Archive for October, 2008
It would appear that Sarah Palin’s state of Alaska will be playing an increasingly important role in energy independence and national security. It would also appear that this will be a challenge for the next administration. Hopefully that administration will have the experience and local knowledge to guide us through the trying times ahead.
The Arctic is quickly reemerging as a strategic area where vital U.S. interests are at stake. The geopolitical and geo-economic importance of the Arctic region is rising rapidly, and its mineral wealth will likely transform the region into a booming economic frontier in the 21st century. The coasts and continental shelf of the Arctic Ocean are estimated to hold large deposits of oil, natural gas, and methane hydrate (natural gas) clusters along with large quantities of valuable minerals.
With the shrinking of the polar ice cap, extended navigation through the Northwest Passage along the northern coast of North America may soon become possible with the help of icebreakers. Similarly, Russia is seeking to make the Northern Sea Route along the northern coast of Eurasia navigable for considerably longer periods of the year. Opening these shorter routes will significantly cut the time and costs of shipping. (See Map 1.)
In recent years, Russia has been particularly active in the Arctic, aggressively advancing its interests and claims by using international law and by projecting military might into the region.
The most concerned group of foreigners watching the US election closely are the people of Iraq. They know that the outcome will have a decisive effect on their lives in the future.
For five years Ali and Mohammed have lived alongside US soldiers in their Baghdad neighbourhood near Rasheed Street, a prominent commercial artery running through the heart of the Iraqi capital.
During that time American culture and politics have become familiar to them, and they say that if they could, they would vote for Republican candidate John McCain in next week’s US presidential election.
“McCain would be best for Iraq because he would ensure stability,” said Ali, 66, an expert on the Sumerian era.
The personal qualities and political platforms of McCain and his Democrat rival Barack Obama are of little import to Ali, however. His focus is on Iraq and its neighbours such as Iran.
“The Iranians believe that if Obama is elected he will not take action against them despite their nuclear ambitions. That worries me,” said Ali, sitting on an old bench in Al-Zahawi coffee shop.
“If the Iranians get the bomb they will become the Tarzan of the region,” said the former teacher and lecturer at the University of Baghdad, referring to the vine-swinging strongman of the jungle in old Hollywood movies…
“I trust the Republicans more. They’re more capable of establishing democracy in the world, especially in Arab countries,” said the 33-year-old. “Obama is far too left.”
It goes to the point of this video:
Here’s today’s find the IVAW coward puzzle. Somewhere in the crowd today supporting Barack Obama in Widner, Pennsylvania, is an IVAW puke, Geoffrey Millard. John Lilyea at This Ain’t Hell spotted the slimeball and posted about it here.
Millard has made many vile statements such as:
“US soldiers are put into a situation where they are forced to brutalise, forced to racialise, forced to sexualise everyone in order to dominate and control a people.”
“The real Iraqis getting bombed are the poor. It’s the poor in Iraq who make up the resistance, just like anywhere, because the rich are still going to get their’s, whatever.”
“[Hugo] Chavez made references to Noam Chomsky [in his WSF address]. I found a politican who can read! Unlike our president – I wonder if he is a functional illiterate. The man almost died eating a pretzel.”
“I fought in an unjust an illegal war that has left me very much a different person, because I took an oath to that document [Constitution].”
“This is an illegal and immoral war. We invaded a country that never attacked the US. It violates the UN charter.”
“The media say we are rebuilding schools, instead of building them. We’re rebuilding them because we bombed them. We bombed schools with children inside…. We bombed hospitals with patients in them.”
Perhaps this is where Obama got his quote about “air raiding villages and killing people”.
Is it any surprise that they both like Hugo Chavez?
Another disgusting attack on an Iraq veteran by the politicians of the party of surrender. Josh Mandel is a United States Marine. He is also an Ohio State Representative. When he was called to return to Iraq for a second tour at the midpoint of his term in office he responded to the call, as any Marine would. He served honorably there for six months before he was able to return to his district and resume his responsibilities as a legislator.
Now, his Democrat opponent, Bob Belovich, is attacking him with a whispering campaign that Josh Mandel “put his personal ambitions ahead of his constituents” and “went AWOL” on them.
Newsflash to Mr. Belovich:
Serving your country at time of war IS serving your constituents!
Teach Mr. Belovich a lesson about patriotism, visit Josh Mandel’s website and make a donation today!
This Marine can use our help!
Hat Tip to Gateway Pundit
In a time of war, while America is locked in a struggle between western civilization and an Islamist ideology that wishes to impose itself on all nations in the world, Barney Frank speaks out for the Democrat solution to the problem. Defund our military!
In a preposterous slap at our men and women serving their nation in perilous times against an enemy that knows no limits to the massacre and carnage it will inflict in pursuit of its goal of world domination, the congressman from Massachusetts has proposed reducing our military budget by 25%.
So the plans are being made and Barney Frank is giving us a little foretaste of what is to come. In this incredibly dangerous world, a world that has not teetered on the brink of war so precariously since 1939, Barney Frank says the democrats will cut the military budget to save money. He says we don’t need all those fancy weapons anyway. Besides, they will spend more by ’spreading the wealth’ and giving hand-outs to those who don’t participate by paying taxes to begin with.
Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank. Worst Congress Ever.
Read the whole thing at Blue Star Chronicles.
Islamic Jihad took the lives of 241 U. S. servicemen in Beirut, Lebanon.
From the Army Times poll it looks like they will follow the path led by this Hummer…
Update:Milblogger Greyhawk puts it in a historical perspective.
On October 14, 2008, Army SPC Stephen Fortunato was killed by an IED which exploded under his vehicle while on patrol in Afghanistan. Stephen had already written the following post on his weblog. It is his voice speaking from beyond the grave tp those who denigrate our troops serving in harm’s way to protect their freedoms. In fairness to SPC Fortunato I am reproducing his missive in its original unedited and un-PC version as he would have wanted it read. Rest in Peace, Trooper!
If I may �
I’d like to say something….Just to get it out there so it is clear.
To all the pampered and protected Americans who feel it is their duty to inform me that I am not fighting for their freedom, and that i am a pawn in Bush’s agenda of greed and oil acquisition: Noted, and Fuck You.I am not a robot. i am not blind or ignorant to the state of the world or the implications of the “war on terrorism.” i know that our leaders have made mistakes in the handling of a very sensitive situation, but do not for one second think that you can make me lose faith in what we, meaning America’s sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers in uniform are doing.
I am doing my part in fighting a very real enemy of the United States, i.e. Taliban, Al Qaida, and various other radical sects of Islam that have declared war on our way of life. Unless you believe the events of 9/11 were the result of a government conspiracy, which by the way would make you a MORON, there is no reasonable argument you can make against there being a true and dangerous threat that needs to be dealt with. i don’t care if there are corporations leaching off the war effort to make money, and i don’t care if you don’t think our freedom within America’s borders is actually at stake. i just want to kill those who would harm my family and friends. it is that simple. Even if this is just a war for profit or to assert America’s power, so what? Someone has to be on top and I want it to be us. There’s nothing wrong with wishing prosperity for your side.
I am a proud American. i believe that my country allows me to live my life more or less however i want to, and believe me, i have seen what the alternative of that looks like. i also believe that our big scary government does way more than it has to to help complete [expletive deleted]-ups get back on their feet, a stark comparison to places where leaders just line their own pockets with gold while allowing the people who gave them their power and privilage to starve. I have chosen my corner. I back my country, and am proud to defend it against aggressors. Also, if you dare accuse us of being inhumane, or overly aggressive because we have rolled into someone else’s country and blown some shit up and shot some people, let me remind you of just how inhumane we COULD be in defending ourselves. Let me remind you that we have a warhead that drops multiple bomblets from the stratosphere which upon impact, would turn all the sand in Iraq to glass, and reduce every living thing there to dust. Do we use it? No. Instead we use the most humane weapon ever devised: the American soldier. We send our bravest (and perhaps admitably craziest) men and women into enemy territory, into harms way, to root out those whom we are after and do our best to leave innocent lives unscathed.
…One last thing…a proposal. i know it has been stated time and time again but i just think it is worthy of reiteration. If you find yourself completely disgusted with the way America is being ran, and how we handle things on the global stage, you can leave. Isn’t that amazing? No one will stop you! If you are an anarchist, there are places you can go where there is no government to tell you anything. That’s right…you are left solely to your own devices and you can handle the men who show up at your door with AKs in any way that you see fit. Just don’t try good old American debate tactics on them because you will most likely end up bound and blind-folded, to have your head chopped off on the internet so your parents can see it. However if you insist on staying here and taking advantage of privilages such as free speach and WIC, keep the counter-productive bitching to a minimum while the grown ups figure out how to handle this god-awful mess in the middle east.
SPC Fortunato’s MySpace blog is here.
For Video of the family visit the Boston Globe story here.
It was a madhouse. At times we felt like an island of reason in a sea of insanity. The squirrels said it best.
Not the worst we have seen and certainly not the worst we have been outnumbered but for those new to the environments in which we operate, deep in the heart of enemy territory, it was an eye opener.
We got to the main gate of Hofstra University just before 1pm and Code Pink was already on the southeast corner which was the only corner on which people were allowed to stand. We set up right next to them and commanded an equal stretch of sidewalk. Where they had flags, banners, bongo drums and their ‘Mary Poppins’ pink umbrellas, we had flags and large plywood signs “Remember 911”, “Peace through Strength”, “Live Free or Die!” and “Pro-America, Troops, Their Mission”.
The Turnpike at that location is three lanes wide in each direction with a center grassy median. The first two lanes were blocked off so that traffic had only a single lane. When we first arrived we positioned our signs diagonally from the curb to the traffic lane spaced about ten feet apart so oncoming traffic could read each in turn. We got a lot of thumbs up and honks from motorists during that stage.
Later the police said that everyone had to be on the sidewalk so we moved back. We abided by the rules. Code Pink, of course, believes that rules are for everyone else but themselves. So they continued to press the boundaries to get an advantage. One woman danced across the turnpike several times to the bongo music while spinning her pink Mary Poppins umbrella. It came to a peak when two old Pinkos moved directly in front of us with one of their big pink banners. At that point I marched our into the street and talked to the officer in charge telling him in no uncertain terms that if those people weren’t removed from the street then we were coming out and there would be no stopping us. The officers quickly cleared them out and generally enforced their own rules after that incident.
We were joined from time to time by a number of people from OIF Veterans, Veterans for Freedom, Hofstra University students, passersby, tourists, McCain supporters, etc… One older Hispanic woman sticks in my mind because she was so happy to see us and joined us right on the front line waving one of our flags and chanting along like the true Eagle she was!
We did many interviews, TV, Radio, Press, but few from the major media outlets. One incident was hilarious when one of our guys was approached by CBS and our guy told them in colorful terms to get lost! That reporter looked pissed as he stormed away. Heh, do you think we would have gotten any good press from them anyway? We still did over 20 interviews all told. Mostly foreign broadcasts and smaller news organizations, Turkish TV, a Spanish language radio show, New Jersey Register, Regional Network News, etc…
Having ‘discussions’ with moonbats is generally counterproductive and I try to avoid them for the most part. I watched one woman and her husband arguing with about ten folks all at once. All to no avail. Later I got sucked into one myself for a bit but broke off when it became obvious that nothing I said was penetrating.
About that time I became aware of one young woman who was absolutely fearless. College kid, probably freshman or sophomore year, she would wade into the opposition arguing with them until she was completely surrounded and keep going like there was no tomorrow. Not just with other women, but with guys who looked like they could have been the next closest thing to crack heads, Another mother and her high school senior daughter were also fearless in their defense of their beliefs.
All this time Obama supporters kept swarming into the area increasing the general size of the population. We were surrounded on either side and had another twenty or more to our rear. I want to make an important distinction. The Obama supporters were much different from the moonbats. While I may disagree with their choice of presidential candidate and their refusal to consider any argument against him, they also saw the humor in what we were doing to the moonbats and they were more likely to be laughing with us than scowling like the lefties. This pissed the moonbats off even worse than usual.
At 6pm things got busy. We had some more folks arrive and at the same time the IVAW group (which only had about 8-10 actual IVAW) came marching up the southside sidewalk from the West. The crowd that was marching was about 300 people. They had to march in the street past us and some catcalling took place. They continued to march to the east but about a hundred or so of the La Raza and ANSWER coalition merged into the Code Pink corner and started some serious chanting which we promptly began co-opting.
There were some really really upset people in their crowd who put their all into chanting with their bullhorns trying to drown us out. We didn’t have any amplification so it was our raw voices which is why most of us walked away hoarse.
I used the terrain to the best of my ability by standing on a low stone wall that ran alongside the sidewalk and using a small cone type speaker (unpowered) to project my voice as loudly as possible. It certainly helped. The venom in the looks those folks threw me when we started screaming “End the Occupation, Russia out of Georgia!” or “Commies out of Hofstra” was priceless. The real kicker was when we would add our own chorus of “Deport Them All TONIGHT’ to the end of one of their chants. The police were trying to keep from laughing out loud, the Obama supporters were hysterical and the La Raza folks were livid! We actually could have played a little more on the divide between La Raza and the black community but I decided not to let things get too emotional. The Obama supporters also liked when I broke into the La Raza one about no police raids with “No Cucarachas, No RAID!” (No Cockroaches, No RAID!). I guess they could identify with it.
About 7pm IVAW came marching back up the avenue and they all gathered in California Ave before marching straight across the Turnpike to the gate to the North Campus. The Nassau County Police had already stationed about eight mounted officers in line abreast across that gate and there was a standoff until the police led about ten to fifteen of the protesters under arrest to a bus. Then the mounted officers started wallking forward and forced the crowd back across the avenue. A few of the protesters were injured, one fairly seriously, while they were being herded. No skin of my back. I was only sad to see the police bus pull away three quarters empty. There were a lot more that should have been arrested.
Meanwhile, the moonbat crowd kept trying to encroach on our space. We held firm and they were forced back to the original boundary. We were joined by small numbers of OIF Vets, Hofstra Students and McCain supporters all during this period.
The Code Pink guy with the floppy hat who always travels with Suzy Banjamin was constantly walking up and down the sidewalk stirring up the Obama supporters with cries of OBAMA! The fact is that he could care less if Obama or anyone else gets elected. I didn’t see Suzy, and I suspect she had infiltrated the debate.
About 10pm the crowd had died down when a regular bus stopped in front of us and five young ladies climbed off with their luggage! All Patriots, one wearing a Sarah Palin 08 footbal t-shirt, they had flown into JFK out of Oklahoma and came to do whatever they could at the debate site! They joined with us and we made arrangements for one of our guys to drive them to their hotel when we were all done so they wouldn’t have to take a bus, train and subway to get there!
It was a long day of excitement, surprises and patriotism.
Highlights:
- Two people came in big chipmunk costumes with a sign “Nuts for Obama” which was hysterical on several levels. They were not part of our group, but they did an excellent job.
- I already mentioned the one fearless girl.
- Another mother and her high school daughter were also in the same vein. Not backing down and not being intimidated.
- Medea Benjamin had to have been there, but she was not at the corner with Code Pink, The hat guy (the LA Hairdresser) was there and he always travels with her. My best guess is that she infiltrated the debate. I passed that suspicion on to the police.
- The police were very supportive and did an excellent job (once I made it plain that we would not stand for the lefties standing in the street in front of us with their banners) of keeping the left to the rules (and the sidewalks)
- One policeman in particular went out of his way to come over and thank us for being there and for everything we do.
- Talking with two of the local lefties we usually see at the mall tour protests and them confessing that they don’t like Obama either! Priceless!
- I didn’t see Cynthia McKinney although there was one guy walking up the sidewalk saying he was a Green and that we didn’t live in a democracy because the fringe (my term) candidates weren’t invited to debate. He didn’t last long.
- We had a lone 911 ‘troofer’ trying to argue with us about the ‘conspiracy’. He was pretty persistent while he lasted. He disappeared by about 6pm.
- Watching the owner of the Dunkin Donuts scream at the Code Pinkos to move their pink RV out of their parking lot!
And that’s the way it was.
Gathering of Eagles
Action Alert
Date: October 15, 2008
Time: 2pm to 10pm (estimated)
Location: Hofstra University, Hempstead Turnpike, Hempstead, Long Island, NY
Maplink: http://tinyurl.com/3vtdoy
Parking: Parking is limited to non-existent in the immediate vicinity. Drop passengers and gear off at the gate on the north side of Hempstead Turnpike then look for parking on the side streets south of the turnpike. Park along California Ave, Uniondale Ave and the side streets off those streets. We will attempt to get permission to park motorcycles along the turnpike. Bring kickstand biscuits.
Moonbats in the Wire!
March of IVAW, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace and Other Insurgent organizations to disrupt the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University.
We need every available Eagle and their friends to turn out!
If you can’t make it at 2pm, come when you can make it.
IVAW is expected to engage in a civil disobedience campaign beginning at 6:30pm.
Groups are coming from out of state. Estimated 500 from Long Island alone.
New York City groups will arrive via LIRR from Penn Station NY to Hempstead Station.
Buses from other areas including Baltimore, Philadelphia, etc…
Long Island Peace Alliance will attempt to secure the ground in front of the University by approximately 2:00pm.
The other groups will stage a rally in a parking area near the Hempstead train station from 2pm to 4:30pm, then march, as outlined on the map linked above, to Hofstra University. They expect to arrive outside the University at 5:15pm.
Long Island Alliance’s peaceful action is scheduled to end at 6:30pm
IVAW will then announce its intent to participate in Civil Disobedience and possibly ‘arrestable’ action.
IVAW staged a similar demonstration at the Democratic National Convention in Colorado that ‘forced’ Obama to let IVAW members in to the convention to deliver him a list of demands regarding the war.
“IVAW now has a meeting scheduled with Obama himself to discuss and push him further on his actions around the war.”
They expect opposition from the Gathering of Eagles and are advising their members to be mentally prepared.
Bring flags, signs supporting our troops, bullhorns, airhorns, whistles, cow bells and anything else you might think appropriate to an event of this scope and numbers.
This is Nassau County. Cooperate as much as possible with police. They are mostly on our side.
There are no restrictions on wooden, metal or PVC flag or sign poles here.
No permit is necessary for bullhorns.
Remain peaceful but forceful. Do not initiate confrontation. If an assault occurs subdue the perpetrator and hand him/her to police.
This is not Berkeley, Denver or St. Louis. We must show these left wing socialists that their behavior in those places will not go unopposed here.
Get the word out!
Dan Maloney
NY State Coordinator
Gathering of Eagles
Gathering of Eagles: NY 