Memorial Day

A lot of folks are out there burning $4 gasoline, driving to the beach, cooking some burgers on the grill and enjoying what is considered widely the opening of summer.

But I want you to think what Memorial Day really means.

Arlington National Cemetery courtesy Ernie Stewart. His site can be found here.

It is a day to honor the fallen who sacrificed all for love of country. It's not just a nice extended weekend, as many think.

USS Yorktown courtesy NAVSOURCE

On this day, I think of those 20-somethings, some younger than that, who had their lives taken away in the cause of freedom. I think the sailors permanently entombed in the USS Yorktown when she sank after Midway, a battle that turned the tide in the Pacific.


I think of the men who died on the USS Gambier Bay, whose crew valiantly fought to the last against a numerically superior foe, the Japanese Center Force, off Samar in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Their sacrifice saved the Phillipine invasion fleet of defenseless transports. I had the pleasure to meet one of the veterans of this battle and hear firsthand about something that I had only read about.

I think of Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon, two Delta operators who went into to save Michael Durant despite knowing that they were likely not coming back. They saved him at the cost of their own lives and earned the Medal of Honor (don't call it the Congressional Medal of Honor) for their sacrifice.

I think of the brave men and women in Iraq fighting a war that many in this country are actively trying to undermine. I think of Ross McGinnis, a 19-year old who jumped on a live grenade and saved the lives of four comrades. For all those who have earned our nation's highest award for valor, go here.

I wonder if an idea, a dream is worth the life of even one man. Like my high school friend Chris Mason, who lost his life in Iraq in 2006. The world without Chris is a darker, more dour one.

Chris in his own words

So when you're munching on your burger, heading to the beach or enjoying the day off, think of those who gave their lives for your freedom. It's the least you can do.

These brave men and women through the ages gave their lives for freedom. Would you be willing to do the same?

Obama: Iran not a threat

Our friend Barak Hussein Obama thinks that Iran is not a threat. Right.

Iran, Cuba, Venezuela? These countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose any serious threat to us.

Read the rest here.

I mean this is a guy who thinks it's a wonderful idea to legitimize folks like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by meeting with them. Like Ahmadinejad, a man who talked about wiping Israel off the map and believes that starting a nuclear war will bring back the 12th imam, is a rational actor! If you don't believe me, here it is out of his own foolish mouth:



I'm still trying to figure out Obama. Is he dangerously naive or just plain stupid?

Hugo Chavez is BUSTED

Red is definitely your color, you commie bastard.

Hugo Chavez swore that Colombia's attack on some FARC terrorists seeking sanctuary in his borders was totally unprovoked.

Uh, no.

It seems that Hugo supplied them with money and arms. Read the rest here. Of course, Hugo is blustering.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is denouncing as "ridiculous" an Interpol report on documents that Colombia says were retrieved from the computers of slain rebels.

Chavez says a "show of clowns" has surrounded the announcement by the international police agency that it found no evidence of tampering with the computers.

Colombia maintains the documents suggest close links between the rebels and the Venezuelan government.

Chavez responded to a question on the matter at a news conference on Thursday denouncing what he called disinformation by a "media dictatorship."

The Associated Press story is here.

Folks, FARC isn't nice. In fact, they are major league assholes.

These Marxist monsters are detested by Colombians and have the lowest approval rating of any group in the country, something like less than 1%. It's no surprise as to why. They are well known for the inhumanity. They keep hostages tied to trees for years, and demand massive ransoms from innocents. Those who survive come out looking like feral animals. They invented the necklace bomb, grabbing farmers who refused to grow coca for their cocaine operations, putting a sort of ticking mechanical collar around their necks and letting them listen to the ticks until time runs out and they feel their head literally blow off. They invented horse bombs, where horses go into village marketplaces and explode, like random roaming car bombs. They have massacred Colombians in churches during mass, their blazing machine guns firing away on people worshipping God. They have forced children into soldierhood, and turning them into Marxist-indoctrinated automatons, and robbed others of their childhood by blocking all school routes. Some Colombian children have had to attend school through swinging pulleys across the jungle canopy just to avoid the FARC guerrilla activity below and the inevitable kidnapping. They have trafficked drugs to milllions, raining horror and misery on inner cities across America. There is no evil that they will not stoop to in the name of their Marxist 'revolution,' none.

Thanks to Publius Pundit for this great info on FARC.

Florida congressman Connie Mack is doing something about it:

Today’s report sheds another bright light on the active efforts of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and his cronies to promote terror and instability throughout Latin America. He has used his vast oil wealth to fund terrorism in the region and make mischief in order to undermine democratic institutions and principles in Colombia and other countries.

Because of his allegiances to rogue nations like Iran and Syria, and the evidence conclusively tying Chavez to the highest levels of the FARC terrorist organization, I introduced a resolution two months ago calling on the Administration to add Venezuela to the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Read the entire release here. Think he's kidding? See for yourself:

Here's Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wave to the crowd of sycophants in Venezuela, the "Chavistas."

Remember Ahmadinejad's cozy little visit to Venezuela? I do. Read about it here. Remember what Hugo said about us? Let me refresh your memory:

Let's save the human race, let's finish off the U.S. empire. This (task) must be assumed with strength by the majority of the peoples of the world.

You'll never catch me at a CITGO gas station, being that CITGO is owned by Venezuela. 7-Eleven stores ended their historic association with CITGO two years ago.

Just to make sure people know, this ain't CITGO!

When are we going to put one of these through his living room window?


Or this?

Bush strikes a nerve with great speech

Neville Chamberlain waves the useless scrap of paper that he "negotiated" with Hitler that gave the British "peace in our time." Yeah, that worked out well!

Those who forget the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them. Such is Barak Obama's ridiculous, idealistic pap masquerading as a foreign policy. He actually suggested that he would sit down and meet with our enemies, who plot our destruction. As a typical liberal, he believes that negotiations can be fruitful. In the absence of a genuine desire for peace, this is ridiculous in the least.

The sparring began Monday at the CNN/YouTube debate, in which a viewer asked candidates if they would be willing to meet with leaders of Iran, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea -- whom the United States has called rogue leaders.

Obama said he would, adding "it is a disgrace that we have not spoken to them." He added: "The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them -- which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration -- is ridiculous."

Obama cited the diplomacy of late presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, who engaged the Soviet Union even as he called it the "evil empire."

Obama said one of his first orders of diplomacy in the Middle East would be to "send a signal that we need to talk to Iran and Syria because they're going to have responsibilities if Iraq collapses."

Read the rest here.

Well, Bush called him on it yesterday in a speech to Israel's Knesset or parliament for those educated by the government school monopoly. Brilliantly.

In a speech to Israel's Knesset marking the 60th anniversary of that country's independence, Bush said, "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Read the rest here.

Of course, this has started a firestorm on the Left. How about this from John F---ing Kerry?

First, it's absolutely shameless that an American President would use a speech in front of a foreign government to launch such a petty political attack. President Bush has abused the dignity of the office in ways that make especially ironic his long ago pledge to "restore dignity and integrity to the Oval office."

Perhaps worse -- he's not even right on the facts, and he knows it. Like Representatives Boehner and Cantor, President Bush just makes up policies to attack. Barack Obama opposes negotiating with terrorists. And always has. This is just another example of the disingenuous habit of this administration to create "some people" whom they can argue against, strawman arguments that they can use in their disgusting political attacks.

Opposes negotiating? That's not what he said in the Youtube debate, Kerry. Last time I checked, Iran and Syria, not to mention Venezuela (see my next post on Hugo Chavez above) are state sponsors of terrorism, making them, ding-ding-ding:

TERRORISTS

Joe Biden continues this ridiculous non-response:

"He is the guy who has weakened us," he said. "He has increased the number of terrorists in the world. It is his policies that have produced this vulnerability that the U.S. has. It's his [own] intelligence community [that] has pointed this out, not me."

Biden noted that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have both suggested that the United States ought to find a way to talk more with its enemies.

"If he thinks this is appeasement, is he going to come back and fire his own cabinet?" Biden asked. "Is he going to fire Condi Rice?"

More pinko-commie, vaginal bastard wailing and nashing of teeth here. I love how they can dish out, but when the heat is directed in their direction, they sure as hell can't take it.

Obama will be playing the race card - for the campaign and beyond

We already know that Obama's campaign is going to be breaking out with the race card. A Washington Post story says that:

Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.

We now know that any opposition to Obama is simply, a distraction. Like that bothersome Jeremiah Wright thing. Right wing conspiracy, that was. Or his far-left voting record. Oh, don't call him a liberal. Can't do that now. That's an evil label. Can't call him by his middle name. That's divisive.

Here are the Obama rules in detail: He can't be called a "liberal" ("the same names and labels they pin on everyone," as Obama puts it); his toughness on the war on terror can't be questioned ("attempts to play on our fears"); his extreme positions on social issues can't be exposed ("the same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives" and "turn us against each other"); and his Chicago background too is off-limits ("pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy"). Besides that, it should be a freewheeling and spirited campaign.

Read the rest here.

Imagine this inexperienced looney burger who has the support of terrorist organization Hamas as your president. Not only is every bit of opposition to his wrong-headed policies to be painted as pure racism, but he loves to snuggle with our Islamofacist buddies aiming to destroy us.

"It's conceivable that there are those in the Arab world who say to themselves, 'This is a guy who spent some time in the Muslim world, has a middle name of Hussein and appears more worldly and has called for talks with people, and so he's not going to be engaging in the same sort of cowboy diplomacy as George Bush,'" Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic.

Read the rest here. I remember telling someone that I was dating that you are the company you keep. She hung out with a lot of lowbrow, unintelligent folks. So even though she had some book smarts, she was dragged down by her idiotic friend group.

Just like Barak is dragged down by the company he keeps. According to Barak, Israel is a "constant sore."

JG: Do you think that Israel is a drag on America’s reputation overseas?

BO: No, no, no. But what I think is that this constant wound, that this constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy.

Read the rest here.

And yet he brings change? You need to ask yourself, is this the kind of change I want? Much higher taxes. Much higher oil prices, thanks to that idiotic windfall profits tax our friend Obama proposes, which ignores every bit of economic wisdom in favor of Pollyanna, illogical, pie-in-the-sky, feel-good, wealth-envious, socialist pap. Much more government regulation, which chokes the free market, which socialists like Obama hate anyway.

Why I've admittedly jumped on a bandwagon

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chris Paul has been everything the young Hornets have needed in a floor general.

I hate to admit it, but I've jumped on a bandwagon. The Hornets bandwagon, that is. People who know me remember that I used to love the New York Knicks back when they had Patrick Ewing (who had a cameo as the Angel of Death in Exorcist III) manning the pivot. I remember the '94 Finals run, the incredible team of '99 with him, Marcus Camby (now a Nugget), Alan Houston (overpaid and out of the NBA), Latrell "Foreclosed Yacht" Sprewell (ditto, the man who said that a three-year, $21 million deal would not feed his family) and of course Larry Johnson (retired with back issues) with his infamous self-congratulatory "LJ" hand gesture.

But the Knicks started to descend into loserland after trading Ewing away for peanuts, actually, Glen Rice, who was already on the downslope of his career. The salary cap continued to engorge like my waistband and the team had the highest payroll, yet one of the worst records. Then they thought it'd be a bright idea to hire Isiah "I Killed The CBA and all I got was this worthless t-shirt" Thomas, a man so boorish he lost a sexual harassment lawsuit, to save the franchise. James Dolan, owner of the Knicks, is responsible for this mess.

And I tuned away. Soon the NBA, which had become must-watch sporting TV for me, was no longer attractive at all. The loud music in the arenas. The gang-banger posturing. The acres of miserably drawn tats. The crime associated with these players, like in Las Vegas during last year's All-Star Weekend, where posses of "g's" shot up the place.

Now the Hornets have given me a reason to watch again. Chris Paul is now this amazing talent who the whole country knows. He's a floor general with his face painted in a perpetual scow of concentration and menace. He always makes the right decision and his assist to turnover ratio is mindblowingly good.

David Lee is a solid rebounder who sets great picks and who gets everything out of his game, especially a sweet stroke from 18 feet.

Tyson Chandler is a rebounding, shot-blocking alley-hoop machine who has made several highlight reel dunks of CP3 lobs.

Peja Stokajovic has a sweet stroke from downtown, even though the Spurs have contained him in the last two games.

The rest of the team is really solid, with a good balance of shooters (like Jannero Pargo) and other role players.

Tonight, they blew out the Spurs 101-79 and now lead the series 3-2. One more win and they're going to their first ever Western Conference Finals. They've got two games to get it done.

Happy trails, Ryan Perrilloux!

It's about time you kicked this cancer off the team. And now he has done it.

Perrilloux "didn't fulfill his obligation as an LSU student-athlete," head coach Les Miles said in a written statement Friday. "Ryan was given every opportunity to be a part of this football team."

Miles' decision means Perrilloux, a sophomore, will never fulfill the enormous promise with which he arrived at LSU - at least not for the Tigers and probably not for a major college football program.

Read the rest here. According to some sources, it was for a failed drug test. Duh!

Imagine this: you have the opportunity to make MILLIONS in the NFL if you just follow some relatively simple rules. But he couldn't do it. Miles gave him second, third, fourth, chances in the double digits as John Mayer says, but in the end, he was too stupid to realize that his future fortune was dependent on keeping his nose clean.

Literally!

He should have seen the example of FSU's Xavier Lee, a can't miss QB prospect who, well, missed. Big time. Except against Alabama, damnit!

Now he's a rookie free agent who'll be lucky to get a cup of coffee in rookie minicamp.