Fallen Hero: 2nd Lt Robert M. Kelly, USMC

Second Lt. Robert Kelly was killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb during a foot patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan while serving his 3rd combat deployment.

Lt. Kelly, 29, had served two tours in Iraq as an enlisted Marine before being commissioned in 2008, and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton.


His service awards include the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Afghanistan Combat Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, according to the 1st Marine Division Public Affairs Office.

He was the son of Lt. Gen. John Kelly, now commander of New Orleans-based Marine Forces Reserve.

 Requiescat in Pace, Marine

This Nation Will Remain The Land Of The Free 

Only So Long As It Is The Home Of The Brave

  - Elmer Davis

Happy 235th Birthday, Marines!

Fort Hood Massacre, One Year Later

One year ago today, 13 patriotic Americans were murdered at Fort Hood, TX.

The shooter was identified by witnesses as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim fundamentalist wearing an Army combat uniform and shouting "Allahu Akabar", while firing and reloading.   

The 13:


Chief Warrant Officer Michael Grant Cahill (Ret.)(62), Cameron, TX

Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo (52), Woodbridge, VA

Army Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow (32), Plymouth, IN


Capt. John Gaffaney (56), San Diego, CA

Spc. Frederick Greene (29), Mountain City, TN

Spc. Jason Dean Hunt (22), Tipton, OK

Sgt. Amy Krueger (29), Kiel, WI

Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka (19), West Jordan, UT

Pfc. Michael Pearson (22), Bolingbrook, IL

Capt. Russell Seager (51), Racine, WI

Pvt. Francheska Velez (21), Chicago, IL

Lt. Col. Juanita L. Warman (55), Havre De Grace, MD

Spc. Kham Xiong (23), St. Paul, MN

Slideshow of the Victims

 Requietum en Pace, Soldiers

It's Time

Dirty Politics 2010

In the Florida governor's race:

Alex Sink violated the rules of the debate (cheated), then lied about it.

Alex Sink Drips

In the Florida Fracas for senator:

Charlie Crist, who was first a Republican and now an Independent, and who apparently has said he will caucus with the Democrats if elected, called Kendrick Meek, the Democrat in the race, and encouraged him to drop out. When Meek didn't return the 5 am phone call, Charlie showed up at a Meek campaign event. Throw in Bubba and we have quite the menage-a-trois.

Much ado About Crist-Meek-Clinton
Bubba Clinton Meddles in Senate Race
Bubba Clinton-Meek

In the US House election:

Alan Grayson is running a very nasty re-election campaign. Rumors persist that he has personally funded the campaign of Peg Dunmire (Tea Party candidate*) in order to draw conservative votes away from Dan Webster. Not illegal, but certainly unethical.

Alan Grayson Backing Florida Tea Party

It's interesting that most of the dirty politics, here in Florida at least, seem to be the doing of one particular political party.

(*Note: the Tea Party is not a political party, but rather a political movement)

The Crazy Season

This year's election cycle seems crazier than ever before. Here in Florida, Land of the Hanging Chads, it has reached a  fever pitch of insanity.

First up is Charlie Crist, our governor who governs by calling-in. 

That's right, he calls in to work because he's been campaigning for US Senator for the last year or so, before he completed his first (and hopefully only) term as governor. This guy is running a campaign ad that exalts his "integrity and honesty". Yeah. Charlie's honesty: Charlie assured us on camera that he was running as a Republican. In April, way behind in the polls, Honest Charlie switched from Republican to Independent. Charlie's integrity: After the flip-flop, he refused to return campaign donations  to his Republican supporters.

Then we have Alan Grayson, the motor-mouth moron who is paid by the taxpayers to represent my district in the US House of Representatives. 

Where to start with this guy?  Remember "Die quickly" on the House floor?  Then there was his "Taliban Dan" attack ad, proven false. Let's not forget his campaign to have Angie Langley , private citizen, fined and jailed for expressing her 1st amendment rights. My Congressman IS nuts.

I can't wait until November 3rd. 

Can We Swap?

Martin Sieff writes it:

A Lesson Obama Could Learn About Leadership

 What a man is this President Sebastian Pinera of Chile! He believes in God and is not afraid to say so. He doesn't care about being ridiculed by the American Civil Liberties Union or its Chilean equivalent: He orders church bells to be rung to celebrate the amazing, truly miraculous rescue of 33 miners trapped underground for more than two months in his country's San Jose mine.

Pinera doesn't give endlessly long speeches that are packed with so many weightless, meaningless clichés that they rise out of sight and out of memory as soon as the worthless, empty words are uttered. When Sebastian Pinera simply says, “We are not the same Chile we were 69 days ago,” he brings tears to the eyes of millions of people far beyond the borders of his own admirable country.

In other words, Sebastian Pinera is not Barack Obama. Pinera is a real leader for the 21st century. He is a real man.

President Pinera did not sit back passively when the miners were trapped. He did not show his so-called, metrosexual, 21st century cool head and so-called “emotional balance” by showing no passion. He felt it and he showed it.

Pinera put his presidency on the line by committing himself publicly to make sure those miners were rescued come what may. How Rahm Emmanuel must have laughed.

But did we get any leadership like that when BP (Yes – that’s BRITISH Petroleum, or maybe we should start calling them RUSSIAN Petroleum (RP) since they're investing so heavily in Siberia now) was choking the Gulf of Mexico with an unstoppable deep sea oil leak? The president of the United States you’ll recall, did nothing, absolutely nothing, for months except pout his mouth and grit his teeth – his usual substitute for any effective action on anything.

Obama didn't call in the best experts personally from around the world. He didn't put the vast resources of the United States government or assemble the unmatchable expertise of the U.S. oil industry, the best in the world, on the job. He just sat back passively and let RP -- sorry, BP – make things worse.

Barack Obama and his shameless acolytes like economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, The Washington Post's Richard Cohen and Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, have redefined democratic leadership as pious, whining, passive, dignified ineptitude. The only time Obama expresses any passion at all is when he’s whimpering about how all those big bad conservative talk show commentators are being so horrible to him.

The Chilean people in their democratically-expressed wisdom picked a brave and magnificent leader as their president. We got an empty suit who makes Jimmy Carter look like Rambo. 

Can we swap?

      Martin Sieff is former Managing Editor, International Affairs, for United Press International. He is the author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East.”