Anthony Amore, Right On!

 

Very big kudos to  Anthony Amore  

 who wrote this terrific piece:

 

Last Weekend's Real Tragic Death

Last Friday, Osbrany Montes De Oca, a Lance Corporal in the United States Marines, set out to begin his patrol in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. As he was walking out of his base, his girlfriend said, he was ambushed by Taliban forces who shot and killed the 20 year old mortarman from New Jersey.

Lance Cpl. Montes De Oca was barely through his first year in service to his country when he made the ultimate sacrifice. But this young man's passion for his country is the stuff from which legends are made. Born in the Dominican Republic, he left behind a beautiful young girlfriend--"the love of my life" he called her--to enlist in the greatest volunteer force the world has ever known on a mission to bring stability to a country still suffering the ravages of Islamist fanaticism. 

His patriotism was shared by his twin brother, Osmany. The Star-Ledger reported that the brothers joined the Marine Corps after graduating high school, telling family members that they wanted to serve their country and fight those who would harm it. The twins' commitment to service was so great that it actually rubbed off on their older brother, Sandro, who followed the lead of his kid brothers and enlisted as well.

America lost one of its best and brightest on that Friday in Afghanistan. But you'd hardly know it from following the news. Why? Because on Saturday another child of New Jersey, Whitney Houston, died.

Houston was born into a successful family that one might even call privileged. Her father (a former serviceman) was an entertainment executive. Her aunt was Dionne Warwick. Her godmother, Aretha Franklin. Houston grew to become one of the most awarded entertainers in history -- and one of its biggest failures. Watching the last decade and a half of Houston's life was tantamount to watching a car crash. Watching her husband's reality show, Being Bobby Brown, was like rubbernecking from the couch. Houston went from being a beautiful young singer and actress to a drug-addled mess. She was a mockery of her former self.

So when she died on Saturday, the word "tragedy" was thrown around like penny candy. By the following Tuesday morning, a Google search of the terms "Whitney Houston" and "tragedy" resulted in 148 million hits.

Meanwhile, a search for the term "Osbrany Montes De Oca" resulted in under 800 hits. As a Marine, that probably would be fine with Lance Cpl. Montes De Oca. He'd see himself as part of a unit, as a member of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. And that's exactly what makes him a hero.

But no one mentioned Lance Cpl. Montes De Oca during the Grammys. There was no moment of silence or prayers for him. While CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News all broke from their regularly-scheduled programming to deliver non-stop coverage of the singer's death, barely a word was said about the soldier's. The love and adulation and respect were all offered to Whitney Houston. 

Maybe we as a nation ought to spend more time being grateful for people like him, instead of paying incessant tribute to yet another dead celebrity.

And THAT says it all!

   And Kudos also to Huffington Post for posting it.

     (Never thought I'd say that!)

Fallen Hero: LCpl Osbrany Montes De Oca, USMC

Lance Cpl. Osbrany Montes De Oca, 20, of North Arlington, N.J. (born in the Dominican Republic), died Feb. 10 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C., and was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal less than two weeks before he was killed.

Montes De Oca joined the Marine Corps with his twin brother Osmany in December, 2010, after graduating high school.

According to the 2d Marine Division Public Affairs office, he was awarded the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal during his service.

Osbrany is one of four brothers, and one of three Marines in the family. Sandro Moreta, his older brother, and Osmany, his twin, are also Marines.  Franklin, the youngest brother, is a high school student.

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 Valentine's Day

And to my very own HoneyBunch:

  I loved you then, I love you now, I'll love you all the tomorrows we have!

Global Warming = Weak Science

Well, well, well.

The truth, as they say, will out.

"I feel duped on climate change" 

  Fritz Vahrenholt: "The fear mongers are still shaping the political debate. According to the German Advisory Council on Global Change, environmentally minded countries should forcibly bring about reduced consumption for the sake of protecting the climate. This takes us in the direction of an environmental dictatorship. And the fear-mongering is also beginning to take effect. When I was in a restaurant recently, I overheard a woman at the next table telling her children that it's wrong to eat an Argentine steak -- because of the climate. That's when I ask myself: How could we have come to this point?"

 The Galileo of Global Warming

 In Germany, where the global warming dogma has been very deeply entrenched, one of the founding fathers of Germany's environmentalist movement, Professor Fritz Vahrenholt, has converted into a global warming skeptic and is promoting his views in a new book and a series of article in Bild, a major German newspaper. 

What caused the change? According to one account:

Vahrenholt’s skepticism started when he was asked to review an IPCC report on renewable energy. He found hundreds of errors. When he pointed them out, IPCC officials simply brushed them aside. Stunned, he asked himself, “Is this the way they approached the climate assessment reports?”

Vahrenholt decided to do some digging. His colleague Dr. Lüning also gave him a copy of Andrew Montford’s The Hockey Stick Illusion. He was horrified by the sloppiness and deception he found.

Germany's Godfather of Green Turns Skeptic

The UN is scaremongering over climate change

Who are you gonna believe:  a respected scientist or some global warming alarmist-bullshit artist-former political fool?

Obummer: Class-less Act

It's hard to top the classless act of speaking during the playing of the British national anthem while standing next to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, but Barack Hussein Obama has done that:

Another illustration of presidential hubris involved the Bush family. The White House put out a picture of a private meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 27 that included former President George H.W. Bush and his son, Jeb, the former governor of Florida.

The Bushes were in town for the annual black tie dinner the next night at the Alfalfa Club, a gathering of business and political elites. The two featured speakers, both intended to be brief and humorous, were Obama and Jeb Bush. The president spoke to good reviews. He left before Bush spoke.

Obama hates such dinners. Some of his aides, in particular his political adviser David Plouffe, urged him not to spend an evening mingling with the 1 percent. Yet he chose to go, and attendees said it was the first time they could recall a speaker leaving before the other side had its fun. In addition, Obama’s 87-year-old predecessor was present.

Imagine the criticism five years ago if President George W. Bush had walked out on a dinner before Hillary Clinton spoke, with Bill Clinton in the audience.

 

Imagine that indeed: 

 

The INDIGNATION of the Liberal Left, The FURY of the Blogosphere, The FRENZY of the Barking Mad Moonbats.


H/T Weasel Zippers:  Class act Obama walks out on Jeb Bush

The New American Dream

Too bad this will never happen.

Despite saying 3 three years ago (in reference to 'fixing' the economy), and only 10 days into his presidency, 

 

 “If I don’t have this done in three years, 

then it’s going to be a one-term proposition”, 

 

the Campaigner / Vacationer-in-Chief thinks he deserves another term.

 Obama thinks he deserves another term

 

Apparently he's not finished destroying America's economy.
 

Remarkably ... Stupid

Michelle Obama cited "Remarkable progress" on the economy

"In the last three years, we've worked hard to get out of this mess and we've made some remarkable progress."

Remarkable, yes.     

$15 TRILLION + and counting  is VERY remarkable. 

Progress?  Only if you consider crushing debt and high unemployment as progress.

"You’re here because you know that we stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country. You’re here because you know that in less than a year from now, we are going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come."

Oh, yes, if this guy manages to get re-elected it will impact our lives for decades, no lie.  Barack Hussein Obama will not be 'fettered' by having to worry about yet another re-election campaign, nor present himself as being for American people anymore. He will no doubt spend the next four years cramming social programs through Congress while thoroughly debilitating the military... and ruining this country with debt.

  Then she added that her husband is "very cute and he can sing, go figure." 

Oh well, that makes all the difference in a president. 

I would rather have a president who is decisive, competent, and a leader rather than a shirker.

  

 Government Spending Figures

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Figures on government spending and debt (last six digits are eliminated). The government's fiscal year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. 

Total public debt subject to limit Jan. 30	15,313,699
Statutory debt limit	16,394,000
Total public debt outstanding Jan. 30	15,356,140
Operating balance Jan. 30	158,596
Interest fiscal year 2012 through December	62,662
Interest same period 2011	56,780
Deficit fiscal year 2012 through December	321,735
Deficit same period 2011	368,960
Receipts fiscal year 2012 through December	555,437
Receipts same period 2011	531,797
Outlays fiscal year 2012 through December	877,173
Outlays same period 2011	900,757
Gold assets in January	11,041