This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Antiwar crowd

  • YearlyKos moderator enforces DoD policy (Updated 2x)

    I picked up this story from Little Green Footballs who got it from American Prospect that some moderator shouted down an audience member in uniform;

    [A] young man in uniform stood up to argue that the surge was working, and cutting down on Iraqi casualties. The moderator largely freaked out. When other members of the panel tried to answer his question, he demanded they “stand down.” He demanded the questioner give his name, the name of his commander, and the name of his unit. And then he closed the panel, no answer offered or allowed, and stalked off the stage….

    Well, apparently Wes Clark, this century’s “Little Mac” McClellan, explained that a member of the military can’t participate in polical meetings in uniform. Funny, that wasn’t the argument the Left used when Adam Kokesh was bothering people while in uniform on the National Mall during anti-war rallies.

    What Wesley Clark was referring to was DoD Directive 1334.01 which states;

    It is DoD policy that:

     3.1.  The wearing of the uniform by members of the Armed Forces (including retired members and members of Reserve components) is prohibited under any of the following circumstances:

      3.1.1.  At any meeting or demonstration that is a function of, or sponsored by an organization, association, movement, group, or combination of persons that the Attorney General of the United States has designated, under Executive Order 10450 as amended (reference (c)), as totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive, or as having adopted a policy of advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny others their rights under the Constitution of the United States, or as seeking to alter the form of Government of the United States by unconstitutional means.

      3.1.2.  During or in connection with furthering political activities, private employment or commercial interests, when an inference of official sponsorship for the activity or interest may be drawn.

      3.1.3.  Except when authorized by the approval authorities in subparagraph 4.1.1., when participating in activities such as unofficial public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies or any public demonstration, which may imply Service sanction of the cause for which the demonstration or activity is conducted.

      3.1.4.  When wearing of the uniform may tend to bring discredit upon the Armed Forces.

    Now unless Kos admits that it’s a totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive organization, the guy was within his rights to be there and in uniform. It’s just a lame excuse to keep people from hearing that current operations have improved life in Iraq, while hiding behind a DoD policy that the Left doesn’t agree with when it suits them.

    And in case this Jon Solz dude who dressed down the soldier is wondering – I don’t care what his rank is or was – I’d tear him a new aft-orifice if I ever caught him intimidating a soldier – especially like a lame little puss. “What’s your unit? Who’s your commander?” That’s stuff real leaders stop doing their first day.

    Its pretty disingeuous of Solz, representing himself as a veteran in everything he writes and says, representing an organization called VoteVets which masquerades as a  nonpartisan organization, but is clearly a tool of the Democrats, and then Solz silences a member of the military. 

    Solz didn’t seem to have a problem with the soldier sitting in the audience – until he had something to say. If there was something wrong with him being at the event, someone should have said something during the 44 minutes he sat there.

    More hypocrisy.

    Michele Malkin has more links and thoughts. mRed at Invincible Armor tracks Leftist reaction. Volunteer Opinion Journal faults global warming for their meltdown. Ace says it’s a good excuse to prosecute Beauchamps.

    Little Green Footballs now has the video.

    UPDATE: Pajamas Media‘s Andrew Marcus has an exclusive interview with the young buck sergeant (h/t Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive). 

    UPDATE II: It seems that Daily Kos is also censoring their diarists who question Solz’ treatment of the young buck sergeant at the center of the fury. One story remains, but LGF has a screenshot if it goes the way of it’s predecesor.

  • End the war; raise the taxes

    A bridge collapses in Minnesota and everyone automatically assumes the only answer is to raise Federal taxes. Well, except Barney Frank – he has a two-point plan. End the war in Iraq (he’s careful to say Iraq specifically, otherwise someone might think he’s a crackpot who wants to end the war against Pakistan) and raise taxes.

    LibertyPost records some of the mooniest/battiest internet posts from the Democrat Underground while Bob Parks, of Black and Right, ventures into the Daily Kos. 

    Can someone tell me why a taxpayer in Arizona should pay money out of his earnings so someone in Minnesota doesn’t have to drive around a body of water? Why should we abandon our worldwide struggle for national security to repair potholes in South Dakota?

    Well, of course, the real answer is that any straw the Democrats can grasp they use. They blamed the Republicans for two hurricanes, I guess they blame them for bridge collapses, too. Just so long as the people who vote remember that Federal government isn’t the answer to every-fricken-question-ever-asked.

    I remember in 1992, the Democrats blamed the President’s father for Hurricane Andrew and when he expanded the capabilities of FEMA (which was little more than a phone bank), the Democrats accused him of “growing government” in the election.

    Any group of people who thought that Al Gore and John Kerry were the best choices for the last two presidential races certainly don’t have the answer to two difficult questions – especially if the only answer they can come up with is “end the war and raise taxes”. A two-year-old could have think that one up.

  • Hypocrisy round-up

    The word hypocrisy gets thrown around alot recently, but there are several new examples that jumped out of the internet pages at me this morning. For example, John Edwards who recently condemned Fox News, a subsidiary of News Corp. and declared he’d not appear at a debate hosted by the successful cable news channel. Well, the New York Post discovered that the former senator, shyster lawyer who channels dead babies on command, hedgefund advisor who learned about poverty by stealing from his investors, and charity manager who funnels off tax-free donations to secretly fund his campaign expenses, took $800,000 from HarperCollins, another News Corp. subsidiary;

    John Edwards, who yesterday demanded Democratic candidates return any campaign donations from Rupert Murdoch and News Corp., himself earned at least $800,000 for a book published by one of the media mogul’s companies.

    The Edwards campaign said the multimillionaire trial lawyer would not return the hefty payout from Murdoch for the book titled “Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives.”

    The campaign didn’t respond to a question from The Post about whether it was hypocritical for Edwards to take money from News Corp. while calling for other candidates not to.

    In addition to a $500,000 advance from HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corp., Edwards also was cut a check for $300,000 for expenses.

    Edwards claimed $333,334 in royalties from last year’s release of the book, according to media accounts. The campaign said last night that those funds were part of the advance.

    Of course he claims he gave the money to charity, but he refuses to offer proof of his benevolence.

    The other day, I wrote about Barack Obama’s naive threat to Pakistan to invade with US troops unless Pakistan passes his test of an acceptable level of violence against al Qaeda in Pakistan. With all of the evidence we have that Iran is involved in war against us, why isn’t Obama beinging just as intolerant of Iran’s sheltering of terrorists, al Qaeda or otherwise?  Well, probably because admitting that Iran is a threat justifies our involvement in Iraq and the naive and inexperienced Obama doesn’t want to piss off the anti-war-at-any-cost whackos at Daily Kos.

    Speaking of Daily Kos, EJ Dionne of the Washington Post decided to defend the vulgar, hate-filled Daily Kos today. Comparing Marko’s internet playground for the mentally unstable to Rush Limbaugh, Dionne wrote;

    Personally, I dislike the use of obscenity on the Web, and many online posts are way too nasty. But the right wing, suddenly so concerned with the niceties of political discourse, did not worry much about what its militants said about Clinton, Al Gore or John Kerry. Limbaugh even blamed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on a president who had been out of office for eight months. I’m still waiting for his apology.

    George Bush and Dick Cheney have heaped praise on Limbaugh (“Well, Rush, you’ve got a great show, as always,” Cheney said during one of his many interviews) because he’s an effective organizer for the right — even if Limbaugh has, of late, become disenchanted with some of Bush’s policies. Limbaugh desperately needs a Democratic president. Another Clinton would be perfect.

    Um, EJ, Kos made obscenity on the internet an acceptable part of the debate. And resorting to obscenity on the internet makes the left look childish and immature, well, more childish and immature since most of the Left’s charges against president Bush are just ridiculous. So the Democrat candidates are aligning themselves with the extra-chromosone Left and you’re proud of it? And it hardly compares with Rush Limbaugh’s crowd at all.

    A Washington Times editorial alerts us to another impending CAIR lawsuit;

    Another week, another threat of lawsuit by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. This time, the group behind the Minneapolis “flying imams” lawsuit are targeting the Young America’s Foundation, the nonprofit that owns President Reagan’s Santa Barbara Ranch. YAF’s “offense”: Inviting author and terrorism analyst Robert Spencer to speak at a conference yesterday afternoon for a lecture titled “The Truth About the Council on American-Islamic Relations.” Among other things, the real CAIR story features less-than-flattering facts, such as the “unindicted co-conspirator” label CAIR earned in June in a Hamas terror-funding case, and the several people in the group’s orbit who have been indicted on terrorism-related charges. CAIR would rather try to frighten its critics than debate them.

    As CAIR’s lawyer warned YAF Wednesday: “Our clients have instructed us to pursue every available and appropriate legal remedy to redress any false and defamatory statements that are made at the session.” This comes from a group which claims to “encourage dialogue.”

    This is an outrageous bid at intimidation. A more normal advocacy organization would seek to debate its opponents. Sadly, this litigiousness is commonplace for CAIR, whose activities could be scarcely more different from its mission statement. CAIR claims to strive to “be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding” and to “enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.” It could scarcely do less of each. 

    It seems you can hardly mention hypocrisy these days without including CAIR in the discussion. I’ll let the Washington Times editorial stand on it’s own without my comments – they always do it so well.

  • Murtha and the mullahs share strategic goals

    So how much more do we need to prove we’re at war with Iran? How about this gem from the Washington Time’s Sara Carter;

    Four terrorists linked to an Iranian smuggling operation — responsible for targeting coalition forces with powerful bombs — were captured yesterday in Iraq, according to Defense Department officials.

    The announcement came as U.S. officials continue to investigate links between Iran and insurgents seeking to destabilize the region and who target U.S. forces on the ground.

    “I would say that it’s clear to us that there are networks that are smuggling weapons, both explosive-formed projectiles, IEDs, as well as mortar and other capabilities from Iran into Iraq,” said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the day-to-day commander in Iraq.

    “And in fact, we believe some training is also going on inside of Iran. We have seen in the last three months a significant improvement in the capability of mortarmen and rocketeers to provide accurate fires into the [coalition] Green Zone and other places. We think this is directly related to training that was conducted in Iran.”

    But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel because the US held “talks” with the Iranians in Bahgdad this week. how’d it turn out?

    During the groundbreaking talks, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker accused Iran of spurring the violence in Iraq by arming and training Shi’ite militias. He warned that no progress can be made unless Iranian behavior changes.

    Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi countered that Tehran is trying to help Iraq deal with the security situation, but Iraqis are “victimized by terror and the presence of foreign forces” in their country. 

    Of course, John Murtha, that brave and persistent warrior who only thinks about this country and our national security, in response to Iranian intransigence, unilaterally declared war against Iran;

    Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat and chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, said he will introduce a measure next week that would begin pulling out troops within 60 days after its introduction.

    Oh. Did I read that wrong? So that’s Murtha’s answer to the possibility that we stand to be cut off from our oil imports from the Gulf – race to the rear. Yeah, that’ll scare the mullahs. As I’ve said before and documented on these pages, Murtha’s persistance to surrender is so the anti-war-at-any-price crowd will run a screen on his ample flank for his corrupt dealings in his own district.

    So in effect, Murtha is running a screen for the Iranian mullahs. Murtha is bent on making the world a more dangerous place to line his own pockets in the near future. We can’t stop Murtha and we can’t stop the mullahs.

    We’re starting to look a little pathetic.

     

     

  • Scott Thomas Beauchamps; shithouse scribe (Updated)

    I’ve been reading the stories from Michael Goldfarb and National Review that The New Republic published from some formerly unidentified soldier named Scott Thomas who turns out to be named Scott Thomas Beauchamps. Since these stories been published and republished across the ‘net, I won’t bother to repeat the stories this youngster wrote. I kinda figured they were bullshit stories from the get-go, but I wanted to wait and see how this played out before I said anything. Well, it’s not played out yet, but I do have a few thoughts, especially since the young man supposedly happens to be in an infantry company in which I served during  the days of yore.

    The stories I read that he claims to have penned all seem false to me – some have defended the tales with their own brand of forensic psychiatry saying that young men pumped up with testosterone and ranging about a wild country with loaded fully automatic weapons have a tendancy to do things others might not think possible. Well, that’s just horseshit, too.

    These men we send to fight our wars come from our hometowns, they’re raised in our neighborhoods, they sit next to us in our church pews, they date our daughters. They know how to act – and none that I know would intentionally run over a dog.

    In fact, after Desert Storm, when we were still trying to bring some level of civilization to the areas behind the retreatng Iraqis, my battalion commander instructed the company commanders to send their snipers out to dispatch the roving bands of stray dogs. My troops were in an absolute rage about this – one of my squad leaders got relieved when our company’s sniper couldn’t seem to kill the dogs with one shot and the squad leader confronted him, fairly agressively – too agressively for the commander’s tastes. I can prove my story, by the way, Crotchety Old Bastard was a Platoon leader in the same company and I’m sure he remembers the incident. (Update note: He does remember it.)

    And any Bradley driver who can see up over the right side and drive that 26-ton monster with enough precision to catch a dog unawares – well, the Army better not ever let him out. 1600 horses are not quiet, and 26 tons are not maneuverable.

    As far as making fun of an injured woman because of a disfigurement beyond her control, resulting from an enemy action – bullshit. If she’d been a fat cow from the ambulance platoon whose rolls of lard were hanging out the bottom of her BDU blouse, I might make a different call – but not in this case. if there’s one thing warriors respect it’s those who’ve looked the dragon in the eye and lived.

    I had a friend, Tim Martin, whose memorial you can see on my website, who was disfigured since I knew him – 1974 until his death in 1993. The whole right side of his face was melted – you can see in some of the photos. I never knew why because I never asked him. No one I know ever asked him why – because it didn’t matter. He was a rockhard soldier with a heart of gold and it didn’t matter to anyone why he was disfigured. And although Uncle Jimbo is a bit confused about when Tim was injured, he can certainly attest to Tim’s injury and the way he was treated by the people with whom he served.

    And putting a child’s skull on your head – sorry, but infantrymen never know when their next shower will be – putting an exhumed skull anywhere on your body is just unsanitary and his squad leader would’ve knocked the troop into his next rotation. I know it seems trivial to most people, but anyone who has really been an infantryman, not the kind in the movies, knows the importance of personal hygiene – and the dangers of ignoring personal hygiene.

    From reading Beauchamp’s blogs, I get the impression that the little weasel heard some stories in the latrine while he was pounding his pathetic little pecker, blew them out of proportion and then marketed them to The New Republic – which swallowed them hook, line and sinker. I guess it’s not really their fault since they wouldn’t know a track pad from shit-on-a-shingle, what with them being a bunch of chickenshit civilian pussies and all.

    Even if it did happen, and I have absolutely no reason to think that any of these shithouse rumors did happen, it shouldn’t reflect on the outstanding work that all of the other guys who have the misfortune to serve with a lying sack of dung. Heck, I served in the same division as Timothy McVeigh in Desert Storm – doesn’t mean that I’m probably going to blow up a federal building, does it?

    This mealy-mouthed little pussy will get reamed by his First Sergeant and Platoon Sergeant real well – reamed so well that you could drive an Abrams up his ass before they’re through and the truth will then come out. But the damage to our troops’ reputations has already been done – which all The New Republic wanted to do anyway – all we can do is work to repair that damage.

    Hey Alpha Company 1-18th Infantry – the beer’s on me when ya’all get to DC. Count on it.

    UPDATED: Little Green Footballs and Ace of Spades have circumstantial evidence that Beauchamps is connected to The New Republic by marriage.

    UPDATED again: GI Jane at The Foxhole has an email exchange from Beuchamps’ First Sergeant who assures us these stories are false and that Scott Thomas has “other underlying issues”. I get the impression that the boy will end up pushing Schweinfurt to Paris from the front-leaning postion. 

    (Note: GI Jane graciously offered to reproduce the email here, but I’d prefer ya’all give her your traffic – she has a great blog and ya’all deserve to read her stuff in her own house. Thanks.)

  • Links to keep you busy; Best of the Web as I see it

    First, from Don Carl out in California who emailed me this YouTube link. Apparently, our soldiers have more than al Qaeda to worry about in Iraq.

    Skye at MidnightBlue (who looks fabulous in her new silk dress, by the way) sends along a link to to her reportage (complete with photos) on the Cindy Sheehan demostration in Philly on Tuesday. Skye and the patriots who live in our nation’s first capitol apparently ran the old bag out of town like our brothers and sisters in Charlotte. Eagles up!

    For those of you who are still operating under the misapprehension that the Left still supports our troops, check out this post by Chap at Chapomatic. If the links he posts don’t make you angry, you’re a stronger person than I am. Mred at Invicible Armor berates the Democrats for recreating the fall of Saigon in Baghdad. If that’s not enough to get your blood boiling, read COBDanny’s post about the Demo candidates and the yearly Kos.

    By way of Curt at Flopping Aces, I read that  Ace at Ace of Spades thinks he knows who “Scott Thomas” is. More background on “Scott Thomas” from Chickenhawk Express, Gateway Pundit and Laughing Wolf at Blackfive. While you’re at Blackfive, see Uncle Jimbo’s post on Okinawa Jack Murtha’s latest chickenshit plan to surrender to anyone that will accept his portly being. 

    And Bill Gertz of the Washington Times reports that the Pentagon claims that al Qaeda is looking for unconventional weapons. Wonder where they’d get ’em from?

    GI Jane at The Foxhole has the last word on Ward Churchill.

    Mike at Lamplighter has staggering statistics on modern human trafficking.

    Scott Thomas Update: Since GI Jane commented, I’ve done some looking around and see I’m faaaaaar behind the proverbial Eight-Ball on this. Powerline  and Michele Malkin are out front.

    Wouldn’t you just know it that I was in A Co. 1/18th (Scott Thomas Beauchamps company) when they were part of the 3rd Brigade of the 24th Division (for the old troops that was after they were redesignated from the old Dollar-Ninety-Seven Brigade at Benning). I hope his first sergeant lights his young ass up.

  • Sheehan and her tens of tens in DC

    The media has pretty much tossed Cindy Sheehan aside as their “ultimate moral authority” figure on the war against terror. She’s been on a whirlwind tour of the South spreading her ultimate moral authority over everyone who’ll listen. She finally made it to DC yesterday with her tens of tens supporters (about 300, actually) and the best coverage I’ve seen is from the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank;

    As a retiree, Cindy Sheehan was the Michael Jordan of the peace movement.

    “I am going to take whatever I have left and go home,” she announced in her May 29 “resignation letter” as antiwar activist. “Good-bye America.”

    The retirement — and Sheehan’s attempt to “be normal,” as she put it — lasted exactly 34 days. On July 2, she un-retired after hearing that President Bush had commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence. And yesterday, bullhorn in hand, she led a march of demonstrators from Arlington National Cemetery to the Capitol, where she ended the day by getting arrested.

    Yeah, that’s what did it, Scooter Libby’s pardon. She probably heard in the local Starbucks (where she was panhandling) someone said “Bush can’t do that” and she accepted it as legal advice. Or she just got tired of not being on the nightly news.

    Sheehan then waded into constitutional law, and the little- known mandatory impeachment clause. “Impeachment is not a fringe movement — it is mandated in our Constitution,” she asserted. “Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table. If she takes impeachment off the table, what else will she take off the table — the First Amendment?”

    It’s funny how the Left always finds things that aren’t in the Constitution. There must be a broom closet somewhere of all of the rules the founders didn’t want to clutter up the one-page document and then gave the keys to the industrial-age equivalence of a moonbat who drags out the dusty unknown rules on cue.

    Milbank claims that the Sheehanistas were a bit paranoid;

    …by yesterday Sheehan even thought the planes departing from National Airport were conspiring against her. “They stepped up the air traffic,” she complained as a jet interrupted her speech.

    The paranoid also may have been suspicious about the low-flying military helicopter as the marchers crossed Arlington Memorial Bridge, or the man in the car with U.S. government plates who took pictures of the demonstrators as they reached the Tidal Basin — “for personal use,” he claimed.

    Yup, all of the airlines got together and decided to make their flights all leave while Cindy was speaking to the tens of tens gathered to hear her screech. Be sure to read the whole Milbank article – finally a fair treatment of Sheehan, replete with accounts of counter protesters from Free Republic and Gathering of Eagles.

    Aside from Milbank’s video, I haven’t found any pictures yet.

    But actually, Sheehan’s experience with the Democrats should serve as a warning to all single-issue voters, especially the Republicans (who tend to throw the party under the bus whenever a candidate doesn’t support our particular cause – resulting in eight years of Clinton). Sheehan was an icon of the anti-war Left, and now in the words of Bob Parks of Black and Right, she’s the Paris Hilton of the anti war Left – in just 34 days.

  • Gathering of Eagles in September

    The Gathering of Eagles, whose exploits I’ve photo’d and written about several times, are planning more counter-demonstrations in DC in September. The details aren’t ironed out yet according to their website, but apparently they plan to demonstrate against Congress on September 10th and counter-demonstrate against the ANSWER Coalition of kooks on the 15th.

    You might notice that one of the officers of GOE posted on my latest Sheehan story below and announced the counter-demonstration planned September. I’ve seen the ANSWER posters around town and wondered if the GOE was going to be there, too. Happily, they will.

    In my opinion, these counter-demonstrations are having a real effect on these protesters. If Cindy Sheehan can’t find the intestinal fortitude to drag her body from a car and face the consequences for her traitorous yammering, we’re winning.

    These kooks have continued unanswered for too long, because they appeared to be harmless. But, because no one had the guts to face them (until this year – aside from Free Republic, I mean), we’ve tacitly approved of the rise of idiot punks like the basement-dwelling Black Bloc members.

    I remember in the early seventies when construction workers in New York City climbed down off of the high steel to confront anti-war protesters of the time. That pretty much ended protests of the Viet Nam era. Maybe we can do it again.

    We owe it to the troops in the Middle East.