Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Gerald Ford, RIP

RIP Gerald Ford.

Statement from Betty Ford: "My family joins me in sharing the difficult
news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, and grandfather,
has passed away..."

President Ford was 93. Here's his official White House bio. Here's the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum page.

A CNN commentator says President Ford will be buried at the Ford
library and museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan after funeral/memorial
services in California, D.C., and lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda.

Here's President Bush's statement.

Paul Mirengoff
:
"My favorite Ford moment came in his 1975 state of the union address
when he declared, "the state of the union is not good." Do you think
we'll ever hear another president make a statement like that when his
party has controlled the White House for an extended period?"







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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Interview with Captain Coulson

Very good.

Thanks for your service Captain. God Speed to you and your Soldiers.

An Interview with Captain Coulson

CPT Coulson is the commanding officer of Alpha Company, Task Force 321 Engineers (Task Force Pathfinder)

FALLUJAH, IRAQ: One of the best sources of
news on the situation in Iraq is from the officers and enlisted serving
in the theater who maintain military blogs. While at Camp Fallujah, I
met up with one such Milblogger. Captain Eric Coulson is the commanding
officer of Alpha Company, Task Force 321 Engineers (Task Force
Pathfinder), and the author of Badgers Forward,
one of the finest Milblogs out there. Captain Coulson's battalion
replaced the 54th Engineers, a unit I embedded with last year to go on an IED hunt in Ramadi.

At his blog, Captain Coulson provides insight on the the fight
against the insurgency in Anbar province and the hunt for roadside
bombs [IEDs], as well as a look at the the daily life of a soldier
serving in Iraq. Road Work, Night Moves and So what does an IED look like? are essential reading for understanding the fight in Anbar province. A Cold Wind Blows and Battle Update Brief
provide insight into camp life and the challenges of command. Captain
Coulson also has a blogger in the ranks. The Teflon Don runs Acute Politics, another fine military blog that should be on your reading list.





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Sunday, December 24, 2006

Air strike kills top Taliban tactician



By Jason Straziuso


ASSOCIATED PRESS


December 24, 2006

/> The Washington Times

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S. air strike near the Pakistan border killed
the Taliban's southern military commander, an associate of Osama bin
Laden and heir to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, U.S. and Afghan
officials said yesterday.

Akhtar Mohammed Osmani's vehicle was hit by a U.S. air strike
Tuesday as he traveled in a deserted area in the southern province of
Helmand, the spokesman said. Two of his associates also were killed.

U.S. and Afghan officials said the strike was a major victory.

Rashid, a leading author on the Taliban, said Osmani's
death could disrupt planning for a Taliban offensive early next year,
designed to extend the recent surge of violence across Afghanistan.

Osmani played an instrumental role in some of the Taliban's
most notorious excesses -- including the demolition of the ancient
Buddha statues in Bamiyan and the trial of Christian aid workers in
2001, Mr. Rashid said.

He also was one of three top associates of Mullah Omar, and
among the first supporters of bin Laden within the militant Islamic
militia's top ranks, Mr. Rashid said.

A Taliban spokesman denied that Osmani was dead, but a
provincial police chief and Afghanistan's Interior Ministry confirmed
the killing. Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary called it "a
big achievement."

A U.S. spokesman said the death was confirmed through multiple sources.


Merry Christmas Osama.





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Saturday, December 23, 2006

U.S. Airstrike Kills Top Taliban Commander in Afghanistan

From Fox News

Saturday, December 23, 2006



KABUL, Afghanistan A top Taliban military commander described as a close associate of Usama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar
was killed in an airstrike this week close to the border with Pakistan,
the U.S. military said Saturday. A Taliban spokesman denied the claim.


Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was killed Tuesday by a U.S. airstrike while traveling by vehicle in a deserted area in the southern province of Helmand, the U.S. military said. Two associates also were killed, it said.


There was no immediate confirmation from Afghan officials or visual proof
offered to support the claim. A U.S. spokesman said "various sources"
were used to confirm Osmani's identity.



Keep up the good work fellas!

Don't forget the troops are still doing their duty on Christmas.

Thank you to all Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines.





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Link Test

Link Test 2

Friday, December 22, 2006

Notes From a War Diary

Notes From a War Diary (Fourth in a Series)

by Oliver North

Posted Dec 22, 2006



TQ AIRBASE, Iraq -- Our Fox News team is aboard a U.S. Marine C-130
aircraft, departing Iraq, headed for Kuwait -- the eighth time we have
left war-torn Mesopotamia this way. It's exactly 45 months since I
first entered Iraq on the night that Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
Then, I was aboard a Marine CH-46, and the bird to our left,
transporting a squad of Royal Marine Commandos, went down, killing all
aboard.



Today's flight, call sign "Midas 10," is designated as an "Angel
Flight." It carries the flag-draped metal coffin containing the body of
a young Marine captain killed yesterday by enemy fire. Usually aircraft
headed out of country are crammed with dirty, tired, armor-clad
warriors celebrating their departure. Today, it's just the flight crew
and us, and all aboard are somber. Everyone is painfully aware that
back home, an American family is going to grieve for Christmas.









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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and may God Bless you and yours.



I'll pick up posting on the other side of Christmas.



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Tuesday, December 19, 2006

American Al Qaeda Captured in Belize...

American Al Qaeda Captured in Belize...



The Belize Police Department has bagged another U.S. fugitive. This
time, however, instead of a tax dodger, bigamist or sex offender they
hit the jackpot, nabbing a suspect with ties to the world of terrorism.
Forty-one year old Ernest James Thompson, also known as James Ujaama
and Bilal Ahmed, violated parole in the United States by leaving the
country and a wanted poster was circulated through Interpol by U.S. law
enforcement authorities. According to Assistant Police Commissioner
Eduardo Wade, that's when our cops started looking.




A.P.C. Eduardo Wade, Belize Police Department

“As a result of this request the police conducted an investigation
and some time around midnight last night or earlier this morning this
fugitive was apprehended here in Belize City. He has since been taken
out of the country. He entered Belize about ten days or so ago using a
Mexican passport. During the operation Inspector Grinage, who headed
the operation, received some injuries he was treated and released as
this fellow attempted to escape during his apprehension.”




Leonard Hill, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy

“He was initially arrested in 2003 in connection with plots in the
United States to poison water supplies and to do a number of other
things. He subsequently pleaded guilty to charges dealing with Al Qaeda
in Afghanistan and providing various types of material support to the
Taliban as well in Afghanistan.”




Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy, Leonard Hill, indicated
that although Thompson's immediate crime was a parole violation, he may
in fact face additional charges and is also a material witness in other
terror related cases. One indication of his status may be that federal
officials sent down a private plane to bring him back to the States.
Two Belizean police officers went along for the ride and presumably the
traditional night on the town as a guest of the U.S. Department of
Justice.










Interpol played a hand on this one.

Way to go Belize!

Take note, he was already sent back to the US.








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Monday, December 18, 2006

Support the Gitmo troops this Christmas

Send the troops at Gitmo a card. Thank them for their service to this nation and for the abuses that they must take from both the prisoners and the media.

If I were running Gitmo, those Islamic pieces of shit would be put in their proper place. The Koran would be a flushing on a daily basis.




From Democracy Project

Lt.
Col. Gordon Cucullu, U.S. Army (Ret.), is a sometime blogger here at
Democracy Project and a personal friend. Gordon writes frequently and
passionately about American forces serving around the world, and the
email below, sent from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, tells of a neglected band
of brothers who receive fewer Christmas cards from the American people
than those stationed at other locales: the guards at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. Worse, they receive more abuse from the press, in spite of the
documented fact that they are subject to constant abuse from the
terrorists they guard.

As if that isn't enough, last Christmas the terrorists held there
received no fewer than 14,000 pieces of mail at Christmas, and they're
expected to receive 16,000 this year. All while our troops there are,
for the most part, overlooked even by those of us here at home who
support their mission.

Gordon gives the address to which you may send cards at the end of his essay, but here it is again:

"Any Trooper, JTF GTMO, APO AE 09360"













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Sunday, December 17, 2006

DoD Honors Rumsfeld, Bids Farewell

By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON,

Dec. 15, 2006 – The Defense Department bid farewell to the 21st secretary of
defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, in a full honors parade at the Pentagon today.

PresidentBush; Vice President Richard B. Cheney; Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff; and many other DoD leaders joined employees and servicemembers to honor Rumsfeld, who has led the department for six years.

“Because of Don Rumsfeld’s determination and leadership, America has the best equipped, the best trained, and the most experienced armed forces in the history of the world,” Bush said during the ceremony. “This man knows how to lead, and he did, and the country is better off for it.”Bush praised Rumsfeld for preparing the military for the threats of the 21st centuryand for his determined leadership after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,2001. When the Pentagon was hit, Rumsfeld’s first instinct was to run toward dangerand help the wounded, and afterwards he launched one of the most innovativecampaigns in history going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Bush said. Rumsfeld then led Operation Iraqi Freedom, driving Saddam Hussein from power in 21 days and helping the Iraqi government form a free democracy in the heart of the Middle East.

So long Don. It's been interesting.







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Friday, December 15, 2006

Panned in Baghdad

James Baker and company are idiots.
Iraqis reject the Baker-Hamilton report.

Friday, December 15, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

Iraq
Study Group Chairmen Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton have spent the past
week defending their report against withering criticism here in the
U.S. But the more revealing reaction has been from Iraq itself:
"Unrealistic," "inappropriate" and "very dangerous" are among the
kinder words used by Iraq's leaders to describe the ISG's work.


Consider
Jalal Talabani. A secular-minded Kurd who has probably done more than
any other leader to reach out across the country's sectarian divides,
Iraq's President is no doubt sympathetic to the report's calls for
"national reconciliation." But he reacted strongly to the ISG's
suggestion that American support for his democratically elected
government be conditioned on its meeting U.S.-determined "milestones"
toward that goal. That, he said, was an "insult to the people of Iraq."


Mr.
Talabani was also critical of the ISG's specific ideas for achieving
reconciliation. Having helped bring such Sunni leaders as Adnan Dulaimi
into the political process, he clearly understands the importance of
giving the Sunnis a fair deal. But he bristled at the report's idea
that reconciliation should be achieved through concessions to members
of Saddam's Baath Party and other Sunni rejectionists. Fellow Kurdish
leader Massoud Barzani echoed that criticism, saying the ISG wanted to
reward "those who are against the political process and have conducted
acts of violence."

Finish the job.

Let the troops kill the fucking insurgents and let them restore order to that fucking hell hole and be done with it.




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Thursday, December 14, 2006

All active branches met or surpassed November recruiting goals

Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, December 13, 2006


ARLINGTON, Va. — All active branches of the service met or surpassed their November recruiting goals, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.

The Army topped the list with 6,485 new recruits, or 105 percent of its recruiting goal, a Defense Department news release says. Of the other services: The Marine Corps achieved 104 percent of its goal with 2,095 recruits; the Navy met 100 percent of its goal with 2,887 recruits; and the Air Force hit 100 percent of its goal with 1,877 recruits.

The Army National Guard led reserve components with 5,094 recruits, or 113 percent of its November goal, the news release says. The Air National Guard made 115 percent of its goal with 752 recruits; the Marine Corps Reserve achieved 102 percent of its goal with 547 recruits; and the Air Force Reserve met 100 percent of its goal with 436 recruits.

The Navy Reserve fell short of its November recruiting goal with 687 recruits, or 91 percent of its goal; and the Army Reserve made only 79 percent of its goal with 1,888 recruits, the news release says.

The Army Reserve expects to make up this shortfall in January, said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Brian Hilferty in a Monday e-mail to Stars and Stripes.

On the retention side, the Army National guard met 137 percent of its goal with 5,930 retentions, and the Air National Guard got 101 percent of its goal with 1,607 retentions, a Defense Department official said on Tuesday.

No retention information was available on the other reserve components, the official said.

Soldier who died smothering enemy grenade to be recommended for Medal of Honor

Here is a fine example of Soldiering and needs to be recognized.


By Mark St.Clair, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, December 14, 2006


A Schweinfurt, Germany-based infantryman who jumped on a grenade to save other troops is being recommended for the Medal of Honor.

The 1st Infantry Division soldier, Spc. Ross Andrew McGinnis, 19, was killed Dec. 4 while on a combat patrol in Baghdad.

Soldiers in his unit said he used his body to cover a grenade that had been thrown into his Humvee by an enemy fighter on a nearby rooftop.

McGinnis’ actions probably saved the lives of the four other soldiers in the vehicle, his company commander and other officials said during a Tuesday memorial ceremony.

As the U.S.’s highest award for wartime valor, the Medal of Honor is approved sparingly, and only one has been given out since Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

That award, to Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, was presented to Smith’s widow and two children by President Bush on April 4, 2005 — two years to the day after Smith’s death.

Smith was honored posthumously for his actions during the battle for the Baghdad airport in 2003, when he killed as many as 50 enemy fighters while helping wounded comrades to safety.

On Nov. 10, while speaking at the opening of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia, Bush announced that a second Medal of Honor would be awarded to Marine Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, who also used his body to smother a grenade and protect two of his fellow Marines.

Bush’s announcement came on what would have been Dunham’s 25th birthday, more than 2½ years after his death on April 14, 2004.

A date for the presentation ceremony has not yet been given.

According to the Army’s official Web site, “because of the need for accuracy the (Medal of Honor) recommendation process can take in excess of 18 months with intense scrutiny every step of the way.”

In McGinnis’ case, the recommendation has started with his company commander in 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, Capt. Michael Baka.

If approved, it would end with Congress.

Because of this, the award is often erroneously referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A Silver Star already has been awarded to McGinnis for his bravery, and even if he is eventually awarded the Medal of Honor, the Silver Star will stay on his record.

“In essence, he could receive two awards,” said Maj. Sean Ryan, public affairs officer for 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, which McGinnis’ unit currently falls under while deployed.

Ryan also said that if the Medal of Honor is not approved, it could be downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross.

Academe Shortchanges Conservatives

Most people already realize this, but it seems that no one really cares in the halls of Academe.

Professor Bauerlein brings it home.



Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University, has an interesting article in The Chronicle of Higher Education: "How Academe Shortchanges Conservative Thinking:"



The absence of conservative minds from the liberal-arts curriculum and
the off-campus ignorance of them — or worse, treatment of them as hired
hands — are standard features of intellectual life, and they are not
unrelated. When it comes to ideas and values, campuses remain the
foremost site of study, and the curriculum has a certifying effect. It
bears the duty of imparting ideas and writings essential to the
formation of thoughtful, informed individuals. The campus provides a
space in which that can happen, an occasion for learning — not for
advocating or using knowledge, but for acquiring and reflecting upon
it. The ideas included are deemed suitable for academic study, which is
to say they possess enough autonomy to be handled as part of an
intellectual tradition.

The division of campus discourse from public discourse has a
discrediting result. If a set of ideas and writings are missing in the
classroom but present in the marketplace or government, we tend to
explain them by their instrumental value. They owe their clout to their
usefulness to business or politics, the reasoning goes, not to
intellectual substance. If the university doesn't put those works and
ideas on the syllabus, they aren't subject to the free analysis and
contemplation that respectable works and ideas merit. When they crop up
off campus, then, they seem to have no independent validity, no import
separate from the interests they satisfy.

This is a disabling situation for conservative intellectuals. When a
distinctive intellectual identity emerged 100 years ago in France, it
did so as an adversarial one. People qualified as intellectuals by
acquiring knowledge through education and extending their expertise
into protest, rising above the blandishments of money and position to
represent higher things. What kept them honest and credible was,
precisely, their independence. What kept them authoritative was the
fact that they had developed their opinions in a disinterested setting.

Herein lies the plight of conservative intellectuals. They seek to
reflect upon the events of the day, but the ideas they draw upon are
ignored by professors and cheapened by liberal intellectuals. Count the
names Hayek, Russell Kirk, Irving Kristol, etc., on syllabi in courses
on "Culture Society." Tally how often, in left-of-center
periodicals, those names are linked to moneyed interests. The framing
is complete. Heralds of conservatism start and finish in the messy
realm of politics and finance, never rising into the temple of
reflection...

...The denial of legitimacy creates a distorted intellectual
environment, and everyone suffers. American society, not to mention
students, is poorly served when ideas in the public sphere don't
undergo conceptual, historical, and political analysis in the
classroom. Unfortunately, the curricular attention that conservative
minds and ideas actually gather is reflexive and shallow. It's not even
an adversarial relationship. It's barely any relationship at all.

















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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Another Cop Killer, Another Idiot University

Students 'Love' Cop Killer Honored at New York College









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Katherine Kersten: Suspicion about imams grows as terror links pile up

The "flying imams" are linked to terrorism.

Who'd have thunk it?




Katherine Kersten, Star Tribune

Last update: December 11, 2006 – 10:00 AM



The grounded imams incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International
Airport has been a public relations coup for the imams, their
supporters and their claims that the group's only suspicious activity
was saying evening prayers.

US
Airways continues to defend its crew's decision to pull the imams off a
plane last month, saying they took the seating configuration used by
9/11 hijackers, requested seat-belt extensions that could be used as
weapons and otherwise raised concerns.

Who are the parties involved here, who seem so interested in linking airport security with racial bigotry?

The
Council on American-Islamic Relations, the imams' legal representative,
is an organization that "we know has ties to terrorism," Sen. Charles
Schumer, D-N.Y., said in 2003. And the Muslim American Society, which
is also supporting the imams? It's the American arm of the Muslim
Brotherhood, according to the Chicago Tribune, which called it "the
world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group."

How
about Omar Shahin, the imams' spokesman and also president of the North
American Imams Federation? He is a native of Jordan, who says he became
a U.S. citizen in 2003. From 2000 to 2003, Shahin served as president
of Islamic Center of Tucson (ICT), that city's largest mosque.

Yep, racial profiling.

I like US Airways. The anti-terrorist airline!








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Thursday, December 07, 2006

Iraq Appease Squeeze







The New York Post slams the Iraq panel.



WASHINGTON - The Iraq Study Group report delivered to President Bush

yesterday contains 79 separate recommendations - but not one that

explains how American forces can defeat the terrorist insurgents, only

ways to bring the troops home.

Declaring the situation "grave and deteriorating," the

high-powered commission proposed the United States talk directly to

terror abettors Iran and Syria to get their cooperation, and commit to

removing U.S. combat troops in early 2008.





I think the Iraq panel is a joke as well.



What the fuck are they thinking? James Baker? That fuckin' nazi needs to go back under the rock he crawled out from under.




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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

New Blog

Here's my new blog.

I'll be bouncing between the two.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006