Ladies, times are getting tough for poor Thus Spake Ortner. Apparently he’s taken to getting dating advice from interviews at Right Wing News – and he’s really scared now. I hate to see the kid suffer, so won’t someone please give the veteran cum law student a break?
Category: Bloggers
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Eagles Up! Talon
I’ve been honored by an invitation to join an exceptional group of bloggers in a new endeavor at the Eagles Up! forum. They’ve decided to pool the talents of some of my friends into a single blog called simply Talon. They include bloggers from;
- Cao’s Blog
- Concrete Bob
- Salt and Light
- Winter’s Soldier Story
- Rosemary’s Thoughts
- Veteran-American Voices
The official launch is tomorrow, Monday April 28th and it kicks off with a post from Rurik of Veteran-American Voices, the schedule for bloggers will be;
Monday – Rurik
Tuesday – Rosemary and Concrete Bob
Wednesday – Wednesday Hero and Jonn Lilyea
Thursday – Cao and Dave Jeffers
Friday – Ron Winter
So make sure you bookmark it and be there for the opening party. I don’t anticipate this interrupting my regular blogging here and at my other blogging projects.
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Avoidance is not healthy
OK, I’ve been avoiding this for two days, I guess I’d better answer this thing before Beth comes over and knocks me around.
Beth at My VRWC tagged me with this six word memoir thingie. I’m too much of an obsessive perfectionist to narrow my life down to six words but after this question consumed my every waking hour for two days here’s my answer; Good choices made mine a good life. There – how’s that, Beth.
You guys don’t know how crazy you drive me with these things. Now I have to tag five others? Oh, geez.
Um, OK, since a whole bunch of new people whom I don’t know made my Blogroll this week, I guess I’ll tag some of them;
Civilian Irregular Information Defense Group
Whew, that was hard.
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Jimmy Carter; the Damascus candidate
As is usually the case, the first I heard of Jimmy Carter’s impending visit to Hamas’ Khaled Meshal was from Little Green Footballs in Charles’ post entitled Jimmy Carter hits bottom, digs;
America’s worst president will now apparently meet with the leader of an openly genocidal Islamic terrorist gang: Report: Jimmy Carter to Meet With Hamas Leader in Syria.
NEW YORK CITY — Former President Jimmy Carter is reportedly preparing an unprecedented meeting with the leader of Hamas, an organization that the U.S. government considers one of the leading terrorist threats in the world.
The Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Tuesday that Carter was planning a trip to Syria for mid-April, during which he would meet with Khaled Meshal, the exiled head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, on April 18.
Well, I’m not surprised – he’s stroked-off every other blood soaked thug in the world. Samantha Sault rounds up bloggers’ opinions at The Weekly Standard Blogs;
Carter may claim he is working for peace, but bloggers aren’t at all convinced. Allahpundit reminds us of Carter’s view of Israel, so it’s no surprise that he’d consider a friendly little fête with Hamas. Michael van der Galien agrees: “First Carter accuses Israel of being an Apartheid state, then he goes to meet with the leader of an organization [whose] sole purpose is to destroy Israel and to kill all Jews.” And at the American Thinker, Rick Moran adds, “Hamas’s latest peace offering was to send a gunman to a Jewish seminary and slaughter 9 innocent people. I’m sure Meshal and Carter will have a lot to talk about considering the former President’s previous statements about Israel being the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East are perfectly in line with Meshal’s own fantasies.”
Who’s next? After all, as the Gateway Pundit says, “There’s never been a violent dangerous dictator that Jimmy Carter did not have friendly relationships with or prop up in some way, so it should come as no surprise that he is going to meet with the leader of the violent terrorist group Hamas.”
Me? Everything that needs to be said about Jimmy Carter, I’ve said before and it’s earned Jimmy Carter his own category on this blog – knock yourselves out and see if what I’ve written before applies equally well this time.
I’ll just add that I hope TSA checks his bulky overcoat real well when he comes back through US security.
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Moron speak running it’s course
I’m beginning to think that Obama’s candidacy will eventually be good for this country. No, not because he might win the presidency – that’s impossible, unless photos emerge of John McCain eating live puppies. No, the Obama candidacy may end up shaking all of this bullshit about race and the inherent bogus sensibilities right out of the culture. I know I’m getting sick and tired of it and I’ve always been too tolerant of morons and cry-babies.
Anyway, yesterday, while I was transfixed by my sitemeter, Gateway Pundit ran a post about Obama event organizers calling for “more white people” to lighten up the complexion on the stage. Apparently the melanin was running a little too thick behind Queen Michele. I really don’t care about trivial crap like that, I live in the Metro DC area and I already know that what I, a melanin-deficient American, think about race doesn’t matter.
But, then this morning, I see LT Nixon has a post up about the Huffbots dealing dirt to SSG David Bellavia for his comment about John McCain being our role model and not Tiger Woods.
[S]ome Ivy-League jackass at the HuffPo is inciting that Bellavia’s made a potentially “racially divisive” comment by likening Tiger Woods to Obama. What the shit! (note: the comments got turned off, but they were pretty tasteless as well) Do the people at HuffPo not understand that the military is one of the least racist institute in America that has been fully integrated for decades . It’s a pretty sad state of affairs for American politics when Obama fans have to characterize everyone who doesn’t agree with his future Foreign Policy plans into some lowlife who just turned his Grand Wizard robe at the dry-cleaners.
Sorry El-Tee, but I hope your question about what Huffbots understand about the military was rhetorical, because they’ll never give you the correct answer. They’re willing to believe the worst about military members – every time.
Argghhh! also weighs in;
Sam Stein over at the Huffington Post is implying that Bellavia, in comparing Tiger Woods as a hero for children to Sen. John McCain’s heroism in withstanding five years of imprisonment and torture in Hotel Hanoi is somehow making a subtle racist comment. Of course, the commenters over at the HuffPo (loser central) went crazy about the terrible McCain Supporting Racist.
Well, I was there yesterday, and knew exactly what SSG Bellavia meant – everyone there understood what he meant. And what we understood had nothing to do race – it had to do with the pettiness of the culture that puts more value in the lives of entertainers (athletes are entertainers – no different than baggy-pants comics of the Charlie Chaplin era, just a little better paid) than the lives and advice of people who’ve walked the walk through life. People like John McCain and David Bellavia.
Thus Spake Ortner commented at LT Nixon’s house;
I was behind David during his speech. I know what David was saying. He was pointing out how America is not engaged in the war. Then he pointed out that kids have hero[e]s, and he used Tiger to illustrate someone kids look up to. And he said that his Children would grow up learning about people like McCain.
David doesn’t have an ounce of racism in him. I had lunch with him after this crap hit the net. He showed it to me on his blackberry with a wry little smile. “See what I have to deal with?” Was all he said.
The only people that could see this in a racial way, or as a veiled attack on Obama are those so consumed with racial awareness that they seek such things out. To guys like David and I, and the millions like us who served, such distinctions are irrelevant, because a soldier isn’t black, white, brown or any other color but green.
The fact that no one gave him the benefit of the doubt, that no one bothered to contact him absolutely infuriates me.
My hope is that America will soon tire of all of this race-baiting, spastic behavior from the campaign that is empty of ideas and has done more to set the civil rights movement back than any other group of petty dipshits who’ve walked God’s green Earth.
UPDATE: I just noticed that some little Obama-loving freak just left a comment on my YouTube video of SSG Bellavia calling him a racist; he could hear it in Bellavia’s voice apparently.
UPDATE II: Uncle Jimbo weighs in – read the whole thing, please.
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Vets for Freedom Rally for troops
About 480 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan assembled beginning at 8:30 this morning just across the street from the Senate wing of the Capitol. The temperature was about 45 degrees – global warming had struck. In their sand colored polo shirts, emblazoned across their broad chests with “Vets for Freedom”, they renewed old friendships and established new ones.
There was a blogger or two there, too – most visible was the guy who’s hard to recognize without his cap;
They were joined by some luminaries of the Senate;
(Senator Lieberman slapped me on the back after I took this picture)
And honest-to-goodness war heroes (SSG David Bellavia pictured);
Pete Hegseth started the speechifying;
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SSG Bellavia followed Hegseth;
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Senator McCain addressed the veterans;
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Then it was Senator Lieberman’s turn;
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Each Senator took their turn (Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive asked me “Is there anyone left in the Senate or are they all out here?”) Including the only member of the Senate who actually served as a soldier in Iraq, Lindsey Graham (it’s a good thing Crotchety Old Bastard wasn’t there);
Sam Johnson (R-TX), former POW (thanks to Punditarian for IDing him for me), took his hat off to the vets assembled this morning;
Congressman Zach Wamp quoted John Stuart Mill;
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
Jeff Sessions spoke about victory being imperative in Iraq;
LTC Steve Russell addressed what Americans can do to support the efforts in the war.
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The media actually showed up for this rally, to their credit;
They actually seemed interested in what the veterans had to say (notice Uncle Jimbo doing another interview in the upper right corner of this picture – or maybe he’s doing another Free Fly);
Speeches over, interviews concluded, these veterans set out on one more mission – to tell the Senate how much this war means to America.
These veterans are the polar-opposite of the folks I met at IVAW last month. There was not a selfish bone in the crowd. They fought for their country and their families and now they’re fighting for their friends who can’t speak for themselves. They battled the odds, they battled the uncivilized enemy and now they battle doubt and emotional knee-jerk politicians.
While I was working on this blog post, the stark comparison between the ideological sides was illustrated for me when (on my TV) some Leftist goober jumped up during General Petreaus’ testimony and shouted “Bring them home!” as he was dragged from the room and pink anti-war signs blocked the cameras. Where would those imbeciles be without a war to protest?
And I found a new drinking buddy;
Welcome readers and thank you, bloggers from Blackfive, Gateway Pundit, Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, Civilian Irregular Information Defense Group, 9-11 Families, Infidels Are Cool, Dusseldorf Blog, Buttle’s World and (last, but certainly not least) Baldilocks.
UPDATED for Identifying speakers – I need a secretary, Thus Spake Ortner won’t last forever.
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Vets take the Hill Tuesday
More than 400 veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq operations are expected descend on the Capitol offices tomorrow morning. According to my buddy Thus Spake Ortner, from The Sniper and Veterans for Freedom, the schedule looks like this;
Morning Preparation at the Sheraton National Hotel
PLAN TO ARRIVE AT THE COMMONWEALTH BALLROOM BY 5:15 AM!
PLEASE BE SEATED BY 5:30 AM SO WE CAN BEGIN PROMPTLY
Location: Commonwealth Ballroom, Main Floor
0530: Welcome and Introduction, Executive Director Pete Hegseth
0545: Agenda for the Day, National Field Director Joel Arends
0555: Congressional Meeting Overview, Legislative Director Josh Grodin* Continental Breakfast Served *
0605: Communications Strategy, Communications Director Adam Fife
0615: Q & A with Executive Director Pete Hegseth
Guest Speakers:
0625: Georgetown Men’s Basketball Head Coach: John Thompson III
0640: Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, USAF (Ret.)
0700: Final Remarks, Pete Hegseth
0705: Load buses and depart for Capitol Hill0745: Arrive at Union Station/VFF Rally Point (Union Station Theater)
* Please KEEP your bags on your bus until after the 8:30 event is over *
0800: Walk to Upper Senate Park (2 blocks away)
Capitol Hill
0830: Vets for Freedom Capitol Hill Media Event with Senate & House members
Attendees:
Senators: McCain, Lieberman, Graham, Barrasso, Bond, Coburn, Inhofe, Isakson, Roberts, Sessions
Members: Burgess, Johnson, King, McCotter, Poe, Reichert, Wamp, Whittman, Diaz- Balart, Wilson, Hayes
Proposed Timeline:
0830 – Pete Hegseth opening remarks, introduces David Bellavia
0833 – David Bellavia makes brief remarks, introduces Senator McCain
0835 – Senator McCain remarks
0850 – Senator McCain concludes participation in VOTH
0850 – Senator Lieberman remarks
0852 – Senator Graham remarks
0854 – Senator Inhofe remarks
0856 – Senate Leadership remarks (TBD)
0858 – Senator Bond remarks
0900 – Congressman Marshall remarks
0905 – Congressman Sam Johnson remarks
0907 – House Leadership remarks (TBD)
0910 – Marcus Luttrell concluding remarks, introduces Steve Russell
0915 – Steve Russell concluding remarks
0920 – Press Availability concludes
1000: Vets arrive on Capitol Hill for full day of meetings
* At any time during the day, and preferably before 12noon, vets can return to the VFF Rally Point (Union Station Theater) for free lunch and to unload bags from the bus *
1700: Meetings complete
I’m hooking up with them at Union Station with my trusty camera to get all of the pictures and videos I can for you. If you’re in the area, won’t you take a coupla hours off from work to join in?
The Boston Herald warns that Code Pink plans to be there for General Petreaus’ testimony;
Pegged to the fifth anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s fall, Congress is set for the latest progress report Tuesday and Wednesday by Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. The hearings will draw overflow crowds, innumerable cameras and kibitzers galore.
The last time Petraeus and Crocker testified, in September, three tiara-wearing protesters from Code Pink shouted until police escorted them from the hearing room. The anti-war activists will be back.
“Yes,” Code Pink spokeswoman Dana Balicki said Friday, “we will be there, (and) I know other (peace) groups who will be in attendance.”
Also in attendance will be Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group that wants the United States to withdraw from Iraq immediately.
Vets for Freedom brings a markedly different message, representing what the organization calls the “trigger-pulling class.” As it did in September, when some 250 veterans flocked to Capitol Hill, Vets for Freedom is again trying to stiffen the congressional spine.
It’ll be nice to spend time with the “trigger-pulling class” for a change.
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Yon’s “Moment of Truth in Iraq”; my impressions
I just had mine delivered yesterday. Needless to say, I’m reading instead of blogging today – it’s pretty hard to put down. So get yours today while you’re waiting for Spring (and General Petraeus) to get here. I ordered mine months ago, but it’s been worth the wait.
UPDATE: After having been subjected to the company of the liars, cowards and whiners (including snot-slinging, medal tossing drama queens) of the Iraq Veterans Against War, the Veterans for Peace, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, it was a pleasure to spend a day with the soldiers and Marines that Michael Yon met and was privileged to watch doing their jobs. You know, the troops that the media aren’t particularly interested in.
If you’re a regular reader of Michael Yon’s blog, you might recognize some of the stories and some of the people – but there are stories I don’t recall reading.
Yon claims that his book is about the new “Greatest Generation” and they truly are as he describes them. The folks who are working so hard and sacrificing greatly to help us win. Yon’s greatest generation stand in stark contrast to the misfits and crybabies of IVAW who hog the cameras here in the US for purely selfish reasons.
The book is also an indictment of the US media. They’ve been droning on and on about IEDs, the “grim milestone” watch, the temporary setbacks – and barely a word about the men and women who are doing the heavy lifting. Yon is just one man, but he’s brought more real stories about the real war back from Iraq than the entire media combined.
When you buy this book, not only are you getting an inscribed book, you’re helping to keep Yon on the job and helping to insure we’ll continue to get the truth about the miracle workers we’ve sent into Iraq.
Oh, and you’ll be sticking a finger in the eye of every nay-saying clown who call themselves “anti-war”.