Memorial Day 2012

Memorial Day 2012, What a difference a year makes.

The conclusion of the war in Iraq is a very personal thing for me. I remember many a Marine by face and name that did not come home. Some were killed during the time I was there, others were killed after my time, and there are many who were killed ,who's names I can't remember, because I was transferred to them just before the war began, and even though I didn't have the  time to get to know them, they were ,and still are my brothers. All of them were honorable Marines who gave themselves willingly in a cause that they believed was right. Rare is the day that I don't think about these men.

Most of us came home, and we came home to a different place then the one we had left. When we left there were tears falling and flags were waving. When we came home there were protests and flags burning. We were called baby killers, and it was insinuated that we purposely targeted civilians, this from the very politicians that had allowed us to go there in the first place, and their many minions. I was a kid during Vietnam, but I remember this very same thing happening to them as they returned home. I also remember when they said it would never happen again. They lied.

If I sound bitter it's because I am. Surely we, as a whole , have been treated better then the Vietnam vets, but it seems to me that this is only true while you are still useful. Once you are no longer fit for the fight you are disregarded and discarded like old tires. Sure you can use the VA but as a whole the caring and concern seems to stop shortly after the spotlight goes off. Of course being the election year all the major contenders will give lip service to veterans but the truth is once they have the votes we will be tossed aside once again.

I am not a politician. I wasn't one then and I am not one now. I can't say that we had any business in Iraq. I never really saw them as any big threat to any one never mind us. But we had a job to do and we did it. All of us did. We heard about the protests but we were to busy trying to stay alive to focus on it. The political aspects of war were a bit lost on us once the bullets started to fly.

I am not looking for sympathy or pity. I am saying this though, most all of us who went through that hell hole lost people that we knew. We were injured mentally,physically and spiritually. We dealt with things that only other war vets could really understand. The world, as we knew it, came to an end the first time we were shot at or someone we knew was killed. It is what it is.

So as you celebrate the first official weekend of the summer, think real hard about what you might do to help a vet. Most of us aren't going to ask for help, but a good number of vets still need help regardless. Our war only started in Iraq it won't end until we truly believe we are home.

In memory of all who have died in service to our country. You are not forgotten. Semper Fi.

Predators In The Sky

Coming very soon to a sky near you.
Look up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a predator drone!! Just when I thought that they couldn't get more intrusive into our privacy, the FAA ( read federal government) has decided, for the good  and safety of the people , and especially the police, that they are going to allow, and fast track the requirements for, drones to be used ,by the police, over our airspace. Right now they say there are about 1,000 in use but in the next couple of years they expect that to grow to about 30,000.
 While I am all for having thugs and criminals being caught and jailed, what is going to stop them from flying over your back yard and observing anything and all things that you do? Is it really any of their business if you are having a bbq and a kegger in your back yard? If you live out and away from everyone and you want to sun bathe do you want them to be able to take pictures of you lying there wearing nothing but your sunglasses? My examples may seem a little silly but the point is we all need to have some privacy somewhere and our homes should be the most private of all. I know that some will say ; I have nothing to hide so why should I care? Why ? Because according to our Constitution you have the right to privacy. You have the right to be secure in your personal property. The police have no right to be spying  on you for any reason with out a warrant and why would you want to allow them the right to do so, even accidentally, without a court order? Even the powers that be, that are pushing for all this to happen quickly, admit that this is going to lead to privacy issues. So lets just nip that in the bud right now, before it becomes a legal constitutional battle. We already  know it violates the bill of rights so lets stop it before it starts and becomes almost impossible to be rid of.
The Irony of it all is that we were told, after 9/11,  that the terrorists hated us because of the freedoms and liberties that we have.Yet since that time the government has been in the process of curtailing those very freedoms  under the guise of keeping us safe. According to this way of thinking, apparently, we can only have freedom and liberty if the police or the government is allowed to spy on us, regulate all that we do and ignore the Constitution. That's not freedom, that is tyranny.
I guess it boils down to this for me, I'd rather have a bad guy get away once in awhile, rather then have the government, in any form, spying on me in my back yard.

Mr. Obama and The Wicked Witch of the West

Today I heard an interview that really put things in this country into perspective,this coming on the heels of hearing a 9 minute recording of a couple of Canadians being hassled at the border for laughing at a question, I was listening to the Tamar Yonah show on Israel National Radio and Tamar was interviewing a man by the name of "Fred" from California who was paid a visit by the Secret Service. His Crime? Re-posting a picture of Mr. Obama looking like the wicked witch of the west with the caption "I'll get you my pretty and your 401k too" and being an outspoken supporter of Israel. I have seen this post on FB before, and many that are by far worse, but this is the first time that I have heard of someone being visited by the Secret Service because of a post on FB. I know that from time to time FB blocks blogs  posts because I have had it happen to me, but never have I had a visit shortly there after.

During the time that Mr. Bush was in office, many times I saw pictures of him dressed up to look like Hitler, with various captions calling him a murderer or a killer or making fun of all his verbal miscues. When peoples patriotism was called because of the pictures or comments, the media and the left side of the aisle were up in arms calling this free and protected speech and I might add, I agree, it falls well with in freedom of speech and expression and there was no threat involved.

So tell me what made the difference in this case? There was no threat. It was a re-post of something that someone else had posted and ,as I have said, there has been far worse posted on line. So what is the threat?
I think it's because the gentleman is an outspoken supporter of Israel. I think it's because he sees the truth that,  Mr. Obama is not a supporter of Israel, no matter what he says publicly, and he has spoken out about it.
"Fred", to his credit, apparently  didn't get to upset about the whole thing and during the interview,especially at the end, he was saying how we all need G-D and that we need to continue to do good to others. I think I'm more bothered by it then he is.

This is one of the many reasons that I can't ever be a liberal. You are way too thin skinned. Some of you will get pissed just by me saying this. Your man gets ridiculed or insulted in someway and the next thing you know the SS is showing up on the door steps of people or they get investigated. You try to tell me that somehow yours is the most compassionate party, the party of the little guy, and yet when it comes down to it, the only time we see any of you is if you are offended in some way or we can cough up $40,000 a plate. Yes Republicans can be as bad getting all offended,and I am not a republican either, but I never heard of SS agents showing up at someones house for simply making fun of the president.

There is so much more that I could write on this subject, about our freedoms and liberties been torn away, but I have done that before to no avail. Perhaps the only thing that will wake you up to harsh reality is when the SS or FBI or DHS or any other government agencies show up on your door step to question you for something stupid.

PC And The War

I haven't spent a whole lot of time writing on the " War on Terrorism." Having spent my time in the particular hell hole of Iraq, I haven't felt that I have a right to really speak to the issue because of my participation. However after looking at some head lines this week I realised that if those of us who served don't speak up against this PC madness no one will. I will say for the record that while I thought taking out the Taliban was a great idea at the time ,I think our approach of trying to first " shock and awe" in Iraq was wasted on the wrong country and now just as wasted is this idea of being politically correct with a people who want nothing more then either our conversion or our destruction. Our government is playing a very stupid and dangerous game where literally the lives of billions are on the line.

Lets compare a bit. Go back to the beginning of "The War On Terror." In the beginning we KNEW who the enemy was, It was a bunch of crazy Islamic extremists led by a guy named Osama Bin Laden. From his mountain caves in Taliban held lands, in Afghanistan, he some how orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. We went after them hard. Blew them up in their strongholds and took prisoners of anyone we didn't kill. Flags were waving everywhere and the recruiters were swamped with people who wanted payback. We were united. We were calling evil by it's name and , even though I didn't care much for President Bush, he made it very clear that wherever they might hide we were going to find them and destroy them.

Today, in comparison, it is not PC to call it the War On Terrorism. It's "overseas contingency". Today it's not PC to call the Islamic or Muslim extremists, Muslims or Islamic, or extremists  because  that might offend the very people that fit that description, and rather then focus on those that have proven, time and time again, their willingness to kill us we instead have the DHS, FBI and  now the CIA making up homegrown terrorists so that they can focus on Americans as the enemy instead. Look at the clowns that they have paraded in front of us, trying to convince us that they are the enemy, most of them don't look like they they could spell master mind never mind being one. Even the New York Times has caught on and noticed the BS and has commented on it.

 Now we are being told that we are letting Taliban fighters go under the promise that they won't return to the fight in Afghanistan. Isn't that something akin to asking a rattle snake not to bite you as you stick your hands into it's den?? We are in their territory. Do we really think that they share some utopian ideal that will stop them from fighting again? They kill each other off with impunity and we, who are considered the great Satan, are supposed to believe that they won't try to kill us again?  They want us out of their so called sacred land, so do you really believe that they are going to hold to their word? I wouldn't hold my breath.

The Muslim leadership has made it clear  that they will settle for nothing more then a world wide caliphate with Jerusalem as their capital. Our government is wasting our time and tax dollars planning all these ridiculous plots and then"saving us" from non threats, when the real threats to western society make it very clear , all over the international media, that they are bent on world domination and our destruction. Ignoring the threat doesn't change it. Pretending that they think as we do doesn't change it. Political Correctness doesn't change it.

Either prosecute the war properly or bring everyone home, but quit with the PC, BS already.

That's Just my simple mind.