Obama’s other persona: who is Harrison J. Bounel? And is the FBI investigating?
Obama’s impact on the Democrats; House of Reps’ Report on Obama Admin’s illegal White House propaganda programs. “Many of the Obama Administration’s propaganda activities are unlawful because they are covert.”
The Obama administration doesn’t like negative things being written about it on the Internet. So “O” and his thugocrats are doing something about it. They’ve created yet another czar position, this one intended to “rapidly respond” to any unfavorable stories. First Amendment, meet Pravda.
The Weinergate scandal deepens: Weiner’s woes grow. –
From the Pajamas Media Tattler, a timeline of events surrounding Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-NY) dic-pic caper (h/t IOTW):
Weinergate: What we know (Update: Weiner hires a lawyer)
For MSM types who wish to start covering Weinergate accurately, or for readers just catching up, here’s a quick primer on the undisputed Weinergate facts.
On Friday night, New York Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner’s twitter feed sent 21-year-old college student Gennette Nicole Cordova, a Seattle resident, a tweet containing a link to a lewd photo of a man in his briefs. Weiner followed Cordova on twitter, and Cordova followed Weiner on twitter. At the time of the lewd tweet, Weiner had about 45,000 twitter followers but he followed just 91 people, and Cordova was among them. This two-way following relationship allows twitter users to send messages directly to one another without such messages going on either user’s public twitter feeds. Weiner deleted the tweet with the link to the photo four minutes after it went out on his public twitter feeds, and claimed he was hacked, blaming the lewd photo on the hacker. The link that appeared in Weiner’s public twitter feed led to the photo on Weiner’s yfrog account. The photo has also been removed.
Here is a rough Weinergate timeline. If you see errors or items that need clarification, hit me up in comments or email and I’ll correct or clarifiy anything that needs it.
Ben Smith, US Navy SEAL shares his thoughts on this Memorial Day.
***
History is written on the papyrus of the victor, penned in the blood and toil of those that stood to fight.
For those that stood to fight…… You fought against an insurmountable foe in the Revolution, turned a world power on its heels then gave us the Constitution that we have today. For those that stood to fight…… You fought for a reason, for a cause, for an Idea, For FREEDOM For your sacred flame……. We are thankful
For those that stood to fight…… You fought against your family, friends and countrymen in the Civil War. For those that stood to fight…… You fought because of personal values, goodness and equal justice, the fate of a nation. For your righteous hearts and goodness……. We are thankful
For those that stood to fight…… You fought against evil in WWII against people that wished to conquer the world and commit genocide For those that stood to fight…… You fought for your families, fought for your wives, your Countrymen.
For your selfless sacrifice and devotion…….. We are thankful
For those that stood to fight…. You fought from the mountains of Afghanistan to the paddies of Viet Nam in caves and in holes For those that stood to fight…. You fought against Communism, Socialism and a way of life that wished to consume and rule you.
For your unrelenting faith in the America to this day that the people spitting on you couldn’t see………. WELCOME HOME!
For those that stood to fight….. You fought for life on 911, to kill the Taliban in A-stan then Al-Quida in Iraq. For those that stand to fight….. You are my neighbor, friend, brother. We are all in this together against evil.
To have been alive during your time earth, to have the honor of knowing you and to tell your stories in your stead…. For this I am honored!
For those that stood to fight and who fought and fell we owe YOU the most sincere and deepest debt of gratitude.
You are the pedigree of an American Ideal that throughout history have fought valiantly and nobly for a way of life that is the most just, giving, kind, equal, strong and blessed civilizations in the history of man. Your actions on the field of Battle speak louder than any words of any politician.
You led America into the most perilous places with a selfless desire for your fellow man and justice in your heart. You sought the threats to our way of life, stood up to them from our own shores to half a world away without asking for anything extra.
With faith in your heart and American Exceptionalism in your soul you stood to fight! Your body raped by this earthly plane but your soul soars skyward. You are eternal in the memories of those who fought next to you and inspirations to those who hear about you for generations to come. YOU ARE THE AMERICA I AM PROUD OF!
Why?…… “So Others May Live”.
A Very Somber, Respectful - Hoo-Yah Hoo-Yah Hoo-Yah
on this Somber, Respectful day…….. Very Humbly Benjamin Smith
The Memorial Day concert, held on the lawn of our nation’s Capitol in Washington DC was a moving tribute to our fallen, as beautiful as any I’ve ever seen to commemorate our American heroes, all those who fought and died for our country. The concert was broadcast live on PBS and live via American Forces Network to the nearly one million American service men and women, Department of Defense civilians and their families overseas, stationed at bases in 175 countries as well as 140 U.S. Navy ships at sea.
Sponsors included Lockheed Corporation, the Disabled American Veterans and Golden Corral Restaurants, National Park Service, Dept of the Army, the Corporation for Pubic Broadcasting General Dynamics, and the NEA.
The concert opened with our National Anthem, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra under direction of maestro Jack Everly, and sung by Pia Toscano. The 90-minute event was co-hosted by actors Joe Montagna and Gary Sinise, who stepped out onto a stage resplendent in our patriotic colors. A salute to the Navy Seal Team Six brought the crowd to their feet in standing ovation.
This year’s Concert also commemorated the nearly 3,000 victims who died on 9-11, and now a decade later, it was noted that our nation is experiencing a renewed sense of resolve and victory.
During those dark days of shared grief following 9-11 there was one song that gave comfort at hundreds of memorial services, and in remembrance of all those who died, former NY police officer Daniel Rodriguez sang “God Bless America”, while a Jumbotron flashed photographs of candlelight vigils and the blue shafts of light where the twin towers once stood.
Special members of American family of NYPD and NYFD who helped 25,000 people escape those buildings alive were given loud cheers and sustained applause for the NYPD members there. Almost 400 of their fellow officers died at Ground Zero that day.
Montagna said regardless of how you felt about the War in Iraq, so many Americans supported our troops — he welcomed “a few of the thousands who served”, and also Gen. Colin Powell. On stage, Powell told the troops “You honor us, you humble us, and so we say to all of our troops tonight, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I have just two more words to add to those here with us tonight and the thousands of others “Welcome home!”
To celebrate their homecoming, singer Kris Allen dedicated his song to all the troops still fighting and the ones at home, and then launched into Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”. ” …And I won’t forget the ones who died who gave that right to me…”
Among the returning troops welcomed tonight were four busloads of wounded warriors now recuperating at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval hospitals.
More than 43,000 service members have been wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. Video clips of the war zone in both places were shown, as the audience was reminded that in the last ten years, the number of amputees who’ve lost more than one limb has raised dramatically as have incidences of traumatic brain injury. The wounds of war will never completely heal.
Tonight we were privileged to hear the experience of two wounded warriors.
Actor Jason Ritter recited the words of Capt. Jonathan Pruden, one of the first IED victims. Ritter recited the testimony of this wounded warriors who lost his right leg below the knee after 20 surgeries in seven different hospitals. His left foot is severely deformed and “won’t be with me till the end of my life. But there are new opportunities. Those with the least visible injuries are coping with the most, so I volunteered to help them, the best thing for my own healing process.”
Actor Forest Whitaker then recited the words of Specialist Michael Martin, who sustained severe brain injury in an IED explosion. “The bomb blasted thru the windshield right to my face, vehicle flipped three times, and an M-16 rifle smashed right into my skull. It was lights out. My brain, my mind…right away I noticed things weren’t the same. The simplest things like putting on a seat belt, is frustrating. Short term memory is gone. The Army was my life, it’s all I ever wanted to do. I’m not gonna quit, for my kids, for my wife. Its been seven years since that IED blasted my vehicle, my brain. The only thing I can do is take it one day at a time for the rest of my life.”
Getty Photo
Actress Dianne Wiest recited the heartbreaking story of Gold Star mom Leesa Phillipon, mother of Marine LCpl Lawrence Phillipon. Stationed near the Syrian border going house to house looking for insurgents, the 22-year-old Marine was machine gunned in the face. “We still miss him everywhere. He would have been 28 this year. I want to celebrate his life. You don’t move on from your child being killed. You go on. At first its only because you keep breathing. But later its because you want to honor their lives and you want to tell their stories.”
Colin Powell said “we remember the ones who did return and came home severely wounded. Our hearts break as they are forced to confront the challenges of the cost of war. You and I can play a critically important role… the healing bond of friendship. Offer your help, acts of kindness and compassion. Reach out and touch our wounded and their families. Just as they served us, we must now serve them. Lets take care of our troops — we love them and treasure them.
Four-time Grammy award winning gospel singer Yolanda Adams then sang “Reach out and Touch Somebody’s Hand”.
“… Make this world a better place if you can.”
As she sang, Colin Powell, Diane Weist, Forrest Whitaker and Jason Ritter walked into the audience to hug and talk to those they had represented onstage.
“Reach out and touch somebody’s hand and make this world a better place if you can… and if you see an old friend on the street and he’s down, remember his shoes could be on your feet…we can change things if we start giving, so why don’t you reach out and touch somebody’s hand…” Lots of tears. And hugs.
This marks the 70th year anniversary of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the beginning of WWII. In honor of our WWII fallen, the National Symphony Orchestra performed the theme from the movie Pearl Harbor, as black and white film of that infamous day were shown. Some of our WWII Pearl Harbor veterans were recognized and welcomed. “Your actions saved the world from tyranny and we are honored to salute you once more.”
When victory was finally declared in 1945, it was time to celebrate. 85-year-old BB King, a striking figure in a gold tuxedo jacket sat with his guitar on his lap and said “Alright — I’m ready to let ‘er go, let ‘er go!” before launching into a jazzy uptempo number than had some in the crowd dancing.
“Hey! How are you this evening? Here’s a song written right after WWII — for those who came back and for you who came back today and your people who’s been waiting for you to come back, we’re playing this for you. Hey ya’ll – stand up tall, and let’s be good to every one and all! Let the good times roll!”
The mood grew somber when actress AJ Cooke recited the words of Yvette Michelle Gibbons Baugh, the daughter of Richie Gibbons, who died at 19 in Vietnam, never having seen his daughter but for a photo of her he showed off to his war buddies.
“…I never met my father, I was just three months old when he died in Vietnam. …I felt like half of who I was was missing. …I became the queen of “what ifs”. Then fate intervened in the person of Chuck Gregoire.
Gary Sinise recited Chuck’s words:
“I met Richie Gibbons soon after I arrived in Vietnam in 1968. We were like brothers, we watched each other’s back. In May, all hell broke loose and we were airlifted to a beach… he went into a bunker and was shot and killed by an enemy who had survived the attack.”
AJ Cooke (for Yvette Michelle): “I wanted to know everything — my dad’s favorite aftershave lotion, his jokes, how he always called his rations ‘peaches and pound cake’. He became a real flesh and blood person. The story I loved the most was the letter announcing the birth of his new baby girl. “Isn’t she the most beautiful girl you ever saw?”
The pair went to Vietnam at Yvette Michelle’s request, to retrace her father’s past.
AJ Cooke (for Yvette Michelle): “I needed to walk in my father’s footsteps, to see with my own eyes where he died. I felt something stronger than fear – my need to be my father’s daughter. I began to feel my father’s spirit in a way I had never before. I felt the love of my father and of his friend. My father hadn’t died alone. He’d been in the arms of a true brother. At that moment Chuck became my other Dad.”
For those many years, Chuck Gregoire was haunted.
Gary Sinise (for Chuck Gergoire): “Why did I come home and he didn’t? I could see the same excited Richie in her smile. She’s like medicine for a broken heart. When I came back from Vietnam I was embarrassed to tell anyone I had served… there were times when you’d just sit and cry. If anybody says they weren’t scared, they’re lying. Even know, talking about it, inside, I’m shaking like a leaf. Your Daddy was the best, the bravest man I’d ever known. Richie and the guys were my family. When something happened to one of us, it happened to all of us.”
At that moment, former Celtic woman Hayley Westenra sang the ethereal Pie Jesu.
Taps were blown before a fluttering flag, with the lighted dome of the Capitol behind the bugler.
The event closed with Pia Toscano singing “I’ll Stand by You” — a heartfelt promise to our servicemen and women who wore and continue to wear our nation’s uniform.
Reaching for another tissue… like I said, I hope you didn’t miss seeing it.
I’d like to share with you the thoughts of some of my women friends about what Memorial Day means to them. I am moved by their sentiments. I think you will be too.
The first remembrance is from our friend Elizabeth Letchworth, whose husband recently lost his life to a long battle with cancer. Every Sunday since his passing, Elizabeth writes “Ron’s Sunday Blog” in his memory, recalling moments of their life together. Today, she remembers a cross, Ground Zero, and a photo she and Ron treasured.
“Ron’s Sunday Blog—Pictures are worth 1000 words?”
“Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are His sanctuary.” (Psalm 96:6)
Memorial Day is a great time to reflect on the sacrifices of our military men and women. Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day due in part to women of the South. Organized women’s groups began decorating graves of the dead killed in the Civil war. Memorial Day was first observed officially on May 30, 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. Congress, (always quick to respond—Ha, Ha!) made the holiday an official federal holiday in 1971.
When this nation experienced the dreadful tragedy of September 11, 2001, we were stirred and awakened to a spirit of patriotism almost unsurpassed in our nation’s history. Ron and I were lucky enough to visit NYC and ground zero three years later. As we walked up to the giant hole of rubble and debris from the fallen twin towers, Ron was struck by the sight of what seemed to be a perfectly intact cross. This cross was actually two structural beams that helped to make up the foundation of one of the world trade center buildings. Ron was so moved by this seemly obscure site that he took a picture of the beams. The ground zero site at that time had no organized tour guides explaining the horrific event. There were a few temporary signs indicating where the public could and could not walk but otherwise visitors were on their own to pay their respects as they saw fit. The visitors all around us were respectfully quiet. You could hear a pin drop. Ron’s camera made the only noise I heard as we starred at the unthinkable destruction. Later that night we talked about what we saw. We recounted what we were doing on that fateful day, now three years in the past. Ron mentioned the picture he had taken and how something moved him to take it. He said he hoped he was able to capture a good image, otherwise the picture was forgotten.
A couple of weeks later I had the film developed. The ground zero cross picture was perfect. Ron captured the cross beams displaying their strength in the aftermath of the hideous event. To my surprise, Ron’s photo also revealed an American flag flying in the background and twisted rubble still hanging from part of the cross. The hanging rubble looked like a shroud over the cross in the picture that Ron took. We decided to frame the picture and give it to family and friends for the upcoming Christmas.
Months after that Christmas I came across a national article about the ground zero cross. The story explained that the cross beams were discovered by construction-rescue workers a couple of days after 9/11. The beams were standing strong like the picture Ron took. Those workers considered it a miracle that these beams were intact and began to conduct regular church services around the beams to honor and praise God in the face of the disaster they were working to clean up. A couple of years later an Internet campaign was created to ensure that the cross beams would be a part of whatever memorial eventually gets built at ground zero.
I look at the picture now and think about our trip to ground zero back in September of 2004. I also think about all of the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror. I am grateful for the service of all the fallen men and women. I hope that those reading RSB will honor our fallen military while enjoying this Memorial Day.
Have a wonderful and blessed Sunday!
Love,
Elizabeth
***
Next, from Jacqueline Marie, a Canadian who says she hasn’t written anything longer than a grocery list, a snarky Facebook update or a text message in months, and feels her writing muscles atrophying by the day, so apologizes that this little note will probably be even more clunky than usual. Clunky? I think it’s graceful…
Memorial Day Weekend has me feeling thoughtful. For me, it’s one of those “new” American holidays that I observe now. In Canada, we have Victoria Day; a federal statutory holiday celebrated the last Monday before May 25th, to commemorate the sovereign Queen Victoria’s birthday. “The Mother of Confederation” was actually born on May 24th, and while official protocol requires the Royal Union Flag to be flown from sunrise to sunset at all federal government buildings, and 21 gun salutes in each province, the holiday has become more of the symbol of the opening of the cottage season than anything else. In fact, it’s often referred to as May Two Four, a Canadian inside joke referring to the 24 bottles of beer in a case.
I see Memorial Day in NY is also the unofficial kick off of summer; the start of the weekends in the Hamptons, Fire Island and Lake George; backyard grilling if you’re in the ‘burbs and rooftop cocktails in the city. The actual meaning of the day is undermined, and observed nonchalantly. I’ve been here for six years now: I never knew until today that the flag was raised briskly to the top of the flag pole, and then somberly lowered to half staff until noon, and then raised again for the remainder of the day. It’s a beautiful expression of the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for this country being “raised up” by the living, to show it has not been in vain, that the fight for liberty and justice for all continues, and I didn’t even know that this was commemorated. I’m continually astounded by my own ignorance.
I got a note today from a friend’s husband today who is in Afghanistan as a civilian helicopter pilot. He talked to me about the escalation of the “Spring Offensive” and the recent rocket attack on his base, and the daily IED’s. He told me about the sandstorms and lightening storms that come up like something out of a movie. He told me that when he flies the American servicemen to their destinations, he strives to give them the best ride he can. He takes them through the mountains and shows them stunning countryside, and actually tries to provide “service”, so they don’t feel just shunted from point A to point B like they do on some military flights.
Then, he told me that four kids were playing by the gate of his base, and dug up a landmine. It exploded, killing two and wounding the other two badly. “It’s pity it’s such a f*cked up place” he wrote, and then apologized for rambling. Mike has never served in the military: he is an expert pilot with vast hours of mountain flying experience, garnered from fighting forest fires in the interior of British Columbia and Australia. Arial fire fighting is incredibly dangerous, but it’s a far cry from being shelled, and seeing children killed and maimed. It got me thinking about those not in service, who nonetheless choose to put themselves in a war zone, away from their families and comforts of home, often at great personal risk.
We have people in our group who have served this country bravely, and I am humbled to know you. We also have people in our group who have lost their loved ones to this struggle, and I can’t even imagine the depth of your pain. This Memorial Day, I will remember the sacrifice of our servicemen and women, but I’m also thinking of those not in uniform, but who have nonetheless given so much, seen so much, grieved so much. Those who have lost children, spouses, brothers, sisters, and friends, but also those who chose to bring their expertise to areas of conflict like Afghanistan, to try to rebuild a country with a ruptured economy, little infrastructure, a sundered rule of law, and a deficit of human capital.
I am ashamed of how little I have done with everything I have been given. But I consider what I could do, and I think of words that Marc Lee wrote: “I think the truth to our greatness is each other. Purity, morals and kindness, passed down to each generation through example. So to all my family and friends, do me a favor and pass on the kindness, the love, the precious gift of human life to each other so that when your children come in to contact with great conflict, they are people of humanity, of pure motives, of compassion.” I can be kinder, I can be more compassionate, and I can be more grateful and gracious. I can be forgiving and I can be less cynical. I can be diligent in my work, and like Mike, always give them my best. I can support all the efforts and projects of the people in this group. For now, this is what I can do. Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.
***
I have come to know our Gold Star Mom, Debbie Lee through such wonderful organizations as America’s Mighty Warriors, Move America Forward and the Tea Party Express. She knows well the sacrifice, as her son US Navy SEAL Marc Alan Lee was killed defending his brothers in arms on a dusty street in Iraq.
The commercials on TV are calling us to purchase, cars, furniture, clothing, appliances, electronics or a myriad of other things to “Celebrate Memorial Day” with their huge blowout sales! Our Parks and Recreation programs are declaring summer has arrived by opening our pools and encouraging us to come join in the fun and laughter this Memorial Day weekend. It saddens me and breaks my heart to see that most of America has taken advantage of this 3 day weekend as a reason to party, shop and celebrate for self-fulfillment.
As a country we have lost our focus and the reason why we take time to stop and respectfully, solemnly and reverently remember those who gave up their last breath and hope of a future, so that we could enjoy each and every day. We have failed our children by not educating them as to the real meaning of Memorial Day.
As I child I remember getting together with family for picnics or bar-b-ques. We looked forward to camping trips or trips to the lake. There were a few trips I remember to the cemetery but it was to place flowers on deceased relative’s graves who had never served in the military. I thought Memorial Day was to remember loved ones who had died. I wasn’t taught and therefore I missed the opportunity to teach my children that Memorial Day is to remember those who paid the ultimate price. Freedom comes with a price, it isn’t free.
The way he lived his life and the value he placed on others’ lives, caused him to sacrifice his life defending his teammates and our freedoms. Marc was the first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq 8-2-06. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13
The orders from Gen. John A. Logan declared “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit. “
General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery on the first Observance of Memorial day and then 5,000 patriots decorated the graves of 20,000 soldiers buried in the cemetery. I am so proud of the boy scouts who every year place flags on my son’s grave and every headstone at Fort Rosecrans. I know that many others throughout the nation will be doing the same at National Cemeteries all over our country, thank you!
Waterloo, NY was declared by President Johnson as the official birthplace of Memorial Day. He recognized that this was a city who understood the real meaning of Memorial Day. They knew that Memorial Day was to honor America’s mighty warriors who sacrificed their lives in combat defending our freedoms. Businesses closed, community wide events were planned to honor our brave warriors who were killed in action and residents gathered and decorated the graves of our heroes. How sad that there are businesses in America who take advantage of this holiday and choose to increase their profits instead of sacrificing a little by closing to remember the sacrifice of our fallen war heroes.
I speak for all of the Gold Star families who have lost a loved one in combat, that every day for us is Memorial Day. With pride and pain we remember them; we remember their smile, their voice, their smell, their touch, their laughter, their character, their dedication and their sacrifice. As a nation we ask that on Memorial Day, one day out of the year that as a Nation we corporately come together to honor our fallen heroes who died in combat. That’s not asking too much for the blessings and freedoms that you enjoy every day.
I’ve read many articles about Memorial Day and heard quotes from speeches from well-meaning people, even from our leaders in the military, who seem to not completely understand that Memorial Day is the Day we remember those heroes, who while serving in the military, died in combat. We have Armed Forces Day and Veterans Day to remember our Vets who are serving or have served. Personally not a day goes by that I don’t remember our Vets, not matter when they served, or the branch of service they were in. I’ve dedicated my life to honoring, thanking and supporting our military and especially the families of the fallen, but on May 30th, Memorial Day join with me as we “Remember” not “Celebrate” those who gave their all for you and I.
Join with me as I lead the charge to reclaim Memorial Day. Attend Parades and community events to remember our fallen heroes. Take a carload of friends and family to a National Cemetery and decorate the graves and remember the sacrifice of a hero and their family. Thank the family members of those you know who lost a loved one in combat. Take a Gold Star family to lunch, coffee, dinner and ask them about their hero. Do something to let them know you have not forgotten the sacrifice and understand the high price that has been paid for our freedoms. Read a story of a fallen hero, watch a memorial video, then pass it on to those whose lives you have influence on.
If you’re a business close on May 30th to honor and remember our fallen or donate the proceeds from the day to a charity who tells the stories of our fallen or who takes care of the families of the fallen. Our fallen heroes gave their very last breath defending you and they have earned the respect due them on Memorial Day.
Remembering their sacrifice!
Debbie Lee
If you would like to learn more about Marc Alan Lee and his heroic story you may go to www.americasmightywarriors.org . You can also make a donation or purchase product to continue to support the families of the fallen through America’s Mighty Warriors www.americasmightywarriors.org.
Filmed in Port Chester, NY, where I grew up watching the parades from my front lawn on Westchester Avenue, just steps from the monument. Sadly, the thousands aren’t there anymore. This is my homage to that wonderful spirit that I witnessed in my youth.
Most of the 8 mm footage, the Port Chester part, was filmed by Nick and Mary Chilek. The parade footage in the beginning and around the monument was 1954 or 55. We know this because Melanie, their daughter and my girlfriend, is in the the scene where people are walking (0:40) with her brother, Marty who is my age was walking there holding a flag, age about 4 or 5.
The cheerleader footage is just me wanting to get my girlfriend in the video. This was in 1968-9. Some it is taken near St Peters as Nick Chilek was a fireman with Harry Howard house, just up the street. Look closely and you’ll see Nielsen’s Ice Cream parlor. Ken Force brought the PCHS band to national recognition. In fact they would have played in a DC parade if not for the assassination of MLK.
That glorious footage of the bands coming up the avenue was taken near Leicester Ave. just across from the Elks and a half a block from my home, 408 Westchester Ave. While I couldn’t fit it in the song, one of my biggest memories of the parades was waiting… waiting… waiting for the bugler to finish Taps until we could run for the spent rifle shells. I still have some.
Memorial Day
I remember lining up for the big parade The whole town there the thirtieth of May Kids were running. Drums were drumming. There was music in the air At the monument a solemn wreath they’d lay
Here come the twirler girls with their sequins on Followed by a marching band or two There’s the mayor riding in his old sedan Waving to the crowd red white and blue
We seemed to know the reason why our soldiers march and the mothers cry And we sang America the brave Maybe there’s a memory that’s lost or maybe somethings gained We bowed our heads and prayed on that Memorial Day
Not far behind them marched a small platoon Of old men in green and blue and grey Proudly stepping up the avenue We saw a tear or two that day
We can’t forget the reason why these old men march and the young girls cry And why we must remember to this today Maybe there’s a memory that’s lost and maybe something’s gained So we bow our heads and pray . When its Memorial Day
SOLO x 4
So turn on the game – and fire up the barbeque Head to the sale or head out to the shore Understand these freedoms they have given you What they lost so we could have much more
We can’t forget the reason why our soldiers die and the mothers cry And hold our flags high up to wave. I guess we need another lesson learned and suffer through the pain So lets bow our heads and pray.on this Memorial Day
Photo credit - Central Florida News 13 - CFNews13.com
Emotional. That’s the only word I can use to describe what happened in the Orlando courtroom today when Cindy Anthony, grandmother of little Caylee Anthony, took the stand.
Cindy Anthony really lost it at the sight of Caylee’s bed. Earlier, mom Casey Anthony’s former boyfriend Tony Lazzaro recalled being angry that Casey Anthony didn’t tell him Caylee was missing. FULL STORY at Central Florida News 13, which has been providing complete coverage of the trial, now concluding its 5th day.
Gripping. That’s another word I just thought of. You have to see it for yourself, and CFN13 has the whole shebang.
Courage: Someone who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for actually doing something just snubbed someone who won it for nothing. But Lech Walesa’s refusal to meet President Obama is also a cry to save Poland.
Lech Walesa, the former Polish president and heroic leader of the Solidarity trade union that helped liberate the entire Eastern European Soviet bloc from communist rule, has his moral courage indelibly engraved in the history books.
At 67, Walesa is a living legend with nothing left to have to prove.
But on Friday, Walesa once again answered the call to duty and announced he would not accept fellow Nobel Peace laureate President Obama’s invitation to meet with him in Poland after the G-8 Summit in France.
The decision makes perfect sense, considering the obvious rationale behind Obama’s Polish visit. Obama is meeting Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk not to help them defend their state against its obvious enemy: Russia under ex-KGB thug Vladimir Putin.
Nor is Obama holding his much-hyped conference with a dozen presidents of formerly communist states to find out how the U.S. can best help keep them from once again being bullied by Moscow.
No, Obama, the White House tells us, is meeting them for advice on how to turn the so-called Arab Spring into a Mideast version of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
That, of course, is the cover story.
Close observers of this president for the two-plus years of his rule know he isn’t interested in listening to the likes of Walesa, any more than he wants to hear the leaders of former Soviet satellite states explain how the low, flat tax rates they adopted in recent years led their nations to double-digit GDP growth.
For the sake of preserving Poland’s hard-fought freedom, Komorowski and Tusk should be joining Walesa in giving Obama the cold shoulder.
The president hadn’t even had a chance to redecorate the Oval Office before he felt the need, in fall of 2009, to appease Moscow by scrapping plans to build a missile defense shield protecting Poland and the Czech Republic from attack by Russia, Iran or any other aggressor.
At the time, the Polish minister of defense said, “This is catastrophic for Poland.”
The message, once again, delivered loud and clear to America’s friends, allies and enemies alike, is that the U.S. can’t be relied on.
This is what American voters get when they elect to the presidency an underexperienced man weighed down by an oversized ego.
This is what is being sent out by the Obama-bots to the 2008 mail list of Obama supporters. It’s their game plan — or at least one of them — to organize and fund raise. They’re asking each individual to donate $5 in addition to getting involved. Meanwhile, what is our side doing?
Here’s their strategy:
____
From: Mitch Stewart, BarackObama.com [mailto:info@barackobama.com] Sent: Friday, May 27, 2011 6:06 PM To: Subject: [SPAM] Our plan this summer
You’ve been hearing from Messina about our overall strategy and what’s at stake in this election. My job as the Battleground States Director is to report back to you on the nuts and bolts of what we’re building in communities across the country.I want to take you through it in detail, so you can understand how to get involved and shape our organization where you live.
We’re going to build it from the ground up. And we’re going to use this summer to roll out our team model and organizing structure through grassroots planning sessions in homes and by videoconference.
Here’s the full briefing — watch it here, and if you’re willing to get involved now and be part of the organization in your community, let me know:
Some of these planning sessions are already under way, and we’re starting to get some feedback. I got one email from a supporter named Steven, who hadn’t been involved at all since 2008, and only went to his grassroots planning session on a whim.
As a result, he’s all-in — he wants want to get involved fast, and also has all sorts of new ideas for how he can apply his skills better this time and which friends and colleagues he can reach out to about joining the campaign.
The subject line of his email about the meeting was “Inspiring night.”
This kind of organization-building isn’t just an electoral strategy — it’s a reflection of what we believe in as voters and citizens. It’s a commitment to the kind of politics that begins in backyards and living rooms and empowers every single American to get involved and organize for the changes they want to see.
At a moment when it feels like the only thing that separates our opponents is how quickly they want to end Medicare as we know it, winning this way — driven locally, powered by the grassroots — will be a rebuke to those in Washington who still think that people across the country don’t have a seat at the table where decisions are made.
I’m asking you to pull up a chair. If you’re willing to get involved now, at this crucial point in the campaign, let me know here:
Mitch Stewart Battleground States Director Obama for America
P.S. — If you don’t have time to watch the video, here’s a quick rundown on where we stand:
– Messina mentioned the one-on-one initiative last month. We’re going to talk with every person who volunteered or made a donation last time. So the staff and I started making calls and meeting with people one-on-one. And then those people started having their own one-on-ones with others. So far more than 75,000 individual conversations have happened across the country. The results are a massive army of newly energized volunteers, plus thousands of pages of ideas and feedback that will inform how we shape our organization nationally.
– Grassroots planning sessions are under way across the country — we’ve had dozens so far with more than a hundred still to come. Everyone has been or will be invited to one.
– You heard about our Summer Organizer Program when we asked you to help recruit them. Well, there are now hundreds across the country, and they start next week. We were pleasantly surprised that the number of applicants far exceeded what we saw when we launched this program in 2008, and you’ll be hearing more about them — and in many cases from them directly — in the coming months.
Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Retired)
Of Lambs and Lions
“I do not fear an army of lions if they are led by a lamb. I do fear an army of sheep if they are led by a lion.” ~ Alexander the Great
Greetings Wheels on the Road readers, fellow South Floridians, and indeed all Americans. It is time for our monthly political assessment and this one is rather personal. Last month we addressed what is at stake, and the response was the future of America. One of the factors affecting our Country right now relates to Alexander’s quote mentioned above.
Attorney General Eric Holder once lamented that America is a “nation of cowards”, that is far from the truth. The problem we have in America is that we are being led by lambs, by an effete ruling class elite. America is a nation of lions, warriors, but when we find ourselves being led by a cabal of weak, ineffective, and indecisive appeasers the result is evident.
Sure, the liberal progressives are dogged ideologues and tenacious poodles when it comes to nationalizing our production; healthcare, financial sector, energy sector, and automobile industry. They stand strong against the rule of law regarding illegal immigration. And there is no doubt no group will fight harder to redistribute wealth and turn America into a collective “balkanized” socialist Country.
However, what scares the liberals more than anything else is the “Warrior Class”. They abhor the men and women who find a commitment and conviction in believing in this Constitutional Republic and the principles which make America exceptional. This is a sentiment which over the past 30 days we witnessed being manifested from the highest office in our land, the President.
When Barack Hussein Obama made the decision to take a “vacation” back to Chicago rather than attend Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National cemetery that was a complete disregard and disrespect to those who gave the “last full measure of devotion”. I know, those who suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome are frothing and recounting that Pres GW Bush missed an Arlington ceremony….but he was at Normandy, a very appropriate place to be.
But it was not just the missing Memorial Day, it was also the lack of any recognition of the 66th anniversary of D-Day. It was the failure to address Flag Day which was also the 235th birthday of the US Army. Lastly, Obama’s refusal for the second year in a row to attend the “Gold Star Family” events clearly telegraphs his regard for our military does not go beyond photo opportunities. The malignant narcissism of the President, and the liberal progressives, is laser focused on the disrespect and the destruction of the American Warrior class. They detest anyone who has the courage of conviction and love of America, something which they find unconscionable.
It starts with a national security strategy which refuses to address the enemy of our Nation, islamic totalitarianism and radical islamic state sponsored terrorism. We have sheep who are so oblivious to the threats to our security that the Obama administration’s terrorism expert, John Brennan, stated that “terrorism is a state of mind and jihadism is a legitimate tenet of Islam”. When at the highest levels we project a recalcitrance to confront our enemy, you only embolden them.
When an enemy is emboldened, such as this one, they launch a “humanitarian aid” flotilla which is nothing more than a cover to supply a terrorist organization, Hamas. When you have a Sovereign State seek to protect itself, and even institute insidious rules of engagement, and yet is condemned for protecting its warriors, we are upside down……we are being led by sheep. Nothing pleasures wolves more than fresh lamb meat, and we are serving that up at every instance.
This seemingly is not just an American phenomenon, but a worldwide epidemic. North Korea sinks a South Korean naval vessel and we ask for an apology. The international community demands that Israel apologize and submit to an investigation.
We have created rules of engagement in Afghanistan which allows the enemy every opportunity to kill our men and women. We have considered such horrible ideas such as an award for “courageous restraint”. We even allow former Taliban members who have attacked, and maybe even killed, our troops to be released from detainment based upon a “pledge” signed by their fathers and tribal leaders.
Yet, we have our own Warriors such a Army 1LT Michael Behenna serving a 15 year prison sentence for killing a known Al Qaeda operative who attacked him. Worse however, is the fact that exculpatory evidence in his case was withheld by the Army prosecutors who also withheld a key witness. There in the military prison at Ft Leavenworth sit 10 Army Soldiers while Taliban fighters are being released. We just witnessed some of our finest Warriors, US Navy SEALS, having to endure a courts-martial because they “punched” a terrorist.
That is why I will be heading to Ft Leavenworth in September to rally for the release of our Soldiers so that they can be reunited with their families. Those families who willingly sacrificed their loved ones, believing that they could be severely wounded, or even killed….but never imprisoned for doing what we ask Warriors to do.
In the past 30 days we watched the House of Representatives so concerned about the military that they just could not wait, and voted to repeal “Dont Ask Dont Tell”. This was done against the counsel of the Service Chiefs who asked for an opportunity to allow the men and women in uniform to offer their suggestions and insights. No, it is more important to have the military accommodate behavior rather than respect the professionalism of those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen.
We have seen the President nominate someone for Supreme Court justice who attacked the Solomon Amendment, allowing ROTC activities on our college campuses. We are willing to allow an Islamic victory tribute to be erected at Ground Zero in New York City because we have leaders who just cannot find the courage to stand….sheep.
We have a running gun battle occurring on our southern border but we allowed a foreign leader to demean our laws and attack a Governor of a sovereign American State.
There has never been a more critical time for our Republic and yet we find the worse possible individuals in control for this time. We have a Nation of men and women who embrace victory and detest the stench of defeat. However, all we get is more speeches, talk, empty rhetoric, and never an action plan….at least not an action plan which is commensurate with the foundational principles of America.
I stated earlier that this subject is personal to me and that is because of my story from Iraq in 2003. Yes, I fired my service 9mm over the head of a detainee to ensure my men were protected. Yes, I was removed from command and fined $5000. Yes, I withstood the attacks from the liberal sheep and will continue to do so because I am part of the Warrior class. I retired with Honor and remain a respected member of that group of men and women who feel pride when the National Anthem is played, and tear up at Taps.
When I look at Pelosi, Frank, Weiner, Clyburn, Klein, and Obama I see lambs, certainly not leaders. I see mundane deliberators, not decisive people of character. This 2010 election cycle has the most Veterans running for office since WW II and there is a simple reason.
America will not survive as a Nation in a world of wolves being led by sheep, it will take Lions.
With no clear-cut front runner emerging from the current field of GOP Presidential candidates, many GOP voters are expressing the sentiment that none of the announced Republican candidates for President have that much coveted “wow factor” or buzz surrounding their candidacy. With ‘Tea Party’ favorite Congresswoman Michele Bachmann possibly days away from a formal announcement of her candidacy, and with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin lurking in the shadows with unknown intentions, many are hoping that one of two could spark that much needed fire throughout the GOP electorate.
But this opening leaves the door open for other candidates like- and yes, I know I said before I would try to refrain from mentioning his name when writing about Republican Presidential hopefuls- Congressman Allen West. His huge popularity with grassroots conservatives, along with his uncanny ‘matter-of-fact’ demeanor and gifted oratory skills would immediately stand out amongst the current crop of candidates. There are already several “‘Draft Allen West for President” online campaigns that are feverishly working overtime in the hopes of trying to draft the freshman Congressman from Florida into the race.
West has indicated before that running for President or any higher office would not be solely up to him. He said that such a decision would be in God’s hands, and he also said that his wife would have something to say about it as well. It’s likely that I will be receiving a flood of phone calls in response to this piece, so the Shark phone will be turned off indefinitely.
WARSAW – Lech Walesa, Poland’s Solidarity-era legend, ex-president and 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner said Friday he would not accept an invitation to meet with fellow Nobel winner US President Barack Obama. “It’s difficult to tell journalists what you’d like to say to the president of a superpower. This time I won’t tell him, I won’t meet him, it doesn’t suit me,” Walesa told Poland’s public broadcaster TVP. Obama is due to arrive in Poland later Friday after the G8 summit in France. Walesa was originally scheduled to meet Obama Saturday.
I had never thought there were many similarities between the pleasure-loving Charles II of England and the more upright Barack Obama until this week. Listening to his speeches on the Middle East at the State Department, US-Israel relations at the AIPAC annual meeting and most recently his address to the British Parliament the comparison becomes irresistible.
“Here lies our sovereign king,” wrote the Earl of Rochester about King Charles:
Whose word no man relies on. Who never said a foolish thing Or ever did a wise one.
This seems to capture President Obama’s Middle East problems in a nutshell.
[snip]
His record of grotesque, humiliating and total diplomatic failure in his dealings with Prime Minister Netanyahu has few parallels in American history. Three times he has gone up against Netanyahu; three times he has ingloriously failed. This last defeat — Netanyahu’s deadly, devastating speech to Congress in which he eviscerated President Obama’s foreign policy to prolonged and repeated standing ovations by members of both parties — may have been the single most stunning and effective public rebuke to an American President a foreign leader has ever delivered.
Netanyahu beat Obama like a red-headed stepchild; he played him like a fiddle; he pounded him like a big brass drum. The Prime Minister of Israel danced rings around his arrogant, professorial opponent. It was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters go up against the junior squad from Miss Porter’s School; like watching Harvard play Texas A&M, like watching Bambi meet Godzilla — or Bill Clinton run against Bob Dole.
The Prime Minister mopped the floor with our guy. Obama made his ’67 speech; Bibi ripped him to shreds. Obama goes to AIPAC, nervous, off-balance, backing and filling. Then Bibi drops the C-Bomb, demonstrating to the whole world that the Prime Minister of Israel has substantially more support in both the House and the Senate than the President of the United States.
Tonight we’ll be talking to Ann about economics, specifically the commodities markets. Ann posted this morning about an alarming trend in the cattle/corn markets, and since all commodities translate to the cost of everything we buy, we thought we should have Ann stop by and explain just what’s going on in the trading pits of Chicago. As Ann puts it, “This is not a game.”
America depends on a vibrant, growing and stable market system, so this interview will be very important as well as educational.
And we’ll ask her about her weapons training weekend in Las Vegas. Ready? Aim. Fire! Join us at 9 PM ET.
Each time you use a search engine, you disclose something about yourself. And it tends to be more than just passing interests; your searches reveal your wants, needs, desires, and fears. Over time, you may unwittingly divulge your age, sex, religion, ethnic group, profession, political views and medical concerns.
That information can be exploited by its owners (ED: i.e. Google) to create dossiers on you that would make former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover look like a piker.
Google is not the company it claims to be. Evolving from an information servant to master, the company’s unprecedented centralization of information, tracking, and profiling, is destroying privacy while threatening our security and way of life.
You are not Google’s customer — you are its products — lab rats to be monitored and tracked before having your personal information laundered to advertisers – and maybe even shared with the government.
You see, Google’s goal is to change the world by influencing and controlling information access.
Scott Cleland’s newly published book about GOOGLE – “Search & Destroy, Why You Can’t Trust Google, Inc.” — pulls back the curtain to show what’s really going on with the Internet giant that is cozily in bed with Obama’s White House.
Cleland is the world’s leading Google critic and has been called to testify before Congress on three occasions regarding the Internet behemoth.
Tonight he’ll join us to explain why Google cannot be trusted – and how the company with a “don’t be evil” slogan threatens our privacy, security, and even our fundamental values and institutions.
Sarah Palin will hit the road this Memorial Day weekend on a tour of the Northeast -- and possibly New Hampshire -- aboard a red, white and blue bus emblazoned with the words: "One Nation Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty & Justice For All."
The former Alaska govenor will began her journey Sunday from Washington, D.C., after she and husband Todd join a quarter-million motorcyclers in the Rolling Thunder event to support the troops. She'll leave the veterans and make her first stop at the National Archives, where she'll stop by to view the U.S. Constitution.
Details on where she'll go next -- and when -- are unclear, but fans and supporters will be able to follow her path on www.sarahpac.com, where the RV's progress can be tracked live. All an aide would say is that Palin "will embark on a One Nation tour of historical sites that were key to the formation, survival, and growth of the United States of America."
Antietam? Independence Hall? Gettysburg? Liberty Hall? Federal Hall? Faneuil Hall?!
And eventually, Manchester, N.H.? Stay tuned....developing....
Freedom Works’ Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe hear you. They know you don’t want the man the GOP establishment and media are trying to foist on us the way they did in 2008 with John McAmnesty McCain.
Tea Partiers see Romney for what he is — another empty suit who looks “bandbox perfect” but has no substance. There’s no “there” there. From the Huff ‘n Puff Post… (sorry, I don’t give links to leftist rags)
Kibbe said in an interview that FreedomWorks has no plans at the moment to endorse an opponent of Romney’s in the primary. But others in the organization made clear they will devote considerable resources toward helping whoever emerges as the most viable Republican in the primary other than the putative front runner.
Brendan Steinhauser, who travels around the country meeting with activists as FreedomWorks’ top liaison to the grassroots, said most people he talks to are “definitely trying to stop Romney.”
“I don’t think I’ve met any groups or any local activists that like him or want him to be president,” Steinhauser said. “They just don’t believe he’s authentic. That’s the biggest problem in addition to the health care thing.”
Meanwhile Sarah Palin, working with documentary film maker Stephen Bannon, is about to release a film that addresses and debunks the perception some have about her political pedigree. That has to have the establishment RINOs wetting themselves. Love that Sarah! She’s nobody’s fool. Someone grab Sinatra and cue the music “MY Way”.
America suffers while her White House Monarch hobnobs with the British Royals
Flipped on the TV this day and what do I see? Arrrgh…. Obama’s face plastered all over my screen. The Usurper is addressing Parliament. What a farce. He’s got the tennis match back and forth head thing going again, a sure sign that he’s using the teleprompters again. God, he’s such a phony. And the words hissing from his mouth are nothing but more fakery and blather. “Lacking in substance and full of platitudes” said Nile Gardiner, foreign policy expert at The Heritage Foundation, and considered one of the most influential 50 Brits.
On the heels of Obama flubbing a toast to the queen (and talking over the British national anthem), it seems only appropriate to bring you what one British reporter has dubbed Obama’s “top 10” insults against Britain.
Meredith first posted the list on the blog yesterday, but it’s worth some real estate on the story side, too.
The Telegraph’s Nile Gardiner compiled the list, something he’s done in the past. But, he says, since then a lot has happened.
“In honour [British spelling] of President Obama’s state visit to Britain this week, here’s an updated and revised list, as a reminder to readers of the president’s less than stellar track record when it comes to US-British relations,” he writes. “The US president will no doubt be careful not to offend his hosts when he travels to London, and he will receive a warm welcome from the Queen and the Prime Minister, as any American president would. But the prospect of an embarrassing diplomatic gaffe or insensitive remark cannot be ruled out from a world leader whose administration has all too often specialised in them.”
It‘s important to note that Gardiner’s piece was written before the now-infamous toast and the Westminster Abbey gust-book signing. So that he would say “the prospect of an embarrassing diplomatic gaffe or insensitive remark cannot be ruled out” is not only prophetic but also sad — sad that it would seem so easy to predict.
Below is the list:
1. Siding with Argentina over the Falklands
2. Calling France America’s strongest ally
3. Downgrading the Special Relationship
4. Supporting a federal Europe and undercutting British sovereignty
5. Betraying Britain to appease Moscow over the New START Treaty
6. Placing a “boot on the throat” of BP
7. Throwing Churchill out of the Oval Office
8. DVDs for the Prime Minister
9. Insulting words from the State Department
10. Undermining British influence in NATO
After Obama’s current trip is over, the list might need to be updated again.
To get Gardiner’s explanation of each item, read his entire article here. You can also vote on our gaffe poll over on the blog. . . . . .
Sarah Palin has them on the run. Her enemies on the Left and inside the DC Beltway “establishment” can’t corral her. This pacesetting thoroughbred is running rings around them.
Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin’s governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign.
The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He’d make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself — to the tune of $1 million.
The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska’s most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin’s prospective presidential campaign — an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won’t run.
Think she isn’t running in ’12? Think again. There’s something afoot. And it might very well include a certain member of Congress from Florida’s 22nd District. Hmmm?
Actor Jason Ritter recited the words of Capt. Jonathan Pruden, one of the first IED victims. Ritter recited the testimony of this wounded warriors who lost his right leg below the knee after 20 surgeries in seven different hospitals. His left foot is severely deformed and “won’t be with me till the end of my life. But there are new opportunities. Those with the least visible injuries are coping with the most, so I volunteered to help them, the best thing for my own healing process.”
. . . . .
Lech Walesa snubs Obama, fellow Nobel winner
Google is not the company it claims to be. Evolving from an information servant to master, the company’s unprecedented centralization of information, tracking, and profiling, is destroying privacy while threatening our security and way of life.
Scott Cleland’s newly published book about GOOGLE – “Search & Destroy, Why You Can’t Trust Google, Inc.” — pulls back the curtain to show what’s really going on with the Internet giant that is cozily in bed with Obama’s White House.
