Author: COB6

But apparently old leftist die slowly because Andy’s out there again demonstrating what a colossal dumbass he truly is.

The good folks at Thunder Run sent this to me in an email.

Andy Rooney writing about Captain Chesley Sullenberger says:

We don’t have many heroes these days because there isn’t much opportunity to be a hero, and most people aren’t usually heroic anyway. Being heroic means doing something that risks your life while saving someone else’s.

Thunder Run looks at Mr. Rooney’s recent comments and graciously and thoroughly refutes them. That’s a very respectful lot over at Thunder Run.

I do not suffer from that particular impediment however. This is particularly true when refuting the insane commentary of a babbling old communist idiot.

While I applaud CPT Sullenberger’s action that truly saved dozens of lives; I would remind Mr. Rooney that at the time of the incident no one was trying to shoot CPT Sully in the frigging head!

So, Mr. Rooney before declaring that heroism is dead in America I would like to introduce you to Sergeant First Class Abram Hernandez from Hidalgo, Texas.

Read More (You will be a better American for doing so)

Citation:
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Abram Hernandez, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as the Engineer Sergeant for Operational Detachment Alpha 765 (ODA-765), Company A, 2d Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), during combat operations in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, on 24 June 2006, at Pashmul, Kandahar, Afghanistan. Sergeant Hernandez’ heroic actions and dedication to duty defeated an enemy attack, saved the lives of his comrades, and prevented the destruction of his team. His actions are in keeping with the highest traditions of military heroism and reflect distinct credit upon himself, the Combined Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan, Special Operations Command Central, and the United States Army.

NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY AWARD
Sergeant First Class Abram Hernandez, United States Army, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry in action as the Engineer Sergeant for Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 765, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. On 24 June 2006, while conducting Operation KAIKA, a cordon and search mission to capture or kill Taliban leadership in Panjawi District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Sergeant Hernandez was assigned to lead the assault element as part of an effort to seize a compound located on key terrain adjacent to the detachment’s perimeter. As his element prepared for the assault, he came under heavy fire from several directions. Sergeant Hernandez and his small assault force entered and quickly cleared the compound. Under the direction of his Team Sergeant, he assisted in organizing a defensive perimeter. An unexpectedly large Taliban Force immediately counterattacked, surrounded the compound, and established positions as near as 15 meters from the outside walls. The estimated 50 Taliban fighters began pounding the compound from all directions with a relentless barrage of small arms, machinegun and rocket-propelled grenade fires.

Sergeant Hernandez scaled a six-meter unstable homemade ladder to the top of a wall in order to engage enemy targets outside the compound. From this precarious position he was able to provide accurate suppressive fires on Taliban elements attempting to close on an isolated support by fire position as well as his own. To engage the enemy, Sergeant Hernandez had to expose his upper body above the top of the wall, causing the Taliban to concentrate their fires on Sergeant Hernandez. From this exposed position, he repeatedly fired on the enemy and evaded incoming machinegun fire and rocket-propelled grenade explosions. A two-story building adjacent to the compound provided the enemy a vantage point to fire directly into the compound at the rear of Sergeant Hernandez’ perch.

While enemy bullets tore at the front of the wall around him, and began striking against the inside of the wall around his completely exposed back, Sergeant Hernandez refused to reposition himself. While vulnerable to enemy fires, he shifted fires to support the arrival of a quick reaction force, attempted to suppress the enemy closing on the isolated support by fire position, and engaged the enemy directly attacking the compound. When the quick reaction force departed the compound to recover the two wounded Soldiers at the support by fire position, Sergeant Hernandez concentrated his fires to support their movement from the compound, ignoring enemy fighters nearby who were firing directly at him. The accurate enemy fires from behind him began to dismantle the unstable ladder. A machinegun burst shredded one of the legs and the top part of the ladder, causing Sergeant Hernandez to lose his balance as it collapsed to one side. He was able to maintain his position by balancing himself with one leg propped against an adjacent wall at a corner. He still refused to seek cover, and continued providing accurate, sustained, suppressive fires atop his now disintegrating ladder. The Team Sergeant then instructed Sergeant Hernandez to leave the compound to link-up with the quick reaction force and assist them in recovering the wounded. Sergeant Hernandez slipped out of the compound, maneuvered 200 meters through Taliban fighting positions while receiving heavy fire, and located the isolated quick reaction force. While attempting to organize the element, he learned that his Team Sergeant had been seriously injured at the compound. He immediately returned to the compound, crossing the same 200 meters he had just covered, again while under heavy direct fire from Taliban fighters. He bounded from one covered position to the next before sprinting the last portion through a hail of machinegun fire to reach his wounded comrade. He attempted life-saving measures on his Team Sergeant then reorganized the faltering defense. He ran through the compound, positioning weapons systems, directing fires, and motivating the remaining Afghan Soldiers. His leadership and fearless personal example inspired the defenders to regain the initiative and continue to repel the Taliban assaults. After the Reaction Force arrived with the wounded, Sergeant Hernandez then assisted with the direction of fires from supporting AC-130 gunships, the medical evacuation of the wounded, and reception of an ammunition re-supply. After dark, Sergeant Hernandez and his entire element left the compound and moved undetected through enemy positions to rejoin the detachment at the patrol base. Sergeant Hernandez’ courageous actions and determined spirit not only prevented his small element from being overrun, captured, or destroyed, but decisively engaged and eliminated enemy forces who would have otherwise captured his two wounded comrades. His gallantry, dedication to duty, and selfless sacrifice exemplified the warrior ethos and directly contributed to the detachment seizing the initiative, denying the enemy the use of key terrain, and forcing the Taliban retreat. The heroic accomplishments of Sergeant Hernandez reflect great credit upon himself, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan, Special Operations Command-Central, and the United States Army.
Home Town: Hidalgo, Texas
Personal Awards: Silver Star (War on Terrorism), Purple Heart

In a word, yes and it is following a predictable pattern. This has happened before where vast numbers of people bought in the hype around a person who had absolutely zero history to support the hype. The expectations are always inflated in these cases to justify the seemingly naïve choice. Then when the great hope’s performance falters, his greatest cheerleaders initiate the same pattern.

Here is a classic case in point.

In the 1998 NFL draft the top two quarterbacks on the board were Peyton Manning who most scouts considered the best prospect since John Elway and for some odd reason Ryan Leaf. Leaf had an up and down but successful career in college but his value in the draft seemed to spiral skyward for no real good reason.

The San Diego Chargers had the third overall pick behind Indianapolis and Arizona. Fearing that the messianic Leaf would not be there in the third pick, the Chargers made a startling deal with Arizona to move up. And the Chargers were deadly serious in their gamble. For one spot in the draft, they gave Arizona two first-round picks, a second-round pick and three-time pro bowler Eric Metcalf!

As you NFL fans know, this trade is commonly viewed as the biggest NFL draft bust in history! The Ryan Leaf NFL train wreck was a thing of legend.

But here is where the cultists unraveling follow the pattern.

The rest of San Diego’s draft was very lack luster and the veterans on the team weren’t exactly chock full of talent having come off a 4-12 1997 campaign. So, the apologists first started to blame those around him.

Much like today’s column in Salon from Democrat stalwart Camille Paglia:

March 11, 2009 | Free Barack!
Yes, free the president from his flacks, fixers and goons — his posse of smirky smart alecks and provincial rubes, who were shrewd enough to beat the slow, pompous Clintons in the mano-a-mano primaries but who seem like dazed lost lambs in the brave new world of federal legislation and global statesmanship.

Heads should be rolling at the White House for the embarrassing series of flubs that have overshadowed President Obama’s first seven weeks in office and given the scattered, demoralized Republicans a huge boost toward regrouping and resurrection. (Michelle, please use those fabulous toned arms to butt some heads!)

In 1998 after a horrid start, many of the sports writers and Charger fans began to recant on their overwhelming support for Leaf claiming that they had never really been all that excited in the first place.

This is happening again:

I should have known better.

For those of you who have been following me, most of you know that I grudingly voted for Obama last November. It was a ticket-spittling vote: voted for Obama and then voted GOP down the line. I noted that I was going to cast my vote with some trepidation:

While I am supporting Obama, it is with trepidation. I worry that once in office he will veer too far to the Left, pleasing the Democratic base. I can only hope that with so much support from independents and Republicans, that he will realize that he has to govern from the center or face a backlash in 2010.

Well, it seems like my fears have been confirmed. It started with the Stimulus Bill that I thought was too stuffed with pork to do any real good. Now it comes in the form of Obama’s proposed budget.
Finally, a controversy developed between Leaf and Charger’s management when the Charger head office began to wonder out loud if perhaps Leaf was simply in over his head.

Interestingly one of Obama’s biggest supporters, Howard Fineman of Newsweek has come to a similar conclusion:

Swimming in the middle, he’s denounced as a socialist by conservatives, criticized as a polite accommodationist by government-is-the-answer liberals, and increasingly, dismissed as being in over his head by technocrats.

How long before Democrats try to trade him to Tampa Bay?

This is why I never liked the old British slap-stick humor. You see, stupid is funny until it becomes dangerous and inevitably it always becomes dangerous.

This however is a whole new level of stupid.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposal to reach out to moderate Taliban will fail to end the Afghan insurgency as it is inflexible Taliban leaders who are orchestrating the war, not moderates, analysts said.

Obama, in an interview with the New York Times newspaper published on its website on Saturday, expressed an openness to adapting tactics in Afghanistan that had been used in Iraq to reach out to moderate elements there.

Am I the only one who sees this amateurish move as painfully ignorant? No, it seems.

“Obama’s comment resemble a dream more than reality,” said Waheed Mozhdah, an analyst who has written a book on the Taliban.

“Where are the so-called moderate Taliban? Who are the moderate Taliban?” asked Mozhdah, who was an official in both the Taliban and the Karzai governments.

Karzai’s pro-Western administration and the growing number of foreign forces in Afghanistan have increasingly come under attack from a resurgent Taliban, with Obama now describing Afghanistan as a top foreign policy priority for his new administration.

“‘Moderate Taliban’ is like ‘moderate killer’. Is there such a thing?”, asked writer and analyst Qaseem Akhgar.

Is this not Carter 2.0?

In my humble opinion, this ass clown is going further and further into the abyss.

PS: I think Jimmy Carter is the happiest American right now because if Obama continues to follow this path, Carter’s legacy of being the worst President in modern times will be eclipsed.

Hyperbole, you say? If this story from the UK Telegraph is even remotely true, Terrified may be an understatement.

Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.

Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president’s surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama’s inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to “even fake an interest in foreign policy”.

The American source said: “Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.

“That was the gamble these guys made at the front end of this presidency and I think they’re finding it a hard thing to do everything.”

Even the colossal dumb ass Joe Biden warned that the Presidency is no place for on the job training.

One thing I have discovered in life and almost always at the peril of the “leader” in charge is that the higher pay grade of the amateur the more catastrophic his decisions will be for the institution. In this case the institution is the United States of America.

Almost by definition an amateur is ultimately destined to screw up something significant. The larger his scope of responsibility and power the greater the risk that the screw up will be far reaching enough to actually put the viability of the institution in grave danger.

Obviously the presidency is a very dangerous place to put a rookie.

I have seen totally unqualified people placed in positions of responsibility over the years for a variety of reasons and I can’t recall a single instance where the individual succeeded. Watching the train wreck is never pretty and always follows a similar pattern. This is where my fear comes from.

Incompetency – Overwhelm – Exhaustion – Panic – Catastrophe

Is it time to be afraid? Gold soaring, gun sales spiking, stock market plummeting, unemployment rising, taxes soaring and massive inflation right around the corner…

Yeah, I think it’s getting time to be very concerned where this amateur is taking our country.

First, I apologize for not posting lately. I have been extremely busy with my plans for world domination and yes, they are coming along just fine.

Snowman sent me this article from Fox News:

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Army captain from Oregon charged with stealing nearly $700,000 from the government while in Iraq pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges including theft of government property and money laundering.

A federal grand jury indictment alleges that between April 2007 and February 24. 2009, Capt. Michael Dung Nguyen, 28, stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., stole more than $690,000 entrusted to him as the battalion civil affairs officer in Muqdadiyah, Iraq.

Prosecutors say the funds were designated for local commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan for urgent humanitarian relief and reconstruction needs.

The indictment alleges Nguyen used some of the money to buy a new BMW M3 and a Hummer H3T, along with computers, electronics and furniture.

This is the kind of thing that pisses me off on a grand scale. Not only did this POS decide to blatantly steal from his betters, he did so at the expense of the lives of his fellow soldiers.

The local agreements made between US forces and the local Sheiks is what made the surge work. How many people did this ass wipe endanger by making promises to get the money and then not delivering?

U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut said an investigation began after Internal Revenue Service agents spotted a suspicious pattern with the deposits.

She said the charges indicate a “flagrant and reprehensible disregard” for military honor.

Ya think? Honor is something that we in the military take very seriously. This is particularly true for officers that are entrusted with the lives of so many people. This ass clown is an embarrassment to anyone who ever wore the uniform with a sense of anything more important than himself.

Nguyen, a 2004 West Point graduate, is assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

So your tax dollars gave this POS a quality six-figure education is an institution that was built on Duty, Honor and Country.

A dear old friend and member of that long gray line sent the following quotes in an email detailing his disgust for such a man.

“I cannot trust with higher command, with command of others, a man who cannot command himself. Discipline of self, as well as others, is the soul of an Army.” –R.E. Lee

“The long gray line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab… would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.” –D. MacArthur

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48

I’ll let all of you offer suggestions for what fate should meet this man.

As for me, two words: Eddie Slovik!

To make matters worse Rear Adm. Dixon R. Smith, commander Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific was onboard at the time of the incident.

Navy officials say an attempt to pull free a 9,600-ton warship that ran aground off the coast of Honolulu has been unsuccessful.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet says Navy tugboats and salvage ship USS Salvor tried to tow the USS Port Royal early Saturday but the guided missile cruiser remained stuck.

The Navy says it plans to try again after extracting fuel and water from the $1 billion vessel.

The 9,600-ton ship, while carrying guests that included a rear admiral, ran aground Thursday night on a sandy, rocky bottom. The cause of the grounding, as well the extent of the damage to the ship, remains under investigation.

Val Kilmer owns a 6000 acre ranch in New Mexico making him a legal resident. And since he is a resident, he thinks he should be in charge of the other 1.9 million folks as their governor.

One of New Mexico’s most famous residents is once again telling people in the press that he wants to run for governor.

According to The Hill actor Val Kilmer is still thinking about running for New Mexico’s top job in 2010 when the current governor, Bill Richardson, is term-limited out of office.

And Kilmer hinted that he has the backing of Gov. Bill Richardson.

The Hill reports that Kilmer said the mysterious “they” have asked him to run.

He told The Hill at Monday’s Huffington Post party at the Newseum that he has been approached to run for the highest office of the state where he owns a ranch and has family roots.

“Actually, they’ve asked me to run for governor,” he said, not specifying who “they” are. “People seem to want me to.”

I despise Val Kilmer.

Not because of his acting. He’s a fine actor and certainly an accomplished one.

Not for being a general wacko. He’s a method actor and by definition that means a little insane.

Not for his being a Christian Scientist. Though I do think it is child abuse to withhold medicine from a sick child.

No, I despise Val Kilmer because he is a military-hating, lying sack of shit.

Here is an excerpt from an interview that Kilmer did with Esquire magazine:

[Klosterman]: You mean you think you literally had the same experience as Doc Holliday?

Kilmer: Oh, sure. It’s not like I believed that I shot somebody, but I absolutely know what it feels like to pull the trigger and take someone’s life.

[Klosterman:] You understand how it feels to shoot someone as much as a person who has actually committed a murder?

[Kilmer] I understand it more. It’s an actor’s job. A guy who’s lived through the horror of Vietnam has not spent his life preparing his mind for it. He’s some punk. Most guys were borderline criminal or poor, and that’s why they got sent to Vietnam. It was all the poor, wretched kids who got beat up by their dads, guys who didn’t get on the football team, couldn’t finagle a scholarship. They didn’t have the emotional equipment to handle that experience. But this is what an actor trains to do. I can more effectively represent that kid in Vietnam than a guy who was there.

I think that’s fairly clear…..DOUCHE.

There are approximately 180,000 veterans in New Mexico that would probably be interested in knowing Mr. Kilmer’s views on veterans.

Among them is probably a gentleman named John Garcia:

The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Services is John M. Garcia. He brings a background in strategic planning, business development and community relations. The Secretary is well known to the veterans’ community and was a Commissioner on the predecessor state veterans body, the New Mexico Veterans Service Commission.

Secretary Garcia served in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam in 1969-1970 as a member of the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division. He is a founding member of the Vietnam Veterans of New Mexico and served as the National Deputy Director of the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program in Washington, DC.

So, Val, anytime you want to try to defend the above statement; I’ll be your huckleberry.