By Semperpapa
There are times when the events around me are so overwhelming that they begin to occupy a lot of my time. These days, the socio-political vicissitudes my country is experiencing have taxed my ever lasting optimism. When this occurrence happens, I usually force myself to hit the reset button, sort of a rebooting process that actually succeeds in stopping me from packing my family and move it to a compound in Wyoming.
This is one of those moments.
Earlier today, I was spending some time cleaning my yard (those are the kind random moments when my mind leaves my mortal shape and wonders away) and my thoughts started to drift toward my preoccupations for the future of my family, my country. Suddenly my memories took me back in time and the resetting process begun.
Mostly it has to do with the immense fortune I feel I have been blessed with since the day, 30 years ago, I stepped off that aircraft and set foot on American soil, beginning the most incredible journey. I had been blessed with the opportunity to come and live and prosper in America, the country where my only limitation was my willingness to work hard. That one step was probably the most important as it was followed by eventually meeting the person that would become my wife and the mother of my two incredible children.
My understanding, at the time, of the actual greatness of America was very limited, although I really look forward to the day when the law would allow me to become a citizen. I knew inside me America was the greatest country, I just could not rationally identify, isolate and quantify the reasons.
It took me few years to actually begin to realize how truly blessed I was to be an American. The first inclination was at the very swearing in as a US Citizen in 1985, when right after the oath, I overheard two Scottish men behind me, who were there for the same reason and who were now mocking the very ceremony we had just gone through. It was a proof of how deeply I felt that moment when I almost started a brawl in the room.
My journey brought me to work with a man that opened my eyes to the true meaning of patriotism. This man was a retired Sgt. Major in the Marine Corps. Pete had tried to join the Marines at the age of 15, at the end of WWII, but the recruiter, suspicious of the youthful appearance, told him to go home and come back with his mom. So Pete waited and joined after turning 18. Pete was a Korean War Veteran.
This man of unbending honesty and ethics, told me his war stories, he opened my eyes about the “Forgotten War”. Those were the days when I found out about the Chosin Marines, about Lewis “Chesty” Puller. He would allow me to borrow his precious books, which I knew he cherished almost as much as he had once cherished his rifle, and I begun to understand really why America is such a great country. Because common Americans have done and continue to do exceptional things to safeguard our freedom.
I started to increasingly search for those men that, during the course of American history, had symbolized the true nature of our country. Of course there are the famous ones, from the Founding Fathers to great Americans like Abraham Lincoln, but really begun to realize that it was not enough to know the names in the history books, that the greatness of America came form the anonymous private from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the corporal from Igo, California, and the Pfc. from Boca Raton, Florida.
Men and women who gave so much of themselves in Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, whose names are only known to a small slice of America, but whose contribution to the whole idea of American Exceptionalism cannot be discounted.
9-11-01 and the subsequent war in Afghanistan and Iraq brought me full circle. By 2005 it became even more personal as my own son was now a Lance Corporal in the Marines and by 2007, I finally found a way to be of service to my country by joining the Patriot Guard Riders.
This was the time when I fully realized the greatness of my country.
I saw it in the dedication of the countless Veterans and non-Veterans to the cause of honoring those who serve in the military. Most of the PGR riders are Veterans,many from Vietnam or the Vietnam era, men and women who served in real tumultuous times for our Nation and who came back from hell only to be ignored at best and vilified at worst, and they are again stepping up to serve their country by making sure that those who sacrifice today for the Nation and their families are protected and honored. Every single one of them has one common saying: never again!
I saw the greatness of America in the families of the Fallen.
I saw it on the Gold Star mom who breaks through her own grief to offer support to that newest member of such painful, eternal club.
I saw it in the parents of the Fallen thanking us after they gave their ultimate gift to our country, our security, our freedom.
Their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their loved one humbling me to the point of tears.
And I saw it in the surprised faces of the men and women returning from their duties, confused and at times embarrassed, but grateful for the welcome home wishes from so many strangers.
So now the reset button has been pushed. My bearings have been re-aligned. My focus regained. Most of all my determination to remain true to my principles and my love for this great nation of ours is as cemented as ever. I owe nothing less to those who have fought and died so my family and I can continue to live in Liberty.
Agreed, there may be a lack of leadership in Washington; we may be facing an ever increasingly intrusive government; we may be in dire economic conditions; our Constitutional rights may be under attack, but at the end of the day we are still the United States of America. We have upcoming members from the newest Great Generation who will be the country’s leaders of a not too distant tomorrow.
CJ Grisham, Peter Hegseth, Bill Russel, Allen West, David Bellavia and many others. How could America go wrong?
Just my thoughts.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
In The Dead Of Night
By Semperpapa
Just as vampires do, our wonderful Congress likes to utilize the dead of night to vote on some of the bills that, I guess, they cannot get to because they are so "overworked" during the day.
But in the case of Thursday night I am gratified by the vote that occurred in the House of Representatives.
The Patriot Act was extended with minor changes by a vote of 315 to 97. Yes, my friends, the same Patriot Act that had been used by the enemies of George Bush to label him as a Nazi, has been extended by a Democrat majority House, after the extension of the Act had been approved by the Senate on Wednesday. Now the bill will be going to the desk of the President for signature.
So why did Congress, a Liberal Congress, voted to extend a provision so vehemently opposed until just over a year ago?
Well there is the possibility that the illustrious members of Congress are finally realizing that the provisions of the Act, which by the way was hastily formulated in just a few days following the September 11 2001 attacks, did provide a workable foundation upon which to build some form of safety and security protocols for our country.
There is also the possibility that the Liberals in charge are now reluctant to take the chance that the relaxation of security brought upon by allowing the expiration of the Patriot Act, would not look good on their resume.
On September 11 2008 I had the honor to be invited with some friends to a memorial that was held at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. One of the students at the University had bravely gotten the permission from the administration to set up an American flag for each of the victims of the attack on the beautiful front entrance of the campus and in the sunset of the day, rolling hills covered by American flags was a sight to behold. Moreover, he had invited former Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak.
Mr. Ashcroft speech was inspiring, but one of the particulars that remained with me is his admission that the order of the President to formulate a legislation, which was going to be known as the Patriot Act, was a daunting one. The Justice Dept. worked non stop on the bill, walking the tight rope between reassuring the safety of the American people and any potential infringement upon their Constitutional rights. By Ashcroft own admission, it was not perfect and was going to require amendments, but at that time, when nobody in the right mind believed that another catastrophic attack was not going to happen, it was necessary.
Granted the Patriot Act is only one of the reasons why America has not been attacked on our soil in similar large scale, but nevertheless it is a part of it.
Interestingly, the vote in the House reaffirmed the Patriot Act on the eve of the 17th anniversary of the first attack against the World Trade Center.
26 February 1993 a van loaded with 1,500 pounds of explosives was blown in an underground garage of the WTC, killing 6 people and one unborn baby (for those of us who care).
The plan from Ramzi Yousef and others was simple: blow enough explosive at the base of the tower to cause the tower to fall and hopefully take the other tower down.
The incident was treated by the Clinton Administration as a criminal act, just as so many other incidents of terrorism pre 9-11. The result was that the financier of the 1993 bombing decided that bringing down the WTC was worth another shot. Allegedly, that financier was Yousef uncle, the well known, and photogenic, Khalid Sheik Mohamed.
Eight years later and a hell of a lot of nothing being done to protect America, the plan succeeded.
Today Eric Holder is following Obama’s orders in bringing the anti-terror campaign back to the same approach that the Clinton Administration had.
Is the passing of the extension a sign that dissent with the President is coming back in style? Is it possible that many Democrats in Congress would rather disagree with the loons on the Left and do all necessary to avoid another attack? Who really knows.
What I do know for a fact is that Obama promised to close Gitmo in one year and Gitmo is still open.
Obama stopped enhanced interrogations that deviate from the Army Manual, but he does not appear to exercise much pressure on the Pakistani to deliver the Taliban leaders captured into American hands, and everyone knows that if any interrogation is taking place, it does not involved placing a caterpillar in the cell, if you know what I mean.
And today the Patriot Act.
What I find hypocritical to the point of being criminal is that Obama and Co. are bent on taking complete control of the American people, from the food we eat to the car we drive to what we listen to, but they develop a twisted colon when there is an attempt to track down potential terrorists. The rights of the enemies of America supersede the safety of our citizens.
I am really curious now to see what the Left fringe reaction is going to be when the President signs this bill into law. Or maybe he will change the name of it and have Biden claim it as one of the Administration’s great achievements
Just my thoughts.
Just as vampires do, our wonderful Congress likes to utilize the dead of night to vote on some of the bills that, I guess, they cannot get to because they are so "overworked" during the day.
But in the case of Thursday night I am gratified by the vote that occurred in the House of Representatives.
The Patriot Act was extended with minor changes by a vote of 315 to 97. Yes, my friends, the same Patriot Act that had been used by the enemies of George Bush to label him as a Nazi, has been extended by a Democrat majority House, after the extension of the Act had been approved by the Senate on Wednesday. Now the bill will be going to the desk of the President for signature.
So why did Congress, a Liberal Congress, voted to extend a provision so vehemently opposed until just over a year ago?
Well there is the possibility that the illustrious members of Congress are finally realizing that the provisions of the Act, which by the way was hastily formulated in just a few days following the September 11 2001 attacks, did provide a workable foundation upon which to build some form of safety and security protocols for our country.
There is also the possibility that the Liberals in charge are now reluctant to take the chance that the relaxation of security brought upon by allowing the expiration of the Patriot Act, would not look good on their resume.
On September 11 2008 I had the honor to be invited with some friends to a memorial that was held at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. One of the students at the University had bravely gotten the permission from the administration to set up an American flag for each of the victims of the attack on the beautiful front entrance of the campus and in the sunset of the day, rolling hills covered by American flags was a sight to behold. Moreover, he had invited former Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak.
Mr. Ashcroft speech was inspiring, but one of the particulars that remained with me is his admission that the order of the President to formulate a legislation, which was going to be known as the Patriot Act, was a daunting one. The Justice Dept. worked non stop on the bill, walking the tight rope between reassuring the safety of the American people and any potential infringement upon their Constitutional rights. By Ashcroft own admission, it was not perfect and was going to require amendments, but at that time, when nobody in the right mind believed that another catastrophic attack was not going to happen, it was necessary.
Granted the Patriot Act is only one of the reasons why America has not been attacked on our soil in similar large scale, but nevertheless it is a part of it.
Interestingly, the vote in the House reaffirmed the Patriot Act on the eve of the 17th anniversary of the first attack against the World Trade Center.
26 February 1993 a van loaded with 1,500 pounds of explosives was blown in an underground garage of the WTC, killing 6 people and one unborn baby (for those of us who care).
The plan from Ramzi Yousef and others was simple: blow enough explosive at the base of the tower to cause the tower to fall and hopefully take the other tower down.
The incident was treated by the Clinton Administration as a criminal act, just as so many other incidents of terrorism pre 9-11. The result was that the financier of the 1993 bombing decided that bringing down the WTC was worth another shot. Allegedly, that financier was Yousef uncle, the well known, and photogenic, Khalid Sheik Mohamed.
Eight years later and a hell of a lot of nothing being done to protect America, the plan succeeded.
Today Eric Holder is following Obama’s orders in bringing the anti-terror campaign back to the same approach that the Clinton Administration had.
Is the passing of the extension a sign that dissent with the President is coming back in style? Is it possible that many Democrats in Congress would rather disagree with the loons on the Left and do all necessary to avoid another attack? Who really knows.
What I do know for a fact is that Obama promised to close Gitmo in one year and Gitmo is still open.
Obama stopped enhanced interrogations that deviate from the Army Manual, but he does not appear to exercise much pressure on the Pakistani to deliver the Taliban leaders captured into American hands, and everyone knows that if any interrogation is taking place, it does not involved placing a caterpillar in the cell, if you know what I mean.
And today the Patriot Act.
What I find hypocritical to the point of being criminal is that Obama and Co. are bent on taking complete control of the American people, from the food we eat to the car we drive to what we listen to, but they develop a twisted colon when there is an attempt to track down potential terrorists. The rights of the enemies of America supersede the safety of our citizens.
I am really curious now to see what the Left fringe reaction is going to be when the President signs this bill into law. Or maybe he will change the name of it and have Biden claim it as one of the Administration’s great achievements
Just my thoughts.
Friday, February 26, 2010
In Response To Charles
By Semperpapa
I received a comment on my blog regarding my last post “Do You Believe In Miracles?” from some dude who called himself Charles. I hit the “publish” button, but the comment just disappeared.
So to demonstrate to Charles how we do things in this country, opposed to whatever hellhole he comes from, I will paraphrase his chastising of yours truly.
Charles called me ignorant and some other selected adjectives stating that I was not informed about Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, that the man is an innocent victim of America and the CIA.
And he knows this because he has studied the Lockerbie terrorist act for twenty years.
He knows also because he lost some family member to Libyan terrorism.
The bombing of Pan Am 103 was some sort of a gift from the CIA to the Iranians and was allowed to occur because that would have meant the sure election of HW Bush.
Charles was also incensed by my comment about Tomahawk missiles, as he complained that it was just another proof the tendency to solving problems with violence of, and I quote, “your country”.
So in the interest of open dialogue and compassionate diplomacy, I want to thank Charles and from the bottom of my heart say:
Hey Charles, FUCK YOU!
In the first place, just because you tell me that you are some sort of an expert on the Lockerbie tragedy because you studied it for twenty years, I would not take your word for it if your life depended on it. If you are really such an expert, you would have given some credentials of it in order to reinforce your accusations.
How fucking easy it is for someone to just go out and blame the CIA. Not necessarily defending the CIA, I just am suspicious of people making statement about anything that cannot be verified via publicly available information.
Your attempt to personalize your expertise by telling me you lost a family member to Libyan terrorism also does not impress me much. If that is true, and I have no way of knowing if it is as you gave no specifics of it, my condolences to you.
On the other hand, I lost, on that day over Lockerbie, over 200 brothers and sisters. That’s correct, as for many Americans the loss of innocent citizens to cowardly terrorism is THAT personal. But I understand that such a concept may be alien to someone like you so engrossed in conspiracy bullshit.
As far as the tendency to violence on the part of “my country” you can bet your fucking ass! And if you think for a moment that I will apologize for it, don’t hold your breath.
Sometimes certain cancerous elements of the human race must be destroyed. Sometimes those who worship death must be allowed to experience it so that those who seek peace can actually, at some point, enjoy it.
I don’t know what you are all about, and frankly I don’t give a shit, but thanks for commenting. Come back soon, you hear?
Just my thoughts.
I received a comment on my blog regarding my last post “Do You Believe In Miracles?” from some dude who called himself Charles. I hit the “publish” button, but the comment just disappeared.
So to demonstrate to Charles how we do things in this country, opposed to whatever hellhole he comes from, I will paraphrase his chastising of yours truly.
Charles called me ignorant and some other selected adjectives stating that I was not informed about Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, that the man is an innocent victim of America and the CIA.
And he knows this because he has studied the Lockerbie terrorist act for twenty years.
He knows also because he lost some family member to Libyan terrorism.
The bombing of Pan Am 103 was some sort of a gift from the CIA to the Iranians and was allowed to occur because that would have meant the sure election of HW Bush.
Charles was also incensed by my comment about Tomahawk missiles, as he complained that it was just another proof the tendency to solving problems with violence of, and I quote, “your country”.
So in the interest of open dialogue and compassionate diplomacy, I want to thank Charles and from the bottom of my heart say:
Hey Charles, FUCK YOU!
In the first place, just because you tell me that you are some sort of an expert on the Lockerbie tragedy because you studied it for twenty years, I would not take your word for it if your life depended on it. If you are really such an expert, you would have given some credentials of it in order to reinforce your accusations.
How fucking easy it is for someone to just go out and blame the CIA. Not necessarily defending the CIA, I just am suspicious of people making statement about anything that cannot be verified via publicly available information.
Your attempt to personalize your expertise by telling me you lost a family member to Libyan terrorism also does not impress me much. If that is true, and I have no way of knowing if it is as you gave no specifics of it, my condolences to you.
On the other hand, I lost, on that day over Lockerbie, over 200 brothers and sisters. That’s correct, as for many Americans the loss of innocent citizens to cowardly terrorism is THAT personal. But I understand that such a concept may be alien to someone like you so engrossed in conspiracy bullshit.
As far as the tendency to violence on the part of “my country” you can bet your fucking ass! And if you think for a moment that I will apologize for it, don’t hold your breath.
Sometimes certain cancerous elements of the human race must be destroyed. Sometimes those who worship death must be allowed to experience it so that those who seek peace can actually, at some point, enjoy it.
I don’t know what you are all about, and frankly I don’t give a shit, but thanks for commenting. Come back soon, you hear?
Just my thoughts.
Do You Believe In Miracles?
By Semperpapa
On 20 August 2009 I wrote a piece on my blog called “Misplaced Compassion” as I watched in disbelief the images of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi being release from a Scottish prison and being flown to Tripoli on Gheddafi’s personal jet.
The news and the actual release left me almost speechless: here was the terrorist responsible for the death of 270 innocent people on Pan Am flight 103 and the small town of Lockerbie, Scotland, Christmas 1988, being set free on a compassion basis, because supposedly suffering from terminal cancer. After spending only eight years of a life sentence in a Scottish prison.
The man was supposed to have only three months to live at the most and the bleeding hearts of the Scottish Court deemed to be a humanitarian gesture to allow him to die in his own country instead that in a prison cell. All the apologists were thrilled by the decision, praising Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
This was last August, and the London based Dr. Karol Sikora had examined al-Megrahi and diagnosed that he would be dead by October 2009.
The problem lies in the fact that successive investigations showed that the good doctor had been “encouraged” to make the diagnosis by British governmental officials. See, it appears that Libya had threatened the British government to rescind on some oil deals if al-Megrahi would die in prison. So the British government caved.
On 25 February 2010 the UK Telegraph reports that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is currently living in a luxury villa in Tripoli, enjoying a peaceful garden and a nice tent where visitors and well wishers can congregate and praise the mass muderer.
So, do you believe in miracles? I hope this miraculous story of survival of a man that should have been dead in October will convince you that Allah is great.
At the time this scumbag was flying across the Mediterranean to his destination in Libya, I was really hoping for a couple of F-18s allowing the man to find out the same type of fear that he had condemned 270 innocent people to experience that faithful night over Scotland, but obviously the Obama administration could not bring itself to do what was right.
So the man is living in luxury with his family, probably receiving the accolades of the entire terror community for not only having killed 270 men, women and children, but also for having beaten the Western judicial system.
The culture of death prevailed once again over the culture of life.
On our side of the Atlantic, the Obama administration, via AG Holder and sec. Napolitano, have placed our country on the same fast track to a surrender to the same forces of evil that Europe has been on for some time. Obama wants America to be more like Europe!
Giving the masterminds of 9-11 a day in criminal court, especially in a court just down the street from the site where their act was perpetrated, would not be much different than the outrageous release of this terrorist because it would allow the terrorists the chance to beat the system in our backyard and at our expenses.
Now a word regarding the families of those lost on that infamous day. I have the bad habit to put myself in other people shoes and if in this case my rage reaches levels threatening implosion, I can only imagine what the families must feel as they keep on waiting for the day this piece of garbage will finally go meet his 72 virgins. And waiting, only to realize that the compassion shown to this evil man was, as mentioned, grossly misplaced.
Wouldn’t be exhilarating if a Tomahawk would find its way to that tent in the garden of that Tripoli villa? Wouldn’t that message be loud and clear?
Just my thoughts!
On 20 August 2009 I wrote a piece on my blog called “Misplaced Compassion” as I watched in disbelief the images of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi being release from a Scottish prison and being flown to Tripoli on Gheddafi’s personal jet.
The news and the actual release left me almost speechless: here was the terrorist responsible for the death of 270 innocent people on Pan Am flight 103 and the small town of Lockerbie, Scotland, Christmas 1988, being set free on a compassion basis, because supposedly suffering from terminal cancer. After spending only eight years of a life sentence in a Scottish prison.
The man was supposed to have only three months to live at the most and the bleeding hearts of the Scottish Court deemed to be a humanitarian gesture to allow him to die in his own country instead that in a prison cell. All the apologists were thrilled by the decision, praising Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
This was last August, and the London based Dr. Karol Sikora had examined al-Megrahi and diagnosed that he would be dead by October 2009.
The problem lies in the fact that successive investigations showed that the good doctor had been “encouraged” to make the diagnosis by British governmental officials. See, it appears that Libya had threatened the British government to rescind on some oil deals if al-Megrahi would die in prison. So the British government caved.
On 25 February 2010 the UK Telegraph reports that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is currently living in a luxury villa in Tripoli, enjoying a peaceful garden and a nice tent where visitors and well wishers can congregate and praise the mass muderer.
So, do you believe in miracles? I hope this miraculous story of survival of a man that should have been dead in October will convince you that Allah is great.
At the time this scumbag was flying across the Mediterranean to his destination in Libya, I was really hoping for a couple of F-18s allowing the man to find out the same type of fear that he had condemned 270 innocent people to experience that faithful night over Scotland, but obviously the Obama administration could not bring itself to do what was right.
So the man is living in luxury with his family, probably receiving the accolades of the entire terror community for not only having killed 270 men, women and children, but also for having beaten the Western judicial system.
The culture of death prevailed once again over the culture of life.
On our side of the Atlantic, the Obama administration, via AG Holder and sec. Napolitano, have placed our country on the same fast track to a surrender to the same forces of evil that Europe has been on for some time. Obama wants America to be more like Europe!
Giving the masterminds of 9-11 a day in criminal court, especially in a court just down the street from the site where their act was perpetrated, would not be much different than the outrageous release of this terrorist because it would allow the terrorists the chance to beat the system in our backyard and at our expenses.
Now a word regarding the families of those lost on that infamous day. I have the bad habit to put myself in other people shoes and if in this case my rage reaches levels threatening implosion, I can only imagine what the families must feel as they keep on waiting for the day this piece of garbage will finally go meet his 72 virgins. And waiting, only to realize that the compassion shown to this evil man was, as mentioned, grossly misplaced.
Wouldn’t be exhilarating if a Tomahawk would find its way to that tent in the garden of that Tripoli villa? Wouldn’t that message be loud and clear?
Just my thoughts!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
It's About Damn Time!
By Semperpapa
It sure is!
It appears that today DHS Janet Napolitano finally uttered the actual words "Islamic Terrorism" as she testified in Congressional Hearings of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. She was pushed into the actual use of the words by Senator Joe Lieberman who continued to grill her about why the Administration has so much of an issue with identifying Islamic Radical Terrorism as such.
And in an even more shocking turn of events, Napolitano actually mentioned the word "terrorism" in the same sentence and in relation with Nidal Hasan, the Army officer who killed 14 people at Ft. Hood, Texas.
What can I say...hell may be freezing over, just like Washington D.C. is.
Just my thoughts.
It sure is!
It appears that today DHS Janet Napolitano finally uttered the actual words "Islamic Terrorism" as she testified in Congressional Hearings of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. She was pushed into the actual use of the words by Senator Joe Lieberman who continued to grill her about why the Administration has so much of an issue with identifying Islamic Radical Terrorism as such.
And in an even more shocking turn of events, Napolitano actually mentioned the word "terrorism" in the same sentence and in relation with Nidal Hasan, the Army officer who killed 14 people at Ft. Hood, Texas.
What can I say...hell may be freezing over, just like Washington D.C. is.
Just my thoughts.
Asymmetrical Warfare
By Semperpapa
I too can use the fancy words, just like members of Congress. Asymmetrical Warfare: something that rolls over the tongue, adding importance to the statements of IQ-challenged individuals like Barbara Boxer.
And yet really important words when spoken by those in the Military as they have the responsibility to conduct a war like any other.
Michael Phillips of the Wall Street Journal had an article on February 21 that just explained, once again, the obstacles our Military is facing in Afghanistan.
The story involves a Marine Capt. Anthony Zinni, who was monitoring the images from a Predator UAV flying over the battlefield near Marjah. The images from the drone were clear: four terrorists in the process to plant an IED on a road where a Marine convoy was due to pass in couple of hours.
Capt. Zinni had the choice to call in a strike on the terrorists, but, according to the article, the current ROE dictated that authorization was requested, so Capt. Zinni did just that, asking the Judge Advocate representative with the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Capt. Andrew, for counsel.
The images being so telling, authorization was given, but the strike had to be aborted when some children wondered into the strike zone.
The call was a correct one, without any doubt in my mind, on several levels, from the humanitarian to the strategic one, as nobody wants to impart death on innocent civilian, especially children (BTW, the Marine convoy was able to defeat the threat upon reaching the spot, so the result was only that the four bad guys got away).
But what this incident demonstrate is the enormous difficulties our Military is facing in its quest to defeat an enemy that uses our own ROE to fight us.
The offensive now just 12 days old in Marjah, is probably as good an example as any to corroborate my thoughts.
Our forces are advancing on a brutal terrain littered with IEDs and booby traps of all kinds, a battlefield the enemy had plenty of time to prepare for the purpose of slowing down Coalition Forces, emphasis to be on the words “slowing down”, because the outcome of the operation is not in doubt, just the cost.
When the offensive begun on 12 February, the Media was all over it, the promise of a blood bath being so inebriating for the misinformation weasels that one could almost see the drool oozing, but the careful advance aimed at curtailing not only Military but especially civilian casualties, obviously dampened the enthusiasm, removing much of the reporting from the front pages.
Just few days into the operation, some so-called news outlets started to speak of ISAF forces being “bogged down”. Headlines became limited to reporting incidents of civilian casualties, while stories like the one reported by Mr. Phillips on the WSJ are relegated to the public who willingly remains in tune with the events in Marjah.
And when the Media headlines anything from the operation it usually relates to some event that caused civilian casualties. When few days after the start of the offensive a rocket fired by Coalition forces leveled a small building, the headlines were that the missile had been fired and as it missed the target, it struck the home killing 12 civilians. Red meat for the peaceniks!
Conversely, the report that the rocket had been fired at the right target, in pursuit of four terrorists that were trying to escape after attacking our forces and that they sought refuge in a home they knew contained innocent civilians, was mentioned as a side note by reporting agencies.
What our Military commanders in the field are dealing with is an enemy that hides behind innocent civilians to live to fight another day. But also an enemy that has no reservations about sacrificing his life and have innocents die in the process for the pure purpose of propaganda.
And yet our forces are slowly prevailing, allowing the Afghan people the possibility to capitalize on the sacrifice of total strangers to eventually build a better life for themselves. We are not imposing a specific way of life, but we are attempting to give a chance to a whole people to improve their chance at a greater self determination, while denying terrorists safe heaven.
The victory achieved in Iraq is a sample of the blood and sacrifice of our troops to give the people of Iraq a better future. Only time will tell the long term success for the Iraqi government to maintain the level of democracy that fits their social standards, but there is no doubt that once again American sacrifice has given a whole country a chance for a better future, while protecting our own.
And Afghanistan will be another success story, in spite of defeatism and apathy.
Just my thoughts.
I too can use the fancy words, just like members of Congress. Asymmetrical Warfare: something that rolls over the tongue, adding importance to the statements of IQ-challenged individuals like Barbara Boxer.
And yet really important words when spoken by those in the Military as they have the responsibility to conduct a war like any other.
Michael Phillips of the Wall Street Journal had an article on February 21 that just explained, once again, the obstacles our Military is facing in Afghanistan.
The story involves a Marine Capt. Anthony Zinni, who was monitoring the images from a Predator UAV flying over the battlefield near Marjah. The images from the drone were clear: four terrorists in the process to plant an IED on a road where a Marine convoy was due to pass in couple of hours.
Capt. Zinni had the choice to call in a strike on the terrorists, but, according to the article, the current ROE dictated that authorization was requested, so Capt. Zinni did just that, asking the Judge Advocate representative with the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Capt. Andrew, for counsel.
The images being so telling, authorization was given, but the strike had to be aborted when some children wondered into the strike zone.
The call was a correct one, without any doubt in my mind, on several levels, from the humanitarian to the strategic one, as nobody wants to impart death on innocent civilian, especially children (BTW, the Marine convoy was able to defeat the threat upon reaching the spot, so the result was only that the four bad guys got away).
But what this incident demonstrate is the enormous difficulties our Military is facing in its quest to defeat an enemy that uses our own ROE to fight us.
The offensive now just 12 days old in Marjah, is probably as good an example as any to corroborate my thoughts.
Our forces are advancing on a brutal terrain littered with IEDs and booby traps of all kinds, a battlefield the enemy had plenty of time to prepare for the purpose of slowing down Coalition Forces, emphasis to be on the words “slowing down”, because the outcome of the operation is not in doubt, just the cost.
When the offensive begun on 12 February, the Media was all over it, the promise of a blood bath being so inebriating for the misinformation weasels that one could almost see the drool oozing, but the careful advance aimed at curtailing not only Military but especially civilian casualties, obviously dampened the enthusiasm, removing much of the reporting from the front pages.
Just few days into the operation, some so-called news outlets started to speak of ISAF forces being “bogged down”. Headlines became limited to reporting incidents of civilian casualties, while stories like the one reported by Mr. Phillips on the WSJ are relegated to the public who willingly remains in tune with the events in Marjah.
And when the Media headlines anything from the operation it usually relates to some event that caused civilian casualties. When few days after the start of the offensive a rocket fired by Coalition forces leveled a small building, the headlines were that the missile had been fired and as it missed the target, it struck the home killing 12 civilians. Red meat for the peaceniks!
Conversely, the report that the rocket had been fired at the right target, in pursuit of four terrorists that were trying to escape after attacking our forces and that they sought refuge in a home they knew contained innocent civilians, was mentioned as a side note by reporting agencies.
What our Military commanders in the field are dealing with is an enemy that hides behind innocent civilians to live to fight another day. But also an enemy that has no reservations about sacrificing his life and have innocents die in the process for the pure purpose of propaganda.
And yet our forces are slowly prevailing, allowing the Afghan people the possibility to capitalize on the sacrifice of total strangers to eventually build a better life for themselves. We are not imposing a specific way of life, but we are attempting to give a chance to a whole people to improve their chance at a greater self determination, while denying terrorists safe heaven.
The victory achieved in Iraq is a sample of the blood and sacrifice of our troops to give the people of Iraq a better future. Only time will tell the long term success for the Iraqi government to maintain the level of democracy that fits their social standards, but there is no doubt that once again American sacrifice has given a whole country a chance for a better future, while protecting our own.
And Afghanistan will be another success story, in spite of defeatism and apathy.
Just my thoughts.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Real Threat To Our Nation
By Semperpapa
What would that be? Islamic terrorists? Nuclear Iran? Oh no, my friends. The true threat our country faces these days is domestic terrorism, defined as terrorism actions perpetrated by American citizens. And the feds are gearing up to crack down on it.
Sure, the threat from Muslim terrorist is being looked at, including the possibility of Iran being able to construct a nuclear weapon that can be shared with terrorists for use against us, but this scenario is surely not as pressing as domestic terror.
After all, Obama has gone to extreme lengths to appease the Muslim world with real, tangible results, like…I am sure they are there, somewhere.
But forget about that.
When on February 18, 2010 Joseph Stack flew his small plane into the IRS offices in Austin Texas, the proof of Janet Napolitano’s conviction was right there for the whole country to see. The 53 years old software engineer with a long history of conflict with the Internal Revenue, finally decided that the “man” was going to pay for all the abuse inflicted upon him.
Well, was this a case of domestic terrorism? Of course it was. How else one would described this piece of garbage taking it upon himself to seek revenge upon people who just went to work that day. I define terrorism an act which is designed to inflict as large a casualty count on a group of people who does not have a direct, personal connection with the perpetrator. If the people in the IRS office Mr. Stack aimed his airplane at were directly responsible for his disapproval of the federal agency, than it would be a case of premeditated murder. But the perpetration of the crime was directed to what those offices represented without any discrimination about who the victims would be, than for me it is terrorism.
The act of domestic terrorism has given a lot of powder for the guns of the Left ready to sharpen their conspiracy talons.
Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart wrote:
I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we’re hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.
Speaking of the rumbling manifesto Stack had left on his web site.
Really my friend? Have you ever been to a demonstration of the Tea Party movement? I guess not. Besides a “famous” columnist of the Washington Post would not really mingle with the lower class of people that attend those rallies anyway.
On the other hand, I have and never once that I have heard any inkling of violence. But I digress.
I just find it slightly amusing how when Hasan walked in the Ft. Hood office and started yelling “Allah Akbar” while gunning down unarmed innocent people around him, the Media complacently refrained from advancing any theory of dismissal of the official White House stand that Hasan action was an isolated incident, only addressing the connections of the man with a radical Muslim imam in Yemen when the news had become so widely reported that they could not avoid it.
Similarly, the Media treated the Panty Bomber to the same level of isolation that Hasan enjoyed.
But have a snapped anti-IRS, anti-Bush and anti-Capitalism nutcase fly a small plane into a federal building and suddenly the Media goes on overtime creating dots they can connect to attack those law abiding citizens who dared to voice their opposition to the disastrous policy of their Messiah.
The saving grace is that the American people, even those of us not smart enough to understand that we should not question Obama and Co. as we are not intellectually equipped, are well aware of the bias the Media operates from. Their success lately, demonstrates that their credibility, even the little they had, has reached such a low level that their opinions are only good for a rant or two and for some twisted amusement.
In April 2009, Janet Napolitano’s DHS released a report called “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” in which, among other things, the agency was alerting the law enforcement agencies that:
DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.
Even if the report was sort of retracted after a deluge of protests from Veterans associations across the Nation, the direction delineated in it remains, as she reaffirmed it at the annual conference of Governors in Washington last weekend. She stated that a lot of the type of extremism that was expected from overseas has shown up within our borders.
And what is she doing about it? She is conducting semi-secret meetings with the leadership of domestic Islamic groups who, through law enforcement investigations, have been connected to terrorist organizations abroad.
Man! Do I feel safe now!
Just my thoughts!
What would that be? Islamic terrorists? Nuclear Iran? Oh no, my friends. The true threat our country faces these days is domestic terrorism, defined as terrorism actions perpetrated by American citizens. And the feds are gearing up to crack down on it.
Sure, the threat from Muslim terrorist is being looked at, including the possibility of Iran being able to construct a nuclear weapon that can be shared with terrorists for use against us, but this scenario is surely not as pressing as domestic terror.
After all, Obama has gone to extreme lengths to appease the Muslim world with real, tangible results, like…I am sure they are there, somewhere.
But forget about that.
When on February 18, 2010 Joseph Stack flew his small plane into the IRS offices in Austin Texas, the proof of Janet Napolitano’s conviction was right there for the whole country to see. The 53 years old software engineer with a long history of conflict with the Internal Revenue, finally decided that the “man” was going to pay for all the abuse inflicted upon him.
Well, was this a case of domestic terrorism? Of course it was. How else one would described this piece of garbage taking it upon himself to seek revenge upon people who just went to work that day. I define terrorism an act which is designed to inflict as large a casualty count on a group of people who does not have a direct, personal connection with the perpetrator. If the people in the IRS office Mr. Stack aimed his airplane at were directly responsible for his disapproval of the federal agency, than it would be a case of premeditated murder. But the perpetration of the crime was directed to what those offices represented without any discrimination about who the victims would be, than for me it is terrorism.
The act of domestic terrorism has given a lot of powder for the guns of the Left ready to sharpen their conspiracy talons.
Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart wrote:
I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we’re hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.
Speaking of the rumbling manifesto Stack had left on his web site.
Really my friend? Have you ever been to a demonstration of the Tea Party movement? I guess not. Besides a “famous” columnist of the Washington Post would not really mingle with the lower class of people that attend those rallies anyway.
On the other hand, I have and never once that I have heard any inkling of violence. But I digress.
I just find it slightly amusing how when Hasan walked in the Ft. Hood office and started yelling “Allah Akbar” while gunning down unarmed innocent people around him, the Media complacently refrained from advancing any theory of dismissal of the official White House stand that Hasan action was an isolated incident, only addressing the connections of the man with a radical Muslim imam in Yemen when the news had become so widely reported that they could not avoid it.
Similarly, the Media treated the Panty Bomber to the same level of isolation that Hasan enjoyed.
But have a snapped anti-IRS, anti-Bush and anti-Capitalism nutcase fly a small plane into a federal building and suddenly the Media goes on overtime creating dots they can connect to attack those law abiding citizens who dared to voice their opposition to the disastrous policy of their Messiah.
The saving grace is that the American people, even those of us not smart enough to understand that we should not question Obama and Co. as we are not intellectually equipped, are well aware of the bias the Media operates from. Their success lately, demonstrates that their credibility, even the little they had, has reached such a low level that their opinions are only good for a rant or two and for some twisted amusement.
In April 2009, Janet Napolitano’s DHS released a report called “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” in which, among other things, the agency was alerting the law enforcement agencies that:
DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.
Even if the report was sort of retracted after a deluge of protests from Veterans associations across the Nation, the direction delineated in it remains, as she reaffirmed it at the annual conference of Governors in Washington last weekend. She stated that a lot of the type of extremism that was expected from overseas has shown up within our borders.
And what is she doing about it? She is conducting semi-secret meetings with the leadership of domestic Islamic groups who, through law enforcement investigations, have been connected to terrorist organizations abroad.
Man! Do I feel safe now!
Just my thoughts!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Secret Administration
By Semperpapa
If my memory does not fault me, one of the slogans continuously thrown in the faces of the American voters prior to the 2008 Presidential Elections was that once elected Obama was going to stop the air of secrecy that the Bush Administration had been accused of creating. Everything was going to be out in the open for the people to witness.
Well, so far the Obama machine has truly an abysmal record on the matter, especially when it comes to the actions of Attorney General Eric Holder.
There are too many instances of secret dealing involving Holder to list all, but just as a reminder, the multiple requests made by some members of Congress regarding the “legalities” involved in the dismissal of the charges against the Black Panthers going unanswered, should ring a bell.
Now the latest from AG Holder. Byron York from the Washington Examiner wrote on 19 February, 2010 about the response that Holder gave Senator Charles Grassley request for additional information on some of the political appointees at the Department of Justice.
Grassley’s request came in November 2009 when the names of two lawyers, political appointees of Obama, who appeared to have connections, of a professional kind, with detainees in Guantanamo. One was Neal Katyal, who had been representing Osama bin Laden driver, and Jennifer Daskal, who had represented Gitmo detainees for Human Rights Watch.
The connection of these two attorneys with the defense of terrorists emerged as they were politically appointed in the DoJ, and the knowledge of such small detail provoked the interest and request of Sen. Grassley. As mentioned already, the request was made in November 2009 and only now Holder is getting around to give a response.
The information requested by Grassley was of the names of the other nine lawyers, political appointees, who were now working in the Justice Department and the cases they had been involved in. The AG response mentioned that the nine people in question had, to one degree or another, been involved in litigation in favor of detainees, but what Holder continues to keep secret is their names and the specific of the cases.
It will be interesting to see what the response from the Senate will be to this blatant attempt to keep information from becoming public.
It is frankly disheartening to witness the actions of Mr. Holder. His tenure as Attorney general has been marked by non-sensical decisions that are hard to comprehend, unless one embraces the notion that the man is out to create his own personal empire in which he facilitates the enemies of the Nation while trying to turn the common American into the guilty party.
We already have Islamic radicals infiltrated in our law enforcement community at the federal and local level, from the FBI to the local Police Department, accomplished by the extortionist pressures made by organizations like CAIR and ISNA capitalizing on the fear of prosecution that a complacent Dept. of Justice has instilled in the spineless leadership of some of these agencies.
Now we hear the admission on the part of Holder that at least some of the attorneys that could be involved in the prosecution of terrorists have, in the past, worked in their defense.
Anybody see a problem with this situation?
And it’s interesting how some of this garbage is fed to the American people when the American people are more likely to not being paying that much attention, like on weekends and when most people are watching the Winter Olympics.
But the most disturbing part is that Obama and Holder don’t appear to be deterred by the awful smell of decaying excrements that their actions emanate. They are not at all concerned that the American people may not be too happy with the shenanigans they are feeding us.
After all they are the intellectuals, the elite of our political and social multitude and they do not have to explain or justify their action to us, the lower masses.
Just my thoughts!
If my memory does not fault me, one of the slogans continuously thrown in the faces of the American voters prior to the 2008 Presidential Elections was that once elected Obama was going to stop the air of secrecy that the Bush Administration had been accused of creating. Everything was going to be out in the open for the people to witness.
Well, so far the Obama machine has truly an abysmal record on the matter, especially when it comes to the actions of Attorney General Eric Holder.
There are too many instances of secret dealing involving Holder to list all, but just as a reminder, the multiple requests made by some members of Congress regarding the “legalities” involved in the dismissal of the charges against the Black Panthers going unanswered, should ring a bell.
Now the latest from AG Holder. Byron York from the Washington Examiner wrote on 19 February, 2010 about the response that Holder gave Senator Charles Grassley request for additional information on some of the political appointees at the Department of Justice.
Grassley’s request came in November 2009 when the names of two lawyers, political appointees of Obama, who appeared to have connections, of a professional kind, with detainees in Guantanamo. One was Neal Katyal, who had been representing Osama bin Laden driver, and Jennifer Daskal, who had represented Gitmo detainees for Human Rights Watch.
The connection of these two attorneys with the defense of terrorists emerged as they were politically appointed in the DoJ, and the knowledge of such small detail provoked the interest and request of Sen. Grassley. As mentioned already, the request was made in November 2009 and only now Holder is getting around to give a response.
The information requested by Grassley was of the names of the other nine lawyers, political appointees, who were now working in the Justice Department and the cases they had been involved in. The AG response mentioned that the nine people in question had, to one degree or another, been involved in litigation in favor of detainees, but what Holder continues to keep secret is their names and the specific of the cases.
It will be interesting to see what the response from the Senate will be to this blatant attempt to keep information from becoming public.
It is frankly disheartening to witness the actions of Mr. Holder. His tenure as Attorney general has been marked by non-sensical decisions that are hard to comprehend, unless one embraces the notion that the man is out to create his own personal empire in which he facilitates the enemies of the Nation while trying to turn the common American into the guilty party.
We already have Islamic radicals infiltrated in our law enforcement community at the federal and local level, from the FBI to the local Police Department, accomplished by the extortionist pressures made by organizations like CAIR and ISNA capitalizing on the fear of prosecution that a complacent Dept. of Justice has instilled in the spineless leadership of some of these agencies.
Now we hear the admission on the part of Holder that at least some of the attorneys that could be involved in the prosecution of terrorists have, in the past, worked in their defense.
Anybody see a problem with this situation?
And it’s interesting how some of this garbage is fed to the American people when the American people are more likely to not being paying that much attention, like on weekends and when most people are watching the Winter Olympics.
But the most disturbing part is that Obama and Holder don’t appear to be deterred by the awful smell of decaying excrements that their actions emanate. They are not at all concerned that the American people may not be too happy with the shenanigans they are feeding us.
After all they are the intellectuals, the elite of our political and social multitude and they do not have to explain or justify their action to us, the lower masses.
Just my thoughts!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Almost Ruined My Television
By Semperpapa
I know that I violated one of my cardinal rules by watching a small piece of Geraldo Rivera program on Fox News, but the advertised headline of the segment was a report from the Marjah operation in Afghanistan, so naturally, I felt I could put up with the always annoying Geraldo for couple of minutes (yes the report was about four minutes long as the much more important panel on Tiger “permanent woody” Woods apology story was waiting on the sideline), but I should have stuck to my own rules, especially when I saw that to comment on the Afghanistan story, Geraldo had Mike Huckabee and Rev. Al Sharpton.
Of course my first thought was what in the hell could the good reverend have to contribute to the discussion over Afghanistan except for coming up with some typical Al Sharpton idiocy aimed at bashing Bush and praising Obama. And I was not to be disappointed.
Huckabee commented on the difficulties our Military is encountering, even if the operation appears to be a definite success from all points of view, and ultimately he gave the credit where is due: to the men and women in uniform.
It was Sharpton’s turn then when he once again removed the very few doubts of his infinite stupidity. Paraphrasing, the reverend asked where were the people who had criticized Obama regarding the additional troops he ordered in theater, now that the operation was successful. He said that those people should openly recognize that Obama policy is working compared to the policies of his predecessor. And of course never once mentioned the troops’ efforts.
Well, it took a lot of self control not to ruin my television set! And surely my neighbors are now wondering what the cursing was all about, but it is utterly disgusting to be treated to such a display of bullshit.
In the first place, I am not one that defends the actions of President Bush at priori. I have had numerous issues with the conduct of the war in Afghanistan and in Iraq, so my profound indignation is not fueled by partisanship. But I am totally incensed by the fact that Sharpton has the actual courage to mention “support for the President” when for seven years he and the sort of people like him on the Left, have done all they could to undermine every single action taken by the Bush administration in the war.
From Obama to Reid to Durbin to Schumer and Biden and Sharpton and many others, every possible kind of criticism and defeatism was directed at the surge ordered by Bush in Iraq, and I have never heard any of the above mentioned characters coming out afterwards and say that the surge in Iraq worked. What we got instead, was the moronic Biden calling the victory in Iraq “one of this administration’s great achievements”.
And Sharpton wants critics to apologize to Obama?
Besides, the good reverend should get his facts straight, because the majority of the people who criticized Obama regarding the surge in Afghanistan, including me, were doing so because he took too damn long to give Gen. McChrystal what he had asked.
The criticism was directed at the inaction the President was adopting regarding the needs for more troops.
See, my dear Al, people who want our troops to actually win the war, those of us who could care less what frigging party the President is from when it comes to see our men and women in harm’s way being given the ability to do their job and to be safe, are not in the business of wishing for death and destruction among our Military so that we can look better politically. We do not wish for failure in the field for the sole purpose of bashing our political foes. That is a methodology we happily leave to your kind on the Left.
The only people who criticized Obama for increasing the troop level were his own crowd on the Left, especially his friends of Code Pink.
So Mr. Sharpton, get your damn facts straight before you open your stupid mouth!
In the meantime, please, STFU!
Just my thoughts.
I know that I violated one of my cardinal rules by watching a small piece of Geraldo Rivera program on Fox News, but the advertised headline of the segment was a report from the Marjah operation in Afghanistan, so naturally, I felt I could put up with the always annoying Geraldo for couple of minutes (yes the report was about four minutes long as the much more important panel on Tiger “permanent woody” Woods apology story was waiting on the sideline), but I should have stuck to my own rules, especially when I saw that to comment on the Afghanistan story, Geraldo had Mike Huckabee and Rev. Al Sharpton.
Of course my first thought was what in the hell could the good reverend have to contribute to the discussion over Afghanistan except for coming up with some typical Al Sharpton idiocy aimed at bashing Bush and praising Obama. And I was not to be disappointed.
Huckabee commented on the difficulties our Military is encountering, even if the operation appears to be a definite success from all points of view, and ultimately he gave the credit where is due: to the men and women in uniform.
It was Sharpton’s turn then when he once again removed the very few doubts of his infinite stupidity. Paraphrasing, the reverend asked where were the people who had criticized Obama regarding the additional troops he ordered in theater, now that the operation was successful. He said that those people should openly recognize that Obama policy is working compared to the policies of his predecessor. And of course never once mentioned the troops’ efforts.
Well, it took a lot of self control not to ruin my television set! And surely my neighbors are now wondering what the cursing was all about, but it is utterly disgusting to be treated to such a display of bullshit.
In the first place, I am not one that defends the actions of President Bush at priori. I have had numerous issues with the conduct of the war in Afghanistan and in Iraq, so my profound indignation is not fueled by partisanship. But I am totally incensed by the fact that Sharpton has the actual courage to mention “support for the President” when for seven years he and the sort of people like him on the Left, have done all they could to undermine every single action taken by the Bush administration in the war.
From Obama to Reid to Durbin to Schumer and Biden and Sharpton and many others, every possible kind of criticism and defeatism was directed at the surge ordered by Bush in Iraq, and I have never heard any of the above mentioned characters coming out afterwards and say that the surge in Iraq worked. What we got instead, was the moronic Biden calling the victory in Iraq “one of this administration’s great achievements”.
And Sharpton wants critics to apologize to Obama?
Besides, the good reverend should get his facts straight, because the majority of the people who criticized Obama regarding the surge in Afghanistan, including me, were doing so because he took too damn long to give Gen. McChrystal what he had asked.
The criticism was directed at the inaction the President was adopting regarding the needs for more troops.
See, my dear Al, people who want our troops to actually win the war, those of us who could care less what frigging party the President is from when it comes to see our men and women in harm’s way being given the ability to do their job and to be safe, are not in the business of wishing for death and destruction among our Military so that we can look better politically. We do not wish for failure in the field for the sole purpose of bashing our political foes. That is a methodology we happily leave to your kind on the Left.
The only people who criticized Obama for increasing the troop level were his own crowd on the Left, especially his friends of Code Pink.
So Mr. Sharpton, get your damn facts straight before you open your stupid mouth!
In the meantime, please, STFU!
Just my thoughts.
Friday, February 19, 2010
And While We Are On The Subject...
By Semperpapa
The process has been going on for over a year, mostly hidden in the bowels of Obama/Holder/Napolitano dark chamber. Occasionally we are exposed to some of the outrageous decisions the Washington crowd so desperately try to conceal from the American people. America is becoming some sort of a rubber band: at one end our ideals and beliefs, at the other the radical Liberal Progressives trying to destroy us. The one end held steady by the principles delineated by the US Constitution and our heritage, the other end steadily pulling in the direction of a fascist abyss. How long before the limit will be reached and the American people will say “enough”?
Case in point a very ill-publicized meeting held last month in Washington DC by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The two day event saw the head of the federal agency in charge of the safety and security of the whole country sitting down with a selected group of Muslim, Arab and Sikh organizations. And some of these organizations have known ties with the terrorist organization called Muslim Brotherhood.
During the meeting, which again was not openly announced, Napolitano spent time briefing her guests about departmental policies regarding the agency’s efforts against counter-radicalization and counter-terrorism. To get a better understanding of the significance of this effort on the part of the Secretary, one must only imagine calling the local burglar to your home and explaining how the house alarm system works, and the reasoning would be to show willingness to compromise so that the burglar will skip your home.
The point of these meetings, which are scheduled to take place on a somewhat regular basis, is to allow sharing of information in order to create a better front against terrorism. The program is based on a similar one instituted in Great Britain, where the Muslim community is slowly but surely eroding the very fabric of British traditions, skillfully utilizing the scourge of multiculturalism and the cancer of Political Correctness in order to gain a radical foothold in that country’s culture. But while the Islamic forces accomplished the goal after years of patient subterfuge, in America it is the political establishment that is given them access to the highest levels of government.
To make things even more sinister, Matthew Chandler, Napolitano’s spokesman, refuses to give any details regarding the meetings or the groups that participated, obviously not counting, and actually hoping that the event was going to remain under the radar of the ever compliant Media, on the obsession for pure “in your face” propaganda that is characteristic of the radical Islamic forces at work in America. The Islamic groups were actually the ones to communicate with Pajama Media and to grant interviews.
While the focal point of outrage is directed toward Napolitano, we must realize that nothing in the current Administration happens without the blessing of President Obama, and that the event in question is just another step taken by him in his quest to appease and apologize to radical Islam.
Just as clearly indicated in the book Muslim Mafia by P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry, and confirmed by other counter-terrorist experts in the business, the idea of counter-radicalization, the concept of Muslim organizations’ contribution in the war on Terror, is the type of farce that parallels the wolf guarding the sheep. Although the nature and content of the meetings held by Napolitano is currently unknown, any knowledge of tactics and procedures employed by our Homeland security shared with groups tie with the Muslim Brotherhood is certain to make its way into the strategic banks of those elements of Islam actively involved in jihad against the United States. Any particular of our security systems and protocols in the hands of our enemies will only allow them to device the best action to defeat them.
And all is and will be handed over to them on a silver platter.
But why is this happening? Why is our government so inclined to reveal our security apparatus to our enemies? Is it just a case of ineptitude or is it taking PC to a dangerous point? Or is it the case of an ulterior more sinister motive? I can only take a position from my observation of past behavior. From the President speech of apology to the Muslim world to the handling of the Black Panthers voter intimidation case; from the case of Army Maj. Hasan and the massacre of Ft. Hood to the handling of Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day 2009, to the decision of granting legal rights to the 9-11-01 masterminds. It all points toward a prevailing disposition to appease, accommodate and facilitate the spreading of Islam within our borders.
Sure the President’s apologists will argue that these groups being engaged are valuable tools in understanding the enemy and why they want us dead, but I revert back to Gaubatz and Sperry’s book, where the same organizations have been infiltrating governmental institutions like Congress and federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI by using the same tactics based on cooperation against terrorism, while at the same time providing funds for terror organizations abroad and acting as fronts for them in this country.
On the same day that Michelle Malkin brings up Pajamas Media story about Napolitano’s summit, the news also broke of five US Army Arabic linguists being investigated at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, for attempting to poison the food supply of the Army base.
Of course, what the American people will hear from the federal official will be that even this occurrence will be an isolated case, non terror related and of course we will be delighted by CAIR demands for their immediate clearing so not to upset the cooperation between the government and the anti-terror Muslim terrorists.
If you feel that your head is about to burst, you are not alone. The rubber band is reaching its structural limits.
Just my thoughts!
The process has been going on for over a year, mostly hidden in the bowels of Obama/Holder/Napolitano dark chamber. Occasionally we are exposed to some of the outrageous decisions the Washington crowd so desperately try to conceal from the American people. America is becoming some sort of a rubber band: at one end our ideals and beliefs, at the other the radical Liberal Progressives trying to destroy us. The one end held steady by the principles delineated by the US Constitution and our heritage, the other end steadily pulling in the direction of a fascist abyss. How long before the limit will be reached and the American people will say “enough”?
Case in point a very ill-publicized meeting held last month in Washington DC by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The two day event saw the head of the federal agency in charge of the safety and security of the whole country sitting down with a selected group of Muslim, Arab and Sikh organizations. And some of these organizations have known ties with the terrorist organization called Muslim Brotherhood.
During the meeting, which again was not openly announced, Napolitano spent time briefing her guests about departmental policies regarding the agency’s efforts against counter-radicalization and counter-terrorism. To get a better understanding of the significance of this effort on the part of the Secretary, one must only imagine calling the local burglar to your home and explaining how the house alarm system works, and the reasoning would be to show willingness to compromise so that the burglar will skip your home.
The point of these meetings, which are scheduled to take place on a somewhat regular basis, is to allow sharing of information in order to create a better front against terrorism. The program is based on a similar one instituted in Great Britain, where the Muslim community is slowly but surely eroding the very fabric of British traditions, skillfully utilizing the scourge of multiculturalism and the cancer of Political Correctness in order to gain a radical foothold in that country’s culture. But while the Islamic forces accomplished the goal after years of patient subterfuge, in America it is the political establishment that is given them access to the highest levels of government.
To make things even more sinister, Matthew Chandler, Napolitano’s spokesman, refuses to give any details regarding the meetings or the groups that participated, obviously not counting, and actually hoping that the event was going to remain under the radar of the ever compliant Media, on the obsession for pure “in your face” propaganda that is characteristic of the radical Islamic forces at work in America. The Islamic groups were actually the ones to communicate with Pajama Media and to grant interviews.
While the focal point of outrage is directed toward Napolitano, we must realize that nothing in the current Administration happens without the blessing of President Obama, and that the event in question is just another step taken by him in his quest to appease and apologize to radical Islam.
Just as clearly indicated in the book Muslim Mafia by P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry, and confirmed by other counter-terrorist experts in the business, the idea of counter-radicalization, the concept of Muslim organizations’ contribution in the war on Terror, is the type of farce that parallels the wolf guarding the sheep. Although the nature and content of the meetings held by Napolitano is currently unknown, any knowledge of tactics and procedures employed by our Homeland security shared with groups tie with the Muslim Brotherhood is certain to make its way into the strategic banks of those elements of Islam actively involved in jihad against the United States. Any particular of our security systems and protocols in the hands of our enemies will only allow them to device the best action to defeat them.
And all is and will be handed over to them on a silver platter.
But why is this happening? Why is our government so inclined to reveal our security apparatus to our enemies? Is it just a case of ineptitude or is it taking PC to a dangerous point? Or is it the case of an ulterior more sinister motive? I can only take a position from my observation of past behavior. From the President speech of apology to the Muslim world to the handling of the Black Panthers voter intimidation case; from the case of Army Maj. Hasan and the massacre of Ft. Hood to the handling of Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day 2009, to the decision of granting legal rights to the 9-11-01 masterminds. It all points toward a prevailing disposition to appease, accommodate and facilitate the spreading of Islam within our borders.
Sure the President’s apologists will argue that these groups being engaged are valuable tools in understanding the enemy and why they want us dead, but I revert back to Gaubatz and Sperry’s book, where the same organizations have been infiltrating governmental institutions like Congress and federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI by using the same tactics based on cooperation against terrorism, while at the same time providing funds for terror organizations abroad and acting as fronts for them in this country.
On the same day that Michelle Malkin brings up Pajamas Media story about Napolitano’s summit, the news also broke of five US Army Arabic linguists being investigated at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, for attempting to poison the food supply of the Army base.
Of course, what the American people will hear from the federal official will be that even this occurrence will be an isolated case, non terror related and of course we will be delighted by CAIR demands for their immediate clearing so not to upset the cooperation between the government and the anti-terror Muslim terrorists.
If you feel that your head is about to burst, you are not alone. The rubber band is reaching its structural limits.
Just my thoughts!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Of Goose and Gander
By Semperpapa
When Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren addressed the assembly at UC-Irvine last week, he found himself confronted by a throng of protesters who interrupted his speech shouting invectives so much that finally the campus security had to remove the protesters.
In all, 11 people were escorted out of the venue and the report has been filed with the Orange County District Attorney for possible filing of charges against the 11, if a formal complaint is made by university officials.
While the next judicial step has not even been contemplated, and if I was a betting man I would wager that nothing will come out of this criminally, the Southern California chapter of CAIR (Council of American-Islamic Relations) has taken a pre-emptive approach, immediately calling for the dropping of all complaints against the 11 thugs. Not only no charges should be filed by the D.A., but all disciplinary actions on the part of the University should be dropped.
The reasoning behind Hussam Ayloush, head of the SoCal office of CAIR, demand is that the students were exercising their First Amendment Right of free speech. Ayloush calls the actions of the 11 students just an expression of opposing views and therefore constitutionally protected, regardless of the viciousness of the verbal attacks, the venue, the circumstances. Ultimately, CAIR believes that the expression of pro-Muslim, anti-Semitic sentiments is always proper.
To strengthen the protest, Mr. Ayloush also is contending that the matter of the 11 students in question should not be taken out of the University circle, that bringing the handling of the complaint “outside” the University jurisdiction, namely the Orange County District Attorney, is somewhat contrary to the collegial ideals.
Not surprising of an assertion on the part of CAIR, as the University environment is potentially a much safer one than the office of the County DA, with sympathizers and politically correct zombies always in abundance.
When Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren addressed the assembly at UC-Irvine last week, he found himself confronted by a throng of protesters who interrupted his speech shouting invectives so much that finally the campus security had to remove the protesters.
In all, 11 people were escorted out of the venue and the report has been filed with the Orange County District Attorney for possible filing of charges against the 11, if a formal complaint is made by university officials.
While the next judicial step has not even been contemplated, and if I was a betting man I would wager that nothing will come out of this criminally, the Southern California chapter of CAIR (Council of American-Islamic Relations) has taken a pre-emptive approach, immediately calling for the dropping of all complaints against the 11 thugs. Not only no charges should be filed by the D.A., but all disciplinary actions on the part of the University should be dropped.
The reasoning behind Hussam Ayloush, head of the SoCal office of CAIR, demand is that the students were exercising their First Amendment Right of free speech. Ayloush calls the actions of the 11 students just an expression of opposing views and therefore constitutionally protected, regardless of the viciousness of the verbal attacks, the venue, the circumstances. Ultimately, CAIR believes that the expression of pro-Muslim, anti-Semitic sentiments is always proper.
To strengthen the protest, Mr. Ayloush also is contending that the matter of the 11 students in question should not be taken out of the University circle, that bringing the handling of the complaint “outside” the University jurisdiction, namely the Orange County District Attorney, is somewhat contrary to the collegial ideals.
Not surprising of an assertion on the part of CAIR, as the University environment is potentially a much safer one than the office of the County DA, with sympathizers and politically correct zombies always in abundance.
Hussam Ayloush continues to maintain that if the University should decide to pursue disciplinary actions against the 11 thugs, the action would be “perceived as selective enforcement”. Clearly in a move to threaten the university administration Ayloush added that “the campus probably does not want to be viewed in such a light”, knowing very well that the leadership of UC-Irvine, just like the vast majority of universities and colleges in the US, will go to any length to accommodate the demands of CAIR and similar groups so to maintain their multicultural image. Even if it means trampling the forgotten notion of right and wrong.
Hypocritically, the CAIR representative, the same one invoking the thugs’ right to free speech in the incident with Ambassador Oren, is the same gentleman who in 2003 sued the National Review for an alleged article that Ayloush deemed to be defamatory toward CAIR. National Review retracted the piece, but CAIR continued to pursue the suit until it was dismissed by a court for lack of merit. National Review, though, found itself in the hole for $50,000 in legal fees anyway.
It is obvious that the First Amendment of the US Constitution is applicable to the disruptive students attempting to shut down a speaker at an event, but it does not apply to a publication.
And this coming from an organization whose ultimate goal is to have the Koran replace the US Constitution anyway.
It goes to show that the Council for American-Islamic Relations is not knowledgeable, or just plain discards, the great American philosophy of “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.
And these are my thoughts!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Separated At Birth
By Semperpapa
A piece of garbage and the brain fart of a piece of garbage separated at birth.
Dows garbage share DNA?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Excuse Me, Would You Mind If I Kick You In The Face?
By Semperpapa
For years now, since before the First Gulf War, I have felt that the American population at large has become disturbingly detached from the Military and their families.
In those distant days, prior to Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait and the following actions of President H. W. Bush, my personal place of work always was adorned with an American flag, even when it generated, at times, a light form of scorn from co-workers. Nothing that a smile and a middle finger couldn’t stop.
I noticed then, but really have come to experience personally the detachment between the civilian public and the Military families since my son joined the US Marines in 2005, at a time when the country is at war.
What has surprised me the most has been the reaction of people upon finding out my son was a Marine, and the phenomenon has been confirmed by countless Military families I am in contact with.
Not surprising at all is how geographical location plays a big role in the support Military families receive as their loved ones are deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan, with the middle of America and rural areas much more in tune with the sacrifice being made on their behalf as opposed to the two coasts and the urban centers.
As much as I would like to pay little attention to the asinine things that come out of some people mouths, there are times when I hear comments that make me want to kick someone in the face, plain and simple. Here are some examples. The names have been changed to protect the innocent and the morons.
A friend of ours in Pennsylvania, whom I will call Shannon, has a son who just before Christmas came back from Afghanistan after serving 7 months with a Marine Recon unit. We do not know her or her family personally, but via the Internet, she has become an indescribable source of support, especially for my wife, as we deal with my son’s deployment. She just recently told us of an incident she was subjected to at a gathering she hosted just prior to her son’s deployment in March 2009.
The mother of her son’s best friend was at the gathering (this is Shannon’s own words written to my wife):
Can someone honestly believe that there are people like that out there? Now Shannon’s answer was a lady-like response, even if sarcastically incisive, but for what I know of Shannon, she would have rather kick the woman in the face.
I have heard of parents being asked “how could you let your child join the Military”, as if my son joining the Military can be construed as a parental failure. Or, and these are the sensitive people, when expressing our concern about our son being in a combat zone, being told “well, that’s what he signed up to” as if that detail should cancel out any concern for his safety.
This happened to me at work. Few weeks before my son left for Afghanistan, his best friend left for Vietnam for some cultural exchange thing. I was at my workplace and speaking with a co-worker who is Vietnamese, so I asked my co-worker about Da Nang where my son’s friend was going to be and from the response, it looks like the place is, how can I say this, target rich as it relates to availability of women. He also asked me if my son was going there too so I responded that no, my son was going to Afghanistan. His response was:
“Oh, your son is going to die in the sand and his friend happy in a bed.” As I still need my job, I just gave him an angry “F- You!” instead of the swift kick in the face he deserved.
The indifference of the people manifests itself even more when there is no connection between the person and the Military member. As a Patriot Guard Rider, I have escorted many Fallen Military to their resting places across Southern California. In some occasions, we have the luxury of Police escort, which makes it safer. Most times we do not and we are faced with motorists who, even realizing it is a Military Fallen funeral escort, feel that their destination and time is so important that cutting in front of motorcycles, many times jeopardizing our safety, is justified.
I have talked with relatives of Military who, witnessing such attitude, feel bitter about their loved one putting his/her life on the line for such lack of gratitude, and I try to remind them, and honestly myself at times, that the sacrifices our Military has done and continues to do is not for one specific individual, but for the totality of our ideals and principles.
Of course there will always be those people who just don’t get it. Just keep your cool and ask politely if they would mind a kick in the face.
Just my thoughts!
For years now, since before the First Gulf War, I have felt that the American population at large has become disturbingly detached from the Military and their families.
In those distant days, prior to Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait and the following actions of President H. W. Bush, my personal place of work always was adorned with an American flag, even when it generated, at times, a light form of scorn from co-workers. Nothing that a smile and a middle finger couldn’t stop.
I noticed then, but really have come to experience personally the detachment between the civilian public and the Military families since my son joined the US Marines in 2005, at a time when the country is at war.
What has surprised me the most has been the reaction of people upon finding out my son was a Marine, and the phenomenon has been confirmed by countless Military families I am in contact with.
Not surprising at all is how geographical location plays a big role in the support Military families receive as their loved ones are deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan, with the middle of America and rural areas much more in tune with the sacrifice being made on their behalf as opposed to the two coasts and the urban centers.
As much as I would like to pay little attention to the asinine things that come out of some people mouths, there are times when I hear comments that make me want to kick someone in the face, plain and simple. Here are some examples. The names have been changed to protect the innocent and the morons.
A friend of ours in Pennsylvania, whom I will call Shannon, has a son who just before Christmas came back from Afghanistan after serving 7 months with a Marine Recon unit. We do not know her or her family personally, but via the Internet, she has become an indescribable source of support, especially for my wife, as we deal with my son’s deployment. She just recently told us of an incident she was subjected to at a gathering she hosted just prior to her son’s deployment in March 2009.
The mother of her son’s best friend was at the gathering (this is Shannon’s own words written to my wife):
Obviously the fact that (the Marine son) was leaving for that shit hole of a
country was on all of our minds, but we kept things upbeat and had a good
time. Mary (the Marine best friend’s mom) came up to me with that deer in
the headlights look, with tears running down her face and said "I just can't
believe that you can walk around here smiling and chatting with people when your
son is going off to war and probably won't come home". I was dumbfounded
that someone would actually say that to me and I thanked her for being so darn
positive and told her I was very glad it wasn't George (her son) leaving as it
would be awful hard for him to concentrate on the mission knowing his mom felt
that way. Obviously, we haven't spoken since!!!!
Can someone honestly believe that there are people like that out there? Now Shannon’s answer was a lady-like response, even if sarcastically incisive, but for what I know of Shannon, she would have rather kick the woman in the face.
I have heard of parents being asked “how could you let your child join the Military”, as if my son joining the Military can be construed as a parental failure. Or, and these are the sensitive people, when expressing our concern about our son being in a combat zone, being told “well, that’s what he signed up to” as if that detail should cancel out any concern for his safety.
This happened to me at work. Few weeks before my son left for Afghanistan, his best friend left for Vietnam for some cultural exchange thing. I was at my workplace and speaking with a co-worker who is Vietnamese, so I asked my co-worker about Da Nang where my son’s friend was going to be and from the response, it looks like the place is, how can I say this, target rich as it relates to availability of women. He also asked me if my son was going there too so I responded that no, my son was going to Afghanistan. His response was:
“Oh, your son is going to die in the sand and his friend happy in a bed.” As I still need my job, I just gave him an angry “F- You!” instead of the swift kick in the face he deserved.
The indifference of the people manifests itself even more when there is no connection between the person and the Military member. As a Patriot Guard Rider, I have escorted many Fallen Military to their resting places across Southern California. In some occasions, we have the luxury of Police escort, which makes it safer. Most times we do not and we are faced with motorists who, even realizing it is a Military Fallen funeral escort, feel that their destination and time is so important that cutting in front of motorcycles, many times jeopardizing our safety, is justified.
I have talked with relatives of Military who, witnessing such attitude, feel bitter about their loved one putting his/her life on the line for such lack of gratitude, and I try to remind them, and honestly myself at times, that the sacrifices our Military has done and continues to do is not for one specific individual, but for the totality of our ideals and principles.
Of course there will always be those people who just don’t get it. Just keep your cool and ask politely if they would mind a kick in the face.
Just my thoughts!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Statistics Will Save Our Country
By Semperpapa
I have always hated statistics, especially when used to justify bad behavior. I realize that in the total scheme of things, statistical analysis may be useful to some degree, but those affected by the bad behavior ultimately care very little about percentages.
Case in point is the September 11, 2001 attacks. Nearly 3,000 people were lost on that faithful day. Considering the population of the United States at a round 300,000,000 the percentage of casualties is not that impressive, isn’t it? Tell that to the families!
Now, according to the statistical line of thought done by John Brennan, 0.00001% casualty rate must be miniscule, if he believes that 5% recidivism on the part of the terrorist released back into circulation is an acceptable rate.
Now you may say that is a joke, but it isn’t.
John Brennan is Obama’s top counter-terrorism official.
Few days back Mr. Brennan made the statement that in the federal penal system, America sees 20% recidivism in criminals released from prison. In his opinion, then, 5% recidivism for released terrorists is really not that bad.
What we heard from the Administration top counter-terrorism advisor to the President is that in his view the American people should not complain about the terrorists that have been sent back to places like Saudi Arabia and Yemen for “re-habilitation” when they show back up on the battlefield fighting to kill our men and women in uniform or attempting to bring harm back on our soil.
If the American society can accept 20% recidivism from our prison inmates, which includes purse snatchers, bad checks writers, and a myriad of other “hard core” criminals, we, the American people, should be ecstatic about 5% recidivism among people who want to commit mass murder and bring our civilization down.
How long before we hear Biden the Courageous tell us that the tiny 5% is one of the Obama’s Administration “great achievements?”
National Security Adviser Jim Jones was interviewed over the weekend by Chris Wallace of Fox News and, when confronted with Brennan’s statement, tried to twirl around the subject. He stated that the inmates at Guantanamo cannot be held in captivity indefinitely without due process. And I say: Why the hell not!
They were captured on the battlefield fighting against our Military. They are suspected of participating and/or masterminding the murder of thousands of American civilians.
Due process? In my humble opinion, a confession should buy a front center ticket to a firing squad. A dead terrorist will not return to the battle. A dead terrorist will not be culpable of recidivism.
The approach of the Obama administration to the War on Terror we are involved in has been mind blowing. From the reluctance to even call it a war to the actions of Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano, the confidence of the American people regarding the ability of this government to protect our security is dropping at an alarming rate.
And in light of the fact that according to the US Constitution the number one role of the federal government is to protect its citizens, the confidence of the people in the ability of this administration to fulfill that role diminishes every time Mr. Brennan opens his mouth.
If We the People get lucky, Brennan, together with Holder and Napolitano, will be perceived as political liability from the always campaigning Obama and thrown unceremoniously under the Ramh Emanuel/David Axelrod bus.
I just hope it will not take a major terror attack to insure it.
Just my thoughts.
I have always hated statistics, especially when used to justify bad behavior. I realize that in the total scheme of things, statistical analysis may be useful to some degree, but those affected by the bad behavior ultimately care very little about percentages.
Case in point is the September 11, 2001 attacks. Nearly 3,000 people were lost on that faithful day. Considering the population of the United States at a round 300,000,000 the percentage of casualties is not that impressive, isn’t it? Tell that to the families!
Now, according to the statistical line of thought done by John Brennan, 0.00001% casualty rate must be miniscule, if he believes that 5% recidivism on the part of the terrorist released back into circulation is an acceptable rate.
Now you may say that is a joke, but it isn’t.
John Brennan is Obama’s top counter-terrorism official.
Few days back Mr. Brennan made the statement that in the federal penal system, America sees 20% recidivism in criminals released from prison. In his opinion, then, 5% recidivism for released terrorists is really not that bad.
What we heard from the Administration top counter-terrorism advisor to the President is that in his view the American people should not complain about the terrorists that have been sent back to places like Saudi Arabia and Yemen for “re-habilitation” when they show back up on the battlefield fighting to kill our men and women in uniform or attempting to bring harm back on our soil.
If the American society can accept 20% recidivism from our prison inmates, which includes purse snatchers, bad checks writers, and a myriad of other “hard core” criminals, we, the American people, should be ecstatic about 5% recidivism among people who want to commit mass murder and bring our civilization down.
How long before we hear Biden the Courageous tell us that the tiny 5% is one of the Obama’s Administration “great achievements?”
National Security Adviser Jim Jones was interviewed over the weekend by Chris Wallace of Fox News and, when confronted with Brennan’s statement, tried to twirl around the subject. He stated that the inmates at Guantanamo cannot be held in captivity indefinitely without due process. And I say: Why the hell not!
They were captured on the battlefield fighting against our Military. They are suspected of participating and/or masterminding the murder of thousands of American civilians.
Due process? In my humble opinion, a confession should buy a front center ticket to a firing squad. A dead terrorist will not return to the battle. A dead terrorist will not be culpable of recidivism.
The approach of the Obama administration to the War on Terror we are involved in has been mind blowing. From the reluctance to even call it a war to the actions of Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano, the confidence of the American people regarding the ability of this government to protect our security is dropping at an alarming rate.
And in light of the fact that according to the US Constitution the number one role of the federal government is to protect its citizens, the confidence of the people in the ability of this administration to fulfill that role diminishes every time Mr. Brennan opens his mouth.
If We the People get lucky, Brennan, together with Holder and Napolitano, will be perceived as political liability from the always campaigning Obama and thrown unceremoniously under the Ramh Emanuel/David Axelrod bus.
I just hope it will not take a major terror attack to insure it.
Just my thoughts.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Making It Special For Muslims
By Semperpapa
A report has surfaced in regard to the body scanners that are being employed in airports across the globe to improve security for the millions who travel the “friendly” skies.
The scanners, which are being rushed into operation thanks to the near disaster, man made disaster, of last Christmas Day over Detroit, gives the security officers the ability to detect terrorists threats like the one that the panties bomber, to use a definition from Mark Steyn, was carrying on Flight 253.
Well, just another annoyance for those who have to rely on air travel, while I can already predict some form of PTSD for TSA employees forced to watch thousand of people nude-like images for hours on hand.
But the whole system finds itself in a conundrum, because certain groups belonging to the pro-Islamic terrorism Muslim Brotherhood are protesting the use of the scanners. FCNA (Figh Council of North America) is an Islamic group associated with ISNA, another group associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is an organization that aims at the destruction of the West from within (from their own mission statement).
And of course the ever present Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is supporting the contentions of the FCNA.
What are these contentions? Simply put, the images the body scanners are showing the authorities sre considered against the teachings of the Muslim faith.
What the opposition is based on is the aspect of Islamic teaching where decency and modesty of the followers of the religion would be insulted by the fact that others would see their naked bodies. In the typical confusing manner, FCNA statement says that:
"It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women…"
The groups are proposing that body scanners would not be used on Muslims and that Muslims should opt for body pat downs.
Of course, should authorities side with the Islamists, which is a very good possibility with President Obama and AG Holder past record, and exempt them from being scanned, the next step would be for CAIR and whatever other conglomeration of members of the religion of peace, to object to pat downs, as it is probably against their teachings for an Infidel to touch a Muslim, unless TSA officers are Muslims.
So, recapping, in the perfect world of CAIR and all other Islamic terror supporting groups, all those of the Muslim faith should be exonerated from the body scanners and instead should be subjected to physical body searches, but only in the most extreme cases, whatever that means.
Of course the physical body search should only be conducted by Muslim security officers, but cavity searches are not permitted because they would amount to the officer being able to see the Muslim passenger naked. Are you following this? So basically in the case of the Christmas Panty Bomber, he would have gone through anyway, because the explosive was in an area of his body off limits to security check, so not to offend him!
So the best possible solution is for security to take the Muslim passenger at his or her word as non-terrorist status is declared, after all why would anybody doubt the word of people that fight behind innocent women and children, or fly airplanes into civilian buildings.
Or there is also another solution: being the safety and security of the thousands of passengers flying around every hour is so offensive to the followers of Allah, maybe such followers should NOT avail themselves of the use of air transportation, which could make flying much easier and safer for the rest of us.
And these are my thoughts!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Important Event
By Semperpapa
Anyone who happens to be in Sounthern California this weekend, can enjoy the event taking place at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Address is:
2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.
Del Mar, CA 92014
The event is the "Crossroards of the West Gun Show" always a lot of fun.
This weekend there is an added value as there will be a table at the show where people will be able to check out P. David Gaubatz' book Muslim Mafia.
I recommend that you take a look at the info available at the table about the book, its content and the upcoming visit Mr. Gaubatz will make to Anaheim on March 27th, to further analyze the danger Muslim terrorism inside our borders represents.
So, get to the Gun Show and find out about the book Muslim Mafia.
Become informed so to better protect your country.
Anyone who happens to be in Sounthern California this weekend, can enjoy the event taking place at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Address is:
2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.
Del Mar, CA 92014
The event is the "Crossroards of the West Gun Show" always a lot of fun.
This weekend there is an added value as there will be a table at the show where people will be able to check out P. David Gaubatz' book Muslim Mafia.
I recommend that you take a look at the info available at the table about the book, its content and the upcoming visit Mr. Gaubatz will make to Anaheim on March 27th, to further analyze the danger Muslim terrorism inside our borders represents.
So, get to the Gun Show and find out about the book Muslim Mafia.
Become informed so to better protect your country.
Time To Pray
By Semperpapa
Every day, every hour is a good time to pray for our troops deployed overseas. We pray for their safety and for their victory.
But now is an even more important time to invoke God's grace on our men and women in uniform involved in the current operation in central Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Finally, after many days of propaganda and build up, Operation Moshtarak has kicked off late yesterday as the Marines begun their push into the city of Marjah.
The place is a conglomeration of huts and compounds occupied by about 80,000 civilians, but it is also a major hub for the Taliban opium and weapons traffic.
So Marjah has become a very important objective both militarily and politically, as the struggling government in Kabul is trying to assert its control over areas of the country where the Taliban had been the only governance.
And so the operation has begun, as I mentioned, late yesterday afternoon and thankfully, as of this morning, no casualties for the Coalition forces has been reported.
I know it is unrealistic to believe that an operation of such magnitude could unfold and be successful with no ISAF casualties, but the prayers remain on-going.
The Marjah operation has been described by many as the Felluja of Afghanistan, alluding to the Iraqi city our Military had to clean up twice at a tremendous cost in US Military lives.
The comparison to Felluja is disturbing because of the casualties of that operation, and I pray Marjah is not destined to become part of American Military history like Felluja, Ramadi, Hue, Chosin or Bastogne.
The whole approach to Operation Moshtarak has been quite a novelty. From all the Military history accounts and writing I have ever seen, I gathered the understanding that the element of surprise was one very important aspect of an operation of this kind. History is being made, as I see it, because the approach this time has been to advertise the build up and the objectives, including the size of the Coalition force and its composition, the general plan of action and even the fact that Special Forces teams were operating in advance in the city to kill or capture Taliban Command and Control.
Not being former Military, I venture my opinions on the extensive reading I have done throughout my life of Military History, a passion of mine, and never I have seen a military force exposing a plan to the enemy to the degree such I have seen in this case. We are witnessing Military history being made.
So now it is time to pray, for some of us even more. Pray that the lesson learnt today will be a positive one; pray that the decisions made by the commanders in the field were well guided; pray that the policy applied in this case is a successful one.
But most of all, it is time to pray that our sons and daughters perform their duty with honor, accomplish their mission and get to come home safe.
And these are my thoughts!
Every day, every hour is a good time to pray for our troops deployed overseas. We pray for their safety and for their victory.
But now is an even more important time to invoke God's grace on our men and women in uniform involved in the current operation in central Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Finally, after many days of propaganda and build up, Operation Moshtarak has kicked off late yesterday as the Marines begun their push into the city of Marjah.
The place is a conglomeration of huts and compounds occupied by about 80,000 civilians, but it is also a major hub for the Taliban opium and weapons traffic.
So Marjah has become a very important objective both militarily and politically, as the struggling government in Kabul is trying to assert its control over areas of the country where the Taliban had been the only governance.
And so the operation has begun, as I mentioned, late yesterday afternoon and thankfully, as of this morning, no casualties for the Coalition forces has been reported.
I know it is unrealistic to believe that an operation of such magnitude could unfold and be successful with no ISAF casualties, but the prayers remain on-going.
The Marjah operation has been described by many as the Felluja of Afghanistan, alluding to the Iraqi city our Military had to clean up twice at a tremendous cost in US Military lives.
The comparison to Felluja is disturbing because of the casualties of that operation, and I pray Marjah is not destined to become part of American Military history like Felluja, Ramadi, Hue, Chosin or Bastogne.
The whole approach to Operation Moshtarak has been quite a novelty. From all the Military history accounts and writing I have ever seen, I gathered the understanding that the element of surprise was one very important aspect of an operation of this kind. History is being made, as I see it, because the approach this time has been to advertise the build up and the objectives, including the size of the Coalition force and its composition, the general plan of action and even the fact that Special Forces teams were operating in advance in the city to kill or capture Taliban Command and Control.
Not being former Military, I venture my opinions on the extensive reading I have done throughout my life of Military History, a passion of mine, and never I have seen a military force exposing a plan to the enemy to the degree such I have seen in this case. We are witnessing Military history being made.
So now it is time to pray, for some of us even more. Pray that the lesson learnt today will be a positive one; pray that the decisions made by the commanders in the field were well guided; pray that the policy applied in this case is a successful one.
But most of all, it is time to pray that our sons and daughters perform their duty with honor, accomplish their mission and get to come home safe.
And these are my thoughts!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Biden The Corurageous
By Semperpapa
I must admit that I admire Joe Biden for his courage. No really!
Now before all of you that know me start thinking that I am going to the nefarious side or just plainly lost the little sanity I had left, I want to point out that it takes some real courage and determination to sit in front of the cameras of a nationally televised talk show and maintain a straight face as you spew the most unbelievable lies, distortions and fabrications. And keep that straight face!
Ok I understand that after all the fact that Biden was on the Larry King show really means that the sixteen people that were actually watching him is a mitigating fact, but still this is the damn Vice President of the United States, the man who is second to the Presidency and surely the best life insurance policy Obama could have ever gotten.
This is what Joe said on the Larry King show on Wednesday:
“I am very optimistic about -- about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.
I spent -- I've been there 17 times now. I go about every two months -- three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society. It's impressed me. I've been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.”
Ok, if just about now you start hearing the Twilight Zone music in your head, do not panic as it happens to the best of us when we are faced with such amazing show of pure insanity, the courage of actually go on national television and lie and cheat his way into taking credit for a success in Iraq against which he and Obama and Murtha and Pelosi and Schumer and Levin and Reid and on and on, did all they could to insure that the American blood spilled on the sand of that far land was rendered insignificant.
(Please someone remind this pompous piece of camel crap that the only reason cause the political process is allowed to work today is because there were our sons and daughters willing to use their guns first!)
It also must be courage to be able to talk about how impressed he is with the advances that the Iraqi government has achieved in the area of stability and control, after having been the one person to suggest that Iraq was never going to be a united country under one centralized government and that the best thing to do was to split it into three separate nations.
And all this is to be considered one of the greatest accomplishments of the current administration?
Come on Joe, even you cannot actually believe in such load of bullshit!
The one time that the phrase “it’s Bush’s fault” should have been used, Biden missed the opportunity, and as a matter of fact he may have been incurring the ire of Obama, as Joe’s statement could be construed as a declaration of, dare I say, victory in Iraq?
Careful Joe, your articulate, clean black man Obama still needs those exemplary Americans of Code Pink and the like and such talk does not further Obama’s popularity among the wretched throngs.
And these are my thoughts!
I must admit that I admire Joe Biden for his courage. No really!
Now before all of you that know me start thinking that I am going to the nefarious side or just plainly lost the little sanity I had left, I want to point out that it takes some real courage and determination to sit in front of the cameras of a nationally televised talk show and maintain a straight face as you spew the most unbelievable lies, distortions and fabrications. And keep that straight face!
Ok I understand that after all the fact that Biden was on the Larry King show really means that the sixteen people that were actually watching him is a mitigating fact, but still this is the damn Vice President of the United States, the man who is second to the Presidency and surely the best life insurance policy Obama could have ever gotten.
This is what Joe said on the Larry King show on Wednesday:
“I am very optimistic about -- about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.
I spent -- I've been there 17 times now. I go about every two months -- three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society. It's impressed me. I've been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.”
Ok, if just about now you start hearing the Twilight Zone music in your head, do not panic as it happens to the best of us when we are faced with such amazing show of pure insanity, the courage of actually go on national television and lie and cheat his way into taking credit for a success in Iraq against which he and Obama and Murtha and Pelosi and Schumer and Levin and Reid and on and on, did all they could to insure that the American blood spilled on the sand of that far land was rendered insignificant.
(Please someone remind this pompous piece of camel crap that the only reason cause the political process is allowed to work today is because there were our sons and daughters willing to use their guns first!)
It also must be courage to be able to talk about how impressed he is with the advances that the Iraqi government has achieved in the area of stability and control, after having been the one person to suggest that Iraq was never going to be a united country under one centralized government and that the best thing to do was to split it into three separate nations.
And all this is to be considered one of the greatest accomplishments of the current administration?
Come on Joe, even you cannot actually believe in such load of bullshit!
The one time that the phrase “it’s Bush’s fault” should have been used, Biden missed the opportunity, and as a matter of fact he may have been incurring the ire of Obama, as Joe’s statement could be construed as a declaration of, dare I say, victory in Iraq?
Careful Joe, your articulate, clean black man Obama still needs those exemplary Americans of Code Pink and the like and such talk does not further Obama’s popularity among the wretched throngs.
And these are my thoughts!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Why We Fight - Part 2
By Semperpapa
Do the names Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker ring any bell? I will personally never forget them even though I am nowhere connected with them nor I even knew them.
The two young men were soldiers of the 101st Airborne.
On 16 June 2006, they were part of a check point in Youssifiyah, Iraq, when they were attacked by members of an al Qaeda linked group that called itself Mujahedeen Shura Council. In the attack one other soldier, Spc. David J. Babineau, was killed and Menchaca and Tucker were taken prisoners, kidnapped.
In the following days, units from the 101st conducted desperate search for the two soldiers, in the process also suffering one additional KIA.
Ultimately the bodies of the two soldiers were found on 20 June. At least what was left of the two young men.
When the search units found the remains of the two soldiers, they had to call in bomb disposal units to clear the way to them. The approach and the remains themselves had been loaded with IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices).
Few days after the recover of Kristian and Thomas, the party responsible for their murders posted a highly gruesome video showing the actual acts of desecration of their bodies. I have not seen the video, but suffice to know that many outlets refused to show it, mostly for respect toward the families.
According to Iraqi authorities, the two soldiers had been tortured and barbarically murdered, including being beheaded.
I am sure there are many people that will discount what I expressed above as just part of the horror that is inherent to the act of war. And surely many will read and feel reinforced in their beliefs that pacifism is the answer to all brutality.
This is a utopian approach that has only one consequence which is the loss of more innocent lives and the proof of my statement is all over the terrorists’ actions.
Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg made the news circles when videos of their murders were joyfully posted by these fine representatives of the religion of peace. And they were not military members
The two young men were soldiers of the 101st Airborne.
On 16 June 2006, they were part of a check point in Youssifiyah, Iraq, when they were attacked by members of an al Qaeda linked group that called itself Mujahedeen Shura Council. In the attack one other soldier, Spc. David J. Babineau, was killed and Menchaca and Tucker were taken prisoners, kidnapped.
In the following days, units from the 101st conducted desperate search for the two soldiers, in the process also suffering one additional KIA.
Ultimately the bodies of the two soldiers were found on 20 June. At least what was left of the two young men.
When the search units found the remains of the two soldiers, they had to call in bomb disposal units to clear the way to them. The approach and the remains themselves had been loaded with IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices).
Few days after the recover of Kristian and Thomas, the party responsible for their murders posted a highly gruesome video showing the actual acts of desecration of their bodies. I have not seen the video, but suffice to know that many outlets refused to show it, mostly for respect toward the families.
According to Iraqi authorities, the two soldiers had been tortured and barbarically murdered, including being beheaded.
I am sure there are many people that will discount what I expressed above as just part of the horror that is inherent to the act of war. And surely many will read and feel reinforced in their beliefs that pacifism is the answer to all brutality.
This is a utopian approach that has only one consequence which is the loss of more innocent lives and the proof of my statement is all over the terrorists’ actions.
Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg made the news circles when videos of their murders were joyfully posted by these fine representatives of the religion of peace. And they were not military members
.
In my mind I cannot forget the images taken in the streets of Iraq just couple of years ago. One particular picture was most telling: a young boy taking safe refuge behind an American soldier as insurgents started firing indiscriminately in a crowd of civilians shopping at a local market. One of the telling part of the photo was that as the shooting commenced, the young Iraqi knew instinctively that that US Soldier was there to protect him. That is the image the American Military gives.
There are a lot of apologists for the barbarians we are facing today, just as there were so many who apologized for Saddam Hussein. Some Media has called terrorists freedom fighters, giving them a legitimacy that is far from deserved. These animals, yes the Islamic terrorists, are not fighting for freedom, they are not striving toward liberation from some form of oppression, but instead they are fighting so to be able to impose their own version of oppression on others. There can be no apology for the type of human rights abuse Sharia law imposes on the will of the people.
So we are there, the Military as representative of a society and its principles, to stop evil from taking hold and spread its poisonous tentacles. We are doing so in Iraq and Afghanistan and unfortunately I am convinced that we are going to be fighting evil on our soil in the not too distant future.
Right at this moment it is the US Military to carry all the burden of the fight, while the common American goes on with his life. Our forces believe that they fight the enemy there so that we don’t have to fight them here. And we are all praying for that strategy to be successful.
That’s why we fight!
And these are my thoughts!
Why Didn't We Think Of That!
By Semperpapa
On the eve of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian government issued the news release that it was replacing Goggle internet services with Iranian ones. The move, outlined in a Wall Street Journal article, is designed to give the Iranian people open Internet access.
Dissidents inside Iran and abroad, and every person with an IQ higher than their shoe size, are accusing Teheran’s regime of attempting to curtail the ability of their people to communicate out of Iran or to get any info in.
The suspicious move on the part of the government is clearly dictated by the announcement that massive demonstrations are scheduled to take place in the streets of Iran on the day of the anniversary, and surely the Iranian robed thugs want to do all that is possible to insure that the world will not be able to be witness to the internal turmoil.
Teheran’s plan is for the Revolutionary Guard to create thousands of governmental blogs in order to express their plans and desires for the people of Iran, obviously not happy with the propaganda that torture chambers, indiscriminate beatings and killings, kangaroo trials and public executions have achieved.
The News about Iran’s move to take control of the Internet has reverberated in the White House, and when asked, Press Secretary Gibbs was overheard muttering “Why didn’t we think of that!”
In a related story, February 11 is also the day when Ahmadinejad promised that the Iranian government was going to punish to West for its arrogance with a huge blow.
I know that it is early morning in the US, but so far the “major” announcement out of Teheran, as evening rolls on, is that the country nuclear program has achieved the enrichment of the first batch of uranium. But not to worry as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has deemed Iran’s enrichment as modest, and with the IAEA record in the past, we can surely sleep well.
As a gesture of good will, I hope we now have the address of the location such an accomplishment was achieved, so that a proper congratulatory “message” could be sent.
And these are my thoughts!
On the eve of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian government issued the news release that it was replacing Goggle internet services with Iranian ones. The move, outlined in a Wall Street Journal article, is designed to give the Iranian people open Internet access.
Dissidents inside Iran and abroad, and every person with an IQ higher than their shoe size, are accusing Teheran’s regime of attempting to curtail the ability of their people to communicate out of Iran or to get any info in.
The suspicious move on the part of the government is clearly dictated by the announcement that massive demonstrations are scheduled to take place in the streets of Iran on the day of the anniversary, and surely the Iranian robed thugs want to do all that is possible to insure that the world will not be able to be witness to the internal turmoil.
Teheran’s plan is for the Revolutionary Guard to create thousands of governmental blogs in order to express their plans and desires for the people of Iran, obviously not happy with the propaganda that torture chambers, indiscriminate beatings and killings, kangaroo trials and public executions have achieved.
The News about Iran’s move to take control of the Internet has reverberated in the White House, and when asked, Press Secretary Gibbs was overheard muttering “Why didn’t we think of that!”
In a related story, February 11 is also the day when Ahmadinejad promised that the Iranian government was going to punish to West for its arrogance with a huge blow.
I know that it is early morning in the US, but so far the “major” announcement out of Teheran, as evening rolls on, is that the country nuclear program has achieved the enrichment of the first batch of uranium. But not to worry as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has deemed Iran’s enrichment as modest, and with the IAEA record in the past, we can surely sleep well.
As a gesture of good will, I hope we now have the address of the location such an accomplishment was achieved, so that a proper congratulatory “message” could be sent.
And these are my thoughts!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tingle Up My Leg
By Semperpapa
Not a day goes by without the few Americans who actually watch MSNBC are treated to some additional insanity. Be it Matthews, or the straight-jacket-bound Olbermann or the former Air America Maddow. In any case entertainment is assured as this conglomeration of morons continues to pollute the airwaves.
Olbermann is discarded as type of washed out sport commentator at the end of a very meaningless career as a television nobody.
Maddow is a former Air America talk show host, and considering the success of that “source” of information, the business plan of the network for her must have been just one phrase: throw shit on the wall and see what sticks!
But the gift that keeps on coming is Chris Matthews, in some circles considered to be a journalist, who instead has become the laughing stock of so many Americans.
On Monday, Matthews was talking on the air with Eugene Robinson and Susan Page about Sarah Palin’s speech at the Tea Party Convention that took place in Tennessee (oh my God, one of those gun toting, Bible carrying red states!), and at one point Matthews made this statement:
“Charismatic leaders have done this country and this world a lot of harm,”
I immediately thought that Matthews’ accusation of “charisma” as a dangerous quality of Sarah Palin was at least humorous, but a more in depth analysis of the statement brought me to actually agree with the guy.
There is no better example of charisma being dangerous than Matthews’ champion Obama.
Here we have a man with no experience in running anything, no experience of accomplishing anything, a man that has spent his life using the system to advance his own radical agenda via his only ability of being able to speak in a convoluted, confusing way.
Obama experience as a community organizer, and if one looks at the areas of Chicago where his organizing took place, not really much of a success story, proves that Community Organizing is far from being a resume enhancer for this man.
And yet, Obama was able in a stunning short time, to go from being a radical in the streets of Chicago to the White House. How did this happen?
Matthews gives the answer. Charisma, pure and simple. Obama has been able to work his arrogance into the charismatic image of a man who was going to change the world, not just our country. He was able to blow enough smoke in the eyes of so many Americans thanks to a well oiled political machine not seen since the days of Al Capone.
Matthews is also correct in his mentioning the damage a charismatic leader can do. To agree with him one only has to take a look at our economy, our security and our foreign policy.
What does not cease to amaze me is the balls Liberals demonstrate in shoving their hypocrisy directly in the face of the American people.
Dissent used to be patriotism under Bush, but it is racism under Obama.
Government watching out for terrorists was Civil Rights abuse, but government taking over private industry is salvation.
Charisma was all needed to elect Obama, but Palin’s charisma is harmful to humanity.
At least when I watch “Tingle Boy” I do not forget he’s white, and a moron.
And these are my thoughts!
Not a day goes by without the few Americans who actually watch MSNBC are treated to some additional insanity. Be it Matthews, or the straight-jacket-bound Olbermann or the former Air America Maddow. In any case entertainment is assured as this conglomeration of morons continues to pollute the airwaves.
Olbermann is discarded as type of washed out sport commentator at the end of a very meaningless career as a television nobody.
Maddow is a former Air America talk show host, and considering the success of that “source” of information, the business plan of the network for her must have been just one phrase: throw shit on the wall and see what sticks!
But the gift that keeps on coming is Chris Matthews, in some circles considered to be a journalist, who instead has become the laughing stock of so many Americans.
On Monday, Matthews was talking on the air with Eugene Robinson and Susan Page about Sarah Palin’s speech at the Tea Party Convention that took place in Tennessee (oh my God, one of those gun toting, Bible carrying red states!), and at one point Matthews made this statement:
“Charismatic leaders have done this country and this world a lot of harm,”
I immediately thought that Matthews’ accusation of “charisma” as a dangerous quality of Sarah Palin was at least humorous, but a more in depth analysis of the statement brought me to actually agree with the guy.
There is no better example of charisma being dangerous than Matthews’ champion Obama.
Here we have a man with no experience in running anything, no experience of accomplishing anything, a man that has spent his life using the system to advance his own radical agenda via his only ability of being able to speak in a convoluted, confusing way.
Obama experience as a community organizer, and if one looks at the areas of Chicago where his organizing took place, not really much of a success story, proves that Community Organizing is far from being a resume enhancer for this man.
And yet, Obama was able in a stunning short time, to go from being a radical in the streets of Chicago to the White House. How did this happen?
Matthews gives the answer. Charisma, pure and simple. Obama has been able to work his arrogance into the charismatic image of a man who was going to change the world, not just our country. He was able to blow enough smoke in the eyes of so many Americans thanks to a well oiled political machine not seen since the days of Al Capone.
Matthews is also correct in his mentioning the damage a charismatic leader can do. To agree with him one only has to take a look at our economy, our security and our foreign policy.
What does not cease to amaze me is the balls Liberals demonstrate in shoving their hypocrisy directly in the face of the American people.
Dissent used to be patriotism under Bush, but it is racism under Obama.
Government watching out for terrorists was Civil Rights abuse, but government taking over private industry is salvation.
Charisma was all needed to elect Obama, but Palin’s charisma is harmful to humanity.
At least when I watch “Tingle Boy” I do not forget he’s white, and a moron.
And these are my thoughts!
Emotions!
By Semperpapa
Today I had the chance to be present as my daughter-in-law Jessica had an ultrasound performed as her pregnancy continues. I had the chance to take my first look at my grandbaby.
The family has been talking a lot about today’s doctor visit as there was a great chance to be able to find out the gender of the little baby.
I was happy to be there with the two grandmas and holding my grandson Noah, because with my son Frank in Afghanistan, I felt like at that moment I was representing him. If telepathy really works, my son probably felt the emotions I felt, so strongly I thought of him during the process.
Prayers left my heart and went up to God as the technician covered all the important medical data the ultrasound is giving her, passing along the information to us.
And at every step a word of thanks was uttered: the shape of the head, perfect; the cranial development, perfect; the heart, strong; the spine, perfect.
She pointed out the eyes, the feet, the toes. Baby was moving the arms and at every step the technician continued to tell us that all looked really good and baby looked really healthy.
The complexity of the formation of a life inside a woman is such that absence of any kind of problem is always a gift. And we all got our gift today. I got to see my grandchild, my eyes glued to the monitors. The grandmas wooing almost in unison, even little Noah stopped fussing for a while, his attention captured by the strange images of his soon to be sibling.
And the miracle of life developing right there in front of my eyes, thinking of the fact that in few months I will be asking myself how could my life have any real meaning before this little bundle of joy had joined us in our journey.
I was not aware of the intense emotions grandchildren bring, only comparable to those generated by my own kids’ coming into the world, the images of that miraculous machine occupying my mind for the rest of the day, not allowing me to think of much else.
Oh yeah, by the way, Alexander Francis is doing just fine and moving along to join us in July.
And these are my thoughts!
Today I had the chance to be present as my daughter-in-law Jessica had an ultrasound performed as her pregnancy continues. I had the chance to take my first look at my grandbaby.
The family has been talking a lot about today’s doctor visit as there was a great chance to be able to find out the gender of the little baby.
I was happy to be there with the two grandmas and holding my grandson Noah, because with my son Frank in Afghanistan, I felt like at that moment I was representing him. If telepathy really works, my son probably felt the emotions I felt, so strongly I thought of him during the process.
Prayers left my heart and went up to God as the technician covered all the important medical data the ultrasound is giving her, passing along the information to us.
And at every step a word of thanks was uttered: the shape of the head, perfect; the cranial development, perfect; the heart, strong; the spine, perfect.
She pointed out the eyes, the feet, the toes. Baby was moving the arms and at every step the technician continued to tell us that all looked really good and baby looked really healthy.
The complexity of the formation of a life inside a woman is such that absence of any kind of problem is always a gift. And we all got our gift today. I got to see my grandchild, my eyes glued to the monitors. The grandmas wooing almost in unison, even little Noah stopped fussing for a while, his attention captured by the strange images of his soon to be sibling.
And the miracle of life developing right there in front of my eyes, thinking of the fact that in few months I will be asking myself how could my life have any real meaning before this little bundle of joy had joined us in our journey.
I was not aware of the intense emotions grandchildren bring, only comparable to those generated by my own kids’ coming into the world, the images of that miraculous machine occupying my mind for the rest of the day, not allowing me to think of much else.
Oh yeah, by the way, Alexander Francis is doing just fine and moving along to join us in July.
And these are my thoughts!
Monday, February 8, 2010
My Own Decency...
By Semperpapa
...forces me to offer my deepest condolences to the family of John Murtha who passed away today at the age of 77 from complications of gallbladder surgery.
In past posts, I expressed my opinion of Murtha, which was as low as it could get, slightly above my opinion of my country's enemies.
And yet I find no solace in his passing, because he was a husband and a father and a grandfather, and surely his family is in mourning and will miss him.
Personally, I would have preferred for "ex-Marine Murtha" to just be sent out into permanent retirement. So for now that is all i will say about this...
These are NOT just my thoughts.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Attention, American Patriots!
By Semperpapa
There is a book on the market that is an extremely interesting read. Interesting and disturbing at the same time.
If you have been reading my blog already, you are familiar with my position regarding the threat that Muslim terrorism represents for the civilized world and America in particular.
You also know by now, my conviction that Islamic terror forces have been, and still are, working in our very own contry toward the destruction of the ideals of freedom and self-determination we, as Americans, love and respect so much.
Interestingly, a good friend of mine, Steve, approached me few weeks back with the book mentioned above. Steve, or I should call him the Admiral, got in touch with the author, purchased 100 books and pass them along to us at cost.
The book is an eye opener, even for me!
Title: Muslim Mafia - Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America
Authors: P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry
Mr. Gaubatz is a 20 year Veteran of the Military, Special Agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
Mr. Sperry is a media fellow at the Stanford University Hoover Institution and author of another book called Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington.
The book describes the disturbing connections between an organization called CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) and known terrorists oufits like Hamas and al Qaeda.
The information acquired by the investigation conducted by Mr. Gaubatz is corroborated by the operation conducted by his son Chris who went undercover into CAIR, and any American would find it extremely disturbing.
My friend Steve has gone the extra mile and has invited Mr. Gaubatz to come and speak to a group of Patriots about his book.
The date is March 27th, the location Anaheim, California.
So if you would be interested and you will be in Southern California at that time, send me an e-mail and I will send you the flyer for the event.
This is a very important event for our understanding of the hidden dangers we are increasingly facing.
Hope to hear from you.
semperpapa@gmail.com
Remember that just "hoping" for change is not sufficient any longer. Obama and Co. have applied a lot of "action" to their "hope" and if we do not respond in kind, eventually it will be too late.
So I urge you to take some time and dedicate it to become informed.
Knowledge is power, ignorance is weakness and apathy is dangerous.
So, please, if you can attend, let me know ASAP and spread the word.
Sincerely,
Frank Semperpapa
There is a book on the market that is an extremely interesting read. Interesting and disturbing at the same time.
If you have been reading my blog already, you are familiar with my position regarding the threat that Muslim terrorism represents for the civilized world and America in particular.
You also know by now, my conviction that Islamic terror forces have been, and still are, working in our very own contry toward the destruction of the ideals of freedom and self-determination we, as Americans, love and respect so much.
Interestingly, a good friend of mine, Steve, approached me few weeks back with the book mentioned above. Steve, or I should call him the Admiral, got in touch with the author, purchased 100 books and pass them along to us at cost.
The book is an eye opener, even for me!
Title: Muslim Mafia - Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America
Authors: P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry
Mr. Gaubatz is a 20 year Veteran of the Military, Special Agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
Mr. Sperry is a media fellow at the Stanford University Hoover Institution and author of another book called Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington.
The book describes the disturbing connections between an organization called CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) and known terrorists oufits like Hamas and al Qaeda.
The information acquired by the investigation conducted by Mr. Gaubatz is corroborated by the operation conducted by his son Chris who went undercover into CAIR, and any American would find it extremely disturbing.
My friend Steve has gone the extra mile and has invited Mr. Gaubatz to come and speak to a group of Patriots about his book.
The date is March 27th, the location Anaheim, California.
So if you would be interested and you will be in Southern California at that time, send me an e-mail and I will send you the flyer for the event.
This is a very important event for our understanding of the hidden dangers we are increasingly facing.
Hope to hear from you.
semperpapa@gmail.com
Remember that just "hoping" for change is not sufficient any longer. Obama and Co. have applied a lot of "action" to their "hope" and if we do not respond in kind, eventually it will be too late.
So I urge you to take some time and dedicate it to become informed.
Knowledge is power, ignorance is weakness and apathy is dangerous.
So, please, if you can attend, let me know ASAP and spread the word.
Sincerely,
Frank Semperpapa
Dear Moderate Taliban
By Semperpapa
The Sunday edition of UK Times Online has a report from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, titled “Special Forces Assassins Infiltrate Taliban Stronghold in Afghanistan” in which the tale is told of Coalition Special Operations Units having begun going around the Taliban held city of Marjah looking to find and kill Taliban leadership in advance of a major offensive that will possibly start very soon.
The impending Marjah assault has been in the news for some time now, increasingly showing up on the reporting radar since President Obama finally authorized the surge of additional 30,000 US forces as requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
The city is home for about 180,000 civilians, but it is also a hub for opium trafficking, a major source of financial funding for the Taliban. Marjah is also an enemy center from which the Taliban organizes the IED distribution.
Basically, the place is one that brings back some painful memories for so many Veterans of the Iraqi conflict and their families as it sounds like very similar to what our Military faced in Felluja.
Call me picky, but I have a little bit of a problem with the whole thing, in my humble opinion.
Far from advancing any criticism of the Military tactics, I am very concerned with the approach taken with this operation, which is called Moshtarak or “Together”.
Mainly, my question is why are we telephoning the enemy the impending attack? And now we are telling our enemy that Special Ops teams are already in the city?
The wisdom behind it, as the Military itself is speaking to reporters about it, is that they are looking for the psychological effect that these news can have on Taliban fighters, to convince them to lay down their weapons and leave the city.
I cannot tell where such a strategy came from, but it sounds a lot like we are hoping to reach the “moderate Taliban” in the bunch.
We are talking about people who strap explosives on their own children and, after drugging them, send them into crowds of innocent people. Are these examples of moderation we are hoping to reach?
And even if this strategy works and many of the enemy runs away from the city, where will they go? And won’t the problem be only repeated somewhere else?
In an age of highly sophisticated Military hardware, the best advantage a Military has in an operation like this is the element of surprise. Thankfully, the days of long sieges have been gone for centuries and even if I recognize that the level of civilization in Afghanistan is still back in those times, I find it irresponsible to purposely give the enemy an advantage, any advantage.
In the months preceding the June 6th 1944 landing in Normandy, the Nazi knew that an invasion was going to happen. The pouring of thousands of troops into Great Britain was a tell tale of that. To counter that, Hitler placed Gen. Erwin Rommel in command of the reinforcement of what was called the Atlantic Wall, or the defense against Allied invasion. Rommel, knowledgeable of the strength of forces he was facing, looked at the daunting task as he faced the reinforcement of 3,000 miles of coastline. The defenses he architected cost a lot of Allied lives at the time of the invasion, but was not as devastating as they could have been if Eisenhower would have declared that Normandy, not the Pas de Calais, was the place decided, allowing Rommel to concentrate his defense in the impact area. History might have been different if that was the case.
I do not have any doubt about the outcome of the Marjah operation, considering the overwhelming force the few thousands of Taliban fighters are facing, but publicizing the plans so far in advance is certainly giving the enemy the ability to plan its defense so to inflict the highest level of casualties on our forces. The disregard demonstrated by the Taliban for the safety of civilians will result in every square foot of the city being peppered with IEDs. Every civilian killed by these booby traps will be blamed on the ISAF troops with the help of the always sympathetic News reporters from CNN or BBC.
And I will be waiting for the inevitable report of criminal charges being filed against some of our Special Forces worriers for bitch-slapping some scum bag who just lit up some old lady or few kids.
But at least the Moderate Taliban will be happy.
And these are just my thoughts!
The Sunday edition of UK Times Online has a report from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, titled “Special Forces Assassins Infiltrate Taliban Stronghold in Afghanistan” in which the tale is told of Coalition Special Operations Units having begun going around the Taliban held city of Marjah looking to find and kill Taliban leadership in advance of a major offensive that will possibly start very soon.
The impending Marjah assault has been in the news for some time now, increasingly showing up on the reporting radar since President Obama finally authorized the surge of additional 30,000 US forces as requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
The city is home for about 180,000 civilians, but it is also a hub for opium trafficking, a major source of financial funding for the Taliban. Marjah is also an enemy center from which the Taliban organizes the IED distribution.
Basically, the place is one that brings back some painful memories for so many Veterans of the Iraqi conflict and their families as it sounds like very similar to what our Military faced in Felluja.
Call me picky, but I have a little bit of a problem with the whole thing, in my humble opinion.
Far from advancing any criticism of the Military tactics, I am very concerned with the approach taken with this operation, which is called Moshtarak or “Together”.
Mainly, my question is why are we telephoning the enemy the impending attack? And now we are telling our enemy that Special Ops teams are already in the city?
The wisdom behind it, as the Military itself is speaking to reporters about it, is that they are looking for the psychological effect that these news can have on Taliban fighters, to convince them to lay down their weapons and leave the city.
I cannot tell where such a strategy came from, but it sounds a lot like we are hoping to reach the “moderate Taliban” in the bunch.
We are talking about people who strap explosives on their own children and, after drugging them, send them into crowds of innocent people. Are these examples of moderation we are hoping to reach?
And even if this strategy works and many of the enemy runs away from the city, where will they go? And won’t the problem be only repeated somewhere else?
In an age of highly sophisticated Military hardware, the best advantage a Military has in an operation like this is the element of surprise. Thankfully, the days of long sieges have been gone for centuries and even if I recognize that the level of civilization in Afghanistan is still back in those times, I find it irresponsible to purposely give the enemy an advantage, any advantage.
In the months preceding the June 6th 1944 landing in Normandy, the Nazi knew that an invasion was going to happen. The pouring of thousands of troops into Great Britain was a tell tale of that. To counter that, Hitler placed Gen. Erwin Rommel in command of the reinforcement of what was called the Atlantic Wall, or the defense against Allied invasion. Rommel, knowledgeable of the strength of forces he was facing, looked at the daunting task as he faced the reinforcement of 3,000 miles of coastline. The defenses he architected cost a lot of Allied lives at the time of the invasion, but was not as devastating as they could have been if Eisenhower would have declared that Normandy, not the Pas de Calais, was the place decided, allowing Rommel to concentrate his defense in the impact area. History might have been different if that was the case.
I do not have any doubt about the outcome of the Marjah operation, considering the overwhelming force the few thousands of Taliban fighters are facing, but publicizing the plans so far in advance is certainly giving the enemy the ability to plan its defense so to inflict the highest level of casualties on our forces. The disregard demonstrated by the Taliban for the safety of civilians will result in every square foot of the city being peppered with IEDs. Every civilian killed by these booby traps will be blamed on the ISAF troops with the help of the always sympathetic News reporters from CNN or BBC.
And I will be waiting for the inevitable report of criminal charges being filed against some of our Special Forces worriers for bitch-slapping some scum bag who just lit up some old lady or few kids.
But at least the Moderate Taliban will be happy.
And these are just my thoughts!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Why We Fight - Part 1
By Semperpapa
This is the first of several pieces I will be writing to enumerate the reasons behind the necessity for America to once again stand up and fight.
When the casualties were mounting during World War II, and the telegrams continued to reach the folks at home communicating their loved one was KIA or MIA, the government put together films, some would call them propaganda, in which the reason for the fight was delineated.
The brutalities of the German and Japanese regimes were used for just this purpose, concentrating on the violations committed against US troops and civilians.
The effort increased as the war went on, even as victory appeared to be on the horizon, especially as Nazi concentration camps started to be liberated and Japanese POW camps were overrun and Allied prisoners freed, able now to recount the brutality of the treatment they received.
In today war, our government is falling short to demonstrate what is at play in our struggle against Muslim fanaticism. Once in a while, the Press, of all entities, gives people a glimpse of the reason why the civilized world has to stand up to the madness we are witnessing.
Following is a report that appeared on the BBC News from Pakistan.
Bombs and beatings: Life among the Taliban
In Pakistan an account of life with the Taliban has emerged from a 13-year-old girl called Meena, who says her own family tried to turn her into a suicide bomber.
There is no independent confirmation of her account but police say they believe she is telling the truth, and her information could be valuable.
Meena told her story to our Pakistan correspondent Orla Guerin (BBC News).
My brother used to tell me that the place for a woman is either at home or in the grave. I was always restricted to home.
He said: "If you leave the house I'll cut off your head and put it on your chest."
My brother had been to the local school and beaten the girls and the teachers.
He said anyone who wanted to study was a friend of America.
I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted it so much that once I dreamt I was sitting in a hospital, working as a doctor. I wanted to help the poor, those who cannot afford medical fees.
Taliban commanders used to come to our house. There was an underground bunker beside the house, with electricity.
It was concrete and very strong. Cars would drive on top but no-one would realise what was underneath. In that hideout they used to train suicide bombers.
Most were children of my age or younger than me. They were used for these activities because they were too young to know any better.
Going to 'paradise'
I used to see these children getting on a vehicle to go for their missions. They used loud Islamic CDs to motivate them.
And I would think, "My God, more Muslims are going to be buried". Then the news would come that more Muslims were wiped out.
My brother used to prepare bombs and my sister-in-law did too. He told me that he would teach me this. I told him no. I would not even look at what they were doing.
My father and brother told me to carry out a suicide attack. They were pressuring me to do this.
They told me: "If you do it you will go to paradise long before us." I replied: "Why don't you tell me I will go to hell long before you?"
Every day they used to tell me this. Every day. I was very young when they started telling me this. I said to them: "What about all the people I will kill? They are all Muslims."
They started beating me when I refused. They beat me non-stop. They made my life hell. I never had a single moment of happiness. They did everything other than kill me.
Bomber's medicine
They said: "The bomb will be connected with a button, or something like the remote control of a TV. We will give you this kind of remote, and you will go to the place.
"We will also give you a mobile, and we will ring that phone, and press the remote, and you will be blown up with this bomb."
“ They attached a bomb to my sister Nahida ”
They told me they would use such a large amount of explosives that no-one would even know if it was a man or a woman.
They told me that I had to do it.
There was a kind of medicine they used to give to the bombers that made them go around smiling, in a trance.
They said they would give me that medicine, and then I would go running to die - with a smile. I was so scared I decided to prepare my own tea, and my own food.
I was afraid they would mix that medicine with my food.
Sister's story
They attached a bomb to my sister Nahida. They tied rectangular pieces to both her arms, and a black strip was wrapped around both her legs.
Then they connected the whole thing. She told my brother the bomb was heavy and she could not walk.
He said she would be comfortable once she was sitting down in the car.
They gave her medicine. But she was crying very loud for my mother. She kept going to her and hugging her. When my sister looked down at the bomb, she shivered.
Then my brother and my father started beating my mother, and they were shouting: "Why you are distracting the girl from her mission?"
I heard my sister saying: "Where is Meena? I want to see her." But I didn't have the strength. My heart couldn't take it.
My mother fainted when they put her in the car. My brother said my sister's attack was in Afghanistan.
I always think about my sister. She was healthy and a very nice girl. She was younger than me, but she was wiser. My mother used to tell me that I was an idiot, but she was very wise.
A 'lucky' goat
My brother was involved in the Khyber Bazaar bombing (in the frontier city of Peshawar in October 2009, in which more than 50 people were killed). It was discussed in the house.
When someone was sent somewhere they would talk about the target.
They would say: "We are sending this group there."
After the bombings they would celebrate. They would garland each other with flowers as people do when they come back from the Haj.
When [former Pakistani Prime Minister] Benazir Bhutto died my brother started calling everybody. They started firing, and saying "Benazir has died, Benazir has died". Everybody started firing - they celebrated until it was very late.
My brother visited a friend's house after many years and was given a goat and a motorbike which he brought home.
They used to get animals as gifts because there were so many Taliban to be fed. He asked me to take care of the goat but she ran out of the gate. I went after her.
Our house was on a ridge. There was a stream down below. She went down to the stream and I followed her. A plane came making a lot of noise, and vibrations. (This was an attack by a helicopter gunship.)
When I looked back up to my place all I could see was a lot of smoke rising. My house was turned into rubble.
I didn't have a clue about how many of my family members were dead or alive. Since that place was full of arms and explosives I could hear big bangs.
Then I started walking and by the evening prayers I had reached a local town.
People say I have a strong heart. I've had to be strong. What can I do? God won't even let me die.
If my brother gets hold of me, I will poison him and myself.
The Taliban slaughter other people's children. They turn women into widows. They should be made to suffer too.
I want these Taliban to be burned alive.
I do not want the people of Afghanistan to live like Americans. That is not the goal of our fight against Islamic terrorism. The main goal of the fight we are in is to rid the world of such garbage, to cleanse humanity of people who have no respect for the life of innocents.
For all who apologize for the behavior of these animals by saying that those are their ways and beliefs, that we have no right to interfere, that we are imperialists, I say that for Hitler the extermination of the Jews and the "undesirables" was a deep conviction, that culturally for the Japanese anyone who surrender was not deserving of any human respect. They absolutely believed in that.
So, following the apologetic logic, the Allies should have not intervene then. We should have not interfere.
We knew in the 1940s why we were fighting. It is time we realize why we are fighting today!
And these are my thoughts!
This is the first of several pieces I will be writing to enumerate the reasons behind the necessity for America to once again stand up and fight.
When the casualties were mounting during World War II, and the telegrams continued to reach the folks at home communicating their loved one was KIA or MIA, the government put together films, some would call them propaganda, in which the reason for the fight was delineated.
The brutalities of the German and Japanese regimes were used for just this purpose, concentrating on the violations committed against US troops and civilians.
The effort increased as the war went on, even as victory appeared to be on the horizon, especially as Nazi concentration camps started to be liberated and Japanese POW camps were overrun and Allied prisoners freed, able now to recount the brutality of the treatment they received.
In today war, our government is falling short to demonstrate what is at play in our struggle against Muslim fanaticism. Once in a while, the Press, of all entities, gives people a glimpse of the reason why the civilized world has to stand up to the madness we are witnessing.
Following is a report that appeared on the BBC News from Pakistan.
Bombs and beatings: Life among the Taliban
In Pakistan an account of life with the Taliban has emerged from a 13-year-old girl called Meena, who says her own family tried to turn her into a suicide bomber.
There is no independent confirmation of her account but police say they believe she is telling the truth, and her information could be valuable.
Meena told her story to our Pakistan correspondent Orla Guerin (BBC News).
My brother used to tell me that the place for a woman is either at home or in the grave. I was always restricted to home.
He said: "If you leave the house I'll cut off your head and put it on your chest."
My brother had been to the local school and beaten the girls and the teachers.
He said anyone who wanted to study was a friend of America.
I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted it so much that once I dreamt I was sitting in a hospital, working as a doctor. I wanted to help the poor, those who cannot afford medical fees.
Taliban commanders used to come to our house. There was an underground bunker beside the house, with electricity.
It was concrete and very strong. Cars would drive on top but no-one would realise what was underneath. In that hideout they used to train suicide bombers.
Most were children of my age or younger than me. They were used for these activities because they were too young to know any better.
Going to 'paradise'
I used to see these children getting on a vehicle to go for their missions. They used loud Islamic CDs to motivate them.
And I would think, "My God, more Muslims are going to be buried". Then the news would come that more Muslims were wiped out.
My brother used to prepare bombs and my sister-in-law did too. He told me that he would teach me this. I told him no. I would not even look at what they were doing.
My father and brother told me to carry out a suicide attack. They were pressuring me to do this.
They told me: "If you do it you will go to paradise long before us." I replied: "Why don't you tell me I will go to hell long before you?"
Every day they used to tell me this. Every day. I was very young when they started telling me this. I said to them: "What about all the people I will kill? They are all Muslims."
They started beating me when I refused. They beat me non-stop. They made my life hell. I never had a single moment of happiness. They did everything other than kill me.
Bomber's medicine
They said: "The bomb will be connected with a button, or something like the remote control of a TV. We will give you this kind of remote, and you will go to the place.
"We will also give you a mobile, and we will ring that phone, and press the remote, and you will be blown up with this bomb."
“ They attached a bomb to my sister Nahida ”
They told me they would use such a large amount of explosives that no-one would even know if it was a man or a woman.
They told me that I had to do it.
There was a kind of medicine they used to give to the bombers that made them go around smiling, in a trance.
They said they would give me that medicine, and then I would go running to die - with a smile. I was so scared I decided to prepare my own tea, and my own food.
I was afraid they would mix that medicine with my food.
Sister's story
They attached a bomb to my sister Nahida. They tied rectangular pieces to both her arms, and a black strip was wrapped around both her legs.
Then they connected the whole thing. She told my brother the bomb was heavy and she could not walk.
He said she would be comfortable once she was sitting down in the car.
They gave her medicine. But she was crying very loud for my mother. She kept going to her and hugging her. When my sister looked down at the bomb, she shivered.
Then my brother and my father started beating my mother, and they were shouting: "Why you are distracting the girl from her mission?"
I heard my sister saying: "Where is Meena? I want to see her." But I didn't have the strength. My heart couldn't take it.
My mother fainted when they put her in the car. My brother said my sister's attack was in Afghanistan.
I always think about my sister. She was healthy and a very nice girl. She was younger than me, but she was wiser. My mother used to tell me that I was an idiot, but she was very wise.
A 'lucky' goat
My brother was involved in the Khyber Bazaar bombing (in the frontier city of Peshawar in October 2009, in which more than 50 people were killed). It was discussed in the house.
When someone was sent somewhere they would talk about the target.
They would say: "We are sending this group there."
After the bombings they would celebrate. They would garland each other with flowers as people do when they come back from the Haj.
When [former Pakistani Prime Minister] Benazir Bhutto died my brother started calling everybody. They started firing, and saying "Benazir has died, Benazir has died". Everybody started firing - they celebrated until it was very late.
My brother visited a friend's house after many years and was given a goat and a motorbike which he brought home.
They used to get animals as gifts because there were so many Taliban to be fed. He asked me to take care of the goat but she ran out of the gate. I went after her.
Our house was on a ridge. There was a stream down below. She went down to the stream and I followed her. A plane came making a lot of noise, and vibrations. (This was an attack by a helicopter gunship.)
When I looked back up to my place all I could see was a lot of smoke rising. My house was turned into rubble.
I didn't have a clue about how many of my family members were dead or alive. Since that place was full of arms and explosives I could hear big bangs.
Then I started walking and by the evening prayers I had reached a local town.
People say I have a strong heart. I've had to be strong. What can I do? God won't even let me die.
If my brother gets hold of me, I will poison him and myself.
The Taliban slaughter other people's children. They turn women into widows. They should be made to suffer too.
I want these Taliban to be burned alive.
I do not want the people of Afghanistan to live like Americans. That is not the goal of our fight against Islamic terrorism. The main goal of the fight we are in is to rid the world of such garbage, to cleanse humanity of people who have no respect for the life of innocents.
For all who apologize for the behavior of these animals by saying that those are their ways and beliefs, that we have no right to interfere, that we are imperialists, I say that for Hitler the extermination of the Jews and the "undesirables" was a deep conviction, that culturally for the Japanese anyone who surrender was not deserving of any human respect. They absolutely believed in that.
So, following the apologetic logic, the Allies should have not intervene then. We should have not interfere.
We knew in the 1940s why we were fighting. It is time we realize why we are fighting today!
And these are my thoughts!
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