Saturday Morning News & Notes

Back to writing on this blog thingy. It's been a while. Going from writing every day for ten years to not writing at all was weird but I needed the break. Plus, Facebook is a fire hose where this blog is a minor drip when it comes to eyeballs seeing what I write. Back in the halcyon days of the Bush years and the early Obama years, bloggers were getting massive hits and linking to others. That's slowed a bit but I never wrote here for recognition, I wrote here for myself and a few friends.

Here's what's new in this crazy world where the Cubs won the World Series, Trump won the election and the 76'ers are...well, they are still losing so that one didn't quite fit.

-The bitter losers on the left are back to their assassination fantasies. Like the Bush years, they seem to think that posting about killing Trump passes for intellectually stimulating material. The left is in full freak out mode but are too stupid to actually look and see who is to blame for Trump winning. They don't blame Hillary, they don't blame Obama and they don't blame the establishment that has allowed the world to get to the point it currently is at. Their anger is at a businessman whom they believe to be racist but can point to no examples except what they believe he said about Mexicans. I seem to recall that many over on that side were convinced that racists would try to kill Obama. It never happened but I sure hope the Secret Service is on their toes now with Trump in office.

-Liberals continue to show their collective intolerance. This is going to get much, much worse.

-I fear for our future. The University of Pennsylvania had safe spaces for students upset Trump won that included, well: 

"For the most part, students just hung out and ate snacks and made small talk," Tancredi told The College Fix. "Of course, that was in addition to coloring and playing with the animals."

-One would hope that people would realize just how childish they're acting but I really think that will not be the case.

-This may be the greatest benefit of a Trump win--watching Pelosi grovel for support. Remember when she said that we have to pass the bill in order to see what's in it? Those of us paying attention were appalled that the sitting Speaker of the House was being so opaque about a bill effecting 1/6 of the economy. I think we were called racist and anti-woman for commenting on it, I can't recall but it seems about right since i was called racist every single day back then.

-If Trump makes General Mattis or some other patriot the Secretary of Defense, the US military will be even greater than it is and the treatment of vets will be in line with the agreement we made with the government.

-Oh yeah, Hillary blames her loss on the media. When you stop laughing you can read about it here.

Obama Admin Skewed Intel to Make ISIS Seem Less Potent

This is the latest in the series If Republicans Did This They'd Be In Jail. 

I'm sure most of you recall that Democrats and the media (redundant, I know) were all over W. Bush after 9/11 for an ambiguous briefing about Osama bin-Laden and his plans to attack the US that was briefed to the former president just prior to the WTC attacks. HE KNEW! they screamed and were adamant that he was going to suffer for this catastrophic failure in intel gathering. They seemed extremely worked up that the president hadn't acted in time to stop the plot.

Fast forward to today and the administration of Obama. As of 2014, Obama missed half of his daily briefings, which are a rundown of events throughout the world and the potential effect on the US. They are easily the most important part of the presidents day...or were until now. Perhaps this is why he called ISIS the "jayvee team" not so long ago--but I digress. The PDB is critical in the decision making process for any president and Obama flat out ignored a large part of them.

Now we may know why; he was fudging the intel to make ISIS seem less aggressive and successful:

At issue is whether analysts at Central Command, which oversees U.S. Department of Defenseoperations in the Middle East, altered assessments of the campaign against ISIS to make it appear as though the United States and Western partners were making more progress than they really were, at least according to claims from a whistleblower assigned to Centcom.The inquiry, which started in September, has grown to include congressional investigations, including the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees. The chairmen of both committees are also forming a task force in the "near future" to investigate allegations of intelligence manipulation, aides with both panels confirmed.

As a vet and a guy with a bunch of ex-military and active duty friends, I find it extremely hard to believe that the military took it upon themselves to skew intel lowering the threat of ISIS. The military may sometimes indulge intel to make a threat seem greater so they can get more funding, training and weaponry. They never, ever would knowingly make the threat seem less than it is. That means they were forced to do so or are the scapegoats for Obama. I'm inclined to believe the latter but the former is possible because the senior leadership in the military is immensely more political than even 8 years ago. But no, I'm pretty sure it was Obama through Valerie Jarrett or his staff who tamped down the information that would make their boss look bad. If the intel showed massive gains by ISIS, Obama would have to act and he does not want to act. To act would mean he would have to make a decision and take action and the former "Senator Present" hates to make decisions that protect America.

This is not shocking nor is it surprising but it sure will be interesting to see just how this shakes out. Obama threw the military under the bus and other low level staffers but if there's any proof of it being someone higher up, the public will be out for a senior scalp. Unfortunately it will not be Obama since the bucks stops anywhere but on his desk.

Why Do We Ignore Pedophilia in Afghanistan?

One of the dirty secrets the media will never cover is the horrific tradition of Afghani's--especially the Pashtun--sexually abusing little boys. Here's some background:

For centuries, Afghan men have taken boys, roughly 9 to 15 years old, as lovers. Some research suggests that half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz, the term for an older man with a boy lover. Literally it means "boy player." The men like to boast about it. "Having a boy has become a custom for us," Enayatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province, told a Reuters reporter. "Whoever wants to show off should have a boy." 

...In Kandahar, population about 500,000, and other towns, dance parties are a popular, often weekly, pastime. Young boys dress up as girls, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home. A recent State Department report called "dancing boys" a "widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape." 

...Sociologists and anthropologists say the problem results from perverse interpretation of Islamic law. Women are simply unapproachable. Afghan men cannot talk to an unrelated woman until after proposing marriage. Before then, they can't even look at a woman, except perhaps her feet. Otherwise she is covered, head to ankle."How can you fall in love if you can't see her face," 29-year-old Mohammed Daud told reporters. "We can see the boys, so we can tell which are beautiful."

Excuse me while I puke.

One US Special Forces soldier had seen enough and decided that he had seen enough of this vile practice and took matters into his own hands. It didn't end well for him because the Army brass is thoroughly neutered:

Martland had faced internal reprimand dating back to a September 2011 encounter, involving him and team leader Capt. Daniel Quinn, and local police commander Abdul Rahman in Kunduz Province. 

According to accounts from both Martland and Quinn, an interpreter came to them saying a boy claimed he was "tied to a post in Rahman's house and was raped repeatedly” for days. The two confronted the commander, who apparently confessed but “laughed it off.” 

They roughed him up. According to Martland, Quinn “picked him up and threw him” while Martland body-slammed him. But according to them, the commander was never knocked out and ran away from the camp.

I give Rep. Duncan Hunter credit for keeping after this, he's an great supporter of vets. watch the video of the interview with Hunter at the link.

Martland did what any moral American would do when seeing a child raped. The DoD is disgraceful in their pursuit and discharge of this hero.

How can we maintain the integrity of our military when elite soldiers are reprimanded and punished simply because they did what should be done by every single person within the military? Screw the politics of the situation and keep it off base. Or better yet, do not let any Afghans within the confines of our bases. There's been numerous cases of them turning on our men and women and killing them, why not use the child rape as an excuse to ban them from bases? Because the Army and other branches are politicized by the most political president in our history and do not have the guts to say enough.

here's to hoping Martland get re-instated.

(Note: I'm having some issues with block quotes, sorry for the inconvenience)

I Say We Oblige Nidal hassan

Nidal Hassan is a coward. He armed himself and shot numerous fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas. They were not armed and he knew it would be easy pickings. In short, it was an act of terror even though Obama and his cronies dubbed it "work place violence". Workplace violence to me is when someone doesn't get a promotion or gets fired and loses it because of that. Terrorism is when a pig like Hassan screams "Allahu akhbar" and intentionally kills US soldiers.

So now Hassan wants to be a citizen of ISIS. I say we oblige him. Follow me here. I say we wait until we can locate and terminate ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and spread the rumor that we located him through a contact set up by Hassan. We say Hassan turned and was working with us surreptitiously and his contacts allowed us to find the ISIS main man and eliminate him. Then we set Hassan free in northern Iraq and let them welcome him to the caliphate.

Now that is one beheading video I'd watch in its entirety.

Saturday Morning News & Notes

Morning y'all.

-Nancy Pelosi says she doesn't want to be Speaker again. That's great because no one wants her to be Speaker again plus the Dems are not taking back the House

-Yes, Obama call the US military "my military". Unless you served sir, you have no right to call them your anything. Ours would be better but would then sound inclusive of liberals and they hate the military.


-LET ALLAH SORT IT OUT 

“So we’re bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And I’m the idiot?” - Sarah Palin

-I meant to post this last week. An Obama Organizing for America global warming event drew exactly zero people. That seems to be the norm for OFA events. 

-The Brits are rightfully pissed at Obama and by extension the entire US. This is not good news as they have one of the best intelligence operations in the world. We are dissing our respected ally for France whom is only our friends when it serves their interests and is downright hostile when our aims do not. 

-WTF is going on at the Washington Post? 

-Col. Ralph Peters (R) on the non-strategy with regard to Syria. 

Monday Night News & Notes

At least in two weeks we'll have MNF to make our Mondays a little better. And it kicks off with the Eagles versus the hated Skins.

Anyway, here's what is new in this crazy-ass world:

-The media is playing lapdog to Obama again over his "red line" comments. Here's what Obama actually said:

“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized,” the president said a year ago last week. “That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”

Yes, there's definitely wiggle room there and Obama used the typical mealy-mouthed bullshit we always hear from him when it comes to acting tough. Indeed, he never did say what his actions would be and he did use the weaselly "bunch of chemical weapons", which could be one time using enough to kill a thousand or ten times killing a hundred...either way, a thousand are dead. But anyone who follows the Arab media through sites like MEMRI know damn well that it was interpreted on al-Jazeera and every other middle eastern station that Obama made a threat, Assad disregarded what Obama said and gave him the finger. Obama now needs ABC to cover his ass. Except no one in the Arab world will read that and everyone will think Obama is backing down and got punked.  That will lead to us looking weak and further attacks as any weakness in the part of the world where tribal rules still take precedence is a sign to make your move.

-For crying out loud, legalize it already. When half the country is on government assistance and many can't find a full-time job, worrying about whether or not someone is blowing a blunt seems superfluous.

-Dude, what the fuck was up with Miley Cyrus? I mean, bears, her horrid voice, her twerking, her ridiculous dancing, her outfit, her hair, her tongue? I don't even know where to begin. Dude, if she was even remotely good looking, I may give her a pass on some of it (because, I'm feel, a guy) but that shit was just embarrassing. Actually, the whole VMA's are a joke. 

-But at least we have proof that all young people mindless idiots. Some are heroes and these are the ones we should be talking about. Army Staff Sergeant Ty Carter received the MOH today. Thanks to heroes like this man we can be proud of who we are. Who is this man who "sucked at being a civilian"? Watch this:



-James O'Keefe is relentless. The new media is awesome when it gets former US Attorney's to lose their friggin minds.

-Is the IRS targeting the American Legion? It appears that way. Liberals hate anything that's good about America.

The Debt Can Never Be Repaid

Throughout American history some very special people do this:

And go through this:

And get ordered to here:

Or here:

Or here:

Or here:

So that people like this:

And this:

And this:

And this:


Can speak freely.

 Some gave some:

Some gave all:

So that this:

Remains free.

Some appreciate it:

Some don't:

But still we do it because freedom isn't free and you have the right to say what you wish because of people like us veterans. The freedom you share with your family, friends and other Americans was secured by brave men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect a nation and a belief that freedom to choose ones leaders and pursue ones goals is a God-given right that is sacred and must be protected.

Say a prayer for those who fought and died to secure your freedom over the last 250-years. That's not asking too much, is it? American freedom was secured by the blood of patriots in places like Trenton and Cowpens, kept free in places like Gettysburg and Antietam and further protected in places like Bastogne, Okinawa, Hanoi, Mogadishu, Fallujah and Tora-Bora.

We ask nothing but that you remember and as a son and brother of a veteran and being one myself I see it as little sacrifice on your part to take five minutes to reflect on what so many great men and women have given to protect you and you loved ones.

So please give to organizations like this:

Or this:

 God Bless America:

Obama Pisses on the Military Again

There's no other way to frame this but a deep disdain for the military and deference to his big government ideology:

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.

The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention.

The proposed increases in health care payments by service members, which must be approved by Congress, are part of the Pentagon’s $487 billion cut in spending. It seeks to save $1.8 billion from the Tricare medical system in the fiscal 2013 budget, and $12.9 billion by 2017.

Many in Congress are opposing the proposed changes, which would require the passage of new legislation before being put in place.

Many people in the military would be considered the working poor if they weren't in uniform but Obama doesn't give a damn about them.

Words kind of fail me at this point but I will say that we will see good men and women leave the military because Obama is sticking to his beliefs on Obamacare. This is a a political ad waiting to be played over and over.

Act of Valor Celebrates Those of Us Who Served & Gives Critics the Finger

We've all seen you basic war movie of the last twenty years. I'll use Platoon as an example. Soldiers go to war, the majority are either illiterate morons, blood thirsty killers or the one star who is conflicted about his countries participation or the actions the fighting force is taking. There's always the underlying theme that America is bad. The only two movies that even remotely got away from that are Battle: Los Angeles and the Hurt Locker. Think of every war movie you've seen since the 80's--Apocalypse Now, Jarhead, Three Kings, the horrific Navy SEALs fiasco and on and on. The military is painted in a bad light and the combatants are cast as unwilling dupes.

Not Act of Valor. This movie stars the real men who have seen death and lived to tell about through training, smarts and camaraderie. These men, like most who enlist or accept a commission believe in America and believe they owe this nation something. I joined for that reason and so did my brother and my Dad. I have a friend I've known since childhood who was a SEAL and still works protecting our country.

Watch the trailer and tell me it's not worth seeing just to give the libs in Hollywood bad case of acid reflux.

The story is fiction based on fact. Real missions of the the Navy SEALs--the most elite special warfare group in the world--as acted by the men who actually planned, executed and survived them. This is not Charlie Sheen playing someone whose ass he couldn't wipe in real life. This isn't Tom Cruise putting on a flight suit and riding his cycle down a runway. No, this is a story of guys--some immigrants--who see America as a beacon for the world. They wear the uniform with pride and will do anything for the man beside them in battle. They are the tip of the spear for US military operations and that spear many times gets thrust into a raging hornets nest but they go anyway because the mission is greater then themselves.

These men are family men, not the beer-swilling idiots they are often portrayed to be in your typical Hollywood production. They care about family, their brothers in arms and country. These believes are so alien to liberals as a whole and Hollywood in particular that they can't comprehend what they are seeing and can't understand why this movie led in box office receipts at a small amount of theaters. They will never grasp the fact that five minutes after the movie was over, the entire audience sat stunned and didn't speak, cheer or clap but just admired what these men do on a regular basis.

This movie was what you would expect from the trailer, a portrayal of men finely trained doing what they do best played by men who do it. Liberal critics have panned it and they have a right to their opinion because that's another thing us in the vets or active duty military joined to protect--their right to write or think whatever they want. This is real, these men will take out an enemy without a second thought because they are the bad guys--a concept that liberals can never understand. They will pop a dude in the head from 400-yards because the mission calls for it--no equivocation.

Besides, those very people who heap disdain on the military or this movie will be happy when men like the SEALs in the movie are called upon to rescue them or someone they love. Most vets don't want your praise and really don't care about the scorn they receive from guys whose greatest fear is not getting a table at the new hip restaurant or whose most dangerous moment was when they had to give their masters oral exam. No, they couldn't care less about those people. They care about the idea of America and those who make us great. They care even more about those who wish Americans harm and will give their lives to ensure that it doesn't happen.

Go see this movie and tell me I'm wrong.

Here's to hoping they make an entire series of these with active duty Delta guys, Rangers, submariners, pilots and tank jockeys. And to our special forces who have been more active since 9/11 then damn near anyone, I wish to say thank you for your service.

I'll be called simple-minded and unable to see the nuance in every situation and that is fine. I can live without being thought of as smart and intellectual by people who live in ivory towers and piss on those of us who gave up long periods of time being with our loved ones and in some cases our lives. I see no issue in exterminating those who want to kill millions and will never blame those who have the balls and ability to do it. They are the ones who protect the American dream and allow some hyper-educated, yet moronic writer to condemn them. They and I really don't give a damn what you think but have put our lives on the line (and some lost theirs) for your right to say it.

Allen West Sets MSM Straight on Marine Incident

The video of a few Marines pissing on dead Taliban has got the media in full Abu Ghraib mode. Any story that makes the military look bad is, in the eyes of our media betters, a story that deserves to be reported continuously.

This story has it all: hung-ho Marines demeaning the dead they killed and acting all macho, Americans acting like animals and video of the entire episode to boot. It's a media wet dream.

But Lt. Col. Allen West is having none of it and puts it in the proper perspective:

“I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?

“The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.

“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

Amen to that, sir.

Yes, these Marines were wrong and deserve to be punished under military law. Instead, the MSM is firing up the Taliban by harping on this incident but refuse to report on the stonings of women and child rape by the Taliban because it doesn't want to incite them. Like the false reporting by Newsweek (a story that even the most simple minded journalist should have known was impossible) claiming a Koran was flushed down the toilet, the media never miss an opportunity to slam those who only wish to protect us.

For those who wish to know how bad fighting is in the war in Afghanistan, watch Sebastian Junger's documentary Restrepo and you'll get an idea of just why Rep. West is exactly right in his assessment.

30 Americans Killed in Taliban Chopper Attack

Horrible.

The details are sketchy even a day later but 30 servicemen were killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down by what is claimed to be an RPG. Most were members of the vaunted Seal Team 6 that took out bin-Laden a few months back:

The death toll would surpass the worst single day loss of life for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 -- the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province. In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Three of the SEALs being rescued were also killed and the fourth wounded. It was the highest one-day death toll for the Navy Special Warfare personnel since World War II.

The Taliban claimed they downed the helicopter with rocket fire while it was taking part in a raid on a house where insurgents were gathered in the province of Wardak late Friday. It said wreckage of the craft was strewn at the scene. A senior U.S. administration official in Washington said the craft was apparently shot down by insurgents. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the crash is still being investigated.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan...

Despite the fact that President Obama is taking credit for the Iraq victory, he seems pretty quiet when it comes to discussing the war he did support. Perhaps this is why:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- U.S. forces lost 22 soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly to roadside bombs, since Friday, marking a bloody step-up in the insurgency as a major U.S.-led offensive seeks to capture the spiritual homeland of the Taliban movement in Kandahar.

The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said it is gaining ground against the insurgents, but violence is rising across the country, including in areas that were considered relatively safe.

Five more U.S. soldiers were killed Tuesday, while three Afghan workers for the British charity Oxfam were killed by a roadside bomb in Badakhshan, which had been one of the safer places in the country.

The coalition says that casualties are rising as they push against the strongholds of the Taliban in the south and the allied Haqqani network in the east. The majority of casualties - 60 percent - this year and in 2009 came from improvised explosive devices planted on roads and paths.

U.S. and Afghan forces are expected to begin soon an offensive in Zhari and Panjwai, southwest of Kandahar city, the last part of operation "Hamkari," to secure and stabilize Kandahar province. Mullah Omar started the Taliban movement in this area in 1994, and it conquered much of the country in the two years that followed.

Of the 22 American losses since Friday, 17 were the result of IEDs, according to figures provided by the ISAF. In that period, only one non-American coalition soldier was killed.

We are roughly at an equivalent point to that in which Bush ordered the surge. The difference is that the media played up every single death as one in which Bush was solely responsible and Bush kept his faith in our troops when a lesser man would have crumbled. Obama has faced nothing even close to the daily haranguing Bush did because the media are protecting like they've always done. There is no giddy countdown to death number 1000 or death number 3000 like here was in the Iraq war. Instead, there's the death of another 22 that are downplayed for political reasons to protect their favorite while the families of those who died grieve. Are these heroes not as important as those who died in Fallujah or Baghdad? Of course they are to those who are sane but not to media and many in the Obama administration where they are essentially a daily distraction from the important issues like winning in November and setting up a healthcare bureaucracy. Priorities you know.

This is the war we have to win and is at a critical point. You wouldn't know that judging by the amount of time the media has covered it because it's simply an inconvenient issue and makes their favored guy look bad.

Sadly, they are robbing the glory from those who are shedding the blood for us. Ernie Pyle must be turning in his grave.

Israeli Soldiers, Pro-Palestinian Rioters Clash in Flotilla Raid

10 dead at this point but it will surely be more.

The background is that a Turkish boat loaded with pro-Palestinian activists tried to run the blockade Israel has enforced in hopes of reducing the daily attacks they've suffered. The IDF attempted to land soldiers aboard the boat and expected little if any resistance. They were wrong as the rioters attacked the soldiers before the could land using slingshots, guns, firebombs and metal poles.

The IDF reportedly had strict rules against the use of force but the soldiers felt they were in great jeopardy and resorted to using handguns to fend off the rioters.

Here's video released by the IDF just a few hours ago that backs up their version of events. The soulless lefties are slamming Israel of course and calling the Turkish fighters "peace activists" or just plain "activist's" instead of trained thugs trying to help a terrorist regime.

Memorial Day Thoughts

On this Memorial Day while we are still fighting two wars, I ask for you to take a second and think of those who gave everything for this great nation. From those who fought and died at Cowpens during the American Revolution, through those who died on both sides during the Civil War, on to those who were mortally wounded in WWI and their sons who breached the Atlantic Wall on D-Day in Europe or fought and died on Okinawa. Don't forget the more recent warriors who passed in Vietnam, Gulf War I, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

They all deserve out utmost respect and gratitude. They fought when others sought deferments. They carried the burden of freedom, won hard victories and suffered grueling defeats. They were our best and brightest, be it the ditch diggers son from Alabama, the son of a doctor from Montana, the street kid from Newark, the surfer from California, the orphan from Baltimore or the football player from from Arizona. They knew what could happen and they fought and died anyway because they believed in the American spirit and they believed in the exceptionalism of this great nation.

My deepest regards to all those who've lost their lives in our nations' battles. My condolences to their families and friends as well.

So take a second while drinking that cold beer and remember those who aren't coming back.

Here's a story about one who didn't have to fight but did.

Rest in Peace Lance Corporal Jeremy Kane

Jeremy Kane lived one town away from me. I never met him but I feel like I knew him. Jeremy Kane is no longer with us but he is one of my heroes:

At 13, Jeremy Kane was deeply affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. The event shaped his life, and led him to a fateful choice.

"He knew he had to do something for his country, and that was join the military," said his mother, Melinda, of Cherry Hill. "He wanted to serve."

To drive home the point, Kane joined the Marine Corps on Sept. 11, 2006, during his freshman year at Rutgers University and served as a reservist.

On Saturday, three months into his deployment in Afghanistan, the 22-year-old lance corporal was killed when a suicide bomber attacked his unit in Helmand Province.

This hits home because my own son is 13. What if 9/11 had occurred today and he had to experience the tension, horror and disbelief we all did that day? Jeremy Kane was affected and that affectation lasted to the point where he joined the Marines. He didn't have to, he wanted to because he thought it was the right thing to do for his country. I did the same and can understand what he felt.

Mr. Kane's father was a pathologist and he went to a good high school and college. He could've have let someone else join and could have rationalized it a million different ways. He chose not to let someone else fight but to do it himself.

I leave you with the words of his mother:

"I want people to know that this was someone from Cherry Hill," she said. "He had options, and this was his choice.

And thank God for people like him. Yes, he's one of thousands who have pay the ultimate price to defend our freedom and they are all heroes. Mr. Kane knew the risks and enlisted anyway because he's a true American who knew what this nation is about and it's about people like him defending people who don't.

Thank you Lance Corporal Kane and Semper Fi.

The Continuing Incompetence of the UN

In the immediate hours after the devastating earthquake struck in Port-au-Prince, I paid close attention to how things ramped up and where the first response would come from. I knew the answer but thought maybe, just this once, the UN would actually live up to what their responsibilities. I was wrong of course.

The US military was put on alert and the USS Carl Vinson was dispatched to the region. The Marines and Army were tasked with the job of securing the airport so that relief flights could begin and the Air Force begin shipping supplies as soon as they could load. them. President Obama ordered a quick response and our men and women did what they've always done; left their families to help those in need.

NGO's such as Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross ramped up fund raising efforts to meet the costs and demands and urban search and rescue teams from cities such as New York were organized and sent to assist in rescue efforts. Church groups who do the grunt work mobilized with hands-on assistance and money to alleviate what suffering they could.

While all this was happening, not once did I hear the letters UN muttered or see a single blue helmet on the streets of Haiti. All I've heard is the UN telling the US they want more when they themselves have had a presence on the island for decades and things have gotten progressively worse. Ban Ki-moon is going today and will only get in the way much as Hillary Clinton has done with her ill-advised photo-op. I say to them; take a step back and let the professionals handle it.

We are starting to see a response from other nearby nations whose communist leaders are hailed by American leftists such as Castro and Chavez but nothing that could rival what we do. Where for that matter are the Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia who not long ago suffered a catastrophe on the same scale?

It's always Americans--our people, corporations and military--who respond without thinking twice. They give knowing that we can make a difference where no other nation can. It's events like this that just increase my level of pride in this nation and assuage the recently declining notion feeling that we are a country that is exceptional.

Accountability Sorely Lacking in the Oval Office

Harry Truman once had a sign on his desk that read "the buck stops here". Oh how the Democrats have changed in the last half-century plus.

The current Dem in the oval-shaped executive suite is the antithesis of what Truman embodied. Truman faced the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American service people and ordered the Enola Gay to drop a nuke than ordered another drop soon thereafter. Obama spent months letting our military suffer from a lack of troops while he debated what to do. He then ordered those troops into place but put a price on their heads by showing he's not going to let them win.

Truman was shown up by MacArthur and he promptly fired the enormously popular general (and then called him a "dumb son of a bitch" to boot). Obama has been shown up by an McChrystal, embarrassed by Geithner and Napolitano, put in danger by Desiree Rogers who allowed what is now known to be three people into the White House during a state dinner and pretty much let down by everyone he selected to serve him. He's fired no one. He did fire Greg Craig but that was because Craig went against Obama's liberal tendencies in closing Gitmo, not for incompetence.

How bad is it? So bad that Sally Quinn is actually calling him out. She gets it wrong but baby steps my friends, baby steps:

One of the first lessons any administration needs to learn is that somebody has to take the hit for whatever goes wrong. If another culprit is not identified, the president gets the blame. One incident after another in the past few months has shown that members of this administration would rather lay low and let Barack Obama be the target. This has got to stop.

No, they don't lay low on their own, Obama orders them to lay low, says there's nothing wrong, let's things simmer than admits that yes, there were mistakes made but let's let bygones be bygones. Note this example from today whereby Napolitano made a statement about "the system" having "worked" in the case of the would-be Nigerian suicide bomber that should have had her on the first plane back to Arizona.

The One is soft and everyone knows it. Our Enemies, Allies, those on the periphery and the American people know that it's true. American's don't like wimps and they are realizing with shock that we in fact elected one.

Is Obama Allowing SEAL's to be Tried Because They Did Their Job?

At first blush it appears so. Granted, this is hearsay but the guy is a former special forces guy with an ear still in the community.

Here's the story:

Earlier this week, news broke that three Navy SEALs were charged and may be court-martialed for allegedly punching a prisoner. The prisoner, a high-value target (HVT) was turned over to authorities with a bloody lip.

According to a source of mine — a retired SEAL who like myself still serves in other capacities — the feeling going around the Special Operations community at Fort Bragg is that this latest development is a kneejerk reaction to the situation a couple months ago when SEAL operators rescued Captain Phillips – Captain of the Maersk Alabama – off the coast of Somalia.

...The truth of the situation was that the SEALs were held off from infiltrating the AO (Area of Operations) for over 36 hours. There was a lot of resistance from the White House in letting them in theater in the first place; once they were in place they were given very restrictive ROE (Rules Of Engagement); so restrictive that they really couldn’t engage their targets. There were two previous opportunities to rescue Captain Phillips, and they were not allowed to engage their targets.

When they finally did execute, they did so by liberally interpreting the ROE; the onsite commander finally had enough with the situation and gave them a weapons-free command and they were able to engage and rescue Captain Phillips. The fallout from the National Command Authority was immediate and extremely unpleasant; the White House did not want the rescue to be conducted in the way that it was.

So the word on the street is that this latest development is payback for the SEALs violating the ROE in rescuing the captain of the Maersk Alabama. The Chain of Command is asserting itself, letting everybody know what’s going to happen to you if you don’t follow orders.

I'm a former sailor and as such know that following orders is critical to a strong military apparatus. That said, I've not been in a critical situation that required split-second timing and rapid decisions in a situation that someones life was at stake. The ROE's have to be liberal to allow commanders with eyes on to make good decisions and weigh options.

If this is true, Obama will lose a military he's about to get deeper into a conflict that he's been wavering on for months. Nothing will dismay and deflate the armed forces more than a CinC who not only hates the military but doesn't understand them and can't make a decision. Add to that the fact that you may be brought up on charges for making decisions that not only were right but resulted in the elimination of a pirate and the rescue of an American. I was in during the Clinton years and can tell you he was hated by NCO's like me.

Please read the entire post and others at the site.

Obama Cedes to McChrystal; Will Send 40,000 Troops to Af/Pak

Credit where it's due: Obama apparently agreed to trust his general and send the troops needed to win a war that was under control a year ago but has spiraled since:

(CBS) Tonight, after months of conferences with top advisors, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more troops and plans to keep a large force there, long term.

The president still has more meetings scheduled on Afghanistan, but informed sources tell CBS News he intends to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal most, if not all, the additional troops he is asking for.

McChrystal wanted 40,000 and the president has tentatively decided to send four combat brigades plus thousands more support troops. A senior officer says "that's close to what [McChrystal] asked for." All the president's military advisers have recommended sending more troops.

Obama had to have thoughts of LBJ going through his brain but he has got to learn that we developed strategies in Iraq that can work well in Afghanistan. If he just gives our boys and girls what they need, they will prevail. Bush authorized The Surge when things were bleak and the country was wary of the war and it worked out better than even I dared hope. Is McChrystal of the same caliber of Petraeus? We shall see but I have faith in our troops and given strength and firepower, they will prevail.

This is a bold move by Obama and one that may end up sinking his hopes for a second term but it was the right one. I suspect the Veterans for Peace-type radicals will hold off...for now. The difference between LBJ and Obama is there was a draft when he committed the troops. Should the death count increase, things could change dramatically. Here's to hoping we can succeed at the cost of very few casualties.

Godspeed to my brothers and sisters there or on their way.

Exit question: Would Rangel still support a draft?

Saturday Morning News & Notes

The Phillies dropped a tough one last night when the always reliable Chase Utley couldn't make a throw on a crucial double play. Utley--in his typical style that endears him to Philly--said there was no excuse, he just made a bad throw. They won one and own home field advantage coming back home so it's all good.

Here's what's happening in the world:

-The communist side of the liberal spectrum is pissed at the socialist side and they are hissing and spitting like feral cats. I for one am enjoying it immensely as it precludes them from pushing their horrid agenda.

-Putting a dress on a pig: The WaPo puts a happy spin on an economy that is on life support:

Still, the figure represents a significant improvement over the darkest deficit projections, which had been as much as $400 billion higher earlier this year, when the economy was wallowing in recession. Since then, the outlook has brightened and a government bailout has successfully stabilized the nation's troubled financial sector. In a report released Friday, Treasury Department officials said the government had spent $132 billion less than expected in August, due primarily to a drop in anticipated spending on the banking bailout.

Er, exactly when was the nation's troubled financial sector "stabilized?"

-Obama threatens to destroy the insurance agency again. It's the "Chicago Way". An industry that has created millions of jobs and only reaps about 3% in profits is overtly being warned by a sitting president and a nation sits on its collective hands.

-California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa takes on the entrenched Democratic establishment.

-Newly minted Nobel Laureate allows our troops to die because he can't make the hard decisions required by the CinC. Obama said this was the right war and since his inauguration has done nothing but hamper the efforts of our brave men and women. They deserve more than that. These heroes and patriots, as well as those of other nations continue to die while their commander doesn't seem to care because dancing with Latina singers and berating the insurance industry is much more important than the lives of men like Specialist Justin Gallegos or the hundreds of others who've died while fighting against al-Qaeda.

-Local firefighter suspended for refusing to remove and American flag sticker from his locker. Can't have any jingoistic patriots in our midst in this new, improved Obamanation, can we?

I leave you with the always good Chip Bok: