Majority Rule? Not Anymore.

From the Military Times:

Flag-folding recitations by Memorial Honor Detail volunteers are now banned at the nation’s 125 veterans graveyards because of a complaint about the ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery.

The complaint revolved around the narration in the 11th fold, which celebrates Jewish war veterans and “glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

The National Cemetery Administration then decided to ban the entire recital at all national cemeteries. Details of the complaint weren’t disclosed.

Administration spokesman Mike Nacincik said the new policy outlined in a Sept. 27 memorandum is aimed at creating uniform services throughout the military graveyard system.

Veterans and honor detail volunteers are furious.

 

A complaint. One.

If I complained about the complaint would that negate it?

How about if thousands of veterans complained?

Members of Congress?

Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., wrote a letter, signed by 11 other congressmen, to the Department of Veterans Affairs:

"The flag folding recitation is a longstanding tradition which brings comfort to the living and honor to the deceased. ...

"Please reconsider the policy and allow the Memorial Honor Detail volunteers to perform the traditional flag-folding recitation if requested by the family of the deceased."

Charlie Waters, parliamentarian for the American Legion of California, said he's advising memorial honor details to ignore the edict.

It shouldn't have to be ignored.
The damned idiot who complained should have been ignored.

What happened to 'by the people, for the people'?

When was it changed to 'for the person'?

What ever happened to majority rule?

Here’s the banned recital:

These meanings, not part of the U.S. Flag Code, have been ascribed to the 13 folds of American flags at veterans burial services:

1. Symbol of life.

2. Symbol of our belief in the eternal life.

3. In honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks who gave a portion of life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world.

4. Represents our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for His divine guidance.

5. A tribute to our country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, “Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong.”

6. Represents where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

7. A tribute to our armed forces.

8. A tribute to the one who entered in to the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor mother, for whom it flies on Mother’s Day.

9. A tribute to womanhood.

10. A tribute to father.

11. In the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

12. In the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost.

13. When the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, “In God We Trust.”

Snake on a Plane (and Elsewhere)

  California Democrat Nancy Pelosi assumed leadership of the House of Representatives 10 months ago, promising to enact serious, and long overdue, ethical reforms -- to stop the growing trend of legislators and their families accepting gifts, trips, and jobs from lobbyists and corporations, and proposed "a new direction" for America.  

Apparently that new direction has taken some detours. 

 1) The plane, Boss, the plane:

  The Speaker of the House, 2nd in line for the presidency (after the VP), has been provided a government jet for official business use since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because of security concerns. 

 Former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert used a military 12-seat jet to carry him mainly from Washington's Andrews Air Force Base to airports near his home district in Chicago's suburbs. 

 But Ms Pelosi needs a bigger plane, large enough to carry Democratic "supporters" (= family & lobbyists) and Pelosi staff non-stop cross country. The concern apparently included the desire that Pelosi's plane not land for refueling. Pelosi: "It has everything to do with security". 

 Uh-huh.  

 Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) called it "Air Force Three" and said it shows "an arrogance of office that just defies common sense".  

 Then, of course Rep. John Murtha, who chairs the House Military Appropriations subcommittee, got into the act, saying he spoke to Pentagon officials about the need to provide Pelosi with a bigger plane that can fly passengers coast to coast in comfort. But the House Bully-boy denied pressuring the Pentagon. "I don't need to pressure them. I just tell them what they need to do." 

  2) Junior gets a job: 

 In February '07, shortly after his mother became the first woman speaker, Paul Pelosi Jr., was hired by InfoUSA for $180,000 a year as its VP for Strategic Planning. 

 Unlike all of the other InfoUSA employees, he did not report to work at the company's headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.  

 InfoUSA is the same company that has been cited by the New York Times for creating marketing lists that were used by con artists to fleece vulnerable elderly people.  

 Oh, and BTW, Bill Clinton also works as a consultant for InfoUSA, for which Bubba was paid $3.3 million over the past five years. And the Clintons got $900,000 worth of free travel. 

 Mama Pelosi insisted that Junior's job opportunity had nothing to do with his influential mother. He just sent in an application for a job and they hired him. 

 Uh-huh. 

 3) Nancy Meddles in the Middle East:   Ms Pelosi, elected to office by a single voting district, took it upon herself to meddle, unasked, in foreign policy by meeting with Bashar al-Assad, Syria's terrorist-president-dictator, in Damascus.  

 Then Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message to Assad from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace talks" with Syria. And, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to "resume the peace process" as well. Ms. Pelosi even suggested that her shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. Problem: There was no such message from the Israeli prime minister. A statement issued by the Israeli prime minister's office indicated that "What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel". 

 In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that "a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel".  

 Ex-President Jimmy Carter supported Ms Pelosi's trip, which is itself enough reason to condemn it. 

 4) The Genocide Resolution: 

  Dimwit Dems came up with a controversial resolution to affirm the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide. Ninety-two years ago. 

  It was a 'symbolic' resolution. Turkey happens to be an important American ally. We haven't got many of those and you would think it fairly important to not piss off the ones we do have.  

  Newly installed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, tried to calm tensions by phoning his Turkish counterpart.  

  All eight living former secretaries of state signed a joint letter to Pelosi warning that the non-binding resolution "would endanger our national security interests."

  Three former defense secretaries, in their own letter, said Turkey probably would cut off U.S. access to a critical air base. 

  But, expert advice be damned, Ms Pelosi intends to move ahead with a full vote on this incredibly idiotic resolution.  

 Oh, wait. Ms Pelosi has many Armenian-Americans in her California congressional district who have pushed similar proposals for years.  

  So, Ms Pelosi disregards national security and American foreign policy in the interests of playing to a small, localized interest group in her voting district. 

   I wonder how many people actually know that this idiot is 2nd in line (after the VP) for the Presidency?

Political Cartoonists: Henry Payne, & Ken Catalino

Congress Lies, Big Surprise

Here's a big surprise: Congress is not going to do what it said it would do.

After winning Congressional majority last year, Democrats and Nancy Pelosi triumphantly declared that they would put Congress back to work, promising an “end to the two-day workweek.”

Most of us thought that meant a five-day work-week. You know, like most average Americans have.

Silly old us. <rude noise>

The House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer of Maryland, told fellow Democrats this week that the House would not be in session next year on Fridays, except in June for work on appropriations bills. Because ... “I do intend to have more time for members to work in their districts and to be close to their families.”

Note: This is the same Mr Hoyer who announced that the House would take a day off during the new Congress' first week in session. Why? Because of the championship college football game between Oklahoma State and Florida State.
Apparently this is the Democratic standard for the congressional work ethic.

Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said he was not worried about Congress’s low approval ratings.

Note to Maryland voters: perhaps you could help Mr Van Hollen get a clue.

According to Dick Morris' "Outrage":

The awful truth about the 'Do-Nothing Congress' is that they are paid at least $165,500 a year, and they hardly show up at all. In 2006, for example, Congress was only in session for 103 days, slightly more than two days a week on average. Nice work, if you can find it.

On the up side: they won't be in Washington spending our money.
On the down side: They'll probably be off on 'fact-finding trips' spending our money.

Hopefully, a lot of the currently elected deadwood peckerhead congressional idiots will be looking for work elsewhere in say, 12 months and 7 days.

(Political cartoonist: Chip Bok, Akron Beacon-Journal)

Fallen Hero: LCpl Jeremy Burris

On Wednesday, October 22, the Main Street of Liberty, Texas, was lined with people paying their respects to U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jeremy Burris as his funeral procession passed by.  

Business in the courthouse halted, schools let out and shops closed. The crowd waved hundreds of flags and two giant ones were draped from fire trucks.  

In a congressional speech, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe described how moved he had been to see weeping people salute or hold their hands over their hearts. 

"Burris was not afraid to die when he joined the Marines a year and a half ago. He told his youth minister he would rather die young while he could still give 100 percent. He was also an unapologetic person of faith."

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jeremy Burris, 22, was killed October 8th in al-Anbar province. Minutes before his death, he rescued two soldiers wounded when a device exploded under their military vehicle. When Burris returned to the vehicle to retrieve equipment, another bomb detonated, killing him. 

  Within hours of his burial, Lance Corporal Burris' grave was desecrated - flower sprays were ripped apart, sentimental notes and posters were shredded, flags were torn down. 

 Liberty Police Chief Mike Cummings:

"It was obviously intentional. We don't know if someone did this for a stupid prank or they were anti-war or what."

To be 'anti-war or what' and to show disrespect for the flag, for the troops, and for their families is unfortunately acceptable to those whose very rights to do so are protected by those who are willing to die for those rights.

** UPDATE: October 25 **

 

Texas Police arrested Wallace DeBlanc on state felony charges of criminal mischief at a place of human burial and felony theft for stealing the flower wire stands from the gravesite. 

DeBlanc confessed and said that he stole the items so that he could resell them to florists. DeBlanc faces two years in jail and up to $20,000 in fines. 

 Perhaps his time could better be spent maintaining veterans' gravesites or working in a VA hospital, plus the fine - to be donated to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation or the Wounded Warriors Barracks.

Requiescat In Pace, Marine

Not Forgotten: The Marines of Beirut

In the early morning hours of 23 October 1983, simultaneous suicide truck-bomb attacks were made on American and French compounds in Beirut, Lebanon.

A truck loaded with 12,000 pounds of explosives crashed through the security perimeter of the United States Marine Corps Barracks. In the ensuing explosion, 241 U.S. Military personnel (220 US Marines, 21 other service personnel) were killed and 80 seriously wounded. 

These young people, on a mission of peace in a land stricken by violence, were killed as they slept.

Two minutes later and two miles away, 58 French paratroops were killed when a 400-pound device destroyed a French base.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Twenty-one of the American victims of this cowardly act were returned to the United States and were buried near one another in Section 59 of Arlington National Cemetery.
A Cedar of Lebanon tree commemorating their sacrifice is
planted nearby.

The Fallen
 

View a Flash Presentation of events surrounding the October 23, 1983 massacre, narrated by Marines who were there.

They recognize that terrorism was omnipresent long before 9/11.

Requietum En Pacem, Marines

Presidential Pussy-cat

Socks was the 'First Cat' during the Clinton Follies and only the 4th cat to occupy the White House since FDR.

President-elect Bill Clinton's first executive order:
"Special note to all press from the highest authority: don't touch the cat again."

Socks was involved in one of the myriad Congressional investigations into the Clinton administration. The use of White House staff, postage, and stationery to answer mail addressed to the cat was probed by Rep. Dan Burton. This was perhaps the only Clinton scandal involving a pussy that didn't have Bubba smack in the middle of it.


Socks' position as First Pet was usurped in 1997 by Buddy the Dog.
Apparently Socks despised Buddy from first sight and things went downhill from there.

Ms Clinton wrote a book "Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets" in which she claimed that only with the arrival of Socks and his “toy mouse” did the White House “become a home.”

Ms Clinton also lectured readers that pets are an “adoption instead of an acquisition” and warned them to look out for their safety.

Yeah, right.

When the Clintons left the White House in 2001, Buddy the dog went to the house in Chappaqua, and Socks the Cat, like everything else for which the Clintons had no more use, was disposed of.

As of 2006, Socks was still living with former Clinton White House secretary Betty Currie.

Which is more than can be said about Buddy the dog.
Left alone at Chappaqua, he was run over in 2002.

Buddy suffered the same fate as the Clinton's previous dog, a cocker spaniel named Zeke, whom Hillary reportedly did not like having in the Arkansas Governor's mansion.

Word to Seamus, the current Clinton dog: Learn to meow.

Talk is Cheap in the US Senate

Senator Harry Reid denounced Rush Limbaugh -a private citizen- from the Senate floor for using the phrase "phony soldiers" on Limbaugh's radio program.

The roars of Democrat Senators confirming the condemnation were deafening.

A letter signed by 41 Democratic senators sent to Mr Limbaugh was sold Friday on eBay for a record $2.1 million, ALL of which goes to benefit the Maine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, a nonprofit organization that gives scholarship assistance to children of Marines and federal law enforcement personnel whose parents die in the line of duty.

Mr Limbaugh promised to match the selling price and challenged each of the 41 Senators to do the same.

The silence is deafening.

And then, if you can believe this, Mr Reid, once again on the Senate floor, attempted to horn in on the credit.

Limbaugh:

“Harry Reid in a speech on the Senate floor at 12 noon today, a little over an hour ago, attempted to hone in on all this and take some credit for it, claiming that he and I had buried the hatchet, or implying that that had been the case, and then kept using the pronoun "we" in discussing how good this was, the money going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.”

“I asked Sen. Reid to match and all the other senators who can afford to do so. I haven't heard from them on that. I asked Sen. Reid to go on the program and discuss his discussion of me as "unpatriotic." He did not accept my offer to do that and now has the audacity to climb aboard this, praising the effort, saying that "he" never knew that it would get this kind of money."

Mr Limbaugh also announced that an unknown number of certified copies of the letter signed by him will be sold for $1,000 on his Web site, with proceeds also going to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation.

It will be interesting to see if any of those 41 elected idiots will put their money where their big mouths are.

Once again, if you are a US Senator, talk is cheap.

Who Signed?

Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Blanche Lincoln, Richard Durbin, Kent Conrad, Bob Menendez, Charles Schumer, Christopher Dodd, Barbara Mikulski, Patty Murray, Byron Dorgan, Bill Nelson, Daniel Akaka, Dianne Feinstein, Barack Obama,
Max Baucus, Tom Harkin, Jack Reed, Joseph Biden, Daniel Inouye, Jay Rockefeller, Barbara Boxer, Edward M. Kennedy, Ken Salazar, Sherrod Brown, John Kerry, Bernie Sanders, Robert Byrd, Amy Klobuchar, Debbie Stabenow,
Benjamin Cardin, Mary Landrieu, Jon Tester, Tom Carper, Frank Lautenberg, Jim Webb, Bob Casey, Patrick Leahy, Sheldon Whitehouse, Carl Levin, Ron Wyden

(Political cartoonist: Lisa Benson)

The Ig-Nobel Peace Prize

Who's not surprised that Al 'Warm-mongering propagandist' Gore has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work trying to profit from alarming us all about the dangers of man-made global warming?

Lest you think this is another clinky award like the Oscar, it also comes with a million+ dollars. And some supposed world prestige.

But before we bestow sainthood on Al, consider these other Nobel Peace Prize 'winners':

MOHAMED ELBARADEI (2005) for his efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest way.

He has been criticized by the US for his lenient policies in dealing with Iran.

JIMMY CARTER JR., (2002) ex-President of the United States of America, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.

The Nobel committee head at the time said Carter's award was 'a signal of disapproval over Bush's preparations for the invasion of Iraq'.
The former Shah of Iran could not be reached for comment.

UNITED NATIONS (2001), KOFI ANNAN, United Nations Secretary General.

The most corrupt and worthless organization EVER, led by a Secretary General with the same qualities.

YASSER ARAFAT (1994), Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, President of the Palestinian National Authority.

Known Terrorist whose personal fortune was estimated at over a Billion dollars.
His wife (now widow) lives in Paris and receives a monthly allowance somewhere between $50,000-$100,000.
The Palestinian people still have no schools and no hospitals and little food .

MIKHAIL SERGEYEVICH GORBACHEV (1990), President of the USSR, helped to bring the Cold War to an end.

Ronald Reagan, the main force behind ending the Cold War, wasn't awarded one.

Apparently the only criteria to win a Nobel Peace Prize is that you have to have to have an anti-American, Anti-Bush agenda.

Perhaps it should be renamed the Nobel Booby Prize.

Or in Gore's case, the Nobel Prize for Slick Gimmickry.

Just how does Gore's piece of crap movie promote world peace, anyway?

Political Cartoonist: Mike Lester

Not Forgotten: the USS Cole

October 12, 2000

The guided missile destroyer USS Cole steamed into Aden harbor just before noon, maneuvering into position for refueling at an offshore mooring station.

Several small boats approached to assist in the mooring. Crew members were on deck, armed and at attention. At 12:15, a small boat pulled alongside the Cole. Two men stood up and the boat exploded.'


The blast ripped a 40-ft. by 40-ft. hole in the Cole's port side.

17 Sailors were killed, 39 wounded.

The rules of engagement, as approved by the Pentagon, prevented the Cole's guards from firing upon the explosives-laden boat as it neared them without first obtaining permission from the Cole's captain or another officer.

Petty Officer John Washak said that right after the blast, a senior chief petty officer ordered him to turn an M-60 machine gun on the Cole's fantail away from a second small boat approaching.

"With blood still on my face I was told: "That's the rules of engagement: no shooting unless we're shot at."

Petty Officer Jennifer Kudrick said that if the sentries had fired on the suicide craft "we would have gotten in more trouble for shooting two foreigners than losing seventeen American sailors."

The 17 Fallen

Electronics Technician First Class Richard Costelow
Signalman Seaman Recruit Cheron Ouis Gunn
Seaman James Rodrick McDanielsSeaman Recruit Lakiba Nicole Palmer
Operations Specialist Second Class Timothy Lamont SaundersEnsign Andrew Triplett
Seaman Apprentice Craig Bryan WibberleyHull Maintenance Technician Third Class Kenneth Eugene ClodfelterMess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Monique FrancisInformation Systems Technician Seaman Timothy Lee
Texas Engineman Second Class Mark Ian Nieto Electronics Warfare Technician Third Class Ronald Scott Owens Engineman Fireman Joshua Langdon ParlettFireman Apprentice Patrick Howard Roy Electronics Warfare Technician Second Class Kevin Shawn RuxMess Management Specialist Third Class Ronchester Mananga SantiagoFireman Gary Graham Swenchonis, Jr.

Requietum En Pacem, Sailors

Goober Carter: Still Insane

On Tuesday’s CBS "Early Show," host Harry Smith interviewed former president Jimmy Carter, whom he introduced as "Nobel Peace Prize Laureate President Jimmy Carter."

(pardon the background noise, that's just me gagging)

Smith asked ex-President Goober: "Is there a best way to find peace with Iran?"

Asking the idiot who oversaw the transfer of power in Iran from the pro-West Shah to the fanatical Ayatollah Khomeini about how to deal with Iran is like asking the dictator of Sudan how to bring about an end to the genocide in Darfur.
Read on:

HARRY SMITH: You're working with Richard Branson's group, this group called "The Elders," Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, on the ground. You talked to [Sudanese leader Omar al] Bashir, al Bashir?"

JIMMY CARTER: "Oh, yes, several times, I've known Bashir since he was a colonel."

SMITH: "Does he get it?"

CARTER: "Oh, yes. He's quite aware, he's quite knowledgeable. He's now been the leader of the country for 18 years. He is intimately involved in everything that goes on there. He's a very intelligent person."

Holy Genocide, Batman!
Carter is saying (his words) that this Sudanese tyrant knows all about what is going on, you know, the slaughter and torture of hundreds of thousands of Darfurians that's been going on since about 2003, and has done nothing to stop it.

I'll bet the senile old fart thinks Janjaweed is something to be smoked.

Carter's Nobel Peace Prize should be revoked.

Or shoved.

Save Darfur

UPDATE: The Streets of San Francisco

In regards to my previous post regarding the San Francisco Film Commission denying a request by the USMC to film a recruitment commercial featuring the USMC Silent Drill Team, I, and apparently many others, let Ms Stefanie Coyote (Commission Executive) and the mayor of San Francisco know exactly how I/we felt about it. 

 Take Dramamine, if you suffer from motion sickness, because you're gonna spin.

 The response from Laurel Barsotti (laurel.barsotti@sfgov.org):

Hello, Thank you for contacting the San Francisco Film Commission regarding the United States Marine Corps' recent filming of a television commercial in San Francisco. There has been a great deal of misinformation about the filming and we would like to set the record straight: The United States Marine Corps' film production company, Tight Productions, did recently film part of a commercial in San Francisco. Reports claiming that a film permit was denied are incorrect. Initially, Tight Productions requested a permit for a specific location at a time that could not be accommodated. (The request would have required closing a busy downtown intersection for the majority of a workday including commute hours.) Tight Productions was immediately offered a variety of other San Francisco locations that could accommodate their filming at the time requested OR the specific downtown location at another time. They chose to film at their original location at another time and a film permit was promptly issued. Tight Productions never had a problem with this process. The company has in fact written a letter to the President of the San Francisco Film Commission assuring him that their production needs were fully met by our office. I have attached a copy of that letter to this email for your review. The San Francisco Film Commission issues film permits without regard to content. It is our mission to both promote and facilitate filming of all kinds here in our great city. When issuing permits, our primary concerns are safety and managing disruption to the residents and workers of San Francisco. Please be assures that Mayor Newsom and the San Francisco Film Commission welcome the United States Marine Corps to San Francisco at any time. We appreciate your concern with regard to this matter and hope this information is helpful. Best regards, San Francisco Film Commission

415-554-6241 Phone
415-554-6503 Fax
www.filmSF.org

Attached was a letter from Donald Block, founder and owner of Tight Films, who passed the 'misunderstanding' off onto Larry Kelly (apparently one of his employees).

 Mr. Block mentioned something about "Larry Kelly was somehow threatened or we were somehow threatened by the Film Commission" .... "Unfortunately, I suspect Larry Kelly is the one who misrepresented what really happened." 

Mr. Block kissed enough ass to ensure that his production company would not be denied future filming permits.

 I, for one, would be most interested to know what the threat was, made by whom and to whom, and what Mr. Kelly has to say about all this.

The Cult of Che

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Marxist revolutionary, killed 40 years ago today, has, for some perverse reason, become a cult hero.

Che has been resurrected as a symbol of freedom, yet he founded Cuba's labor camp system.

Che is celebrated as a free-thinker, yet he spoke about "hatred as an element of struggle" and "unbending hatred for the enemy".

Che was perceived as a free spirit, but loathed individualism and anyone who was part of the establishment.

He signed his correspondence "Stalin II".

Che was said to disdain material comfort and everyday desires, yet when he moved to Havana in 1959, it was to the most luxurious mansion inside Cuba.

Time magazine featured him as a "hero and icon" of the century:"

"Though communism may have lost its fire, he remains the potent symbol of rebellion and the alluring zeal of revolution."

Paul Berman; "The Cult of Che, Don't Applaud The Motorcycle Diaries";
Sept. 24, 2004:

"Che was a totalitarian. Che presided over the Cuban Revolution's first firing squads. He founded Cuba's "labor camp" system—the system that was eventually employed to incarcerate gays, dissidents, and AIDS victims. To get himself -and a lot of other people- killed, was central to Che's imagination."

Guevara bragged from the podium of the United Nations that "we do executions."

Humberto Fontova, "The Che Guevara Farce", May 3, 2007:

"Lots of boys that went to the firing squads were 15, 16, 17 years old. They were poor boys who joined the military for benefits, much as is done in this country sometimes."

"I interviewed people who visited him and tried to save their sons from firing squad executions without trial. He liked to toy with them. He liked to pick up the phone in front of weeping mothers and bark out, "Execute the Fernandez boy right now!"

Che was clinically a sadist. Fidel, you could call a psychopath. Murders didn't affect him one way or another. For him, it was a utilitarian slaughter to consolidate his one-man rule.

Che, from all the people I talked to, relished the slaughter. He had a section of a wall knocked out of his second story office so he could watch his beloved firing squads at work."

One day those who revere this murdering thug will hopefully practice reading comprehension:

"Youth must refrain from ungrateful questioning of governmental mandates. Instead, they must dedicate themselves to study, work, and military service.

"Youth should learn to think and act as a mass. It is criminal to think of individuals!" -- Che Guevara

These are the words of a free-thinking free spirit?

Che is a Legend, yes.
Like Pol Pot and his killing fields.
Like Abu Musab al-Zarqawhi and his murdering minions.

Hero? No way in Hell, which is where he is.

The ClintonBerger

The newest item on the Clinton Campaign platter: The ClintonBerger

Composed of two half-baked lying assholes,

Slathered with Moonbat guano,

Topped with shredded documents stolen from the National Archives.Accompanied by an oriental side dish of Hsu funny money.
(Caution: too much may cause problems)

Serve with a Democratic whine - concocted from sour grapes, has a nutty aftertaste.

Delivered to your home by the Mainstream Media.

Review: Tasteless, hard to swallow, invokes the gag reflex.

Wholly Shi'ite

   Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who threatened to "find friends elsewhere" back in August, had a secret meeting with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while both were in NYC recently.

    The two Shi'ite leaders also met in Tehran, September 2006, with mutual expressions of 'brotherhood' and pledges of continued cooperation between Iraq and Iran. 

  Ahmadinejad stated:

"This will strengthen bilateral relations. Iran and Iraq, as two brotherly neighbors, will stand by each other and unwanted guests will leave the region."

   Al-Maliki called the talks 'very constructive', adding that Iran is '...a very important country, a good friend and brother.' Ahmadinejad added,

"All our assistance to the Iraqi people will be to establish complete security in this country [i.e., Iraq]."

  It seems to me that Mr. al-Maliki has decided to find a friend elsewhere.

  It also seems to me, that this country needs to get out of Iraq NOW.

  Everybody out.  Everything out.  Now. 

  Don't leave a truck or a tire or even a single bootlace.  

  Head 'em up and Move 'em out.  Now.

   I will always support our troops no matter what the mission. 

   But this mission to make Iraq a democracy will never happen with friends like al-Maliki and his 'brother' Ahmadinejad. 

  "Wouldn't you rather fight them over there than in the streets of America?"  

  Let's fight them here.  Maybe that will get America's attention.  

  All this discussion about patriotism would be settled.  

  Even Barking Mad Moonbat Liberals would have to choose sides.  

  It would be most interesting to see which side Congress takes. 

 

“Winter Soldiers” Reporting for Duty!

"The term "Winter Soldier" is a play on the words of Thomas Paine in 1776 when he spoke of the Sunshine Patriot and summertime soldiers who deserted at Valley Forge because the going was rough." -- John Kerry

'Winter Soldier Syndrome' involves military personnel making up false claims, despicable lies and alleged atrocities about what they have done or seen which the media is all too eager to publish, print, and broadcast without blinking an eye or checking the facts. There is rarely substantiation and even more rarely an apology or retraction when proved false.

A few of Kerry's Winter Soldiers:

Jimmy Massey: a Marine Staff Sgt. who claimed to have witnessed and participated in the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Massey repeated his claim that his unit, and he personally, killed four demonstrators. But reporters and a photographer who were embedded with the 3/7 say there is no evidence such a shooting happened, no evidence that the Marines confronted any demonstrators so early in the war.

"There was certainly no organized protesting, no`Go home' ... When (the Marines) were driving into central Baghdad, they were cheered.” -- Ravi Nessman, an AP reporter who knew Massey while he was embedded with the Weapons Company.

The Associated Press finally acknowledged its own role in spreading Massey’s unsubstantiated smears.

Amorita Randall a former Naval construction worker, told The NY Times that she was in combat in Iraq in 2004 and in one incident an explosive device blew up a Humvee she was riding in, killing the driver and leaving her with a brain injury. She also said she was raped twice while she was in the Navy.

She never served in Iraq and a medal she received for service, which appeared to bolster her Iraq story, was awarded in error.

Scott Thomas Beauchamp: Army Private, Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division, and author of the much-disputed "Shock Troops" article in the New Republic's July 23 issue as well as two previous "Baghdad Diarist" columns. The fabulist recently signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods.

A statement from Major Steven F. Lamb, the deputy Public Affairs Officer for Multi National Division-Baghdad:

"An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by PVT Beauchamp were found to be false. His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims."

Beauchamp voluntarily recanted under oath on the first day of the military's investigation. As Beauchamp was in Iraq signing an affidavit denying the truth of his stories, the New Republic was publishing a statement from him on its website on July 26, in which Beauchamp said, "I'm willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name."

UPDATE: New Republic Retracts Beauchamp Stories

 

Now, the following liar is not technically a Winter Soldier, he's a Phony Soldier:

Jesse MacBeth: was in the Army. Briefly.  For forty-four days before he washed out of boot camp. He claimed to have served in Iraq as a U.S. Army Ranger, won a Purple Heart and to have committed war crimes with other Rangers. He was celebrated by peace groups and the Liberal Left as a 'hero' because of his 'courage' in telling the world about the abuses he had witnessed in Iraq: American soldiers 'slaughtering' hundreds of unarmed civilians, men, women, children. In one gruesome account, translated into Arabic and distributed across the Internet: "We would burn their bodies. We would hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque."

MacBeth was recently sentenced to five months in jail and three years probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and his Army discharge record.

Don't expect any retractions, corrections, or apologies from the anti-war left, the anti-military Media, or the Arabic websites that spread Jesse MacBeth's lies about our troops. 

  And the most infamous Winter Soldier of all:

John F Kerry former Naval Officer, failed presidential candidate, US Senator:

1971: Naval Officer Kerry, as a member of VVAW:

"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country." -- statement to Congress, April 22, 1971

December 2005: Senator Kerry, still smearing the US military:

"There is no reason that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, uh, uh, uh, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of -- of -- of -- uh, historical customs, religious customs, whether you like it or not. Iraqis should be doing that."

~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~

"Winter Soldier Syndrome will only be cured when the costs of slandering the troops outweigh the benefits. Exposing Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his brethren matters because the truth matters. The honor of the military matters. The credibility of the media matters.

Think it doesn't make a difference?
Imagine where Sen. John Kerry would be now if the Internet had been around in 1971."
--Michelle Malkin

Goober Carter: Ugly American

The Ugliest American is alive and well and is in Africa this week.


Ex-President Jimmy Carter got into a shouting match with national security forces when he tried to walk through Kabkabiya, a highly volatile pro-Sudanese government town.

You see, he was supposed to meet with local community members including some ethnic African refugees, but none of the non-government refugee representatives showed up.

So, Goober took it upon himself to breach security, making it to a school where he met with one tribal representative before Sudanese security services interrupted.

Omar (the local chief of national security): "No, you can't go. It's not on the program."

Goober: "We're going to anyway."

Carter told the security chief they didn't have the authority to stop him.

Old age is a terrible thing:
Apparently Ex-President Goober still thinks he is a somebody.
He must have forgotten that he was a guest in a foreign nation.

Omar: "We are in the security field. We're not that flexible."

He said Carter already breached security once by walking to the school and would not be allowed to breach security again.

Carter's U.S. security detail and his African Union escort tried to ease tensions.

Goober: "I'll tell President Bashir about this."

Way to help ease tensions, Jimbo.

Perhaps he's going to help Darfur like he helped Iran back in 1979, when he singly-handedly destabilized the Middle East by helping to get the pro-West Shah deposed then handing Iran over to the Ayatollah Khomeini.

"People make a big fuss over you when you're President. But I'm very serious about doing everything I can to make sure that it doesn't go to my head." --Jimmy Carter

Black Hawk Down: Clinton AWOL

The First Battle of Mogadishu (aka the "Battle of the Black Sea") was fought on October 3 and 4, 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, by forces of the United States against Somali militia fighters loyal to warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

During the operation, two U.S. MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by rocket-propelled grenades. Some of the soldiers were able to evacuate the wounded back to the compound, but others were trapped at the crash sites and cut off.

An urban battle ensued that lasted throughout the night. Early the next morning, a joint task force was sent to rescue the trapped soldiers. This task force reached the first crash site and led the trapped soldiers out. The second crash site was overrun and pilot Mike Durant, the lone surviving American, was taken prisoner but later released.

Eighteen American soldiers died and 73 were wounded. Another American soldier, Delta op SFC Matt Rierson, was killed in a mortar attack two days later.

Americans were outraged at the televised images of Somali mobs dragging the mutilated bodies of US soldiers through the streets.

Congress and the media were looking to blame someone for the 18 American soldiers killed.

In the days immediately following the First Battle of Mogadishu, Major General William F. Garrison, commander of Task Force Ranger, sat down and wrote out a letter addressed to the House National Security Committee; it began, "Please show this to President Clinton and Defense Secretary Les Aspin."

Garrison wrote 13 brief, enumerated paragraphs. In those paragraphs he did something very few people in positions of leadership do nowadays. He took the blame.

The Garrison Letter

Secretary of Defense Aspin acknowledged that he had made a bad call when he turned down Task Force Ranger's requests for Bradley Fighting Vehicles and the AC-130 gunship, a propeller-driven aircraft that provides devastatingly accurate fire. He resigned his office two months later. He accepted responsibility.

Draft-Dodger Bill Clinton, Commander-in-Chief of the United States, who is ultimately responsible for America's Armed Forces, took no responsibility, accepted none of the blame.

(Note: pictured is Mike Durant's Super Six-Four helicopter)