Early Voting

Like a lot of people my age and with my medical problems, I have signed up for early voting by mail. I love it; I can sit in the comfort of my home, however dusty and messed it may be with two teenagers running around and vote my heart out.

When the opportunity arose, I had not been yet aware of this wonderful concept, as usual I would trek to the local school to stand in line, have my identity questioned and step into the booth while my fellow Americans would patiently wait their turn. That was always an interesting concept to me, I do not do lines, nor for that matter, crowded places.

I only had two problems after Viet Nam, other than the possibility of alcoholism, which my Father in his strict Irish way nipped in the bud by informing me I would be out of the house on my butt if I did not stop. Waking on the sofa clutching an empty bottle of Jack Daniels does not fit well into the scheme of a strict Irish Catholic home. I could not tolerate crowds, even worse someone invading my personal space and I hated lines, just as most veterans’ complain of today.

The crowds were a real problem for me when I joined the other male members of my family and became a Police Office. It is difficult for crowd control if you are unable to deal with their very existence. I worked and overcame that problem somewhat, but not entirely. As far as too many people standing next to me and in my space, that is a problem to this day, I will walk out of the room to avoid going off the deep end. Even someone I love, my wife, friends who I trust my very existence with, if they are too close and there is more than one I tend to have problems.

Therefore, when I became aware of voting by mail I jumped at the chance, filling out the necessary papers and waiting for my ballot. I have learned the hard way that this can be a frustrating experience. Early voting tabulation, or early polls, who the heck knows, but they drive me nuts.

I recently sent in my ballot and that night was watching the news telling me the local issues that were going to pass and fail. This really made me feel good, as usual, the media can ruin a perfectly good day. I have no idea where they get their data, early tabulation, calling homes, or a crystal ball, but they need to shut the hell up until every voter has cast their vote and the polls are closes. Sitting in your easy chair and trying to vote on an issue that is important to you and hearing on the news that it will fail makes me want to wake up with the bottle of Jack again!

The media has caught heat before for calling winners before the polls have closed; now they are doing it even before the polls have opened! In addition, they wonder why there is little voter turnout, why should people get out of their house if the winners are already announced.

They already have a few good men.

I have often written that although I was a grunt, my respect and admiration for the Marines is very high. This is due to many personal moments and contacts with these brave men and women and over the years, I have developed friendships and many a morning after from too many beers. However, let me tell you something, these men and women are hard-charging, get the job done professionals.

Las year I had read an article where the Marines had decided to join the ranks of SOCOM adding their own unique brand of a special operations warrior. Today I read an article discussing the training they are undergoing for their special operations team.

I read through this with interest a few times and could not help coming to the same conclusion with each reading, the Marines are already in the Special Operations business, they are only honing their skills a bit and giving their unit a new name so as to join their brothers and sisters in SOCOM.

Contrary to popular belief, the Marines think for themselves and react accordingly in a combat situation. Often you will see Hollywood, who cannot resist portraying the Marines as zombie clones blindly following some A-list star into combat. Of course, in these films, the men always die and the A-list star lives to save the day for his close-up with the flag.

Let me tell you something, this is a bold-faced Hollywood lie and they need to start telling the truth. These men and women think for themselves, they improvise, react accordingly and carry their spirit of corps the rest of their lives. They are professionals, through and through.

Clint Eastwood is catching a bit of heat over his latest film relating to the battle of Iwo Jima because people are tired of watching WWII movies where everyone dies. That is about the stupidest comment I have ever heard and yes, I actually read it somewhere last night in my travels. I was ready to come unglued on the author, but for some unknown reason he failed to provide am email. Gee, wonder why.

On Iwo Jima, the Marines had the fight of their lives and one third of all of the Medal of Honors awarded during WWII were done so resulting from the invasion of Iwo Jima. Due to a random moment when a photographer decided a few men putting up Old Glory would make a good photo this battle has forever melded into our minds. Today, it is difficult to think of the Marines without thinking of this one moment in history.

Congratulations on joining SOCOM Marines, but you have been in that business since you were born.

Semper Fi from an old HooAh.

More from Wild Bill on Strategy

The Generals' Revolt --- or Generally Revolting?

Posted By Subsunk

I've been reading the blogs, the transcript and some comments from some well-meaning and some irrational folks about the Generals' Revolt and their comments in front of a panel of Dhimmicrats in Congress. Many comments, and all the Dhimmicrats miss the point.

These Generals have gone to a partisan group and demanded action to remove the leadership of the Dept of Defense. Fine. Your points are noted with interest. If you read their transcripts they demand a dramatic increase in the commitment of troops, resources and money to the fight, and commitment to the conflict for the long haul. Again, fine.

There is nothing 145,000 American troops in Iraq and 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan couldn't do and do better with twice or three times the on ground manpower, resources, and money than is already committed. So let's see the Dhimmicrats insist on that. When they insist on raising the size of America's military from 1.4 Million on active duty to 2.5 Million on active duty, add the required armor, intelligence, air, and naval assets required to meet that task, including raising the Defense budget from $400 Billion to $1.2 Trillion annually, THEN and ONLY THEN, will I believe they are serious about defense and intend to actually fight the Long War.

What these Generals are saying is that we are fighting the War on Terror on the cheap.... and we are still winning it. The cost in men and women's lives is being paid because our Republican leadership has not made a case, and has not even asked us to sacrifice ourselves to go all out for Victory in the war. Fine. I'm upset about that too. If we accept that because we are too lame to insist our leaders wage total war against Islamofascism, that is our fault, not the Republicans, whose basic principles are to insist that government do the job with just enough funding, just enough manpower, just enough regulation, and just enough gas and guns to get the job done and nothing left over for waste.

If the Dhimmicrats insist the war is about a failure of leadership, then they better start exerting some. I want to see massive headlines in the NY Times, WaPo, and every other news machine in America demanding major increases in military spending, major increases in manpower, demands that Iran stop enriching uranium or their asses will be turned to nuclear fused glass in a month, and Dhimmicratic constituencies loudly demanding that Congress raise the age of enlistment to 55 so both they, their children, and I can join up again and do something real again for my country.

When I hear cries for these massive warfighting efforts, including the rationing, draft, and hardship imposed on every American soul to support this war, then I will agree that Dhimmicrats are leaders concerned with my safety, Republicans are doddering fools, and the American people are super geniuses who should be the only authorized leaders of the world, and smash those stupid UN kleptocrats like bugs.

While I'm listening over the chirping of crickets for these cries of outrage, I'll be supporting the only people who are actually doing anything about kicking Islamic ass, however meager an effort it is, and shining a spotlight on the cockroaches of fascism living in the Dhimmicratic household... the Bush administration and Donald Frickin' Rumsfeld. They may be doing it on the cheap, but they are doing it.... and they are Winning.

It will take longer, cost more in the long run, and will demand smaller sacrifices instead of large ones, but the job will eventually get done. While the crickets are chirping over the cries for a larger military, I'll be praying that the Men and Women of the United States Armed Forces continue to show the guts, determination, and courage lacking in every other segment of American society...the Courage and Fortitude to do their Duty, even when it is unpopular, underfunded, underappreciated, and underplayed by Republicans, and disavowed by Dhimmicrats.

All of us need to get a grip. We either suffer with them and get it over quick. Or we suffer not at all, and let them do their jobs with what pittances we give them, and pray that they will forgive us when they grow old and forgotten by a citizenry which knows little of what they are actually accomplishing for the World and for America. Freedom from tyranny. Freedom of religion. Freedom from the burkha and for Women's rights. And freedom from the Knife and the Sword in the night. Freedom from Kristallnacht, Islam style. Let's get out of their way!

Press on, Men. To Victory.

Subsunk

UPDATE: While I was reading, typing and thinking, GRIM was already reading my mind. All of you make sure you read the stuff GRIM has written as well. It is integral to the discussion here.

Subsunk out.

IT CAME DOWN TO ONE MARINE

This great write up was forwarded by Wild Bill. It is filled with bravery, heroism and is a wonderful true tale of one Marine. I was a HooAh, an old one now. However, I have always felt the United States Marines are the bravest men I have ever met, this only adds credence to that thought. Thank you Wild Bill for Sharing. I am sure the author will not mind as long as he is left as such.

Ranter

from here: http://www.850koa.com/shows/newman.html

IT CAME DOWN TO ONE MARINE

by Vin Suprynowicz

On Nov. 15, 2003, an 85-year-old retired Marine Corps colonel died of congestive heart failure at his home in La Quinta, Calif., southeast of Palm Springs.

He was a combat veteran of World War II. Reason enough to honor him. But this Marine was a little different. This Marine was Mitchell Paige.

It's hard today to envision -- or, for the dwindling few, to remember -- what the world looked like on Oct. 26, 1942.

The U. S. Navy was not the most powerful fighting force in the Pacific. Not by a long shot. So the Navy basically dumped a few thousand lonely American Marines on the beach on Guadalcanal and high-tailed it out of there.

You Navy guys can hold those letters. Of course Nimitz, Fletcher and Halsey had to ration what few ships they had. I've written separately about the way Bull Halsey rolled the dice on the night of Nov. 13, 1942, violating the stern War College edict against committing capital ships in restricted waters and instead dispatching into the Slot his last two remaining fast battleships, the South Dakota and the Washington, escorted by the only four destroyers with enough fuel in their bunkers to get them there and back.

Those American destroyer captains need not have worried about carrying enough fuel to get home. By 11 p. m., outnumbered better than three- to-one by a massive Japanese task force driving down from the northwest, every one of those four American destroyers had been shot up, sunk, or set aflame. And while the South Dakota -- known throughout the fleet as a jinx ship -- had damaged some lesser Japanese vessels, she continued to be plagued with electrical and fire control problems.

"Washington was now the only intact ship left in the force," writes naval historian David Lippman. "In fact, at that moment Washington was the entire U. S. Pacific Fleet. She was the only barrier between (Admiral) Kondo's ships and Guadalcanal. If this one ship did not stop 14 Japanese ships right then and there, America might lose the war. .."

On Washington's bridge, Lieutenant Ray Hunter had the conn. He had just seen the destroyers Walke and Preston "blown sky high." Dead ahead lay their burning wreckage. Hundreds of men were swimming in the water and the Japanese ships racing in.

"Hunter had to do something. The course he took now could decide the war," Lippman writes. "'Come left,' he said. ... Washington's rudder change put the burning destroyers between her and the enemy, preventing her from being silhouetted by their fires.

"The move made the Japanese momentarily cease fire. Lacking radar, they could not spot Washington behind the fires. ..." Washington raced through burning seas. Dozens of destroyer men were in the water clinging to floating wreckage. "Get after them, Washington!" one shouted.

Sacrificing their ships by maneuvering into the path of torpedoes intended for the Washington, the captains of the American destroyers had given China Lee one final chance.

Blinded by the smoke and flames, the Japanese battleship Kirishima turned on her searchlights, illuminating the helpless South Dakota, and opened fire. Finally, as her own muzzle blasts illuminated her in the darkness, Admiral Lee and Captain Glenn Davis could positively identify an enemy target.

The Washington's main batteries opened fire at 12 midnight precisely. Her radar fire control system functioned perfectly. During the first seven minutes of Nov. 14, 1942, the "last ship in the U. S. Pacific Fleet" fired 75 of her 16-inch shells at the battleship Kirishima. Aboard Kirishima, it rained steel. At 3:25 a. m., her burning hulk officially became the first enemy sunk by an American battleship since the Spanish-American War. Stunned, the Japanese withdrew. Within days, Japanese commander Isoroku Yamamoto recommended the unthinkable to the emperor -- withdrawal from Guadalcanal.

But that was still weeks in the future. We were still with Mitchell Paige back on the god-forsaken malarial jungle island of Guadalcanal, placed like a speed bump at the end of the long blue-water slot between New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago ... the very route the Japanese Navy would have to take to reach Australia.

On Guadalcanal the Marines struggled to complete an airfield. Yamamoto knew what that meant. No effort would be spared to dislodge these upstart Yanks from a position that could endanger his ships. Before long, relentless Japanese counterattacks had driven supporting U. S. Navy from inshore waters. The Marines were on their own.

As Platoon Sgt. Mitchell Paige and his 33 riflemen set about carefully emplacing their four water-cooled 30-caliber Brownings, manning their section of the thin khaki line which was expected to defend Henderson Field against the assault of the night of Oct. 25, 1942, it's unlikely anyone thought they were about to provide the definitive answer to that most desperate of questions: How many able-bodied U. S. Marines does it take to hold a hill against 2,000 desperate and motivated attackers?

Nor did the commanders of the mighty Japanese Army, who had swept all before them for decades, expect their advance to be halted on some God-forsaken jungle ridge manned by one thin line of Yanks in khaki in October of 1942.

But by the time the night was over, "The 29th (Japanese) Infantry Regiment has lost 553 killed or missing and 479 wounded among its 2,554 men," historian Lippman reports. "The 16th (Japanese) Regiment's losses are uncounted, but the 164th's burial parties handled 975 Japanese bodies. ... The American estimate of 2,200 Japanese dead is probably too low."

You've already figured out where the Japanese focused their attack, haven't you? Among the 90 American dead and seriously wounded that night were all the men in Mitchell Paige's platoon. Every one. As the night of endless attacks wore on, Paige moved up and down his line, pulling his dead and wounded comrades back into their foxholes and firing a few bursts from each of the four Brownings in turn, convincing the Japanese forces down the hill that the positions were still manned.

The citation for Paige's Congressional Medal of Honor picks up the tale: "When the enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, P/Sgt. Paige, commanding a machinegun section with fearless determination, continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire."

In the end, Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed Brownings -- the same design which John Moses Browning famously fired for a continuous 25 minutes until it ran out of ammunition, glowing cherry red, at its first U. S. Army trial -- and did something for which the weapon was never designed. Sgt. Paige walked down the hill toward the place where he could hear the last Japanese survivors rallying to move around his flank, the belt-fed gun cradled under his arm, firing as he went. And the weapon did not fail.

Coming up at dawn, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley was first to discover the answer to our question: How many able-bodied Marines does it take to hold a hill against two regiments of motivated, combat-hardened infantrymen who have never known defeat?

On a hill where the bodies were piled like cordwood, Mitchell Paige alone sat upright behind his 30-caliber Browning, waiting to see what the dawn would bring.

One hill: one Marine.

But "In the early morning light, the enemy could be seen a few yards off, and vapor from the barrels of their machine guns was clearly visible," reports historian Lippman. "It was decided to try to rush the position."

For the task, Major Conoley gathered together "three enlisted communication personnel, several riflemen, a few company runners who were at the point, together with a cook and a few messmen who had brought food to the position the evening before."

Joined by Paige, this ad hoc force of 17 Marines counterattacked at 5:40 a.m., discovering that "the extremely short range allowed the optimum use of grenades." They cleared the ridge.

And that's where the unstoppable wave of Japanese conquest finally crested, broke, and began to recede. On an unnamed jungle ridge on an insignificant island no one had ever heard of, called Guadalcanal.

But who remembers, today, how close-run a thing it was -- the ridge held by a single Marine, in the autumn of 1942?

When the Hasbro Toy Co. called some years back, asking permission to put the retired colonel's face on some kid's doll, Mitchell Paige thought they must be joking.

But they weren't. That's his mug, on the little Marine they call "G. I. Joe."

And now you know.

A few words from the Ranter

Wild Bill and I have both posted a few of our ideas for Iraq and the present war on terrorism with the sincere hope that someone will read our words, thoughts and experience from real veterans and perhaps stop and think. That is all we are asking, that America collectively stand up, for one specific moment pauses, reflects on the present war, and think of what the old dogs of war are trying to say.

We have been there, we have been at the forefront of crowd hatred against us, we know all too well the feelings of a soldier when they discover they are fighting a war that their country does not support and people are not only demonstrating, they are battling returning military. This is really not the true intentions of the articles, they are only to do as I suggested, make one American, somewhere, someplace stop and think of what is going on and perhaps that person can change the way things are headed.

If we do not entertain this present situation as an all, out war of winning then we have wasted our time and the precious lives of our military. If we pull out of Iraq without an effective exit strategy, living them as we did the people of Viet Nam and the Montanyard tribesmen we left for slaughter then we have not only wasted the lives of our precious sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, but the lives of the people in Iraq.

We cannot be the paper tiger so often discussed by our enemy, they know all too well that as soon as we begin taking casualties we tend to pull the troops out of harm’s way. We need to enter this war as a war of wining, a war of attrition, a war that leaves one and only one remaining factor, peace in our time.

We must throw out the winds of words of crusade, of religious war for it is not, it is a war against terrorism and these are the people that we are fighting, not because we wanted to, but because we were attacked, our financial system and our way of life. We cannot spend idle moments listening to the idiots of our times telling the people that it never happened, that it was holographic images and controlled demolition. We were attacked on 9/11 and we need to make them pay for what they did and insure it does not happen again.

As Wild Bill pointed out, we will be attacked again, it is only a matter of time, but we cannot sit in our controlled air-conditioned homes thinking we are safe from the ravages of war. England and Israel learned that lesson and we should learn from them.
The unfortunate answer to all I am saying is we will not learn because we tend to forget the things that happen to us, we tend to forget what countries and terrorists have done to us, we tend to forget and if we continue to do so, we just may have forgotten whom we are.

Wild Bill Adds to the Strategy

Wild Bill Adds to the Strategy

To do what NEEDS and will HAVE to be done in the Mid East to turn the situation around, WONT and CANT be done today..

There isnt the support that would be needed.. It would have to be fought just as WW II was, and this country would not be behind that..

There wont be ANY improvement in that Region till we accept the challenge from Iran and Syria and beat them into submission !! They have continually sent money, arms and fighters (some from their military) into Iraq to attack the Mission there..

In WW II we didnt just bomb and fight in Germany.. We bombed and fought all over Europe !! Why should this threat be any different ?? Radical Moslem Cells are in over 90 Countries..

We've seen an example by way of Afghanistan, that if we go after em ONE-PLACE-AT-A-TIME all they are gonna do is move on to somewhere else and crawl behind some more civilian shields..

The support is nowhere near there for a draft of 750K more recruits and $100 billion worth of supplies for em.. Can you just imagine how unhinged the Left would be even at the mention of it ??

We really dont have much choice but to do some minor adjustments to the Command Staff and call Ms. Condi Rice on the Carpet and tell her that her "appeasement" methods AINT WORKIN !!

Yes, we need to get tougher, again.. But anybody that has raised a kid or 2 knows that its always a lot easier to lighten up on em than it is to crack down on em..

From what I've gathered the last coupla days, there seems to be a growin dislike for Maliki.. And a lot of it seems to be in his Admin. and Military Leaders.. Did you notice that Maliki said he didnt know that there was gonna be a raid on Sadr City ?? His Staff was notified and kept informed, but the word never got to Maliki.. And there has also been talk that it may come to a coup to remove him too..

Ol Mooki (Sadr) seems to be losin a lot of his popularity in that part of the world latelty.. Kinda like ol Zarq did, before we turned him into a crispy critter !! Sure would give me a warm fuzzy feelin to be able to have me a big toast to his smelly-ass mangled corpse achievin room temp !!

The GOOD NEWS, is that this wont have to last much longer..

The BAD NEWS, is that there is gonna be another major attack on the U.S. and thats what is gonna change the SUPPORT here at home to finally be able to do what is gonna have to be done..

The Ranter’s Strategy

The Ranter’s Strategy

We are so bogged down in the mess that we created in Iraq that no one has any idea what to do to salvage the situation. I have been giving a lot of thought to this and have a few ideas, concepts and suggestions that perhaps between Wild Bill and I we can either make sense out of or simply forget about them.

We first entered Iraq with a classic General Patton attack plan, bypass the hotspots, perform end runs and deal with the hot situations after the city was taken. Our military performed as the true professionals they are and the tanks entered Baghdad as the Iraqi spokesmen was explaining to the cameras how their military had beat us back. Great television moment and he has never been seen again.

The Iraqi people loved us, throwing flowers, tearing down statues of Saddam and open celebration in the streets. Then reality sets in, we, the infidels are not only at the gate, we are on their soil. Of course, our answer is to get their government kick started into high gear and begin training their military and police. Then one of our special teams finds Saddam hiding in his hole and more celebration. At that point, reality sets in all around, what do we do now?

Point one: The Iraqi people have forgotten one basic rule of war and our military, let alone our politicians have never bothered to mention it to them. They are a conquered nation, they only have the rights and privileges we allow them to have and the government we are allowing them to put together.

Point two: We decide what is going to work and what is not going to work and we decide when our military attacks strongholds and takes out their bad guys, not their religious leaders or the government who tend to be part of the problem, not the solution.

Instead, we sit back and listen to their religious leaders and our politicians shake their collective heads wondering what to do, my gosh, we cannot go against their religion, what if this turns into a crusade, what do we do then?

Point three: That thinking has to be thrown out the window and we need to do something we have yet to do, turn our dogs of war lose and allow them to get the job done for the last time. We need to reinforce the Marines in the Sunni Triangle, removing the insurgents and bringing peace to the people. We need to seal the borders and stop the insurgents and murdering scum as they are running away and remove them from every part of the nation. We need to remove every hotheaded religious leader who is leading uprisings and we can do this because, they are a conquered nation and we set the rules, not them.

Point four: Once the nation is secure, we can install their government and put them on the path to peace, this worked in Japan and Germany, yet due to religious views, we are so far lost in the political correct bull of the present that we have lost our way. We also need to understand their way of life and if their government requires religious leaders as part of it then so be it, but we decide, not them.

Point five: We are standing between two warring religious sects who have been at odds since the dawn of their religion and we wonder why they are fighting. The Iraqi people do not understand or comprehend peaceful solutions, they understand violence and being made to tow the line and if that is what we need to do then we need to do it now. They only understand this because it has been their way of life since the dawn of man and they teach it to their children. We cannot win their hearts and minds; they hate us and only hear what they want.

Point six: We have to stop worrying about the word “Crusade”, the only people using it is their religious leaders and we need to remove them from the safety of their little hiding spots.

If we do not do something to this effect then the brave men and women of our military, who have paid the ultimate price has done so for nothing.

We need to be the ruling country that we are and turn this debacle into something good, if we do not then we have truly lost our way.

Forwarded from Wild Bill

The Missing Middle Ground

Phil Brennan
Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005

Among the sour-grapes comments from the sore losers who can't accept the victory of President Bush is that he failed to keep his promise to bring us together.

That's garbage – sophistry at its worst. Simply put, you can't unite people whose political and moral opinions are diametrically opposed. Anyone who thinks that's possible is either prevaricating or dreaming. Apples are not oranges and no amount of coaxing will make them so.

When George Bush made that promise, he was utterly sincere in the hope that he could persuade the American people to put aside petty differences and unite for the good of the nation. But what he failed to recognize was that the differences that divided us were far from petty. In assuming the presidency he was walking headlong into a battleground where the issue is between what is right and what is wrong.

Someone once said – I think it was Abraham Lincoln; it sure sounds like him – that we must not allow ourselves to be deluded by those who would have us believe that there is some middle ground between right and wrong.

Yet the only way to unite those who uphold what they believe in their hearts is right, and those who they are convinced espouse that which is wrong, is to arrive at that elusive middle ground between the two, and it just plain does not exist.

One of the burning issues of our times is abortion. Roughly half of the American people believe that the killing of the unborn is not only wrong but also wantonly atrocious, while the other half think it's a perfectly acceptable way for a woman to solve the problem of an unwanted pregnancy.

Where's the middle ground here? How can you bring together people who regard abortion as murder and those who either deny that it is murder, or worse, insist that it doesn't matter if it is? A woman's right to choose to kill her unborn child simply trumps the right to life of an unborn human being. Period.

How can you bring together the two sides of this issue, which is, no matter how you put it, a matter of life and death? Did George Bush fail here? Well, if he couldn't do what is clearly an impossibility, you could say he failed. But you'd have to be Michael Moore or some other disingenuous fool to buy that nonsense.

There are genuine issues that divide this nation, and in almost all cases they involve matters of Judeo-Christian morality vs. the secular doctrine of anything goes. Most Americans, for example, adhere to the ancient doctrine that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. But the media and a large number of moral misfits insist that marriage should also be recognized as a union between a man and a man or a woman and a woman – an absurdity on its face.

This has been called a culture war, but it is far from that – it is a war where what is at stake is the nation's soul. We are either a Godly people adhering to a moral code as spelled out in the Ten Commandments, or a godless people wedded to the idiot notions that if it feels good, do it, and if it works, try it.

There is no middle ground here. There is right and there is wrong, and never the twain shall meet.

Writing in the current Weekly Standard, P.J. O'Rourke played ghostwriter for President Bush's inaugural address and he hit the issue head on.

"My Fellow Americans," he had the president saying, "I had intended to reach out to all of you and bring a divided nation together. But I changed my mind. America isn't divided by political ethos or ethnic origin. America isn't divided by region or religion. America is divided by jerks. Who wants to bring a bunch of jerks together with the rest of us? Let them stew in Berkeley, Boston, and Ann Arbor.

"The media say that I won the election on the strength of moral values. If the other fellow had become president, would the media have said that he won the election on the strength of immoral values? For once the media would have been right.

"We are all sinners. But jerks revel in their sins. You can tell by their reaction to the Ten Commandments. Post those Ten Commandments in a courthouse or a statehouse, in a public school or a public park, and the jerks go crazy. Why is that? Christians believe in the Ten Commandments. So do Muslims. Jews, too, obviously. Show the Ten Commandments to Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians, or to people with just good will and common sense and nobody says, 'Whoa! That's all wrong!'"

O'Rourke has it right. On one side are the great mass of the American people whose heads are screwed on right. On the other are the jerks, the self-appointed elitists who think the majority of their fellow Americans are an illiterate bunch of yahoos who live in flyover country, probably in trailer parks or shacks with hound dogs living under the front porch, and whose opinions are not worth listening to.

The jerks are the intellectually superior class who think they can bring a president down by using forged documents on a TV news show and get away with it. The jerks are the politicians who lie to senior citizens that the president's attempts to solve the looming Social Security problem are really meant to cut benefits of those retirees now getting them.

The jerks are the people who would like to see the greeting "Merry Christmas" outlawed and that sacred holy day driven into obscurity. The jerks are the people who want to convince us that the universe and those within it created themselves.

Does anybody really want to be united with the jerkery?

Few thoughts on things

I wrote about my hero, General Patton yesterday, I have been giving Iraq more thought, and have not arrived at any groundbreaking discoveries. President Bush is clear that he is frustrated over the present course of action and we all can understand and emphasize with that feeling.

We have the most powerful, awesome military machine in the world. We have bombs that can just about knock on the door to see if the target is home and yet from a political standpoint we are not accomplishing anything.

Election time brings out the worst in the advertising, the Rush Limbaugh insults to Michael J. Fox on his disease stands out as a prime example of this statement. I like Rush, don’t always agree with him, as well as not always agree on the party line, but he fell from grace when insulting an actor that is so loved and stricken with a debilitating disease as Fox is. When I watched the advertisement in question I was not only saddened by Rush’s comments, but felt badly that Michael J. Fox had to sit before a camera to make those statements in his present condition because he wants a cure, nothing more.

I am not going to even get into a hollering match on stem cell research, I am sure we all have our own feelings on this just as I have mine. But let’s be honest here folks, no matter what research plays into something as devastating as Parkinson’s it should never have to cross into the arena of the political football nightmares of election time. I have a friend stricken with a neurological disease and she has become one of my personal heroes, her bravery and steadfast determination to beat her problems is an inspiration to me, she does not know that, I have never told her, but to me, she is my hero.

Bear with me a moment for one of the Ranter’s famous analogies. I had a friend who was trying to save the whales, monkeys, baby seals and just about every tree he could chain himself to the trunk. I did not support him in his endeavors; on the contrary, I ticked him off to no end. I explained to him that if all the diseases of humanity could be cured just by destroying one of the things he was fighting for, then I saw nothing wrong with that. I never spoke to him again, but did read years ago that he had been arrested for breaking into a lab to free monkey’s that turned out to be infected with a deadly disease. He could have wiped out humanity to save a sick monkey the lab people had not even infected, but were trying to cure to turn back into the wild.

When it comes to the diseases that strike at the heart and core of our bodies the research should be tireless, endless and enter any field necessary until a cure is found, pure and simple. It should never enter the political nightmare of elections or anything even remotely connected to them.

As far as our goals and plans for Iraq, who even is aware of this any longer? They have changed so many times that no one; including the President has no idea. Pulling our troops out and bringing them home is not the answer as some of the Democratic advertisements have suggested. We would leave Iraq in a war nightmare that we created with a war between the two sects that will lead to the eventual destruction of one, if not the country.

The Democrats always have the answer, pull the troops out and that makes as much sense as running away from a problem, but that is what they do, it is the easy way and the one Hollywood prefers, so that is their answer.

Our brave men and women are standing on the line and defending their lives, we are sitting here in the safety of our homes debating the issue. This is so stupid, insane and absurd, yet it is what America has always done, business as usual and the troops suffer. Damn this sickens me to no end.

General Patton, you are needed.

If what he believed in was true then General George S. Patton is among us still in the form of a new warrior transcended from his former self through reincarnation. He was a firm believer in this as well as his warrior ancestors guiding his movements through various stages of glory.

Patton was in a severe state of sadness for missing out on the Normandy invasion and the possibility of glory due to slapping a soldier suffering from shock. His glory was still to come when he was given command of the 3^rd Army and with the determination of Alexander he quickly fought his way to the German homeland where his army ran out of fuel.

The small city of Bastogne was under siege by the German army in what became The Battle of the Bulge and the 101^st Airborne Division fought with heroism and valor stopping the German winter push in its tracks.

Patton disengaged from an active battle, turned his armor and third Army 90 degrees and fought to reinforce the heroic 101^st and their commander who had responded to the German request for surrender with one simple word, NUTS. The 101^st may have been surrounded, but they felt sorry for those poor bastards and were not going to listen to the word surrender, not while they still had a few shells left for their weapons.

There is a reason I have brought this up, besides the fact it is one of my favorite history lessons of WWII and a long departed relative of mine had served with Patton and always told us his men loved and hated him at the same time, saying it was always Patton’s guts and the men’s blood, that’s why he was known as blood and guts.

General Patton if you are indeed walking among the ranks of warriors today then your country needs you now more than ever. We need a General not afraid of politics and the media who will take the bull by the horns and turn Iraq into a better place. Yes, General Patton your country needs you.

Are they ready?

I do not know if giving the Iraqi government a timetable to take over security of their country is going to work, or for that matter if it is even a good idea. First, the question must be answered, can they effectively manage their own security and assure the common welfare of the people while insuring the sanctity of their government.

At this point in time, the answer to the question would be a resounding no, because daily, government officials meet their fate at the hands of gunmen and as recently as three days ago Shiite Muslim militias took over a city and yes it was taken back, but where were the Iraq security forces when this happened.

Do not misunderstand me, I feel the Iraqi government, police and military have made quantum leaps from their initial inception, but the question remains, are they prepared to take over without the aid of the United States military and right now that aspect does not look too good.

President Bush has often stated that America is in Iraq for the long haul and we need to stick to that and add assuring the common welfare of the Iraqi people. Granted, we are not doing a great job at this if one reads the daily death toll from Iraq and we need to do more to assure their safety.

When we entered Iraq, we assumed more responsibility then removing Saddam from power. We assumed the safety of the people and we need to insure that factor is satisfied. Violence, explosions, death and destruction has become a fact of daily living in Iraq and we need to do more to put additional security forces on the street.

This often reminds me of Viet Nam in the sense of taking territory then turning it over the local government and having to come in and retake the same ground three months later, in other words wasting human lives for the same thing over and over. We need to insure the Iraqi people are safe and this means turning our dogs of war loose and allowing them to do what we have trained them to do, go to war.

We need to remove the insurgents from their hiding nest and destroy their will to fight. We have the most awesome military machine in the world and we need to use these resources to get the job done once and for all. Then and only then can we entertain the concept of a timetable and when we do, it just might work.

My Complaint to CNN

I have sent this complaint to each of the email addresses listed on the Contact Page and telephoned their office from the phone number I have published. I am not publishing this for any other reason than to demonstrate my disgust and outrage at their actions.

EMAIL and an open comment to CNN and REPORTERS:

I do not have any idea if you are affiliated with anyone in the decision to run footage of our service members being targeted and murdered by insurgents. The decision of CNN to broadcast this footage has passed the boundaries of journalism.

As a direct result of this footage each and every member of CNN are a disgrace to the news service industry and the men and women who have gone before you in this noble profession of journalism; Walter Cronkite, Edward R, Murrow and other professionals would hang their head in shame with the knowledge they are affiliated with you.

The recent footage CNN is broadcasting of snipers targeting and murdering our service members is the most obscene insult to the eyes and minds of the American people and the family members who have lost loved ones to these and other actions in the war on terrorism.

CNN has been a staple in our home since it first aired and I can assure you it will no longer be watched by any member of this house as well as anyone we are associated with. This I can guarantee as I have had conversations with more than thirty individuals, all of which are up in arms over this decision to air the footage.

I have written my disgust in my blog as well as sent over two hundred emails on this very subject to friends, associates and individuals I have come to know over the years.

CNN should hang their head in shame and collectively beg the forgiveness of the American people and the families of service members who have been victims to insurgent’s sniper attacks.

CNN Contact Information

Here is the contact information for CNN to voice your complaints over the video footage of our service members being targeted and murdered. I have already sent emails regarding this subject and will be telephoning their business office as soon as I have published this for anyone who is interested in doing the same.

We are Americans and we have the right to voice our concerns and complaints, stand up for this right and the belief that what they are airing is wrong.

I located this information from a very informative site containing all of the media contacts titled,
FAIR’s Media Contact List.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=111

CNN
One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1906
Email forms for all CNN news programs

Images of our men and women serving.

I received a video montage of our military that was created in flash from a good friend who is retired Air Force. His comments to me were it could make me emotional watching it and he was right. This flash montage of our military is a powerful statement and tribute to the men and women serving on the line in harm’s way.

You can click here to watch the video. I recommend that all of you take a moment to view it.

Hang your head CNN

CNN is showing actual footage recorded by insurgents, or cold-blooded murders, as they would be referred to in the United States, of American military being targeted and murdered by snipers.

CNN should be more than ashamed for causing pain to the families of the victims of these attacks. They should be thrown off the air and every member of this network should hang their head in shame, kneel down on one knee simultaneously in Times Square while being broadcast on all television stations and beg forgiveness of the America people.

Then when departing Times Square they should stop at every house and beg the forgiveness of the occupants while bending over and kissing their own butt.

I am so enraged, frustrated and just about every other adjective I could possibly think of that it is actually difficult for me to put this into words without typing each with the aid of profanity.

CNN has long been the far left liberal, Bush hating Tree huggers of the air and this latest incident leaves a vile taste of bile in my throat. I will never and I repeat, NEVER watch that channel, visit their web site, other than to voice my disgust and complaints or allow it to be viewed within my home by any member of the family including the dog.

I openly encourage all of my readers to click on the link here to the contact page at CNN and write letters, send email or call to openly voice their disgust at this open disregard and lack of respect for life of the men and women serving in our military.

And the beat goes on, la de da de da.

The insanity only gets worse from the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he openly threatens Europe for its support of Israel. Someone needs to remind this idiot that thousands of nuclear weapons outnumber the few Iran may or may not have, depending on what they are saying at the time.

It amazes me how this puppet can move around a stage without anyone seeing the strings attached to him. Perhaps he is a ventriloquist puppet; if that is the case, it is even more amazing that we are unable to see the hands sticking in his back moving his lips.

Whatever the case, this throw back to evolution needs a wake up call and one of these days I am sure he will get just that. You can only threaten so many people and not have something come back to kick you in the face.

The world has tired of the threats coming from this idiot and the dun-dum Chavez. Daily we are subject to their threats and calls of war and there comes a time when no one begins to listen to them.

Ahmadinejad does not care who or what he makes his threats to as his recent one to Europe clearly points out, "We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region. We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt,"

He really needs to start watching the military channel and see just what happens to lunatics who attempt to take over Europe. Not too pretty of a sight.

Its a Wonderful World, except in North Korea,

Satchmo , Louis Armstrong is famous for singing, It’s a Wonderful World, apparently it is anything but that in North Korea, as Good Morning America has been showing the world from televising their show in the capital, Pyongyang. My friend was telling me how the subway was a sad sight to behold, with all of the riders staring straight forward, much like robots out of a scene from a movie about the future.

I find it interesting though that as 100,000 of its citizens gathered to celebrate North Korea’s nuclear success, their leader with the stranger hairdo, Kim Jong II explained how sorry he was for the initial nuclear test. It is amazing how much power China holds over this impoverished nation living fully under the iron hand of Kim Jong II.

North Korea has long been noted for the death of any of its citizens openly disagreeing with the leadership and after Good Morning America, it is even more than evident just how afraid these people really are. The living conditions in the North are far from the wonderful utopia they love to show the world. The leadership has been tied to organized crime, among other things, as a study published on the Nautilus Institute, by David L. Asher shows.

If Asia turns into another nuclear race, the results could possibly be anything but pure devastation. Let us be honest here folks, when insane people have the power of the bomb, just what does anyone really feel the eventual outcome would be, except nuclear winters floating along the DMZ.

Now we just have to wait to see if they are going to sell the weapon to Iran as previously thought. It has been reported that Iran was responsible for underwriting the research and development of the nuclear device and intelligence has warned that it was a joint operation for some time now.

Bombs and threats, the world is normal.

Thanks to all and to Wild Bill for those two great videos, I love the one on rocks that tore me up. I just had a bit of weakness. I am a bit better today. Sometimes things do tend to get to me, all the saber rattling and war cries from anyone and everyone and here we sit just trying to live the American dream and the world always blames it on us.

That has been the scenario since we founded this great country and I am sure it will continue long after we are all mere moments of thoughts just as it did to our ancestors. I am sure that Patton knew this was going to be the case, that we would suffer the world’s wrath, if not he would not have wanted to take out Russia when he had the chance. In retrospect, just think if Ike would have given Patton the resources and manpower to achieve what he desired.

We would never have experienced the cold war, Russia would have never stolen the bomb and perhaps the world would have been a bit different. But then again, Russia has never been beat from an opposing Army on their soil. Even when Napoleon was on his rampage, the Czar ordered everyone to abandon the capital and set it ablaze. Napoleon supposedly questioned what kind of people was this. It was probably better as history played out.

Along these same lines we are once again facing the possibility of a nuclear confrontation with North Korea and possible Iran, we will have to wait and see how this one plays out.

President Bush has warned North Korea in a speech made the day after its nuclear test, “that the United States has the will and the capability to meet the full range — and I underscore the full range — of its deterrent and security commitments to Japan” and Secretary of State Condoleez reaffirmed that pledge yesterday.

A nuclear race in Asia would be more than counter-productive; with tempers and dictators attitudes of grander, it would probably lead to a nuclear war. America would then step in with the full might of its nuclear arsenal and no doubt the rest of the world, well, just because they have nuclear weapons and do not want to be left out.

Armageddon, the end of days, who really knows how it would play out, personally, I am sick and tired of all the nonsense going on. The he said this, he said that and my bomb is bigger than your bomb. I would like to find some nice quite little spot in the world and rest until the whole thing is over. Of course, that would only make me a hermit, guess that would not be that bad.

As most of us, I managed to survive through the bomb race of the 1950 and 1960 era and was more than content not to have to do it again. I guess I was wrong, there are idiots born to each generation and with each generation; we have new power crazed dum-dums wanting to destroy mankind.

Gee, I just can’t wait for tomorrow to see what is next.

Sick and tired, Oh well.

I often write of news, military, our troops, God bless them, as well as whatever else may be of interest to me on that specific day. I spent this morning reading about North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and every other hot spot on the globe and decided that today was going to be different, but I was wrong.

I am sick and tired, fed up to my overflowing emotional top with war, violence, death, destruction and just about every other worst case situation in the world. I turn on the television in a weak attempt to find something entertaining, that is not to be and why, because we passed that platform long ago. We are inundated with more violence, heroes, antiheros, bad people, good people and ad nauseam.

I really need to laugh till my sides hurt over some stupid comment, television show, magazine article, something, but this too is evasive, or it simply no longer exists because we are so far into war and death that we can never see over the top again.

I need Bugs Bunny now more than ever, Daffy Duck, Popeye, anything that can bring a smile to my face again, make me once more believe in the American dream, the house with the white picket fence.

I guess I am just stressed to the maximum end of my limits. I have been trying to quit smoking for two weeks now, seven days without one single smoke then boom! I blew that one big time. Stop smoking patches, I think I only recharge the darn things! They do work if I allow them to, that and a whole lot of Tootsie Pop suckers. The generic patches are an absolute waste of money, time and energy. They do not work, pure and simple.

My litmus test for patches is simple. When I was on the generic, (insert generic name here) patch I could smoke as many cigarettes as I wanted without becoming nauseated or worse. The Nicoderm CQ patch is a horse of another color altogether. If I try to cheat, sneak into the bathroom and light a smoke, I become ill. They work!

My closest friend in life is my strongest supporter. Seventeen years of friendship has earned her the right to say whatever she wishes to me. She believes in me and loves me for what and who I am, not what I need to be to placate someone’s idea and I love her dearly and deeply. I would climb a mountain, ford a river or jump out of a plane for her and yet I let her down too. However, I am back on the path to purity once more, patch on my arm and cherry Tootsie Pop in my mouth as I write this. The beautiful part of my friend, my partner in crime, my soul mate, she forgives and encourages me on.

Yes, I need happiness, laughter and a smoke, but I am managing. I am getting sick of Tootsie Pops and even sicker of all the sadness in the world, but I will survive to write and rant another day. As far as smoking, well I know that eventually I will succeed. If not today then next week and I will try until I do and my buddy will be by my side encouraging me on and forgiving me when I am weak, but I will make it one of these days.

Planespotting, is this a bad thing?

I was reading an article on the Village Voice titled, Planespotting regarding the CIA using aircraft to ferry prisoners to various so-called torture centers around the world. The article went into detail how individuals throughout the country satisfy their curiosity, imagination and hobby of watching aircraft, commercial, private and military and in the process have uncovered (in their words) secret “torture Taxis” which ferry terrorism suspect to various countries.

The article is quite in-depth, it is evident the reporter spent a considerable amount of time interviewing individuals engaged in the Planespotting hobby and other journalists who have uncovered secret holding cells in European countries. I did not have any trouble comprehending anything the reporter wrote and to be honest, I already had ideas this was an on-going practice.

My feelings on this subject is “so what!” this is a war and we are fighting it to win. I have often stated that individual liberties should not apply to a non-citizen or someone taking up arms against this great nation. But, that is not what I am writing about this practice, not at all.

The article lays out how the individuals engaged in the hobby of Planespotting conduct their own form of black ops to obtain numbers, destinations, secret landing strips and other information related to flying. While reading the article the thought suddenly struck me if average citizens are able to discover this information and actually drive up to and past secret landing strips while military aircraft are being refueled, what is to stop a terrorist from using these same techniques?

This is a travesty that the average Joe and Mary citizen has access to tail numbers, serial numbers, flight plans, secret landing strips and whatever they can dig up from the wealth of information available on the net. They also have the Freedom of Information Act and worst of all, from the loose mouths of friends and beer drinking friends on active duty as this article points out.

An individual bent on conducting terror attacks upon our country has access to this same information and can do whatever they wish without anyone ever having knowledge until the attack is over. Let us bypass the basic view of this story about secret jails, what I feel is more important is the fact that anyone has access to anything they want and to view any secret base they wish and no one is doing anything about it. This is beyond my comprehension that our military has not taken better precautions to insure the secrecy of their mission.

We need to enact a national secrets act similar to that of Great Britton, we need to take precautions and we need to do it now, before it is too late.

Important Parenting Information

This is a very important message from a company that I believe in, New Parents Network. Please visit their site to read additional parenting information or to sign up to receive weekly parenting tips such as this.

www.npn.org

¡Varios mensajes disponibles en Español, también!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Weekly Parenting Tip

How to Report Suspected Child Maltreatment

	Ver la publicación en español: http://www.childwelfare.gov/responding/spanrep.cfm

Anyone can report suspected child abuse or neglect. Reporting abuse or neglect can protect a child and get help for a family—it may even save a child's life.

Child Welfare Information Gateway is not a hotline for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect and it is not equipped to accept reports of this nature. Information Gateway is not equipped to offer crisis counseling. As a service of the Children's Bureau in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Information Gateway does not have the authority to intervene or advise in personal situations.

Childhelp^® is a national organization that provides crisis assistance and other counseling and referral services. The Childhelp^® National Child Abuse Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with professional crisis counselors who have access to a database of 55,000 emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are anonymous. Contact them at 1.800.4.A.CHILD. (1.800.422.4453)

If you need help with personal or family situations, you may wish to visit our resources on Where to Find Help.

If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected or if you are a child who is being maltreated, contact your local child protective services office or law enforcement agency, so professionals can assess the situation. Many States have a toll-free number to call to report suspected child abuse or neglect. To find out where to call, consult the Information Gateway publication, Child Abuse Reporting Numbers.

This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Source

http://www.childwelfare.gov/index.cfm

For the Complete Message Visit

http://www.npn.org/article_view.asp?article_id=667 English
http://www.npn.org/article_view.asp?article_id=668 Spanish

To sponsor this message for a donation in any amount visit:

http://www.npn.org/donate.asp

(Receive your name, your company’s name, logo and web address on this specific message as its sponsor.)

New Parents Network * P.O. Box 64237 * Tucson, AZ 85728 * 520.327.1451
www.npn.org * moreinfo@npn.org