Last night I wrote about one moonbat who was disappointed that Obama was continuing the policies of his predecessor in regards to the war against al Qaeda in Pakistan. This morning, Drudge’s headline is;
In the linked article, Jewish leaders are surprised that Clinton has done an about-face from the Clinton who needed Jewish votes to keep her seat in the Senate. Mort Zuckerman complains;
On Thursday, as Secretary of State she had yet another about face in the form of angry messages demanding Israel speed up aid to Gaza. Jewish leaders are furious.
“I am very surprised, frankly, at this statement from the United States government and from the secretary of state,” said Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and member of the NYC Jewish Community Relations Council.
Did they really expect anything to be different? Her husband came into office with a liberal agenda and when he got spanked by reality, he abandoned it all to “become” a small government president who suddenly championed government reform.
Wasn’t anyone paying attention to the fact that Obama was promising gun owners that he wouldn’t take their guns days after he promised church groups he was going to take gunowners’ guns? Didn’t anyone notice that he alternately promised to end the war to one group and vowed to continue the war to others?
Say what you want about President Bush, but when a certain event would occur, we knew how he’d react because we knew what his principles were. There are no principles in the Democrat Party. Well, no principles beyond attracting votes. That’s why the troops lost their privacy at Dover AFB – there are more Leftists who want to exploit flag draped coffins than there are military personnel who don’t. Leftsts win.
That’s why compensation and benefits for the military are going to get cut – there are more people who don’t give a shit about them than do. So if you want to guess how the current administration will come down on any issue, check your local liberal rag. Looking for principled decisions will be a long and fruitless search – trust me.
I guess everyone on the Left hasn’t been Obamatized yet. Meet Tom Santoni whose bio reads;
…a long time human rights and economic justice activist, a professional musician and stained glass artist specializing in peace symbols, and a member of the Central Florida chapter of Veterans For Peace.
He left out that he works part-time a public library. You just know someone with those kinds of creds is a deep political thinker, right? Well here’s part of his thoughtful indictment of The One;
Some highlights;
In a blatant and unmistakable act of war against a sovereign nation, Barack Obama, four days into his administration on Friday, January 23, 2009, as commander in chief of US armed forces, ordered the US military to launch Hellfire missile strikes on homes in northwest Pakistan, killing dozens of civilians including at least three children. The military was aiming to bomb al Qaeda and Taliban “suspects,” but there was some unfortunate “collateral damage”. Oops.
Yeah, Dianne Feinstein blew the whistle on that one – those drones are based in Pakistan and operating with the full knowledge of the pakistani government, so it’s hardly a “blatant and unmistakable act of war”.
But then Mr. Stainglass Peace Symbols starts making sense;
Anyone who doesn’t think Obama should be impeached who supported the impeachment of the previous administration for these same crimes is dealing in double standards and hypocrisy. Everyone who voted for Obama has blood on his hands, especially after he made repeated campaign promises to increase already bank-busting military spending, double the number of US forces in the unwinnable US war and occupation of Afghanistan, continue to develop and deploy Reagan’s Star Wars missile “defense” system, and to “go after suspected terrorists wherever they are.”
Ooops – someone else figured out that Left is a bunch of hypocrits. Word is spreading. Lemme know when ya’all feel like you’ve been used like tools. Yeah, it’s going t be a long four years for everyone.
By now you all have heard. Would it surprise you to learn that the Gold Star Mom that started all this is with Code Pink?
From CNN:
One of the family members who favors lifting the ban is Karen Meredith of San Francisco, California, who wrote Obama urging him to order the change.
Lt. Ken Ballard left for Iraq on Mother’s Day in 2003. He came home in a casket on Memorial Day 2004.
“I wanted the nation to grieve with me, and if we don’t see those images we don’t know that these young men and women are dying,” she told CNN.
“And to me its an honor to have an honor guard at Dover when they’re bringing these men and women back through the mortuary. But we’ve never been able to see those pictures of the honor being given.”
She’s become friendly with advocacy groups like the Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out and Code Pink. She was asked recently to appear at a counter-military recruitment event, but begged off because it took place on Mother’s Day (although she is quick to note that Mother’s Day started as an antiwar holiday).
She recently participated at a gathering in Berkeley and also traveled to Arlington West, a project by the Santa Barbara Veterans for Peace to re-create the grave sites of soldiers killed in Iraq. Later this month, on Memorial Day, the anniversary of Ballard’s death, Meredith plans to return to Washington to again visit her son’s grave at Arlington.
Gold Star mother Karen Meredith came here from Mountain View. Her son Ken Ballard died last year.
Karen Meredith, Gold Star mother: “Sometimes things don’t feel quite right to me. They don’t feel wrong, but maybe that’s how they do it in the marketing business.”
ABC7’s Mark Matthews: “You feel you’re part of a marketing business?”
Karen Meredith: “Possibly. Yeah I think so.”
Here is her blog here. She can’t make it a full para on any given post without mentioning her loss. And everyone should know about her loss.
Paul Rieckhoff thinks this is a swell idea as well:
““Less than 1% of the American population has served in Iraq or Afghanistan. There has never been a greater disconnect between those who serve in harms warm and those back home. All too often, the sacrifices of our military are hidden from view,” Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “The sight of flag-draped coffins is, and should be, a sobering reminder to all Americans of the ultimate sacrifice our troops have made and the high price of our freedom.”
Other groups disagree:
But a spokeswoman for a military family group expressed disappointment. “This is a complete disregard for the will of America’s military families and the need for their privacy during this solemn moment,” said Meghan Tisinger, spokeswoman for Families United.
My Opinion:
Had I died over there, my Dad would have made the decision (my mom died the day I joined the Army.) Now, I love my Dad, but we discuss 2 things, New England Sports Teams, and the weather in Maine. My Dad was a delegate for Ted Kennedy. To his credit, my Dad would NEVER openly say something about the War in front of me. And when I had a flag flown over Bagram on the day the Pats won the Super Bowl, my dad refused to fly it from the front porch, but instead went out and hired a guy to put a huge flag pole in the back yard. My Dad loves me, loves the country, but he’s a liberal, and he knows little about what I would have wanted. I would like to think he would have told them to screw off, but I don’t know. I sincerely hope that SRP from now on includes some sort of living will type document where the troop gets to voice his opinion on whether to be pictured or not. I also wonder what happens when one divorced parent supports, and one does not. Or the Mom and Dad want the pictures taken, and the Spouse does not. How do they iron that shit out?
SHIT: I called and asked my dad. I shouldn’t have asked.
“There’s no one left to call me ‘Mom,’ ” Meredith told a teary-eyed congregation at First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco on Sunday. “He left the day after Mother’s Day, and he said he’d make it up to me when he returned. Today is my third Mother’s Day that I will not pick up the phone and hear his voice.”
Karen Meredith (center), who lost her only son in Iraq, hugs activist Pablo Paredes as Sean O’Neill, who served twice in Iraq, stands by at San Francisco’s First Unitarian Universalist Church. Chronicle photo by Brant Ward
Military deserter and anti-war Left poster boy Pablo Paredes has been denied conscientious objector status. His request for Other than Honorable discharge in lieu of a court-martial trial has also been denied.
Like a dog with a bone, the mainstream Left, is still clinging to the Bush impeachment imprisonment farce. The call went out yesterday from that centrist organization After Downing Street for AG Eric Holder to name a Special Prosecutor for the perfectly reasonable investigation;
We urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a non-partisan independent Special Counsel to immediately commence a prosecutorial [sic] investigation into the most serious alleged crimes of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, the attorneys formerly employed by the Department of Justice whose memos sought to justify torture, and other former top officials of the Bush Administration.
Our laws, and treaties that under Article VI of our Constitution are the supreme law of the land, require the prosecution of crimes that strong evidence suggests these individuals have committed. Both the former president and the former vice president have confessed to authorizing a torture procedure that is illegal under our law and treaty obligations. The former president has confessed to violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
We see no need for these prosecutions to be extraordinarily lengthy or costly, and no need to wait for the recommendations of a panel or “truth” commission when substantial evidence of the crimes is already in the public domain. We believe the most effective investigation can be conducted by a prosecutor, and we believe such an investigation should begin immediately.
I like the last paragraph best. They “see no need for…lengthy or costly” prosecutions – “Awright, boys, let’s string ’em up!” Oh, and the “groups” that endorse this message look like America (below the jump);
The Washington Times‘ Michael Drost writes this morning that the anti-war crowd voted and raised money for Barack Obama knowing he was committed to winning the war in Afghanistan, and they’re not happy that he intends on keeping that pledge;
“I’m very upset; he promised change, and this is not change. It’s just going to create more deaths on both sides and create more terrorists,” said Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink. The group, known for protests and targeting Bush administration officials, posted a statement Thursday condemning Mr. Obama’s decision and urging him to replace the combat troops with “humanitarian troops.”
“Afghanistan needs troops of doctors, farmers, teachers, not more troops,” the statement says.
Medea Benjamin, also a co-founder of Code Pink, said the group “was always unhappy with [Mr. Obama’s] stance on Afghanistan” and has a campaign on its Web site to “Remind Obama”of his promises to promote peace, stop torture, and end the war in Iraq.
“We hoped that putting more troops in Afghanistan was just campaign talk….”
The liberal blog Daily Kos, headed by Obama supporter Markos Moulitsas, also includes posts that are hostile to the president’s troop surge.
“What possible purpose can be served by escalating the conflict with another 30,000 troops?” asked one post Jan 30.
The article goes on to quote Michael Moore (who thinks he’s some kind of learned historian) and others. Well, I suspected that Obama’s stance was just campaign rhetoric, too, but I’m heartened that he shown at least a little bit of common sense by recognizing that withdrawal from Afghanistan would have far-reaching consequences, just like Clinton’s premature withdrawal from Somalia has had on our security.
It’s unfortunate that the squeaky wheels are still willing to sacrifice our way of life just so they can feel better, but we are fortunate that Obama recognizes that most voters will hold him accountable if he sacrifices national security for the patronage of the cranks and liars of the anti-war movement.
TSO sent a link to Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive who now posts at Ace of Spades as well. We figured Jimbo would be able to do a better job with the link than we could, so stop by AoSHQ and read what IAVA and IVAW mean by “fully funding the VA”. And, oh, stop by and say hello to these fellas for us.
Someone sent me this article from Palm Springs’ Desert Sun that tells us that former colonel Ann Wright gets *surprise* an award from the Geezers For Peace;
Wright will be recognized today in Palm Springs with a Silver Helmet Award by the local chapter of Veterans for Peace at its annual banquet.
“We admire her integrity, courage and dedication to the cause of peace,” Veterans for Peace President Tom Swann said in written statement.
For those of you who don’t who Ann Wright is, she resigned her post with the Bush State Department in protest of the war in Iraq. Her posting was in Mongolia, so I’m sure she was a real valuable asset to the State Department and they were sorry to see her go. That was sarcasm, by the way. I’m pretty sure State doesn’t send important employees to Mongolia.
She claims that while she was in the military she was stationed in Afghanistan, Granada, Nicaragua and Somalia. I’m having a little trouble believing all of that, which is why I’ve had a FOIA request in for her records since last month. But, her reasons for resigning on March 19, 2003 were;
In her resignation letter, Wright listed four reasons she could no longer work for the U.S. government under the Bush administration:
* The decision to invade Iraq without the blessing of the U.N. Security Council
* The “lack of effort” in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
* The “lack of policy” in regard to North Korea
* The curtailment of civil liberties within the United States.
So the reason she resigned was because President Bush didn’t allow her and her cohorts to make policy for the United States. In other words, she won’t be missed. She just generally makes a pest of herself since her resignation, interrupting Condoleeza Rice’s testimony to the Senate Foreign Relation Committee in 2006 and sleeping in a ditch with Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, TX in 2005.
In her interview in the Desert Sun she tells us;
It’s the responsibility of us, as U.S. citizens, to question our government. We have the responsibility to look closely at our government.
So I wonder when she’s going to start speaking out against this Democrat government. I won’t hold my breath.
She also says;
I never really got any “You’re a traitor” or “You’re unpatriotic” because I worked for the government for so many years. To call me unpatriotic didn’t make any sense. Very few people approached me in that manner.
Alger Hiss worked at the State Department for fourteen years. No one with a bit of common sense could deny he was a traitor – it’s not your length of service, Wright, it’s what you do while performing that service.
And now the Geezers for Peace give her the Silver Helmet Award. I’d really hoped it was me that got the award for exposing so many phonies in VFP’s ranks, but it was not to be this year – maybe next year after I expose Ann Wright.
Spc. Kristoffer Walker, 28, was scheduled to board a flight at Austin Straubel International Airport in Ashwaubenon this morning to return to Atlanta, where he was scheduled to rejoin the 353rd Transportation Unit deployed to Iraq in October. Walker has been home on leave the past two weeks.
Lt. Col. Nathan Banks, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said Walker did not follow military procedure by filling out paperwork to list himself as a conscientious objector.
“His unit is counting on him,” Banks said. “He’s actually turning his back on his battle buddies. By just not reporting, you’re letting down your teammates. When you raise your right hand to defend the country, you knew there was a time you could possibly be deployed.”
How’s he letting down his team mates? Well, leave is granted on a rotational basis – so one of the guys he works with won’t be able to go home and visit his or her family. That makes him a Blue Falcon.
Walker did a tour in Iraq as an active duty soldier in 2004 and this tour he was sent with a transportation unit. He claims he’s not a conscientious objector because “the Army’s definition is a little different from mine”. Different in that Walker doesn’t believe war is immoral.
According to the AP story;
He said he now views the Iraq war as “an illegitimate, unnecessary campaign,” and he feels that by making him take part, the government broke the contract under which he agreed to defend the U.S.
“I feel absolutely justified in doing what I’m doing now based on their breach of the initial contract,” he said.
I don’t understand this at all. He was in Iraq during one of the toughest periods of that war in the toughest job in the Army. And now that he’s in transportation, he thinks the war is immoral and unjustified. He wasn’t even man enough to face the members of his unit to announce his intention to screw them;
Walker said he sent e-mails this morning to his company sergeant and commanding officer in Iraq, but hasn’t heard back from them. He said his wife received a text message from a member of Walker’s unit in Iraq so he knows the unit is aware of his decision.
