Friday - May 07, 2004

A Special Moment

From the Cincinnati Enquirer we received this news story and I felt it appropriate to share it with all of you in its entirety. Pass this along to any Bush-bashers you know. The man is a real human being and this incident is a rare glimpse into that side of him.

In a moment largely unnoticed by the throngs of people in Lebanon waiting for autographs from the president of the United States, George W. Bush stopped to hold a teenager's head close to his heart.

Lynn Faulkner, his daughter, Ashley, and their neighbor, Linda Prince, eagerly waited to shake the president's hand Tuesday at the Golden Lamb Inn. He worked the line at a steady campaign pace, smiling, nodding and signing autographs until Prince spoke:

"This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11."

Bush stopped and turned back.

"He changed from being the leader of the free world to being a father, a husband and a man," Faulkner said. "He looked right at her and said, 'How are you doing?' He reached out with his hand and pulled her into his chest."

Faulkner snapped one frame with his camera.

"I could hear her say, 'I'm OK,' " he said. "That's more emotion than she has shown in 21/2 years. Then he said, 'I can see you have a father who loves you very much.' "

"And I said, 'I do, Mr. President, but I miss her mother every day.' It was a special moment."

Special for Lynn Faulkner because the Golden Lamb was the place he and his wife, Wendy Faulkner, celebrated their anniversary every year until she died in the south tower of the World Trade Center, where she had traveled for business.

The day was also special for Ashley, a 15-year-old Mason High School student, because the visit was reminiscent of a trip she took four years ago with her mother and Prince. They spent all afternoon in the rain waiting to see Bush on the campaign trail. Ashley remembers holding her mother's hand, eating Triscuits she packed and bringing along a book in case she got bored.

But this time was different. She understood what the president was saying, and she got close enough to see him face to face.

"The way he was holding me, with my head against his chest, it felt like he was trying to protect me," Ashley said. "I thought, 'Here is the most powerful guy in the world, and he wants to make sure I'm safe.' I definitely had a couple of tears in my eyes, which is pretty unusual for me."

The photo has been circulating across the country, Faulkner said. Relatives have passed it on to friends, bosses and acquaintances. As they tell the story, they also share in Wendy Faulkner's legacy, which her family continues through the Wendy Faulkner Memorial Children's Foundation.

"I'm a pretty cynical and jaded guy at this point in my life," Faulkner said of the moment with the president. "But this was the real deal. I was really impressed. It was genuine and from the heart."

   Friday - April 23, 2004

Hero

America now has an official sports hero.

We honor all of our fighting men and women. They are all brave and courageous souls who go into harms way to protect us. They are underpaid, overworked, under-appreciated and overly blessed with the spirit of America. They are our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, boyfirends, girlfriends .... they are all people we know. It saddens all of us to see one of them fall in battle.

But there is one man who went above and beyond and I want to recognize him for his sacrifice. His name was Pat Tillman. He was a safety for the Arizona Cardinals earning a multi-million dollar salary. Then came 9/11. Tillman discussed what happened with his brother, Kevin, and both decided that protecting America was more important than anything else. In May of 2002, Tillman walked away from a $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals and he and his brother signed up to become Army Rangers with a starting salary of $18,000 per year. Pat Tillman was no idiot. He knew what he was getting into. He graduated from Arizona State with a 3.84 GPA. This was one smart cookie and a helluva great defensive football player. He had a great future ahead of him in professional sports.

On Thursday evening, Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. He was 27 years old.

We would like you to meet Pat Tillman. Honor him. Pray for his family. He died so you could sleep safely tonight.

The Arizona Cardinals have prepared to honor Tillman and have set up a special memorial fund.


(LEFT: AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy) and (RIGHT: AP Photo/Photography Plus via Williamson Stealth Media Solutions)

Update I: The Left (Indymedia) has earned my undying wrath with this. These shit-fer-brains need a lesson in humanity. I suggest a bullet between the eyes. Make it so!

   Wednesday - April 21, 2004

A Dose Of Reality

One of my favorite Science Fiction authors, Orson Scott Card (who lives in the town I was born in), takes a look at 9/11 in an excellent piece entitled "How Bush Caused 9/11". It's not what you think .....

Key quote: For the past two years, I could have sworn it was a bunch of fanatical Muslims under the leadership of Osama bin Laden that hijacked four planes and crashed three of them into American buildings. But now I learn that these events were actually caused by George W. Bush. I know this because I’ve heard noble patriots like Richard Clarke come forward and blame him for it. It’s time for a few doses of reality ......

   Sunday - April 18, 2004

On This Day …..

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese surprised the United States with a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, practically destroying the US fleet of battleships in the Pacific. The Japanese thought the Americans would be frightened into leaving the Pacific and East Asia so Japan could conquer the region.

They were wrong. Soon they would be dead wrong.

Five months later, on April 18, 1942 the Japanese learned just how wrong they had been. Sixteen B-25's, launched from the USS Hornet, bombed the crap out of Tokyo. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his raiders sent a clear message to the Japanese: "We may be down but not out. In fact, we're coming to get you."

The Japanese soon realized it was our carriers that were hurting them and spurred them to attempt to destroy our carrier forces. The US Navy was tested first in the Battle Of The Coral Sea, only a few weeks later and in June of 1942, only a month and a half later, the Japanese carrier forces were effectively destroyed at the Battle Of Midway. The war was only seven months old and the Japanese had already gotten the crap kicked out of them for messing with us. The worst was yet to come though. Only three years later at a city called Hiroshima ..............

The moral of this story: don't piss us off.

This is one lesson about the US that our modern terrorists and the Arab nations seem to have overlooked.

It may be time to "re-educate" the world on how NOT to deal with the US.

   Tuesday - April 13, 2004

Woman versus machine: a year later

From "the only good moonbat is a dead moonbat" department, we have this little story. A year ago Rachel Corrie (useful idiot that she was) got run over by a bulldozer protesting in favor of terrorists. (you know, looking back over those last few words I wonder if we can make up a happy little Christmas song along the lines of "Grandma got run over by a reindeer." Maybe, "Rachel got flattened by a dozer?" Come on, you creative types out there, let's have some lyrics!)

Ahem. I digress.

Read how her family still insists she was an innocent little girl. Yep, the same "little girl" who burned an American flag while over there.

Read how her family protests the demolition of terrorists homes by the Israelis yet not one of those people in her little group were protesting when the UK does the same thing. Ironic, huh?

Useful idiot, indeed. As an old boss used to say about those who'd get themselves killed in spectacularly stupid ways or got kicked out of the service for breaking the law, "I like to see the positive in everyone. Everyone has the opportunity to serve as an example. They just happened to serves as BAD EXAMPLES."

Bad example, indeed. But the lefty, American hating crowd won't see it as that. So I hope I can read more about future useful idiots serving as bad examples when they run into the business end of a 'dozer.

   Monday - April 12, 2004

So our troops are not heroes, eh?

30 years ago, Andy Rooney might have been considered "interesting" for his views.

Lately he's been nothing but an asshole. Plain and simple. He may have a right to say what he wants but I also have a right to call him a douche-bag, washed up old cur who needs to be put out pasture. Better yet, send him to the glue factory.

That stupid old man has no concept of what it takes to transform a nation from a peoples held under the thumb of a dictator to one that can self govern. Obviously he is not a reader of history but mainly spewing out Dummycrap party nonsense about the "quagmire." Had he read his history he'd have seen how long it took the US to form itself into a representative republic. He'd have seen how long it took us in post-war Germany and Japan. But like many of the social leftists in this country he's as blind as a moonbat to these facts.

Here are MY questions for Andy Rooney:

1. Do you think Clinton did the right thing by not taking out Osama (and possibly preventing 9-11) even after he was offered him on a platter several times?

2. Are you doing what you can to help support our troops or are you just leftist mouthpiece scumbucket?

3. Do the orders you get from the DNC seem sensible or are you incapable of thinking critically and independently?

4. If offered a bullet to the head or a noose around your head for your vile writings and opinions, which would you choose?

5. Are you encouraged by all the talk of taking you back behind the woodshed to get the tar pounded out of you?

If you read this and agree with him that our soldiers are not heroes, you're a dirtball, too.

The 9/11 Truck

This was sent to us by David H. and we couldn't resist showing it to you. Read on and take a look at the pictures of the truck ....

This Common Carrier brought us a frozen load of Gilroy Foods today. This truck was awesome. You can decide whether or not it is. I though it was GREAT!

Here is some info I took down after talking with the owner operator.Their names are John & Amy Holmgren. They live in Shafer, Minn.They thought this would be a nice tribute to the people that lost their lives.It has every name of each person that lost their life on 9-11.

This concept was thought up by John and Amy, and totally paid for by them. John says he will be a while paying the loan off that he had to take out to do it but, thought this was the least he could do.

Applied Graphics in Fargo, ND did most of the work and Paul Kosenski did the Hand painting.He said that he got to meet the Country Singer Darryl Worley, who Sang the song "Have You Forgotten" and has gotten pulled over 3 times by the police just to get their picture taken by this truck.

(I would have pulled him over too!!)

It is called the Rolling 9-11 Memorial, and it has all the names of the people that were killed on that day and the flights they were on plus some other graphics on the side ofthe Tractor.

Here are pictures of this truck .............

   Saturday - April 10, 2004

You Read It Here First

Here is the full text of the White House 9/11 Memo of August 6, 2001. Instead of giving you bits and pieces of it and giving our opinions on it, we decided to let you read the full text and make up your own mind. Classified sections are marked with "----". Leave your comments.

Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S. Bin Ladin implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."

After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to ------------- service.

An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an ----------------- service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Ladin's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the US. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own US attack.

Ressam says Bin Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operation.

Although Bin Ladin has not succeeded, his attacks against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Ladin associates surveilled our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.

Al-Qa'ida members - including some who are US citizens - have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks. Two al-Qa'ida members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our Embassies in East Africa were US citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Ladin cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a -------------- service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar 'Abd al-Rahman and other US-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full field investigations throughout the US that it considers Bin Ladin-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our Embassy in UAE in May saying that a group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives.

Defending the Stars and Stripes

This is a rather long piece (tip o' the hat to James Taranto's Best of the Web for it) and when I started to read it I was not sure exactly where it was going. I realized it was longer than I thought so I shot to the bottom and started reading upwards, instead.

Then I began back at the top and read it as it deserves to be read, completely and comprehensively. Mr. Parker describes the book he is reviewing as I would describe his article. Thusly: (just substitute Parker for Revel)

Even those diametrically opposed to Revel's views would be forced to acknowledge his skills as a pugnacious rhetorician who does not eschew sarcasm as a weapon.

Near the beginning the tone was set with these two, edited for size, paragraphs:

... anti-Americanism has ascended from its former status as the preoccupation of a relative handful of Jurassic Marxists, professional victims, Third World whiners, and Islamo-fascist troglodytes to the level of a major new global religion.

Curiously, however, while the religion has a hell (America), and a devil (George W Bush), it lacks both a heaven (the collectivist pipe dream having been found wanting) and a god (since the anti-Americans consider themselves as having evolved beyond the need for a deity - save their Islamist faction, which wants to impose its religion forcibly on everyone else). Still, the anti-American cult provides its legions of drooling adherents with the crucial element of any faith: the illusion of meaning in an otherwise meaningless existence. That priceless psychological salve, in this case, is the comforting delusion that, no matter how hypocritical, backward, bigoted, ignorant, corrupt or cowardly the cult's followers might otherwise be, at least they are better than those awful Americans

Suffice it to say, the reviewer describes the author's journey of discovery about the irrational hatred by the leftists in this world against America starting with the French and European opposition to our involvement in Vietnam:

A startling number of French commentators developed a sudden amnesia about their country's own involvement in Indochina

It was a step that the vast majority of this class, then and now, have been unwilling to take: they simply cherish their prejudice against Americans too greatly to face the possibility that real, live examples might not conform to it

How very typically liberal to not let facts get in the way of their opinion.

When describing President Bush's decision to end the farce of the oil for food program administered by that corrupt P.O.S.O (piece of shit organization), the UN, by invading Iraq and actually GIVING the people there a chance for a better life, the author of the article asks this question rhetorically,

"did these dyspeptic howler monkeys praise the United States for trying to alleviate Iraqis' suffering? No, of course not."

Excellent, dude!

In defense of the US, little snippets like this are strewn throughout the article:

The strange thing is that it is always in Europe that dictatorships and totalitarian governments spring up, yet it is always America that is 'fascist'.

Here's another beauty that goes into describing the chutzpah of other countries who love to attribute THEIR own faults to the United States by declaring US to be fascists::

in a curious "reversal of culpability". Thus the famously peace-loving Japanese and Germans excoriate the US for "militarism"; the Mexicans attack it for "electoral corruption" in the wake of the 2000 election; the British accuse it of "imperialism"; Arab writers condemn it after September 11 for "abridging press freedom" (of course, the Arab states have always been shining beacons of that freedom). The gold medal for jaw-dropping hypocrisy, however, goes to the mainland Chinese, whose unelected dictatorship routinely accuses the United States of "hegemonism". Having been the chief hegemon of Asia for most of the past 5,000 years, the Chinese are in a singularly weak position to condemn the practice.

Lastly, you have to love this one!

Indeed, it is not the slightest exaggeration to say that in 2004, anti-American sentiment has become the biggest single obstacle to human progress. It sustains repressive dictatorships everywhere; excuses corruption, torture, the oppression of women, and mass murder; provides ideological oxygen for vile, stupid "revolutionary movements" like the Maoist insurgents in Nepal; and has even promoted the spread of disease

You owe it to yourself to read this gem.

   Friday - April 09, 2004

Negatory

This just ain't right! Wake up America! WTF is wrong with you?

   Thursday - April 08, 2004

ACLU loves terrorists

Two days ago I posted a rant about what measures President Bush's or Clinton's administration could take to prevent the terrorist attacks on the US.

I made mention of the fact that any measures put in place to ID suspects or take them into custody would be met by howls of outrage rom groups like the ACLU or CAIR.

Well, no sooner said than done, here's a piece about how the ACLU is now suing the government about its no-fly list.

Granted, I can understand it can be flawed and I am certain measures are being taken to repair the errors but to sue in order to abolish it is ludicrous. Just because a few people are inconvenienced does not mean we have a bad program.

Only goes to show that for the most part, the ACLU has no interest in US national security but more interest in furthering its leftist agenda.

   Sunday - April 04, 2004

Thank You, America

I have heard from almost all of the fine people who entered essays in the Memories Of 9/11 Essay Contest. They have all been amazed at the pictures I picked to go with their essays. It was easy. I read each one over and over again and tried to see what they saw. I know what I saw and how I felt but I wanted to put myself in their shoes. These are all some of the finest people in the world. We Americans have nothing to be ashamed of. This country is just as great today as it was in 1776. We have differing opinions about many things but we all agree on one thing: we are better than anything that would seek to destroy us. We are America.

Read their stories here.

Good night, America. I love you all. God bless.

Fat Soldiers

We're gonna have some really fat soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan tomorrow. We just sent the order for 136 slices of pizza (including Pepsi) at $2.95 per slice through GIPizza.com. Our winner in the Memories Of 9/11 contest, Gale, decided to combine her $200 prize with our $200 contribution to the troops.

Total bill: $401.20.

How do we feel after sending this gift to the troops? .... PRICELESS.

And you all should too. We want to thank all the people who entered essays, all those who read them and voted on them and everyone who contributed to this effort. We will have to come up with another idea real soon to give us an excuse to send something to the troops.

Then again, maybe this war will be over soon and we can buy our troops a beer or two down at the local pub. I kinda like that idea. Cheers!

Here is the confirmation from GIPIZZA. If you want to help boost morale in our troops and let them know they are not forgotten, I cannot think of a better way than to send them a small gift like this from home. I know what it is like, having served in the military far from home and loved ones. It is an intensely lonely feeling at times. Add the stress of combat and you have a human being in dire need of a little comfort from home and a reminder that they are appreciated.

Thank you very much for sending Pizza and Pepsi to our wonderful soldiers, fighting terrorism in the Middle East and the Gulf. It is so nice for them to know that there are people like you who are standing behind them.

Once again, on behalf of the soldiers, thank you for your support.

Regards,

Daniel
http://www.GIpizza.com

P.S. Please note that your credit card statement will show a charge for this by MARKSMAN. Thank you.

   Saturday - April 03, 2004

Memories Of 9/11

As all of you are aware by now, the "Memories Of 9/11 Contest" was a great success. By that I mean you all were wonderful in helping us dig back into that painful day and pause to reflect on what happened and how we felt. It still hurts, doesn't it? I know, from a personal standpoint, it still hurts me greatly. I am still, three years later, trying to come to grips with the scope of the tragedy and the sudden loss of over three thousand fellow citizens. These were innocent men and women who had done nothing to deserve the brutal deaths they received. And they all left behind thousands of family members whose sorrow is unending.

I have read all of the submitted essays countlesss times and every time I read them a tear comes into my eye. Not for the loss of life, although that is a large part of it, but more importantly for the change in attitude I see in this country and around the world since then. Our so-called allies and friends overseas, who grieved with us on that day, eventually turned against us in the interests of their own political agendas and, in some cases, out of pure commercial greed. In addition, Americans who were standing solidly together on that day are now spitting and fighting with one another over petty issues. Finger pointing has re-entered our national psyche and angry political divisiveness is threatening to split our country apart again. That is why I am sad.

Vilmar and I have tabulated the votes in the contest and we have a winning essay (actually they were all winners in my book). The winner of the essay contest will be announced tomorrow morning and I am building a special tribute page with all of the wonderful essays. We thank all of you who submitted essays. America thanks you.

Stand tall and stand proud, America. For one brief shining moment we were all on the same team. Let us not wait until more innocent lives are lost before we regain that unity. I leave you tonight with my own pitiful attempt at poetry. God bless you all and God Bless America.

Lights

A long time ago
in a country far away
A city of lights sprang up
turning nightime into day.

Freedom was the beacon
to guide them on their way.
The lights glowed in the darkness
until that fateful day.

What happened to these
who pushed back the night?
Are they gone forever,
has wrong defeated right?

Only time will tell
if they have lost the sight.
Of Freedom's glorious goals
and Liberty's precious light.

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