There’s a word that comes to my mind, when I watch this video and that is the Word “D’oh!”
Synopsis: Jackie feels a little racist hating Obama so much. Dunlap helps him work through his feelings.
Year: 2009
Interview: Katie Couric Interviews Glenn Beck
I noticed AllahPundit posted an excerpt to this interview and I went and checked; sure enough, I was able to snag the whole thing.
I think Glenn does a good here. He is quite careful not to fall into any of Katie’s traps. Glenn does seem to have some opinions of his very own. Some I agree with; some I highly disagree with, including his idiotic assertion that he is some sort of a libertarian. His position on defense and Abortion are classic Conservative positions.
However, I give the man props; he does hold to some decent positions that I agree with, and did criticize Bush; just as I did here. I also took great issue with his moronic attitude toward the auto companies; seeing my father is a retired auto worker. I found myself flipping him the bird at the part of the video.
One part of the video that I really liked was the part about Glenn realizing that he had to sober up and get his life right with God. I can totally identify with this. I am, in fact, the Grandson of a “working Alcoholic”; who never got help and ended up dead of cancer, by the time he was in his early 50’s. Something that this writer and blogger was on the path to doing myself also in the 1990’s. I highly doubt that I was as “far gone” as Glenn and I really did not have to go to rehab. But, I can tell you this; the mentality is the same, you can feel the power of drink and it does begin to take control of your mind. I am quite blessed in the fact that I had not lost control of my ability to stop. Something that I will always and forever more be grateful to God for.
Glenn also talks about his mother who committed suicide; something that I think takes quite the man to talk about to anyone; which less some semi hostile media type interviewing you.
The bottom line is this: All in all, it is a very decent video and I think everyone, Liberals, Conservatives, Republicans and Democrats should watch this video.
Enjoy…
Steven Chu is an idiot who needs to go back to China.
This posting is not going to endure me to the hard right or the left…. but:
When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.
Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu said he didn’t think average folks had the know-how or will to to change their behavior enough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
“The American public…just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.” (In that case, the Energy Department has a few renegade teens of its own.)
The administration aims to teach them—literally. The Environmental Protection Agency is focusing on real children. Partnering with the Parent Teacher Organization, the agency earlier this month launched a cross-country tour of 6,000 schools to teach students about climate change and energy efficiency.
via Steven Chu: Americans Are Like ‘Teenage Kids’ When It Comes to Energy – Environmental Capital – WSJ.
Of course, when the heat got bad, his office issued this little statement:
An update: Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow added: “Secretary Chu was not comparing the public to teenagers. He was saying that we need to educate teenagers about ways to save energy. He also recognized the need to educate the broader public about how important clean energy industries are to our competitive position in the global economy. He believes public officials do have an obligation to make their case to the American people on major legislation, and that’s what he’s doing.”
I got better idea; how about we tell this idiot to go back to fucking China where he belongs and stay there? I mean, seriously. Teenagers? God-damned Bastard Communist, I hate them, almost as much as I hate sin and the devil. 😡
Thank You Richard Nixion, for royally screwing America. Of course, I am still a little ticked about what China did to John Birch. Am I a “Bircher?” No. I don’t belong to that society. But I have much respect for the man and the Pastor who trained him to be a Missionary. We Fundamentalists never die; we just graduate to another plane. 😀
Other, who are gonna hate me for this posting…. LOL! : Hot Air, American Glob, The Foundry, Sister Toldjah, Moe Lane, Stop The ACLU, Cafe Hayek, Gateway Pundit, Daily Pundit and Sweetness & Light
Cartoons of the Day
ScrabbleRouser?
For more fun visit the website/blog at www.diversitylane.com or go directly to the blog at www.diversitylane.wordpress.com.
Not everyone likes Glenn Beck
To be Fair, Mark Levin has a point about Ron Paul.
and… (H/T HotAir)
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
To be quite honest. I do not like Scarborough, at all. He is, in my humble opinion, an sneering elitist prick. Same goes for that ditsy blond bitch sidekick of his. Yeah, I’d say that RHINO applies in Scarborough’s case.
Guest Voice: It Is Going To Be A Rocky Road by Chuck Baldwin
Let’s face it: most Americans live in a world of false security. This is somewhat understandable, given the fact that the majority of the U.S. population was born after 1945. Few remember the dangers and hardships of World War II; fewer still remember the Great Depression. Few Americans know what it’s like to not have some sort of “supercenter” nearby with shelves stocked with every kind of food imaginable, twenty-four hours a day. Few know what life was like before there were restaurants of all sizes and types on virtually every street corner in America. And only a handful remembers when most roads were unpaved, or when sports were truly a pastime and not a megabuck obsession.
Modern living within the world’s only “superpower” has created a giant unsuspecting, soft, lackadaisical, and lethargic society. We expect the government to keep our streets safe, our roads paved, our stores stocked, our jobs secure, and our enemies at bay. However, in the desire to make government the panacea for all our problems, we have sold not only our independence, but also our virtue.
Where the federal government was contracted (via the U.S. Constitution) to accept limited power for the overall good of both states and people, it has become a monster of gargantuan proportions, claiming authority over virtually every liberty and right known to man. And in the process, it decided it didn’t need God, either.
It is no hyperbole to say that the U.S. federal government has been on a “Ban God” bandwagon for the past 50 years. Whether it kicks prayer and Bible reading out of school, bars military chaplains from praying in Jesus’ name, burns Bibles in Iraq, removes state supreme court chief justices from their positions for posting the Ten Commandments, or threatens high school principals with jail for asking the blessing, the federal government has invoked the judgment of Heaven upon our country as surely as did Old Testament Israel.
Although the comfortable, sports-crazed, TV addicts probably aren’t paying attention, this country is on the verge of an implosion like you cannot believe. For anyone who cares to notice, the signs are everywhere.
First of all, Israel and Iran are on the verge of war. And right now, I’m not concentrating on the “why” or “who’s right or wrong” of the equation. I’m simply telling you, war between Israel and Iran could break out at any time. And when it does, the chances that it will not become nuclear and not become global are miniscule. Yes, I am saying it: the prospects for nuclear war have never been greater. The CBS-canceled TV show, JERICHO, could become a reality in these United States in the very near future. (I strongly urge readers to purchase both seasons of JERICHO and watch them, because this could be our future.)
Secondly, America is on the verge of total financial collapse. By the end of this year, America’s budget deficit will stand at around $2 trillion. The debt gap is many trillions more than that. But the nail in the coffin for America’s fiscal health will be the decision by China to dump the U.S. dollar. Ladies and gentlemen, this will be the death knell for our financial stability (and a painful lesson in sowing and reaping).
It is estimated that China owns around one-third of all U.S. debt. If and when China dumps the U.S. dollar, there would be nothing left to stabilize it, and Weimar Republic/Zimbabwe-style inflation will ensue. America will be thrust into financial chaos. (If one doubts that China is planning to dump the dollar, consider that China is currently purchasing and stockpiling gold at an unprecedented level. This is why gold has suddenly surged to over $1,000 per ounce and why it will continue to rise.)
Third, the paranoia regarding the Swine Flu being demonstrated by both government and media spokesmen begs a giant push for some type of “government solution.” If they keep hyping this “pandemic,” mass hysteria and fear (created by the government and its lackeys in the media) will result. This would, no doubt, necessitate some form of forced vaccination, quarantine (maybe this is what all those internment camps will be used for), and martial law.
Exactly how and when all of the above will actually materialize is yet to be seen. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that within the next few months, the world that we know today is going to vanish. And most Americans are totally unprepared for what’s coming.
If you are able to get out of debt, do it. If you need to scale down your lifestyle in order to be better prepared for difficult days, do it. If you don’t have guns and ammo, buy them. If you have not prepared some sort of preserved food pantry, do it. If you don’t have some kind of survival plan in place for you and your family, get one. If you are not physically fit, get in shape. If you are able to move to a more secure, out-of-harm’s-way location, do it. (During any kind of financial or societal meltdown, urban areas will quickly turn into war zones. Can anyone say, “New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina”?) In other words, get your nose out of the boob tube, get your bottom off the easy chair, and get busy.
Am I worried or discouraged? Absolutely not! (But I am preparing.) The potential good that may result from all of the above is that perhaps God will protect and raise up a remnant of people who would be willing to rebuild a place where Natural Law is respected, constitutional government is revered, and where a ubiquitous, loathsome, overbearing federal government is far, far away. You know, like America’s Founding Fathers did 233 years ago.
In the meantime, get ready. It’s going to be a rocky road.
(Source)
Michelle Malkin does the beast
I hope that Michelle does not see this headline; she will kill me. 😛 😉 😀
The last thing you’d expect Michelle Malkin to be is charming, funny, or vulnerable.
As an agent provocateur of the hard right—blogger, newspaper columnist, Fox News contributor and, for the past six weeks, queen of the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list—she can project a certain grim, off-putting intensity. In recent appearances on The View and the Today show to hype her latest anti-liberal screed—Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies—she was, by turns, shrill and smug, occasionally disciplining an unruly interrogator with a schoolmarmish “Read the book!” And unlike Ann Coulter, whose more outrageous remarks are usually mitigated by a sly grin, nobody ever wonders if Michelle Malkin is for real.
She is, unmistakably, dead serious.
So who is this softspoken, self-deprecating woman talking to me on the phone?
“I’m a human being,” Malkin says from her home in tranquil Colorado Springs (tranquil, except for the shrieking of Air Force jets—“the sound of freedom,” Malkin says), far, far away from the media-political complex. “I mean, every once in a while it might get under my skin. But I can’t stop ad hominem attacks against me.”
The interview is an interesting read. Michelle Malkin is an interesting person. With me, it is mainly how she can be such a salvo and still consider herself a Christian. Much of that is answered; she is a Roman Catholic. Catholics are basically taught that they can do whatever they please; They just have to confess it to a Priest. That, we Protestant Christians know, is a load of bunk; as is all of Roman Catholicism. You do not believe me? Just ask all the kids that have been molested in Catholic schools.
Yes, I know, I am a bit of Salvo myself. I have standards though; Michelle has vendettas against the Liberal Socialists. I do not. I simply go out of my way to challenge their line of thinking. As I do, to a point with the extreme far right as well. —– I would go toe to toe with some George W. Bush worshiping boob, just as quick as I would some socialist. The difference with me is; it is never personal. With Michelle, it is. Contrary to what some might think, that read this blog. I am nowhere and I mean nowhere near to the right as Michelle Malkin. There are some, whom I have chatted with that accuse her of being partisan. Call me crazy, call me whatever; but I just do not see that in Michelle. I read her blog almost daily. I have seen her heave salvos at the Republican Party just as harsh, if not worse, as she has at the Democrats.
One thing what annoys me about her is this. When she fires off these salvos of hers and she gets threats; she runs. That is, in my humble opinion, a textbook example of cowardice. If I were in Michelle’s position and had her degree of visibility. I would be standing out on the front lawn of my house, with my guns loaded saying “Bring it the fuck on!” I mean, I know she’s got kids; but freakin’ Sweet baby Jesus on a carousel already! —– Put the damn kids in the basement with Jesse and get the fucking AK-47 and fight for your damn self already! Sorry, no offense intended; just a slight annoyance of mine. In other words, if going to talk smack about the Socialists; back your stuff up! Just saying, that’s all. 😀
One thing I will give Michelle Malkin credit for is this; it was her reporting of the socialist pigs, who thought they would be cool and pour cutting oil on the Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C. that basically made me decide that enough was basically enough and that I had enough of the Democratic Party and the way they disrespect our Military. I mean, I am all for helping the middle class and helping the poor; but our Military is just somewhere; that you just do not tread with me. My uncle served in Vietnam and members of my family served in World War II. I would have served myself, if I would have completed high school. I did not, so, I cannot serve. But I can, and will defend them on this blog to my damned dying breath. This reason and a host of many others; including this previous election and my blogging about it, has really put me to the right of where I was, when I first started out. Michelle Malkin does deserve some credit and a bit of thanks for this.
Uh-Oh: McChrystal Says, ‘If they don’t give me what I need, I am outta here!’
This not good at all…..
WASHINGTON — Six months after it announced its strategy for Afghanistan, the Obama administration is sending mixed signals about its objectives there and how many troops are needed to achieve them.
The conflicting messages are drawing increasing ire from U.S. commanders in Afghanistan and frustrating military leaders, who’re trying to figure out how to demonstrate that they’re making progress in the 12-18 months that the administration has given them.
Adding to the frustration, according to officials in Kabul and Washington, are White House and Pentagon directives made over the last six weeks that Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, not submit his request for as many as 45,000 additional troops because the administration isn’t ready for it.
In the last two weeks, top administration leaders have suggested that more American troops will be sent to Afghanistan, and then called that suggestion “premature.” Earlier this month, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that “time is not on our side”; on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urged the public “to take a deep breath.”
The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment. Officials willing to speak did so only on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
In Kabul, some members of McChrystal’s staff said they don’t understand why Obama called Afghanistan a “war of necessity” but still hasn’t given them the resources they need to turn things around quickly.
Three officers at the Pentagon and in Kabul told McClatchy that the McChrystal they know would resign before he’d stand behind a faltering policy that he thought would endanger his forces or the strategy.
“Yes, he’ll be a good soldier, but he will only go so far,” a senior official in Kabul said. “He’ll hold his ground. He’s not going to bend to political pressure.”
via Military growing impatient with Obama on Afghanistan | McClatchy.
I think Obama had better get with the program here and make some decisions. Time might not be an option.
Others: Long War Journal, BLACKFIVE, Pajamas Media and Weasel Zippers
Obama quips to Letterman ‘I was black before the election’
Heh. I loved David Letterman’s Reaction to that Statement; it was like “Oh man… where do I go from here?”
Quote:
Addressing suggestions that recent criticism of his health care reform efforts has been grounded in racism, President Obama this afternoon quipped, “I think it’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election.”
The comment, which the president made in an afternoon taping of CBS’ “The Late Show,” promoted laughter from the audenice and this response from host David Letterman: “How long have you been a black man?”
Mr. Obama said the notion that racism is playing a role in the criticism, which has been voiced by former President Jimmy Carter and others, is countered in part by the fact that he was elected in the first place – which, he said, “tells you a lot about where the country’s at.”
“One of the things that you sign up for in politics is that folks yell at you,” the president said, noting that “whenever a president tries to bring about significant changes, particularly during times of economic unease, there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled up.” He pointed to the experiences of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan as examples.
I have to give the President a little credit. He does have a good sense of humor; and he did handle the question of racism in a very classy manner. He also said something that I thought was very true and that was when you get into politics, you do sign up for people to yell at you. So, I think he knows what he got into and at least he is honest about it.
He also expressed some honesty, which is a bit of nice change:
The appearance was not all jokes; Mr. Obama said that the economy was improving but that employment was lagging behind.
“Unemployment is still going to be a big problem for at least another year,” he said, though he insisted the economy would emerge “stronger than before.”
On Afghanistan, the president said that he will not make a decision whether to send more troops until he decides on a strategy following a comprehensive review. The top commander in Iraq has warned that more troops are needed for the U.S. to have a chance to emerge victorious.
Asked by Letterman about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, Mr. Obama said, “because Saddam Hussein is not there, that’s a good thing. He was somebody who certainly had aspirations to cause a lot of trouble.”
Mr. Obama added, however, that “that given the enormous stakes we had in Afghanistan, we should have finished the job there.”
I cannot honestly find fault in any of what I quoted. The President is not making any rapid fire decisions. He is taking his time with the situation and that is a change of pace. As I wrote before; the whole Iraq and Afpac War is a huge challenge and making off the cuff decisions is not a wise move. I just hope he does not lose his nerve to fight.
The Obligatory NEA is a corrupt organization that will eat your babies or something posting
I am, of course, referring to this story here. The reason I do not believe that this is a huge breaking story is this; first this story has already come out once and basically flopped and two; there is nothing showing any case of wrong doing in those recordings.
As much as I hate to be the one to say it; there is no real story here, at all. Seriously, there is none. The only thing that you have here, is the fact that someone over at BreitBart and Co. happened to listen in on a Conference call. In the process of this; they happened to hear that the NEA was going to spread the good word about the President and his Progressive policies. Question: Do you honestly think that any other Presidents have not used the NEA for partisan purposes before? Please. Do not be so naive. 🙄
While I firmly believe that Andrew Breitbart did have an good catch on the Acorn story. Sadly, this one falls flat on its face. When Andrew BreitBart can produce a record of the President or one of his minions, ordering funds be transferred directly to the NEA for use in partisan purposes; and not a bunch of staff people discussing logistics, I will be convinced. Otherwise, this story is nothing than a distraction from the real issues that the Obama Administration is foisting on America. Like Nationalized Healthcare.
The Blogger round up is here.
Leaked Report: More Forces in Afpak War or ‘Mission Failure’
No matter how you slice this; this report does not look good at all.
Now before I quote this; let’s be really clear here. Bob Woodward is not known for telling the truth. Some of the tall tales told in his books, even made the harshest Bush critics wonder, if he was not making stuff up.
Anyhow, Quoting the Washington Post:
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict “will likely result in failure,” according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says emphatically: “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.”
His assessment was sent to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Aug. 30 and is now being reviewed by President Obama and his national security team.
McChrystal concludes the document’s five-page Commander’s Summary on a note of muted optimism: “While the situation is serious, success is still achievable.”
But he repeatedly warns that without more forces and the rapid implementation of a genuine counterinsurgency strategy, defeat is likely. McChrystal describes an Afghan government riddled with corruption and an international force undermined by tactics that alienate civilians.
However, there are some problems in that region and they are:
The assessment offers an unsparing critique of the failings of the Afghan government, contending that official corruption is as much of a threat as the insurgency to the mission of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, as the U.S.-led NATO coalition is widely known.
“The weakness of state institutions, malign actions of power-brokers, widespread corruption and abuse of power by various officials, and ISAF’s own errors, have given Afghans little reason to support their government,” McChrystal says.
The result has been a “crisis of confidence among Afghans,” he writes. “Further, a perception that our resolve is uncertain makes Afghans reluctant to align with us against the insurgents.”
McChrystal is equally critical of the command he has led since June 15. The key weakness of ISAF, he says, is that it is not aggressively defending the Afghan population. “Pre-occupied with protection of our own forces, we have operated in a manner that distances us — physically and psychologically — from the people we seek to protect. . . . The insurgents cannot defeat us militarily; but we can defeat ourselves.”
McChrystal continues: “Afghan social, political, economic, and cultural affairs are complex and poorly understood. ISAF does not sufficiently appreciate the dynamics in local communities, nor how the insurgency, corruption, incompetent officials, power-brokers, and criminality all combine to affect the Afghan population.”
Coalition intelligence-gathering has focused on how to attack insurgents, hindering “ISAF’s comprehension of the critical aspects of Afghan society.”
In a four-page annex on detainee operations, McChrystal warns that the Afghan prison system has become “a sanctuary and base to conduct lethal operations” against the government and coalition forces. He cites as examples an apparent prison connection to the 2008 bombing of the Serena Hotel in Kabul and other attacks. “Unchecked, Taliban/Al Qaeda leaders patiently coordinate and plan, unconcerned with interference from prison personnel or the military.”
The assessment says that Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents “represent more than 2,500 of the 14,500 inmates in the increasingly overcrowded Afghan Corrections System,” in which “[h]ardened, committed Islamists are indiscriminately mixed with petty criminals and sex offenders, and they are using the opportunity to radicalize and indoctrinate them.”
and….:
McChrystal identifies three main insurgent groups “in order of their threat to the mission” and provides significant details about their command structures and objectives.
The first is the Quetta Shura Taliban (QST) headed by Mullah Omar, who fled Afghanistan after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and operates from the Pakistani city of Quetta.
“At the operational level, the Quetta Shura conducts a formal campaign review each winter, after which Mullah Omar announces his guidance and intent for the coming year,” according to the assessment.
Mullah Omar’s insurgency has established an elaborate alternative government known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, McChrystal writes, which is capitalizing on the Afghan government’s weaknesses. “They appoint shadow governors for most provinces, review their performance, and replace them periodically. They established a body to receive complaints against their own ‘officials’ and to act on them. They install ‘shari’a’ [Islamic law] courts to deliver swift and enforced justice in contested and controlled areas. They levy taxes and conscript fighters and laborers. They claim to provide security against a corrupt government, ISAF forces, criminality, and local power brokers. They also claim to protect Afghan and Muslim identity against foreign encroachment.”
“The QST has been working to control Kandahar and its approaches for several years and there are indications that their influence over the city and neighboring districts is significant and growing,” McChrystal writes.
The second main insurgency group is the Haqqani network (HQN), which is active in southeastern Afghanistan and draws money and manpower “principally from Pakistan, Gulf Arab networks, and from its close association with al Qaeda and other Pakistan-based insurgent groups.” At another point in the assessment, McChrystal says, “Al Qaeda’s links with HQN have grown, suggesting that expanded HQN control could create a favorable environment” for associated extremist movements “to re-establish safe-havens in Afghanistan.”
The third is the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin insurgency, which maintains bases in three Afghan provinces “as well as Pakistan,” the assessment says. This network, led by the former mujaheddin commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, “aims to negotiate a major role in a future Taliban government. He does not currently have geographical objectives as is the case with the other groups,” though he “seeks control of mineral wealth and smuggling routes in the east.”
Overall, McChrystal provides this conclusion about the enemy: “The insurgents control or contest a significant portion of the country, although it is difficult to assess precisely how much due to a lack of ISAF presence. . . . “
The insurgents make money from the production and sale of opium and other narcotics, but the assessment says that “eliminating insurgent access to narco-profits — even if possible, and while disruptive — would not destroy their ability to operate so long as other funding sources remained intact.”
While the insurgency is predominantly Afghan, McChrystal writes that it “is clearly supported from Pakistan. Senior leaders of the major Afghan insurgent groups are based in Pakistan, are linked with al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups, and are reportedly aided by some elements of Pakistan’s ISI,” which is its intelligence service. Al-Qaeda and other extremist movements “based in Pakistan channel foreign fighters, suicide bombers, and technical assistance into Afghanistan, and offer ideological motivation, training, and financial support.”
McCrystal’s Plan is:
The general says his command is “not adequately executing the basics” of counterinsurgency by putting the Afghan people first. “ISAF personnel must be seen as guests of the Afghan people and their government, not an occupying army,” he writes. “Key personnel in ISAF must receive training in local languages.”
He also says that coalition forces will change their operational culture, in part by spending “as little time as possible in armored vehicles or behind the walls of forward operating bases.” Strengthening Afghans’ sense of security will require troops to take greater risks, but the coalition “cannot succeed if it is unwilling to share risk, at least equally, with the people.”
McChrystal warns that in the short run, it “is realistic to expect that Afghan and coalition casualties will increase.”
He proposes speeding the growth of Afghan security forces. The existing goal is to expand the army from 92,000 to 134,000 by December 2011. McChrystal seeks to move that deadline to October 2010.
Overall, McChrystal wants the Afghan army to grow to 240,000 and the police to 160,000 for a total security force of 400,000, but he does not specify when those numbers could be reached.
He also calls for “radically more integrated and partnered” work with Afghan units.
McChrystal says the military must play an active role in reconciliation, winning over less committed insurgent fighters. The coalition “requires a credible program to offer eligible insurgents reasonable incentives to stop fighting and return to normalcy, possibly including the provision of employment and protection,” he writes.
Coalition forces will have to learn that “there are now three outcomes instead of two” for enemy fighters: not only capture or death, but also “reintegration.”
Again and again, McChrystal makes the case that his command must be bolstered if failure is to be averted. “ISAF requires more forces,” he states, citing “previously validated, yet un-sourced, requirements” — an apparent reference to a request for 10,000 more troops originally made by McChrystal’s predecessor, Gen. David D. McKiernan.
The most sobering part is this:
Toward the end of his report, McChrystal revisits his central theme: “Failure to provide adequate resources also risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs, and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure.”
There is doubt about it; this war is not going to be a cakewalk, just like Iraq was not. The question on everyone’s mind is this, will President Obama have the political nerve to keep fighting this war? To defeat all of these groups and the ultimate goal —– Al Qeada.
Peter Feaver over at Foreign Policy’s Blog Shadow Government offers the following assessment:
1. It is not good to have a document like this leaked into the public debate before the President has made his decision. Whether you favor ramping up or ramping down or ramping laterally, as a process matter, the Commander-in-Chief ought to be able to conduct internal deliberations on sensitive matters without it appearing concurrently on the front pages of the Post. I assume the Obama team is very angry about this, and I think they have every right to be.
2. A case could be made that the Obama team tempted fate by authorizing Bob Woodward to travel with General Jones (cf. “whisky, tango, foxtrot”) in the first place and then sitting on this report for nearly a month without a White House response. You cannot swing a dead cat in Washington without meeting someone who was briefed on at least part of the McChrystal assessment, and virtually every one of those folks is mystified as to why the White House has not responded as of yet. The White House will have to respond now, but I stand by my first point: leaks like this make it harder to for the Commander-in-Chief to do deliberate national security planning.
3. Without knowing the provenance of the leak, it is impossible to state with confidence what the motives were. For my part, I would guess that this leak is an indication that some on the Obama team are dismayed at the White House’s slow response and fear that this is an indication that President Obama is leaning towards rejecting the inevitable requests for additional U.S. forces that this report tees up. By this logic, the leak is designed to force his hand and perhaps even to tie his hands.
4. The leak makes it harder for President Obama to reject a McChrystal request for additional troops because the assessment so clearly argues for them. The formal request is in a separate document, apparently, but it is foreshadowed on every page of the Initial Assessment. Presumably, the McChrystal assessment and request is shared by Petraeus and, I am told, also by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That does not make it irrefutably correct, but it does make this issue now the defining moment in civil-military relations under President Obama’s watch. Obama has the authority and the responsibility to make a decision that runs counter to what his military leaders are requesting, but it is a very difficult thing for him to do.
5. The toughest part in the report from the point of view of the Obama White House is the twin claim that (i) under-resourcing the war could cause the war to be lost, and (ii) the resources need to show up in the next year. The former puts the responsibility for success/failure squarely on the desk of the President and the latter, because of the long lead times needed to send additional resources into the theater, says that failure could result from choices made or not made in the next few weeks. And it said that a few weeks ago.
6. Paradoxically, however, the report does not make it impossible for President Obama to reject the likely military request for additional forces. Because the report is so candid about all of the challenges we face in Afghanistan, many of the arguments against additional forces are substantiated somewhere in the report: the myriad failures of the Afghan government, the self-defeating restrictions imposed on NATO forces, etc. The only anti-surge argument that I have not seen substantiated (though I read this quickly, so I may have missed something) is the extraordinarily seductive one that suggests we can afford to simply walk away from Afghanistan and conduct “off-shore-counter-terrorism-operations” indefinitely.
7. This document will remind anyone who worked on the issue of the internal debate over the surge strategy in Iraq circa Fall 2006. While the Bush administration Iraq Strategy Review did not produce a 66-page report that leaked, we covered much this same terrain and wrestled with many of the same thorny trade-offs and uncertain bets. The report is basically calling for an Iraq-type surge gambit, asking President Obama to do more or less what President Bush did in 2007: (i) change the strategy, (ii) adequately resource the new strategy, and (iii) overcome the strong domestic political opposition to doing (i) and (ii). If successful, the McChrystal assessment claims that this will buy time to allow for a safer eventual shift back to a train and transition strategy. It will not win the war in the short-run, but it will shift the trajectory of the war and allow for the possibility that our side can prevail in the long run. This is eerily similar to how the pro-surge group within the Bush team thought of the Iraq surge.
The question that one must ask. Is this all really worth it? The normal reflexive answer would be yes. Because we must acknowledge that those people that died in those Trade Centers, The Pentagon, and in PA; died because our Government’s attitude towards Terrorism and National Security had become lax. —– In other words, we were caught with our proverbial pants down.
My question to the President is this; are you sir, going to allow a group of far left wing, socialists dictate your foreign policy? Are you going to allow the Nation to drift back into a September 10’th mentality? I mean, because the FBI has already nabbed a group of people in New York; that had intentions to make another strike. Because I can tell you right now, Mr. President; If you abandon this fight, they will strike again, and next time, it will not be with planes. It will be much worse. That is not Neo-Conservative hype; that is, my friends, reality of the situation at hand.
What needs to happen is this; President Obama needs to wrap up in Iraq; as soon as possible. Once this is complete, President Obama needs to refocus his strategy on this war. It is not going to be easy. Some say this could be President Obama’s Vietnam. Which I happen to think is a line of balderdash. Vietnam failed; for one, because the media outright LIED about our progress in the Tet offensive and because President Johnson did not have the gonads to stand up to the left wing of the Democratic Party and inform them, that they did not run the White House and that he did! Instead he folded and said he would not run for reelection. This gave way to embarrassing defeat of the South in Vietnam and caused us to have to leave in shame.
President Obama must stand up and lead. He must shrug off the left wing of his Party and fight this war, until these issues are resolved. Yes, there will be casualties; this happens in war, get used to it people. We must stand and fight; other wise, the 2,996 people who perished, will have perished in vain.
Others from all sides of the political area: ABCNEWS, The Cable, Marc Lynch, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Swampland, New York Times, Salon, Guardian, msnbc.com, The Washington Independent, The Daily Dish, FiveThirtyEight, Counterterrorism Blog, David Rothkopf, Hullabaloo, Registan.net, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Mudville Gazette, The New Republic, Newshoggers.com, MoJo Sections, Foreign Policy, BBC, The Washington Note, At-Largely, Achenblog, Daily Kos, Classical Values, Think Progress, The Atlanticist, The Foundry, Danger Room, Weekly Standard, LiveWire, Wonk Room, democracyarsenal.org, Below The Beltway, SWJ Blog, PoliBlog, The Anchoress, The BLT, Hot Air, Flopping Aces, MoJo Blog Posts, Center For Defense Studies, Christian Science Monitor, The Faster Times, EU Referendum, The Opinionator, Crooks and Liars, Outside The Beltway, BLACKFIVE, QandO, Political Punch, Commentary, Shakesville, Truthdig, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Don Surber and Taylor Marsh and more via Memeorandum
Milwaukee TEA Party – A report from the ground
I got this from a friend of mine, Dan Vincent, who’s an old e-mail friend of mine.
—-
I pledge allegiance to the Flag,
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation under God, indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
(This was actually a kite flying over Veterans Park at the time of the TEA party. It was quite impressive, especially that it was flying at the time of the rally. We all said the pledge facing this flag – and everybody knew the words. Ask some student today to repeat the pledge!)
I went to this event at Veterans Park, on the lake front, in Milwaukee, on Saturday Sep 19th, and it was quite the success contrary to what you may have already seen, been told or have heard about it. I am not going to show you a picture of the crowd as I was well imbedded within it and you simply couldn’t see the crowd for all the people. I have a couple of pictures (sorry, but the batteries ran low) which I will share but don’t start thinking Pulitzer or Nobel Prize for photographic excellence. It simply ain’t gonna happen! There were over 10,000 people in attendance and you just know the drive-by media didn’t report it as such a strong showing. And there were two national networks there taking pictures and making up canards about what was really happening. It is so sad that people, and companies, that get paid for “investigative” reporting, “journalism“, “reporting the facts“, and “telling the truth” wouldn’t know the truth if it sent a tingle up their leg.
The speakers at this event were as listed below, and you could not have asked for a more spirited ticket to get the truth out than if you had asked for a citizens inquiry into congressional corruption. The speeches were short, to the point and very energizing and motivating. I was simply amazed that a group of ordinary citizens were so well spoken, so knowledgeable and so driven with exposing the congressional and current administration’s corruption that we all live with every day.
The headliner, of course, was Michelle Malkin, and, for a 5 foot 2 or 3 inch tall female, she was not going to be intimidated by any Chicago thugs when “calling out” the corruption we now find in our presidency, his minions and of those in congress. She was a pistol, full of fire, purpose driven and very direct. Names were named along with their claims to fame (corrupt behavior) that makes them so notorious, or, perhaps, “infamous” would be a better choice of words.
We also had Joe the (“Don’t share my wealth, share my work ethic”) Plumber, in attendance, who (God forbid) had the “nerve” to call out obama on his share the wealth boondoggle during his campaign and to show obama for what he really is – a low life socialist dictator, bent on confiscating the wealth of American workers and distributing it to those who have no such interest in earning it. For a blue collar worker, Joe the Plumber is certainly not a blue collar speaker. He is well spoken and called upon us to keep up the good fight and to not let this happen again by letting our guard down as we “vote” in the future. 2010 is upon us!
There were other very good speakers lined up as well with Vicki McKenna, the Rock Star of Radio (that is me in the photograph); Sheriff David Clarke, Milwaukee County Sheriff; Willie Soon, PhD, Harvard Astrophysicist on the lies behind the “Global Warming”/climate change debate; James T Harris, WTMJ Radio celebrity; Pastor David King, Milwaukee God Squad and the list goes on. To truly appreciate what really happened at the lake front, you just had to be there. This revival and revolution of honest and hard working people (contrast that with what we now have in office) is not over just yet. To make a point, one of the speakers (and I regret that I am not able to recall his name) said that the government should tax us at 100% of our earnings, and then see who shows up for work the next day. I am afraid that this is where we are headed with the current administration and congress??? After all, the former Soviet Union did just that and see where it got them.
As for the statist media, they got it wrong as usual. With over 10,000 people in attendance (and with TV and radio personalities represented from a national network, as supporting guest speakers) Channel 4, WTMJ, NBC Milwaukee, also could not find the crowd for the people in spite of their camera crews panning the attendees, checking out the signs and documenting the orderliness and enthusiasm of those in the crowd. Nothing unusual there for a national network. However, and true to form, they missed the boat, failed to recognize exactly what was happening in front of them, maliciously misrepresented the truth and then interviewed the only guy in the audience carrying an obama sign which made the TV news as if the other 10,000 people never showed up. If you watch, listen to or read the main stream media today, you deserve exactly what you get – nothing! And that is exactly what I would pay for their services – nothing!
Michelle Malkin
Author
Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies
Vicki McKenna
Rock Star of Radio
WISN Radio Milwaukee, WIBA Radio Madison
Joe the Plumber
Author: Fighting for the American Dream
Rachel Campos-Duffy
Blogger at AOL Parent Dish
Author:Stay Home, Stay Happy
Pat Snyder
WSAU Radio, Wausau
James T. Harris
WTMJ Radio, Milwaukee
Willie Soon, Ph.D
Harvard- Astrophysics
Marc Marano
Former Spokesman for Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma
Web site: ClimateDepot.com.
Eric O’Keefe
Sam Adams Alliance
David Clarke
Milwaukee County Sheriff
Mark Block
Wisconsin State Director, Americans for Prosperity
Pastor David King
Founder, Milwaukee God Squad
Rebecca Kleefisch
Conservative Correspondent at Midday With Charlie Sykes
Linda Hansen
Wisconsin Prosperity Network
Manny Perez
JNA Staffing & Rep. Nat’l. Hispanic Assembly
Chad Kent
Chad Kent Speaks
Tim Dake
Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty
Blackfive is running for office!
Damn, get caught up in National politics and trying to keep this blog full of relevent content and I miss something! Dang it!
Anyhow, Blackfive aka Matt Burden is running for State Congress in Illinois!
Give ’em hell Matt and Good luck to ya! 😀
(H/T Drunken Wisdom)
When it comes to freedom – Nothing else matters
Just a few things to explain. This is sand artist Kseniya Simonova. She is basically drawing in sand, the events leading up to and during “The Great Patriotic War” that took from place June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union and as this sand art shows, the Ukraine. The last song in this is a string version of “Nothing else matters”, which is done by a group named Apocalyptica.
The writing at the end says, “You will always be near – 1945”
Miss Simonova, we here in the United States understand; that nothing else matters.
Council of Conservative Citizens send their goons after me
Hmmmm.. Seems that since I have decided not to side with those who promote hate and decided to speak against linking to the Council of Conservative Citizens website. The group now has their goons coming my website. Well, two can fight play that game. Check out what plopped into my Moderation Que:
Author : October (IP: 68.37.19.36 , c-68-37-19-36.hsd1.de.comcast.net)
E-mail : yourmother@yahoo.com
URL :
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=68.37.19.36
Comment:
The wether is good in Delaware today Patrick, and Comcast would be sued by me if they dear tryed to stop me as a white American from searching and learning about white Civil rights organizations.I didn’t leave my real Email because I don’t have an Email address which is soley mine, buddy.
Please, dear bigot. Point out what is so racist about the CofCC and racist about my post dear Patrick.
First off asshole, I am not your fucking dear. You gay ass piece of shit. 😡
Now to answer your questions. I am not sure as to what “Posting” you are referring to, nor do I give two shits as to which one you are referring to. You need to look no further than the organization’s stated principles, which are nothing more than nuanced racism. So, if you are that big of a dumb fuck, that you cannot see the racism, that is Nuanced within those principles, that is your fucking problem, and not mine.
Also, from here on out, if someone leaves a comment here and it is not a real e-mail address and yes, I will be checking. I will from here on out, just delete the comment. I am not interested in getting into a stupid pissing match with a bunch of anonymous cowards. So, either fucking pony up and be a man, or just go the fuck away.
That is all.
White House asks New York Governor Paterson to drop out of election race
There has been quite a bit of discussion about this story in the Blogosphere already. Most of it has focused on the way that the White House handled the situation; which I will admit was less than professional. But the thing that I want to focus on, is why this is even happening.
First off, let us look at the New York Times Story:
Gov. David A. Paterson defiantly vowed to run for election next year despite the White House‘s urging that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race.
Appearing tired and agitated at a parade in Harlem on Sunday, the governor told a crowd of reporters that he would not abandon his campaign to seek a full term.
“I have said time and time again that I am running for governor next year,” he said at the 40th annual African-American Day Parade.
Mr. Paterson would not characterize what he was told by the White House, saying that he would not “discuss confidential conversations.”
“I’m not talking about any specific conversations,” he said. “As I said, I am running for office.”
President Obama had sent a request to Mr. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing, according to two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative with direct knowledge of the situation.
The decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of the administration officials said.
“Is there concern about the situation in New York? Absolutely,” the second administration official said Saturday evening. “Has that concern been conveyed to the governor? Yes.”
The administration officials and the Democratic operative spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions with the governor were intended to be confidential.
First off the confidentiality part got blown out of the water, and the President’s communication went public. I believe that part was totally intentional. It basically was done to send a message to Governor; one of “Hey, you idiot! Get out of the race, because you are going to lose!” That is pretty much a given.
My question is this; why all of the sudden are Democrats or more specifically the President of the United States asking the Governor of New York to drop out of an election race? I have an idea, and part of my explaining that reason is in this video, please watch it: (H/T HotAir)
Is it clear to you now? Well, in case it is not. I will explain. We Conservatives have taken control of the conversation. When I say “we”, I mean, the Conservative media, like Glenn Beck, who’s really an Independent; Bill O’Reilly, Who is a traditionalist and the rest of the talk radio world. Plus, you have the Conservative Blogosphere who were the forerunners in this fight. We were criticizing the President and polices from day one! The old media finally caught to us, oh, around three months later! This is why I had the screaming fit at Jim Hoft for linking to that site! We have seized the ship and taken the wheel away from the socialist media; we cannot afford to screw it up!
We have the Democrats running scared; and when I say “We”, I mean everyone that is involved in this operation, the Conservative media, like Fox News and all of the little media guys, The Conservative Blogosphere; who have been on this President’s butt since the day he botched up the oath of office. The rest of America; after watching the stimulus basically flop and the economy not recover, after watching the Government bailout the big two (and not the big three; Ford did not take any money…) and assume control of these companies, and after those employees, like my Father, watched their Dental and Optical benefits disappear, after working 31 hard years for that Company. —– Those people are starting to pay attention to the situation and are wondering, “Hey, what on earth is going on here??” and let’s not even get into that whole Healthcare debacle! —- They were promised change, and so far, they have gotten nothing. Nothing but trillions of dollars of debt, that their grandchildren and great-grand children will paying for, for the rest of their lives.
The sad part about all this is that the Democrats have about used every trick in the book to stop this movement; and have failed horribly. First, it was the tactic of the Bush Administration; of calling everyone that is opposed to Obama’s polices as being Anti-American. Then they trotted out the fear card, saying that we who were against Obama were stirring up violent tendencies among the people. Now they have trotted out their last refuge and that is the race card. In fact, the Democrats have used that race card, so much in fact that now even the Associated Press is basically saying, “Um, Guys? You are overplaying that defense.” Even African-Americans are even starting cringe. The sad part is, that is all they have, and now as you can see, they are on the run.
So, what happens now? Do we quit? Oh, heaven’s no. We keep fighting; Bloggers keep writing, Fox News and the media guys keep reporting, keep being critical of the President. It never ends, until the battle is over in 2012, and even then; whomever is elected, we criticize them too. That is what a Constitutional Republic with a free press does, and we Blogging folk, we are the independent, non-corporate media. The sixth estate, if you will. We keep the Murdoch, the G.E. and the turner empires honest. If they fall down on the job, we call them on it. That goes for Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, or whomever else is not doing their jobs properly.
We are in the battle of our lives, for our Country, for our freedoms. We must not quit, we must not grow faint. We must carry on.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:10-17 King James Version of the Bible)
Updated: This I cannot defend
Two things.
First, I have had to remove Gateway Pundit from my Blogroll; at least for the time being. Jim posted another story of another White kid getting beat up by black kids. My issue with it is this; He linked a Blog covering the story; that is run by the The Council of Conservative Citizens. In the interest of full disclosure; When I was still calling myself a Paleo-Conservative, I used to read this blog, quite a bit. I know what their motivation is, that is hate. Hate of the black race, period. I cannot and will not defend that at all.
As much as I know that Charles Johnson’s smearing of Pamela Geller was totally wrong; as much as I know that Charles Johnson’s smearing of Robert Stacy McCain in attempt to get to Michelle Malkin and HotAir.com was wrong, I just cannot and will not justify Jim’s linking to a known hate site. I want to believe that Jim Hoft is not a racist; he could help that belief by removing that link reference. But I do not expect that to happen.
For those that might have an issue with this, here are the principles of The Council of Conservative Citizens…. I will bold the troublesome parts, for me at least:
The American men and women who make up the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) believe in, commit themselves to, and pledge to work for and support these fundamental principles of American civilization, liberty, justice, and national safety:
(1) We believe the United States is a Christian country. We believe that the United States of America is a Christian country, that its people are a Christian people, and that its government and public leaders at all levels must reflect Christian beliefs and values. We therefore oppose all efforts to deny or weaken the Christian heritage of the United States, including the unconstitutional prohibitions of prayers and other religious expression in schools and other public institutions.
(2) We believe the United States is a European country and that Americans are part of the European people. We believe that the United States derives from and is an integral part of European civilization and the European people and that the American people and government should remain European in their composition and character. We therefore oppose the massive immigration of non-European and non-Western peoples into the United States that threatens to transform our nation into a non-European majority in our lifetime. We believe that illegal immigration must be stopped, if necessary by military force and placing troops on our national borders; that illegal aliens must be returned to their own countries; and that legal immigration must be severely restricted or halted through appropriate changes in our laws and policies. We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called “affirmative action” and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races.
(3) The United States is a sovereign and independent nation. We believe the United States is a sovereign and independent nation, that our independence as a nation is the most precious legacy of our Founding Fathers, and that all treaties, agreements, conventions, international organizations, and institutions must recognize and respect our national sovereignty and independence. We therefore oppose the so-called “New World Order” and its attempts to abolish national sovereignty and independence and to construct a one-world state in which America would vanish and Americans would be enslaved. We call for the U.S. government to withdraw from membership in the United Nations, the World Court, the International Monetary Fund, NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization. We oppose any attempt to place American military personnel under foreign command. We oppose any effort to place Americans, military or civilian, on trial before, or subject them to legal punishments by, international courts or organizations. We oppose, and we support official U.S. renunciation of, any treaty, agreement, or convention that seeks to dictate law to the United States or any state, that violates national sovereignty, or denies or violates the constitutional rights of Americans.
(4) The United States is a constitutional republic. We believe the United States is a constitutional republic, governed by law and by the original intent of the United States Constitution and of the men who framed it. We believe the Constitution can be changed only by the proper procedure of amendment or constitutional convention and not by court decision, popular majority, political whim, or legislative fiat. We therefore oppose the “imperial judiciary” in the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal courts that has usurped more and more power to itself in the last century and has imposed on our country the most odious and harmful rulings. We reject the legitimacy and constitutionality of the rulings handed down by the imperial judiciary; we support the appointment of judges and justices who are qualified to interpret the Constitution and the laws and are committed to their proper interpretation; and we support the impeachment of judges and justices who usurp or claim powers not granted them by the Constitution. We also oppose the “imperial bureaucracy” that imposes unconstitutional administrative decrees in such fields as business, agriculture, labor, and education that tyrannically interfere with personal liberty and dignity, private property, the sanctity of the family, and ethical conduct. We support the abolition of those government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels that have no constitutional foundation, including the U.S. Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Health and Human Services, and similar agencies. We support the separation of powers that is a fundamental principle of the U.S. Constitution and of basic human liberty. We support the restoration of the constitutionally proper balance among the three branches of the federal government and the reduction of their powers, size, personnel, and costs to the limits intended by the Constitution.
(5) We believe in States’ Rights, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the Bill of Rights. We believe in states’ rights, as guaranteed by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution; in the individual right to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution; and in all the rights and liberties guaranteed by the body of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We therefore oppose all efforts by the federal government to dictate to the states and local governments and communities, and we oppose federal efforts to engineer or impose behavior and beliefs on citizens and communities. We oppose “gun control” in all forms and demand that all such legislation and policies be repealed. We also oppose all such legislation as so-called “hate crime” or “bias crime” laws. Such laws merely penalize thought and expression rather than genuinely criminal action and are a dangerous and frightening step toward government Thought Control. Similarly, we oppose all so-called “politically correct” speech codes and “sensitivity training” in schools, colleges, universities, and businesses that punish free expression, restrict thought and study, intimidate dissent, and generally demean and diminish human communications and community. We also oppose, as stated, all efforts to deny Americans their rights of religious expression and worship as guaranteed in the First Amendment, as well as efforts to deny rights of assembly and association.
(6) The traditional family is the basic unit of human society. We believe in the traditional family as the basic unit of human society and morality, and we oppose all efforts by the state and other powers to weaken the structure of the American family through toleration of sexual licentiousness, homosexuality and other perversions, mixture of the races, pornography in all forms, and subversion of the authority of parents.
(7) Private property and free enterprise are the foundations of our economy. We believe in private property and free enterprise as the foundations of our economic life and the basis of American wealth. We oppose efforts by the state to regulate, plan, manage, control, or nationalize private property in any form. We oppose the ruinous taxation that government has imposed on working Americans and we call for real tax reform that will allow working men and women to retain what they have earned. We support the repeal of the estate tax. We affirm that the best economic decision-maker is the individual acting in what he believes is his own best interest. We believe that tax policies and other economic legislation and policies should reflect the importance of small businessmen, the family farm, and other independent, locally and privately owned and operated enterprises. While we accept the need for some public welfare, health care, unemployment, and old age assistance, we believe in such programs only as a last resort for those who truly need them. We believe tax laws should encourage private charity rather than public support for the poor, the disabled, and the sick and elderly who are unable to care for themselves. We support welfare programs that seek to return recipients of welfare to productive work as soon as possible. We oppose all welfare for immigrants, whether legal or illegal.
(8) Cultural, national, and racial integrity. We support the cultural and national heritage of the United States and the race and civilization of which it is a part, as well as the expression and celebration of the legitimate subcultures and ethnic and regional identities of our people. We oppose all efforts to discredit, “debunk,” denigrate, ridicule, subvert, or express disrespect for that heritage. We believe public monuments and symbols should reflect the real heritage of our people, and not a politically convenient, inaccurate, insulting, or fictitious heritage.
(9) A Strong National Defense. We believe in the strongest possible defense for the United States. We oppose the presence of homosexuals and women in the military services and especially of women in combat roles.
(10) America First Foreign Policy. We believe that in the aftermath of the U.S. victory over Soviet Communism, the United States has little need to retain the political and military commitments to allies made during the Cold War. While we wish these allies well, we believe we cannot continue to support their defense budgets, guarantee their security, fight their wars, or finance their governments and economies through foreign aid. We therefore call for a comprehensive review of all U.S. diplomatic commitments and U.S. withdrawal from those alliances and commitments that no longer serve our national interests or that threaten to entangle us in unnecessary foreign wars, conflicts, and quarrels. We therefore oppose continued membership in NATO and similar outdated Cold War alliances; we oppose sending American troops on U.N. peace-keeping missions or into similar unconstitutionally undeclared wars under the names of “police actions.” We oppose sending American military personnel into wars and conflicts that do not concern our national security and interests. We oppose ever sending American military men into combat without the intention to achieve victory. We oppose using American prisoners of war as diplomatic “bargaining chips” under any circumstances, and we oppose abandoning American POWs to merciless enemies after the cessation of conflict to suit the political interests of office-holders. We oppose all foreign aid and call for its termination. We support the investigation of lobbying groups that represent the interests of foreign states or foreign powers and the enactment of legislation that will outlaw lobbying Congress or the executive branch on behalf of foreign states.
(11) America First Trade Policy. We believe that just as our nation has legitimate international political and military interests, so it also has a legitimate international economic interest. We believe our trade policy should reflect our national economic interest and that the protection of our economy, including the jobs of our workers, our farms, and our manufacturing industries, is a vitally necessary duty of our national government.
(12) Traditional Education under Local Control. We believe that education is primarily the concern of parents and families and local communities and therefore we oppose federal aid to education and federal efforts to control or direct education. We believe that education should inform and build the mind and character, not brainwash children with political propaganda or “liberate” them from the traditional values and loyalties their families have taught them. We therefore oppose all “sex education” as well as so-called “multiculturalist” and “Afrocentric” curricula, “Outcome-Based Education,” and similar radical indoctrination in the schools. We oppose all efforts to inflate grades, adulterate or “dumb down” tests and examinations, and introduce irrelevant and wasteful courses for the purpose of advancing some backward students over others more talented or more productive. We believe the schools, public, private, and parochial, should teach students to be proud of being Americans and proud of their national and local identities, and that they should instill in them the values of Western, Christian, and American civilization. We support the authority of teachers and school administrators to discipline students, including the authority to expel them from school if students will not abide by the rules and laws of the community. We support the right of parents to send their children to private schools or to educate their children at home if they so desire, without government intrusion or control. We support the right of private schools to select their own students, faculty, curricula, standards, and methods of administration.
(13) Strong and Just Law Enforcement. We believe in the moral and legal responsibility of the individual and therefore that good behavior should be rewarded and bad behavior should be punished. We believe the most effective and most just response to crime is swift, certain, and morally appropriate punishment. We believe in capital punishment for the crimes of murder, rape, treason, and espionage. We oppose the substitution of the pseudo-sciences of psychiatry, sociology, and “rehabilitation” for real justice. We believe law enforcement should be mainly a function of local and state government, and we therefore oppose all efforts to establish a national police force or to nationalize law enforcement; we oppose similar efforts to create a global or international police force and to “globalize” law enforcement. We oppose the extradition of law-abiding American citizens to trials before foreign courts under laws to which they have never assented. We oppose all international criminal tribunals and all efforts to diminish national sovereignty through the internationalization of criminal law. While we support and deeply respect all law enforcement officers, we also insist that law enforcement at all levels operate within the law, that law enforcement respect the rights of all citizens, and that spying on and harassment of loyal and law-abiding citizens by law enforcement agencies, by the military services, or by intelligence services at any level of government should be strictly forbidden and severely punished.
(14) Protection of the Environment and Natural Heritage. We believe that the natural environment and resources of a nation are among its most precious, valuable, and irreplaceable treasures. We believe in the protection of the environment from reckless greed as well as from irresponsible government. We support the protection of truly endangered species of wildlife and areas of natural beauty.
Like I said; it is not that this group is blatant in their racism, it is a more nuanced. (I swear, before I discovered AllahPundit. I didn’t even know what a “nuanced” even was!) Just that same, I cannot defend Jim linking to that site. So, I am removing the blog from my roll for the time being. I am hoping that Jim is not in lockstep with that group; if he is, I will no choice that to disassociate myself with him.
On the subject of nuanced racism, there’s this little gem from the voter values summit:
Nuance.
It should be also noted that the man, who introduced Blunt; is named Tony Perkins. Tom Perkins gave a speech to the Council of Conservative Citizens in 2001. And when Perkins worked for Senator Woody Jenkins, he purchased a phone-bank list from former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.
Again, this stuff, I just cannot defend and will not. I threw Pat Buchanan under the bus, for what I considered to be his Nazi Apologist writings and I will do so in this case too; if need be. I have written this on my blog many times in the past and I will say this again. My issues with Barack Obama and the African-American Liberal Left is NOT based upon skin color, but rather upon my dislike of identity politics. Further more, my critism of Barack Obama is simply policy based and not base on racism.
Yeah, I know what you are going to say, “What about this?” Sorry, but pointing out that there has, in fact, been an uptick in Black on White violence, since the election is not racist in nature at all. That is a tactic of the left; silence the reporting of truth, by playing the race card. But there is big different between reporting facts; and linking to sites well-known for their inherit hatred of blacks; because of their race.
I am sorry, but there is a line, that you just do not cross and Jim Hoft crossed it. I cannot defend that and because of this, I have to distance myself from him. But my support for Robert Stacy McCain and Pamela Galler remain unabated.
Update: It dawned on me, after I hit the “Publish” button; that I, in the past, back when I still considered myself to be a “Paleo-Con”; I linked to that site myself. I mainly did it to get a rise out of the far left and the Identity politics crowd. I have, however, since basically distanced myself from that bunch; just because their inability to respect our military and for their isolationist foreign policy —- not to mention much of the Nuanced Racism and Antisemitism. I do not make excuses for my linking to them. But the last time I checked; I have not been mentioned by Fox News or any other main stream media outlet; and Jim Hoft has been. I guess what I am trying to say is this; we have all been working our asses off to combat the socialism of Barack Obama and his minions —- and now, we’re possibly going to marginalized because someone decided to pull a “David Duke” move and link to a hate site. It just frustrates me, that’s all.
Update # 2: Jim Hoft removes the link that I complained about and what does he do??? Puts it in a previous posting. 🙄 Nice, real nice. 🙄 Good going Jim! Now everyone and I do mean everyone; will think we’re all white nationalists. Idiot. 😡
Update #3: I am quite happy to report that my bitching and griping at Jim worked. 😛 The link was removed and replaced by some a wee bit more less hateful. Thank you Jim! Like I said over at on his comment section. We’ve got the football; let’s try not lousing the game up. In other words, we are changing the Conversation and turning America against the Socialism of the Obama Administration. Let’s not screw it up! 😀
Update #4: Reader “PB” says:
Jim Hoft still links to the youtube channel for the Council of Conservative Citizens and still links to a video that claims that two black children beat up a white child, despite the fact that no information has been released about the assailants. I don’t see why you think he’s appropriately responded; he’s still race-baiting.
To which I respond and say…. I hear ya. This is why he is not on my Blogroll anymore. I cannot control what people do. I can only ask them not to screw up. But I cannot force them. This happens in a free Republic. I simply asked him to please remove the link; and he did, that is all I can do. I cannot tell others how to run their blog. I would not want anyone tell me how to run mine. I can only choose to link to their blog or not. Not like it is going to matter, I do not give anywhere near the traffic that Jim Hoft does. So, my little blog is not going make much difference anyhow. I will just be more careful in where I link to, that is all.
But just as well, thanks for bringing it to my attention. 🙁
Update #5 November 29. 2009: I feel the need to write this, because it appears that some idiot liberals are trying to use this blog posting to prove that Jim Hoft is some sort of a racist bigot. I want it to be publicly known that I have no way of knowing if Jim Hoft is a racist bigot or not. I know that he linked to a video and then removed the link to a very nuanced racist site; but kept the said video on his site. I personally do not believe this to be case at all. I believe if Jim Hoft was real, true, bona fide racist bigot; his blog would have never been as successful as it is now. For the record, I have posted a video and linked to the same site, myself and I am not, what you would call a genuine, Bona fide, racist. I posted that video and linked to that site; because the video does ask, I feel, a legit question. However, I do not make a habit of linking there daily. Because what that site is about, and that is a sharp hatred of the Black and other races. I believe Jim Hoft, Like myself, hates socialism and identity politics as much as I do. I wrote this posting, because I believe that Jim was wrong in linking to the video; I still do. However, I cannot sit here and judge someone that I do not know, I would advise all of those reading this to do the same. Let me also say this; I removed Jim Hoft’s Blog, Gateway Pundit from my Blog for a long time. Mainly because I felt that possibly that he did harbor some true racist feelings. But after conversing with some people that actually know him personally, I was assured that Jim was not a bigot, but rather someone who is a Conservative that is against socialism, like me. I also felt that the people that were making these accusations, like Charles Foster Johnson; where nothing more than Liberals who find racism in anything that is not a liberal viewpoint. So, I put him back. Simple as that.
Black Teens Charged in School Bus Beating of White Teen
This comes via Gateway Pundit; an update to a story that I published about a week ago or so, about two black Teenagers who beat a white kid —- for sitting in the wrong seat.
St. Louis Today Reports:
Two Belleville West High School students were charged under the juvenile code today with felony counts of aggravated battery stemming from the violent beating of a 17-year-old student on a school bus earlier this week.
The incident grabbed national headlines and incited a heated debate about race when police said the incident, involving a white victim and black assailants, may have been racially motivated. They later recanted that claim.
The two teenagers—who are 14 and 15 years-old—were charged as juveniles because they are under the age of 17. Illinois law shields the disclosure of their names because they are minors.
Juvenile courts are more informal and private than adult courts. Juvenile court records are not available to the general public.
Jim is happy about it. But I do not think that it is enough. I believe these kids should be charged with hate crimes as well. Because it is quite obvious to me that this beating was racially motivated. I mean, why else would two black kids beat up a white kid? I mean, Black President is in the White House; so, why not beat up a white kid? It just makes sense to me. They should be tried on hate crimes.
The fact is folks; that given the chance, most blacks will beat up a white person. It is seen by blacks as a chance to get back at the white man for the way that the black man was treated for years. But the way our socialist liberal justice system is rigged, things are just not right. You let a group of black men beat up a white man and it is treated as a normal assault; but you let a group of white men, beat a black man; and it is automatically treated as a hate crime. A frightening example of this is the Christian Newsom murders that took place back in 2007. Tennessee was absolutely cowardly for not tossing in a hate crime charge, on top of the murder charges as well. Thus a perfect example of the absolute hypocritical state of our justice system in this Country.
It is, truly, a sad state of a affairs in this Country of ours.
Irving Kristol Dead at age 89
I got the alert via New York Times and I checked over at the Weekly Standard and sure enough Irving Kristol has passed.
Via The New York Times:
Irving Kristol, the political commentator who, as much as anyone, defined modern conservatism and helped revitalize the Republican Party in the late 1960s and early ’70s, setting the stage for the Reagan presidency and years of conservative dominance, died Friday in Arlington, Va. He was 89 and lived in Washington.
His son, William Kristol, the commentator and editor of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard, said the cause of death was complications of lung cancer.
Mr. Kristol exerted an influence across generations, from William F. Buckley to the columnist David Brooks, through a variety of positions he held over a long career: executive vice president of Basic Books, contributor to The Wall Street Journal, professor of social thought at New York University, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
He was commonly known as the godfather of neoconservatism, even by those who were not entirely sure what the term meant. In probably his most widely quoted comment — his equivalent of Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame — Mr. Kristol defined a neoconservative as a liberal who had been “mugged by reality.”
[….]
By now Mr. Kristol was battling on several fronts. He published columns and essays attacking liberalism and the counterculture from his perches at The Wall Street Journal and The Public Interest, and in 1978 he and William E. Simon, President Nixon’s secretary of the treasury, formed the Institute for Educational Affairs to funnel corporate and foundation money to conservative causes. In 1985 he started The National Interest, a journal devoted to foreign affairs.
But Mr. Kristol wasn’t railing just against the left. He criticized America’s commercial class for upholding greed and selfishness as positive values. He saw “moral anarchy” within the business community, and he urged it to take responsibility for itself and the larger society. He encouraged businessmen to give money to political candidates and help get conservative ideas across to the public. Republicans, he said, had for half a century been “the stupid party,” with not much more on their minds than balanced budgets and opposition to the welfare state. He instructed them to support economic growth by cutting taxes and not to oppose New Deal institutions.
Above all, Mr. Kristol preached a faith in ordinary people. . “It is the self-imposed assignment of neoconservatives,” he wrote, “to explain to the American people why they are right, and to the intellectuals why they are wrong.”
Mr. Kristol saw religion and a belief in the afterlife as the foundation for the middle-class values he championed. He argued that religion provided a necessary constraint to antisocial, anarchical impulses. Without it, he said, “the world falls apart.” Yet Mr. Kristol’s own religious views were so ambiguous that some friends questioned whether he believed in God. In 1996, he told an interviewer: “I’ve always been a believer.” But, he added, “don’t ask me in what.”
“That gets too complicated,” he said. “The word ‘God’ confuses everything.”
In 2002, Mr. Kristol received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, often considered the nation’s highest civilian honor. It was another satisfying moment for a man who appears to have delighted in his life or, as Andrew Sullivan put it, “to have emerged from the womb content.”
He once said that his career had been “one instance of good luck after another.” Some called him a cheerful conservative. He did not dispute it. He had had much, he said, “to be cheerful about.”
I will not lie. I did not agree with Mr. Kristol’s Politics or his version of Conservatism. In fact, I have been known to make a crack at people on other blogs; when they were spewing stupidity, especially the George W. Bush Cheerleaders, I would always say, “Where did you learn that line? From Bill or Irving Kristol?” or something usually to that effect. Some of Irving Kristol’s ideology was very controversial; like the desire for a full scale invasion of Iran; of which I found to be horrifically stupid. Thankfully, Bush’s people agreed. Much of his ideology can be summed up as Wilsonian; the man believed that war was the answer, always. I disagreed then and I still do.
However, it is not to say that Kristol was a total loss; He did work to take the Conservative movement away from the Anti-Semites within the Republican Party. He also exposed and expelled the blatant racists that had taken root since the days of Abraham Lincoln. Between Kristol and Buckley; Conservatism become a bit more intellectual and not the knuckle-dragging simpleton nonsense that it has become now; Sarah Palin being a perfect example.
May God Bless the man, I am sure will be missed. May he rest in peace.
Cross-Posted at Alexandria
Charles Foster Johnson and Banning on Blogs
Once again I feel the need to tip my toe into this discussion.
Robert Stacy McCain speaking on Charles Johnson and his house of idiots:
As if obsessively policing 400-comment threads for any hint of disagreement weren’t enough to satisfy the paranoia of Pol Pot, how does Johnson find the psychic energy to moonlight as Internet Commissar of Affiliation-Investigation?
Okay, this is where I feel the need to say, “Whoa! Hold it Minute Doc!”
Let me explain something to Robert and to those who happen to follow the link over from his blog. My issue with Charles Foster Johnson is NOT with his banning people from his blog, okay? I do it, everyone who gives two farks about their blog not being overrun with trolls does it. Actually, I do not really ban people. If someone posts what I feel to be a overly stupid troll-like comment. I simply put their IP address into a “This is an idiot user “Filter” and it moderates their comment. I use it sparingly, if it at all. But there are times, when I must.
Now this is where I lean into my libertarian part of me. I believe in individual freedom; and that freedom includes the right to ban people, that you feel are being idiots on your blog. Granted, Charles Johnson’s banning of some can be characterized as poor Judgment. (…and believe me, I am being incredibility nice here.) But, as much as it grinds many of us of dislike Charles Johnson and his attacking of those fighting in the struggle against Jihad; it is Charles Johnson’s right to ban whom he wishes. After all guys, it is his blog, he does pay the bandwidth bill.
My issue with Charles Johnson is this. As JoshuaPundit; who has a very nice looking blog, by the way — points out very well, it is because of Charles Johnson’s slandering those who stand up to President Obama’s socialist Domestic polices. Including people like Jim Hoft and Pamela Geller. THAT and only THAT was the reason why I ran the ads and came out in defense of McCain and those on the side of Anti-Jihad.
So, let me clear, (Until my teleprompter breaks and I forget what I am going to say… *tee hee*) My issue is not with Banning, as I feel it is any blog owners right to do so. It is with the personal attacks. That is why I support McCain and Co. As much as I know that Charles Johnson’s Banning is Douche Nozzle’ish in Nature, it is his right as a blog owner and I have no quarrel with that, at all.
News from a Fundamentalist Baptist Christian point of view
FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
September 18, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 38
The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.
A WARNING ABOUT BIBLE TRANSLATION WORK TODAY (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The amount of Bible translation work that has occurred over the past 100 years appears impressive. In 1910, the Bible in whole or in part was available in 722 languages, whereas today the number is roughly 2,500. The problem is two-fold. First, the vast majority of the new translations are based on the exceedingly corrupt critical Greek text, which omits 2,886 words from the Greek Received Text upon which the old Reformation Bibles were based. This is equivalent to omitting the entire books of 1 and 2 Peter from the Bible. These omissions include 45 entire and 185 partial verses and have significant doctrinal implications (Everett Fowler, Evaluating Versions of the New Testament). Further, the modern translation methodology itself is corrupt. Created by Eugene Nida fifty years ago, it is called “dynamic equivalency.” By this method, the translator is allowed to take frightful liberties with the infallible words of God, modifying and adapting the Scripture to “the culture.” The dynamic equivalency methodology even adopts pagan names for God. For example, the United Bible Societies and Wycliffe Bible Translators have used the following names for God: In Samba of Africa they used Nyaama (the sun); in Lame in Chad they used Yafray (mother of the heavens); in Ga in Ghana they used Ataa Naa Nyonmo (the father mother God). Philip Noss of the American Bible Society says, “God reveals himself through his word and through each culture” (“Bible Translation in History and into the Future,” Lausanne World Pulse, September 2009). (For more on this see the report “Dynamic Equivalency: Its Influence and Errors” at the Way of Life web site.)
EPISCOPAL NUNS JOIN ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (Friday Church News Notes, September 18, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – Ten nuns of the Episcopal Church in America joined the Roman Catholic Church this month. The nuns, from the All Saints Sisters of the Poor of Maryland, left the Episcopal Church because it has “become too liberal in its acceptance of homosexuality” (“Episcopal Nuns Leave,” USA Today, Sept. 9, 2009). The community’s chaplain, Warren Tanghe, also joined Rome. Christina Christie, the order’s superior, said, “We were drifting farther apart from the more liberal road the Episcopal Church is traveling. We are now more at home in the Roman Catholic Church.” In truth, they have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The Roman Catholic Church is not only permeated with its own heresies (e.g., the papacy, a sacramental gospel, veneration of Mary, priests who allegedly stand in the place of Chris t, the transubstantiation of the mass wafer), it is also filled with theological modernism. Pope John Paul II stated that the theory of evolution must be taken seriously by Christians (Vatican Information Service, October 23, 1996). Pope Benedict XVI calls Mary “Heaven’s Gate” (“All can enter eternal life, but the door is narrow,” Catholic News Agency, Aug. 27, 2007). As for homosexuality, it has been stated that 50% of Roman Catholic seminarians in America are homosexual (David France, “Gay and the Seminary,” Newsweek, April 20, 2002). This article describes “an aggressive gay ethos.” The total payout for sex abuse by the Roman Catholic Church in America is well over $2 billion. A conservative Catholic organization documented this wretched business in the fall/winter 2002 issue of the magazine Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, observing, “… the overwhelming majority of sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church–about 90%–inv olve homosexual priests preying on teenage boys.” By forbidding to marry (among other things), Rome has long identified itself as an institution that has departed from the faith and that is giving heed to doctrines of devils (1 Timothy 4:1-4).
President Obama honors Jared Monti
I realize that this Blog entry is not going to do much for my Conservative Credentials; not that I honestly give two flips about that. But I happened to notice this little entry over at the White House Blog.
President Barack Obama stands with Paul and Janet Monti as he posthumously awards their son, Army Sgt. 1st. Class Jared C. Monti from Raynham, Mass., the Medal of Honor for his service in Afghanistan during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009.
Quote:
Today the President awarded Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti, U.S. Army, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in the East Room of the White House. Sergeant First Class Monti received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in combat in Afghanistan, which the President recounted alongside his parents Paul and Janet Monti.
Here is a portion of the President’s comments, of which you can read the full thing here.
That’s when Jared Monti did what he was trained to do. With the enemy advancing — so close they could hear their voices — he got on his radio and started calling in artillery. When the enemy tried to flank them, he grabbed a gun and drove them back. And when they came back again, he tossed a grenade and drove them back again. And when these American soldiers saw one of their own — wounded, lying in the open, some 20 yards away, exposed to the approaching enemy — Jared Monti did something no amount of training can instill. His patrol leader said he’d go, but Jared said, “No, he is my soldier, I’m going to get him.”
It was written long ago that “the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet, notwithstanding, go out to meet it.” Jared Monti saw the danger before him. And he went out to meet it.
He handed off his radio. He tightened his chin strap. And with his men providing cover, Jared rose and started to run. Into all those incoming bullets. Into all those rockets. Upon seeing Jared, the enemy in the woods unleashed a firestorm. He moved low and fast, yard after yard, then dove behind a stone wall.
A moment later, he rose again. And again they fired everything they had at him, forcing him back. Faced with overwhelming enemy fire, Jared could have stayed where he was, behind that wall. But that was not the kind of soldier Jared Monti was. He embodied that creed all soldiers strive to meet: “I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.” And so, for a third time, he rose. For a third time, he ran toward his fallen comrade. Said his patrol leader, it “was the bravest thing I had ever seen a soldier do.”
They say it was a rocket-propelled grenade; that Jared made it within a few yards of his wounded soldier. They say that his final words, there on that ridge far from home, were of his faith and his family: “I’ve made peace with God. Tell my family that I love them.”
And then, as the artillery that Jared had called in came down, the enemy fire slowed, then stopped. The patrol had defeated the attack. They had held on — but not without a price. By the end of the night, Jared and three others, including the soldier he died trying to save, had given their lives.
I’m told that Jared was a very humble guy; that he would have been uncomfortable with all this attention; that he’d say he was just doing his job; and that he’d want to share this moment with others who were there that day. And so, as Jared would have wanted, we also pay tribute to those who fell alongside him: Staff Sergeant Patrick Lybert. Private First Class Brian Bradbury. Staff Sergeant Heathe Craig.
And we honor all the soldiers he loved and who loved him back — among them noncommissioned officers who remind us why the Army has designated this “The Year of the NCO” in honor of all those sergeants who are the backbone of America’s Army. They are Jared’s friends and fellow soldiers watching this ceremony today in Afghanistan. They are the soldiers who this morning held their own ceremony on an Afghan mountain at the post that now bears his name — Combat Outpost Monti. And they are his “boys” — surviving members of Jared’s patrol, from the 10th Mountain Division — who are here with us today. And I would ask them all to please stand. (Applause.)
Like Jared, these soldiers know the meaning of duty, and of honor, of country. Like Jared, they remind us all that the price of freedom is great. And by their deeds they challenge every American to ask this question: What we can do to be better citizens? What can we do to be worthy of such service and such sacrifice?
Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti. In his proud hometown of Raynham, his name graces streets and scholarships. Across a grateful nation, it graces parks and military posts. From this day forward, it will grace the memorials to our Medal of Honor heroes. And this week, when Jared Monti would have celebrated his 34th birthday, we know that his name and legacy will live forever, and shine brightest, in the hearts of his family and friends who will love him always.
May God bless Jared Monti, and may He comfort the entire Monti family. And may God bless the United States of America.
For all of the criticisms that I level at President Obama; this is not one of them. I truly believe that President Obama “Gets it”; when it comes to loss of life in the Military. More so, than even President Bush. I believe sometimes, that Bush used the Military as a photo prop or even to boost his ratings. To me, as a writer who was and still is, far way from the beltway, it always seemed like Bush was posing, when appearing with Military personnel. I could be wrong on this, but I highly doubt it. Obama does genuinely care. I can tell this. He respects the men and woman who risk and ultimately give their lives for the Military and more broadly for their Country. To me, that strikes me as Obama being a “Truman Democrat”. I truly believe that Obama dislikes the notion of war. But he also understands that War is necessary for the preservation of the Republic. I also notice that Obama has stepped up to the plate in the Afghanistan war. The President knows that the situation in that country is extremely complex; even more so now, that it was when Bush ordered the invasion.
It has also been observed that President Obama has shrugged off the far left’s insistence that President should pull our ground troops out of Afghanistan and solve the Afghanistan war though diplomacy. Something that this writer highly disagrees with. There is only one way to deal with terrorists and Al-Qeada and that is with the end of gun or a missile. President Obama knows this and has; so far, stepped up the plate and made it quite clear that he intends to carry that fight on. As a Conservative and someone who believes that the war on terror is a reality, this is a welcome quality as a President and I personally commend him for that.
This is not to say that I do not have issues with his domestic polices. I do. I disagree with a good portion of it. But his policy when it comes to the war on terror and his respect for our Nation’s Military is not something you will find me criticizing at all.
So, on the behalf of this Conservative writer and supporter of our Nation’s Military; Thank you Mr. President and please, Keep it up.
Quote of the Day
………….Attorney General Eric Holder, who played a role in the Clinton pardons of Weather Underground members, may be reluctant to prosecute former political associates of the President, but if the FBI pursues the case and brings the evidence forward, there may be no other alternative.
If President Obama himself wants to see justice done—and he claims he didn’t agree with the Weather Underground’s campaign of violence and bombings—it would be easy enough for him to order Holder to bring forth all of the available evidence in the case.
If CIA officers can be investigated for treating terrorists harshly, why can’t terrorist bombers now running around the Chicago area teaching college students be brought to justice for killing a policeman?
Aaaachooooo!
Heh….
Oh Boo Hoo!: Pelosi is worried about Violence!
Oh Geeez… 🙄
Maybe is Democrats would stop acting like fucking imbeciles; maybe, just maybe people would calm down!
Idiots deluxe.