parties were expected to get between 155 to 165 seats.
Right-leaning governments were ahead of the opposition in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium, while conservative opposition parties were leading in Britain and Spain.
Greece was a notable exception, where the governing conservatives were headed for defeat in the wake of corruption scandals and economic woes.
Germany's Social Democrats headed to their worst showing in a nationwide election since World War II. Four months before Germany holds its own national election, the outcome boosted conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's hopes of ending the tense left-right "grand coalition" that has led the European Union's most populous nation since 2005.
"We are the force that is acting level-headedly and correctly in this financial and economic crisis," said Volker Kauder, the leader of Merkel's party in the German parliament.
France's Interior Ministry said partial results showed the governing conservatives in the lead, with the Socialists in a distant second and the Europe Ecologie environmentalist party a close third.
French Socialists said their defeat signaled a need to rethink left-wing policies if they are to have any hope of unseating President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and five other EU nations cast ballots over the last three days, while the rest of the 27-nation bloc voted Sunday.
"Tonight is a very difficult evening for Socialists in many nations in Europe," Martin Schulz, the leader of the Socialists in the European Parliament, told party faithful in Brussels via video link from Berlin. "(We will) continue to fight for social democracy in Europe."
Many Socialists ran campaigns that slammed center-right leaders for failing to rein in financial markets and spend enough to stimulate faltering economies.
Graham Watson, leader of the EU's center-right Liberal Democrat grouping, said early results suggested a rejection of the Socialist approach.
"People don't want a return to socialism and that's why the majority here will be a center-right majority," he said.
In Spain, the conservative Popular Party won two more seats than the ruling Socialists — 23 to 21 seats — with over 88 percent of the vote counted.
Exit polls also showed gains for far-right groups and other fringe parties due to record low turnout.
Britain elected its first extreme-right politician to the European Parliament, with the British National Party winning a seat in northern England's Yorkshire and the Humber district.
The far-right party, which does not accept nonwhites as members, was expected to possibly win further seats as more results in Britain were announced.
Lawmakers with Britain's major political parties said the far right's advance was a reflection of anger over immigration issues and the recession that is causing unemployment to soar.
In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders' anti-Islamic party took 17 percent of the country's votes, taking four of 25 seats.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Interesting to note that all of Europe has rejected Socialism as is turnung right. The BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA AND HIS VOTERS are going against the current voting in the EU. European right is more in line with Blue Dog Democrats in the US, maybe even slightly to the right of them on economic and welfare issues.
EUrotopia Socialists and Commies are clearly identified. None of this "progressive" euphemism. Europe is becoming more conservative while we are running up the hammer and cycle flag.
They have had it over there with forty years of socialism. They know they can’t afford it anymore. I hope we don’t have to go through economically what Europe went through before those 52 % of our country that wanted socialism in voting for Obama realize that leftist policies are not for us, like they did.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! It will happen here too. I’m confident we won’t need 40 years to figure out it’s not working.
heh heh All that traveling OBama has done, did he have one state dinner, anywhere??? He is NOT well liked anywhere, we have seen that in all his trips. Even among his Muslim brothehood he is reaching out to trying to find LUV among the beheaders. And Merkel is obviously upset with the radical lefwing lunatic Obama and it showed in her tense response to his visit. And also I bet this is why is why Obama is trying to cram everything down our throats now and why he said if we don’t do healthcare reform now it will never be done.
I love the fact that Merkel and Sarko resisted Obama’s strong push to spend like he was spending.
The real winners in this election are Sarkozy and Merkel, with Berlesconi as well.
The loser is Socialism. Gordon Brown in the UK in particular.
The Republicans need to trumpet this as a failure of the Policies that Obama is pursuing. The Liberals policies have brought rampant unemployment and decline to Europe the GOP meme needs to be we must not let this happen in America stop Obama now before its too late.
The main message of these elections is the historic rejection of Socialism and the Left in almost every country in Europe. We shouldn’t care about the finer points of whether the conservatives in Europe are quite different from the conservatTives in the US. We still need to leverage this message wise.
The bloom is off the Rose. IMO the architect of this defeat was Nicolas Sarkozy,who has systematically co-opted and decimated the Left in France. A great deal of help from Angela Merkel helped as well.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:55 AM | Comments (10)
Germany Not Happy With Obama ~ I agree!
Rift With Germany Is Next on Diplomatic Agenda
DRESDEN, Germany
A rift has quietly opened up between Germany and the United States, marked by official statements of harmony and private grumbling. It is not an outright crisis in relations, but there are underlying tensions and disagreements on matters ranging from the global economic crisis to the future of inmates held at Guantánamo Bay.
On a more basic level, there is a sense that the Obama administration is ignoring the needs and counsel of longtime allies. Divided Germany was once at the center not only of the cold war, but of American foreign policy as well, which is no longer the case. Yet the United States can ill afford to alienate Europe’s largest economy and its most important intermediary in the strained relationship with Russia.
“They’re not angry, they’re not anti-Obama or anti-American,” said John C. Kornblum, a former United States ambassador to Germany and now a business adviser in Berlin. “But they’re confused by the wave of criticism which has been sent at them by the administration and people close to the administration.
“It’s not that they don’t like him,” he said. “They just feel like things aren’t working, like the levers of government are not being engaged to make issues run smoothly.”
The signs of discord were evident even last summer, when Mrs. Merkel rejected Mr. Obama’s request during the presidential campaign to speak in front of the Brandenburg Gate, saying it was not an appropriate location for a candidate’s address. Mr. Obama drew more than 200,000 people to hear his speech at a nearby monument.
Relations were already frosty as the economic crisis deepened and the German government and Obama administration took sharply differing views on how far to push stimulus spending.
And Germans remain surprised that an ambassador to their country has not been named more than four months after Mr. Obama’s inauguration. There is a sense that, with his focus split between domestic concerns and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new president is taking his staunchest European allies for granted.
“There is definitely this disappointment in Europe, complaining that there’s nobody home,” said Stephen Flanagan, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Wild Thing's comment.......
LOL is an ass and Merkel and she is right! It is not only that I can't stand Obama for what he is doing to OUR country, but he is also a total embarssment. He is more horrible that I could ever have imagined.
"complaining that there’s nobody home"
LMAO well that is one way to say he is an empty suit. hahahahaa
But is he a VERY dangerous empty suit that is the problem.
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Posted by Wild Thing at 07:49 AM | Comments (3)
Capitalism, And Roger Penske, To The Rescue
Capitalism, And Roger Penske, To The Rescue
by Austin Hill
An American car company will soon be taken-over by a business person who has expertise in the car industry. And the guy “taking over” is actually “happy” about it.
As the bankrupt General Motors corporation seeks to get rid of it’s “non core” car brands, Roger Penske, the American race car driver-turned global business magnate, will soon be purchasing Saturn, and taking over the sales, marketing, and distribution of Saturn cars and parts.
Penske‘s company will not be manufacturing Saturn cars themselves - he’s soliciting bids from other companies to design and build the cars for him - but will focus instead on what the Penske group does best. "Our success has been with handling the business that is closest to the customer,“ Penske stated when the news was announced, “so I don't want us to get into our own manufacturing business.."
You may have ignored this news, and it may seem like “no big deal” now. But consider how this conflicts with the predictions and assumptions made by Washington politicians.
Recall that fateful day (November 18th) back in 2008, when the executives of Ford, G.M., and Chrysler, took their turns before Congress begging for their “share” of bailout cash. “This is about much more than just Detroit," then- G.M. President Rick Wagoner stated, "It's about saving the U.S. economy from a catastrophic collapse."
And it was presumed that catastrophe would necessarily ensue, if our government didn’t “bailout” the car companies. “We're concerned about the hundreds of thousands and millions of people who are involved in the automobile industry” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rationalized 2 days later, “we want them to have the jobs..” If our tax dollars weren’t spent to save these companies from their own mismanagement, then, to follow Senator Reid’s logic, the companies would simply cease to exist, and “millions” would be unemployed.
But we all know what happened after the U.S. car exec’s groveled. Politicians insisted that without their meddling, the entire industry would collapse, and so they went about meddling. The Congress tried to pass a “car bailout bill,” but it failed. President Bush then used his executive powers to take money from the TARP (bank bailout) funds, and doled-out a few billion to G.M. and Chrysler (Ford had to good sense to say “no thanks”). In doing this, Bush completely defied the will of the people and the Congress, and kept Chrysler and G.M. afloat just long enough for Obama to get inaugurated.
And one inauguration and two additional car bailouts later, President Obama has now kicked and punched his way to the point of having GM and Chrysler in a headlock, and both companies are at his mercy. With Chrysler, President Obama has drawn law suits for his interfering in the relationship between the company and its secured creditors. Additionally, Chrysler executives are fearful of Obama’s coercive efforts to “force” a Chrysler-Fiat merger, believing that Fiat is in even worse financial health than Chrysler itself. As for G.M., President Obama claims that "our goal is to help GM get back on its feet ... and get out quickly, " but the Administration’s behavior suggests that G.M. will be, indeed, “government motors” for the foreseeable future.
So despite all the “without us they will fail” predictions from Washington, after some $50 billion of our hard-earned money being handed-over, and now with two of the nation’s automakers in the hands of one individual - Barack Obama - the companies are still failing.
Yet in the midst of the doom and gloom, and despite the predictions of President Obama, Senator Harry Reid and other congressional Democrats, an American business owner and entrepreneur sees opportunity in the car industry and is excited to jump-in.
Roger Penske isn’t asking for a “bailout.” He isn’t even asking for special government-subsidized financing for his purchase. He wants Saturn, a product line deemed to be one of the least attractive on the G.M. roster, because he believes that he can make money with it, and he’s willing to risk his money and his good reputation to make it happen. “This (Saturn) is still a good business” Penske stated, “and we’re going to make it better.” In the process, it is believed that Penske’s acquisition will in the short-run save some 13,000 American jobs, and eventually create more.
For some, it’s hard to believe. But all this benefit is being derived- - for Penske, for his associates, for the can industry and for the global economy - without the expenditure of more of our tax dollars, and without President Obama coercing it. It’s happening at the hands of free people, freely choosing to take risks, to innovate, to create, and to produce.
This is the reality of American-styled Capitalism at work. I’m quite certain that most members of Congress lost sight of this reality long ago, and I suspect that President Obama knows nothing about it at all.
But it is a reality that the American citizenry must never forget.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Wishing Penske all the best on this.
I don't know that much about cars, all I know is I love my Grand Jeep Cherokee, so I hope it lasts a long time. God protect Obama if that jerk Obama even thinks about banning them. haha It will not be pretty. Well don't protect him too much. heh heh
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:45 AM | Comments (6)
June 01, 2009
Man With Record Scott Roeder Kills Serial Baby Killer Dr. George Tiller
Late term abortionist Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed as he walked into church.
George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services.
Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation.
George Tiller's killer was arrested today on Interstate 35.
Johnson County Sheriff's deputies stopped the suspect on I-35 between the two main Gardner exits around 1:30 p.m. He surrendered without incident. He is in custody of Gardner police and Johnson County Sheriff's deputies.
The person went inside a church and shot Tiller while his wife was singing in the choir.
"I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence." -Barack Obama, May 31, 2009
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And from the women's lib group N.O.W. you know the ones that are shrill lesbian liberals who despise men could not stand up for Sarah Palin, Carrie Prejean , or any of the women that Bill Clinton told to put ice on it.......... the wanna be men, femiiNazi's. ~ Wild Thing
NOW Identifies Murder of Dr. George Tiller As Domestic Terrorism, Calls for Action from Justice Department and Homeland Security
Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy
June 1, 2009
Women across the country have lost a champion today. The cold-blooded murder of Dr. George Tiller this morning in church is a stark reminder that women's bodies are still a battleground, and health care professionals are on the frontlines.
This kind man and skilled doctor braved blockades, harassment, assault, and countless threats, including an attempted murder in 1993 when he was shot in both arms. He knew his life was in constant jeopardy, and that he would likely die at the hands of an anti-abortion terrorist -- yet he continued to protect his patients and provide safe and legal abortions to women in often-desperate circumstances. Those who are behind this murder may believe that the killing of George Tiller will mean that these women will have nowhere else to turn, but they are wrong. On the contrary, I believe their depraved acts will inspire another doctor to take up the torch, and another, and another.
Dr. Tiller's slaying is the most recent in a string of murders in the service of the anti-abortion cause, and hundreds of people have been injured or threatened because they provide legal abortion services. Bringing the killers to justice is not enough - the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security must root out and prosecute as domestic terrorists and violent racketeers the criminal enterprise that has organized and funded criminal acts for decades.
We call on the new attorney general Eric Holder and head of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to treat these murders in the same way they would treat politically-motivated domestic terrorism of any other kind and put the full resources of their two departments behind that effort.
Tomorrow will be a Day of Mourning for Dr. Tiller as well as a National Day of Commitment for all who believe abortion must remain both safe and legal -- who believe women have the right and indeed the moral obligation to make their own childbearing decisions. We urge individuals to wear white armbands all day tomorrow, Monday, June 1, in memory of Dr. Tiller and as a visible expression of determination to redouble our commitment to protecting the right to safe and legal birth control and abortion.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Something I noticed with this. Obama made a statement right away. But remember when the Captain was taken hostage and we waited days to hear one word from Obama. If I remember right he waited till the 5th day to make a statement ( when our Navy Seals rescued the Captain). Obama could have made a comment right away then and at least said the nations prayers were with the wife and families and for the Captain to be free again.
I realize it is off topic but it really stands out to me how the because Obama LOVES to kill late term babies and is totally pro abortion he makes a statement right away. And a Captain that was a hero and told the terroriosts to take him as hostage to protect his men .... got the silent treatment from the bozo in the White House.
Regarding the mass murderer of innocent babies Dr. George Tiler......Terminating a fetus at 7, 8 and even 9 months into the pregnancy..........I am adopted so thank God my birth mother had a soul, and gave me a chance to live. I really am fond of being alive.
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.... Thank you GM Cassel for sending this to me.
GM Cassel AMH1(AW) USN RETIRED
US Navy
1973- 1993
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:46 AM | Comments (15)
May 30, 2009
Woman Told to Remove 'Offensive' American Flag From Office
Texas Woman Told to Remove 'Offensive' American Flag From Office
Debbie McLucas comes from a patriotic family – her husband and both of her sons served in the U.S. military, and her daughter is currently deployed to Iraq on her second tour of duty as a combat medic.
So when McLucas arrived at work at a Texas hospital last Friday, she was stunned to be told that the Stars and Stripes she had hung in her office in advance of Memorial Day were offensive, and that the flag had been removed.
“I got into work, I was met by my supervisor and told that there had been multiple complaints, that people found the flag very offensive and it had been taken down," McLucas told FOXNews.com.
"I went to the office to retrieve it and found the flag wrapped around the pole, sitting in the corner on the ground. I was speechless."
McLucas, a supervisor at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield, Texas, had displayed the 3-by-5-foot flag in the office she shares with the hospital’s three other supervisors. McLucas said one of her colleagues, a woman who immigrated to the United States from Africa 14 years ago, complained about the flag to upper management, and the hospital decided to take down the flag.
"I was told that as long as my flag offended one person, it would be taken down," McLucas said.
She said the hospital told her that the American flag flying outside the building would have to suffice. "I was told, ‘There is a flag hanging out front, everyone can see that one. Is that not enough?’"
No, she said, that wasn't enough.
"It is more than I can even fathom, that you would find the American flag offensive, in America," McLucas said.
A Kindred Healthcare spokeswoman did not return calls for comment. Kindred issued a press release stating, “Kindred Hospital Mansfield has a great deal of appreciation for the service that many of our employees and their families have given to their country. We honor our veterans and active military through a variety of benefits and service programs. This was an isolated incident between two employees that we are working to resolve amicably.”
The statement went on to explain: “The disagreement was over the size of the flag and not what it symbolized. We have invited the employee to put the flag back up.”
And it will go back up and stay up, McLucas said.
"I do think they're trying to do the right thing. I have no reason to believe the flag won't remain there as long as I'm employed."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
What I don’t understand about this kind of situation (that happens way too often) is that the one “offended” is given into and all those not offended are ignored.
The election of the POS certainly has smoked out the America haters. I bet the jerik woman from Africa voted for Obama.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (6)
May 23, 2009
Teacher Slams Obama
April 17, 2009
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America . You are responsible to the citizens of the United States .. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.
I personally resen t that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe ? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?
Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States ? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia . You don't show Great Britain , our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia . How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey . You offended our dead and every vet eran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?
I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.
You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't!
Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do.
We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.
I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities.
I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
Sincerely,
Every real American
P.S. I rarely ask that emails be 'passed around'...PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR EMAIL LIST...it's past time for all Americans to wake up!
Ms Kathleen Lyday
Fourth Grade Teacher
Grandview Elementary School
Hillsboro , MO
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Wild Thing's commnet.........
What a GREAT letter!! I love to see people speaking out about Obama. Excellent letter by Kathleen Lyday.
UPDATE note:
I checked on truth and fiction regarding this letter. The person signing the letter is real and she is a teacher at this school, but she denies authoring it. It is an excellent letter though. ~ Dave L
I agree it is a fantastic letter.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:47 AM | Comments (6)
May 21, 2009
I Guess They Would Be Called .... AFRONAUTS
ENTEBBE, Uganda
(AFP)
Africans must travel to the moon to investigate what developed nations have been doing in outer space, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Saturday.
"The Americans have gone to the moon. And the Russians. The Chinese and Indians will go there soon. Africans are the only ones who are stuck here," Museveni said, addressing a meeting of the Uganda Law Society in Entebbe.
"We must also go there and say: 'What are you people doing up here?'."
Museveni urged the assembly of Uganda's top lawyers to support East African integration, arguing that one of the region's goals should be to develop a space programme.
"Uganda alone cannot go to the moon. We are too small. But East Africa united can. That is what East African integration is all about," he said. "Then we can say to the Americans: 'What are you doing here all alone?'."
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Wild Thing's comment............
"....he said. "Then we can say to the Americans: 'What are you doing here all alone?'
ROTFLMAO
“The Americans have gone to the moon. And the Russians. The Chinese and Indians will go there soon."
Is this guy a nephew of 57 States Obama? Perhaps Joe Biden illegitimate son Of the 4 Nations he listed only, America has landed on the moon.
.
......Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion - 1st Aviation Brigade - Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (14)
May 19, 2009
Scholars Plan U.S.' First Four-Year Accredited Islamic College
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Imam Zaid Shakir, a Muslim scholar and teacher, plans to soon open Zaytuna Institute, an American Muslim think-tank/educational institution.
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Scholars Plan U.S.' First Four-Year Accredited Islamic College
A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States, what some are calling a "Muslim Georgetown."
Advisers to the project have scheduled a June vote to decide whether the proposed Zaytuna College can open in the fall of next year, a major step toward developing the faith in America.
Imam Zaid Shakir and Sheik Hamza Yusuf of California have spent years planning the school, which will offer a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship. Shakir, a California native, sees the school in the tradition of other religious groups that formed universities to educate leaders and carve a space in the mainstream of American life.
"As a faith community our needs aren't any different than the needs of any other faith community," Shakir told the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals, as he sought donations at a recent conference near Princeton, N.J. "As Muslims, we need to develop institutions to allow us to perpetuate our values."
Others have tried to start Muslim colleges around New York and Chicago, but those schools remained obscure or quickly folded.
Shakir and Yusuf are believed to have a better chance than most to succeed.
Shakir, an African-American Air Force veteran, and Yusuf, a native of Washington state, are converts who spent years studying with Islamic scholars in North Africa and the Mideast. They speak flawless Arabic and have become widely respected teachers. Yusuf draws thousands of people to his talks and tens of thousands of viewers to his online lectures.
In 1996, Yusuf founded Zaytuna Institute, now based in Berkeley, Calif., which is dedicated to classical Muslim scholarship. Zaytuna means "olive tree" in Arabic.
The institute expanded to provide distance learning, workshops in multiple cities and conferences with prominent scholars. Shakir, a Zaytuna teacher for six years, ran a pilot seminary program from 2004-2008, partly to test the viability of a school. An intensive Arabic language summer course, in its second year, has doubled its enrollment.
"It is far and away the single most influential institution that's shaping American Muslim thought," said Omid Safi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "On the one hand they speak so much about being American. On the other hand, they have also plugged these American Muslim students into the global Muslim curriculum, that has all the rigor of traditional Islamic scholarship."
In earlier years, Shakir and Yusuf had made some anti-American statements, but that rhetoric is not part of their teaching.
Zaytuna Institute has clips on its Web site of a lecture by the two scholars called "Curing Extremism." Following a White House meeting with President George W. Bush soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Yusuf made the now widely repeated comment that "Islam was hijacked" by the terrorists and he has condemned the attackers as "mass murderers."
A working motto for the school: "Where Islam Meets America."
Zaytuna College will start with two majors: Arabic language, and Islamic legal and theological studies.
It will not be a seminary, although some graduates could become prayer leaders, or imams. Most U.S. mosques are led by imams from overseas, considered an obstacle to Islam's development in America.
Other students could go on to start American Muslim nonprofits, or become Islamic scholars through advanced study at other schools, said Hatem Bazian, a Zaytuna adviser who teaches at the University of California-Berkeley and Saint Mary's College of California.
But administrators aim to teach analytical skills, along with ethics and theology, that can prepare students for many professional careers.
Zaytuna will start in rented space in Berkeley and will seek accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. All faiths will be welcome, academic freedom will be protected, and there will be no separation of men and women, Bazian said.
"It is a daunting task, there is no question about it," Bazian said. "But I'm completely confident and comforted that almost every major private university began with one classroom and possibly one building and sometimes it was a rented facility to begin with."
The college needs $2 million to $4 million to launch, a fundraising goal Bazian says organizers will comfortably meet by next year. Zaytuna will soon start raising the tens of millions of dollars needed for an endowment and a capital fund to build a campus in the Bay Area years from now, Bazian said.
Mahmoud Ayoub, a retired professor of Islamic studies Temple University, is among those who don't support the idea of a U.S. Muslim college, not only because of the enormous expense and risk involved, but also because he believes Muslims are better off attending established American schools. He said U.S. Muslims badly need a seminary since there are none in the country.
"I don't know that I would send my child to go to a college where they can only learn tradition. Young people have to live," said Ayoub who has worked with the U.S. State Department, representing America in the Muslim world. "I like mixing people. I don't like ghettos."
But Zaytuna considers the state of Muslim scholarship in the West so "anemic" that a crisis is looming. The Muslim community in North America and Europe, now in the millions, is growing, and has few properly trained leaders to guide them.
"Who will talk for the religion?" Shakir asked. "We have to train a generation."
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Wild Thing's comment........
Good grief!
Zaytuna will start in rented space in Berkeley
Berkeley, what a surprise.....NOT.
can see the course catalog now:
Hijacking 101 - how to fly an airliner, no pre-requisite for take-offs or landings.
Suicide Bombing 401 - Only graduating seniors are allowed to take this course. Course ends with a “community project”.
Jihadism 203 - How to arouse fellow muzzies to fight the Great Satan.
“Headchopping 101”
“Stoning for Beginners”
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (15)
Saudi 'Killer Chip' Implant Would Track, Eliminate Undesirables
Saudi 'Killer Chip' Implant Would Track, Eliminate Undesirables
It could be the ultimate in political control — but it won't be patented in Germany.
German media outlets reported last week that a Saudi inventor's application to patent a "killer chip," as the Swiss tabloids put it, had been denied.
The basic model would consist of a tiny GPS transceiver placed in a capsule and inserted under a person's skin, so that authorities could track him easily.
Model B would have an extra function — a dose of cyanide to remotely kill the wearer without muss or fuss if authorities deemed he'd become a public threat.
The inventor said the chip could be used to track terrorists, criminals, fugitives, illegal immigrants, political dissidents, domestic servants and foreigners overstaying their visas.
"The invention will probably be found to violate paragraph two of the German Patent Law — which does not allow inventions that transgress public order or good morals," German Patent and Trademark Office spokeswoman Stephanie Krüger told the English-language German-news Web site The Local.
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Wild Thing's comment........
When Arabs actually invent something, they invent this.......sheesh
Obama already has Americorps and ACORN and he probably would drool over something like this.
.......Thank you Richard for this article.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:46 AM | Comments (8)
Girl Scouts Exposed: Communists, Radical Feminists and Lessons in lesbianism
Girl Scouts exposed: Lessons in lesbianism
Communists, radical feminists cited as role models for troops
By Chelsea Schilling
When many parents think of Girl Scouts, they imagine young girls in uniform selling Thin Mints and Tagalong cookies – not learning about stone labyrinths, world peace, global warming, yoga, avatars, smudging incense, Zen gardens and feminist, communist and lesbian role models.
But that's exactly what many of 2.7 million Girl Scouts will learn about with a new curriculum called "Journeys" released last year.
Patti Garibay spent nearly two decades in Girl Scouts – six years as a girl member and 13 years as a volunteer. She was also a recruiter, camp coordinator and area delegate winning outstanding leader and volunteer in both councils in which she served. In Garibay's words, she "bled green."
But in 1993 when Girl Scouts USA decided to make God optional in its program at the national convention in Minneapolis, an idea known as "Proposal 3: Flexibility in Spiritual Wording," Garibay chose to leave the organization.
"I had always used Girl Scouts as part of my life's ministry, modeling my faith while serving girls," she told WND. "However as this change became policy, mandates were made against Christmas caroling, praying at meetings and singing hymns. I had a true moral dilemma and felt that I could not uphold the GSUSA's rules and remain a Christian never denying my Lord."
In the Girl Scout curriculum, the organization's promise now includes an asterisk with the following disclaimer:
Girl Scouts of the USA makes no attempt to define or interpret the word "God" in the Girl Scout Promise. It looks to individual members to establish for themselves the nature of their spiritual beliefs. When making the Girl Scout Promise, individuals may substitute wording appropriate to their own spiritual beliefs for the word "God."
Garibay said it appears that Girl Scouts has taken a stance toward religion – the religion of the New Age – despite its proclaimed secular scouting program. WND asked Girl Scouts USA spokeswoman Michelle Tompkins if the organization is shifting its focus toward a New Age agenda.
No, Girl Scouts isn't headed into a New Age direction," she said. "We're just looking for new ways to get through to girls."
Following are books in the Girl Scouts' new "Journeys" curriculum:
'Amaze: The Twists and Turns of Getting Along'
In "Amaze: The Twists and Turns of Getting Along," girls from the sixth to the eighth grade will read a quote from Buddha and be encouraged to explore mazes and stone or dirt labyrinths – symbols rooted in pagan mythology and popular within the New Age movement as meditation tools.
They will be briefly introduced to Polish poet Anna Swir, known for her feminist and erotic poems, and Jane Addams, an ardent feminist and pacifist who received a Nobel Peace Prize.
The text features a quote from Harriet Woods, former president of the National Women's Political Caucus – a bipartisan group that endorses pro-abortion female candidates who run for public office.
'Girltopia'
In the next age group, for teens in the ninth and tenth grades, girls are taught about wage disparities between the sexes, and a lack of assets and senior management positions held by women.
"Girltopia" poses the questions, "When women don't earn enough, what happens to their children?" and "How could everyone help create a Girltopia?"
"This book was so depressing that I don't know what I would have done as a teen reading it," Garibay said. "The sense of hopelessness abounds in 'Girltopia.' The positivity, the enthusiasm and the vigor of youth is completely destroyed by data found to further the Girl Scout USA's feminist agenda. It plants seeds of despair and hopelessness in today's girls."
You can continue reading HERE for the rest of the article........And check out the photos of the various women ( ?? ) they have at the article.
Wild Thing's comment........
I was never a Girl Scout instead I was in a group at chruch called Pioneer Girls. It was more like the Boy Scouts were we would learn about camping things, how to survive if lost in the woods etc. And there was always a prayer to start each meeting.
I always liked their Girl Scout cookies that they sell, I think it is once a year.
To see this kind of thing happening is sickening. They really are following the communist agenda to get a hold of the minds of the youth. These horrible people always go for the childrens organizations. This is so sad to see this happening and an outrage as well.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (6)
Obama Trashed Travel to Vegas and Now Won't Meet NV. Gov. Gibbons
Gibbons criticizes Obama over denied meeting request
Gov. Jim Gibbons said today that President Obama has denied his request to meet with him in Las Vegas later this month.
The governor had sent the president a letter last month saying he wanted to discuss the economic difficulties facing the state's tourism industry.
Gibbons said today that he was notified Obama won't meet with him while the president is in Las Vegas on May 26 for a fundraiser for Sen. Harry Reid.
"I am disappointed at the hypocrisy shown by this administration," Gibbons said in a prepared statement. "President Obama is coming to Las Vegas later this month for a political fundraiser, but he will not help the struggling families in Las Vegas and Nevada who are out of work because of his reckless comments."
Gibbons is referring to comments Obama made earlier this year regarding business trips to Las Vegas by companies receiving federal bailout money.
"This is politics, pure and simple, President Obama stood for change, but all he has done is brought negative economic change to Nevada," Gibbons said.
Obama plans massive Vegas fund raiser for Reid
Obama plans Las Vegas getaway to help Harry Reid get big money
Harry Reid's no slouch in the fundraising department, with $3.3 million already on hand for next year's reelection campaign, which has thus far drawn lots of press too. And no viable opponent from the state's battered Republican Party. Still, in politics these days you can never have too much money, as someone showed last fall by raising $750 million, which is even more than those outrageous AIG bonuses.
Though the Democratic Senate majority leader's May 26 fundraiser at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace will feature Strip headliner Midler and songstress Crow, the biggest draw will be the commander in chief himself.
All in the name of Money.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is still huffing and puffing over an offhand remark in which Obama appeared to link Sin City to corporate excess.
Well, now that they have finished the $357,012 taxpayer-funded photo op over the Statue of Liberty, Air Force One is coming to the capital of neon with the somewhat-less-new president, who'll become the fundraiser in chief at least for a night.
Goodman recently said that, during Obama's trip, he's hoping "somebody places me close to him so I can get him to do the right thing and tell people that he recognizes Las Vegas as a great spot for serious meetings."
And what better way for a new Democratic administration to symbolize cutting out excess in a time of hardship for millions of Americans than to hold a mega-fundraiser in Las Vegas, that urban personification of understatement, for a guy with millions in hand already and no one to spend it against?
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Part of Democrat Mayor Goodman's letter to Obama back in February:
"Las Vegas hosts 22,000 meetings and six million business travelers annually for an economic impact of $8.5 billion.
“The assumption that all meetings, event and incentive travel are wasteful is wrong. Now more than ever, we need businesses to ravel and hold meetings and events. As we move forward, I would caution all federally elected officials to use temperance in their comments. Failure to deed the principles will damage an entire industry, and select cities, causing people to lose their jobs and homes,” wrote Goodman.
Yep that is what Obama has caused, unemployment went up, homes put up for sale, and bankruptcies.
Obama is UN-American and hasn't a clue how the economy works, but he sure as heck knows how to destroy our economy, discourage travel to resorts for business meetings which has always been a huge plus for the economy in Vegas, Atlantic City and other places.
Now he snubs the Gov. of Nevada!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (12)
May 14, 2009
Chicago Family " Buy Black" Just Spreading Their Racism As Best They Can
Chicago Family's 'Buy Black' Experiment Becoming a Nationwide Movement
Atlanta
It's been two months since 2-year-old Cori pulled the gold stud from her left earlobe, and the piercing is threatening to close as her mother, Maggie Anderson, hunts for a replacement.
It's not that the earring was all that rare — but finding the right store has become a quest of Quixotic proportions.
Maggie and John Anderson of Chicago vowed four months ago that for one year, they would try to patronize only black-owned businesses. The "Empowerment Experiment" is the reason John had to suffer for hours with a stomach ache and Maggie no longer gets that brand-name lather when she washes her hair. A grocery trip is a 14-mile odyssey.
"We kind of enjoy the sacrifice because we get to make the point ... but I am going without stuff and I am frustrated on a daily basis," Maggie Anderson said. "It's like, my people have been here 400 years and we don't even have a Walgreens to show for it."
So far, the Andersons have spent hundreds of dollars with black businesses from grocery stores to dry cleaners. But the couple still hasn't found a mortgage lender, home security system vendor or toy store. Nonetheless, they're hoping to expand the endeavor beyond their Chicago home.
Plans are under way to track spending among supporters nationwide and build a national database of quality black businesses. The first affiliate chapter has been launched in Atlanta, and the couple has established a foundation to raise funds for black businesses and an annual convention.
"We have the real power to do something, to use the money we spend every day to solve our problems," Maggie Anderson said recently at a meet-and-greet in Atlanta. "We have to believe that black businesses are just as good as everybody else's."
Now, the Andersons are following up with 4,000 people who signed up for the experiment on their Web site to gauge their commitment and set up online accounts to track their spending. Hundreds have also joined the experiment's Facebook page, Maggie Anderson said.
Gregory Price, chairman of the economics department at Morehouse College, said black visionaries like Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey made similar calls to action.
"The idea is a sound one, given that black Americans are still underrepresented in the ranks of the self-employed and that entrepreneurship is a key component to wealth," Price said.
There are one million black businesses in the United States accounting for more than $100 billion in annual sales, according to the National Black Chamber of Commerce. The latest U.S. Census numbers report that blacks have more than $800 billion in expendable income each year.
The Andersons track their spending on their Web site and estimate about 55 percent of their monthly spending is with black businesses for things like day care, groceries, car maintenance and home improvements.
One of the businesses highlighted by the Empowerment Experiment is Brenda Brown's Atlanta wine boutique, a shop with a growing black clientele. She said the project can help overcome the problems many black consumers lament.
"When we were a community of black folks who could not go to the white stores, our community of black stores flourished," Brown said. "When we were given the opportunity to go into the white store, it was like nothing else mattered anymore and we wanted to go to the white store, regardless of what the black store provided. We could have the same or better products if we supported (black businesses) in the same way."
Lewis Peeples, 45, lives in a black neighborhood in southwest Atlanta but didn't think to spend his money with black businesses until a friend told him about the project.
"So often, we make purchases and decisions and aren't even mindful that there is a a need to support our own businesses," said Peeples. "Now, I'm reaching out and making sure I know that I have an option when I look to make a purchase."
Two months ago, he committed to patronizing black businesses and found a black dry cleaner 10 minutes from home. Even when he was dissatisfied with his black doctor, he was able to find a new one. He suggests both to friends and refers others to the experiment's Web site, where he tracks his expenses.
Dallas Smith, who owns a commercial real estate firm in Atlanta, said mainstream retailers have undervalued black consumers. He lives in a black neighborhood in southwest Atlanta, where he tries to dine at black restaurants. He lamented the lack of quality businesses catering to black customers and said blacks should appreciate such businesses more.
"We've still got that 'the white man's water is colder' mentality," he said. "We can't take us for granted. When we go to our establishments, it's almost like we're doing a favor. That ought to be a given for us."
The Andersons remain encouraged by their momentum online and in the media. At the end of 2009, they hope to show $1 million in spending with black businesses among supporters across the country.
"The response has been so huge," Maggie Anderson said. "We think so much can come out of this. We're in movement-making mode now."
Price, the Morehouse professor, said defining the project's success won't be easy, since the real barriers to black advancement are poor access to capital and lack of training opportunities.
"It would be nice to see some real, hard data," Price said. "Otherwise, it could just be an episode of ethnic cheerleading."
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Wild Thing's comment..........
It’s their money, they can do with it as they see fit. But it should be labeled racism, because that is what it is.
Imagine if a white person said they were only going to shop at white owned businesses.
The ignorance of some people is astounding, but they are also so racist, and imo they chose to be. She says that after 400 years they don’t even have a Walgreen’s? What does she mean? There are many black owned businesses. Not enough to suit them, and perhaps not enough to meet every need they have.
They have a black president now, and there have been many black governors, congressmen, mayors, Supreme Court justices, college professors, professional people in all the professions.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about a society where people were judged on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin; these black people referenced in the article are doing the exact opposite.
Actor Morgan Freeman about race
......Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion - 1st Aviation Brigade - Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (9)
Rumsfeld Greeted by Screams from Code Pinko's
Rumsfeld Greeted by Screams of ‘War Criminal’ at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
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Wild Thing's comments...........
To bad it isn't' ok to shoot the Code Pinko's on sight.
Code Pinko's Medea Benjamin and Desiree.
The tall dark haired one, Desiree, is the same one who confronted Condi Rice at a subcommittee hearing ...with bloodied hands.
So why aren’t they calling for Obama's impeachment. He failed to live up to his campaign promise to the lefties to immediately pull troops out of Iraq. He has escalated our use of rockets into Pakistan, and he’s increasing the number of personnel nn Afghan. Clearly, a war criminal to the Code Pinko's!
What a bunch of commie losers.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (5)
May 12, 2009
Godspeed Crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis to Save the Hubble!
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After a smooth countdown and picture-perfect liftoff, space shuttle Atlantis and a crew of seven astronauts are in space, beginning their 11-day mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis lifted off Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida today at 2:01 p.m. EDT.
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NASA launch to Hubble (STS-125)
After months of delay, NASA cleared space shuttle Atlantis for a Monday launch to the Hubble Space Telescope.
The 19-year-old Hubble needs new batteries, gyroscopes, cameras and other equipment that NASA hopes will keep the telescope operating — at a higher than ever scientific level — for another five to 10 years.
Hubble has been left unattended for seven years. It's the longest gap ever between servicing missions, created in large part by the 2003 Columbia disaster. A telescope breakdown last fall led to the most recent seven-month delay.
"We have seven years of accumulated maintenance work to do," Hubble program manager Preston Burch said. "So you can imagine if you had a car and you were driving it every day for seven years and never took it into the shop. You would have quite a list of things to do on it."
The 11-day mission is packed and includes unprecedented camera repairs. In all, five spacewalks are planned.
Because this is the final visit to Hubble, "we're going for broke," Leckrone told reporters.
This last repair mission was considered so dangerous in the wake of the Columbia accident that it was canceled in 2004.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
This is cool, The NASA.gov website coverage trails the NASA TV coverage by about 30 seconds.
LINK is NASA TV.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (2)
May 09, 2009
White House Aide Louis Caldera Resigns (Forced?!) After Flyover
White House aide Louis Caldera loses job over Manhattan flyover fiasco involving Air Force One
The White House aide who okayed the $328,835 Air Force One photo-op flight around the Statue of Liberty last week was sacked Friday.
President Obama accepted the resignation of Louis Caldera, director of his military office, after an internal probe found Caldera disregarded recommendations the public be notified about the trip.
Initially, plans called for warning New Yorkers in advance a military aircraft would be in the air. Instead, the military office decided to react to media inquiries, not to make a prior announcement, according to the review by Jim Messina, White House deputy chief of staff.
"The FAA warned the military office that the media needed to be advised of the flight," said an administration source. "There were red flags."
Caldera's office insisted the flyover was a "classified" mission.
The review also discovered concerns about the plan in e-mails that Caldera said he did not open for days because he was taking pain medication for severe back spasms.
The low-flying aircraft scared some people on the ground and in buildings, fearing another 9/11 attack. An F-16 fighter jet, which took the photo, trailed Air Force One in the skies above New York and New Jersey, adding to the drama.
A prominent Republican official who specializes in damage control said: "This is a message from [chief of staff] Rahm Emanuel that you won't be fired for a mistake or a policy disagreement - but you will be fired for embarrassing the President. That's a good, strong message that needed to be sent."
Federal officials notified Mayor Bloomberg's office and NYPD officials in advance, but Bloomberg was not informed, infuriating the mayor.
"We deeply regret the anxiety and alarm that resulted from this mission," Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in a letter to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
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Wild Thing's comment........
Oh, okay. He resigns and that makes it all better...sure. Nice Timing: Friday, end of the week, when news viewing is at its lowest. I wonder if any of the Sunday shows will touch upon this....doubt it. The White HOuse released this bit of news and also his trip to speak to his fellow Muslims in Cairo, both stories, late on a Friday.
Nope not good enough, Hussein made the decision and gave the order. Caldera is his fall guy. IMO Last fall I saw a special on TV all about Air Force One. It was really interesting, it was a tour of the plane, most of it and the pilot gave the tour and answered questions. That plane does not leave the cement unless the President knows about it as well as his SS. The SS and the President still has to approve any of Air Force One or Air Force Two’s flights.
Obama’s fall guy. No way do I believe this guy is responsible for the ‘trip over NY’; just, merely, taking orders. And Obama says he didn’t know. Like his bow wasn’t a bow, and his counterfeit BC is real, etc. Louis went to West Point while Hussein Obama rolled around the streets of chicago ‘thug style’.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (12)
May 08, 2009
Aloha Turns Into Allah As Hawaii Approves of Islam Day
Hawaii lawmakers back the creation of 'Islam Day'
Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate "Islam Day" — over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.
The Senate's two Republicans argued that a minority of Islamic extremists have killed many innocents in terrorist attacks.
"I recall radical Islamists around the world cheering the horrors of 9/11. That is the day all civilized people of all religions should remember," said Republican Sen. Fred Hemmings to the applause of more than 100 people gathered in the Senate to oppose a separate issue — same-sex civil unions.
The resolution to proclaim Sept. 24, 2009, as Islam Day passed the Senate on a 22-3 vote. It had previously passed the House.
The bill seeks to recognize "the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions" that Islam and the Islamic world have made. It does not call for any spending or organized celebration of Islam Day.
"We are a state of tolerance. We understand that people have different beliefs," said Sen. Will Espero, a Democrat. "We may not all agree on every single item and issue out there, but to say and highlight the negativity of the Islamic people is an insult to the majority" of believers "who are good law-abiding citizens of the world."
But Republican Sen. Sam Slom argued that the United States has become too sympathetic toward Islamic extremists.
"I don't think there's any country in the history of the world that has been more tolerant than the United States of America, and because of that tolerance, we've looked the other way a lot of times, and many thousands of our citizens have been killed by terrorists," said Slom, a Republican.
The lone Democrat voting against the bill opposed it on church-state separation fears.
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Wild Thing's comment...........
WTF
Well hell’s bells! Why not just go ahead and make it on Sept. 11th you idiots! Liberalism is a mental disorder, characterized by unwarranted feelings of guilt, extreme naivete, massive stupidity, and suicidal tendencies, they are are psychotic. So the official celebrations includes rape, pillage, beheading, or all of the above?
I really don't get it! Do they have a ton of Muslim's living there? How could they, I have been to Hawaii many times, lost count of how many times for work in the past and a Muslim would be offended by all the bare arms there. LOL Not to mention the bare stomachs and backs and legs walking around in swimsuits. hahahaha What are they going to do make everyone on the island cover up? No freakin way. This is beyond stupid!
Here is an appropriate Hawaiian Islam Day celebration:........Sacrifice a Muslim to the volcano!
"The bill seeks to recognize "the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions" that Islam and the Islamic world have made. It does not call for any spending or organized celebration of Islam Day."
What a bunch of total BS!
Rich religious = beheadings, suicide bombers, children taught to kill Americans and Israeli's.
And as far as a religion their ALLAH is a pagan god after the Moon -god, and Mecca was in fact built as a shrine for the Moon-god. Muhammad was raised in the religion of the Moon-god Allah. But he went one step further than his fellow pagan Arabs. While they believed that Allah, i.e. the Moon-god, was the greatest of all gods and the supreme deity in a pantheon of deities, Muhammad decided that Allah was not only the greatest god but the only god.
The pagan Arabs worshipped the Moon-god Allah by praying toward Mecca several times a day; making a pilgrimage to Mecca; running around the temple of the Moon-god called the Kabah; kissing the black stone.
The Muslim's claim that Allah is the God of the Bible and that Islam arose from the religion of the prophets and apostles is refuted by solid, overwhelming archeological evidence. Islam is nothing more than a revival of the ancient Moon-god cult.
Scientific = how to build a bomb
Just a few of the Muslim Atrocities
Cultural contributions = check this quote by Obama out and he just said it this last Wednesday!!!!!!
"We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country."--Barack Obama to the Turkish Parliament April 6, 2009
..."including my own country? " Are you frickin' serious?
Islam has done nothing to contribute anything but misery, persecution, and despair to the world. It is a barbaric cult of backwards savages that detracts from the world, not contributes to it.
Besides rearranging the New York City skyline, what has Islam contributed to the US?
Historically, besides forcing the creation of the US Marines in the 1800's to combat Islamic, Barbary Coast pirates, what has Islam contributed to the US?
Have any new inventions, medicines, architecture, innovations, art, technological advances, or anything useful, anything at all come from the part of the world that practices radical Islam?
What did Obama mean by the statement, "including my own country"? I mean if he considers himself American, and not Indonesian.
Artistic contributions = designing websites for terrorists to gather and pass on information
WAIT, maybe I am wrong on this, maybe what we ought to do is.....celebrate it just like the English celebrate Guy Fawkes Day!!
Burn effigies of the false Prophet. Throw Korans down the toilet. Lead parades to remember all the millions of people murdered by Muslims, including 9/11.
Make people remember yearly just how evil the Religion of Peace is.
......Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion - 1st Aviation Brigade - Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (10)
May 03, 2009
Rest in Peace Jack Kemp
Jack Kemp, football star and politician, dies
Jack Kemp, the former pro quarterback who turned fame on the gridiron into a career in national politics and a crusade for lower taxes, has died of cancer at age 73.
Family spokeswoman Marci Robinson said Kemp died shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday, surrounded by his family. Kemp died at his home in Bethesda, Md., in the Washington suburbs, friends said.
Kemp's office announced in January that he had been diagnosed with an unspecified type of cancer. By then, however, the cancer was in an advanced stage and had spread to several organs, former campaign adviser Edwin J. Feulner said. He did not know the origin of the cancer.
Kemp, a former quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, represented western New York for nine terms in Congress, leaving the House for an unsuccessful presidential bid in 1988.
Eight years later, after serving a term as President George H.W. Bush's housing secretary, he made it onto the national ticket as Bob Dole's running-mate.
With that loss, the Republican bowed out of political office, but not out of politics. In speaking engagements and a syndicated column, he continued to advocate for the tax reform and supply-side policies — the idea that the more taxes are cut the more the economy will grow — that he pioneered.
Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, a Kemp family friend and his former campaign deputy chief of staff, said Kemp's legacy will be his compassion.
"The idea that all conservatives really should regroup around and identify with is that this is not an exclusive club," Feulner said. "Freedom is for everybody. That's what Jack Kemp really stood for."
Praise rolled in from fellow politicians.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Kemp "one of the nation's most distinguished public servants. Jack was a powerful voice in American politics for more than four decades."
Former President George W. Bush expressed his sorrow after hearing of Kemp's death.
"Laura and I are saddened by the death of Jack Kemp," he said. "Jack will be remembered for his significant contributions to the Reagan revolution and his steadfast dedication to conservative principles during his long and distinguished career in public service. Jack's wife Joanne and the rest of the Kemp family are in our thoughts and prayers."
Kemp's rapid and wordy style made the enthusiastic speaker with the neatly side-parted white hair a favorite on the lecture circuit, and a millionaire.
Kemp also signed on with numerous educational and corporate boards and charitable organizations, including NFL Charities, which kept him connected to his football roots.
Kemp was a 17th round 1957 NFL draft pick by the Detroit Lions, but was cut before the season began. After being released by three more NFL teams and the Canadian Football League over the next three years, he joined the American Football League's Los Angeles Chargers as a free agent in 1960. A waivers foul-up two years later would land him with the Buffalo Bills, who got him at the bargain basement price of $100.
Kemp led Buffalo to the 1964 and 1965 AFL Championships, and won the league's most valuable player award in 1965. He co-founded the AFL Players Association in 1964 and was elected president of the union for five terms. When he retired from football in 1969, Kemp had enough support in blue-collar Buffalo and its suburbs to win an open congressional seat.
In 11 seasons, he sustained a dozen concussions, two broken ankles and a crushed hand — which Kemp insisted a doctor permanently set in a passing position so that he could continue to play.
"Pro football gave me a good perspective," he was quoted as saying. "When I entered the political arena, I had already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded, and hung in effigy."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said "Kemp was an extraordinary American leader who became a trusted colleague and exceptional friend to countless NFL owners, team personnel and commissioners after his MVP playing career with the Buffalo Bills."
Kemp was born in California to Christian Scientist parents. He worked on the loading docks of his father's trucking company as a boy before majoring in physical education at Occidental College, where he led the nation's small colleges in passing.
He became a Presbyterian after marrying his college sweetheart, Joanne Main. The couple had four children, including two sons who played professional football. He joined with a son and son-in-law to form a Washington strategic consulting firm, Kemp Partners, after leaving office.
Wild Thing's comment........
Prayers for his family and friends. Kemp was a real American patriot and a genuine good guy, as far as I remember he was a Conservative.
May he rest in peace and may God comfort his family.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:48 AM | Comments (5)
Doctors in Montana Face Orders to 'kill on demand'
New assisted suicide law requires physicians to act
Physicians in Montana could be facing "kill-on-demand" orders from patients who want to commit suicide if a district court judge's opinion pending before the state Supreme Court is affirmed.
The case has attracted nominal attention nationwide, but lawyers with the Christian Legal Service have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the pending case because of what it would mean to doctors within the state, as well as the precedent it would set.
The concern is over the attack on doctors' ethics and religious beliefs – as well as the Hippocratic oath – that may be violated by a demand that they prescribe deadly chemicals or in some other way assist in a person's death.
M. Casey Mattox, a lawyer with the CLS, told WND that states allowing a "right to die" across the country – Oregon and Washington – include an opt-out provision for physicians with ethical or religious opposition to participating in killing a patient.
Montana's situation, created late last year in a decision from First District Court Judge Dorothy McCarter in the Baxter et al. v. Montana case, is different. There is no provision for a doctor to refuse such "treatment" for a patient.
In that case, Robert Baxter, 75, a retired truck driver from Billings who suffers from lymphocytic leukemia, filed the lawsuit along with four physicians in the state's district court system. They were aided in the case by the assisted suicide advocacy group Compassion & Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society.
Baxter told the organization's magazine that society already provides death when animals are suffering.
"I just feel if we can do it for animals," Baxter said, "we can do it for human beings."
The CLS, joined by the Christian Medical Association, yesterday filed briefs asking the state Supreme Court to protect the conscience rights of healthcare professionals.
The groups, representing more than 18,000 Christian medical and legal professions, are urging the court to reverse the district court's decision and recognize a right not to participate in assisted suicide.
"The trial court's decision to create a constitutional right to 'obtain assistance from a medical care provider in the form of obtaining a prescription for lethal drugs' threatens the rights of healthcare professionals and institutions that hold sincere ethical, moral, and religious objections to participating in the intentional killing of their patients," Mattox said.
"Medical professionals should not be coerced to violate the Hippocratic Oath in order to practice in Montana," he said.
If a "right to die" is to be recognized, it should be developed from the people through the legislative process, not imposed by a single judge, the brief also argues.
The district decision, the groups also point out, would seriously undermine the relationship between doctors and patients. Patients could be uncomfortable knowing their doctor had provided a lethal dose to another patient, and doctors would have concerns about such demands from patients.
"At a time when states are experiencing a healthcare shortage, making Montana the only state in the union to coerce professionals to assist in suicides could jeopardize the state's healthcare system," Mattox said.
He told WND that the effort clearly is part of a nationwide agenda to impose and mandate ethical standards on Americans. Similar are the Obama administration's suggestions that that pharmacists may not have the right to refuse to dispense abortion-inducing medications, and doctors may not have a conscience right to refuse to do abortions, he said.
"I don't know where it's coming from, but there is certainly a push from government to tell people to set aside religious or ethical qualms and to abide by whatever the government tells you is appropriate," he said.
Mattox said the state still has several weeks to file its briefs in the Montana case, and then there will be further arguments on behalf of requiring doctors to provide terminal treatment.
"A mentally competent, terminally ill Montanan should have the right to choose a peaceful death, when confronted by death," Kathryn Tucker, Compassion & Choices director of legal affairs, told KTVQ-TV, Billings.
But Montana Assistant Attorney General Anthony Johnston disagrees.
Johnston told the television station, "The laws governing the medical profession say the medical profession is to heal, not to kill."
Wild Thing's comment.......
If someone is determined to kill themselves, there is no stopping them. But *forcing* a doctor to do this against religious/ethical beliefs is just beyond stupid.
Using fear to kill someone is murder. That's what's going on here ~ threat of judicial retribution if you don't kill someone is the use of fear to kill.
The judge should be ignored, then removed from office by the state legislature, then tried on a variety of charges by the governor.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:44 AM | Comments (10)
April 27, 2009
Ground Zero Memorial: 'Made in COMMUNIST China'
Redesigned World Trade Center to be built with Beijing glass
It used to be called the "Freedom Tower," built by Americans in memory of 9/11, but the building planned to be constructed at Ground Zero has had its name changed to One World Trade Center, and according to a Pennsylvania newspaper's editorial, should now be stamped "Made in China."
The editorial board at Harrisburg's Patriot-News made the charge after learning that the tower's first 20 stories, designed to be clad in blast-resistant glass in case of future terrorist ambitions, will now be shielded by glass manufactured … in Beijing.
"Despite the fact that three American glass manufacturers, including Pittsburgh-headquartered PPG Industries, spent months working with the tower architects to plan and develop a new kind of glass for floors one through 20, none of these American companies was awarded the contract to make the glass," writes the Patriot-News. "That 'honor' is going to Chinese workers, mainly because they get paid so little."
Pull back the curtain on the rough-and-tumble environment in which so many of our consumer products are being manufactured with "Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game"
US Glass Magazine reported the contract for the safety-critical glass was awarded to the lowest bidder, a U.S. firm, DCM Solera, which subcontracted procurement of the glass from a Chinese manufacturer.
WABC-TV in New York City reports that PPG Industries actually developed the blast-resistant technology in the glass and had been considered the front-runner to fulfill the $82 million contract.
Vicky Holt, senior vice president of PPG, told the station, "It is absolutely astounding to us that they would take a project with this level of development work that we all invested in prior to it's completion, and one with this level of visibility, and bid it offshore."
The Sentinel of Cumberland County, Pa., reports that the Chinese firm can only produce the glass because it holds a license from PPG to use the technology. The paper also issued its own editorial, criticizing New York City's Port Authority, which is charged with construction of the memorial tower:
"We know, too, that not everyone who died in the horrific fire and collapse of the twin towers was an American – 329 people were foreign nationals, four of them from China," writes the paper. "But the terrorist attack was made on America soil. The overwhelming majority of casualties – on the planes, in the buildings and among the rescuers – were Americans. When the new trade center is complete, it will have an American address and, like the original, symbolize America.
"Surely American workers should be the ones whose hands and minds supply the wherewithal to build anew on a site that will always be viewed as sanctified by the events of Sept. 11, 2001," The Sentinel concludes.
Further, the statement asserted, "We've inspected the firm's manufacturing in China and they're confident that the glass they will fabricate will meet or exceed safety code standards."
The safety argument failed to convince Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is calling on the Port Authority to rescind the glass contract.
"I think that we have seen product after product from China be unreliable," Schumer told WABC-TV, "and in this instance, we need the most reliable."
Fire safety expert Glenn Corbett told the station, "This building has to not only meet but exceed every possible safety and security standard out there."
Subcontracting 20 stories of blast-resistant glass to the Chinese, Corbett says, is a mistake.
"This is the number one terrorist target in the country," he told WABC-TV. "Why are we setting our standards so low for the minimum possible bid on this?"
"The decision puts a crack in the veneer of what should have been a great American monument," concludes the Patriot-News editorial. "Now it might as well be stamped 'Made in China.'"
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Destroyed by muzzie terrorists...memorial built by Commies... is this a great country or what!
I miss America so much!!!!
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (12)
The Return of the Godfathers as Mob Bosses are Released
The FBI is on alert for the biggest Mob reunion of all time with six of the world’s most powerful Mafia bosses due to be paroled within months of each other.
All of them held key roles in New York’s five criminal “families” before being jailed for racketeering, extortion, conspiracy to murder and loan sharking. At least a dozen more underlings will also be freed this year.
Agents fear the mass release will trigger an unprecedented gangster bloodbath as the bosses reclaim their old positions. One senior FBI officer said: “Six of the Mafia’s most notorious capos and underbosses are hitting the streets at around the same time, as well as many henchmen.
“First, we expect a brutal power struggle as they push aside the Wise Guys who stepped-up in their place. Then we anticipate a series of turf wars between the families. When the dust settles, with hierarchies re-established, it’s going to be back to business…big time.”
The Gambino, Bonanno, Colombo, Genovese and Luchese mobs have fallen into disarray over the past two years. Rules of entry have been relaxed, with wannabe ‘soldiers’ allowed in if they can prove even distant Italian ancestry and murder no longer a prerequisite.
“Discipline has collapsed dramatically in all five families over the past two years,” said the senior agent. “They have lacked leadership and there are Mafia affiliates on the street now who would rather remain ‘independents’ than become ‘made men’ because there’s little kudos to being in the Mob these days, plus they get to have more control over their finances, rather than having to pass a hefty ‘taste’ of every illegal job they do up the chain to multiple capos, underbosses and godfathers.”
All that is about to change as the ‘dirty half-dozen’ bosses return to shake-up what mobsters and agents alike started to jokingly refer to as the’Cosy Nostra’.
The big six are Domenico ‘Italian Dom’ Cefalu, George ‘Big Georgie’ DeCicco, Joseph ‘Joe C’ Caridi, Benedetto Aloi, Matthew ‘Matty the Horse’ Ianniello, and Anthony ‘Fat Anthony’ Rabito.
Rabito is a Bonanno capo running rackets since the Seventies, when he was previously convicted during the famous Donnie Brasco undercover probe.
As well as the Big Six, Genovese capo Lawrence ‘Little Larry’ Dentico, 85, will be freed on May 12 after serving four years for running an illicit gambling ring.
Also due for release on parole on November 28, the same day as his boss Joseph Caridi, is Luchese capo John ‘Johnny Sideburns’ Cerella, 68, and the two are expected to be immediately reinstalled in their old positions of power.
Federal agents anticipate a further shake-up in the Bonanno hierarchy when veteran hoodlum Salvatore ‘Toto’ Catalano, 67, is released on November 14 after serving 29 years for drug smuggling and distribution.
He was a key player in the infamous ‘Pizza Connection’ case in the Eighties, when the Mob was importing heroin from Sicily and using New York pizzerias as distribution hubs. Another dangerous old-timer due for release is Salvatore ‘Sally Dogs’ Lombardino, 78, who has served more than 10 years in connection with the murder of suspected informer James Randazzo. Lombardino honoured the Mafia code of silence known as ‘omerta’ and has never uttered a word to authorities.
The senior FBI source said: “None will be happy about the way things have been run while they’ve been inside and mob soldiers will be trembling in their fine Italian shoes at the prospect of these men returning to take command once again.”
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Heads up to Janet Napolitano and Rosa Brooks, Obama, Rahm , Eric Holder ( gun ban enthusiast ) and the rest of the Soros gang. Gosh all these gangs and Obama is working over time on his how to destroy America in 4 years agenda. grrrr
Several years ago during the race riots in Los Angeles, not the ones in 1992, the Watts riots. They were also going on in other States as well at the same time. The Mafia in Las Vegas got together, all lined up across a main street in the black residential area of town, long coats on and carrying appropriate weapons of choice. The instructed the soon to be rioters to think again if they had any plans on rioting in Las Vegas. The blacks backed down.
Maybe the Mafia will take on MS-13 the drug wars in Mexico and our border.
Some topics the Mafia might have a strong opinion on:
Janet Napolitano and her DHS
Banning guns
Hate crimes speech
"Voluntary service" of the Youth
Terrorists
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (4)
April 25, 2009
CDC Says "too late to contain the swine flu outbreak "
Mexican and U.S. health officials searched on Saturday for signs an outbreak of a new flu strain is spreading further, after it killed up to 68 people in Mexico and infected eight in the United States.
As Mexico shut schools and museums and axed public events, global health officials stopped short of declaring a pandemic.
But they warned more cases could come to light, making up a major outbreak, as the flu spreads between people and infected some individuals who had no contact with one another.
The World Health Organization said the virus from 12 of the Mexican patients was the same genetically as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight people in California and Texas who later recovered.
The Mexican government said the flu had killed 20 people and it may also be responsible for 48 other deaths. In all, 1,004 suspected cases have been reported nationwide.
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova, speaking on the evening television news, encouraged people to avoid crowds and wear face masks, noting there was no guarantee that going to get a flu vaccine would help against the new strain.
He said the death rate appeared to have steadied and hospitals in the past few days had not seen the exponential rise in the number of people infected that many had feared.
Genetic analysis shows the flu strain is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses.
The fact most of the dead were aged between 25 and 45 was seen as a worrying sign linked to pandemics, as seasonal flu tends to be more deadly among the elderly and the very young.
"We realize the seriousness of this problem," Mexican President Felipe Calderon told health officials on Friday.
Wild Thing's comment......
Please close the border. Oops I forgot, Obama is counting on all the illegals for future votes.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:45 AM | Comments (7)
April 20, 2009
Miss California Sparks Furor With Gay Marriage Comments on Miss USA Telecast
Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton was crowned Miss USA on Sunday, but the big story to come out of the normally politics-free telecast was Miss California's comments regarding gay marriage.
When asked by judge Perez Hilton, whether she believed in gay marriage, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, said
"We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offence to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”
Keith Lewis, who runs the Miss California competition, tells FOXNews.com that he was "saddened" by Prejean's statement.
"As co-director of the Miss California USA, I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss California believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman," said Lewis in a statement. "I believe all religions should be able to ordain what unions they see fit. I do not believe our government should be able to discriminate against anyone and religious beliefs have no politics in the Miss California family."
Co-director Shanna Moakler told FOXNews.com that she fully supported Lewis' statement.
Miss California's answer sparked a shouting match in the lobby after the show. "It's ugly," said Scott Ihrig, a gay man, who attended the pageant with his partner. "I think it's ridiculous that she got first runner-up. That is not the value of 95 percent of the people in this audience. Look around this audience and tell me how many gay men there are."
Charmaine Koonce, the mother of Miss New Mexico USA Bianca Matamoros-Koonce, argued back.
"In the Bible it says marriage is between Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!"
Perez Hilton decided Miss California should lose the Miss USA 2009 Beauty Pageant because she said she was against gay marriage.
Link to Megan Kelly discussing about this on her show at FOX.
http://www.thehopeforamerica.com/play.php?id=894
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Wild Thing's comment........
First of all I say....Bravo for Miss California!
I guess what she could have done to please everyone AUGH! And oh how I hate that mentality. But what she could have said was to say the following: “Barack Obama was asked whether he supported gay marriage when he was running for President. Barack Obama said no, and I agree with him.”
They are trying to demonize her until she comes out with a full apology. GRRRRR
That Perze Hilton guy (?) provides a great example of the intolerance, narcissism and intellectual emptiness of the Left and the militant Homosexual Movement: “If you don’t agree with me, you must be stupid”!
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:25 PM | Comments (9)
April 16, 2009
Islam and International Humanitarian Law Workship Syracuse University
The College of Arts and Sciences Syracuse University
17 April 2009
Religions and Cultures Workshop, Islam and International Humanitarian Law
Organizer: William Banks, SU Law/PA)
The Islam and International Humanitarian Law Workshop
(17 April 2009
Syracuse University) will explore the role of Islam in the ongoing development of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with special attention to its present-day challenges.
The Workshop serves two purposes:
First to establish an interdisciplinary working group of the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor faculty taking up questions of culture and religion in the analysis of international conflicts, new forms of warfare, the value of humanitarian mechanisms in international law, and the challenges at the intersection of Islam and IHL.
Second, to expand the lessons learned into ongoing research initiatives that define larger objectives in adapting IHL to conflicts involving non-state entities, failed, and vulnerable states.
The Workshop functions as a follow-up to the research initiative at SU entitled “New Battlefields, Old Laws: From the Hague Conventions to Asymmetric Warfare.”
The Muslim Law Students Association promotes understanding and appreciation of both the general Islamic world and the Legal Islamic world by sponsoring events that:
* Educate the legal community about the textual sources, historical development, and evolution of Islamic Law;
* Explain the theoretical foundations and methodologies employed by various schools of Islamic legal thought;
* Present the Islamic perspective on contemporary legal debates as well as issues of universal concern;
* Discuss the applications of Islamic law in the lives of Western Muslims, and familiarize the legal community about the needs and concerns of American Muslims in particular.
The Muslim Law Students Association invites all interested students and faculty to join .
More HERE at Atlas Shrugs blog
To insert islamic law (shariah) in the same sentence as "humanitarian" law is so patently dishonest and dangerous and bad enough, but a conference that attempts to put the two together is criminal. It is propaganda under the guise of education.
What deception! This is taqiyya, lies to advance Islam. Who is underwriting this? What petrosheikdom is Syracuse whoring itself out for? Or is this part of OIC compliance in league with the Alliance of Civilizations? Islamic law ...think taliban. Think stoning, public hangings of gays, honor killings, clitorectomies, beheading, death penalties for apostasy and hypocrisy, (and reinterpreting the Koran), shariah finance, child marriage, marital rape, death to rape victims.
4.17.2009 Workshop, Syracuse University: The goal of the initiative’s first workshop is to begin identifying the most pressing issues at the intersection of Islamic jurisprudence and humanitarian law and to consider how their shared concerns may prompt creativity in addressing present gaps in IHL—notably, the lack of standards for dealing with the rise of irregular armies or the inability of the law to accommodate asymmetric forms of attacks by non-state entities against sovereign states.
III Network and Related Initiatives: INSCT is developing partnerships on different aspects of this topic with the United Institute for Peace’s (USIP) Rule of Law Center of Innovation, which develops strategies for policymakers and practitioners to promote the rule of law in fragile and post-conflict societies; and Harvard University’s International Humanitarian Law Research Initiative (IHLRI), a central resource for the reaffirmation and development of international humanitarian law based at the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Well, the 20 million dollar gift that Harvard received from the Saudis really did pay off.
304 Tolley Humanities Building, Syracuse University
Overview: The Islam-IHL initiative examines from multiple perspectives the ongoing role of Islam, including Islamic leaders, in International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and the potential of that contribution for contending with new forms of warfare and international conflicts. The goal of the Workshop is to begin identifying the most pressing issues at the intersection of Islamic jurisprudence and humanitarian law and to consider how their shared concerns may prompt creativity in addressing troubling gaps in IHL today—notably, the lack of standards for dealing with the rise of irregular armies, or the inability of the law to accommodate asymmetric forms of attacks by non-state entities against sovereign states.
Wild Thing's comment.........
They are working hard to accompolish their plan for our country. And now with B. Hussein they will have even a fast track to their agenda being seen.
Twenty-Year Plan: Islam Targets America
This is my analysis of the Islamic invasion of America, the agenda of Islamists and visible methods to take over America by the year 2020! Will Americans continue to sleep through this invasion as they did when we were attacked on 9/11?
1. Terminate America's freedom of speech by replacing it with hate crime bills state-wide and nation-wide.
2. Wage a war of words using black leaders like Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse Jackson and other visible religious personalities to promote Islam as the original African-American's religion while Christianity is for the whites! Strange enough, no one tells the African-Americans that it was the Arab Muslims who captured them and sold them as slaves, neither the fact that in Arabic the word for black and slave is the same, "Abed."
3. Engage the American public in dialogues, discussions, debates in colleges, universities, public libraries, radio, TV, churches and mosques on the virtues of Islam. Proclaim how it is historically another religion like Judaism and Christianity with the same monotheistic faith.
4. Nominate Muslim sympathizers to political office for favorable legislation to Islam and support potential sympathizers by block voting.
5. Take control of as much of Hollywood, the press, TV, radio and the internet by buying the corporations or a controlling stock.
6. Yield to the fear of imminent shut-off of the lifeblood of America - the black gold. America's economy depends on oil, (1000 products are derived from oil), so does its personal and industrial transportation and manufacturing -41% comes from the Middle East.
7. Yell, "foul, out-of-context, personal interpretation, hate crime, Zionist, un- American, inaccurate interpretation of the Quran" anytime Islam is criticized or the Quran is analyzed in the public arena.
8. Encourage Muslims to penetrate the White House, specifically with Islamists who can articulate a marvelous and peaceful picture of Islam. Acquire government positions, get membership in local school boards. Train Muslims as medical doctors to dominate the medical field, research and pharmaceutical companies. Take over the computer industry. Establish Middle Eastern restaurants throughout the U.S. to connect planners of Islamization in a discreet way. Ever notice how numerous Muslim doctors in America are, when their countries need them more desperately than America?
9. Accelerate Islamic demographic growth via:
a. Massive immigration (100,000 annually since 1961)
b. No birth control whatsoever - every baby of Muslim parents is automatically a Muslim and cannot choose another religion later.
c. Muslim men must marry American women and Islamize them (10,000 annually). Then divorce them and remarry every five years - since one cannot have the Muslim legal permission to marry four at one time. This is a legal solution in America.
d. Convert angry, alienated black inmates and turn them into militants (so far 2000 released inmates have joined Al Qaida world-wide). Only a few have been captured in Afghanistan and on American soil. So far - sleeping cells!
10. Reading, writing, arithmetic and research through the American educational system, mosques and student centers (now 1500) should be sprinkled with dislike of Jews, evangelical Christians and democracy. There are 300 exclusively Muslim schools with loyalty to the Quran, not the U.S. Constitution.
11. Provide very sizeable monetary Muslim grants to colleges and universities in America to establish "Centers for Islamic studies" with Muslim directors to promote Islam in higher education institutions.
12. Let the entire world know through propaganda, speeches, seminars, local and national media that terrorists have hijacked Islam, not the truth, which is Islam hijacked the terrorists. Furthermore in January of 2002, Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Washington mailed 4500 packets of the Quran, videos, promoting Islam to America's high schools--free. They would never allow us to reciprocate.
13. Appeal to the historically compassionate and sensitive Americans for sympathy and tolerance towards the Muslims in America who are portrayed as mainly immigrants from oppressed countries.
14. Nullify America's sense of security by manipulating the intelligence community with misinformation. Periodically terrorize Americans of impending attacks on bridges, tunnels, water supplies, airports, apartment buildings and malls. (We have experienced this too often since 9-11.)
15. Form riots and demonstrations in the prison system demanding Islamic Sharia as the way of life, not American's justice system.
16. Open numerous charities throughout the U.S. but use the funds to support Islamic terrorism with American dollars.
17. Raise interest in Islam on America's campuses by insisting that freshman take at least one course on Islam. Be sure that the writer is a bonafide American, Christian, scholarly and able to cover up the violence in the Quran and express the peaceful, spiritual and religious aspect only.
18. Unify the numerous Muslim lobbies in Washington, mosques, Islamic student centers, educational organizations, magazines and papers by internet and an annual convention to coordinate plans, propagate the faith and engender news in the media of their visibility.
19. Send intimidating messages and messengers to the outspoken individuals who are critical of Islam and seek to eliminate them by hook or crook.
20. Applaud Muslims as loyal citizens of the US by spotlighting their voting record as the highest percentage of all minority and ethic groups in America.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (4)
April 14, 2009
Vatican Blocks Caroline Kennedy Appointment As US Ambassador
Vatican blocks Caroline Kennedy appointment as US ambassador
Vatican sources told Il Giornale that their support for abortion disqualified Ms Kennedy and other Roman Catholics President Barack Obama had been seeking to appoint.
Mr Obama was reportedly seeking to reward John F Kennedy's daughter, who publicly gave her support to his election bid.
She had been poised to replace Hillary Clinton as New York senator, but dropped out amid criticism that she lacked enough experience for the job.
The Italian paper said that the Vatican strongly disapproved of Mr Obama's support for abortion and stem cell research. The impasse over the ambassadorial appointment threatens to cloud his meeting with the Pope during a G8 summit in Itay in July.
Ms Kennedy, 53, has said that she supports abortion. Raymond Flynn, a former US ambassador to the Vatican, said earlier this week that Ms Kennedy would be a poor choice.
"It's imperative, it's essential that the person who represents us to the Holy See be a person who has pro-life values. I hope the President doesn't make that mistake," he told the Boston Herald. "She said she was pro-choice. I don't assume she's going to change that, which is problematic."
The White House refused to comment.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
You know,... like, you know, totally blocked, you know. Good news I love it, bye bye Kennedy's one by one.
LOL Obama is going have a hard time filling this post. He might have to look for a Republican. heh heh
So now, in the Kennedy family’s true tradition, will she be carted off to a 30 day counseling/treatment facility and return to denounce the error of her previous beliefs?
Caroline is the THIRD pro-abortion candidate for the post that the Pope has rejected from Obama.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (7)
April 08, 2009
The GM and Segway PUMA 'car'
Project P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility), is said to offer fast, safe, inexpensive and clean transport at speeds of up to 35mph.
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Is it a rickshaw or a car? GM sees PUMA in the future
Having conquered the world of passenger vehicles, General Motors Corp. showed off its vision of future transportation today that’s either exciting or frightening, depending on whether one cares about driving.
GM and Segway unveiled the Project PUMA, a two-seat rickshaw minus a rick that uses the Segway’s electric systems to glide around on two wheels. Capable of carrying 700 pounds in a frame about half the size of a Smart car, the PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) can spin on a pin and “bows” to let passengers in and out.
The PUMA — a name that suggests someone at GM or Segway may be a hard-core Hillary Clinton supporter — can hit 35 miles an hour and travel 35 miles on a charge. The mockup vehicle had no creature comforts beyond seat belts, but GM vice president of research Larry Burns says the PUMA could “fundamentally change how we move around cities.”
GM envisions a real PUMA would be stuffed with electronics for constant communications among other vehicles that would handle much of the driving. GM showed off a video imagining how fully formed PUMAs would work – zipping around streets in perfect single file, using telemetry to avoid crashes, and bodywork that folds open like a mechanical egg, like a mashup of “Transformers” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”
Burns and Segway chief Jim Norrod gave an estimated price tag for a PUMA as one-sixth of what a car costs today. They declined to do the math, but we won’t: call it $4,000. Burns said the PUMA could also turn into a “fashion statement," with custom designs.
“They’re almost lifelike," he said. "The body gestures as it accelerates, and it bows down as it stops…It’s very polite."
Wild Thing's comment.........
It looks like a horseless chariot (think Ben Hur).
Ideally, the vehicles would also be part of a communications network that through the use of transponder and GPS technology would allow them to drive themselves. The vehicles would automatically avoid obstacles such as pedestrians and other cars and therefore never crash, Burns said.As a result, the PUMA vehicles would not need air bags or other traditional safety devices and include safety belts for "comfort purposes" only, he said.
A vehicle that can avoid obstacles? So, if a car going 35 crosses the centerline and ends up in you lane, you won't get hit?
Top speed, which means it will never be reached, 35 miles an hour. Top range, 35 miles. It's electric. You plug it in.
....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 (21)
April 06, 2009
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion
Welcome to Mississauga and Mayor Hazel McCallion
She was born February 14, 1921, and she is affectionately called "Hurricane Hazel". by supporters as well as the media at large for her vibrant outspoken style of no-nonsense politics.
Mayor McCallion was married to Sam McCallion who passed away in 1997. She has three children: Peter, Linda and Paul, and one granddaughter, Erika. Mayor McCallion enjoys many sports including ice hockey, fishing and also enjoys gardening.
McCallion is well known in Canada for her love of hockey. She played for a professional women's team while attending school in Montreal.
In a first-person account for Canadian magazine Confidence Bound, McCallion credited her faith with giving her the energy her job demands. "Having a life filled with purpose and meaning and living my life in a Christian-like manner helps to motivate me and keep me energized," she said.
She also revealed that she does everything around the house herself. "I do my own cleaning, grocery shopping, gardening… The assumption is that people in my position have others doing all these things for them but I like to be self sufficient. Housework and gardening are great forms of exercise and keep one humble."
She was lauded as a hero in April 2006 during a police standoff involving a distraught man threatening to kill himself. The five hour standoff promptly came to a peaceful end when McCallion showed up on the scene and demanded he stand down so that police, paramedic and fire personnel could attend to more important matters.
Her principles are grounded in the belief that a city should be run like a business; thus, she encourages the business model of governance. Her family's business background, her education and prior career in a corporation prepared her to approach government with a business model. Mississauga is one of the few cities in Canada that is debt-free; it has not had to borrow money since 1978.
She has been described as a "small-c" conservative.
Wild Thing's comment...........
She is fantastic, I love her love of life and her positive attitude. And what a politician she is, I wish we had people lilke this.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (7)
April 04, 2009
Tax Day Party Count Nearing 2,000 U.S. Cities
Tax Day party count nearing 2,000 U.S. cities
Mainstream media may run, but they can't hide from protest tidal wave
While WND has been tracking 400 individual tea parties across the nation, the American Family Association has announced its count is nearing 1,600 – for Tax Day alone.
The AFA, planned to coordinate 1,000 Taxed Enough Already, or TEA, parties to be held at 12 p.m. on April 15 in front of city halls across the nation.
But the group is pleasantly surprised as is stands to double that goal before Tax Day is here.
"Our goal was to have a TEA party in 1,500 cities. We are nearly 100 cities above our goal and still growing," said Donald E. Wildmon, AFA chairman.
The AFA sponsored TEA parties are in addition to hundreds of parties planned by other groups. Taxpayers are also organizing tea parties for Independence Day and various Saturdays so people with conflicting work schedules may attend.
Meanwhile, a Google Maps list shows several locations of citizen tea parties – so many that the United States is nearly hidden behind a sea of blue markers.
Wildmon said the protests are essential because the government's reckless spending is burdening America with insurmountable debt.
"The runaway spending by President Obama and Congress will have a definite negative effect on our families," he said. "We are leaving a debt of trillions of dollars to be paid by our grandchildren and great-grandchildren."
More information HERE , just scroll down or click map at their website to see all the places listed.
Wild Thing's comment.......
This is fantastic, I love how it keeps growing.
The people who voted for obama have tainted themselves and the United States by demonstrating their willingness to turn their rights and responsibilities over to the federal government. These people are afraid to be independent, they are not citizens of the United States, they want to remake a great nation until the US is as weak and pathetic as they are.Obama is not my president.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (8)
April 03, 2009
Obama Signed Away US Economy ~ G20 Summit Final Communique
Medvedev posing with Obama and Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi in London on Thursday. China’s president is below.
G20 Summit final communique....
World Economic System
America NOT to be a Leader any longer. ~ Wild Thing
LONDON (Reuters)
Leaders of the G20 largest developed and emerging economies agreed on Thursday to a $1.1 trillion program to restore global growth and rebuild a financial system, ravaged by the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
Here are the key points in the final G20 communique.
-- "To treble resources available to the IMF to $750 billion, to support a new SDR allocation of $250 billion, to support at least $100 billion of additional lending by the MDBs (multilateral development banks), to ensure $250 billion of support for trade finance, and to use the additional resources from agreed IMF gold sales for concessional finance for the poorest countries."
That constitutes "an additional $1.1 trillion program of support to restore credit, growth and jobs in the world economy."
-- The measures taken will "by the end of next year, amount to $5 trillion, raise output by 4 percent, and accelerate the transition to a green economy."
-- "Central banks have pledged to maintain expansionary policies for as long as needed and to use the full range of monetary policy instruments, including unconventional instruments, consistent with price stability."
-- To put in place "credible exit strategies from the measures that need to be taken now to support the financial sector and restore global demand ... thereby reducing the scale of the fiscal consolidation necessary over the longer term."
-- "To establish a new Financial Stability Board (FSB) with a strengthened mandate, as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), including all G20 countries, FSF members, Spain, and the European Commission.
"The FSB should collaborate with the IMF to provide early warning of macroeconomic and financial risks and the actions needed to address them."
-- "To extend regulation and oversight to all systemically important financial institutions, instruments and markets. This will include, for the first time, systemically important hedge funds."
-- "To endorse and implement the FSF's tough new principles on pay and compensation and to support sustainable compensation schemes and the corporate social responsibility of all firms."
-- "To take action against non-cooperative jurisdictions, including tax havens. We stand ready to deploy sanctions to protect our public finances and financial systems ... We note that the OECD has today published a list of countries assessed by the Global Forum against the international standard for exchange of tax information."
-- "To extend regulatory oversight and registration to Credit Rating Agencies to ensure they meet the international code of good practice, particularly to prevent unacceptable conflicts of interest."
-- "We reaffirm the commitment made in Washington: to refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions, or implementing World Trade Organization (WTO) inconsistent measures to stimulate exports.
"We will minimize any negative impact on trade and investment of our domestic policy actions including fiscal policy and action in support of the financial sector. We will not retreat into financial protectionism, particularly measures that constrain worldwide capital flows, especially to developing countries."
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Sanctions for non–cooperative tax havens and tougher world–wide financial regulations.
• Greater international regulation of hedge funds and credit ratings agencies.
• Stricter control and regulation of pay and bonuses for bankers.
• The poorest countries in the world would receive $100 billion in economic aid in addition to top of the $5 billion economic stimulus already agreed to by the G–20 nations.
• The formation of a Financial Stability Board to work with the International Monetary Fund with a goal of ensuring international cooperation and providing early warnings about threats to the financial system.
“This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words, but with a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable for its delivery,” United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. “We have agreed to tough standards and sanctions for use against those who don’t come into line in the future.”
According to a posting Thursday on the Financial Times of London website, a blacklist of four jurisdictions had been drawn up. Another 39 countries or territories were placed on the list of jurisdictions that have committed to internationally agreed tax standards, but which have not substantially implemented those plans yet.
The blacklisted four were Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Uruguay.
Cayman was one of the 39 on the middle list of committed jurisdictions where plans had not been substantially implemented. However, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development noted that Cayman’s legislation regarding tax information exchanges was being reviewed.
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Leaders of the world's largest economies agreed on Thursday to a package worth more than $1 trillion to tackle the global economic crisis.
Barack Obama called the deal "a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery." The plan calls for reform of the international banking system and the injection of more than $1 trillion into the world financial system.
The Group of 20 is taking "unprecedented steps" to attack the global economic downturn, stimulate growth and expand loans to troubled nations, Obama said at the close of the group's meeting in London.
"The challenge is clear," the U.S. president said. "The global economy is contracting. Trade is shrinking. Unemployment is rising. The international financial system is nearly frozen."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had voiced concerns prior to the summit about the wisdom of pumping further public money into economies already in recession, welcomed Thursday's agreement -- though hinted at unresolved disagreements behind the scenes.
There had been concerns that a rift was opening up between the approach being championed by the U.S. and Britain -- more economic stimulus -- and that favored by France and Germany -- more banking regulations.
Sarkozy said the agreement represented "great progress" on reform of financial institutions and said "a page had been turned." Merkel described the deal as "a very, very good, almost historic compromise."
But Brown said: "Our message is clear and certain. We believe that in this new global age our prosperity is indivisible. We believe global problems require global solutions," Brown said.
"I think a new world order is emerging and with it the foundations of a new and progressive era of international cooperation."
Obama said: "We owe it to all of our citizens to act and to act with urgency. We have agreed upon a series of unprecedented steps to restore growth and prevent a crisis like this from happening again."
"We have rejected the protectionism that could deepen this crisis. ... This cooperation between the world's leading economies signals our support for open markets," he said. "Second, we are committed to comprehensive reform of a failed regulatory system."
Obama added: "We can rebuild our global prosperity if we act with the sense of common purpose, persistence, and optimism that our moment demands."
Obama said the United States would also provide $448 million in additional aid to vulnerable nations w