Ah yes, we now have another back-N-forth issued from within our own borders. This NIE Report, which no one has even read yet, makes more trouble than it is worth. In fact, I believe that this latest NIE Report gives more ammo to scary world leaders like Putin and Ahmadinejad. And now, with “insightful?” commentary from StratFor’s writer George Friedman, proof is now up front that we’ve got a bigger problem listening to the likes of the NIE Report which has little HUMINT data.

Here, these two paragraphs just got me to sit up and read this article carefully:

With this announcement, the dynamics of the Middle Eastern region, Iraq and U.S.-Iranian relations shift dramatically. For one thing, the probability of a unilateral strike against Iranian nuclear targets is gone. Since there is no Iranian nuclear weapons program, there is no rationale for a strike. Moreover, if Iran is not engaged in weapons production, then a broader air campaign designed to destabilize the Iranian regime has no foundation either.

The NIE release represents a transformation of U.S. policy toward Iran. The Bush administration made Iran’s nuclear weapons program the main reason for its attempt to create an international coalition against Iran, on the premise that a nuclear-armed Iran was unacceptable. If there is no Iranian nuclear program, then what is the rationale for the coalition? Moreover, what is the logic of resisting Iran’s efforts in Iraq, rather than cooperating?

The second sentence in the second paragraph is where you should all begin to sit up and take note. If you believe that that sentence leads you to believe that we are wrong for being watchful when it comes to Iran’s nuclear weapons development program, I weep for you …

Be very careful, people - this isn’t just Israel we are talking about. In today’s world, Pearl Harbor is now your own backyard. Weapons can be delivered farther than a series of aircraft that can only reach the Hawaiian Islands. And we are only 2 days away from that ill fated day … take heed.

Yeah, sure, an honorable institution, uh-huh. So, you like to watch the Grammies? I bet you may even think to some extent that they have some level of truth - at least for an awards show. I disagree, and always have, and always will, these things are complete bunk. Evidence, I have three words for you:

The Dixie Chicks

Say no more …

These two desserts look to be pretty much the same thing. And, to the person standing there watching you make these two after dinner delights, it sure looks like you used the same ingredients, mixed the batter, rolled the dough, prepared the apples, you know, the same steps. But, there are subtle nuances that can be found, if one actually takes the time and has the experience, in making these two classic desserts.

The Main Stream Media thinks they understand how the US Military gets troops ready for battle. These are the same scum that miss some glaringly obvious nuances and truly “forked us” in regards to Vietnam.

In this last Sunday’s San Francisco “Comical” (SF Chronicle to those of you that respect this friggin’ rag!), Anna Badkhen, the person that typed the piece of fiction to which I refer, says that the US Military has “cut corners” to get personnel into the field. She asserts that shorter training times and lack of equipment have hurt readiness. One of the choice paragraphs that exposes her lack of understanding follows:

“Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division had so little time between deployments to Iraq they had to cram more than a year’s worth of training into four months.”

At first blush, one could say, sure, this amount of training time seems a bit too short for someone to go into an operational theater, not to mention the field where every move one makes has consequences. Some of us would say that there are very plausible reasons to have just such a training period. I will hold that assessment until my conclusion. My true intent at the outset is to show just how off the mark these “writers” are when it comes to understanding US Military training and deployment policies, procedures, and ultimately goals and objectives that are more strategic in nature. Or, more appropriately, just what these twits are really up to as they mask their true colors.

The “writer” continues:

“Some had only a few days to learn how to fire their new rifles before they deployed to Iraq - for the third time - last month.”

Now, let’s really look at this statement closely. This is the third time that this particular team, or team member that she spoke with, has been to the battlefield. They had weapons then, obviously, yet this time they have a new weapon. Is the weapon in question such a tectonic departure from their current weapon for their MOS? And I am assuming these individuals are only in the US Army (1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry), what if it were a US Marine or US Air Force Security Forces person? C’mon, is this reporterette honestly trying to make me swallow this swill, hook, line and sinker?! Are all the “SF Comical” readers truly that lost that they do not understand weapons training and in-combat experience?

Am I the only one awake, left reading this tripe, and barely able to hold down my breakfast? Well, this gets better, really! Chew on this one:

“And some soldiers were assigned to the brigade so late that they had no time to train in the United States at all. Instead of the yearlong training recommended prior to deployment, they prepared for war during the two weeks they spent in Kuwait, en route to Anbar, Iraq’s deadliest province.”

Again, members of this brigade are on their THIRD ROTATION! Or, am I just missing something she seems to understand as being crucial to the whole picture? Onward:

“As the Pentagon prepares to boost troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 people, such logistical and training hurdles are emblematic of the struggles besieging a military strained by unexpectedly long and grueling commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

I’m trying really hard to stay calm here … really …

You’d think that, based upon the above, we are talking about shortened training time with new weapons, right? Oh no, this little barb sticks out, in a big way:

“After the Cold War, U.S. military [her use of case, not mine] policy - pushed hard by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s policy of “transformation” - relied too much on cutting-edge technology and air power and too little on boots on the ground, and further undercut spending on equipment that would protect large ground forces, critics charge.”

Why do these pinheads always dodge the bullet and say, “critics charge” or “military analysts conclude”? Why isn’t this reporterette making an assertion herself? C’mon have some “gravitas” and make the call yourself! Hiding behind faceless, and often out of context, assertions that are based on several factors, not the one under discussion. But, I digress … these friggin’ chicken-livered, candy-assed, oops … sorry … onward …

Obviously, this writer has no information from which to posit an intelligent conclusion. Just 20 minutes of research on 5th Generation Warfare, and she’d be relatively up to speed on modernization and the efforts being put forth by the US Military - beyond boots on the ground. The only reason that the casualty rate is SO FRIGGIN’ LOW YOU MORON is due to these new, modern, and all encompassing changes to improve the net effective force strength and battlefield control infrastructure.

As to my statement above where I said I’d add a conclusion, well, here goes. Reporters like this Anna Badkhen, in pieces like her 4th of February 2007 piece, “Corners Cut in Rush to Add Troops”, really shows just how lost these people are today. I am struck by the obvious lack of military experience that pervades our printed and video media reports. To just take one point to task, shorter training times are not necessarily bad during war - in fact, they are quite often the smartest decision. By using real world examples (ie on the job training - the hallmark of the US Military!), while riskier, provides training that far surpasses anything you get using fake rounds and a confidence course! And, when you are already skilled with one rifle, how hard is it to get qual’d on a newer one? I know folks that would be splittin’ targets after about 10 minutes of mini-instruction on a new rifle!!! Once you’ve got the sight, feel, weight, balance, and correction for drift, any rifle is just damn deadly - to our enemy. So, THREE WEEKS TO LEARN A NEW RIFLE!?!?!?

Sheesh!

What’s holding us back is stories, and I truly use the word story in reference to this reporter’s piece, and uninformed perspectives that cloud the overall effectiveness of the US Military. We wouldn’t have such a strong insurgency if it weren’t for the cut-N-run crowd and these twits that are very much the lesser of any species trying to grasp what warfare and the US Military are all about.

Anyway, we’re way beyond Apple Crisp and more into apple sauce … what a mess!

If you have the Sunday Comical from 4 February, 2007, maybe you need some bird cage liner?

After Greta from Hooah Wife left a comment here, I flew on over to her blog. It’s been a while since I graced her blog-step and felt, time to do some readin’! I found a little snippet there from Silke where she wraps The Daily Show and George Will’s latest column into a question, “Is the Bush administration right? Are we defeating terrorism by promoting democracy in Iraq?” Her information sources from which to draw a conclusion are continents apart in respect to their circles of knowledge and influence. And the overall thrust of her piece, what I came away with, is that the Bush Administration is looking through a hollow tube in respect to fighting terrorism and terrorists. George Will’s quip, as you’ll see, is the narrowing of that tube.

Now, bear with me, ’cause The Daily Show and George Will are extremes in the ways of logic and breadth of knowledge imparted to the consumer (either the viewer or reader, respectively).

Tackling the first “outlet” or source I wondered, is The Daily Show where everyone should be getting enlightening and informative content or instruction? The content there, even though from the outside it’s goal is humor, actually hides the tip of a spear plunged into the heart of truth. Jon Stewart hardly makes me think. In fact, that show hardly makes me chuckle anymore. In the day, with Craig Kilborn, the funny bone used to get a good tweak! Now, all this show does is confirm my realization that today people are far less interested in learning and more interested in feeding their own isms. You don’t have to work to get the news and you can laugh at the same time!

It’s hard work to learn something. Shows like The Daily Show are easy to watch and therefore spoon feed the consumer tainted facts and news items. And, since there is news in there, well, learning is great! Hmmm …

Now, George, poor George … you always raise the bar just too dang high! Or, maybe it’s not a bar but a pretzel? Once we’ve taken the time to look up all your “cool” words, you’ve tossed us into the weeds at 70 MPH. Sometimes we need a curling iron to straighten out a few of those cryptic sentences you always love to throw at us. Yet, I have to credit you on a sentence fragment that captures your view, albeit tainted by Inside The Beltway ooze. The quip, “F-16s are not useful tools against terrorism that issues from places such as Hamburg …”, really shows the fact that you think all George Bush is doing requires an F-16 and a Striker or two. So very myopic, Mr. Will, in my estimation. You leave the reader with this view you’ve offered as the only option George Bush and this administration have chosen. How very pedantic of you (to those of you in Rio Linda, pedantic is narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned: UNIMAGINATIVE, PEDESTRIAN).

To be true to the entire effort, or the defeat of terrorism, does not require just one thing. There is no silver bullet (not the beer, doh!) to get to world peace. The Silver Bullet World Peace brigade, led by the Main Stream/Drive By Media, are so far from seeing the real solution as a whole concert of strategies, tactics, and tasks. They truly have deserted any clear research because it is too hard to stay in front of the bloggers and folks like Stratfor.com. And none of these elitists have ever experienced what it takes to defeat an enemy such as the likes we have today. They sadly grew up forgetting what the WWI and WWII generations faced. To actually have men like Neville Chamberlain selling you up the river without a spoon?! Appeasement and group hugs, as I have said before, are not going to stop the evil we face today.

While George Will’s sound bite, more appropriately a written quip, is cute and snags the reader, it falls disastrously short of carrying the real water to the fire.

George Will knows better; he is a man that studies history. It seems he has fallen into the same old same old world view lethargy. Inside The Beltway Pundits fail us all and have tainted the “gene pool of ideas”. The only place anyone is going to find the answer to the question Silke posed, is to study history. It’s a chore I know, but nothing of value ever comes without work. And armed with that knowledge, one must apply, with metered adjustments for today’s world, a strategy and action plan that is executed with strong conviction. To not learn from the past is to provide fertile soil for self destruction. Again, George Will has studied history, yet he is clouded by the tarnish found on all the media types revolving inside the beltway centrifuge.

I remember, as many of you ex-Military types do, we had to study world, US, and military campaign history. In basic training we had study hours devoted to these subjects. I loved to learn about how a certain campaign or individual battle was thought out, planned, and then executed. And at every level commitment and conviction were the keys to a resounding victory. As our brethren in the blogosphere are so quick to forget, or never learned as we did, a battle requires logistics that boggle the mind. We cannot win this war on terror without looking at the bigger picture, or more to the point a map to the future.

To many are stepping into the fray without the greatest weapon of all: historical context of war with an enemy hell bent on innocents being destroyed.

To those that say Democracy is not capable of defeating terrorism, riddle me this: when compared to every other despotic country or system, pick one that is more capable? And, no matter your answer, remember that tin horn dictators care less about the system as long as they are still in control and can still kill those that oppose them. Oh, and just remember, to Achmed-any-jihad, you are an infidel. Even though you side with him now, when he takes over you are also fated to die. You’re not safe either, Code Pinkos … you he likes least of all. He is using you as his tool to defeat us all.

Sad. Truly sad … Atlas doesn’t shrug, Atlas heaves with cries of agony at our myopia (a lack of foresight or discernment: a narrow view of something)!

GUEST POST FOR: CAII - Coalition Against Illegal Immigration
CROSS POSTED FROM: CommonSenseAmerica

That Door Swings Both Ways

Just as those who claim to see racism as the foundation of every disagreement in our nation are most often the worst offenders, the true hypocrites are usually the people that scream “hypocrisy” the loudest.

From KFMB, CA:

A new billboard in the South Bay is causing quite a stir, as the battle over immigration reform continues.

The billboard, located near Interstate 5 and less than a mile from the border, reads “Stop The Invasion” and “Secure Our Borders,” and the phone number of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s San Diego office.

A similar billboard went up recently in Duarte in Los Angeles County. Other billboards have been put up in Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, Phoenix and West Virginia, Elliot said.

The interim president and general counsel of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund says the move amounts to hypocrisy.

“This group that happens to put up the billboards purports to be a family-oriented, family values organization,” Trasvina told a Southern California television station. “Family reunification is a cornerstone of our immigration policies.”

Hmmm, it seems to me that “family reunification” can take place in either Mexico or the United States.

So please tell me, how it is hypocritical to try to send people home to their families or to stop them from leaving their families in the first place?

Wouldn’t it be more correct to say that it is actually the pro-illegal immigration advocates that are hypocritical by condoning those who have illegally entered our country and then demanding their entire family be allowed to come to this country under the guise of “family reunification”?

Let’s see, considering the very definition of hypocrisy is “feigned high principles”, I would say it is pretty easy to spot the hypocrites in this argument.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration - CAII. If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, e-mail the coalition and let them know at what level you would like to participate.

Yesterday, we got snarfed. The Senate has done it again and followed the Chevy Maverick of politicians, McCain. That guys no maverick, he’s a May Pole that’s not wrapped too tight!

Both the CAII and Grassfire.org are blasting the blogosphere with the current event of the day, today. And, the calls are going out to pound Wachington (my new pronunciation, like the mexicali twang?) with cards, letters, faxes, phone calls, and e-mails! These pinheads haven’t a clue what sort of fire they’re startin’, do they?!

Here’s how our firestarter over at Grassfire.org lays it down:

The Senate just passed it’s Hagel-Martinez Amnesty bill — what we call the “No Illegal Alien Left Behind Act” — by a final vote of 62-36.

If you have been watching the debate then you know that this outrageous bill has gotten worse by the hour. Right down to the final minutes before the vote, Senators were adding language that further undermines our nation. For example, the bill calls for “consultation” with Mexican authorities before the agreed-upon fence is built!

+ + Roll Call Vote

Go here to see the Roll Call vote on the final bill:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?u=788&rid=10944521

+ + “Amnesty Republicans”

Here’s your list of “Amnesty Republicans.”
Remember — without these Republicans there
would be no amnesty bill!

Robert Bennett (UT): (202) 224-5444
Sam Brownback (KS): (202) 224-6521
Lincoln Chafee (RI): (202) 224-2921
Norm Coleman (MN): (202) 224-5641
Susan Collins (ME) (202) 224-2523
Larry Craig (ID): (202) 224-2752
Mike DeWine (OH): (202) 224-2315
Pete Domenici (NM): (202) 224-6621
Bill Frist (TN): (202) 224-3344
Lindsay Graham (SC): (202) 224-5972
Judd Gregg (NH): (202) 224-3324
Chuck Hagel (NE): (202) 224-4224
Richard Lugar (IN): (202) 224-4814
Mel Martinez (FL): (202) 224-3041
John McCain (AZ): (202) 224-2235
Mitch McConnell (KY): (202) 224-2541
Lisa Murkowski (AK): (202) 224-6665
Gordon Smith (OR): (202) 224-3753
Olympia Snowe (ME): 202) 224-5344
Arlen Specter (PA): (202) 224-4254
Ted Stevens (AK): (202) 224-3004
George Voinovich (OH): (202) 224-3353
John Warner (VA): (202) 224-2023

+ + Don’t Lose Hope — Battle Just Begun!

And, our fearless leader over at CAII sounds the same:

Well, the Senate passed a bad bill, but I expected they would. Now don’t forget about the June 6th D-Day assault on the Capital. Those post cards can go to the house instead of Congress, and so will our calls, emails and faxes.

As soon as I hear the House is taking it up in Congress, we are going to hit the House. We have a real chance of defeating this in the House so don’t give up. If you wish to vent about this please do so to your Senators, and let them know how you feel about them passing a bill that will destroy our country. Remember how your cockroaches voted and write it down!

Here is a tool too look up how anyone has voted on any topic:
http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

Here is a tool that sends you an email that will tell you how your cockroaches vote on everything:
http://www.votenote.com/

Excellent tools I recommend.

It just astounds me how out of touch Wachingtun is, ya know?

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, e-mail the coalition and let them know at what level you would like to participate.

I just turned Rush Limbaugh off - sorry, I just turned Mark Belling off. Why? Because he has no conviction, and answers with that wishy-washy “I don’t know if…” dodge.

C’mon! This guy doesn’t believe in going after the employers?! What happened to ethics in business? If you are an employer and you hire illegal aliens, you are aiding and abeting. Plain and simple. It is wrong!

And, sheesh, why is everyone so afraid of ethics?

And Mark, are your hospitals closing all their emergency rooms because they are losing their shirts up there in Wisconsin?! You are the problem, not me, you have missed the point completely. Our system is under siege and you have walked away ’cause you think you are being nice to these people.

I’ve got one thing to say to you, Mark. We in California voted for Prop 187. When the courts went after us, all you other sidelines/armchair Americans let us swing in the wind. We had a solution, we voted for it, and it passed, ON THE LEFT COAST! And when the ACLU and the courts went after us, where were all of you to help?

And, here’s what it sounded like out here, uttered by the oposition

“Opponents included State Senator Art Torres, who referred to Prop. 187 as “the last gasp of white America in California.”

Well, welcome to all of you that now know what we voted for so long ago. The Fox is still in the hen house, and now he’s coming after your eggs.

There is a solution to get things going. The Senate bill is a mistake. Instead of bending over and takin’ it ’cause of “White Guilt”, just take the time to realize we can put one thing in a bill at a time. Just do a bill with the fence in it, only. Then, put up the bill on amnesty (which you ARE for!), and yes, it is amnesty and it is wrong. Placing 11 million people more onto the Social Security system in one drop, ’cause it’ll make you feel better!

Wake up!

I did not risk my life, in the service of my country, to watch a bunch of lilly-livered, namby-pamby, wishy-washy, dolts, sell out and send us down the river without a spoon.

Prop 187. Prop 187. Prop 187.

We miss you, Ronnie. The Conservative agenda, and the Republican party, are losing ground and being taken over by whimps.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, e-mail the coalition and let them know at what level you would like to participate.

I’ve walked up to the most famous fence in the world, while it was still operational. I was under USAFE Command stationed in Germany from 1982 to 1984. The real fence was built to keep it’s people in. You really don’t even know what a real fence looks like, do you? Sure, you can wax prolific about seeing a fence around a prison. OK, so, maybe you’ve been close to a very secure US Military base. Or maybe you’ve seen razor wire atop a fence that has brand new cars being stored prior to transit. And maybe you think that by building a fence we’d be just like them. But, what made the most famous fence so, famous?

I’ll tell ya, guard towers with men inside with orders to shoot to kill. Shoot their fellow citizens that were trying to leave! Not to arrest or detain, not to control a population illegally crossing to get a few bucks doing hard work and get free medical and dental. No questions asked, kill. And did you know that even if you were able to cross the fence, there was still 50 more feet before you were truly free?

Have you ever been to Check Point Charlie and seen the bullet holes in the buildings where good people fled for their lives? Have you ever driven through Helmstedt and been given a direct order to wait for the East German guard to salute you first - because we do not recognize them as a country (learn why, learn a ton)? Have you been followed by East German patrols or KGB as you were seeing the sights on a sunny day? Do you know why these practices were in place?

I’ll tell ya, ’cause the most dangerous regime after WWII was in charge of a poor people who needed help. That country watched their people so closely that there was very little room to have your own personality. The fence extended way beyond the perimeter and entered every soul within it’s boundary, binding everyone through real acts of spying, not the lame stuff in the news today, that isn’t even spying (see Echelon for real spying). You here in the United States of America can talk freely and jump in your car to go to Vegas without having to notify the local “authorities”.

You do not even know what a fence really is, and you do not really know what spying is like. You’ve never had your every move tracked, day by day, just because they want to track you. Not ’cause you are an enemy of the State but because you might want to escape to the free world. Ask The Chief, go to his site The Truth, learn something - you’re in no way an “expert”.

The people that came to the rescue of those people trapped behind that fence were lead by one man. A man so courageous he threw down the gauntlet and forced the evil power to relinquish it’s cold as death hold on it’s people. That man was vilified often, misunderstood by many, and oh so underestimated by the world. Uh-huh, you know what I’m going to ask, who was that man?

President Ronald Wilson Reagan.

I served under his leadership. He’d provide no safe haven for anyone exhibiting Chamberlain-like traits. Why are we letting the psychos run the asylum, huh? Why are we so afraid of being the people that the rest of the world laughs at so often? What’s wrong with being a God fearing, Jesus loving, SUV driving, cowboy?

And for those of you that think I am against a fence on our southern borders, you are sooo very wrong. These people are not escaping an oppressive government that is torturing, killing, tracking, placing them in death camps, or stealing the money out of their hands. Yes, those crossing do come from a depressed economy. But arrest or put sanctions on their Presidente and the scum keeping them down which is forcing them to come here for free handouts and a better way. Sure, the work is hard, but if they came across legally, the pay scale is better and they can join the rest of us in the benefits later in life.

I did not write this post to show how bad a fence is, but the difference. Here, try this one on for size. If you had a purchased a brand new ski boat and you knew that access was easy and anyone cold just hook up a hitch and drive away with it, what would you do? And what if that person was starving and just wanted to sell it to get some money to send home to their family. Is stealing right?

I guess inside the beltway, stealing is OK. So is giving our Social Security money to illegals. If it’s OK to do that, McCain, maybe we should just start cuttin’ checks to all the scum in our prisons, too.

Wait, they should vote too! Right?

Ronnie, we miss you.

If you think that this country is awash with the likes of Neville Chamberlain, there’s an interesting discussion going on about the NSA, Al Jazeera, and al Quaida over at Amy Proctor’s blog. A couple of us are getting some good comments up there and providing good arguments. The more the merrier, so join in!

Here’s a comment I left over there regarding Amy’s that defines clearly the 4th Amendment. Added is I had asked if anyone knew who was in power when Echelon was in full technical swing:

On the 4th Amendment, Amy …

YOU GO GIRL!!!

Nailed it again, M’Lady.

And, Amy, I know _you_ know the answer to the Who’s Who of 1998 question. It’s the Captain of Crocodile Tears, y’all … that man could curl a lip on command like no one I know.

Disingenuous? I’ll leave that to all of you to decide.

For me, I’ll take the war-mongering Reagan and Bush over the aspirin-plant bombing, no answer for the USS Cole yellow-bellied, blue-hat order taking, bible-toten yet never reading or living it at all, lack of conviction for this country sell out of a man.

This country deserves to be protected not sold out to the highest bidder or tin horn dictator. And God save us from the likes of those that want to be accepted by the boneheads in the EU! One more Chamberlain-like politician or actor/singer in this country and we’re gonna go down like every other country in the EU, when they were at their peak. Sheesh.

It’s a shame that so many have forgotten the past. The disgrace of today is a simple rehash or repeat of the Chamberlains of yesterday.

God Bless the United States of America, and those who truly protect her from assault and destruction.

Ya know, she really has if you play this all the way out to the end. Paris Hilton lives “La Vita Loca” (for you illegal aliens out there) and dines at the swankiest. Paris Hilton has never seen what it is like to work, nor has she ever sacrificed a damn thing - except maybe her few contacts that bailed when her SideKick was hijacked! (Doh!)

I mean really, what one earth can she be worth? (rhyme intended) I won’t even do the math, ’cause that is only money.

It is impossible to even fathom to what extent the Hilton Family is willing to stoop. Maybe Paris Hilton has been “schtupped”, but I think that the family is now schtupping those injured brave men and women at Walter Reed that have been able to experience a steak dinner and some time away to forget their pains and continuous fight with debilitating injuries. The US Military is sacrificing every day, whether it is the time spent on the field of battle, the spouses and families holding it all together all alone, or those brave enough to continue yet cannot because they are wounded the worst and must recuperate and rehabilitate at Walter Reed.

Can the Hilton Hotel Corporation (ticker symbol/link HLT = http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=HLT) be this flippin’ stupid? Are they really as dumb as their namesake, Paris? Are they really that reluctant to support these brave men and women and continue the steak dinner ritual? I mean, it isn’t like this is a free ride because Fran O’Brien’s Stadium Steakhouse makes sure that they are all square. In fact, Wal-Mart (uh-huh, that evil giant corporation the lefties love to hate) and the VFW is kicking in $50k!

Yeah, I SAID FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!

That’s a ton of steaks, and I’m right there with them. I’ll continue to go to Wal-Mart, folks. I hope you do too. At least THEIR heart is in the right place. Sam Walton was no idiot. Neither are we, ya know?

Thanks to Lt. Smash of Indepundit, I landed on Chris Dickson’s blog where I was able to get a little background on the Wal-Mart and VFW pitching in to make this free to the wounded. Here, check out a few choice tidbits:

The Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club Foundation awarded the VFW Foundation a $1 million matching grant last summer to support VFW programs that aid military members and their families. Fifty thousand dollars of that grant was earmarked to underwrite the cost of dinners for wounded troops at Fran O’Brien’s.

According to restaurant co-owner Hal Koster, Fran O’Brien’s has provided free dinners to wounded troops and their families since October 2003. Last year they served about 2,300 dinners at a cost of nearly $160,000, an expense that was initially absorbed internally but is now being largely offset by outside donations.

Do you think that Wal-Mart is evil? Well, maybe you might want to rethink your position? (you better you MORON!) Just look at the sacrifice that Wal-Mart is making for our brave men and women:

Wal-Mart has 3,200 employees serving on military leave. Besides continuing their employee benefits and helping with the salary differentials, Wal-Mart has provided millions of dollars in financial aid to military family-support organizations that help supply clothing for the wounded and special-need items for the troops. In addition, Wal-Mart’s customers nationwide have sent hundreds of thousands of messages of support to military men and women through in-store kiosks.

OK, maybe that doesn’t look like much to the casual observer. But, maybe we can do a little “simple math” and see just what they are sacrificing. Let’s take an average pay and net-it-out.

NON-MANGEMENT :: $32,250 PER YEAR + BENEFITS

• $15 per hour
• 8 hours a day
• 5 days a week
• 50 weeks a year (2 weeks vacation and sick days)
• 100 hours TIME AND A HALF OVERTIME per year

MID-MANAGEMENT :: $55,000 PER YEAR + BENEFITS

• $27.50 per hour
• 8 hours a day
• 5 days a week
• 50 weeks a year
• NO OVERTIME PAY

Let’s say that the breakdown for non-management to management is about 85-15 (85% are non-management, 15% are mid-management). That means that 2,720 employees or $87,720,000 total pay for non-management and 480 employees or $26,400,000 total pay for mid-management is being set aside. PEOPLE, that means that $114,120,000 per year is what Wal-Mart believes is an acceptable cost to support our brave men and women serving and sacrificing for all of us to be safe!

That’s really rough numbers, folks. They are willing to truly keep that job open for their valued employees. And, you really need to understand that statement I just made because Wal-Mart VALUES military service! Their employees are not in the store making things work. Their employees are in the battlefield making it possible for the rest of us to live and work safely.

Is there value there? Yep! Does Hilton Hotels see that value? I think not.

Who is the evil corporation now? Just stew on that a bit - chew until it hurts, Hilton, ’cause I will never grace your doorstep, ever. You have really burned that bridge - all Hilton Properties. I came from the travel industry after I separated from the United States Air Force. I keep up to date with all the changes, and I know how easy it is to make a dent. From that point alone, I am contacting all my travel agent friends.

How about you? Do you know someone in the travel industry? WELL, GET OUT THERE AND GET GOING!!! Make sure that those travel industry friends of yours know that Hilton is making a huge mistake. Here is the “Hilton Family” of hotels, so, make sure you do not stay here, either:

Conrad Hotels
Doubletree
Embassy Suites Hotels
Hampton Inn & Hampton Inns and Suites
Hilton HHonors
Hilton Hotels
Hilton Garden Inn
Hilton Grand Vacations Club
Homewood Suites by Hilton

All these properties are tabu! DO NOT STAY AT THE ABOVE LIST OF HOTELS, PEOPLE!!!

OH! and, it seems in every search, Delta Airlines came up as a great place to get deals on Hilton Hotels. The URL looks like this from a Google Search [http://www.delta.com/tracking/index.jsp?MR=http://www.hilton.com]. You might wanna think twice about Delta Airlines, too. You just never know how deep this can cut until you have looked carefully at the blade about ready to go deep into your gut.

Here’s the petition that Chris Dickson talks about here. I signed it. I expect that you will do the same.

H/T to Lt. Smash of Indepundit and Chris Dickson!

Sheesh, what an unbelievable day. We go from Reuters reporting on Calypso Louis’ words of treason in Cuba to the Blowhards in Washington crossing the line and pitting themselves against the people they represent.

Check out the choice words from Farrakhan in the Reuters story:

Farrakhan called for “regime change” in the United States on Monday and denounced “wicked” U.S. policies for turning the world against America.

“We need a new government, we need regime change in America,” he said at the end of a visit to Communist Cuba.

Farrakhan, who led the Million Man March on the Washington Mall in 1995 to promote black self-reliance, said the Bush administration’s domestic policies were “sucking the blood of the poor and the weak.”

The controversial African American leader defended Iran’s right to develop a nuclear energy program to reduce dependence on oil and said Washington’s opposition was a pretext for a war.

“The Muslim world should unite against America’s desire for a preemptive strike against Iran and Syria,” he said at a news conference.

Farrakhan said a similar pretext was used by Washington to invade Iraq “to rape the treasuries of the United States of hundreds of billions of dollars to be doled out to the friends of President Bush, Halliburton and Bechtel and associates.”

Farrakhan visited Cuba for a week to learn about disaster management in the wake of the U.S. government’s failure to cope with Hurricane Katrina last year in New Orleans, he said.

He thanked President Fidel Castro and blasted the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba as a “wicked blockade.” The U.S. government has no moral grounds to criticize Cuba, where education and health care are free, he added.

And now, for the point where the planets align and body snatchers have come and placed Republicans next to Ted Kennedy just to get a vote:

“A path to earned citizenship is what this bill is about,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who joined Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy in offering the measure. He said it was “an eleven-year journey” to earn citizenship and candidates would have to pay a fine, undergo criminal background checks, learn English and pay their taxes.”

And, more stupidity from Spectroid:

“Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, called it a “a measured bill.”

Is there ever going to be an end to this insanity? Is there ever going to be a time where people know what it means to respect their country? When are the primary border states going to stop being the sheep and enact their own laws and enforce the borders to keep their citizens safe and free from carrying the burden?

When are you going to stand up to your lily-livered, spineless, vote-gettin’ politician? The “Guard the Borders Blogburst” needs to turn into the “mail your dopey senator/congressman burst”. They need to listen, we’re getting slaughtered out here!

In comments regarding my post about the percent of GDP we spend on Defense, a reader thinks that by paying so much for retired and injured personnel the United States might think twice before engaging an enemy. I’m going to just take my thread and continue it here … easier for you all to read …

Nothing like that will happen at all. We have many injured during wars and conflicts. You’ll find that the men who fought in WWII are more apt to support our current action. War was hell back then. No one even wants to have our fighting men and women to be injured or heaven forbid killed in action. But there are more important things to be dealt with in this world.

Turns out that the politicians are the ones that want to reduce the benefits. The Joint Chiefs are paid by the politicians. Too much Washingtonization no balls debate and polls management is what is causing cuts in benefits - or more appropriately increases in fees to the patient/ex-military members and families - and that is what is criminal in this case.

If how much it costs is the only factor, that is where freedom breaks down. For the United States to be free there MUST be a United States Military. And that means that we support past and present brave fighting men and women.

Interesting to note, the UK spends a ton on previous officers and their families who have fought to protect the people. The enlisted force is a proud body of men and women, but they are less “supported” … it happens everywhere.

Just because it costs money to do what is right is NEVER a reason to sit in the corner with your thumb in your mouth. Someone else will come along and smack it out of your mouth - and you will always be their submissive.

I, for one, am NOT a submissive. I refuse to see my country cower in the corner.

K?       

You hate the US Military and you demand that defense spending halt - no more funding. You think that we spend too much to protect this country. You’d love to fix the world, starting at home, and fund other programs. Or, just send all the bucks to New Orleans and watch them party it away - ’cause, Bush caused the hurricane - you say New Orleans deserves it.

Funny. But to truly understand just how much is spent on salaries for our brave fighting men and women, materiel (weapons, vehicles, etc), and the operations, you need the right measuring stick. I mean, do you really know how long six inches really is?

I thought not.

In the March 2006 issue of Air Force Magazine (you need to be a member of the Air Force Assoc to subscribe), the Associate Editor Tamar A. Mehuron has the answer: measure against GDP (gross domestic product - stay with me here). To take this one step in providing you with the ammo to eliminate moonbat rhetoric, the following chart shows the US Defense Budget Spending to GDP percentage up against the top 50 countries in the world. Take a look for yourself:

We’re near the bottom, 22 up from the bottom. We spend 3.8% of GDP on Defense. These are in 2004 dollars, and does not take into consideration that which other countries hide from us. For this to be accurate, all parties should be reporting accurately. I suspect no one does, ’cause Iran, Lebanon, and China are all 1.1% to 0.1% (respectively) less than the US. That’s really not that much folks.

The UAE spends far less on defense. Wonder why? We help them and they don’t get attacked. Israel spends far greater, we help them, but they are surrounded - I’d rather have Israel spending more and be alive than the alternative.

Want your eyes to pop out of your sockets? Check out NORTH KOREA! They spend 25%!!! Whoa, Nellie!

Check out the Saudis, Syria, Yemen, Russia, and Cuba. They’re not exactly spending at Wal Mart prices either!

This whole post started in response to these comments I read about the UAE Ports Deal debacle on Sister Toldjah’s blog. One of her readers tossed out the tired and worn out drivel … oh, here’s the exchange:

“The next fuss will be over the greatest Socialist organization in America, the Defense Department. $600 billion dollars a year is far too much money to give to this entitlement program. 1/2 of that amount should be more then enough. Peace”
[Comment 88819]

“At the rate of $2 billion each and every week, time is the one thing we don’t have. New Orleans needs money, we need a universal health care system, we need a ton more money to get our seaports safe. We are still there only so bush and the boy’s can save face at this point. Peace”
[Comment 89196]

Now, after the first to lame attempts from the commenter without a blog of his own, CavalierX steps in with a good one:

“>At the rate of $2 billion each and every week

Aww, it’s kind of cute when Liberals pretend to be fiscal Conservatives…

>New Orleans needs money

…especially when the mask slips seconds later and they start screeching for money for their social programs. Personally, I don’t want my tax dollars rebuilding a city in a flood zone, below sea level, that was destroying the environment by its very presence. You do realise that the city was causing the mass destruction of the wetlands? Or don’t you care about the environment?”
[Comment 89362]
CavalierX

So, the unknown comic tries to pitch a slider:

“Tax dollars are money. Money is budgeted. Too much money is budgeted for the Defense Department. It should be cut by at least $225 billion in 2007. Peace”
[Comment 89555]

And, CavalierX hits it outta the park:

“>Too much money is budgeted for the Defense Department.

It’s the only Constitutionally-mandated expense, and one of the few legitimate expenses, of the Federal government. It’s all the useless feel-good programs that don’t actually have any effect on the problems they’re supposed to solve that waste my money. If it weren’t for the Defense Department, you’d be speaking German or Japanese. On the other hand, there would probably be forced euthanasia for the useless.”
[Comment 89557]
CavalierX

Really, we don’t spend very much. In fact, we should be spending more. Let’s just whack the pay scales in Washington DC and give that money to all these pet programs the moonbats want. Next, divert the other expenses to the Defense Budget and give all the fighting men and women more pay, more benefits, and full on retirement ’til we meet our maker.

Sounds fair to me!

Thanks and References
Bloggers I Read
Sister Toldjah’s UAE Port Deal Post

Reference
Air Force Magazine, March 2006 (Air Force Assoc)

Can you say a poke in the eye, bupkiss, or an extended maintenance plan that always expires just days before the thing ya bought goes Tango-Uniform! (ok, T-U was often used on the flightline - sorry folks, tits-up, busted, not goin’anywhere, dead)

Uh-huh, that’s right. What’s the deal, we pay and pay and they vote against us and tell us that we are too big for our britches. The EU takes every opportunity to trash the United States. Tin horn dictators love to tip their huge buckets in our well, and then spit in it for good measure.

Let’s see what’s out there at NewsMax in their special report out today:

U.N. Report Card: Handful of Nations, Including Israel, Stand with U.S.

.:elided:.

“NewsMax examined 12 key General Assembly votes taken on issues of critical importance to the U.S., and found that only four countries - Israel and the Pacific Ocean nations of Palau, Micronesia and Marshall Islands sided with the U.S. on most of the issues.”

“The rest of the U.N. members voted against the U.S. position the vast majority of the time, and dozens of countries voted along with America ZERO PERCENT of the time.”

“These nations include some of the biggest recipients of U.S. foreign aid…”

.:elided:.

So, here’s the cash that goes out, and the support that goes in:

• Turkey GETS $1.007B/yr (excludes military support) WE GET 12 key issues Turkey votes with us 0%
• Ethiopia GETS $594M WE GET another 0% support
• Colombia GETS $524M WE GET another 0% support
• Egypt GETS $460M WE GET another 0% support
• Jordan GETS $224M WE GET another 0% support
• Peru GETS $229M WE GET another 0% support
• UN GETS US pays 22% of total UN Budget WE GET pressure to lift Cuba embargo, slap Israel, and nuclear disarmament

“Even some of America’s closest allies voted against U.S. interests. France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea, for example, all sided with the U.S. on just 8 percent of the votes.”

Here’s the NewsMax feature called “The U.N.’s Great Follies”:

- The U.N. voted to remove its forces from Rwanda in the early days of tribal conflicts there. Result: More than 900,000 Tutsis were slaughtered in April 1994.
- The Iraqi people were defrauded of at least $1.8 billion in revenue from the oil-for-food program designed to alleviate civilian suffering resulting from sanctions against the Saddam Hussein regime. Alleged wrongdoers included the U.N. secretariat.
- Sudan won re-election to the U.S. Commission on Human Rights in 2004 despite potentially genocidal atrocities in the Darfur region.
- U.N. peacekeepers in the Congo allegedly used food and money to pay for sex with girls as young as 12.

Sheesh. Wanna know where all your tax dollars go? Do you think we are spending too much on the US Military? Do you think we fund big oil? Is it your opinion that we don’t spend enough on schools?

Actually, about $3 Billion is listed right there, a couple of paragraphs up, did ya realize that?

Remember when no one wanted to see a US Military uniform with American Flag arm patches or our standard helmets/cover? Remember when our fighting men and women were being sent to fight and protect on foreign soil, yet were commanded by another country’s General? I’m not talking about Vietnam, I’m talking about during the Clinton Years. In fact, when we were asked to help out countries in trouble, the rest of the UN Security Council said we couldn’t be in our own uniform. We needed to be “softer” as a fighting force, ’cause we were just the Rent-A-Cops for the UN.

Huh? Who’s your Daddy? Boutros Boutros-Ghali? Or what about the UN’s 7th Daddy, Kofi Annan?

I THINK NOT!

Would you rather have a President, CINC, that watches your six or one that sells you out for BILL-YUNS?!

Does anyone know how much was spent in Somalia? This is only one of the many “conflicts” we were asked to participate in during Billy Boys reign. I checked, and straight from this UN Report, for UNOSOM I & II, this one mission looks like this:

LOCATION: Somalia
HEADQUARTERS: Mogadishu
DURATION: March 1993 - March 1995
STRENGTH: Approximately 28,000 military and police personnel; there was also a provision for some 2,800 international and locally recruited staff
FATALITIES: 147 (143 military personnel, 3 international civilian staff and 1 local staff)
EXPENDITURES: $1,643,485,500 net

Hey, did you catch that last one? $1.65 Billion, net … uh-huh, they said net. I’d like to know what was really spent, gross dollars, but we all know that would be too much to stomach. And, are we sure that the monies spent weren’t actually an international pay off to terrorists for political hay? If you read the UN report you’ll see the number of times the program was extended, the countless “warnings” to disarm, and the lame attempts to put pressure on the Somalian leaders to form a real government. It starts to look like those tin horn dictators were just looting the bank - our bank accounts people!

Oh, and to find out the troop strength and breakdown, ya gotta go allllll the way to the bottom of the report. I’ll save you some time:

“The original authorized strength of UNOSOM II under resolution 814 (1993) was approximately 28,000 military personnel and some 2,800 civilian staff.”

And these are the countries that participated (31 is a good showing, I might add):

“Military personnel were provided by the following countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Zimbabwe.”

Now, here’s the kicker:

“Supporting UNOSOM II in the field, but not part of it, were approximately 17,700 troops of the United States Joint Task Force in Somalia. A Quick Reaction Force was part of the United States presence.”

That QRF consisted of the team of US Army Rangers that lost lives in Somalia (God Rest Their Souls!)

After March of 1995, Mr. Clinton authorized sending the 3rd ID, Company A, to Macedonia under the command of a Finnish General. Then SPC Michael New said, NO! to ripping off his American Flag from his uniform, and NO! to prancing around in a baby blue friggin’ helmet! What did it get him? I suspect some of you know the story - tossed out on his ear! Well, he landed in the brig first.

For the love of his Country, and he was ONE out of 550 that mustered to the parade ground in full US Military uniform. Yep, 549 obeyed a direct order to report to the command of another country’s General. At their level they were told that the order came directly from the CINC. To Michael, and to me as well, it began to look like after all the destruction being leveled at the US Military, it had finally happened: secession of US Force to a foreign power. What to do? His US Army was gone, and what he had signed up for was no longer something of valor.

Umm, my question is, who had Michael’s six? One man standing alone in a sea of Chain of Command mayhem. Were the Joint Chiefs really on board with the order, or was something else happening at the time?

Ever read Presidential Decision Directive 25 (PDD-25)? There is only a summary available right now. You can get a pretty good idea of how the CINC is the one responsible for Michael’s six by reading this summary/review online. Pay special attention to the sections that cover the Commander-in-Chief Clause and Command versus Operational Control.

This is what was happening to the US Military, by 1997:

• Wholesale distrust of the military within the United States of America, and outside
• Continuous breaking down of morale by force reductions and lack of materiel support
• Restriction of future development programs and research into new defense technologies
• Wasting money and time by politicizing the use and usefulness of the US Military
• US Military becomes the world’s police force and Meals-On-Wheels in blue hairnets
• The World’s Liberator and Repatriating Firm in a near state of disrepair
• Billions to Trillions of dollars flowing from the US into other countries under less than admirable deals

I’ll tell ya, I came in under Carter and left way before Clinton took hold. I know that some of you served under Clinton. I wish that there were Milbloggers back in the day. Maybe things would have been different?

However, if we begin to take our eye off the ball, this could happen again. So far, evil forces like “she who shall be nameless” have not been able to wander the globe unchallenged, or those protesting outside Walter Reed Hospital have been forced from their position, or those that seek to defame a family in mourning have not gone unanswered. We need to continue to put pressure on our elected officials. We have an obligation to protect our country from those that seek to destroy us, inside and outside our borders. And, we can handle the snide, stupid, jealous talk from the EU, Hollywood, and supercilious college professors. These detractors forget that:

• They do not know the strength and commitment of the US Military.
• They do not know the strength and commitment of the spouses, children, parents, grandparents, and friends of our fighting men and women.
• They do not know the strength, commitment, and constant love and support by the Milblogger community.
• They do not know the strength, commitment, and ever vigilant watch over their six by the CINC, President George W. Bush.

Do I hear a God Bless America and her US Military?! I thought I could hear you from here!

Short Technorati search for other posts about Michael New
Far Right-Wing Minded
Chaos-In-Motion
Three Knockdown Rule
Clear and Present
Smash Left Wing Scum

Short Technorati search on PDD-25
The Glittering Eye
Get the US Out of the UN - Now!

Backup Material for UNOSOM II, Michael New, and PDD-25
UNOSOM II by DPI
Michael New - How it all began
Unclassified Summary of PDD-25 (details of Secret PDD 25 are concealed from public scrutiny)
“Command” versus “Operational Control”: A Critical Review of PDD-25
Commanding Officer Oath - UN Deployments
No World Court, No World Army