Wednesday Hero Blogroll

Wednesday Hero was started to put a spotlight on the men and women of the United States military and the bravery their show day in and day out. But on a few occasions a service members of an allied nation has been profiled. Such is the case this week.

Despite being shot twice during an ambush in Afghanistan, an SAS (Special Air Service) soldier from Australia lashed himself to the front of his patrol vehicle so he wouldn't be left behind if he passed out from loss of blood and kept on fighting.

The Digger is expected to be recommended for a high level bravery award.

Suffering from serious upper body wounds, the soldier struggled on to the front of his SAS long range patrol vehicle (LRPV) and, under heavy fire, used a rope to attach himself firmly between the vehicle's bull bar and radiator.

Once he was secured, and there was no chance that he would fall off if he fainted, he picked up his rifle and resumed firing at the enemy during a two-hour fighting withdrawal.

SAS troops and their special forces comrades from the Commando Regiment are well aware of the slow and painful death that awaits them if they are captured by the Taliban.

The Digger, who cannot be identified, faded in and out of consciousness, emptying several magazines as volleys of enemy rounds and rocket propelled grenades, rained down around him.

He was finally evacuated from the battle field at high speed still lashed to the front of the LRPV.

A source told The Courier-Mail the Digger was now "up and about" and would recover fully from his serious gunshot wounds. His heroic deeds will be recognised when he is recommended for a high level bravery award.

Several others engaged in the do-or-die battle on September 2 are also in line for top honours.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Having Their Pizza and Eating It Too...

• A leftist argues about the fairest way to slice a pizza.
• A radical leftist demands that they must do the slicing and screams at anyone telling them how to slice it.
• A communist leftist cuts a larger slice for themselves and shoots anyone who complains.
• A Nazi leftist wears a uniform to lunch and refuses to give a slice to undesirables.
• A sophisticated leftist argues about the shape and thickness of the pizza, the quality of the ingredients, and the proper etiquette for eating one’s slice.
• A union leftist complains about the requirement for the pizza worker to actually make an edible pizza at all.
• A community-organizer leftist gets everyone to bang their forks on the table while waiting.
• A guilt-baiting leftist hopes you’ll choke on your slice.
• A race-baiting leftist wants to separate the toppings.
• A diversity leftist demands that you eat all the toppings, even if you don’t like anchovies.
• A reparations leftists wants an addition slice, because his great-great-great-grandma didn’t get one.
• A passivist leftist will let a bully steal another kid’s slice… to avoid trouble.
• A gun-control leftist wants to slice the pizza without a knife but rather with a registered, dulled roller-cutter stored in a locked drawer.
• A green leftist whines about artificial ingredients and the oven.
• A busy-body leftist wants high-fat pizza banned.
• A legalize-it leftist wants a high-fat slice for medicinal purposes.
• A vegetarian leftist wants to keep meat toppings off the pizza… then argues about keeping the cheese.
• A hippie leftist doesn’t want to pay for their slice, man.
• A tree-hugger leftists wants you to send their slice right up.
• An journalist leftist demands a health department white-glove inspection… unless a leftist made the pizza, whereupon they dismiss complaints of rat droppings as right-wing paranoia.
• An academic leftist writes about the stupidity of the whole pizza… thing.
• A blogger leftist links to this post, rants that I advocate taking slices from the poor and giving them to the rich, and adds a PayPal link to buy them pizza.
• An entrepreneur just makes another pizza… and another… in a variety of sizes, slice patterns, ingredients, and prices.
If they sell well, he hires people to make even more pizzas.
• A Democrat considers every second pizza… tax.

(Of course, you’ll have some to add.)

On Dying With Your Boots On....a little rant.

I've come to the conclusion, I'm no good at this writing thing. I try sometimes…I spend more time reading what others have written and not enough time speaking about my own positions on the issues. Usually no more than a few lines.

Perhaps it is because I am reluctant to throw something out there without first examining all the angles. I try to be informed about my opinions to the best of my ability…and with the plethora of stories and information I come across in any given day, reading through all this and processing all that information leaves me little time to compose anything worthwhile.. I generally just try to pass on information to my extremely small readership. I know you guys are out there…even though I haven't had a comment in a very long time.

When I started this blog, I wanted to get involved and try and make a difference. Even in a small way. I wanted to share my concerns and some of the knowledge I've gained from my studies and research. I have no idea if anyone really bothers to read any of this…or if those who do take anything away from here that is useful or has enlightened them at all.
If anything I hope the folks that read this blog will go do some of their own research on the issues.

That said, I'm not done yet. I may take some breaks from time to time, but I am far from out of the fight.

There a lot of things going on in this country right now that really bother me. They bother me on a deep level. The more I learn about how this country was formed and what our founding fathers stood for, the more depressed I become when I observe the way our government is run…and that we've allowed it to become this way. Not only have we allowed it, but our education system and our media have pushed this on us for decades. Where is the pride we used to have as a nation? Where are the citizens who believed in hard work? At what point did we lose sight of the danger of big government? It seems that the original reason for a central government has been forgotten. Now when we are at war, the people scream how we waste so much money fighting wars and not enough on domestic issues…wait a minute, that was never the intent. Central Government was responsible for maintaining a standing Navy and Army and to represent the nation of United States to the rest of the world. Not to provide welfare or relief. That was the role of States. The States were responsible for governing their territories, not the central government. The central government was meant to insure our rights, not grant us rights, but insure our inalienable rights. A lot has changed in the last couple of hundred years. We are about to possibly destroy the system of checks and balances in our government with the election of a Democrat president and a majority of democrats in the house and senate. This alone should preclude anyone from voting for the democratic candidate this year. But the Republican party has screwed the pooch so bad that we are going to see some real change…and not the kind I or most patriots of this great nation want to see and certainly don't believe in.

We've seen a lot of negative coverage of both candidates…at least those of us who've been paying attention to places besides NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, NYT, et al.
The Media is in the bag for Obama with the sole exception it seems of FOX news. I am not a Republican. Although I like them far better than the Democrats. I am a closet Libertarian. I believe that the world is not a fair place, but we could at least get a fair shake in this country we had the means and the way to do so until the gov't decided it knew better than the unwashed masses. And the unwashed masses contain many critical and well educated people I might add…Washington does not have the monopoly on intelligence. Far from it. We are about to see some of our most basic rights put in danger if Obama wins this election. I hear all the time…"Obama's not gonna take away your guns…" He doesn't have to…all he has to do is appoint liberal judges to the supreme court and let the anti-gun lobbies do the rest. What about free speech? Well, it seems that as long as you say what the libs want to hear…your safe. Criticize or point out facts that run contrary to their doctrine and you have threats of litigation if not outright harassment. Those of us that truly believe in free speech understand how precious it is and there are a great many of us who have put our lives on the line for this seemingly unappreciated document called the Constitution of the United States of America. I took an oath to defend her against all enemies foreign AND domestic. Yep…go back there and reread…domestic. That means right here boys and girls. Guys like Bill Ayers should have been put to death. It's one thing to talk about communism and say all the ice things you want about it, but when you commit violence against the citizens and servant of this country…multiple times, then say you wish you'd done more, then sit with the rest of your cronies and plan how you're gonna 'eliminate' 25million Americans that won't convert to your ideology…well, that's seditious friends…downright treasonous. That is the blatant abuse of the freedoms we have here in this country. The common misconception about Bill Ayers, is that he was some 60's radical anti-war freak. Well, they're half-right. This guy had no problem with war, just not the one we were in…and not for the same reasons and most of the protesters were. Y'see. Bill is a Communist…with a big C. He was opposed to us fighting the commies in N Vietnam cause they were his 'comrades'. He wanted to make this country communist and was willing to kill innocent people to do so. The fact that he has still after almost 40 years remained unrepentant for his actions says an awful lot about this man. He is now a 'respected' education reformer…umm…wait a minute here…reformer? A guy who believes in Marxism and communism…is teaching our best and brightest and working on new teaching techniques and actually has stature in the education community…I don't know about you all, but that scares the bejeezus out of me.

I am not surprised, since when I was growing up in the 70's and 80's, there were people that said communism wasn't all bad…read the doctrine, it sounds like a nice utopian society, everyone works and everyone reaps the benefits…yeah…not quite how it works folks. Ask an immigrant form one of the old soviet states…or China…or North Korea… or …Cuba. They'll tell you how it works…in a time of crisis, a new social party arises that promises what the people in their panic and uncertainty want to hear…and then the hammer drops.

Let me qualify a couple of things right now. I do not allow charisma to deceive me anymore. Obama is chock full of charisma, and says all those nice wonderful things like Hope and Change. He tells us that we can make it happen… he is a cunning manipulator, I'll give him that. But what seems to me to be some serious issues with his ideology or the roots of it anyway, since he has taken great pains to hide his true leanings during this election. He was brought up by a communist…that's right folks, his mentor in his most impressionable years was a bona fide communist. An American communist at that. Look up Frank Marshall Davis when you get a chance. He learned his "community Organizing" skills form the Saul Alinsky playbook…look that guy up too while your at it. Then we have the Bill Ayers connection. People, you have to wake up and smell the coffee. If McCain were known to pal around with Timothy McVeigh and David Duke and was brought up by A fascist and was a student of Mein Kampf…how well do you think that would go over with ANYONE in this country?

Ok, let's let the communist link drop for a bit.

How about Reverend Phleger and Reverend Wright. Well, since the issue is race related, noone wants to touch it for fear of being labeled a racist..or if you're a black conservative, uncle tom. C'mon folks. Lets get real here. You don't have to say anything, the simple fact is that if you were born white, you're automatically a racist to these jokers. The Church that obama has attended for the last 20 or so years…that he has been forced to distance himself from for political gain is a black racist church. Period. It is not even what anyone would consider a Christian church. Don't believe me, look up James Cone and Black Liberation Theology. That is the doctrine that Rev. Wright follows and that the Obamas have been hearing for years in church. Looks like the descendants of the black slaves in this country are gonna get some reparation, whether we know it or not…95% tax break…yep and who is gonna be getting a check? A large number of the black minority that have been duped into not having respect for themselves. To have a victim mentality. The entitlement thing…they deserve it…whatever. Noone in my family has ever owned a slave of any color and I never have either. But because I'm white, I still owe black folks money and property that I've worked for? Doesn't seem right somehow does it? Well, common sense doesn't even enter the picture. I have a lot of respect for anyone of any color that stands up and takes responsibility for themselves and succeeds in this country. Last time I checked, the American Way is not a racial issue…it's an ideological one. It took us a long time to get to the point where we could put racial prejudices aside for the most part, but now we're seeing the so-called party of unity playing the race card for their own political gain...and what good is it going to do the rest of the country…none at all, it's gonna set us back decades. Y'know most conservatives I know aren't even remotely racist…but it seems there's a whole lot of democrats that are. And I'm not just talking Black and White here. We've got Black Panthers supporting Obama, La Raza (that's 'The Race' in Spanish for those of you who don't know) Can you imagine if a group of white Europeans called themselves that in this country? Yeah…not happenin. Why is it we let others do this then? Because we've lost our pride in who we are as a nation. We've allowed the splintering of our nation into racial groups and the white man is the bad guy….utter nonsense. We should be standing up to our enemies as one…one nation of Americans…not African-Americans or Mexican- Americans or Irish- Americans or any other hyphenated group. We're all Americans in this country, but a large number of us are too ashamed of what that means for all the wrong reasons. I love this country. I believe in what this country once stood for and with any luck will again.
I'm sure most of you have heard this quote before…it's quite famous.
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend, to the death, your right to say it."
That is a promise made by a defender of liberty that is a mantra of what we in America stand for. If you are unwilling to lay your life down for what is right, then you deserve to be a slave. I will not stand idly by while this country is corrupted from within by the enemies of everything we hold dear. It saddens me to overhear conversations by federal employees on a military post discussing how communism has it's merits and it's not so bad…in reference to Obama. They can see the spectre and think it's the holy spirit… And they welcome it into their lives, their society as if it should be welcomed instead of reviled for the evil that it is. It is disheartening.

As a point of contrast, I regularly read Gunslinger's Journal. She is a former liberal like myself and lives in extremely close proximity to one of the major liberal breeding grounds…imagine how strange it is for me to be surrounded by liberals on a military post…yeah…that's quite unnerving. Now don't get me wrong, most of the folks I work with are conservatives…a few aren't , but most are…in fact most of the folks I work with are either retired or former military. But to be out and about and hear the talk and see the bumper stickers of the proud lefties on this post, is disheartening. I don't mind a little intellectual debating about things but when the basic ideology is perverted to the point of being almost unrecognizable, there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

We need to educate our kids in the US gov't . The Constitution should be not only required reading, but should include in depth discussion about each amendment and what it means for us and our liberty. These are things that are vitally important to the future of our nation and we've allowed ourselves and our children to become pawns.

I'm done for now cause my head hurts. Do yourselves a favor, and if you really think Obama is better than McCain, do some research into who these men really are, not just reading their campaign websites. Voting records. Political associations, and other associations. Their willingness to be open about themselves should be your first clue, any candidate that doesn't want to release information has something to hide. What is it and why do they want to hide it? And think very strongly on what being American means to you, do you truly believe in America or do you truly believe we need to forget the past and start fresh? If you are a socialist, admit it. If you're a communist admit it. If you're not, and you believe in the United States, admit that too and make your vote count where it should. If you're reading this and admit you're a communist or a socialist…please go fuck yourself because I am a patriot and you need to go find another already communist government to live under. Quit fucking with mine.

For you patriots ( the Dollard Nation, Argghhh! and many others) out there…I raise my glass and salute you!

Die with your boots on!


…..

Fred Speaks

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

As usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short...
I tried to grt the code for the hero blogroll yesterday and for some reason I couldn't get to it...kept getting some kind of error. I figured i would try today...and voila! here it is.

Sgt. Carlton A. Clark
22 years old from South Royalton, Vermont
2nd Brigade Troop Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
August 06, 2006


Sgt. Carlton Clark graduated from South Royalton High School in 2002. While in high school, he was co-captain of his soccer team and a member of the track and field and basketball teams. He graduated from basic combat training and advanced individual training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. in 2002 and was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. as a combat engineer. He was air assault qualified and deployed during the initial wave of Operation Iraqi Freedom for one year. He was subsequently assigned to West Point to train cadets. He re-enlisted and was deployed for a second tour of duty in Iraq. He earned a Purple Heart, an Army Commendation Medal with Valor, a Bronze Star Medal and was posthumously awarded a second Purple Heart.

Sgt. Clark was killed in action when an IED detonated near his Humvee while conducting combat operations in Baghdad. Also killed in the attack were Staff Sgt. Stephen A. Seale and Cpl. Jose Zamora.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Starship Troopers!

Or not...

This was taken from Stars and Stripes. October 17th.

The Pentagon wants to rocket troops through space to hot spots anywhere on the globe within two hours, and planners spent two days last month discussing how to do it, USA Today reported Wednesday, citing military documents.
Civilian and military officials held a two-day conference at the National Security Space Office to plan development of the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion -- or SUSTAIN -- program. Attendees included senior Army, Marine, Navy and Air Force officers. No further meetings have been scheduled, according to the report.
Marines launched the concept after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. They needed the "capability to transport small, mission-tailored units through space from any point on the globe to a contingency at any other point on the globe" within minutes of an order, the paper reported, sourcing to a Marine document.
Private rocket pioneer Burt Rutan says the plan is technologically possible. Rutan’s SpaceShipOne was the first privately financed vehicle to carry people into space, the paper noted.
"This has never been done," Rutan told USA Today in an e-mail. "However, it is feasible. It would be a relatively expensive way to get the troops on the ground, but it could be done."
But critics are skeptical, citing the need to use an unarmored carrier to rein in fuel costs, and the need to have it re-launch from the trouble spot after a mission.
The concept defies physics and the reality of what a small number of lightly armed troops could accomplish in enemy territory, John Pike, a military analyst who runs Globalsecurity.org, told USA Today.
"This isn’t even science fiction," Pike said. "It’s fantasy."

...

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

Sgt. Anton J. Hiett
25 years old from Mount Airy, North Carolina
391st Engineer Battalion, Army Reserve
March 12, 2006


Misty Hiett, the widow of Sgt. Anton Hiett, said in an interview that he, Sgt. Hiett, asked to transfer to the 391st Engineering Battalion when it looked like his reserve unit would not be deployed.

Sgt. Hiett was a truck driver who joined the military right out of high school because he "wanted to go help out" during the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. After his transfer to the 391st, he was deployed to Afghanistan on April 22, 2005.

On March 12, 2006, Sgt. Hiett, and three fellow soldiers from the 391st, Staff Sgt. Joe Ray; Spc. Joshua Hill and Sgt. Kevin Akins, were killed when an IED detonated near their Humvee during combat operations west of Asadabad, Afghanistan. He left behind his wife and their then 2(now 4)-year-old daughter Kyra.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Here's a brother who gets it...

This guy reminds me a bit of Augustus III form You Tube...aka the Black Conservative.

H/T: Ace of Spades HQ

Katrina and the 2nd Amendment

This ought to have you pissing mad....

I blogged about this issue several months ago where the "authorities' confiscated weapons from EVERYONE in the city of new Orleans. Supposedly to protect them...yeah right.

from yahoonews

NEW ORLEANS - City officials have agreed to return hundreds of firearms that police officers confiscated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, part of a deal to resolve a lawsuit filed by gun lobbying groups.

This is the statement that set me off:

In their lawsuit, the gun lobbying groups accused the city of violating gun owners' constitutional right to bear arms and leaving them "at the mercy of roving gangs, home invaders, and other criminals" after Katrina.

In response, the city argued that federal law doesn't apply to the plaintiffs' claims against city officials "because the right to keep and bear arms has never been recognized as a fundamental individual right."

Apparently the laws, our inalienable rights don't pertain to New orleans...


die with your boots on....

....

Dr. Seuss and the Bailout

This is good...just had to share


Dr. Seuss and the bailout plan

By Bryan Fischer

Uncle Sam & Congress-man
By Joy Hubbard, Bryan Fischer and Debbie Fischer, with apologies to Dr. Seuss

That Uncle Sam!
That Congress-man!
We do not like your bailout plan!
We do not like your taxing plan!
Should we pay so stocks don't tank?
Should we pay for Barney Frank?
We should not pay so stocks won't tank.
We should not pay for greedy banks.
We do not like your bailout plan,
We should not pay it, Congress-man.
Mr. Paulson made a call
For a plan to soak us all.
Could you, would you Mr. Bush,
Could you, would you push, push, push?
We should not pay you, Mr. Bush,
So Mae won't fall upon her tush.
We should not pay you, AIG,
Though you ask on bended knee.
We should not pay you, Freddie Mac,
Just to lighten up your pack.
We should not pay for any bank,
Even one that's in the tank.
We should not pay for umpteen years
Just because the market fears.
We do not like your bailout plan.
We do not like it, Uncle Sam.
We should not pay you, Mr. Raines,
You, the source of all our pains.
Franklin Raines don't give a hoot,
He got a golden parachute.
We should not pay you, Mr. Dodd,
You should not get a big fat wad.
We should not pay you, Speaker Nan,
When you have dumped us in the can.
We should not pay this big old tax
For people who ignored the facts.
You said the rules were just a joke
And now the banks are just flat broke.
They loaned to those who cannot pay
And backed it up with Fannie Mae.
You set it up for them to fail,
Then said to us, "Your turn to bail!"
Could you, would you, Street of Wall,
Support a plan to soak us all?
Our kids will pay for ninety years
Just to calm your self-made fears.
We do not like your bailout plan,
We do not like it, Uncle Sam.
We should not pay for all those acts
When you ignored the credit facts.
The CRA made this bind
Now we get kicked in the behind.
Sub-prime loans — what a crock!
And you wonder why we balk!
You made some new accounting laws
And we got bit by shark-like jaws.
Mark to market — what a joke!
Now our banks begin to croak.
Sarbanes-Oxley gored us all
And now you make us take the fall.
We do not like your bailout plan,
We do not like it, Congress-man.
We do not like your bailout plan.
We do not like it, Uncle Sam.
You loaded it with lots of pork,
And cranked us all with lots of torque.
Arrows, rum and big fast cars
Why not add a trip to Mars?
We pay our debts with little thanks,
Now we're paying foreign banks!
We pay our debts and you don't care —
You make us pay — that's hardly fair!
The Golden State is next in line,
The bucks they want are yours and mine.
You think our money grows on trees?
You have us begging on our knees.
And now we see through mire and murk
That the plan won't even work.
Adam Smith says "Not, Not, Not!"
While Karl Marx just laughs a lot.
Could you, would you Messiah Man,
Go along with this bad plan?
Could you, would you, John McCain
Go along with all this pain?
It's sad your votes we can't ignore,
So what to do, November 4?

© Bryan Fischer


Die with your boots on...

...

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

Cpl. Lance M. Thompson
21 years old from Upland, Indiana
2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
November 15, 2004


The father of Cpl. Lance Thompson said his son would be proud knowing he fought and died to help Iraqis vote in an election.

Cpl. Lance Thompson died in during fighting in Ramadi by a truck bomb. His father, Greg Thompson, said his son sent him a letter in September of '04 which said, "Freedom is not free. It requires sacrifice."

Greg Thompson said the millions turning out to vote in Iraq was "fantastic" and said it was a "momentous day in the Middle East."

"Are you asking me was it worth Lance losing his life?" he asked a reporter. "Being the gung-ho Marine that he was, he would say yes. So I'll say yes. That is a tough, bitter pill to swallow. It hurts. God, I didn't want to give up my son."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

An American Carol

Well, I have been waiting for this movie to come out for several months now, and I got to see it today in the theatre.

I was not disappointed. In fact, I loved it. I laughed through most of it...although John Voight's cameo as George Washington was a bit sobering...there was a good balance of serious and silly in it though.
All in all...outstanding!

Here is a trailer I got from YouTube.



If for some reason you can't see the embed, then check out the site directly.

Now, I got there early just in case there was a crowd...which there wasn't. The theatre was about 3/4 full by the time the movie started though..not a real bad turnout for a saturday matinee.

So in the pre-movie distraction...there was an Ad for the National Guard featuring Kid Rock and Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was prety kickass. Here is the link to the Nat'l Guard/Warrior site.

I highly recommend this movie to anybody with a sense of humor. Especially if you're a conservative. If you're a liberal...well, I still think that if you can get over yourself you'll enjoy it. It's comedy. And it's refreshing to see a movie that makes fun of the leftists instead of the conservatives for a change.

SO boys and girls...go forth and spend your hard earned money and see this movie.
If we don't, good luck getting anyone to make another pro-conservative movie in Hollywood.

And enjoy!

....

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

This Week's Post Was Suggested And Written By Kathi

SSgt. Renee A. Deville
44 years old from Webster New York
401st Civil Affairs Battalion
September 1, 2008


SSGT Renee A. Deville was an Army Reservist who deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 401st Civil Affairs Battalion from Webster, N.Y. She arrived at Walter Reed August 10, 2006, after being injured in a mortar attack.

While at Walter Reed, Deville was assigned to Chosen Battery, Warrior Transition Brigade, and was among three graduates of the Army's first Basic Noncommissioned Officers Course Stand Alone Common Core offered to Warriors in Transition.

Deville, who successfully completed every aspect of the course from a wheelchair, was lauded by SGT Major of the Army Kenneth O. Preston as exemplifying the Army's 'Warrior Ethos', at the graduation ceremony for the course on March 28, 2008.

Deville was also the impetus for a new playground being built behind the Mologne House at Walter Reed in 2007.

An October 2007 Washington Post article about the opening of the playground says that SSGT Deville's mention of her children's limited recreational options to Col. Bruce Haselden, the garrison commander, helped set in motion the playground project.

Staff Sgt. Renee Antoinette Deville died September 1, 2008 in her room at the Mologne House at Walter Reed. She was 44.

She is survived by her husband and 4 children, her mother, a brother, and two sisters.

SSGT Deville was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on September 19, 2008.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Guess it had to be done...

I had to post on the financial crisis... Of course, since I'm no economic "expert" I don't really have an inventive or creative solution. However a coworker of mine emailed me this little solution...I like it.

This should be used for the whole $700 billion bailout not just AIG. This is brilliant--I had not heard of this before. This guy should at least get nominated for a Nobel Prize in economics. Even if the numbers are skewed a little, the point is well made. Let's face, the economy only works when money is circulating--it must change hands. Spending is to be encouraged--within your means. Read on...

Subject: The Birk Economic Recovery Plan
I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.
Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000bona fideU.S. Citizens 18+.
Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child.
So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..
So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00.
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend.
Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.
Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads Put away money for college – it'll be there Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth Pay for your parent's medical insurance – health care improves Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( 'vote buy' ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.
Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.
Sure it's a crazy idea that can 'never work.'
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!
How do you spell Economic Boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .
And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Kindest personal regards,

Birk
T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

P.P.S. Even if the number is 250 million adults, the share is $340,000 gross each!!!
($238,000 net after that estimated 30% federal tax rate)
Your state and local governments will want 'their share' too, but think of all
the pre-financed public works projects that could get done. More jobs!
Repave streets and upgrade utilities--that needs labor, and equipment and materials.
This is way better than 'trickle-down' economics--it would be 'tidal wave' economics!
Make sure the $25 billion that goes right back to Uncle Sam gets used for debt reduction.

PPPS--I heard on the radio that the total of all recent and potential near-term bailouts may reach $500 billion. Put another way, half-a-trillion dollars. Or 500,000 million!

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

Well, I try to get this out on Wednesdays...but I didn'y have the time yesterday...so here is the Wednesday hero for the week.



Click Image For Full SizeYeoman 3rd Class Margret Ueberlauer


Yeoman 3rd Class Margret Ueberlauer hands out toys to HIV infected children during a community relations project at the Camillian Center in Pattaya, Thailand. The USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

The Undefended City

H/T: Redneck Texan

This is a great article....a sign of our times, doomed to repeat history so it seems...

The Undefended City
No despair.
By Bill Whittle

When I first got to college, back in the last few weeks of the Seventies, I finally got a chance to see an ordinary game of Dungeons and Dragons. My immediate inclination was to play as a Paladin: the pinnacle of Lawful Good, a character required to dash in and fight overwhelmingly powerful evil forces anywhere and at whatever odds. These contests were short, depressing and hilarious, but all D&D really came down to in the end was slaying small monsters, taking their gold, buying slightly better gear and then slaying slightly larger monsters. Why not just save some time and become a Vorpal Sword distributor? Then you get the weapons and the gold, and people bring them both to you. And so a larval conservative was born. And I never played again.That was the attitude I took into The Lord of the Rings when the first of the trilogy appeared in 2001, just a few months after the Two Towers actually did fall and the idea of good and evil suddenly became — to me and no doubt to you too — a great deal less ironic and a great deal more real. And there, in the darkness, staring up at that screen, I marveled at this monumental font of deep and eternal ideas: the aversion to facing danger, even when it is right in front of us; the value of old and true allies; the corrosive force of addiction; responsibility forsaken, then reclaimed… and through it all the fear that we may be lesser sons of greater fathers, and that we may no longer have the courage or the will to defend the City entrusted to our care. This, and more, what was what John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was trying to teach me, down that dark river of the future — and he ought to know. The Lord of the Rings was written between 1937 through 1949… years of dark waters, indeed.A few years before Tolkien put pen to paper, an event took place that a man of his education would have undoubtedly been aware. On February 9th, 1933, the ruling elite of the world’s great Civilization held a debate in the Oxford Union. With thunderclouds growing dark across the English Channel, at a time when resolute action could still have averted the worst catastrophe the world has ever known, these elites resolved that “This House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country.” The Resolution passed by a vote of 275 to 153. Needless to say, this vote did not avert the fight. It guaranteed it.

read the rest here.

Die with your boots on...


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SGT Freedom: episode 44 War stories you've never heard

H/T: Bash at Pat Dollard

Couldn't have said it better myself




If you can't get the video to load... go here

Die with you boots on....


.....

I've been sporadic the last couple of months....

I haven't really had much time to devote to blogging, but I try.
I just finished reading "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
My opinion after some reflection is that every woman should read this book...in fact EVERYONE should read it.

My abhorrence of Islam is no secret and this is just one more testament, from a former muslim no less, of exactly why that is.

I'm not sure if any of my lib friends are going to read this or not, but if you are...and you know who you are ;) Please take the time to read this book if you can find it. I bought it on amazon...yeah I know, I should have went to the bookstore, but sometimes that's just not practical.

I am in the process of reading some more books relevant to the subject and will post my reactions and my opinions when I've finished with them as well.

I have alot of things I want to blog about and I will get to it in time....

Die with your boots on....

...

Submission part1

For those of you that think Islam is the religion of peace...please watch the video.



And do read "infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Open your eyes.


...

Some Great Quotes

H/T LomaAlta over at LinknZona

There alot more....check them out!

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress....But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man ...which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)


Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

L/Cpl. Jason Hanson
21 years old from Forks, Washington
3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
July 29, 2006


L/Cpl. Jason Hanson died when a gasoline truck near a building he was in exploded, causing the building to collapse in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Three other Marines were also killed in the blast. Lance Cpl. Anthony E. Butterfield, 19 yrs. old, of Clovis, California; Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus, 28 yrs. old, of Wolf Creek, Montana; Sgt. Christian B. Williams, 27 yrs. old, of Winter Haven, Florida.

Hanson graduated in 2003 and joined the Marines in 2005. He married his wife just before shipping out.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Who Am I ?

H/T: Dusty over at Argghhh!!!

I am under 45 years old,

I love the outdoors,

I hunt,

I am a Republican reformer,

I have taken on the Republican Party establishment,

I have many children,

I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president
with less than two years in the governor's office.

Teddy Roosevelt, 1900

Awesome trivia....gotta love it!

Die with you boots on!

...

In Honor of Patriot Day

7 years....

I am not going to wax poetic on this somber day. I am only going to share some things...some of you may already know, some maybe haven't ever read these.

Always remember, Never forget....

From the Lads at Shilelagh Law (My favoritest ever Irish Band)

(words written by R. Popovic)
"So Bless NY's Finest, our Angels in Blue.Giving us hope and helping us through.

And Bless NY's Bravest, the FDNY.Giving their sweat and their tears and their lives.

And Bless all the medics and our troops overseas.

Bless the guys in the hardhats removing debris.

Bless the everyday people who answered the call.

Bless those who gave some and those who gave ALL.

Bless all the souls who left us this year.

You may be gone but you'll always be here.

Singing and dancing with family and friends........"

We Remember

And lest we forget....

Patriot Day, 2008
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America


September 11, 2001, was etched into America's memory when 19 terrorists attacked us with barbarity unequaled in our history. On Patriot Day, we cherish the memory of the thousands of innocent victims lost, extend our thoughts and prayers to their families, and honor the heroic men and women who risked and sacrificed their lives so others might survive.

Since 9/11, we have recognized the threat posed by terrorists to the safety of the American people and worked to protect our homeland by fighting terrorists abroad. We are confronting terrorism by advancing freedom, liberty, and prosperity as an alternative to the ideologies of hatred and repression. Our Nation pays tribute to our courageous men and women in uniform serving around the world and the devoted members of our law enforcement, public safety, and intelligence communities at home who work night and day to protect us from harm and preserve the freedom of this great Nation.

Seven years ago, ordinary citizens rose to the challenge, united in prayer, and responded with extraordinary acts of courage, with some giving their lives for the country they loved. On Patriot Day, we remember all those who were taken from us in an instant and seek their lasting memorial in a safer and more hopeful world. We must not allow our resolve to be weakened by the passage of time. We will meet the test that history has given us and continue to fight to rid the world of terrorism and promote liberty around the globe.

By a joint resolution approved December 18, 2001 (Public Law 107-89), the Congress has designated September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2008, as Patriot Day. I call upon the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff on Patriot Day. I also call upon the people of the United States to observe Patriot Day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and remembrance services, to display the flag at half-staff from their homes on that day, and to observe a moment of silence beginning at
8:46 a.m. eastern daylight time to honor the innocent Americans and people from around the world who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Die with your boots on brothers and sisters.

...

SGT. Nazario Acquitted!

Semper Fi brother!

The story here and here.

You can help here.

Die with your boots on.

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

SSgt. Andy Pena



Staff Sgt. Andy Pena performs in-flight calibrations on a HH-60 Pave Low while flying Sept. 3 over Ellington Field, Texas. He and members of the 55th Rescue Squadron deployed from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., to Ellington Field in response to Hurricane Gustav with less than 24 hours after notification. Sergeant Pena is an aerial gunner.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

Pvt. Nathan Z. Thacker
18 years old from Greenbrier, Arkansas
2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division
October 12, 2007


Pvt. Nathan Z. Thacker had only been in the country for two weeks before his death, according to the soldier's father, Stephen Thacker.

Thacker's father said his son felt a duty to enlist. "He said it was his job. Even after he got his orders that he was going over there, he said it's his job."

Thacker had attended Guy-Perkins High School in Guy, Arkansas. He earned his GED in 2006, his father said. Thacker enlisted in the Army in April 2007 and completed his training at Fort Benning, Ga. He arrived at Fort Drum in August 2007. His honors include the Purple Heart.

"Nathan was an excellent man," sister Sabrina Black said. "He loved me, I loved him, and I’d give anything to have him back."

Pvt. Thacker was killed when an IED was detonated near his vehicle near Kirkuk. Three other soldiers were injured in the attack.

Pvt. Thacker is survived by his parents, siblings and his grandfather.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Someone you should know: Jose Navario

Jose Navario is being tried for warcrimes...as a civilian and in a civilian court.
The way this young former Marine is being treated...has been treated is nothign short of criminal.

Watch the video:



And if you'd like to help the Navario family you can go here.

Semper Fi' Sgt Navario.

You are not alone.


....

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

Spc. Matthew A. Koch
23 years old from West Henrietta, New York
Company C, 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division
March 9, 2005


Spc. Matthew A. Koch was on his second tour of duty when he was killed by an IED that was detonated near his vehicle in Taji. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He previously was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon and medals for service in the fight against terrorism.

Koch enlisted in the Army in January 2002 after the attacks on September 11, 2001 and re-enlisted because he wanted to help the Iraqi people. "He was a brave soldier who made the greatest sacrifice anyone could make for everyone else's freedom," Diane Worman, Koch's mother, said through tears. "He realized that by being over there, he was going to make a difference in the lives of those people." She said her son once unsuccessfully sought green cards for an Iraqi family that had been threatened for helping Americans.

"He always looked out for the other guy, never thought of himself. He volunteered to go to C Co before our first deployment so that one of the guys from our Platoon didn't have to deploy early and would have a chance to marry his fiance. That's Koch for you, always looking out for his buddies." - David A. "Buch" Buchanan.

"He really loved the service and went back," said James Worman, Koch's stepfather. "He had no problem. He was dedicated to the fact that people over there needed help. He was always concerned about other people. He loved children. He was a nice, soft-hearted kid."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

Senior Airman Kimberly Bickford
332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron


Senior Airman Kimberly Bickford performs a pre-load check July 28 on an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, to ensure the cable that releases the bomb is operational.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

1st. Lt. Thomas M. Marti
27 years old from Ward, Arkansas
C Troop, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division
October 14, 2007


An Eagle Scout, Thomas M. Martin took on cleaning up an old red train caboose as a service project. "He remodeled it to make it where people could go inside. If you saw it before and looked in it after he was through - it was daylight and dark", said his former principal, Robert Martin, who is no relation. "Tom was involved in Key Club, German Club and band, making All-Region Band his sophomore year", said Robert Martin. "He was a wonderful young man. Those that knew him knew he was funny and outgoing."

Lt. Martin died in Al Busayifi, Iraq of wounds sustained from small-arms fire when insurgents attacked his unit during combat operations. He enlisted in the Army in 1998 after graduating high school and served in Korea before accepting an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 2005.

"He was very polite and respectful. I can't think of him ever overreacting; he had a wonderful, good-natured personality", said Pat Hagge, a family friend. "It's a terrible tragedy; he was a great young man."

Lt. Thomas Martin is survived by his parents, Edmund and Candis.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

More Injustice from the "justice dept"

Many of you are familiar with the injustice of the incarceration of 2 of our Border Patrol agents. Ramos and Compean. Their appeal was rejected.

This from grassfire:

After months and months of delays, today the 5th Circuit rejectedthe most important aspects of the appeal by imprisoned borderpatrol agents Ramos and Compean.

That means the court has sided with Johnny Sutton -- and Ramos and Compean now face at least 10 years in prison for attempting to apprehend an convicted illegal alien drug smuggler!

We have posted a link to the court's ruling in which the judges conclude that the trial "was conducted fairly and without reversible error" -- even though the court admitted to "exclusion of evidence"(i.e. suppression of evidence) regarding the drug smuggler!

The Scumbag that testified against our Border agents.

Go here to read it for yourself (all 45 pages):
http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=9692&CID=142&RID=15253391

Get involved. This is a travesty of justice. What kind of world is it when our law enforcement officals are incarcerated for doing their job on the word of an illegal drug smuggler...

Die with your boots on.

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Propoganda?

OK.

I have some left leaning friends.

Yep. I sure do. And they're good people.

They are intelligent and well read and researched people.

Through them I've come to know, in the virtual sense, a fellow liberal friend of theirs.

They have a website and a forum. I frequent it mainly because I enjoy the discourse and they are my friends.

This particular individual and many of the the others that frequent their site are constantly harping about how the military industrial corporate machine controls the media...how GW and his administration control the media...most of the time I just chuckle.

I am now going to issue the challenge here that Senor Obama...the Democratic Presidential hopeful who seems to think he's already POTUS, has more control over the media than the evil conservative corporate machine.

His record breaking performance in Oregon according to WaPo. Oh and let's see what KGW.com had to say. Well, that farce has been exposed. The fact that he used a free rock concert to stage his appearance had nothing to do with the record numbers I'm sure...

Now his infamous German speech has been exposed as well. Of course, for the folks who don't scour the internet for the real news, they'll never know of course because Obama is leading the top news agencies around like the pied piper. Lets see what the NYT had to say. While we're at it..let's see what WaPo had to say. How about CNN. While his republican rival...you know the all powerful controllers of the media gets a couple of reporters to cover his campaign...interesting.

You know. If I knew there was a free concert going on with free brats and free beer...not to mention free pizza...I would definitely be there...free beer...mmmm.

....

Wednesday Hero Blogroll

I have decided to participate in the Wednesday Hero Blogroll.
If you would like to post on your own blog visit here to get the code.


This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Toni
1st LT. Frank B. Walkup, IV
23 years old from Woodbury, Tennessee
2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division
June 16, 2007

Toni already has a great post up on her site, so I'll just link to it.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Are We Surprised...?

Leave it to Fox news to publish what the NYT refused to.

Kudos to Fox on that. I find it preposterous that what used to be the most prominent newspaper refused to publish an Op-Ed piece countering the Op-Ed piece of another presidential hopeful.

This reeks of favoritism and not of unbiased journalism. Well, it's their paper, they can do what they want with it. Just one more reason not to patronize them any more.

McCain's response to Obama's Op-Ed piece is reprinted below. Some of us respect the free and fair coverage idea...just not the NYT.

Link to Fox here.

The McCain Op-Ed The New York Times Wouldn’t Publish

By Sen. John McCain

In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation “hard” but not “hopeless.” Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80 percent to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats. The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains.
Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,” he said on January 10, 2007. “In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”
Now Senator Obama has been forced to acknowledge that “our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence.” But he still denies that any political progress has resulted.
Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City — actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism.
The success of the surge has not changed Senator Obama’s determination to pull out all of our combat troops. All that has changed is his rationale. In a New York Times op-ed and a speech this week, he offered his “plan for Iraq” in advance of his first “fact finding” trip to that country in more than three years. It consisted of the same old proposal to pull all of our troops out within 16 months. In 2007 he wanted to withdraw because he thought the war was lost. If we had taken his advice, it would have been. Now he wants to withdraw because he thinks Iraqis no longer need our assistance.
To make this point, he mangles the evidence. He makes it sound as if Prime Minister Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable, when all he has said is that he would like a plan for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops at some unspecified point in the future.
Senator Obama is also misleading on the Iraqi military’s readiness. The Iraqi Army will be equipped and trained by the middle of next year, but this does not, as Senator Obama suggests, mean that they will then be ready to secure their country without a good deal of help. The Iraqi Air Force, for one, still lags behind, and no modern army can operate without air cover. The Iraqis are also still learning how to conduct planning, logistics, command and control, communications, and other complicated functions needed to support frontline troops.
No one favors a permanent U.S. presence, as Senator Obama charges. A partial withdrawal has already occurred with the departure of five “surge” brigades, and more withdrawals can take place as the security situation improves. As we draw down in Iraq, we can beef up our presence on other battlefields, such as Afghanistan, without fear of leaving a failed state behind. I have said that I expect to welcome home most of our troops from Iraq by the end of my first term in office, in 2013.
But I have also said that any draw-downs must be based on a realistic assessment of conditions on the ground, not on an artificial timetable crafted for domestic political reasons. This is the crux of my disagreement with Senator Obama.
Senator Obama has said that he would consult our commanders on the ground and Iraqi leaders, but he did no such thing before releasing his “plan for Iraq.” Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t want to hear what they have to say. During the course of eight visits to Iraq, I have heard many times from our troops what Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of coalition forces in Baghdad, recently said: that leaving based on a timetable would be “very dangerous.”
The danger is that extremists supported by Al Qaeda and Iran could stage a comeback, as they have in the past when we’ve had too few troops in Iraq. Senator Obama seems to have learned nothing from recent history. I find it ironic that he is emulating the worst mistake of the Bush administration by waving the “Mission Accomplished” banner prematurely.
I am also dismayed that he never talks about winning the war — only of ending it. But if we don’t win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president. Instead I will continue implementing a proven counterinsurgency strategy not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan with the goal of creating stable, secure, self-sustaining democratic allies.

Die with your boots on....


...

...A little peace corps...WTF?

CJ over at A Soldier's Perspective, went and made contact with a group of anti-war peaceniks.
A trio of old ladies with some really big signs and alotta false information and premises about our military and the war...well any war in general.

I commend CJ for his efforts and I agree with him...

“Are you pro-war or pro-peace?” was the first question that came out of the mouth of one of the war protesters as I explained that I was there to talk to them about their presence on a major intersection here in Huntsville, AL. I explained that I’m a Soldier, I hate war and love peace. But, I also recognize that peace comes at a price. It went downhill from there.

The whole story and the Podcasts can be heard here.

You really have to listen to the audio interviews...
The utter ignorance of these poor misguided souls is shocking...you really have to listen to understand.

All I could say is "wow".

...

The Sky Is Not Falling...

173rd Airborne.. "Sky Soldiers"

There has been alot of media attention on the recent attack by Taliban insurgents on our troops in Afghanistan... I'm sure you've read about the soldiers of 173rd Airborne who fought off a massive assault losing 9 good troops and several more wounded.

What is interesting to note, is that the position this Infantry platoon was occupying was a temporary recon OP (Observation Post).

This was not a coalition base, not a FOB or a COP but a temporary postition. They were not overrun, they fought hard and defended their position. There is no telling what the toll was on the enemy, but I would have to hazard a guess and say it had to have been significant. This particular infantry unit is nearing the end of it's tour and has conducted around 9,000 patrols...they are tough as nails veterans and they still won the day.

Funny how the media misconstrues the facts to present what appeared to be a defeat. I am offended on so many levels by this.

H/T: Laughing Wolf over at BlackFive.

The money quote is this:

"If there’s no combat outpost to abandon, there’s no position to abandon," he said. "It’s a bunch of vehicles like we do on patrol anywhere and we hold up for a night and pick up any tactical positions that we have with vehicle patrol bases.
"We do that routinely.... We’re always doing that when go out and stay in an area for longer then a few hours, and that’s what it is. So there is nothing to abandon. There was no structures, there was no COP or FOB or anything like that to even abandon. So, from the get-go, that is just [expletive], and it’s not right."
He also didn’t like the media’s characterization that his men were "overrun."
"As far as I know, and I know a lot, it was not overrun in any shape, manner or form," an emotional Preysler said. "It was close combat to be sure — hand grenade range. The enemy never got into the main position. As a matter of fact, it was, I think, the bravery of our soldiers reinforcing the hard-pressed observation post, or OP, that turned the tide to defeat the enemy attack."

The original article is over at Stars & Stripes.

Way to go Troops!

And a GREAT BIG FLIPPIN' BIRD to the MSM at this....

....

Happy July 4th...

a day early.

I just spent the last half hour composing a great July 4th tribute complete with all the cool images...and my freakin POS computer just lost it...

So have a good one. Enjoy your freedom and eat, drink, be merry and watch the fireworks and the parades.

Many good people died for the independence most take for granted. We celebrate them on other days. I think they would be happy if we just took a couple days this weekend and did a little "grounding", "unwinding," etc.

So enjoy!