Have we gone completely insane?

This is Rick Glen Strandlof, a wounded Marine captain. Strandlof, a Colorado graduate of the United States Naval Academy, has an impressive resume. He survived the September 11th attacks on the Pentagon, served three tours in Iraq, was wounded during the battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah and received the Purple Heart.

This is Xavier Alvares, a retired Marine who served 25 years, was wounded numerous times, and was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1987.

The problem?

Both men are lying.

Neither man has ever served in the military. Alvares was never awarded the Medal of Honor. Strandlof was never awarded a Purple Heart or Silver Star.

Both men were arrested and charged under The Stolen Valor Act.

Nothing crazy about any of that so far, right?

These two are not the only ones to claim military honors they did not earn. They aren't the only two who have, by their actions, diminished the truly heoric actions of the men and women who have served, were wounded, and did those truly unbelievable things medal winners do.

These two men, however, weren't content to take admit their lies, take the punishment, and disappear in disgrace as they damned well should have.

No, these two men are challenging The Stolen Valor Act on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

Their argument? They have a right to lie under the free speech provision of the Constitution of the United States.

Consider this:

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School who is not involved in the two cases, said the Stolen Valor Act raises serious constitutional questions because it in effect bans bragging or exaggerating about yourself.

“Half the pickup lines in bars across the country could be criminalized under that concept,” he said

Have we really become that unmoored from any sort of sense of what is right and just? Do people not understand the difference?

'Hey, baby, I'm a surgeon.' is not the same thing as saying 'Hey, baby, I won the Medal of Honor.'

One is a lie that affects two people - the teller and the unfortunate fool that believes him.

The other diminishes something that should never, ever be diminished; not for personal gain, not for profit, not for anything.

And if we truly do not understand that we have completely lost our way and I fear for the future.

I will allow George Washington the final words here. He was speaking of the Purple Heart, which he created:

“Should any who are not entitled to these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished.”

Michael Yon

I added a link to Michael Yon's site a little while ago without mentioning it.

I did the man a great disservice. This is my attempt to correct that.

Michael is embedded in Afghanistan. You really need to spend some time on his site. His photographs are unbelievable, as are the stories he tells.

Here's just a little bit:

Special Delivery

Kandahar, Afghanistan

08 February 2010

American troops are spread widely across Afghanistan. Some are remote and accessibility is difficult. In 2008, I was with six soldiers in Zabul Province who didn’t even get mail for three months. They had no email. They were on the moon. Six courageous men, in the middle of nowhere, and their nearest backup was a small Special Forces team about five hours away. Resupply to these small outposts is crucial, difficult, and would require major effort by ground. Enter the United States Air Force.

Tonight’s mission was to fly from Kandahar Airfield (KAF) to Bagram Airfield (BAF), pick up specially rigged bundles of fuel and ammunition and parachute those to American forces up near the border of Turkmenistan

I can't urge you enough to go here to read all of it. You'll be glad you did and you'll be damned proud, too.

So, what were those so-called feminists upset by?

A couple of weeks ago I posted this entry about some so-called women's groups objecting to the Focus on Family Superbowl ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mom.

Did you see the ads on Sunday? If not, let me show you what these groups consider to be horrid, anti-woman, and dangerous ads:



And



So, I don't get it.

Maybe you can tell me.

How are these ads bad?

I just don't see it.

Somewhere in Wyoming...

along I-35...

They are so clueless...

They babble a lot about the snow but there's a comment you need to hear around the 2:50 mark:

Condolences to the Murtha family

John Murtha, 77, has died.

Murtha, a Washington politican, was first elected in 1974. He rose to be chairman of the subcommitte that controls Pentagon spending.

I extend my condelences to the Murtha family. Again, as in Vice President Biden's case, losing a husband, father, and grandfather is never easy.

I hope they find comfort and peace.

And I wish the same for the Haditha Marines.

Perspective is everything

I've not been paying too much attention to the media or politics during the last week but I've got to admit all these headlines about the great snowstorm on the east coast have managed to get my attention.

This, in particular, got my attention:

A major winter storm is hammered the tri-state and dumped up to 30-inches of snow in parts of the region before moving out late Saturday night.

The storm is officially the biggest February snowfall on record for Philadelphia, and the second biggest snowstorm for the city --- 28.5" and counting.

Why, you might ask, would that be significant enough for me to comment on?

Well, you see, back in 1995 my little corner of the world received 61 inches of snow in three days.

It didn't make major headlines.

It didn't send us into a tizzy.

We dug out and kept going.

So, I'm sorry but 30 inches of snow in a couple of days?

Not a big deal.

And, before anyone says what I know they're going to say - I know places like DC and Philly and others are not accustomed to dealing with that much snow.

Still.

Not a big deal.

Pick up a shovel, clean up, and get back to life.

Requiem for a Golden Boy

What can I say about the golden boy who came into our lives during a snow storm and left us so suddenly on another cold winter's day?

What is there to say but he was beautiful, sweet, loving, and wrapped around our hearts so totally?

He started out gangly, not much to look at yet there was something about him, something that told you he was going to be special.

And he was. He grew into every hope and expectation my niece had for him. It lead them to a champion season last summer. They grew up together, my niece and her Sonny boy.

Now, all that's left is for us to pick up the pieces and learn how to live with a huge hole where he once stood.

All that's left to say is good bye, my sweet golden boy. You are loved and will be in our hearts forever.

Life sure has a way, doesn't it?

I mean, it has a way of kicking you in the gut and reminding you of what the important things really are.

Family.

When someone you love is hurting, nothing else matters.

My niece is hurting tonight because her baby, the horse she has raised and trained for six years, is hurting. Seriously so.

There's nothing I can do to help either of them, which is all I want to be able to do right now.

Please, keep her and her baby in your thoughts.

Beyond that, I don't know what to do...

And I hate it.

An even better way to forget politics for a bit

This is official only one of baseball's greatest plays.

In my opinion, it's right there at the very top.



Thanks to Gawfer for the reminder.

Following in Bloviating Zeppelin's footsteps...

Enough with the dire, the dark, and the down-right depressing. The state of the nation is what it is and tonight, I'm taking a little break. Instead of politics, I present Jim Byrnes.

The song is "I'm Just A Pilgrim"; the voice a reminder of late nights in smokey bars...

2010 - In or Out?

Wondering about how to rate a candidate for political office? I mean, how do you know if what they stand for is real? How do you know if what they stand for is the same as what you stand for?

Well, Glen Beck offers the following pledge. Ask your candidate if he would agree to take this pledge... and guide yourself by his/her response:

The 5 Pledges

1. I believe in a balanced budget and therefore will vote for a freeze in government spending until that goal is realized.

2. I believe government should not increase the financial burden on its citizenry during a difficult economic times, therefore I will oppose all tax increases until our economy has rebounded.

3. I believe more than four decades of US dependence on foreign oil is a travesty, therefore I will support an energy plan that calls for immediately increasing usage of all domestic resources including nuclear energy, natural gas and coal as necessary.

4. I believe in the sovereignty and security of our country and therefore will support measures to close our borders except for designated immigration points so we will know who is entering and why. I will vehemently oppose any measure giving another country, the United Nations, or any other entity power over US citizens.

5. I believe the United States of America is the greatest country on earth and therefore will not apologize for policies or actions which have served to free more and feed more people around the world than any other nation on the planet.

If they won't agree, then they should be out. It's really that simple.

The face of an angel...

This is 14-year-old John Caudle. He's a skinny kid, weighing 98 pounds.

He's also a murderer.

On October 27, 2009 this skinny kid with the face of an angel shot and killed his mother because he didn't want to do chores.

He then hid in the laundry room and ambushed his stepfather.

After killing his parents, he played video games on the computer and watched movies. The next day, he drove his step-father's truck to school.

When police stopped him, he was on his way to his uncle's house where he wanted to live.

The prosecutor and Caudle's defense attorney are arguing about whether or not he should be charged as an adult and housed in the county jail instead of the juvenile facility.

Fourteen years old.

What do you do with a 14-year-old who has killed his parents?

I don't know, really.

I think a better question is what makes a 14-year-old kill his parents over household chores?

I don't know that, either.

But I think we need to figure it out.

Reality bites.

An earlier tweet from Katie Couric, the perky one:

Just had lunch with the president who seems pensive, slightly deflated, realistic, aggravated and resolute. Didn't eat his pie.

That's the best observation this 'hard-hitting journalist' could come up with? He didn't eat his pie?

And reality sure bites when it hits you in the face, doesn't it?

Here's the truth as I see it.

Obama was either arrogant enough or naive enough to believe his own PR rap. He believed he could storm Washington, do what he wanted to do, remold the country into his image of what it should be and we, the great unwashed masses would weep for joy and say thank you so very much for saving us from ourselves.

He is now waking up to the reality that the majority of us do not want the government to save us and we do not want his version of utopia.

Reality bites.

I am once again beginning to believe that We The People do still exist. We are smart enough to know that what our Founding Fathers gave us is very good and anything that changes or diminishes that foundation is a bad thing.

Obama, in my opinion, is coming to understand that about us.

For him, reality bites.

For us, this is a very good thing.

H/T Conservatives 4 Palin.

That nasty Fox News...

Remember Robert Reich? He was Secretary of Labor during the Clinton Administration. He is now a professor at UC Berkeley... which might explain a lot about the quality of education found in higher education these days. But, I digress.

Mr. Reich recently stated the following in his column at Salon:

In December 1994, Bill Clinton proposed a so-called middle-class bill of rights including more tax credits for families with children, expanded retirement accounts, and tax-deductible college tuition. Clinton had lost his battle for healthcare reform. Even worse, by that time the Dems had lost the House and Senate. Washington was riding a huge anti-incumbent wave. Right-wing populists were the ascendancy, with Newt Gingrich and Fox News leading the charge. Bill Clinton thought it desperately important to assure Americans he was on their side.

The emphasis is mine.

The problem with this?

Fox News didn't hit the air waves until October 7, 1996. The plan for Fox News wasn't even outlined until January of 1996 - two years after their supposed 'leading the charge'.

You would think that a professor at UC Berkeley, a form cabinet member of the Clinton administration, would do a little fact-checking before opening his mouth.

Apparently not. It is Fox News we're talking about after all.

UPDATE

Mainly because I find it pretty humorous:

CABLE NEWS RACE
TUES., JAN., 26, 2010

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,581,000
FOXNEWS BECK 3,196,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,133,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,624,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,415,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,187,000
CNNHN BEHAR 949,000
CNNHN GRACE 914,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 818,000
CNN KING 796,000
MSNBC MADDOW 726,000

Rant on, Joy and Keithie-baby, rant on.