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Contributed by Bill Faith on July 31, 2008 at 11:53 PM in Obamanation, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

As a vet I know how these visits go;
They are contrived for the politicians,
Who posture, pose for network shows,
In controlled choreographed conditions.
Obama wants troops in his video loops,
To serve as his backdrop to glory;
But if the Army says no to a video show,
Then our wounded are no longer a story.

Once having been there I can certainly share
The excitement and anticipation;
Awaking to hear someone famous is near,
Come to pay the respects of the nation.
But then comes the word, infrequently heard,
The celebrity won’t visit today;
Too bad for the troops, he’s gone shooting hoops,
While in Landstuhl the wounded still lay.

Russ Vaughn
Vietnam 65-66

Contributed by Russ Vaughn on July 30, 2008 at 01:13 PM in Obamanation, Poetry, Russ Vaughn | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 30, 2008 at 12:28 AM in Caring about our troops, Obamanation, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

In the movie The 13th Warrior, Antonio Banderas plays an Arabian poet, Ahmad ibn Fadlan ibn al-Abbas ibn Rashid ibn Hamad, who is exiled to the land of the Norsemen for coveting the wife of a powerful member of the Caliphate.

The character's Muslim religion comes into play throughout as Banderas is dragged along on an improbable and dangerous quest with the Viking king to a land beset by an unspeakable evil.

In the end, only a few of the original 13 warriors are left alive, albeit victorious, and as he sails back to his home on a Viking ship Banderas' last line is a prayer to Allah asking that he might become "a useful servant of God."

Fast forward on your home entertainment system to the made-by-the-media-epic "Barack's Totally Cool International Adventure" until you get to the part where the Ruler of the Known Universe Designate pays a visit to the Wailing Wall or Western Wall whichever you prefer to call it. There he takes part in a time honored tradition of leaving a written prayer in the cracks between the stones.

The prayer which I gleaned from no less than two dozen Internet sources states: "Lord, Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."

Is that an incredible coincidence or what? "Lord, Make me an instrument of your will" from Sen. Obama, compared to making Ahmad "a useful servant of God."

There is much passion and controversy over this incident because usually the papers on which such prayers are written are collected by a rabbi and burned in a sacred ritual.

But this was not a "usual" visit and Sen. Obama's prayer was "collected" by an unauthorized person, then passed on to a willing newspaper that promptly printed it. Pundits worldwide have spent the last two days denouncing the acts of collecting and printing the prayer, but then most of the denouncers also dissect it.

Personally I believe the theft of the prayer was no more than an attempt to see if Barack was going to say something kind about terrorists, or give a hint on his real feelings about Israel considering his contradictory statements on both issues. I don't think we can blame some Israelis for their concern about the true feelings of a man who could conceivably hold their lives in his hands.

Since the prayer has been in the public domain for a couple of days now I would like to take a deeper look inside it. That may be tough to do however, because I found it to be incredibly shallow and self-centered.

There is not one word in this prayer about giving him the strength and wisdom to do what is right for his supporters, his party, his country, or his (prematurely?)assumed status as leader of the free world. Nothing like that, just Obama and his family.

I don't take issue with thinking about his family, but if he wants to lead everyone else in the world, don't you think he could have given us at least a clause, if not a complete sentence?

Which makes me wonder if it is really a prayer based on the Christian religion? The Judeo-Christian religious tradition, from which Islam evolved, is not supposed to be about the individual, it is supposed to be about leading a good life by following God's word.

There are as many variations as to what constitutes God's word as there are denominations, but generally the basic thrust is the same. But I don't see that in this prayer, since concern for one's family could easily be interpreted as a selfish concern for oneself.

The next sentence is once again, all about Obama. (Somebody should use that line to compose a song.) "Forgive me my sins. Help me guard against pride and despair."

Once again, nothing about the affect he is having on others, how he might lead them down the right path. Nope, just 'forgive me, Big Guy, and let me enjoy life without getting to smarmy about it.'

The we move on to asking for help in "Doing what is right and just." OK, nice touch, but right and just for whom? Doing what is just and right as the assumed leader of the free world carries much larger implications and responsibilities than just watching out for your own rear end.

Then we get to the last line - 'make me an instrument of your will.' Did Barack lift that from The 13th Warrior and rewrite it a bit, or is this just a happy coincidence?

Many blog posts about his prayer have questioned whether Obama's speech writers penned it for him, and some even question whether Obama's campaign engineered the theft and publication. I don't believe they did in either case.

We have been told for about a year now that Obama has simply the best campaign staff and organization that has ever existed in the history of democracy. Thus, if an Obama campaign communicator had written the prayer it would have been much, much better. It would have had much grander references to world peace, togetherness, strength and wisdom to lead, and similar platitudes.

Doing what is just and right is something anyone, even someone of common birth, can include in a prayer. That's the kind of prayer you see a child saying at bedtime on family movies from the 50s.

No, if a campaign communicator had written that speech it would have gone something like: "Lord, Please bring peace to this troubled land, and safeguard my family, all who support me, and those I hope to lead. Help us guard against despair in this troubled time. Grant me the wisdom to follow the path toward peace and equality for all people, and make me an instrument of your will."

Professional speechwriters would have stayed away from personal sin issues since the first thing the media should have asked is, "What sin would that be, Senator?"

But still, that last line. Did Obama really think that up himself, or is he a fan of The 13th Warrior too? And if it came from The 13th Warrior is it a typical Muslim prayer request as opposed to something you might hear in a church or temple. Or, for that matter, is it pretty much a non-denominational, safe for all purposes, one-size-fits-all prayer request that you could hear just about anywhere?

There are many implications to these questions as Americans, the people who will actually vote for or against Obama, seek to find out more about the man behind the myth.

This is an important question for me especially, because if he got it from Antonio Banderas, it means that Barack Obama and I actually have something in common. I didn't think that was possible and it certainly doesn't mean I'll vote for him.

But, you never know, he might have a lot of time on his hands after November, in which case he can come over to my place, shoot some hoops, hang out and watch a few movies.

Contributed by Ron Winter on July 28, 2008 at 11:00 PM in Obamanation, Ron Winter | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

R J Del Vecchio emails:

Please read this newspaper article and then come back to this.

OK, here we go... yes, it's time for our nation to beat its collective breast, put on sackcloth and ashes, and scream out to ourselves and all the world that our past as a nation contains gross imperfections.  For which we all must accept some responsibility, since the senator says the U.S. government must both acknowledge (as if there's has never been and is none of any of this in any of our history books) and "offer deeds" (possibly including reparations) to somehow make up for our horrid past.

Let's see... the "government" is of the people, by the people, for the people.... and oh yes, paid for by the people.  So whatever "deeds" someone deems necessary will really have to be on the part of all of us, and we'll have to pay (in taxes or subsidies or preferential treatment or some concrete way) for them.

Sorry, count me out, way, way out, on this one.  None of us today can or should be required to pay for the sins of previous generations, especially when many of our families were not here back those decades or centuries ago, and especially when it's impossible/ridiculous to try to "make up" for that history.  How about reparations for slavery?  Great idea... let's see, does the white half of Obama pay a reparation to the black half?  Oops, no, his father was a real African, Obama has no ancestors who were ever slaves in the USA.  So does that mean his white half pays reparations, or actually his entire person pays reparation, regardless of his father's race, since what the hell, he's here now and has benefited as much as anyone from slavery and is as guilty as any of us for slavery?  And the treatment of the native Americans, the exploitation of coal miners, Chinese railroad laborers, Italian workers brought over to work the cotton fields after slavery was abolished, the Irish who were discriminated against, the Nisei who were in the internment camps, the women who couldn't vote, ....... and every other possible group or subgroup who ever experienced some form of discrimination or injustice.

This is one of the most telling things he's said lately, and betrays a very poor mindset, one which all of us have every right to be extremely concerned about.

But even better, the behavior of the "journalists" who gave him one ovation after another is dramatically telling about the massive media bias involved in this campaign.  It's the media who will put Obama in the White House, but it's all the rest of us who will pay more consequences than we can even think of now if he gets there.

Del

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 28, 2008 at 10:37 PM in Obamanation, Politics, R J Del Vecchio | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Best appreciated when humming the tune of the popular Civil War song, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again,” or the Irish folk classic, “Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye.” Also, with sincere apologies to my Hibernian forbears whose folk lyrics and music I keep misusing for political purposes. Somehow, however, I think their Irish eyes are smiling.

When Barry was comin’ to see the troops, hooah, hooah;
The brass they made us jump through hoops, hooah, hooah.
With sand in our boots in sweat in the eye,
We stood in the sun ‘til we liked to die,
But it all was for naught, cause, “Barry we never saw ye.”

He met all the generals sure as life, hooah, hooah;
He picked their brains about the strife, hooah, hooah.
But a private soldier he never met,
He's comin' home an' he still ain’t yet,
But all we can say is, “Barry we never saw ye.”

Our wounded off to Landstuhl go, hooah, hooah;
To stabilize there for America, Ho! hooah, hooah.
But Barry there ignored our troops,
To go to the gym and shoot some hoops,
So all our wounded can say is, “Barry we never saw ye.”

So this whole damned trip was just a show, hooah, hooah,
Using us troops to make it so, hooah, hooah,
He wants to be our commander in chief
But has of our mission no true belief,
So all we can say is, “Barry the devil with ye.”

When Barry comes flyin’ home agin’ hooah, hooah
We’ll remember how Barry used us then, hooah, hooah
And vote for the warrior who bore the pain,
Who earned our respect that’s John McCain,
And we’ll all be verily sayin’ “Barry we never saw ye.”

Russ Vaughn
Vietnam 65-66

Contributed by Russ Vaughn on July 27, 2008 at 10:38 PM in Music, Obamanation, Poetry, Politics, Russ Vaughn | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

I have been writing for months now about the drop off in news from Iraq and how the media presence has diminished considerably since fewer American troops have been killed or injured, which apparently is the only criteria for "news" among many of those covering Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was gratifying to see Fox News do a segment this week on Brit Hume's Special Report confirming what I wrote a while back, that the permanent media presence in Iraq has dropped from hundreds back when the Surge was getting underway to a few dozen now. Few of those few dozen media people - aside from Fox - are doing any reporting on American victories though.

There was a flurry of activity in Afghanistan after 9 of our troops were killed in a coordinated Taliban attack, which by the way, was hugely unsuccessful with the Taliban forces being wiped out and failing to gain their objective.

Unless, once again like Vietnam, the real objective was to throw inordinate numbers of terrorist troops into a suicide mission against American forces so the media would report it as an American "setback" regardless of what really happened on the ground.

In the midst of all this non-reporting there was an eruption of coverage over Barack Obama's decision to grace our troops with his presence for a day or two. Well, maybe he didn't really grace them after all, since he ignored most, spent minimal time with those he didn't ignore - and please, don't try to con the American voters into this "Congressional fact-finding" nonsense.

When you shoot basketball in front of specially selected troops and then play the video on the news back home as if it really is NEWS, it isn't. It is just a publicity stunt. I can make three-pointers too, by the way. The hoop is outside by my driveway if you want to check it out and make a video.

How are Obama's publicity stunts in Afghanistan, which are labeled as Senate "work," any different than his aborted decision to visit wounded troops in Germany, which he claims the Pentagon prohibited him from doing because it wasn't Senate work? Basketball and breakfast with the troops in Afghanistan are "work," but visiting wounded soldiers in Germany is not?

Something doesn't smell right here. But then, something hasn't smelled right about this trip from the start. I saw a member of Congress on Fox News' America's Newsroom Friday morning, a Democrat with a long and distinguished military career, splitting hairs on Obama's activities shooting hoops in Afghanistan but not visiting the wounded in Germany claiming there was "a fine line" of difference between the two.

No disrespect intended to a fellow veteran but that simply doesn't wash, and sir, if you can take a well-intended constructive assessment of your performance on Fox, the next time a Congressional leader asks you to make an appearance that puts you in a similar position, use your best command demeanor and tell him - or her - to do it because you have more respect for the American voters than that.

And as much as I distrust polls as used by the media to tell us how to think, the one valuable piece of information the polls did give us this time is that most Americans aren't fooled by this multi-million taxpayer funded publicity stunt at all.

What I believe is the most telling event of the entire trip is Obama's refusal to declare the Surge successful. He wants our troops to vote for him but can't bring himself to admit that he was wrong.

What an opportunity Obama and his handlers missed there. If he had merely fessed up and said "I was wrong, you guys were right, and I never should have doubted you. I will never make that mistake again" he at least would have garnered some sympathy among undecideds and maybe picked up a few votes.

But what Obama showed is that he is in denial. I don't care if you supported or didn't support the War in Iraq at the outset, the fact is, tens of thousands of terrorists and their top leaders were lured there to fight the jihad against America, and now they are dead.

The fact is, as I have written many times before, Abu Al Zarqawi was in Iraq with Saddam Hussein's support and blessing, before the invasion, rebuilding the terrorist network that was destroyed in Afghanistan. Iraq was the intended launching pad for new attacks on the US and Europe, Saddam was up to his teeth in it, and now they all are dead.

Iraq may not be a perfect model of anything, but it is on its way to being a stable democracy with considerable support for the US, rather than an unstable hotbed of terrorism. The terrorists are fleeing back to the mountains of Pakistan trying to recreate the Taliban, and it isn't because we dropped the ball there, it is because there is no other safe haven for them in the world.

Meanwhile Barack Obama deals with this reality by claiming we don't know what would have happened if we had followed his plan and scurried away instead? Yes we do! Iraq and the entire Middle East would be aflame, new attacks would be launched against us by the tens of thousands of undead terrorists, and we would once again have zero respect on the world stage.

That is the true nature of humanity, not the media version where you can talk to rabid dogs and convince them of the error of their ways like some kind of surreal Disney movie.

Oh, there was some news in Afghanistan, but you probably didn't see in the states. Consider this report from Reuters which I didn't see in my local papers or on my Internet provider's regularly updated news reports:

A senior Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan surrendered to Pakistani authorities and British forces killed another leader, dealing a "shattering blow" to the militant group's leadership, the British army said on Tuesday. (July 22, 2008.)

Mullah Rahim, the top commander for southern Helmand province, gave himself up after British forces had killed two other Taliban leaders in little over three weeks.

Hours after his surrender, another senior Taliban commander, Abdul Rasaq, also known as "Mullah Sheikh," was killed in a British missile strike 15 km (9 miles) north of the town of Musa Qala in Helmand on Monday morning, the British army said in a statement. Three other insurgents also died.

Rasaq headed Taliban actions around Musa Qala and was active in the insurgency for a number of years, it said.

"The Taliban's senior leadership structure has suffered a shattering blow," British army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Robin Matthews said in the statement.

So there you have it. Straight from the front via an incredibly roundabout route. But at least you know it. Could someone pass this on to Barack Obama? Maybe he can reroute the end of his summer vacation tour back to Afghanistan and give an "attaboy" to the men and women there who really are putting in an effort on behalf of freedom and democracy.

Contributed by Ron Winter on July 27, 2008 at 05:51 PM in Iraq, Obamanation, Politics, Ron Winter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

J. D. Pendry

I suppose it is not a revelation that politicians often portray themselves as someone they may not be. Some can pull it off while others cannot. It is life experiences and associations that decide who a person truly is and not the stories they tell. We have seen embellished military records, padded resumes and humble beginnings that were often as much fiction as fact. At some point, the façade crumbles away leaving us with a true view of the weak character supporting it. It may be an oval office tryst or failure to simply live up to claimed values, but it is always something. Unfortunately, the façade often holds up long enough to fool too many of us into making a poor choice.

Read the rest:

Contributed by J D on July 27, 2008 at 04:07 PM in J D Pendry, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

With apologies to Julia Ward Howe and her revered Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the stories from Obama’s media horde;
They are trampling out what sanity their liberal brains once stored.
How he’s using them is frightening, he’s become their liberal lord,
But the dupes keep marching on.
You’ll be sorry how he’s used ya; you’ll be sorry how he’s used ya,
You’ll be so sorry when he screws ya, but you dupes keep marching on.

Mine eyes have seen the talking heads as they kneel to lick his shoes;
They regurgitate his talking points and tell us that it’s news.
We’ll all be struck by lightening ‘fore we hear opposing views,
But those dupes keep marching on.
You’ll be sorry how he’s used ya; you’ll be sorry how he’s used ya,
You’ll be so sorry when he screws ya, but you dupes keep marching on.

Mine eyes have seen Chris Mathews as he rubs his leg and grins,
And drools just like a panting pup a’humping Obama’s shins,
And like all puppies everywhere forgives all Master’s sins;
That stupe keeps marching on.
You’ll be sorry how he’s used ya; you’ll be sorry how he’s used ya,
Chris you’ll be sorry when he screws ya, but you dupes keep marching on.

Mine eyes have seen the New York Times as it descends to naught;
The liberal pup who inherited it all has driven it to aught.
This murderer of the Old Gray Dame’s a spoiled and stupid snot;
But this dupe keeps marching on.
You’ll be sorry how he’s used ya; you’ll be sorry how he’s used ya,
You’ll be so sorry when he screws ya, but you dupes keep marching on.

Mine eyes have seen these cattle as they kneel and meekly moo;
They’re hooves are trampling out our votes uncaring what they do.
Where once there was some honesty there’s now no news that’s true;
But these dupes keep marching on.
You’ll be sorry how he’s used ya; you’ll be sorry how he’s used ya,
You’ll be so sorry when he screws ya, but you dupes keep marching on.

Contributed by Russ Vaughn on July 26, 2008 at 12:17 AM in Obamanation, Poetry, Russ Vaughn | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I'm at my daughter's place in Texas. I'll try to more or less keep up with my webmaster duties but I'm not even going attempt to keep up my daily roundups  while I'm here. Better to just say up front I'm not going to try than to do a half-assed job.

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 26, 2008 at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

My, my, my it seems we are barely into good Senator Barack Obama's "fact-finding" tour of the world outside the DC beltway and already a scandal is brewing.

My military friends wasted no time today informing me that the word out of Afghanistan is that troops were ordered to attend the Obama "breakfast" that has been all over the media and blogosphere. More to the point, some troops also were ordered to alter their identities, at least as far as their home states are concerned, for the benefit of the Senator's campaign.

Apparently, the Senator's campaign people wanted to make sure that the photo ops showed the Senator talking with service personnel from the appropriate parts of the country. Appropriate in this case apparently meaning places where he needs a big boost in the polls.

So if military people pictured with Barack were from, say, Michigan, they were told to say they were from someplace like Arizona instead.

This is problematic on several fronts. Remember this portion of the trip wasn't supposed to be campaign related, just a good ol' American Senator on a junket, er, Congressional Inquiry.

If it happened - and even though I wasn't there personally, this came in the way of far more than just rumors - there are a number of violations involved, civilian and military.

I saw Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday today insisting that Barack's trip was NOT taxpayer funded, even though the part where he was in Afghanistan IS taxpayer funded, because the Afghan part of the trip is supposed to be only about real, serious, Senate type stuff. That would be the kind of stuff one can only find during photo ops in the president's palace and the troops' dining facility, I guess.

Stuff you would find out by going out into the combat environments apparently was not on the list.

Well, we shouldn't worry about that. Wallace also interviewed Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the show Sunday. The admiral just came back from some far-forward front-line touring, along with Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin and her film crew.

I'm not trying to give anyone an ulcer here, but if Barack is short on war stories and is in danger of trying to make more of his experiences than they warrant, he could always ask Jennifer for some pointers on what happens when one is right up against a firefight instead of sipping java in the dining facility. She and the crew with her were within range of Taliban weapons in at least one of the segments Fox showed, so the lady is a veteran and has some war stories to tell.

Aside from the Obama campaign's attempt to circumvent government regulations (if it happened as I was told it did) and turn his Afghanistan visit into a campaign sideshow - at taxpayer expense - I also am concerned that any military commanders would go along with this chicanery.

Are we in the middle of a two-front war and forcing our military commanders to watch their political rear ends at the same time they are ducking bombs and bullets?

This warrants an investigation. A serious investigation, not a political investigation. Did Obama misuse his position and taxpayer dollars to turn what is supposed to be a non-political trip into a campaign appearance?

Did commanders order troops to attend the Obama breakfast and lie about their true identities so his campaign could benefit?

And while we are at it, why was there far more air security for Obama's visit than our top generals receive when they are working in the area?

Obviously there were plenty of media people around in Afghanistan, otherwise I wouldn't know about this would I? So why didn't a single one of these so-called objective, non-political journalists find out about this?

After all, I am thousands of miles away and word got to me pretty quickly. What kind of journalists are we dealing with that can't come up with this story on their own when they are right on the scene?

More Winter's Soldier Story at www.RonaldWinterbooks.com

Contributed by Ron Winter on July 25, 2008 at 11:59 PM in Afghanistan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Your friendly neighborhood webmaster is spending the day on the highway -- ah, the magic of scheduled posting -- but if my sources are correct today's the ideal day to post this:

Also worth noting:

• Obama's Berlin Moment

• Obama flunks history, again

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 24, 2008 at 12:01 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Worth knowing about today:

• Senior Taliban leader killed in Afghanistan

• Radovan Karadzic Arrested, Was Disguised As Doctor

• Video: T. Boone Pickens says “Drill it all”
• Oil down, dollar up since Bush rescinded drilling restrictions
• The Times Looks For Friends In All the Wrong Places
• Stocks jump as crude drops $3 a barrel
• Pelosi's Price

• McCain Keeps Up Iraq Attack on Obama
• Video: Obama vs McCain on the surge

• TIME: The War Cannot Be Lost!

• The Bubble of Obama Supremacy
• The Audacity of Inevitability
• WaPo: Mr. Obama in Iraq
• Obama Remembers a YouTube Debate Answer He Didn't Give
• Video: Obama re-writes history of “without preconditions” again
• Video: Obama says Banking “my committee”, not on it
• Obama: 'Look At My Deeds'... That I Didn't Actually Do
• Obama: “A nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation”;
  Flashback: Obama on “tiny” Iran’s non-serious threat
• Obama Ignorance Watch (A Very Special Edition!)
• The Obamamessiah has another uh-oh! moment.
• Wes Clark on the surge: It was a Saudi payoff that worked
• Opportunism knocks yet again
• The Fine Line Between Pandering and Lying
• That Was Counterterrorism, Senator
• Washington Post Reporters Take Another Dive in the Tank
• Signs Of The Times
• Maggie Gallagher: Obama Faking It
• Dee Dee Myers: Is the Media Trying to Elect Obama?
• NYT Reporter 'Surprised' by McCain Op-Ed Rejection
• Heavy mush
• Obama to Couric: You know, I’m not sure how many troops I’ll keep in Iraq
• DNC convention committee gets its own gas-tax holiday
• Obama, Democrats oppose gas tax holiday
  -- UNLESS it's a benefit reserved exclusively for themselves

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 23, 2008 at 12:49 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Worth knowing about today:

• Military Trial Begins for Guantánamo Detainee -- Judge Blocks Use of Some Statements

• Uday's Rolls Royces

• Eric Egland: Back to Afghanistan
• Retreat to Afghanistan

• New terrorist chic: John Deere

• Louisiana seeks SCOTUS change on death penalty

• Open-borders Wachovia bank posts $8.9 billion loss

• Al Gore's Doomsday Clock

• Medal of Honor recipient and fellow POW endorses McCain 
  -- Who is Leo Thorsness and why is he supporting John McCain?
• Debate over McCain op-ed continues as NY Post publishes it

• McCain: “Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign”
• Mac & P.C
• Why the Times rejected McCain's Op Ed

• Newspaper surrenders to humorless nutroots; Editor and Publisher writer gloats

Today's Audacity of Hype roundup:

• Obama: 'There's no doubt that General Petraeus does not want a timetable.'
• Pete Hegseth: Obama’s Head in the Sand
• American flag disappears from the Obama campaign plane's tail
• Fawning, groveling, Euro-lickspittle Press for Obama
• Well, not yet …
• David Gergen: We only have one president at a time
• There's Love In The Air
• Video: Giuliani on Obama and the surge
• .Obama: Maliki wants a “time frame” with “some flexibility”
• Fake interviews and missing videos?
• Andrea Mitchell on Obama Trip: 'What Some Would Call Fake Interviews'
• Photo Ops and ‘Fake Interviews’: Obama’s Excellent Overseas Adventure
• Senator, You’re No Henry Kissinger
• What Obama Learned From General Petraeus
• Omar and Mohammed Fadhil: Obama’s Fact-Fudging Mission in Iraq
• He'd Rather Lose A War Than An Election
  -- Obama: If I had it to do over again, I’d still oppose the surge;
  Update: “Clearly there’s been an enormous improvement”
• War and Peace and the Democrats
• Top Obama Fundraiser Had Ties to Failed Bank.
• Why Jesse Jackson Hates Obama
• Michelle 'O' - Elect Obama! Save the Children! -- Michelle O: If you don’t elect The One, children will be endangered! -- -- Michelle Obama’s pledge: Barack will save all the children

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 22, 2008 at 12:34 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Democrats have been clamoring for President Bush to open the Strategic Petroleum Reserves and divert 10 percent of its total to the world gasoline market, which they say will bring down gasoline prices at the pump.

But Joseph Visconti, GOP candidate for Connecticut's First Congressional District, who is facing John Larson, one of Nancy Pelosi's most loyal lieutenants, has a far better idea, and far better reasons than a momentary bump in the political polls. (I guess the Dems are OK with a 9 percent approval rating but they don't want to sink any lower.)

Visconti, who unlike Larson and most of his cohorts, actually runs a business and knows the impact of energy prices on productivity first hand, has been studying the issue and proposed utilizing some of the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to provide Americans with emergency heating fuel this winter.

Visconti's proposal differs significantly from calls by his Democratic opponent to open up the Strategic Reserve to the marketplace to increase gasoline supplies in an effort to reduce gas prices. The Democrats' suggestion, Visconti said, would "simply provide more profits for the international oil cartel by placing the oil on the open market."

"The Strategic Reserve contains American oil, already bought and paid for by the American taxpayer," Visconti said. "It was created to provide petroleum for our military in the event of a national emergency, and temporary relief from economic and natural disasters."

"Americans freezing in their homes this winter would certainly be a disaster, brought on by economic conditions that are directly traceable to inaction by Congress. But that is our oil and it should be made available to the states, so it could go directly to Americans who would use it to heat their homes."

Visconti cautioned, however, that using the strategic reserves would be a viable solution only when coupled with a decision by Congress to lift its restrictions on drilling offshore, for shale oil in the Rocky Mountains, and in a barren and desolate tract of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

"We need to drill our way out of this for the near future as we combine clean and safe drilling with clean and safe nuclear, and a concerted effort to replace fossil fuels with alternative energy sources.”

Visconti said that releasing the oil directly to the states for emergency heating oil supplies would "keep American oil in America where it would directly benefit Americans.

"This is the emergency we planned for when American taxpayers bought that oil," Visconti said. "Why should it go on the market, where international speculators can manipulate the price for their profits?"

Contributed by Ron Winter on July 21, 2008 at 12:37 AM in Dem Dumbness, Ron Winter | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Worth knowing about today:

• Congressman Peter Hoekstra: The Democrats' Baghdad Two-Step
• Mullen: Iraq wouldn’t be where it is now without the surge
• A Third Version of Maliki’s Remarks
• "Misunderstood and mistranslated"
• Spiegel Rewrites Interview with Maliki

• Rice says Iran not serious at weekend nuke talks

• Employer enforcement increases dramatically
• Gang-linked San Fran sanctuary case charged with murder of a father and two sons

• Look who’s talking nuclear
• Brokaw to Gore: Shouldn’t you be using less energy?  (Video here)
• Taking Climate Alarmists Down a Peg

• Medal of Honor recipient and fellow POW endorses McCain
• The McCain Op-Ed The New York Times Wouldn’t Publish
  -- Not Quite Good Enough for the New York Times
  -- Rejected! -- The New York Times rejects John McCain's reply to Obama
• Jennifer Rubin: McCain Follows Obama Overseas 

• The Futility of Hope...

• Busted!
• Logan to Obama: Remind me, how does your policy on the Pakistani tribal areas differ from Bush’s? -- Obama: We Haven't Told Pakistan That Fighting Taliban, Al-Qaeda Is Important,
  Obama's Disastrous Interview About Hunting Osama bin Laden
• ABC: Hey, how come Obama isn’t wearing armor at the Baghdad airport?
• Can Obama stick to a surge in Afghanistan?
• Robert Stacy McCain: Obama’s Tank Ride
• Reality sets in about Obama
• Poor, Poor Michelle
• Obama agrees to non-debate forum with McCain
• Team Obama issues dress code for female reporters
• Obama Overflies Iraqi Mass Graves
• Giuliani: Obama trip highlights inexperience
• Obama: I’ll Be President For ‘The Next 8 to 10 Years’?
  -- Good news: Obama to be president for the next “eight to 10 years”
• Let Me Count the Ways
• Obama Wraps Up the Bush Status Quo in Pompous Clichés

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 21, 2008 at 12:35 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

J. D. Pendry

I have a short administrative matter that requires your help. Truth or Fiction emailed me 2 years ago in September 2006. From what I can see, the website is similar in nature to Snopes. They wanted to know if I actually wrote this article. Last week, they emailed me again and asked the same question only this time the article they sent identified me as a Marine and someone had added cartoons to it among other edits. I searched their site and didn’t find mention of it anywhere so I do not know the purpose of their emails. I will be grateful if you will take the opportunity to correct the article with the senders and point them towards the original if an edited version of it turns up in your mail box – again. - JD

Does it concern you that all three of the major television network news anchors accompanied a presidential candidate on an international tour? I do not recall them doing that for any of the numerous trips that the other candidate has made.

I have always been a follower of news as it is broadcast and provided to us in print. I consider it necessary, personally, to be informed about what is happening. The difference is that nowadays I do not see how I can believe anything that these allegedly objective journalists read to us from their Teleprompters or print for our consumption in their papers. Factual information providing appears non-existent. Instead of being good news men or women they seem more inclined to promote a position, ideal or movement of some sort. They no longer provide a service that Americans need. I am not sure if they ever did.

Read the rest:

Contributed by J D on July 20, 2008 at 04:19 PM in J D Pendry | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Welcome Ron!

In addition to posting here Ron will continue to post on his own blog, Winter's Soldier Story, and on the Eagles Up Talon site.

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 19, 2008 at 04:26 PM in Ron Winter, Site Notes | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Connecticut's First District Congressman John Larson, a 10-year veteran of failed Congressional policies, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's personal valet, appeared on national media Monday afternoon demanding that President Bush tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserves for additional oil supplies.

This he said, while claiming to be the only man in America who knew the long-term answer to our energy needs, would create an immediate drop in gas prices for the consumer.

He was, as usual, parroting Pelosi who has been making the same claim for some time now, and as usual these two "geniuses" couldn't mount a double digit IQ if they stood on each other's shoulders.

For those who may have been Larson's students when he was teaching revisionist history before becoming a politician and thus wouldn't know this, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created in the mid-1970s in response to the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, which I see as the first shot in the War on Terror.

The oil exporting countries of the Middle East, sensing spinelessness in the US Congress after it voted to sell South Vietnam down the river, suddenly shut down oil exports to the US. As a result there were domestic shortages, our gas prices spiked, rationing went into effect, lines were everywhere, people were duking it out at the corner gas stations, and something had to be done.

"Something" turned out to be a series of hollowed out salt caverns on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coasts, which are intended to hold up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum. The thinking at that time was that if all other sources of petroleum were suddenly shut off, we would have a 90-day supply to keep our military functioning and keep vital industries operating.

Since shutting down all of our oil producing capabilities would obviously be an act of war, the thinking was that our military could wipe up any potential enemy within the 90 days and still have time left over to get the pipeline flowing again.

For decades the actual amount of petroleum stored in the reserve caverns has ebbed and flowed, so to speak, depending on world conditions and the beliefs of the administration in power. But after September 11, 2001 President Bush ordered a renewed emphasis on keeping the reserves topped off or as close to full as possible.

There is, however, a fly in the ointment. The capacity and longevity of the reserves were calculated back in the 70s when both our domestic consumption and our percentage of imported petroleum were far less than they are now.

Today the United States consumes approximately 21 millions barrels of oil per day, and if all of that suddenly had to come from a topped off Strategic Reserve we would have only a 50-day supply - do the math Congressman.

This comes, must I remind you, only a few days after the leaders of Iran, one of the biggest oil exporters in the world, fired off a bunch of missiles to show everyone that they still are crazy after all these decades, and threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a huge percentage - up to 40 percent by some estimates - of the world's oil flows every day.

Earlier this month Iranian officials stated that Israel is pressuring America to attack Iran. "If they commit such a stupidity, Tel Aviv and U.S. shipping in the Persian Gulf will be Iran's first targets and they will be burned," an Iranian official said in news reports.

Some analysts estimate that Iran could control the Strait for a month before our troops hand them their rear ends on a silver platter. I think it is far less time, but that's just me.

Simply put, with all that is going on in the world, this is not a good time to be tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in an attempt to get a very limited political bounce. John Larson parroting ideas of this nature, ladies and gentlemen, is the prime reason that Congress has only a 9 percent approval rating!

Connecticut Congressman John Larson, right, looks on in support as Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha attempts to convince Connecticut residents he really supports the military. Photo Credit: Richard Messina, Hartford Courant

When asked why Congress doesn't just lift its ban on drilling, Larson, who has been solidly opposed to any new drilling, and chants the Democratic mantra "We can't drill our way out of this. OOOOOHHHMMMM," while meditating on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, suddenly said that now he isn't opposed to new drilling!

He just wants the oil companies to drill in places where they have government leases and already have determined that there is no oil, or very little oil, or it would be so difficult to extract that it would take forever and not be worth the investment. He even had a cute little chart showing something fuzzy that supposedly made his point but didn't come across on television - even with digital and big screen.

Then he got even cuter and tried to act sage and wise by stroking his chin and muttering something about "Oil companies making money? Hmmmmmm." Are you aware this guy makes more than $160,000 per year as a Congressman for coming up with this inane drivel?

Here's where things get really infuriating. The oil companies, as has been shown repeatedly after the Democrats started blaming them for the shortage of domestic production, make about 9 cents per gallon profit. That's it. Why? Because they have to pay for equipment, maintenance, research, development and upkeep on the oil drilling and refining infrastructure.

They pay salaries and benefits, not just for a handful of corporate CEOs but for tens of thousands of oil industry workers doing the jobs that keep America mobile.

Do you know who really gets a huge WINDFALL profit from gasoline sales? Try the US CONGRESS!! That's right! The federal government charges 18.4 cents tax on each gallon of gas sold in this country.

That is DOUBLE what the oil companies make and it is nearly all profit because Congress doesn't have to invest anything to get that money, nothing, nada - except the tax collectors who already were on site screwing us on every other thing that moves, breathes and takes up space in this country.

As of July 1, 2008, the average amount of tax, state and federal combined, imposed on a gallon of gasoline sold in the United States was 49.4 cents per gallon, up 2.4 cents from January 2008. Five hundred percent more than the oil companies make!

But wait, there's more! Larson is one of four Democratic congressmen from Connecticut, the state with the second highest level of gasoline taxes in the country. Connecticut motorists pay just under 70 CENTS PER GALLON on every gallon they pump!

And get this. The Connecticut Legislature, the one where Larson learned remedial "How to Shaft the Taxpayer" before he graduated to the US Congress, doesn't charge a flat tax per gallon, it charges a percentage based on the wholesale price of gasoline!

So every time the price of gasoline goes up, the amount of tax levied and collected increases right along with it!

John Larson. Connecticut's gift to the American taxpayer. Why would we want to keep a guy like him all to ourselves?

Americans are dealing with a slacking economy that in many cases is directly related to the unending increases in gasoline which affect the price of virtually everything else in the country. But while our state and federal legislative branches have a remedy right at hand through tax reductions, they continue to shaft us all, and blow billions of tax dollars right out the old wazoo without a care in the world.

Hey Congressman, how about you show us a graph with those little statistics drawn in?

The hypocrisy and arrogance of our elected persons is enough to put hair where you don't have it and curl it where you do.

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised at anything Larson says or does. He basically is Pelosi's shadow, except for when she lends him to John Murtha or Harry Reid, and pretty much all we see out of him is his head nodding in agreement whenever she makes an utterance.

He stood alongside Pelosi nodding sagely when they went to Iraq together and she insulted the American military by saying The Surge didn't really work, and our troops didn't really defeat the terrorists ... we won because the Iranians "let us."

Now she tries to divert attention away from high gas prices that are a direct result of Congressional refusal to open up drilling, refining and nuclear construction, by calling for tapping into the Strategic Reserves at the worst possible time, and he bobs his head and repeats the party talking points.

How does it go now? Oh yes. "We don't want to drill because it will destroy the environment .... But we do want to drill ... but we want the oil companies to drill where there may not be oil instead of where they know oil really is located ... and "We can't drill our way out of this!"

John Larson. Reinforces your faith in Congress and pride in being an American doesn't he?

Contributed by Ron Winter on July 19, 2008 at 02:17 PM in Dem Dumbness, Ron Winter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I guess the Obamassiah's in Afghanistan today. I wonder if he remembered to take a good Arabic interpreter along so he could talk to all the right people.

Worth knowing about this weekend:

• Marine 'Theft' Ring Gave Secrets to Terror-Fighters

• Al Qaeda's Market Crash
• Gitmo Go-Ahead
• Judge Rejects Gitmo Trial Delay

• Iraq: PM Not Endorsing Obama Timeframe on Troop Withdrawal 
  -- Maliki spokesman: His timetable comment was “not conveyed accurately”
  -- Maliki: Obama’s 16-month timetable sounds good; Update: Spiegel changes quote
• Sunnis formally rejoin Maliki government
• Gen. Petraeus: al-Qaida may be easing effort in Iraq

• Soldiers recount deadly attack on Afghanistan outpost

• Pakistan’s ISI: Can’t live without ‘em, can’t shoot ‘em.

• Iran's tough talk on U.S. continues

• Ehud Olmert and the decline of Israel
• Report: Mossad involved in Betancourt rescue

• Saudi King's Religion Conference Ends on Sour Note

• It's OK to Discuss Pickens' Windmill Investments but Not Gore's
• Blowing the Whistle on Global Warming
• Off to ANWR
• Texas Approves a $4.93 Billion Wind-Power Project
• Over to You, Speaker Pelosi
• Instead of a gas-tax holiday, Congress considers gas-tax hike
• Steven den Beste:  Ghosts of my past
• The perfect is the enemy of the good
• Oil prices slide for a fourth straight session

• Michael Barone: Ghosts of 1976 in Today's Campaign
  -- Paul Mirengoff: 1976, a footnote

• No Media Outrage Over Offensive Rolling Stone McCain Cartoon

• Leader of the 9 Percenters calls Bush 'A total failure'

• Hillary bets short on Obama?

• The audacity of ego
• Michelle Obama as racial victim 
• Barack Obama's Butterfly Effect
• Shunning the foreign media 
• Kurtz: Media Covering Obama As If He Were Already President
• Lieberman: Obama couldn’t go to Iraq today if we’d followed his plan
• Why You Can't Tell Jokes About Obama
• “Tor Obama": Obama-Gate (The Brandenburg Gate, That Is…)
• Iraq: PM Not Endorsing Obama Timeframe on Troop Withdrawal
• Obama's Magical Mystery Tour Begins -- Obama in Afghanistan
  -- Obama Gets Very First Look At Afghan War Zone
• WSJ: Just Another Pol
• Obama's Civilian National Security Force
• Con job
• Conveniently Black
• Obama’s Inexperience Tough to Ignore
• Hannity to Obama: Do You Have The Guts To Come On My Show?
• 'Time' Publishes Definitive Obama Puff Piece
• Let’s Learn to Laugh About Obama
• Barack's Iraq Trip -- Iraqis Differ on Obama's Plan -- Ooookay...
• WaPo: Barack Obama's failure to practice what he legislates
• Video: “Both Ways Barack”
• Is Network Coverage of Obama's Whistle-stop World Tour An In-kind Donation?
• Obama Explained
• "Judgment To Lead"
• The great Obama, Part Two
• The audacity of narcissism
• Foreign Policy: Is Obama a Puppet?
• Fact Checking Obama on Alternative Energy
• Why Did Obama Attend Socialist Conferences?
• If a Network Anchor falls in the forest and no one hears him, is he still biased?

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 19, 2008 at 01:21 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Worth knowing about today:

• U.S. cracks down on arms smuggling from Iran into Iraq

• AP Stringer Detained Over Filming of Two Murders, Questions Remain

• 6 Israeli Arabs Arrested over Bush Assassination Plot
  -- Israel says it breaks up terror plot aimed at Bush
• Killer's welcome has shown Hezbollah's true colours
• Freed Lebanese prisoners vow to fight Israel

• 'John McCain enters the offshore drilling debate with voters' favor.'
• Rethinking Climate Change
  -- Myth of Consensus Explodes: APS Opens Global Warming Debate
• Faster, Washington! Drill, drill!
• Have Oil Prices Peaked? Crude Plunges $16 in 3 Days
• Limousine liberal video of the day: Gore and his gas-guzzling fans exposed! -- Media Flocks to Gore Speech on Energy; Mostly Ignore His Use of Gas-Guzzlers to Get There

• Is Obama a Socialist? McCain: 'I Don't Know. All I Know Is His Voting Record.'

• Woman with 14% approval rating: Bush is a total failure -- Worst House Speaker in History Labels Bush a Total Failure -- Speaking Of Total Failures, Nancy...

• HRC Campaign Aides Buy 2012 Website

• Do the Netroots Get a Revote?
• Obama's dangerous fantasy, part 2
• Lorie Byrd: Leading Any Way the Wind Blows
• Michelle Obama as Political Naif? Hardly...
• Krauthammer: Obama's Greatest Admirer -- The Audacity of … Arrogance?
• A Very Crowded House at Pooh Corner
  -- A cast of hundreds: Who isn’t an Obama foreign policy adviser?!
• Gaffemaster Alert: The Pearl Harbor Bomb; Update: Video added --
  Obama Ignorance Watch -- "The bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor"
• Obama's dangerous fantasy
• Flip . . . Flop . . . Flip . . . Flop . . . Flip . . . Flop
• Why $52 Million Just Isn’t What It Used To Be — The Fundraising Woes of the Obama Campaign

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 18, 2008 at 01:17 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Worth knowing about today:

• Judge Rules First Guantanamo War Crimes Trial Can Begin
  -- Judge refuses to delay Gitmo detainee trial

• Is The U.S. Media Ready to Concede an Iraqi Victory? Can the Democrats?
• U.S. troops in western Baghdad: We’re bored, send us to Afghanistan;
  Update: Foreign jihadis head to tribal areas
• An Alamo with a different ending
• If you want something done right, do it yourself

• Hezbollah turned over mutilated bodies
• Why did Israel do it? -- The Orwellian logic of Israel's 'swap' with Hezb'allah
• Video: Freed degenerate child-killer receives hero’s welcome in Lebanon
• CNN Whitewashes Monstrous Palestinian Child Abuse Video

• D.C. rejects Heller’s gun permit application

• Oil drops below $130 for first time in a month 
• Real and Fake Energy Proposals
• Texas OKs massive wind power project
• Cornyn, Palin: Let’s get some action on energy!
• The Democrats' Perverse Energies Policies...
• “Drill now”: Newt’s group delivers 1.3 million petition signatures to Congress

• Basic right of self-defense restored in Britain

• Team McCain Conference Call: Foreign Policy

• The Rapid Decline of the New York Times

• IL Gov: Chicago may get troopers, National Guard
• Crime out of control in Dem-run Chicago; Dem guv offers troopers

• Let's Hear It All!

• Obama the Cypher
• The Obama Campaign's Out of Control Spending
• Barack Obama, on the Importance of Spending Time With Children
• In the tank: Worshipping media to follow Obama around the world
  -- Network Anchors to Give Obama Campaign Doting Coverage Overseas
• New McCain video: “The Obama Iraq documentary”
• Obama Tries Rewriting History
• Obama’s friends got state money: Chicago Sun-Times
• Thanks for Nothin', Joe!
  -- Biden defends Obama on Afghanistan after goofing on him last year
• BO: Damn you conservatives for taking my wife seriously!-- Obama “infuriated” at conservatives for criticizing his wife; Update: Washington GOP goes after Michelle
  -- Obama Blames the Right for Attacks on Wife
• Another inconvenient truth down the Obama Memory Hole
  -- Barack Obama Says America Needs A Civilian National Security Force
• Is The Tide Turning?
• Kyle-Anne Shiver: Call Me a Proud, Scared Conservative
• Pie In The Sky -- Field-Marshal Obama warns us against “fighting the last war
• Straining a Point
  An Obama ad says he has a "fast track alternative" to imported oil. Actually, it's a 10-year proposal with no guarantees.
• The Sheen is off Obama Candidacy
• Michelle O’s stimulus package: $600 earrings

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 17, 2008 at 02:24 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Worth knowing about today:

• Court Backs Bush on Military Detentions

• Vets for Freedom ad: “Some in Washington”
• While the Media Slept...
  -- Iraq: We could take over security by year’s end
  -- Iraq eyes full security control by year-end
• Michael J. Totten: Is the War Over?
• Kagan, Kagan & Keane: The new reality in Iraq
• Slow Joe: The “bad guys” don’t live in Iraq

• NATO Forces Attack Targets In Pakistan
• Ready to invade Pakistan?
• NYT Wonders: Why Didn't Bush Invade Pakistan, As We All Urged?

• Israel releases child killer in exchange for corpses
• Lebanon's latest national hero

• Why not hold it in Mecca? Oh, yeah ….

• Hey, World Court: Bug off! -- UN’s highest court tells Texas not to execute foreign nationals

• Unhinged in Arizona: Open-borders mob, led by public official, ravages Joe Arpaio effigy

• Jennifer Rubin: McCain Power

• Lieberman Hits Obama on Iraq
• Obama: Hey, let’s eliminate nuclear weapons
• MilBlogger Cries Foul on Obama Speech:
  Notes That Audience Was Stocked with Anti-War Veterans Group
• The captive mind -- WaPo: The Iron Timetable
• The AP Is Beginning to Notice
• The I-Can’t-Afford-Another-Flip- Flop Timetable
• Questions For Obama's Upcoming Overseas Trip
• Barry: Cartoon Insulted Muslims -- Obama: These are not the cartoons I thought I knew
  -- Obama Parrots CAIR Propaganda
• 'Do you still attend Trinity?' 'Yup. Every week.'
• Higher Folly; Diplomas won’t make jihadis go away.
• Michelle Obama: Americans Spending $600 Stimulus Checks on Earrings
• NYT poll: Majority now believes Obama says what he thinks people want to hear

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 16, 2008 at 01:48 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Worth knowing about today:

• Setting the Record Straight

• Media fires blanks on military picture

• Descent From Entebbe
• John Bolton: Israel, Iran and the Bomb

• $2.5 trillion
• One Down, One To Go
• The "anywhere but there" dodge
• IBD poll: Drill here, drill now
• Lead Us to Post-Oil Nirvana, Senator Reid
• Reporter to Bush: Why don’t you formally inform our moron public that they should use less gas?

• McCain's Remarks on Iraq and Afghanistan
• McCain will call for a surge in Afghanistan
• McCain speech on Afghanistan: Comprehensive change required
• McCain’s remarks to La Raza;
  Update: McCain tells La Raza that “borders must be secured”

• Audio: McCain rips La Raza activist that Obama praised
• Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade High on Obama, Critical of McCain

• Barack Obama on GM Job and Production Cuts
• Lieberman Rips Obama: His Lack Of Conviction Puts Nation In Peril
• It’s On: Wallace says MS-NBC “in the tank” for Obama
• Obama delivers big Iraq speech brimming with crap you’ve heard before
  -- Shouldn’t Obama Have Visited Iraq Before Giving His Major Iraq Speech?
• Obama: Onwards to Afghanistan! -- When Will the Left Turn Against the Afghan War?
• Framing Obama
• Planning to Ignore the Facts
• Obama: Nowhere To Hide On Iraq
• Obama's Dishonest Op-Ed -- Barack Obama's Anti-Factual Iraq War -- O'Hanlon: Flapjack's Position on Iraq "Height of Absurdity," Hints ObamaMessiah Is Too Incompetent for Presidency -- O’Hanlon: “Livid” over Barack Obama’s Iraq op-ed
• Obama: 'I Had No Doubt... We Would See a Reduction in Violence' With Surge
• Barack Obama purges Web site critique of surge in Iraq
  • Obama purges site of surge criticism
  • Obama’s Surge Purge 
• Obama's About Face on Undivided Jerusalem Complete
• Hill Democrats miffed at Obama -- A sign of backlash among the superdelegates?
• It’s official: Obama doesn’t flip flop, he just does nuanced “rephrases”
• Barack Obama Voted Four Times To Allow Criminal Charges Against Homeowners Who Defend Their Person and Home With a Gun
• Salon: Rush Limbaugh was right
• The gallery of rejected Obama New Yorker covers
• Late Night Hosts Lay Off Obama

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 15, 2008 at 01:58 PM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

TWorth knowing about today:

• Michael Yon: Success in Iraq
• BBC: Maliki’s remarks misreported

• AP photog stands by while Taliban executes women -- AP Stringer Stands by as Taliban Murder 2 Women, Gets Snuff Footage [UPDATE: Worse than Bilal Hussein!][UPDATE: Confirmed: Took Video of Murder]

• Arlen Specter and Joe Lieberman: Foreign Courts Take Aim at Our Free Speech 

• Bush to lift executive ban on offshore drilling
• Freedom’s Watch ad: Twiddling Thumbs
• John Cornyn: Time to get serious about energy
• Mother Nature, the biggest oil polluter on Earth

• Team McCain Conference Call: Iraq

• McCain Camp Response to Obama’s Iraq Media Call

• Denver businesses stiffed by DNC -- Denver businesses snubbed by DNCC

• Clinton supporters want a floor vote

• Obama on Jerusalem -- dishonest, ignorant, or both
• Jennifer Rubin: Would You Hire a President Who Padded His Resume?
• Going Through Withdrawal -- Obama on the War -- Obama on Iraq -- Obama: I Have A Plan -- Obama on Iraq: Where’s the beef? -- Flapjack: Let's Not Talk About The War in Iraq
• Kicking colleagues’ rears and understanding terrorists: the Obama way -- Obama was right: Another hateful, bigoted attack from … the New Yorker? -- The Politics of Dodging the Issue -- A Theory on What The New Yorker Was Thinking
• Caught Between Iraq and a Hard Base
  Obama's position has been overtaken by events.
• Barack Obama Calls Immigration Enforcement Agency Terrorists -- Obama: Our Communities Are 'Terrorized' By Immigration Enforcement Agents -- Obama: Immigration enforcement = terror -- Obama: Enforcing Immigration Laws is Terrorism -- Barack Obama Calls Immigration Enforcement Agency Terrorists -- Obama Tells La Raza Immigration Reform is a Priority -- Obama's Glaring Contradictions on Immigration
• Obama, shaman
• Did Vets for Obama Head Shirk His Duty?
  It is alleged that General Robert G. Gard helped suppress the investigation of Vietnam-era atrocities. ...
• Will the Real Obama Please Stand?
• Ego-Bama, Swallow Some of that Pride

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 14, 2008 at 01:50 PM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

You’re on the road to eternity, huroo, huroo,
Your spirit’s flown your soul is free, huroo, huroo,
With wringin’ hands and tearful eyes,
We pray you hear our mournful cries,
And we all feel so sad today,
But, Tony, we’re proud we knew Ye.

Where is that voice so smilin’ mild, huroo, huroo,
That drove the White House press so wild, huroo, huroo,
Where are those eyes that sparklin’ smiled
With which our hearts Ye so beguiled,
Oh darlin’ boy you made our day,
Ah, Tony, we’re glad we knew Ye.

We’ll miss that spirit that loved the run, huroo, huroo,
That flashin’ smile for everyone, huroo, huroo,
That mike Ye wielded like a gun,
But never wounding anyone,
Oh your sparklin’ spirits flown away,
Sweet Tony we’re goin’ to miss Ye.

We’re sad young lad to see Ye gone, huroo, huroo,
But glad your sad ordeal is done, huroo, huroo,
With sorrowed hearts we accept you’re gone,
But know your goodness still lives on,
Oh, Tony Snow, we must let go,
But, Lord, we were blessed we knew Ye.

Author’s note:

I am so saddened that we have lost this bright spirit, this so very talented young man. I do not know if Tony Snow is of Irish extraction, but his origins are in Kentucky which was mainly settled by the Scots-Irish, of which I am one with my American roots in that region as well. For that reason, I chose to make my tribute to Tony a derivation of the old Irish song, “Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye.”

The music for the American version of this ballad, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, can be found here:

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/johnny.htm

Listening to it as you read my words may help you better appreciate this tribute. It is a simple tune and these are but simple words, so it is easy to sing them. I think Tony would like that, hearing all us singing him off on his eternal journey.

Contributed by Russ Vaughn on July 13, 2008 at 01:20 PM in Music, Poetry, Russ Vaughn | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

J. D. Pendry

Harry Reid tells us that oil and coal makes us sick. It makes the planet sick. We also hear that we are addicted to oil and use more than our share of the world supply of it. It is no great wonder that only 9 percent of Americans believe the Congress that Harry Reid leads is doing a good job. That is not even to mention the brilliance and effectiveness of the Nancy Pelosi led half of it. The Speaker promised us a plan that would reduce the outrageously high $2.91 per gallon gasoline prices. We see how well that worked. Harry and Nan’s genius, I fear, is just the beginning for our country. The beginning of the end of it if we are not careful.

Read the rest:

Contributed by J D on July 12, 2008 at 09:51 AM in J D Pendry | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Worth knowing about this weekend:

• China Kept American POWs; So Did Laos; Rambo WAS Expendable

• Breaking news: Tony Snow dead at 53
  More at PJM, Fox News, Michelle Malkin, La Shawn Barber, Hot Air, Power Line

• Today’s MSM 2-minute pessimism on Iraq brought to you by Reuters

• U.S. official: Iran tests used ‘old’ missiles

• All Headline, No Story
• Looking back at Osirak

• What “warrantless wiretapping” hath wrought

• D.C. Handgun Restriction May Be Deadly
  Remaining restrictions may actually cause more deaths among shooting victims.
• Nevada ACLU Breaks With National on Guns 

• John Cornyn: Time to get serious about energy
  -- Cornyn: Get serious, will you, Democrats? And you too, judges!
• One Way To Get Serious About Saving Our Economy: Shale Oil
• Democrats Sucking Wind on Energy Policy
• The Democrats: Committed to Economic Decline

• Nancy Pelosi Orwell: The lady likes control

• Rangel’s rent-control mansion -- "Why should I help  you embarrass me?" 

• Chuck Schumer, bank killer
  -- Bank Collapses. Feds cite Sen. Chuck Schumer as "immediate cause" of collapse

• Dem convention tries to spin their bizarre “greening” program

• Could 2008 Be a McCain Landslide?
• Obama in the land of Joseph Heller
• The resistible rise of Barack Obama
• NYT notices Obama disgust on “Far Left”
• Barack McGovern Clinton
• Obama's Liberal Shock Troops
• Is Obama Avoiding Facing the Military? -- Obama Won’t Commit to Event at Military Base
  -- A commander-in-chief who fears the military? Vero possumus!
• Obama's Junior Moments
• Yes we can -- ABC: Obama’s Iraq plan “almost impossible”; Update: Video added
• Obama the Embarrassed Monoglot -- Embarrassing: Obama Accidentally Shoots Down NBC’s Puffery of His ‘Mastering the Indonesian Language’ -- Obama: I embarrass myself!
• Obama’s latest flip-flop: Death penalty for bin Laden!
  Update: Double flip-flop with a global test?
• A promise broken
• Obama's flip-flops, how risky?
• Can we possibly be this lucky?
• A response to the Obama Wizardry
• Run for president, see the USA (at last)
• Newsweek Poll: Obama drops like a rock --
  Newsweek Poll Revisited: What Happened To The Barack Bounce Back?
• Obama tries to buy the NASCAR vote

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 12, 2008 at 12:29 AM in National Defense, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

We’re hip, we’re cool and oh so arty;
We’re Democrats, the smarter party.
We’re sophisticated unlike you;
We understand merci beaucoup.
We’re urbane while you’re provincial;
We’re worldly-wise, so existential.
We’re cultured, complex, so refined;
We’ve left you ignorant serfs behind.
We’re witty authors of clever puns,
While you clods cling to God and guns.
Were you not so closed and clannish,
We’d have you peons speaking Spanish.
We say all this with knowing smirks;
We’re Democrats, you red-state jerks.

***

Bill Faith adds:

Thomas Lifson emailed this afternoon to say Sean Hannity had seen Russ's poem on American Thinker and read it on the air. Howl on, Dog!

Contributed by Russ Vaughn on July 11, 2008 at 12:45 AM in Obamanation, Politics, Russ Vaughn | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

[Originally posted 2007-04-12]

Bob Prinselaar emails:

This will touch your heart. Sure brought back some memories.

http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm

Bob

***

Retried grunt and Blue Star Father Jim Gardner dropped by to let me know that If I Die Before You Wake was recorded by Dustin Evans, who unfortunately is not given credit at the link Bob sent. In the process of cross-checking that info I ran across this YouTube video which I know you'll enjoy:

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 11, 2008 at 12:14 AM in Bob Prinselaar, Caring about our troops, The American Warrior | Permalink | Comments (25) | TrackBack