Check this one out. I am written here before that we do have freedom of religion but we don't have freedom of law. Well the danger of this 'tolerance' going on is front and center in this news report ... watch it and reap and vote accordingly ... you have two weeks. And by the way, think about Target next time you go shopping. What BS that they bow to the pressure.
Showing posts with label War on Terror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War on Terror. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Some not so Friendly Comments from our Friends in Islam
The clip here was sent to me from both Canada and England ... worth your eight minutes to check it out.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Tolerance: Where does it lead us?
I read and hear daily of the argument for tolerance. Of course that is primarily aimed at our need to be tolerant of Islam; Muslims use our freedoms against us and we are encouraged to be tolerant of others. It all takes me back to my youth when I grew up racing track rabbits, then go-karts, mini-bikes and motorcycles.
When you grow up on the tracks as a kid you learn about engines and how they operate. I used to know a lot of things about engines then worked a decade in trucking and ran shops and learned about the diesel engine. One thing you learn about all those intricate parts and what makes the engine work. One of those things is the 'tolerance' allowed in building the parts.
You see if you want a high performance engine the tolerance allowed in each of the component parts is very little. In other words, if you want the engine to produce at its prime level then the piston you place in the cylinder and the cylinder itself must meet optimum designed for 'tolerance' or it will not perform as desired. It is just a fact. When the engine gets where you might need to replace a cylinder liner or the piston or other worn parts to 'maintain' the required 'tolerance' to insure performance.
Now think about this great nation. It is built on immigrants and we have always had open doors and we tolerated many religions, languages and increasingly, behavior. Why? Because that is what we, as Americans, do. Now introduce Islam. I have no problem with people being Muslim and worshiping their 'religion' any more than I care that people worship as Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists or anything else.
What I have a problem with is that their 'religion' comes with Sharia Law which violently conflicts with any behavior in a democratic country or even common sense. You see no other religions that bring with it their own laws and expect the society in which they now live to 'conform' to their beliefs and not become part of their 'new home'. That is where we are expected to be 'tolerant'. And this great country will not be as productive or as civil as it once was.
There are two ways to have the tallest building in town. One way is to build the tallest building; the other is to knock everyone else's building down but yours. That is Islam in action. They live with laws of the dark ages or even before. Their behavior and beliefs are in the stone age. And I say more power to them if that is what they believe. As long as you stay in your country and 'worship' as you will. But don't bring those 'laws' to my country - we do not believe as you do, and, this is our country.
The so called Nation of Islam believes in cutting the clitoris out of their daughters at pre-school age. They believe in demeaning women to the point that they are mere property. They believe in segregation, which we did away with decades ago. They believe in selling their daughters into marriage at any age. Where is our vaunted defenders of womens rights the National Organization of Women? The believe in mercy killings. Where is the American Civil Liberties Union?
If you think about it we went after David Korash in Waco for his off shoot organization and burned it to the ground. We went after Warren Jeff's and his polygamist group for 'raping' children and having more than one wife, bigamy, a law we sometimes enforce. Then we have Islam moving into our country under our noses doing many worse things than Korash or Jeff's and we are to be tolerant.
We are a nation that better get educated on Islam and better question the meaning of the word tolerant or our great nation will soon be a very underperforming engine headed for the scrap heap.
When you grow up on the tracks as a kid you learn about engines and how they operate. I used to know a lot of things about engines then worked a decade in trucking and ran shops and learned about the diesel engine. One thing you learn about all those intricate parts and what makes the engine work. One of those things is the 'tolerance' allowed in building the parts.
You see if you want a high performance engine the tolerance allowed in each of the component parts is very little. In other words, if you want the engine to produce at its prime level then the piston you place in the cylinder and the cylinder itself must meet optimum designed for 'tolerance' or it will not perform as desired. It is just a fact. When the engine gets where you might need to replace a cylinder liner or the piston or other worn parts to 'maintain' the required 'tolerance' to insure performance.
Now think about this great nation. It is built on immigrants and we have always had open doors and we tolerated many religions, languages and increasingly, behavior. Why? Because that is what we, as Americans, do. Now introduce Islam. I have no problem with people being Muslim and worshiping their 'religion' any more than I care that people worship as Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists or anything else.
What I have a problem with is that their 'religion' comes with Sharia Law which violently conflicts with any behavior in a democratic country or even common sense. You see no other religions that bring with it their own laws and expect the society in which they now live to 'conform' to their beliefs and not become part of their 'new home'. That is where we are expected to be 'tolerant'. And this great country will not be as productive or as civil as it once was.
There are two ways to have the tallest building in town. One way is to build the tallest building; the other is to knock everyone else's building down but yours. That is Islam in action. They live with laws of the dark ages or even before. Their behavior and beliefs are in the stone age. And I say more power to them if that is what they believe. As long as you stay in your country and 'worship' as you will. But don't bring those 'laws' to my country - we do not believe as you do, and, this is our country.
The so called Nation of Islam believes in cutting the clitoris out of their daughters at pre-school age. They believe in demeaning women to the point that they are mere property. They believe in segregation, which we did away with decades ago. They believe in selling their daughters into marriage at any age. Where is our vaunted defenders of womens rights the National Organization of Women? The believe in mercy killings. Where is the American Civil Liberties Union?
If you think about it we went after David Korash in Waco for his off shoot organization and burned it to the ground. We went after Warren Jeff's and his polygamist group for 'raping' children and having more than one wife, bigamy, a law we sometimes enforce. Then we have Islam moving into our country under our noses doing many worse things than Korash or Jeff's and we are to be tolerant.
We are a nation that better get educated on Islam and better question the meaning of the word tolerant or our great nation will soon be a very underperforming engine headed for the scrap heap.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Worth reading from www.RenewAmerica.com - The War Within
Islam Is Not A Religion, It Is Foreign Law
By JR Dieckmann Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The time has come to question if Islam is protected under our First Amendment rights to freedom of religion. Yes, everyone in America has the right to freedom of religion, but Islam is not a religion. Religious faith is only a part of Islam. The rest is a socially engineered society with its own laws and customs that seriously conflict with American law.
Is Great Britain a religion because they have the Church of England? Of course not. Britain has an established charter, civil and criminal laws, and a society that respects those laws. Islam has the Qur'an that provides the governing charter, complete with laws, punishment, and social behavior for its people in addition to its religious teachings. If Islam is a religion, then Britain is also.
We must recognize that religion is only one aspect of Islam's Qur'an. The rest of this charter advances ideas, social behavior, and laws that are in direct conflict with American and western laws and values. Teddy Roosevelt once said that to live in America, immigrants must have undivided loyalty to America and to no one else. How is that possible for Muslims who swear loyalty to Islam where their governing laws are found in the Qur'an?
What legitimate religion would demand that its members either kill or convert people of other faiths? What legitimate religion is intent on imposing its own laws on the rest of the entire world? If Islam were just about praying to Allah and worshiping Mohammed and nothing more, we would not be having a problem with Islamism and Islamic terrorists. Islam has a global mission to take over and run the world according to Islamic Shariah law. How can we call that a religion?
What legitimate religion in this country comes with its own civil laws that take precedence over national, state, and local laws? No, Islam is not a religion. It is a governing doctrine that not only dictates religious beliefs, but also social behavior that includes laws, penalties and punishments, not by God, but by people if the laws are not obeyed. Islam is a form of government, not a religion. It does not belong here. We already have government under our Constitution (sort of).
As Muslims build their mega-Mosques in our nation - financed by Saudi Arabia - they laugh at the stupid Americans who are selling out their fellow citizens by allowing Islam to take over our country a little bit at a time. It is the same method used over decades by the Marxist Progressives who now have control of our government - take away our liberties one little piece at a time until full control and submission is achieved.
We are extending a welcoming hand to the enemy of our country and western
culture under the pretense of religious freedom
Islamists know they cannot destroy us militarily, but they also know that they can do it with political correctness and insisting that we respect their freedom of religion, even though they have no respect for ours. We are extending a welcoming hand to the enemy of our country and western culture under the pretense of religious freedom.
What religion recruits killers and terrorists in their place of worship, then sends them off to foreign training grounds to become proficient at mass murder? I know of only one. They are taught to kill in the name of God, but this is not the law of God who commanded "thou shall not kill" - it is the law of Mohammed who commanded "kill them all who will not convert."
The Qur'an blurs the lines between religion and government and teaches that Islamic government is God's law. It certainly is not. Why do we tolerate this abomination in America where our laws maintain a separation between church and state? To accept Islam in America is to accept Islamic law as well.
Are we out of our minds? Did anyone notice that we are at war with these people? Terrorists feed on the same rule book as other Muslims who have so far remained peaceful. Will they be making the same decision that Barack Obama made when he wrote in "Dreams Of My Father" - "When the political winds shift in an ugly direction, I will side with the Muslims?" It is always nice to know that our president is on our side when America goes to war. Too bad this one is not.
Muslim worship is protected under the First Amendment, Islamic law is not.
Until Muslims - and our own government - can accept that, then Islam cannot be considered a religion and Islamic culture does not belong here in North America.
________________________________________
By JR Dieckmann Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The time has come to question if Islam is protected under our First Amendment rights to freedom of religion. Yes, everyone in America has the right to freedom of religion, but Islam is not a religion. Religious faith is only a part of Islam. The rest is a socially engineered society with its own laws and customs that seriously conflict with American law.
Is Great Britain a religion because they have the Church of England? Of course not. Britain has an established charter, civil and criminal laws, and a society that respects those laws. Islam has the Qur'an that provides the governing charter, complete with laws, punishment, and social behavior for its people in addition to its religious teachings. If Islam is a religion, then Britain is also.
We must recognize that religion is only one aspect of Islam's Qur'an. The rest of this charter advances ideas, social behavior, and laws that are in direct conflict with American and western laws and values. Teddy Roosevelt once said that to live in America, immigrants must have undivided loyalty to America and to no one else. How is that possible for Muslims who swear loyalty to Islam where their governing laws are found in the Qur'an?
What legitimate religion would demand that its members either kill or convert people of other faiths? What legitimate religion is intent on imposing its own laws on the rest of the entire world? If Islam were just about praying to Allah and worshiping Mohammed and nothing more, we would not be having a problem with Islamism and Islamic terrorists. Islam has a global mission to take over and run the world according to Islamic Shariah law. How can we call that a religion?
What legitimate religion in this country comes with its own civil laws that take precedence over national, state, and local laws? No, Islam is not a religion. It is a governing doctrine that not only dictates religious beliefs, but also social behavior that includes laws, penalties and punishments, not by God, but by people if the laws are not obeyed. Islam is a form of government, not a religion. It does not belong here. We already have government under our Constitution (sort of).
As Muslims build their mega-Mosques in our nation - financed by Saudi Arabia - they laugh at the stupid Americans who are selling out their fellow citizens by allowing Islam to take over our country a little bit at a time. It is the same method used over decades by the Marxist Progressives who now have control of our government - take away our liberties one little piece at a time until full control and submission is achieved.
We are extending a welcoming hand to the enemy of our country and western
culture under the pretense of religious freedom
Islamists know they cannot destroy us militarily, but they also know that they can do it with political correctness and insisting that we respect their freedom of religion, even though they have no respect for ours. We are extending a welcoming hand to the enemy of our country and western culture under the pretense of religious freedom.
What religion recruits killers and terrorists in their place of worship, then sends them off to foreign training grounds to become proficient at mass murder? I know of only one. They are taught to kill in the name of God, but this is not the law of God who commanded "thou shall not kill" - it is the law of Mohammed who commanded "kill them all who will not convert."
The Qur'an blurs the lines between religion and government and teaches that Islamic government is God's law. It certainly is not. Why do we tolerate this abomination in America where our laws maintain a separation between church and state? To accept Islam in America is to accept Islamic law as well.
Are we out of our minds? Did anyone notice that we are at war with these people? Terrorists feed on the same rule book as other Muslims who have so far remained peaceful. Will they be making the same decision that Barack Obama made when he wrote in "Dreams Of My Father" - "When the political winds shift in an ugly direction, I will side with the Muslims?" It is always nice to know that our president is on our side when America goes to war. Too bad this one is not.
Muslim worship is protected under the First Amendment, Islamic law is not.
Until Muslims - and our own government - can accept that, then Islam cannot be considered a religion and Islamic culture does not belong here in North America.
________________________________________
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Lest We Forget ...
I am a voracious reader most of the time. I read a lot of Nam books and our current situation in Afghanistan and Iraq. I read a lot of special op's books and am always struck by the fact of what these men do for our country and so few even know of their commitment and actions. We're all somewhat familiar with the overall role of our Armed Forces but we also get complacent and forget. I know the video below has been around awhile. It is of Ollie North speaking to a dinner on the state and readiness of today's forces. Well worth the two and a half minutes.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Still Am Appalled at the Ground Zero Mosque
I'm still appalled we are even talking about this but then we're manipulated like being led by a Master Puppeteer. Check this out and remember in November!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
My Marine Brothers - Afghanistan
A young Navy Corpsman I met while he was serving with Marine Scout-Snipers sent this to me and told me I needed some serious Marine Corps motivation for my posts. And when I saw this one he is right. Every American should see this clip.
The voice in the background is a Gunny addressing the troops of 1/6 just prior to boarding the choppers to enter the fight in Marjah - OohRah!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Real Reasons for the Ground Zero Mosque
If you think that we should be nice and the Muslims just want to build this nice big Mosque at the site of Ground Zero ... think again as you watch this short clip. We are being duped or the victims of government sleight of hand. Either way write you Congressman and Senators and tell them no way! We are under attack using out laws, ignorance and kindness against us. Wake up America!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
The Art of War and Today's Military Situation
A good young friend of mine, concerned about his country as I am, shared this with me sometime ago and I just reread it and want to share. We have an incompetent Commander in Chief if we have one at all. Sun Tzu wrote about such times some centuries ago in the Art of War ...
"So there are three ways in which a civil leadership causes the military trouble. When a civil leadership unaware of the facts tells its armies to advance when it should not, or tells its armies to retreat when it should not, this is called tying up the armies. When the civil leadership is ignorant of military affairs but shares equally in the government of the armies, the soldiers get confused. When the civil leadership is ignorant of military maneuvers but shares equally in the command of the armies, the soldiers hesitate. Once the armies are confused and hesitant, trouble comes from competitors. This is called taking away victory by deranging the military."
In it Master Sun writes:
"So there are three ways in which a civil leadership causes the military trouble. When a civil leadership unaware of the facts tells its armies to advance when it should not, or tells its armies to retreat when it should not, this is called tying up the armies. When the civil leadership is ignorant of military affairs but shares equally in the government of the armies, the soldiers get confused. When the civil leadership is ignorant of military maneuvers but shares equally in the command of the armies, the soldiers hesitate. Once the armies are confused and hesitant, trouble comes from competitors. This is called taking away victory by deranging the military."
Our military, the best we have ever sent to war, the most dedicated to their cause ... is at serious risk as we speak due to the politically correct leadership that is growing under our joke in Washington and to the subversion just beginning to take place. We need to let our Bozo's know and vote them out before it is too late.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Who's On First in the War on Terror
A good friend of mine is a Marine Gunnery Sergeant serving in Afghanistan after a couple of tours in Iraq including the Battle of Fallujah. He's been over there since first part of the year and recently received news of his Fathers death so he had to come back to the states for the funeral.
His story started right there. The Marine Corps flew him from the field to an air base in Afghanistan and then were to get him home to the states. Well, they couldn't tell him when he would get out of there and home so, being a Marine he found a way himself. He linked up with some Air Force teams heading to the states, got himself manifested and dropped off in SC where his wife drove a couple hours from NC to pick him up.
Now he is one Gung Ho Marine and wanted to get back to his troops as soon as possible. First he gets a call from his Colonel in Afghan asking him to attend the funeral of one of their own killed that week. He did that in Virginia then called me a couple weeks ago while driving to Bethesda to see another Marine from their outfit who lost both legs above the knee and most of his fingers.
We talked and he told me he was going to go to Andrews Air Base and hitch a ride (think about that) back to Afghanistan and work his way to his outfit fighting there. The Marines it seemed hadn't worked out his return yet? He said he'd have his wife drop him off at Andrews when he got the time worked out. I guess they fly daily to Afghanistan. That would make sense since there is a war there.
So I thought he was gone, worked his way back there two weeks ago. Yesterday I heard from him and it is a classic, or priceless as they say on TV. He had his phone shut off because of course he was leaving. The Air Force had his wifes phone but apparently no one to dial the number. My friend rented a car and drove from NC to DC only to find out the flight was postponed for a day. But it actually wasn't, he drove back up to find that it had left on schedule, he had just missed it.
Now he is back to relying on the Marine Corps to get him back to his unit, we are at war aren't we? He is really wanting to get back, that's what Marines do. They schedule him on a flight due out last Monday via Delta Airlines? Now what the heck is Marines doing on Delta? Anyway he came in from NC and went to get his bag with all his military stuff inside only to have the nice attendant at Delta informed him his bag had went to San Diego.
She assured him they could have it to him in 24 hours but he mentioned his final destination was eventually Afghanistan and he doubted Delta could deliver there. He had no choice but to return home, since he was missing another connection, and when he got home he had a message on his wife's phone from the Marine Corps saying he 'might not be going back' - which when you think about it would have been real timely had Delta not lost his bags and he connected.
Who exactly is running that show? We have all this great young men like my dear friend who are willing to go and lay it all on the line for our country and then they get treated like this ... makes one wonder? And this is the government who wants to bring us health care!
Long story short. I now leave this Tuesday! The war will be over by the time I get back. I guess if anyone would appreciTe this kind of shit it would be you.
Semper,
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Did the Times Square Bomber Give in Too Quickly?
We all know about the Times Square bomber and how we caught him in 53 hours on a plane and all the drama that went along. We also know our illustrious Attorney General, well he's not really but he does currently hold the position, went before Congress the other day and was offering his account of the crack capture of this guy. He would not utter the words Islamic Terrorist. When confronted by a Senator about his obvious refusal to use the term, he said he did not want in any way to offend a religion. Isn't that nice. When they beheaded Daniel Pearl I believe was his name, the newsman, somehow they didn't seem to have the same problem. What a tough guy Eric Holder is, I mean Osama must be shaking, well, laughing in his cave in Pakistan.
But the puzzle of the Times Square bomber just doesn't fit together for me. Think about this ...
1. The guy is smart, I mean he's been to college and had what appeared to be a nice family and a job no less.
2. Okay he loses his job like millions of Americans and 'out of the blue' joins the Jihad.
3. Goes to Pakistan, is on our radar but somehow he was flying stealth and came in low.
4. Now the guy before hand didn't exhibit the traits of being a moron so why all of a sudden after six months of training does he construct a crude, unworkable bomb that smokes in Times Square? That is a big question for me before we write him off as another Lt. Calley who graduated in the bottom of his bomb class and messed things up royally. What if the bomb was intended to merely smoke? Think about that for a minute.
5. Now the guy makes a getaway and forgets the keys of his getaway car and locks them inside. Well I gotta admit, nerves maybe. But think about New York city you could get the subway, a taxi or have walked to Kennedy Airport in 53 hours for goodness sake. Think about why he didn't get out of town sooner?
6. He is sitting on a plane on the tarmac and it gets called back, very dramatic stuff you know and the first words out of his mouth is "I thought you would have been here sooner". Now think about why he might has said that when he had 52 hours and 59 minutes previously to leave.
7. And then, the first thing he does is sing like a canary. he says he will cooperate and tell us everything. Fact is he didn't tell us a thing we didn't already know about the training in Pakistan and we even knew he was there so what is the big surprise. So we're working with him and he is working with us ... and bet your sweet butt that he is working for the Jihad.
I believe this was nothing more than an elaborate probe to see how quickly we respond, what information we get and have and that information is available thanks to our media who just loves to be first with a story.
We are a country in deep trouble. We have an avowed enemy who just like Achmanutjob in Iran declared his desire to take out the Jews and Israel; Islam has declared openly their desire to bring down the west, us being the jewel of the west. And we have leadership in all parties and at all levels and positions who are afraid to call the night black. And we are all going to pay for it as Islam moves to a cultural Jihad under the air cover of political correctness and infiltrators, perhaps at the highest levels.
Food for thought ...
Monday, May 10, 2010
Our Country 'On Tilt'
I admit things haven't been great here in America for some time. And I've never been a conspiracy theorist, respecting we each have differing views and need to meet somewhere in the middle. Well, I am nearing the edge of thinking that this guy in the White House and his radical cohorts do have an agenda, and it isn't one that American's signed up for.
Think about how he has alienated or long time ally Great Britain. Then think about how he is daily alienating Israel, our one and only ally in the Middle East. Think about how he ignored the voice of the American people and crammed some sort of healthcare, that Congress doesn't even understand down our throats.
We've all heard of the recent meltdown in Greece. What you may not have heard is that the bailout of Greece will be handled somewhat bu the US - that is the International Monetary Fund or IMF, is doling out over $150B to Greece and that is backed by the US to the tune of 17% ... several billion more we're on the hook for. Makes one wonder.
And get this ... one of the cutbacks the Greek government is making is reducing retiree benefits. Do you know that Greeks got to retire on their government at the ripe age of 54. They all had health insurance benefits for life, all Greeks, and that's nice but the IMF, in loaning them the money for their bailout has demanded that they 'privatize' their health insurance and get out of the business themselves ... Umm?
The there is the case of terrorism, a word the current administration would not utter - until last week when Times Square nearly became another 9-11 ... now our illustrious Homeland Security leader and Attorney General can't say it enough ... we are in a war 'on terror' and they will not let that happen on their watch ... I'm sure it was Bush's fault.
Keep you eye on this crew, something sinister is a brew!
Friday, May 7, 2010
An Interesting Look Back on Vietnam - 35 Years after the Fall of Saigon
May 03, 2010, American Thinker
The Two Vietnam Wars
By Jim Guirard
“On Friday of last week, much of the establishment media reminded us of the awful 35th anniversary of the so-called "End of the Vietnam War" -- on April 30, 1975. This is only partly true, and now we need to know what the late commentator Paul Harvey would correctly call "the rest of the story." On Friday and throughout the weekend, familiar pictures were shown of American helicopters lifting people off the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon as the South Vietnamese government was collapsing to the invading Communists from the North -- and this was dutifully labeled again as the "first war ever lost by America." Since this snapshot of so-called "history" is highly misleading, it becomes vital that the entire story of Vietnam and its Cold War aftermath be clearly understood -- so that today's partisan politicians, media commentators and far-Left "Progressives" cannot scam the American public with a variety of false "lessons" of that long-ago conflict and its far-reaching consequences.
Unfortunately, we live in an age when far too little attention is paid to history -- real history. What actually happened back then is often rewritten to satisfy political or ideological appetites of "Scamalot" revisionists -- who may be journalists, or academics, or deceitful governments, or religious zealots, or even occupants of high political office. Evidence of this deceit can be found in America's failure three months ago to memorialize the actual late-January 1973 end of the Vietnam War -- or, more correctly, the end of "Vietnam One," in which American armed forces fought. That was the twelve-year war which was fought largely by U.S. combat forces and which officially ended with the Paris Peace Accords of January 27, 1973. But sadly, back in January, we saw not a single historically correct commentary about the end of "Vietnam One" in any major U.S. newspaper. Nor was there any detailed mention by any TV network "talking head" of the historical truth of a badly defeated North Vietnam's exodus from the South. That was the imperfect but largely victorious and now-forgotten end of Vietnam One.
Remembered and loudly acclaimed, instead, is the infamous anniversary date more than two years later of the tragic end of "Vietnam Two" – which (a) began in January 1975, (b) involved no U.S. combat forces at all, and (c) came to a tragic end on April 30, 1975. That was when South Vietnam's capital city of Saigon fell to rampaging Soviet-supplied North Vietnamese armies -- and when televised pictures of helicopters rescuing American diplomatic personnel, Marine guards, and friendly South Vietnamese from the U.S. Embassy roof were first burned into our memories. The deceitful tactic: Loudly and relentlessly propagandize a first-ever "Defeat of America" when, in fact, all American combat units had departed the scene more than two years earlier.
1) Beginning in 1961, all significant increases in U.S. combat forces in South Vietnam occurred during the administrations of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson (to a peak of 543,400 in late 1968) -- while all significant reductions (down to only 20,000 in late 1972 and to virtually zero by mid-1973) occurred in the administration of Richard Nixon. These large reductions were made possible both by the steady weakening of North Vietnamese and by significant strengthening of South Vietnamese forces, especially during and following the widely and cynically misinterpreted Tet Offensive of 1968 -- which was an unmitigated disaster for the North.
2) During their dozen years in South Vietnam, U.S. combat forces did not lose a single major battle, despite the marginally insane (i.e., politically correct) rules of engagement to which they were subjected by Lyndon Johnson, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and their "best and brightest" entourage -- and then by a similar, but less intrusive, micro-management by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. Clearly, U.S. combat forces did not "lose" the military war, as contrasted to the political and psychological losses they suffered in the McGovernite Congress, in the left-leaning media, among the radicalized academia and foreign policy elite, and in American public opinion.
3) The biggest and longest battle of the entire Vietnam War -- the Tet Offensive of early 1968 -- was the biggest victory for U.S. and South Vietnamese forces and the most devastating defeat for the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. But a combination of mainline media lies and of negative "spin" by antiwar activists managed to persuade the American public that it was our biggest failure, instead.
4) That part of the conflict in which US combat forces participated ended with the Paris Peace Accords of January 27, 1973, when American troop count was down to about 20,000 and headed for zero by mid-year -- and with formal treaty assurances from North Vietnam that it would cease its cross-border aggression against South Vietnam.
At that point, American and South Vietnamese forces had thwarted the Soviet-supported North. They had both militarily and diplomatically achieved the same status quo ante as the one which ended the Korean War twenty years earlier -- not a clear-cut victory, but surely not the shameful defeat which today's revisionists contend.
b) the dominance of the antiwar congressional Democrats (pressured by Blame America First radicals of the Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, George McGovern, and Frank Church varieties), who in 1973-74 slashed aid to South Vietnam by more than half; and c) the Moscow-Hanoi certainty that an unelected and politically insecure President Gerald Ford would not dare to intervene if the North were to invade the South.
6) The final Blitzkrieg-style victory of the Soviet-supported North Vietnamese came on April 30, 1975. This was not a victory over U.S. combat forces; our forces had departed more than two years earlier. It was the defeat of the South Vietnam military, whose assistance and political support had been decimated by a Democrat-dominated, weak-on-liberty U.S. Congress.
7) The predicted "communist bloodbath" in South Vietnam did, indeed, occur. There were tens of thousands of summary executions, millions of innocents herded into brutal "re-education" camps, and hundreds of thousands of "boat people" fleeing the single-party, police-state communist dictatorship. This communist state is still in power, thirty years later.
8) The long-anticipated "domino effect" also occurred over the next five years (1975-80), during which a "no-more-Vietnams" retreat by the United States and its allies allowed some twenty nations to fall to Soviet imperialism, colonialism, and subversion. Divided into two slightly overlapping groups, these post-Vietnam colonies for communism were: Ten plainly Marxist-Leninist states: South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia, South Yemen, Suriname, Grenada, and Nicaragua. Ten more socialist, single-party "client states," which were close enough to communist tyranny as no longer to require so-called "liberation": Libya, Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao-Tome/Principe, and the Congo.
9) It was not until Ronald Reagan became president in January 1981 that this veritable avalanche of "dominoes" into the Evil Empire ceased falling. The trend was reversed by the preemptive "roll-back" liberation of Grenada from Soviet/Cuban colonial status in 1983. Although only a tiny part of the Evil Empire, Grenada's great geopolitical significance was the first clear-cut reversal of the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine -- that much-propagandized rule which said "once Communist, always Communist."
10) Whether or not Vietnam One was either strategically wise or militarily winnable (which this writer strongly believes it was), it was most certainly a "moral" and "just" cause. As with the case of World War II, such a determination can be based only on an objective analysis of the character and motivations of the enemy against whom the war was fought. In total context, was this enemy the "good guy" who deserved to win, or the "bad guy" who should have lost? In this case, that Soviet-sponsored enemy -- Ho Chi Minh's North Vietnam -- proved quite clearly in the postwar period to be far more imperialist than "nationalist," far more repressive than "liberationist," and far more fascist-Left than "people's democratic." This is why so many Americans have always believed that by any objective standard, "the wrong side won." And this is why we must remind everyone, in the name of truth-in-history, that this "wrong side" victory came against a cut-and-run U.S. Congress -- and not against American combat forces in Vietnam One, which ended imperfectly but honorably in early 1973.
Of course, that historic truth is regretted to this day by many of the anti-liberation left, who would have preferred that "arrogant America" and "imperialist America" be defeated outright -- just as they would prefer in Iraq and Afghanistan today. A final note: The idea that there would be no "domino effect" to a defeat of American and Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is as deceitful as the constantly repeated lie that there was no such triggering effect to the April 1975 collapse of South Vietnam. Review #8 above for a truth-in-history reminder of the twenty post-Vietnam dominoes which fell in a period of only five short years -- four of them during the pathetic Carter-Mondale years -- followed then by the 1980s decade of the "roll-back of communism," which was applauded by many (and demeaned by many others) as the Reagan Revolution.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Lawyers Don't Belong in War
I have the post below about the Seals on trial, before that was the Marines of Haditha where the legal system ruined careers and lives. I got a memo from a Marine the other day using his USMC mailbox and here is the legal disclaimer at the bottom of the email:
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in or attached to this communication is confidential, legally privileged and intended for use only by the individual or entity to which it is transmitted. Any other use of this communication is strictly prohibited. Do not disseminated without the approval of the sender of this email. This email and all other electronic or voice communication from this address are for informational purposes only. (Tired yet?) No such communication is intended by the sender or the agency to constitute either an electronic record, or an electronic signature, or to constitute any agreement by the sender to conduct a transaction by electronic means. (Umm?) If you receive this email in error, please permanently delete the original and any other copies or printouts of the email, and notify me immediately at the above email address or phone number. (Yea right!) This email may contain information that must be protected in accordance with 5 U.S.C. [United States Code] 552a, as implemented within the DoD [Department of Defense] by 32 C.F.R. [Code of Federal Regulations] Part 310 and DoD 5400.11R and within the DoN [Department of the Navy] by SEC-NAVINST [Secretary of the Navy Instruction] 5211.5D. Privacy Act of 1974 as amended applies. To the extent the information contained in or attached to this communication contains Privacy Act information, that information is FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY.
____
Now someone has some time on their hands. The large majority of our emails aren't even as long as this goverment disclaimer. Unbelievable!
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in or attached to this communication is confidential, legally privileged and intended for use only by the individual or entity to which it is transmitted. Any other use of this communication is strictly prohibited. Do not disseminated without the approval of the sender of this email. This email and all other electronic or voice communication from this address are for informational purposes only. (Tired yet?) No such communication is intended by the sender or the agency to constitute either an electronic record, or an electronic signature, or to constitute any agreement by the sender to conduct a transaction by electronic means. (Umm?) If you receive this email in error, please permanently delete the original and any other copies or printouts of the email, and notify me immediately at the above email address or phone number. (Yea right!) This email may contain information that must be protected in accordance with 5 U.S.C. [United States Code] 552a, as implemented within the DoD [Department of Defense] by 32 C.F.R. [Code of Federal Regulations] Part 310 and DoD 5400.11R and within the DoN [Department of the Navy] by SEC-NAVINST [Secretary of the Navy Instruction] 5211.5D. Privacy Act of 1974 as amended applies. To the extent the information contained in or attached to this communication contains Privacy Act information, that information is FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY.
____
Now someone has some time on their hands. The large majority of our emails aren't even as long as this goverment disclaimer. Unbelievable!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Seals On Trial - Regarding Below Article
I read of this some time back but here we are in a war and we have our government using testimony that a combatant was roughed up by Navy Seals, some of America's finest on the front lines. This judiciary execution of the war was started during the Clinton Administration and is in high gear today. Unbelievable!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Vietnam and Afghanistan
It is a confusing world out there some times, then other times, like the weather, it clears. I was reading last night an article in the latest Newsweek on our efforts to train the national police force in Afghanistan. Now this deal isn't on the current Administration but on eight years of the last one under Bush.
We have trained 170,000 national police in Afghanistan and as we speak there are 30,000 reporting for work. Most of those absent are receiving checks they just don't know there whereabouts. And it went on to outline the missing rifles and rocket launchers that are being sold on the black market to the Taliban.
I remember our 'Allies' in Vietnam, the ARVN's - the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. I remember a Marine grunt out fit that was surrounded on a hill by a US grenade called a bouncing betty because when you stepped on it, it flew three feet in the air and exploded, a nasty little weapon. Seems that 10,000 of our bouncing bettys that were sent to our 'Allies' and ended up with the Viet Cong and they surrounded this Marine hill with them and wiped out over 50% of the Marines. Umm, sounds a little like what I read last night with the Afghan Police.
I interact with a lot of Marines today who have or are serving in both war theaters, Iraq or Afghanistan. And a few contractors working and fighting there. None believe these people will be defending themselves once we leave. A lot like the Fall of Saigon is one the way I'm afraid.
I had no problem with our kicking the Taliban out in Afghanistan after 911. I did wonder 'what were they thinking' going in to Iraq? I had the opportunity to meet a British General over dinner one night in Florida. I expressed my disbelief that we didn't appear to have a plan on entering Baghdad? The General explained that he was retiring but he had been a war planner during the invasion and was in fact in CentCom when our first troops arrived well ahead of schedule and said there was a combined 'Oh Shit' in the headquarters because there was in fact 'no plan' for after the war. Incredible!
And now we're repeating the mistakes of past wars. In fact the article went on to say that a big part of the problem is that the contractors hired to train the police were handed a program by the government to execute. It was to train these police for 8 weeks, which they disagreed with, but were told they had 'numbers' to meet. The new administration, while sitting in disbelief over the lack of progress, cut the training to six weeks.
By the way, the police they are training are 89% illiterate, under no obligation to return since they don't participate in contracts, the same applies to their Army we are training ... unbelievable.
And this is the same outfit that bankrupted social security, medicare and now we're going to trust health care to them. It is our government under any of our last four Presidents at least.
We have trained 170,000 national police in Afghanistan and as we speak there are 30,000 reporting for work. Most of those absent are receiving checks they just don't know there whereabouts. And it went on to outline the missing rifles and rocket launchers that are being sold on the black market to the Taliban.
I remember our 'Allies' in Vietnam, the ARVN's - the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. I remember a Marine grunt out fit that was surrounded on a hill by a US grenade called a bouncing betty because when you stepped on it, it flew three feet in the air and exploded, a nasty little weapon. Seems that 10,000 of our bouncing bettys that were sent to our 'Allies' and ended up with the Viet Cong and they surrounded this Marine hill with them and wiped out over 50% of the Marines. Umm, sounds a little like what I read last night with the Afghan Police.
I interact with a lot of Marines today who have or are serving in both war theaters, Iraq or Afghanistan. And a few contractors working and fighting there. None believe these people will be defending themselves once we leave. A lot like the Fall of Saigon is one the way I'm afraid.
I had no problem with our kicking the Taliban out in Afghanistan after 911. I did wonder 'what were they thinking' going in to Iraq? I had the opportunity to meet a British General over dinner one night in Florida. I expressed my disbelief that we didn't appear to have a plan on entering Baghdad? The General explained that he was retiring but he had been a war planner during the invasion and was in fact in CentCom when our first troops arrived well ahead of schedule and said there was a combined 'Oh Shit' in the headquarters because there was in fact 'no plan' for after the war. Incredible!
And now we're repeating the mistakes of past wars. In fact the article went on to say that a big part of the problem is that the contractors hired to train the police were handed a program by the government to execute. It was to train these police for 8 weeks, which they disagreed with, but were told they had 'numbers' to meet. The new administration, while sitting in disbelief over the lack of progress, cut the training to six weeks.
By the way, the police they are training are 89% illiterate, under no obligation to return since they don't participate in contracts, the same applies to their Army we are training ... unbelievable.
And this is the same outfit that bankrupted social security, medicare and now we're going to trust health care to them. It is our government under any of our last four Presidents at least.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
America On Tilt
Let me think now, lets think about this so called President and some recent directions he has taken.
1. It took him months to decide if the guy HE put in Afghanistan to lead the troops comes back and says he needs X amount; and the Commander in Thief says, umm, let me think about that ... comes back six months later, all the while the undermanned troops are dying along with our Allies there ... and he splits the difference trying to appease his 1960 liberals he surrounded himself with. Makes one wonder?
2.We have a situation in Honduras where the current President is reprimanded and tossed out by their Supreme Court because he was trying to change the Constitution to allow him to serve more terms than allowed (think Hugo Chavez in Venezuela) and we, the United States of America, support the old guy trying to change the countries Constitution? Umm, makes one wonder?
3. Our ONE ally in the middle east, who has been our ally since their founding in the mid-forties, and has never wavered, I repeat, our ONE ally in the middle east, Israel, is now being slighted. What for? Well, they are building a settlement for 1600 homes in an area NEVER ever populated or occupied by Arabs or Palestinians as they call themselves in this case ... proven by archaeological records that they've never been there. What is our mans' lacky Hillary doing? She is over there protesting this and telling Israel that they are jeopardizing middle eastern peace? Are you kidding me. Umm, makes one wonder?
Achmanutjob in Iran is building nukes, flaunting it at the world and we're worried about 1600 homes in Israel. Umm ... makes one wonder?
4. And since the inception of his illusory leadership in Washington this guy we have had been placing all his emphasis on health care. How could it be improved, sure. Does most of the free and not so free world come here for treatment, yes. So does it need work for the masses, yes. It it America's most pressing problem to take up all the time of Congress and the so called President? NO WAY! Umm, makes one wonder.
What our leadership has been doing could be likened to a man with terminal cancer demanding to have knee surgery before he dies. After all his knee is bad and bothers him when he walks. We have a war going on and he takes six months to decide what to do but he can push, finagle and con his way to forcing this legislation upon the American people when even in the most liberal pol's only show 48% of the people in this country supporting it. Unbelievable! And then in the bill they make payoffs to certain states in the way of pork barrel spending to BUY their votes. Umm, makes one wonder?
You know this is to the point that it is no longer about Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal, it is about America. I don't know if this is true but I heard yesterday that the anointed one announced his next goal is to grant amnesty to all illegal immigrants ... now that makes one wonder?
I wonder if his agenda really is as so many claim, an ultra-liberal, left wing, socialist who wants change, not constitutional change ... but a revolution from within ... makes one wonder doesn't it?
1. It took him months to decide if the guy HE put in Afghanistan to lead the troops comes back and says he needs X amount; and the Commander in Thief says, umm, let me think about that ... comes back six months later, all the while the undermanned troops are dying along with our Allies there ... and he splits the difference trying to appease his 1960 liberals he surrounded himself with. Makes one wonder?
2.We have a situation in Honduras where the current President is reprimanded and tossed out by their Supreme Court because he was trying to change the Constitution to allow him to serve more terms than allowed (think Hugo Chavez in Venezuela) and we, the United States of America, support the old guy trying to change the countries Constitution? Umm, makes one wonder?
3. Our ONE ally in the middle east, who has been our ally since their founding in the mid-forties, and has never wavered, I repeat, our ONE ally in the middle east, Israel, is now being slighted. What for? Well, they are building a settlement for 1600 homes in an area NEVER ever populated or occupied by Arabs or Palestinians as they call themselves in this case ... proven by archaeological records that they've never been there. What is our mans' lacky Hillary doing? She is over there protesting this and telling Israel that they are jeopardizing middle eastern peace? Are you kidding me. Umm, makes one wonder?
Achmanutjob in Iran is building nukes, flaunting it at the world and we're worried about 1600 homes in Israel. Umm ... makes one wonder?
4. And since the inception of his illusory leadership in Washington this guy we have had been placing all his emphasis on health care. How could it be improved, sure. Does most of the free and not so free world come here for treatment, yes. So does it need work for the masses, yes. It it America's most pressing problem to take up all the time of Congress and the so called President? NO WAY! Umm, makes one wonder.
What our leadership has been doing could be likened to a man with terminal cancer demanding to have knee surgery before he dies. After all his knee is bad and bothers him when he walks. We have a war going on and he takes six months to decide what to do but he can push, finagle and con his way to forcing this legislation upon the American people when even in the most liberal pol's only show 48% of the people in this country supporting it. Unbelievable! And then in the bill they make payoffs to certain states in the way of pork barrel spending to BUY their votes. Umm, makes one wonder?
You know this is to the point that it is no longer about Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal, it is about America. I don't know if this is true but I heard yesterday that the anointed one announced his next goal is to grant amnesty to all illegal immigrants ... now that makes one wonder?
I wonder if his agenda really is as so many claim, an ultra-liberal, left wing, socialist who wants change, not constitutional change ... but a revolution from within ... makes one wonder doesn't it?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
You may have seen this before but its worth repeating ... our country is changing but not for the better.
Gen. Dula's letter to the University of Washington student senate leader.
To: Edwards, Jill (student, UW)
Subject: Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
Miss Edwards, I read of your 'student activity' regarding the proposed memorial to Col Greg Boyington, USMC and a Medal of Honor winner. I suspect you will receive a bellyful of angry e-mails from conservative folks like me. You may be too young to appreciate fully the sacrifices of generations of servicemen and servicewomen on whose shoulders you and your fellow students stand. I forgive you for the untutored ways of youth and your naïveté. It may be that you are, simply, a sheep. There's no dishonor in being a sheep - - as long as you know and accept what you are.
Please take a couple of minutes to read the following. And be grateful for the thousands - - millions - - of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.
Brett Dula
Sheepdog, retired
----------------------------------------------------------
ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS
By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER,
Ph.D., author of "On Killing."
Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains:
What is worth defending?
What is worth dying for?
What is worth living for?
- William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: "Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident."
This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation.
They are sheep. I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.
"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep.
There is no safety in denial.
"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf." If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours. Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa." Until the wolf shows up.
Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them.
This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero? Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle.
The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into "warriorhood", you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself. Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke -- Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep.
Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice.
But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many police officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying a weapon. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them. Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up. Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear, helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in "Fear Less", his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling." Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level. And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself..."Baa."
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from "sheephood" and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.
________________________________________
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is an internationally recognized scholar, author, soldier, and speaker. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book, On Killing.
________________________________________
Gen. Dula's letter to the University of Washington student senate leader.
To: Edwards, Jill (student, UW)
Subject: Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
Miss Edwards, I read of your 'student activity' regarding the proposed memorial to Col Greg Boyington, USMC and a Medal of Honor winner. I suspect you will receive a bellyful of angry e-mails from conservative folks like me. You may be too young to appreciate fully the sacrifices of generations of servicemen and servicewomen on whose shoulders you and your fellow students stand. I forgive you for the untutored ways of youth and your naïveté. It may be that you are, simply, a sheep. There's no dishonor in being a sheep - - as long as you know and accept what you are.
Please take a couple of minutes to read the following. And be grateful for the thousands - - millions - - of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.
Brett Dula
Sheepdog, retired
----------------------------------------------------------
ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS
By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER,
Ph.D., author of "On Killing."
Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains:
What is worth defending?
What is worth dying for?
What is worth living for?
- William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: "Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident."
This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation.
They are sheep. I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.
"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep.
There is no safety in denial.
"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf." If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours. Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa." Until the wolf shows up.
Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them.
This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero? Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle.
The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into "warriorhood", you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself. Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke -- Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep.
Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice.
But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many police officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying a weapon. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them. Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up. Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear, helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in "Fear Less", his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling." Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level. And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself..."Baa."
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from "sheephood" and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.
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Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is an internationally recognized scholar, author, soldier, and speaker. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book, On Killing.
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Monday, March 8, 2010
Leadership and the War on Terror
I'm organizing some pictures from my Costa Rican trip but shortly after arriving back in the states I picked up a USA Today in Denver and what did I read? I read that in that southern province in Afghanistan where the Marines are currently cleaning out the Taliban our 'leaders', the higher ups, have made a decision that we will not make any more night raids because it is upsetting the Afghan people.
Now how quick do you have to be to know that just maybe, just maybe, the enemy is putting the people up to complaining, once again using our decency and political correctness against us. Unbelievable!
I was talking to a Marine I am close to that left yesterday for Afghanistan with his unit to lead a new offensive. He is on his 5th tour over in either Iraq or Afghan ... he told me he couldn't believe the papers are reporting of the 'coming offensive' that his unit is about to lead. One more stupid decision by our so called leaders - putting our young men and women in harms way and then tying their hands behind their backs.
Why would we spend all the money on technology for night capabilities, a distinct advantage to us ... and then say 'no more night raids'? That's leadership.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Airline Insecurity - How on Earth?
We've all read enough about the Christmas eve debacle on Northwest with the guy setting his pants on fire in flight. That is so sad and serious and yet everyone in DC is dancing circles around the elephant in the kitchen. I was going to write something detailing how I feel but then I got on to this article by Ann Coulter. I'm not an Ann Coulter fan personally but she hit the proverbial nail square on the head on this one ...
Ivana Trump Escorted Off Plane: Napolitano Declares 'The System Worked'
by Ann Coulter
Posted 12/30/2009 ET
In response to a Nigerian Muslim trying to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, the government will now prohibit international travelers from going to the bathroom in the last hour before the plane lands.
Terrorists who plan to bomb planes during the first seven hours of the eight-hour flight, however, should face no difficulties, provided they wait until after the complimentary beverage service has been concluded.
How do they know Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab didn't wait until the end of the flight to try to detonate explosives because he heard the stewardess announce that the food service was over and seats would have to be placed in their upright position? I can't finish my snack? This plane is going down!
Also prohibited in the last hour of international flights will be: blankets, pillows, computers and in-flight entertainment. Another triumph in Janet Napolitano's "Let's stay one step behind the terrorists" policy!
For the past eight years, approximately 2 million Americans a day have been subjected to humiliating searches at airport security checkpoints, forced to remove their shoes and jackets, to open their computers, and to remove all liquids from their carry-on bags, except minuscule amounts in marked 3-ounce containers placed in Ziploc plastic bags -- folding sandwich bags are verboten -- among other indignities.
This, allegedly, was the price we had to pay for safe airplanes. The one security precaution the government refused to consider was to require extra screening for passengers who looked like the last three-dozen terrorists to attack airplanes.
Since Muslims took down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie , Scotland , in 1988, every attack on a commercial airliner has been committed by foreign-born Muslim men with the same hair color, eye color and skin color. Half of them have been named Mohammed.
An alien from the planet "Not Politically Correct" would have surveyed the situation after 9/11 and said: "You are at war with an enemy without uniforms, without morals, without a country and without a leader -- but the one advantage you have is they all look alike. ... What? ... What did I say?"
The only advantage we have in a war with stateless terrorists was ruled out of order ab initio by political correctness.
And so, despite 5 trillion Americans opening laptops, surrendering lip gloss and drinking breast milk in airports day after day for the past eight years, the government still couldn't stop a Nigerian Muslim from nearly blowing up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.
The "warning signs" exhibited by this particular passenger included the following:
His name was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
He's Nigerian.
He's a Muslim.
His name was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
He boarded a plane in Lagos , Nigeria .
He paid nearly $3,000 in cash for his ticket.
He had no luggage.
His name was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
Two months ago, his father warned the U.S. that he was a radical Muslim and possibly dangerous.
If our security procedures can't stop this guy, can't we just dispense with those procedures altogether? What's the point exactly?
(To be fair, the father's warning might have been taken more seriously if he had not simultaneously asked for the U.S. Embassy's Social Security number and bank routing number in order to convey a $28 million inheritance that was trapped in a Nigerian bank account.)
The warning from Abdulmutallab's father put his son on some list, but not the "no fly" list. Apparently, it's tougher to get on the "no fly" list than it was to get into Studio 54 in the '70s. Currently, the only people on the "no fly" list" are the Blind Sheik and Sean Penn.
The government is like the drunk looking for his keys under a lamppost. Someone stops to help, and asks, "Is this where you lost them?" No, the drunk answers, but the light's better here.
The government refuses to perform the only possibly effective security check -- search Muslims -- so instead it harasses infinitely compliant Americans. Will that help avert a terrorist attack? No, but the Americans don't complain.
The only reason Abdulmutallab didn't succeed in bringing down an airplane with 278 passengers was that: (1) A brave Dutchman leapt from his seat and extinguished the smoldering Nigerian; and (2) the Nigerian apparently didn't have enough detonating fluid to cause a powerful explosion.
In addition to the no blanket, no computer, no bathroom rule, perhaps the airlines could add this to their preflight announcement about seat belts and emergency exits: "Should a passenger sitting near you attempt to detonate an explosive device, you may be called upon to render emergency assistance. Would you be willing to do so under those circumstances? If not we will assign you another seat ...."
Ivana Trump Escorted Off Plane: Napolitano Declares 'The System Worked'
by Ann Coulter
Posted 12/30/2009 ET
In response to a Nigerian Muslim trying to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, the government will now prohibit international travelers from going to the bathroom in the last hour before the plane lands.
Terrorists who plan to bomb planes during the first seven hours of the eight-hour flight, however, should face no difficulties, provided they wait until after the complimentary beverage service has been concluded.
How do they know Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab didn't wait until the end of the flight to try to detonate explosives because he heard the stewardess announce that the food service was over and seats would have to be placed in their upright position? I can't finish my snack? This plane is going down!
Also prohibited in the last hour of international flights will be: blankets, pillows, computers and in-flight entertainment. Another triumph in Janet Napolitano's "Let's stay one step behind the terrorists" policy!
For the past eight years, approximately 2 million Americans a day have been subjected to humiliating searches at airport security checkpoints, forced to remove their shoes and jackets, to open their computers, and to remove all liquids from their carry-on bags, except minuscule amounts in marked 3-ounce containers placed in Ziploc plastic bags -- folding sandwich bags are verboten -- among other indignities.
This, allegedly, was the price we had to pay for safe airplanes. The one security precaution the government refused to consider was to require extra screening for passengers who looked like the last three-dozen terrorists to attack airplanes.
Since Muslims took down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie , Scotland , in 1988, every attack on a commercial airliner has been committed by foreign-born Muslim men with the same hair color, eye color and skin color. Half of them have been named Mohammed.
An alien from the planet "Not Politically Correct" would have surveyed the situation after 9/11 and said: "You are at war with an enemy without uniforms, without morals, without a country and without a leader -- but the one advantage you have is they all look alike. ... What? ... What did I say?"
The only advantage we have in a war with stateless terrorists was ruled out of order ab initio by political correctness.
And so, despite 5 trillion Americans opening laptops, surrendering lip gloss and drinking breast milk in airports day after day for the past eight years, the government still couldn't stop a Nigerian Muslim from nearly blowing up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.
The "warning signs" exhibited by this particular passenger included the following:
His name was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
He's Nigerian.
He's a Muslim.
His name was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
He boarded a plane in Lagos , Nigeria .
He paid nearly $3,000 in cash for his ticket.
He had no luggage.
His name was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
Two months ago, his father warned the U.S. that he was a radical Muslim and possibly dangerous.
If our security procedures can't stop this guy, can't we just dispense with those procedures altogether? What's the point exactly?
(To be fair, the father's warning might have been taken more seriously if he had not simultaneously asked for the U.S. Embassy's Social Security number and bank routing number in order to convey a $28 million inheritance that was trapped in a Nigerian bank account.)
The warning from Abdulmutallab's father put his son on some list, but not the "no fly" list. Apparently, it's tougher to get on the "no fly" list than it was to get into Studio 54 in the '70s. Currently, the only people on the "no fly" list" are the Blind Sheik and Sean Penn.
The government is like the drunk looking for his keys under a lamppost. Someone stops to help, and asks, "Is this where you lost them?" No, the drunk answers, but the light's better here.
The government refuses to perform the only possibly effective security check -- search Muslims -- so instead it harasses infinitely compliant Americans. Will that help avert a terrorist attack? No, but the Americans don't complain.
The only reason Abdulmutallab didn't succeed in bringing down an airplane with 278 passengers was that: (1) A brave Dutchman leapt from his seat and extinguished the smoldering Nigerian; and (2) the Nigerian apparently didn't have enough detonating fluid to cause a powerful explosion.
In addition to the no blanket, no computer, no bathroom rule, perhaps the airlines could add this to their preflight announcement about seat belts and emergency exits: "Should a passenger sitting near you attempt to detonate an explosive device, you may be called upon to render emergency assistance. Would you be willing to do so under those circumstances? If not we will assign you another seat ...."
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