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

Category: Support the troops

  • Gold Star Mothers honored at Bush household

    Old Trooper sent us this link to an article about a reception held at the Bush ranch in Texas to honor Gold Star mothers on National Gold Star Mothers Day last Saturday;

    I was quickly taken to the Bush’s living room to have my picture taken with them. They hugged and kissed me and comforted me and thanked me for attending. I was greeted by them as if they had not seen an old friend in a long time. I felt calm and at ease. I had it together. I wasn’t about to break down. Not until he asked, tell me about your soldier.Then I lost it! Right before the picture was taken.

    I found articles about ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, Florence, SC, Fort Stewart, GA, Fort Bragg, NC, Los Angeles, Michigan, Columbia, SC, Illinois, New Jersey, Utica, NY, Bakersfield, CA, Lawrence, MA, Marion, IL, and Abelene, TX.

    Nothing about a ceremony at the White House…but there must’ve been something besides this proclamation, right?

    ADDED: He signed that Proclamation on Friday, the day before the National Gold Star Mothers Day, which means it didn’t get published until Monday, so, basically, no one knew about it except diligent citizens who keep track of that sort of stuff. Obviously, not me, since I just found out about it today. But, I’m not “the President of all of the people”.

  • Welcome home, neighbor

    I get a lot of stories about people who piss us off, BooRadley sends us one to cheer us up, not just about this one neighbor, but the countless neighbors across the country whose small gestures that mean a lot and never make newspapers or the internet;

    [Sara Chavalia] said. “When our lives are busy, things like soldiers fighting overseas tends to be out of sight, out of mind if you don’t have anyone over there. But you can’t forget them. Whether you support the war or not, you have to support the troops.”

    Pulling off the shindig in such close proximity to where Steigerwald was laying his head as he recovered from a gunshot wound to the hand was not easy for Chavalia. But she said it took just four days of constant hard work and phone calls to line everything up.

    It was all worth it as soon as Steigerwald thanked her, she said.

    Ms. Chevalia’s “shindig” included members of every branch of the military, the VFW Post 3441 Color Guard and a local Boy Scout troop at her house to honor the sacrifice and service of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Steigerwald who had been released recently from Walter Reed.

  • Following up with the ACLU.

    About a month ago I sent a email to the ACLU chapter in Colorado in concerning the ruling on the Stolen Valor Act with our favorite impostor. I got this reply about a week later that raised a few points that I wanted to address. I was going to post this sooner but I was hoping to get a second reply from them.

    Hello Mr. Andrews,

    Thank you for a thorough and well-written argument on the Stolen Valor Act case. I appreciate the time you took to contact us with your concern. To be clear, no one at the ACLU supports Strandlof’s despicable lies, nor wishes to minimize the insult they can cause for all members of our country’s armed forces, decorated or not. Ultimately, however, insulting another person–no matter how heroic the target of the insult may be–is not illegal.

    Our argument is strictly an analysis of the law itself, and the dangers we see in terms of it outlawing verbal falsehoods of all kinds, regardless of measurable injury. The government’s position was that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to any speech that isn’t true- something that would extend even to people saying things they believed to be true, but were not. If those lies are used to defraud others, than that in and of itself is already illegal, and should be prosecuted as fraud.

    Here is a link to a PDF file of the judge’s decision- if you have the time you can read the his reasoning for yourself:

    This being a nuanced legal argument, there are indeed respected legal minds who disagree: Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment expert and UCLA law professor, agrees with you, though for slightly different reasons- you can find his argument here:

    As to your parting image, let me just say, please continue to expose any all military posers you can. We absolutely support efforts to expose and shame those who pretend to claim honors they did not earn nor will ever understand what it means to serve. That is one of the best examples of “countering bad speech with more speech.”

    Thanks again for you time and concern,

    -Erik Maulbetsch

    It seems that the way that the Law is being viewed by the ACLU is that the Stolen Valor Act will go after anyone with the same level of punishment for wearing fake medals regardless of if it was a National Defense Medal or the Congressional Medal of Honor. But we know that we are not going to throw someone in Jail for wearing a Army Service Ribbon they did not earn. Yes the person is guilty and punishment is recommend. But the level of punishment varies. Also reinforced that this Act will some how lead to laws that will make lying about anything at all. I mean if that were true we would all be in jail.

    It also is confusing when he takes about going after fake Vets when a solid case of fraud has been done. But with the lack of a stricter punishment combined with a esoteric standard of what is considered fraud with each case makes this much harder.

    But one thing that I also wanted to talk about is what happened with with former Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda This happened before the net came to full swing and I did not think about it until recently. I remember seeing this video when this first happened on the news.

    But this is my reply if anybody is wondering. I have yet to get a reply as of this writing.

    I am writing in reply to the court’s ruling that the Stolen Valor Act is unconstitutional. I strongly disagree that is is a matter of free speech. In the case of Strandlof in Colorado. The argument that nothing was gained or no one was hurt makes it freedom of speech is wrong. In every case of posers it does offer personal gain and injury to others.

    Personal gain:

    In the case of Strandlof he claimed the Silver Star and the Purple Heart while serving in Iraq as a Marine Officer. Because how these conflicts have affected so many, those who have faced the dangers of combat with heroics and valor are highly respected. So because of this many people lie about this to receive this attention. I have read a reply that this is just a law to protect the integrity of the Awards. It is, but there is more to that. Each award represents something that each person has gone through or gone without. To claim such awards like Iraq Campaign Medal without having spending time away from home is a insult. So consider that when he claims medals that can only be awarded by being in combat and never been in combat.

    Also when a person is highly decorated people are more willing to listen to them. Strandlof used his fake military service and awards to be started among different Veteran and Anti-War groups as key speakers. While doing these things they can and do receive additional awards and honors based on their lies. One thing that sees to keep coming up is that those that are proven to be fakes always claims elite units such as Special Forces, Ranger, SEALs, and Marine Recon. Hardly ever does it come out that a poser fakes being a cook, pad clerk or supply MOS (job). Because of the very demanding training and duties people who have done well. So people often want the glory of these people with out having to work for it. Also these awards are used to advance professional advancements in and out of the military, There are more then one story about people faking awards to get to the next rank.

    People who are hurt.
    First thing that comes to mind is his claim of a Purple Heart, the medal that is given for being wounded or killed by enemy actions. By claiming to have a Purple Heart without being wounded taking someone else pain and using it. When it is found out that you have fakes this it not only puts into question anything else you said, but anybody else who has a Purple Heart. Also people use the Purple Heart to get VA benefits and medical treatment. When at this time it is challenging to get VA medical care because of the numbers of claims. Fake and fraudulent claims steal from those who have honestly earned this and these fake awards only help this happen.

    But what I find it be damaging is when people like Strandlof are viewed as experts on what is happening in Iraq/Afghanistan despite the fact that he was never there. Often they make claims about atrocities that did not happen and sabotage the work and image of those that are serving honorably. Jesse Macbeth is a good example of this when he claimed to be a decorated Ranger that was Iraq vet that had been wounded in combat. His claims about killing women and children in a alleged terror campaign was sent around the web and even with the knowledge of the fact that he never got past basic the damage is still present if you go to youtube or similar sties. Now Strandlof was involved in the same group as Macbeth.

  • Former Arlington official accepts blame

    According to the Associated Press and Stars & Stripes, John Metzler, the former superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery for 19 years, has accepted “full responsibility” for the shoddy record-keeping at the cemetery that may have mis-interred as many as 6600 veterans according to Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

    Of course, Metzler’s former deputy Thurman Higginbotham made his boss’ admission much more classy by invoking his Fifth Amendment rights – accepting none of the blame. I hope you spend a nice eternity getting your nuts roasted over a slow flame, Thurman.

    We wrote about the problems in Arlington in June, here, here and here.

  • Voting Rights and the DoJ

    Yesterday. jerry920 sent me this link to a Fox News article about the Holder Justice Department deciding that they’ll provide legal assistance to states who want to prevent servicemembers overseas from voting in their elections;

    Rebecca Wertz, deputy chief of the DOJ’s voting section, told state election officials that the legislative language regarding waivers is not completely clear. Wertz described the provisions of the law as “fairly general” and “somewhat of an open question as to what type of information” a state needs to submit in order to for their waiver application to be granted. She said it was also unclear whether waivers are for one election only, or if they apply to future elections.

    According to the meeting’s minutes, obtained by FoxNews.com, Wertz also said “that the DOJ is working to find effective ways to disseminate any information guidance that can help states with different questions about MOVE interpretation. She invited questions and dialogue from states, and said that litigation is always the last resort.”

    This morning, MEW sent us a link to a Washington Times editorial on the same subject;

    Obama Justice Department outrages never cease. The politically charged gang led by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is more interested in helping felons vote than in helping the military to vote. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, has put a legislative hold on the already troubled nomination of James M. Cole to be deputy attorney general until the attorney general ensures full protection for voting rights of our military (and associated civilian personnel) stationed abroad. The senator is right to raise a ruckus.

    it’s funny how a bunch of Black Panthers get more support from this Justice Department than people who are actually serving the country. I wonder why that is.

  • This is starting to smell like a scam.

    A Fallen Hero: How an Insurance Company Profited

    A headline like that kinda gets your attention. Long story short it seems that when Sgt. Ryan Baumann, killed in Afghanistan his mother was unable to bring herself to seek the money. But when she tried to use it 6 months later she ran into problems.

    She eventually filed, electing to receive a lump sum of $400,000. But the check never came. Instead, she received a check book and a packet from Prudential saying the money had been placed in its “alliance account” where it was “available immediately” and would “begin earning interest” right away.

    Everything seemed fine, until she tried using the checks.

    “I was told that the check could not be verified,” she said.

    But here is where is it gets interesting. It seems that the Government was giving the money to a private third party to handle giving the money out. But not quite.

    Evans’ six-month investigative report, appearing today in the magazine’s September issue, reveals that Cindy Lohman’s money was being held in Prudential’s general corporate account — accruing interest –most of it going to the insurance giant.

    So if I understand this correctly the Government is giving SGLI money to third parties that are not only restricting handing out the money to the survivors while making a profit off the interest? (A rate of 5% compared to the .5% that Cindy Lohman account was being credited.)

    I really do not want to jump the gun on this one but I have a bad feeling that I am right about this one.

  • What are Wikileak’s intentions?

    I’ve been reading Ace of Spades and Uncle Jimbo in regards to Julian Assange and Wikileaks and Assange’s intentions. Well, he wants to destroy the US military, of course.

    I knew that were his intentions when I wrote back in September about Wikileaks releasing the email of two supposed neo-nazis who were supposed to be in the Army. SPLC and mark Potok jumped all over that slinging allegations everywhere before meekly admitting that he couldn’t verify that the two neo-Nazis were in the Army.

    I proved that one of them had no record of Army service and the other, although a member of the Army, hadn’t joined the neo-Nazis. Of course, Assange released a heavily edited video he titled “Collateral Murder” (kind of like the heavily edited video that Breitbart released last week, but somehow we can’t trust Breitbart anymore and Assange is a hero of sorts) which is supposed to condemn individual actions of soldiers like those emails were supposed to make us think that all soldiers are Neo-Nazis.

    Even those documents released over the weekend mostly referred to the actions of individuals, not the results of policies. It’s clear to me that Assange and Potok trying to undermine the morale and impeccable reputation of the American soldiers to end our wars like the Winter Soldier hearings did in 1971, and the Winter Soldier hearings in 2008 failed to accomplish.

    Code Pink picks up the attack on the troops with their own solicitation letters which include charges like this;

    To fuel your passion for these calls, here’s the link to the section on civilian casualties, including incidents like the gunner at a roadblock who killed a 14-year-old girl and wounded a toddler or the Marine air strike that left seven children dead.

    These aren’t charges against policy, they are charges against the troops.

  • Angel Flight by Radney Foster

    Toothless Dawg sent me this video last night – it looks several months old, but it’s new to me.