Semper Gratus!

Thanks to FReeperMedia’s tgslTakoma, we have on video Part 1 of the actions of those ‘peaceful’ anti-war protesters when they were confronted by Iraq war veterans at Saturday’s commie rally on the mall.

SEE: Peace loving Americans calling a wounded warrior a ‘killer’!

SEE: Compasionate liberals threaten to ‘get a gun’ to a veteran!

SEE: ‘Troop Support’ Moonbat Style!

Sorry to take so long, but here’s Part II

And finally Part III

Enjoy!

A must read post from Tantor of Conservative Propaganda in UFPJ March on Washington, Jan 27, 2007, from which I stole the pic above.

Josh and Mike Sparling will be on Hannity tonight, and on Fox & Friends tomorrow morning.

If any of you just heard Josh on Hannity’s radio show, here’s a link to pics and explanation about the guys who threatened to beat him up.

1/30 UPDATE: Here’s the link to the Fox&Friends video from this morning. It’s got a surprise ending!!!

While writing the 1-year anniversary AAR for FreeRepublic’s/Protest Warrior’s victory over the minions of darkness at Walter Reed, I ran across a couple of comments on the old thread that I really liked.

From freema’s comment at 1131:

When God created a United States Marine, it was into the sixth day of overtime. An angel appeared and said, “You’re having a lot of trouble with this one. What’s wrong with the standard model?”

And the Lord replied, “Have you seen the specs on this order? It has to be able to think independently, yet be able to take orders; have the qualities of both a military mind and a compassionate heart; be a leader of junior Marines and learn from seniors; run on black coffee; handle critical ops without a Military Procedure Manual; be able to manage a difficult subordinate, an irate supervisor and a demanding OIC; have the patience of a saint and six pairs of hands, not to mention the strength of three its size.” The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands - no way!”

And the Lord answered, “Don’t worry, we’ll make other Marines to help. Besides, it’s not the hands which are causing the problem. It’s the heart. It must swell with pride when other Marines do well, sustain the incredible hardship of combat, beat on soundly when it’s too tired to do so, and be strong enough to continue to carry on when he’s given all he’s had.”

“Lord,” said the angel touching the Lord’s sleeve gently, “Come to bed!”

“I can’t,” said the Lord. “I’m so close to creating something unique. Already I have one who can complete a 26-mile forced march with full pack, handle a 9mm and an M16 with astounding accuracy, conduct land navigation in the dark, and operate field communications.”

The angel circled the model of the Marine very slowly. “It’s too serious,” she sighed.

“But tough,” said the Lord excitedly, “You cannot imagine what this Marine can do or endure.”

“Can it feel?” asked the angel.

“Can it feel!” replied the Lord. “It loves the Corps and country like no other!”

Finally the angel bent over and ran her finger across the Marine’s cheek. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told you you’re trying to put too much into this model.”

“That’s not a leak,” said the Lord. “That’s a tear.”

“What’s it for?” asked the angel.

“It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, frustration, pain, loneliness and pride.”

“You’re a genius!” exclaimed the angel.

The Lord looked at her somberly and replied, “I didn’t put it there.”

TweetiePie sends “This one will touch your heart!”

Little Melissa comes home from first grade and tells her father that they learned about the history of Valentine’s Day. “Since Valentine’s Day is named after a Christian saint and we’re Jewish,” she asks, “will God get mad at me for giving someone a valentine?”

Melissa’s father thinks a bit, then says, “No, I don’t think God would get mad. Who do you want to give a valentine to?”

Osama Bin Laden,” she says.

“Why Osama Bin Laden?”, her father asks in shock.

“Well,” she says, “I thought that if a little American Jewish girl could have enough love to give Osama a valentine, he might start to think that maybe we’re not all bad, and maybe start loving people a little bit. And if other kids saw what I did and sent valentines to Osama, he’d love everyone a lot. And then he’d start going all over the place to tell everyone how much he loved them and how he didn’t hate anyone anymore.”

Her father’s heart swells and he looks at his daughter with newfound pride. “Melissa, that’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I know,” Melissa says, “and once that gets him out in the open, the Marines can kill the sonofabitch.”

From FOXNews comes a delightfully nauseating new poll in which 22% of all respondents said they would like to see the new Bush “surge” strategy fail. (See question #19 in the .pdf file at the link above.)

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?!

Do these idiots in the 22% think that we’re playing some kinda ball game? Do they not understand that REAL LIVES are on the line if we lose? Are they counting on using a ‘Mulligan’ when Hillary ‘Rotten’/Osama Obama take over the White House in 2 years? THERE ARE NO DAMN ‘DO OVERS’!!!!!

34% of Democrat respondents want the strategy to fail, but that’s not a surprising number for the Hate America First party. All of them need a good old fashioned ass whooping!

Also check out question #30 in which an astounding 50% of Democrats thought that losing the war in Iraq will have no effect on future terrorist attacks in the U.S., and fully 11% of these socialist nutjobs thought the terrorists would be more likely to just leave us alone!

Dream On! You !@#$%^&* panty-waisted fruitcakes!

Senator BowWow Boxer (D-CA) thought she was scoring political points by attempting to disqualify Dr. Coldoleeza Rice from doing her job as Secretary of State and one of President Bush’s most trusted advisors, because Dr. Rice doesn’t have a kid in the military.

“Who pays the price? I’m not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young,” Boxer said. “You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families.”

All this fuss and bother about who will suffer and take responsibility for the war in Iraq. Like Ms. BowWow has EVER taken responsibilty for ANYTHING in her public career? Don’t forget — being a Democrat means never having to say, “Oops, my bad!” Just blame it on someone else, preferably a Republican, Christian, Jew or member of the Military.

The Senator faced down criticism of her tacky words by proudly standing up on all four legs to reach her formidable height of 3′2″ and declared:

“I spoke the truth at the committee hearing, which is that neither Secretary Rice nor I have family members that will pay the price for this escalation. My point was to focus attention on our military families who continue to sacrifice because this Administration has not developed a political solution to the situation in Iraq.”

Yeah, OK. “Code Pink sucks donkey doodads!” Hey, I just spoke the truth, too! Just because something is true Ms. BowWow, doesn’t mean it should be interjected into an interrogation of an individual who is your intellectual superior.

From FreeRepublic, I swiped an open letter from a soldier who didn’t take kindly to Ms. BowWow and wishes the Hate America First crowd would just can it.

Listen here, everyone. I am WO1 Nathan Craig, U.S. Army. I’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan as an enlisted man. I was a medic and have seen first hand the cost of the wars in both countries. I am currently in training to be a helicopter pilot.

Let me get to the point. I have watched events since the President announced we would be sending more troops to Iraq. I am SICK of the people who disagree with the President ONLY for political gain. One female senator from California who claimed that the military and their families pay the price for deployment and the decisions of the President. That’s right. We ALL volunteered. We KNOW what could happen. DON’T USE US AS POLITICAL LEVERAGE!!!

And as for all of the “informed Americans” who answered in the latest polls that sending more troops to Iraq is wrong and that Congress should not fund it to “send a message to the President,” YOU SHUT THE FU&% UP, WE’LL DO THE FIGHTING!!!

Sorry if I came on a little too strong. I’ve just had enough of people who don’t know anything talking like they know everything.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

Which brings me to my point: a better question is Who Reaps the Benefit?

The answer is obvious to me. Everyone on the planet! Wonderfully brave people like WO1 Nathan Craig have volunteered to do the hard, dangerous, deadly work of sending Islamofacists to their maker while helping millions of people to rebuild their country and live better lives. That helps America and all other countries of the world by replacing an horrific regime with a peaceful, democratic one that will be a good neighbor and friend to us.

Of course my heart aches every time I read about another KIA. I hate the fact that so many awesome Americans and allies have been killed in this war on terrorists. I’m so very sorry for every service member who is struggling to learn how to use one or more prosthetics and is facing a long road to recovery from wounds suffered on the battlefields.

I also rejoice in the fact that the sacrifices have NOT BEEN IN VAIN! I believe in the mission and I know that the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and many more will reap the benefits of those who have paid the price for freedom. In turn, we will be the beneficiaries of a far better world where terrorism will no longer sit at the negotiating table sucking all the air out of the room.

God Bless Our All Volunteer U.S. Military!

President GW said that too many restrictions have been put on our Troops in their persuit of the terrorists in Iraq. He said, in effect, that the gloves are going to come off and we’re not going to be denied entry to any place in Iraq. Like Sadr City! Say good night, you fat terrorist f**k.

I was disappointed in the low number of troops being added to Al Anbar (4000?!?!), but I’m looking forward to seeing more of this plan. I get the feeling we’re not going to be playing patty-cake any more.

OORAH!

…One Iranian news agency with a correspondent in Irbil says five US helicopters were used to land troops on the roof of the Iranian consulate.

It reports that a number of vehicles cordoned off the streets around the building, while US soldiers warned the occupants in three different languages that they should surrender or be killed.

In December, US troops detained a number of Iranians in Iraq, including two with diplomatic immunity who were later released.

Thursday’s raid came as US President George W Bush unveiled his new strategy in Iraq, which included increasing troop numbers and a commitment to stop Iranian support for “our enemies in Iraq”.

I introduced this terrific lady when she wrote about the first time it rained in Iraq. Now she sent a wonderful look into a day in the life of a nurse in “this place”.

Twenty-four hours in my life here. To me it sems rather dull and routine. However, today I decided to record my happenings and was quite surprised to find that my “normal” day was rather abnormal. It was full of some awkward situations and also new observations. Maybe this happens everyday and I just haven’t noticed. I hope you enjoy and laugh a little, as I was laughing rereading what had gone on in just one day of my life here…

7 Jan 2007

0054- I am finally sitting in bed. I stayed after work to proctor a couple of the medics for their online course finals. I am exhausted and the thought of waking in 6 hours to go to church seems to me, at this point in time, an overwhelming task. Normally I am excited to go and play the piano for service; it is like meditation to me. After this week, all I want to do is sleep. Who am I kidding? After 9 months of this place, all I want to do is sleep.

Ok, lights out and time to power sleep. See ya when I wake.

0704- ARG!! Morning? I fought a little internally, but it looks like church has won in the end. So, I am going to go get presentable for the public. Oh, and I feel dehydrated, but there aren’t any bottles of water in the room which means I would have to go outside, down the stairs to the water point and grab a bundle of bottles. Yup, ain’t gonna happen right now, so I will go on being thirsty.

0718- Ran in to Tina when I was in the bathroom (yes, indoor plumbing!). Looks like we will be going to “Town” for lunch today. All that means is hoping a bus to Camp Victory to enjoy the best chow hall in the area. (Don’t worry Mom, it doesn’t really mean “town”.) I am really wishing I had time to take a shower right now, but I have to get out the door to church so I can practice with the Chappy for service. Grab my hymnal and it is out the door (but not before I reflect on the fact that hymnal sounds a lot like urinal… Come on, I am nurse, I can’t help it!)

0807- Church has started. I played #21- Come, Thou fount of every blessing. And I played it quite well considering I had been practicing #111 all week (oops).

0850- Service is over and it was very nice. I am glad I got out of bed after all. I closed with hymn #99- What a fellowship, what a joy divine. Then I played a couple of songs while everyone was leaving, and as the ICO translators started coming in to take over the building (we use the ICO building for our church services). One of the translators came up to listen to me play, and when I was finished he asked if all the songs from the book I was using were Christian. I explained that the songs use versus from the bible or are inspired by the bible, so yes, they are Christian songs. He said they were very pleasant and he enjoyed hearing music in this place (meaning the building).

0917- Found out there is a general coming to visit, so I have to go to the hospital at 1215. Lunch plans have been delayed, but I already took a gloriously refreshing shower and will now commence mandatory napping. Night night.

1200- Tina wakes me up from some outlandish dreaming just in time to get dressed and speed walk to the VIP gathering at the hospital. Joy…

1230- Still no general, so they release us to return to our daily activities. Tina and I think we still have a chance to get to Town, so we try to snab the First SGT’s vehicle without success. Howerver we are undeterred, and we go back to our rooms to freshen up, and plan to catch the bus.

1255- Made it to the front gate of our FOB where a kind SGT asks me “Hey LT, Where are your name tapes??” HUH?!! I look down to discover that I had grabbed the wrong top on my way out to catch the bus. Damn! No patches at all. That’s a no go…

1305- Ran back to the room and changed tops. Returned to the gate and made it through with minimal jokes. Now we are just sitting around waiting for the bus to take us to Town. I am also noting that we do indeed have time to go grab Subway cince the chow hall is closed. (failing to note that I have to be to work in 2 hours…

1420- Got carried away chit chatting and lost track of time… OOPS!!! Run to the bus stop.

1520- One agonizingly slow bus ride, plus the even more painful 20 min waiting for the 1440 bus in the first place, equals 20 min late to work. Ana points out to me “hey, no prob, we were just worried something had happened to you. You are never late. Dr. Pease wanted me to go alert the company commander!” Luckily, there are no patients at this time of the day anyways… OOPS!!!

2034- What a painfully uneventful shift… Boredom, lack of quality sleep and add to that the somewhat abnormal happenings of the day thus far, and I just want to go curl up on one of the trauma beds and take a nap… ARG! Cardiac patient just rolled in through the doors….

2126- So, just to add to today’s oddities, I want to point out that in the past I have said words like “slow” “quiet” and “bored” about a hundred times without anything happening (which everyone in the medical field knows you NEVER say those words because when you do, something curses you and you end up with a massive trauma and having to stay after work to catch up on all the paperwork). But not here. Sometimes we even joke that we will go create our own patients if they don’t come in on their own. However, today, I just write the word “bored” once and BAM! Not so bored now. Which reminds me, I have to go push another 5mg of Lopressor…

2310- The last few hours just flew by! Which were quite unlike the first 5 in which I checked my 4 email accounts at least 10 times, read a Vogue Magazine (yes, I actually read all of it), went on 5 second-hand smoking breaks, ate dinner and joked around with the guys. I am going to call my mom and dad now and see how they are doing.

2354- Enjoyed a 46 min conversation with my parents, but now I am beat. I am a mere 3 min walk to the barracks. That is all that stands between me and my beloved sleep. Well, that and dawning my flak vest and getting my weapon from the arm’s room. Better get to it, huh?

0020- Well, that is it. That was my day! I have brushed my teeth, washed my face and jumped into bed. I am but minutes from partaking in my favorite past time here: sleeping!!! It was a rather odd day, wasn’t it?? I had intended on writing about a “normal” day, but I suppose those really do not exist. I hope that I made you laugh at least, because that is all I did today as the events unfolded.

I thanked Tina for waking me from my really odd dreams, but then blamed her for not catching my uniform malfunction before we left the barracks. All we did was laugh, it was great. That was my day, all 24 hours of it. Now, sleep!

Greetings Everyone!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Holiday! Our Christmas was actually quite enjoyable! My girlfriends and I were full of cheer the hole day and into the night.

So, you maybe wondering what “Project Care and Share” means… Well, I am writing to see if any of you would be interested in helping out a really awesome program we have going here. We have many children accompany their family members when they are visiting their detained family members here.

So, one of our Captains started to collect toys and school supplies to give to them when they come. You can imagine what a strange this place must be for a child! It has been a great program, but still unorganized and not fulfilling its potential. Now, the program has been taken over by myself and another 1LT, and we are giving it all we have. We are reorganizing what we have, but would also like to take it to the next level.

If you are interested in helping we are looking for stuffed animals, and all sorts of school supplies. We hope to get backpacks (children’s) for both boys and girls, and fill them with color crayons, paper, coloring books, pencils, and even English children books for kindergarteners and first graders. We even give them sandals, gloves and sometimes coats, lotions, and candy.

Even if you just send something for one child, you will be impacting the life of one child in this place.

The supplies will come directly to me and go directly to the children when they come through the visitation center.

If you are interested, please contact me for more information! or just send whatever you would like to me. I am including my address below.

That is it for now from Iraq.

Stephanie

I’m not going to disclose her email or address on the blog, but I will more than happy to be the go-between for anyone interested in sending donations for “Project Care and Share”. Write me at GunnNutt at Sempergratus.com.

Fellow FReeper Tolerance Sucks Rocks gets credit for this find: Cato Experts Comment on Pelosi’s “First 100 Hours” Agenda

It’s so easy for Democrats and other socialists to come up with bumper-sticker slogans for their commie agenda items. Take minimum wage for example: “Everyone deserves to be paid a ‘living wage’ and anyone who opposes a hike in the minimum wage is an evil, greedy bastard.” But the reality of this false wage floor is hard to fit on the average car’s bumper. It can be explained in two paragraphs.

* 100 Hours: Raising the Minimum Wage

James A. Dorn, Cato’s vice president for academic affairs:

Contrary to the rhetoric, the people harmed the most by minimum-wage legislation are precisely those it is intended to help — the poor. The idea that legislators can help low-income workers simply by mandating a pay raise is the height of hubris. While the minimum-wage rhetoric may sound good, the reality is quite different. Forcing employers to pay low-skilled workers a higher than market wage — in the absence of any changes in productivity — will decrease the number of workers hired (the law of demand).

It would be much wiser to let workers and employers freely negotiate wages than to enact a minimum wage law that interferes with freedom of contract and prevents low-skilled workers from gaining the experience and work ethic necessary to achieve higher living standards. Increasing the minimum wage may give legislators great pride and win them votes, but it does not address the key issue of how to achieve economic growth and thus reduce poverty.

The people who work for minimum wage are mostly very young and inexperienced. Statistics show that the vast majority of this group earns at least a 10% raise within 6-10 months. The only reason one can conceivably be stuck in perpetuity at the bottom of the wage scale is incompetence! Anyone willing to work, be responsible, show up every day and put in an honest day’s work will quickly learn how NOT to be poor.

Next up is one of my pet peeves. It really burns me when I hear all this caterwalling about “Bush hates people with Parkinsons!” because he won’t throw good money after bad by increasing tax-payer funding for stem cell research.

* 100 Hours: Promoting Life-Saving Stem Cell Research

Sigrid Fry-Revere, the Cato Institute’s director of bioethics research:

Stem cell research would be better off without federal funding. History has shown that the government funding of medical research is bureaucratic, wasteful, and contentious. Government funding tends to slow down development, not speed it up. Put quite simply, politics gets in the way. Funds come and go with the political winds. The majority in Congress today might not be there tomorrow, and lawsuits can stall or prevent the distribution of funds — several lawsuits have already held up implementation of the California stem cell funding appropriations bill for two years. Finally, government funded research is a form of subsidy — tax payers are covering the initial research and development costs for treatments that potentially could bring pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies billions in profits without their having to take the financial risks usually associated with such developments. (emphasis mine)

If stem cell research were the be-all and end-all of life saving medicines, the pharmaceutical and biotech companies would be all over it. They wouldn’t wait for the Feds to come running with buckets of cash — unless they got wind that the cash was coming! Then they would all sit around the lab drinking lattes and playing Nintendo and insisting that they need larger and larger grants. Capitalism has created the best R&D the world has ever known and left to itself, will continue to churn out better and better cures for what ails ya.

This dovetails quite nicely with the next brainiac policy.

* 100 Hours: Requiring Medicare to Negotiate Lower Drug Prices

Michael Cannon, the Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies:

Pharmaceutical research saves lives. The Democrats propose to drive down prices for prescription drugs today even if it means there will be fewer new medicines tomorrow. The idea is to buy the votes of today’s seniors without tomorrow’s seniors catching wise.

Didn’t we learn in the 30’s that price and wage fixing is bad? When the government tells business owners that their products are too expensive and sets legal limits on prices, businesses fail. They try to paint pharmacuetical companies as horrible profiteers that drive people to ruin who need the drugs the most, when these same companies are the reason we are living longer and healthier lives. No credit is ever given to the remarkable breakthroughs and near miracles they have visited on nearly every one of us over the past decades. These companies can spend up to a half a billion dollars in R&D and the years of clinical trials necessary to push a new drug through the FDA. Isn’t it their right to try and recoup that investment so that they can use the profits to fund research on the next great drug?

There are a few more nuggets of knowledge in the CATO article. I highly recommend a visit over there.

From the Washington Times, Friday Dec. 29th Inside the Beltway by John McCaslin, comes this wonderful episode of patriotism and come-uppance from fearless FReeper Kristinn:

Only in Washington

Kristinn Taylor, president of the local Free Republic chapter, was walking through the concourse of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday afternoon when he spotted one of Saddam Hussein’s attorneys, Ramsey Clark, who was attorney general under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

“As we walked by each other in the uncrowded terminal, I made a slashing motion across my neck and said to him, ‘It’s too bad about Saddam,’ ” in reference to the deposed Iraqi tyrant’s failed judicial appeal to avert his death sentence.

At that point, he said, Mr. Clark “glanced back at me with a hangdog look and nodded his head in sad agreement.”

Mr. Clark last year explained in an op-ed essay in the Los Angeles Times why he was willing to defend Hussein. He acknowledged that a majority of the media were dismissive of him. “‘There goes Ramsey Clark again,’ they seemed to say. ‘Isn’t it a shame? He used to be attorney general of the United States and now look at what he’s doing.’”

He’s not deterred. “The United States, and the Bush administration in particular, engineered the demonization of Hussein, and it has a clear political interest in his conviction,” he wrote. “Obviously, a fair trial of Hussein will be difficult to ensure — and critically important to the future of democracy in Iraq. This trial will write history, affect the course of violence around the world and have an impact on hopes for reconciliation within Iraq.” Meanwhile, in Baghdad, the hangman is testing his noose.

What the article didn’t pick up was the other offering of condolence Kristinn proffered:

“I told him, ‘I hoped Saddam goes to hell–and you too for that matter.‘ As much as I wanted to tell him off full blast, the concourse was not the right place to do that.”

What fun!!! And Saddam was offed just Friday evening!!