The lame duck session will probably not present many opportunities for Republican mirth, butthe Hill’s report on the return of House members to Congress for the first time since Republicans captured the House two weeks ago, offers such an opportunity.
This story was the last thing I saw before I went to bed, last night, and I giggled myself to sleep:
Dejected Democrats wiped away tears on the House floor Monday night while Republicans congratulated themselves on winning back control of the lower chamber.
Freshman Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.), who lost her reelection bid, wiped away tears as she hugged fellow members of the class of 2008, many of whom lost on Nov. 2.
Less than three feet away, ousted Nevada freshman Rep. Dina Titus (D) appeared to brush away some tears in a less obvious manner.
The mood was much different on the other side of the aisle.
Yes, I’m sure it was!
Scanning the comments at The Hill, I’m not seeing too much compassion for the “dejected Democrats”. Maybe they should have spent more time representing the wishes of their districts, instead of cramming down unwanted bills nobody’s read. This guy sums it up, well:
Remember always that the job of a public servant is to deliver something that works. None of you did that. False tears. Have a nice trip back home and please stay out of public office in the future.
Another guy simply says:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA H AHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA H AHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA H AHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA H AHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA H AHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA H AHAHAHA
What’s that? It’s cruel to mock someone’s sadness and pain? Hey, that’s what happens when you ignore your own constituents’ express wishes. They remind you who your boss really is. So let the tears fall like rain. Let these mewling losers weep at the memory of Nancy clomping around with that horrifying grimace and that gavel in her hands.
WI Republican ranking member of the budget committee, Rep Paul Ryan sat in the “Squawk Box” on MSNBC, earlier today.
Ryan on whether or not Obama is going to pivot to the center…
Ryan commenting on our monetary policy:
You can see why I jumped on the Paul Ryan for President bandwagon, last Spring. Can you picture Paul Ryan in a debate with Barack Obama on the subject of fiscal policy? Or frankly, any policy?
He also has the right temperament to be President, as evidenced in The Hill’s clip from the Squawk appearance where they discuss Nancy Pelosi. Ryan’s fine Midwestern upbringing prevents him from saying anything negative.
It would be a mistake to increase taxes on any American family, worker or job creator. President Obama continues to make the case for raising the top two income tax rates, and raising tax rates on capital gains and dividends. Class warfare might make for good politics, but it results in terrible economics.
Misguided efforts to “soak the rich” would impact roughly half of all small-business income, as many small businesses file as non-corporate businesses and pay individual income tax rates. The president’s tax plan dampens incentives for small businesses to invest and expand, puts us at a competitive disadvantage in today’s global economy, and makes it more difficult for our economy to create jobs.
Absolutely ridiculous. We need to adopt Israel’s airport screening methods, the sooner the better. Enough already with these nonsensical, and invasive body searches.
Comply with me, you domestic coach class bums
If you opt out I’ll just give a shout
To my icy-handed chums
Comply with me, bend over here it comes
Once I get all up there where your hair is ticklish
I’ll just fish
Got my wish
Once I get all up there you’ll be squirming like an eel
You may squeal
At the feel
When we’re together…..
By the way, it is the official position of Goldblog that everyday is opt-out day. There’s no need to wait until November 24th. But come November 24th, here’s an idea you might try to make the day extra-special. It’s a one-word idea: Kilts. Think about it — if you’re a male, and you want to bollix-up the nonsensical airport security-industrial complex, one way to do so would be to wear a kilt. If nothing else, this will cause TSA employees to throw up their hands in disgust. If you want to go the extra extra mile, I suggest commando-style kilt-wearing. While it is probably illegal to fly without pants, I can’t imagine that it’s illegal to fly without underpants.
I’m hearing some scuttlebutt about the laughably named Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act possibly being revived for a vote. It is a Reid-sponsored bill.
In June 2008, candidate Obama exchanged criticisms with Sen. John McCain over the war on terrorism. “It is my firm belief that we can track terrorists, we can crack down on threats against the United States, but we can do so within the constraints of our Constitution,” Obama told ABC’s Jake Tapper. “Let’s take the example of Guantanamo. What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks — for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.”
Obama continued:
And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, “Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims.”
And now we have a situation in which Obama, after nearly two years as commander-in-chief, is reportedly planning to continue the indefinite detention of KSM — no charges, no trial.
Those looking for controversy and drama will likely be disappointed. Palin’s daughter Piper licking the cupcake batter off of a whisk and then putting it back into the mixing bowl is about as close to a scandal as this one gets. (That scene is also incredibly adorable – reminiscent of her earlier “licking” incident during the Republican National Convention in 2008.)
As a Palin fan, it is hard for me to predict how Palin’s detractors will view the show. The Sarah Palin in this show is the same Sarah Palin those of us who follow her have seen all along. Her fans will, obviously, love it. Her detractors might not change their opinions of her. They may even criticize her for a few things in the show, such as her complaints about Joe McGinnis and her frequent Blackberry usage. But I am willing to bet they will fall in love with her home state of Alaska.
Isn’t such low-brow, exhibitionism beneath the dignity of a former governor and potential presidential candidate?
Don’t get me wrong. As a conservative, I still support many of Palin’s policy views. And as a celebrity gossip hound, I might just keep watching her show.
But vote for her? At this point, I might as well vote for Snooki.
I didn’t watch. But I did worry that appearing on such a show might be a game changer for someone seeking the presidency. Most reviews I’ve seen have been more favorable than Ms. Braceras, however.
Here’s the kid that had his American Flag bike banned from school.
Courtesy KOVR:
It wasn’t this California boy’s usual ride to school this morning!
Hundreds of other bike riders came along—
Many of them veterans, and some from out of state, all wanting to show support to 13-year-old Cody Alicea.
I didn’t think they could get any lower than when they advertised their ‘gift certificates’ for Mothers Day. This manages that feat.
As people through out the world Celebrate the Birth of Jesus the Christ, Planned Parenthood is offering Gift Certificates for All services including Abortion. Planned Parenthood wanting to participate in the Christian Holiday by offering what seems to be a way to mock the Christian Holiday. I mean what better way to celebrate a birth with a gift for an Abortion?
There is something very, very wrong with the people who run Planned Parenthood.
Yet you don’t have to delve deep into armchair psychology to see how Obama’s vanity has shaped his presidency. In January 2009 he met with congressional leaders to discuss the stimulus package. The meeting was supposed to foster bipartisanship. Senator Jon Kyl questioned the plan’s mixture of spending and tax cuts. Obama’s response to him was, “I won.” A year later Obama held another meeting to foster bipartisanship for his health care reform plan. There was some technical back-and-forth about Republicans not having the chance to properly respond within the constraints of the format because President Obama had done some pontificating, as is his wont. Obama explained, “There was an imbalance on the opening statements because”—here he paused, self-satisfiedly—“I’m the president. And so I made, uh, I don’t count my time in terms of dividing it evenly.”
There are lots of times when you get the sense that Obama views the powers of the presidency as little more than a shadow of his own person. When he journeyed to Copenhagen in October 2009 to pitch Chicago’s bid for the Olympics, his speech to the IOC was about—you guessed it: “Nearly one year ago, on a clear November night,” he told the committee, “people from every corner of the world gathered in the city of Chicago or in front of their televisions to watch the results of . . . ” and away he went. A short while later he was back in Copenhagen for the climate change summit. When things looked darkest, he personally commandeered the meeting to broker a “deal.” Which turned out to be worthless. In January 2010, Obama met with nervous Democratic congressmen to assure them that he wasn’t driving the party off a cliff. Confronted with worries that 2010 could be a worse off-year election than 1994, Obama explained to the professional politicians, “Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.”
In the midst of the BP oil spill last summer, Obama explained, “My job right now is just to make sure that everybody in the Gulf understands this is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about: the spill.” Read that again: The president thinks that the job of the president is to make certain the citizens correctly understand what’s on the president’s mind.
…the vanity surplus would be less of a hindrance if he were an innovative policy wonk or a savvy analyst of the American electorate. This was the Bill Clinton model — an outsized ego and an utter lack of self-discipline, but an inventive mind able to zig-zag his way through choppy political waters. His intuitive understanding of his fellow citizens allowed him to maintain a bond with the American people. If Obama were as intellectually nimble as Clinton or as simpatico with the American people as Ronald Reagan or as steeped in common sense as Harry Truman, he wouldn’t be in such dire straits. It’s not merely the vanity that’s the problem. His undoing has been vanity that is divorced from his abilities and unaccompanied by executive skills or a well-developed knowledge of economics and international relations.
If Obama is ungracious (toward his predecessor), oblivious (to the desires of the voters), and frustrated (by the Palestinians’ and Israelis’ refusal to make a deal under his auspices), it is because he is unable to grasp that it’s not all about him. But the good news is that, as he reportedly did in the Senate, he may conclude that being president is really ”so boring.” (He certainly doesn’t seem to be having fun, does he?) In that case, he might not really care all that much about trying to ingratiate himself with the voters. It very well might not be “worth it” in his mind to temper his views in order to get a second term. Freed from the burdens of the presidency he then might do what he loves best — write books and give speeches about himself. Or maybe he can give speeches about writing books about himself.
… what this piece reveals, first and foremost, is how the Progressivist/Left establishment bent over backwards to make sure this near-talentless cipher’s progress to the very top of our system, corrupted and distorted as it has been by liberals’ desperate need to see latter-day affirmative action validated, was unimpeded by any honest assessment of his capabilities.
Why is the left so easily fooled? Or, perhaps I should ask…why do they not recognize unbecoming displays of narcissism when they see it? Jonathan Last’s piece presents a lengthy and damning compilation of Obama’s ego-maniacal exploits throughout the years. In example after example after example we see Obama displaying a stunning array of narcissistic behaviors, which many of us picked up on,(and noted), early in 2008. His lefty followers don’t seem to see it, though….
As Obama administration officials put into place some of the new rules that go into effect under the federal health care law, they are issuing more waivers to try to prevent some insurers and employers from dropping coverage and also promising to modify other rules because many of the existing policies would not meet new standards.
Last month, federal officials granted dozens of one-year waivers that were aimed at sparing certain employers, including McDonald’s, insurers and unions who offer plans that sharply limit the coverage they provide. These limited-benefit plans, also known as “minimeds,” fail to comply with new rules phasing out limits on how much policies will provide in medical care each year.
#12– UFCW Allied Trade Health & Welfare Trust
#14– IBEW No.915
#19– Asbestos Workers Local 53 Welfare Fund
#33– Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 123 Welfare Fund
#35– UFCW Local 227
#52– UFCW Maximus Local 455
#55– Local 25 SEIU
#60– UFCW Local 1262
#78– Local 802 Musicians Health Fund
#83– Local 17 Hospitality Benefit Fund
#89– International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
#91– Transport Workers
#92– UFT Welfare Fund (United Federation of Teachers)
Michelle Malkin has much more: Waiver-mania! The ever-expanding Obamacare escapee list
As I’ve boiled it down before:
Old Democrat promise: Everyone gets to keep their health insurance.
New Democrat promise: You can keep your health insurance…if you BEG hard enough for an Obamacare waiver.
Yep: The only way for hundreds of thousands of workers to keep their health insurance is to exempt them from the government-imposed “fix.”
The Soros monkeys are attacking conservative Obamacare critics as “Republican repeal mongers” — even as the Obama administration concedes failure and continues to approve temporary repeals of the federal mandates to company after company after union after union.
The waivers expire in a year, and can then be renewed. Apparently new options will be available in four years under the law.
Unfavored and unconnected companies will have to limp along as best they can until that time, or until ObamaCare is ruled unconstitutional, or repealed, whichever comes first.
Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.
Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey of McAlester, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., headed to their minivan, only to discover that its front and rear passenger-side tires had been slashed.
To make matters worse, as their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police.
Before Phelps clan members discovered the slashed tires, they had to face a massive crowd of 1000 people jeering and taunting them. Motorcyclists amongst the crowd revved up their engines to muffle the protests. More than two dozen law enforcement officers had to form a security cordon around them.
When Weston residents learned about the protest, several hundred citizens rallied to show support for Sadell’s family, armed with patriotic music and American flags large enough to cover any unwanted guests.
“We got everybody here early so we could take up all the parking spots,” Rebecca Rooney of Weston, Mo., told WDAF.
Several supporters also traveled from California and Australia to be a part of the counterdemonstration, in which they created a human shield around the perimeter of the funeral.
Eventually, Westboro Church members retreated.
Here’s hoping that this trend continues. The Phelps clan abused our free speech laws for years with little blowback. Now, 1000 people in a small OK town come out on a moments notice to counterprotest the anti-gay, anti-military Phelps clan.
One wonders if perhaps the tea party movement has been an influence….
For pete’s sake. The purveyors of political correctness never cease to amaze me. Enlightened thinkers in the UK have decided to change the name of the holiday cookie favorite on school menus from “Gingerbread Man” to “Gingerbread Person”.
In the nursery rhyme, the Gingerbread Man fled from the clutches of an old woman and her husband.
But now he has been cornered by an even more unforgiving foe – political correctness.
Council bureaucrats have stripped gingerbread men of their gender and renamed them gingerbread ‘persons’ on menus for 400 primary schools.
Parents in Lancashire were astonished when they discovered the change.
‘It is absolutely ridiculous,’ one mother said. ‘Someone has obviously taken the effort to change this and it is almost offensive.
‘I am all for anti-discrimination but this is a pudding. The gingerbread man is a character from a rhyme in a book, for goodness sake.’
Laura Midgley, of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, added: ‘It is totally ridiculous political correctness, nobody wants to talk about gingerbread people. They are what they are.
What’s sad is that if this is happening in the UK, it won’t be long before some idiot tries push the same stupid idea in the US. It only takes the complaint of one moonbat out of a hundred people to get the culture to bend in their favor.
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Why is that?
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Why not tell little Hillary, if she doesn’t like the masculine “gingerbread boy” moniker, to go jump in a lake?
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It’s a damn cookie based on a nursery rhyme.
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Why do we have to respect everyone’s feelings even when they’re stupid, petty and irrational?
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You can decorate your cookie any way you want, Hillary…. even call the female ones, “Gingerbread Girls”, or “Gingerbread Women” if you want. We do every Christmas. I have a Gingerbread Woman cookie cutter to go along with my Gingerbread Man.
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But generally speaking, we say, “Gingerbread Man”, because that’s just. the. way. it. is.
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And if you want to fight me on that, I’ll call you a cultural Marxist rightto your face.
UPDATE:
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What’s this?
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Oh…………..now that I’ve taken the time to read the entire article….…
The outcry has since forced officials into an embarrassing U-turn.
They now claim renaming the biscuits was a mistake and that their gender will be reinstated as soon as possible.
If you’re having a hard time gauging Nancy Pelosi’s chances in her bid for minority leader, you’re not alone. Dems have been all over the map on the question.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has the “overwhelming support” of fellow Democrats in her bid to become minority leader in the next Congress, and says she’s not to blame for the Democrats’ mid-term debacle.
“We didn’t lose the election because of me,” Ms. Pelosi told National Public Radio in an interview that aired Friday morning. “Our members do not accept that.”
President Barack Obama indicated Friday he didn’t believe Democrats needed new leaders in Congress, even after his party took what he has called a “shellacking” in the midterm elections.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who wants to remain the top Democratic House leader even as some moderate Democrats urge her to step aside in the wake of the new Republican majority, “has been an outstanding partner for me,” Obama said at a news conference in Seoul.
Losing up to 65 seats in the midterms is outstanding….for Republicans.
Party leaders sometimes step aside after crushing defeats, such as the Republican wave that rolled over at least 60 Democratic incumbents and wiped out Pelosi’s majority in the Nov. 2 election. But Pelosi offered no apologies and vowed to soldier on. Since many moderate and conservative Democrats were defeated, the thinking was that she probably had enough liberal allies to survive and run her diminished caucus as minority leader.
But Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) told the AP he sensed that “this may not be as much of a done deal as people might have thought.” Maybe Pelosi would reconsider her decision, Altmire said, “if enough people come out and voice a little discomfort with the idea of her continuing on.”
In a fresh sign of turmoil among defeated Democrats, a growing number of the rank and file say they will not support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a politically symbolic roll call when the new Congress meets in January.
“The reality is that she is politically toxic,’’ said Representative Mike Quigley of Illinois, one of several Democrats trying to pressure Pelosi to step aside as her party’s leader in the wake of historic election losses to Republicans last week.
Pelosi startled many Democrats with a quick postelection announcement that she would run for minority leader. She has yet to draw an opponent for the post. Party elections are scheduled for next week, although a postponement is possible.
The scuttlebutt is that she’ll quit if she can’t be speaker. I give her a 60/40 chance. and having her as the face of the democrat party, along with Reid and Obama, will be a continued boon for republicans.
In the course of the Obama administration we have seen examples of Democrats in the White House, Congress and across the government pursuing ideological goals that are not only not based on facts and science and argument but actually fly in the face of facts and science and argument.
Strategists familiar with the RNC who both support and oppose Steele agree there are between 40 and 50 of the 168 voters who will back Steele for a second term. Another 40 to 50 members will definitely vote for someone else. The remaining members, numbering between 88 and 68, are undecided.
Erick Erickson reports on Steele’s first challenger: Here It Comes
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I was kinda hoping Sarah Palin would run for RNC Chair. I think she would be brilliant. But it looks like she’s serious about running in 2012 against Bam.
Energy czar Carol Browner needs to go the way of disgraced green jobs czar Van Jones: under the bus and stripped of her unbridled power to destroy jobs and lives in the name of saving the planet. ASAP.
Pat Condell doesn’t respect my beliefs and doesn’t care if I’m offended. But that’s okay, because I respect his right to think whatever he wants to think, and say whatever he wants to say – which he does with great aplomb on a regular basis on YouTube. His thoughts on the subject of Islamofascism are always spot on.
The school’s superintendent is now saying that the boy was told to remove the flag out of concerns for his safety, and that the school will allow him to resume his flag flying.
The G-20 just delivered a big message to Obama, which is that American leadership on economics is sailing away on the QE2. Did he get the message? Not exactly. Obama tried to spin this into some sort of victory, saying that “sometimes we’re going to hit singles” rather than home runs. This was neither; it was a whiff.
It’s not too late to take Glenn Beck’s advice and buy gold. But then again, ammunition, Coleman lantern fuel and freeze-dried food might not be bad investments, either.
Keep AmericInn in mind the next time you need a place to stay.
Cripes Suzettehas a photo documentary of MO in Indonesia that will have you missing our former first ladies. Would any of them have done that in public? Seriously!
Bill Whittle : What We Believe, Part 6: Immigration:
Joe Scarborough won’t name names, but he says there are a number of top Democrats who have been pulling their hair out for the past two years about the President. Mike Barnicle backs him up, because Mika, like a good liberal, pretends not to know anything about it. Barnicle says he can think of seven powerful Dem Senators who have talked to him about the president’s behavior.
Ok…but how does giving me some apparent insider information going to help the country, or help your political party?
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Simple – it lets others know it’s time to start talking. It’s time to get the word out. It’s time to challenge the inept status quo that is currently running things. People are scared – hell, I’m a bit scared myself. But enough is enough – this political train has got to get back on its tracks. And I’ll tell you this, my talking to you, and your little blog stories, is already helping. More people are ready to talk. It’s already happening. And more is coming. The media won’t be able to ignore it anymore. This administration, the leadership in Congress, they need to account for how they have totally mishandled the responsibilities given to them. That accounting is coming soon enough in November – we are going to get what we deserve. But I am still hopeful it is not too late to save 2012.
***
…we got Congressmen and Senators running for re-election right now whose political careers are about to be ended because they supported a president and a Democratic Party leadership that told them to do so. They trusted they would be politically protected, that the American people would agree with the agenda. Well guess what? That hasn’t happened. Good people, good Democrats, are being tossed aside like so much trash – and this White House DOES NOT GIVE A DAMN. In my eyes that is absolutely unforgivable. You just don’t do that to your own people. And some of these politicians are talking. They are – but for the most part the media is ignoring them because they don’t want to hurt the administration. To that I say enough! Do your damn job. Report what is going on within the Democratic Party. We need to clean up this mess, and it starts by getting the truth out there. That is my motivation.
It sounds like you’re preparing for political war with this White House. Yes, I suppose that is a fair description of what is happening. I’m not alone. There are more and more of us within the Democratic Party who are ready to challenge this president.
Even if it tears the Democratic Party apart in the process? It won’t. It will get messy, it already is - but the party is stronger than the president…particularly this president. Remove the media protection, remove the support and protection of a Congressional leadership that has been carrying the water for the White House for the last two years, and you will see a White House greatly reduced. But the party will survive – and be made stronger for it. The American people need to know that the Obama administration does not represent the Democratic Party – and it is the Democratic Party that remains the party of the people. The Obama administration only represents themselves at the expense of all others. That fact needs to be made more known and that is what I intend to see get done after November.
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* Full disclosure: The “Washington Insider” posts may well be figments of “Ulsterman’s” imagination, but they make for entertaining reading, and ring true.
FYI: Roger L. Simon is under the impression the reports are true.
Obama also drops hints that he means to be tough with Israel. To advertise his toughness, he makes occasional statements about Jewish settlements. Yet this puts the whole exercise on a different trajectory, with talks focused on the settlements rather than the core issue — the creation of a Palestinian state.
Pressuring Israel may look good to “Abu Hussain” and his Hamas admirers. But it may reduce the chances of agreement on the creation of a Palestinian state.
Fearful that its chief ally, America, might be trying to abandon it or, worse still, stab it in the back, Israel may revert to what Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir called “the hedgehog strategy.” Because Israel holds the lands on which a Palestinian state is to be built, there would be no progress in that direction.
History shows that Israel has made concessions — including withdrawing from vast territories it captured from Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon — only when it has felt sure of its principal ally.
That’s just a short snippet, read the entire piece.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Wednesday that the U.S. would give the Palestinian Authority an additional $150 million in direct aid.
Thankfully, your president tepidly disputed this calumny against democracy, but the alarming questions remain. He went on to tell the Indonesians, “Democracy is messy.”
“Not everyone likes the results of every election. You go through ups and downs,” he said.
Thanks to Democracy, Socialism “economic progress” will have to wait.
And in case you missed it, (it’s cross-posted below): Taxes, Stupidity, and Death: November 11
ISW is announcing their award-winning documentary,The Surge: the Untold Story, which will air twice on The Military Channel’s Veterans Day weekend television special. You can watch live or set your DVR to The Military Channel on Friday, November 12th at 10:30 PM EST or Saturday, November 13th at 1:30 AM EST.
The Surge: the Untold Story, winner of The Military Channel Documentary Award at the 2010 G.I. Film Festival, offers a look into the real story of the troop surge in Iraq, as told by top U.S. military commanders, policymakers, and troops on the ground. Never-before-seen interviews with General David Petraeus, General Raymond Odierno, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General Nasier Abadi (Iraq), among others, move the story beyond Washington politics to explore how a failing mission was transformed into one of the most successful military operations in a generation of war fighting.
This documentary honors the sacrifice, courage and ingenuity of the military personnel who confronted nearly impossible circumstances, but found success through their dedication and hard work.
* The Surge: the Untold Story airing on The Military Channel
* Friday, November 12, 2010, 10:30 PM EST
* Saturday, November 13, 2010, 1:30 AM EST
Project Valor-IT is running it’s annual competition to raise money for technology that reconnects wounded warriors. Give generously if you can.
Veterans’ Day is one of those holidays that always makes me sad, not simply because of the reason for the day, but because of the significance that some people never dwell on. In an age where a large portion of society wants to complain that any war, not just the ones we are currently involved in are manifestly unjust, it is easy to lose sight of two inevitable truths:
1. No matter how much you may believe war is unjust, and that violence is never an answer, the fact is that sometimes, wars come to you, no matter how you conduct yourself; and
2. Whether we are discussing a war of aggression or of self-defense, the men and women who answer the call do so with the full knowledge that they may be expected to give everything, including their lives.
It is for the people who answer that call, and not the cause for which they sacrifice, that we honor on this day.
Every conflict in which our nation has fought in the last century or so has had its own flavor, and as a friend recently reminded me, this is captured in the memorials which commemorate them. On this day, I refuse to pass judgment determining whether a particular conflict is good or bad. Good or bad, Americans fought, and Americans died. Some never came home, some came home in boxes, and some came home with their innocence forever surrendered to places with unpronounceable names, or generic designations. Some came home haunted by the things they have seen, and some came home able to reconcile horrors that they witnessed with a life filled with the mundane and the ordinary. And good or bad, some conflicts just touch us, even if we didn’t fight in them.
For me, that conflict would be Vietnam, probably because so many of my friends’ fathers served there. Some of you in the same age group as me know what I am talking about. Those moments where someone’s Dad would lapse into a story about something they saw there…something that changed them. And to a man, every one of them I knew growing up had an undeserved shame. For some it was the shame of coming back to being spit on and called “Baby Killers” by people who had never been there, and never did what they had to do. For some, it was guilt over being alive when people they had known, had lived with, and had trusted with their lives, fell long ago in steamy jungles on the far side of the world. And for some, it was shame over betrayal. The betrayal of their sacrifices, and the lives of friends and colleagues by a government that micro managed the war, and eventually did what was politically expedient rather than what was right. The shame that only a betrayer can feel in leaving so many to the certain death at the hands of an evil and destructive political philosophy that treats men as interchangeable parts and not the unique individuals they are. A political philosophy that we promised to save them from.
That is a heavy weight for anyone to bear, and it is bitter compensation for those who gave up their childhood and innocence for the service to their country. It can be easy to forget that this conflict, like all conflicts, was ultimately dependent on the soldier. I took some time reading some letters home from one of these soldiers to remind myself of that. I think this one helps to bring this idea home. I don’t know if Mike made it home. I hope that he did.
Jan 12, 1969
Dear Family,
I got the package yesterday, and I was real grateful. We are low on C-rations, and there is hardly any water.
We are supposed to be out in the bush for 4 days, but it ended up we’re still out here. It’s been about 2 weeks now. We are guarding this road. Making sure no VC get anywhere near the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines area, (1/1). Every afternon I’ve got gate watch. We all take turns from dawn to dusk. We just have to check out the ID’s of the civilians going up and down the road. If they don’t have an ID they are suspected of being a VC. The gate is a big cement grave. Our whole perimeter is set up in a big graveyard. In fact, our bunker is on top of a cement grave with sandbags on all sides. On one end we built a little hootch, and our machine gun is set right on top where the body was laid. I think that’s pretty cool. Inside the hootch there is the tombstone with all kinds of Chinese writing on it. At night we have a candle burning inside to see by.
Last night I went on a fire team-sized patrol, a fire team consists of 4 people. The leader was some corporal who I don’t feel safe with at all. He got here in Vietnam the same time I did, but he was put in charge right away because he’s a corporal. He goes by the book on everything. If we get hit we aren’t supposed to fire back, only on his command. I’d rather be with somebody that has a little more time in country, and knows what to do.
In about 5 months I will be the machine gunner for this squad, and in about 7 months I will be team leader. All the other guys in this gun team will be going home around the same time. Now I’m just the last ammo humper, but I don’t mind just as long as I gradually learn my job.
Soon I will have T-I-C, (time in country), and the experience. That’s what counts here.
I’m learning this language ok now, but the Marines only know a few phrases like “come here,” “go away,” “let me see your ID,” etc; but I want to learn more than this.
Mom, you were wondering what kinds of birds they have here. They are beautiful, nothing like in the USA. There’s swans, and big white birds with long necks, and ordinary birds with crowns on their heads, and then other birds that look like sparrows, only half their size.
I’m glad to hear you had snow. I kind of wish it would snow here once in awhile.
Enclosed are some pictures. Could you save them for me? They’ll get ruined over here. You can have the ones of me if you want. Also enclosed is part of a diary I started when I first got here. I’d better go now.
Mike
I can’t make you ponder the meaning of this day, and I can’t make you thank a veteran for doing what they did, but I will suggest that the kind of humility that comes from doing so can enrich your understanding of the day.
Thank you to Jim’s Dad, Troy’s Dad, Dan’s Dad, MCPO Airdale, BrewFan, Dick, and all the other veterans I know. Thank you.
,weighs in on Harry Reid’s declaration, “this war is lost”.
