Today NBC proved its far left standing when it criticized Ann Coulter’s statements about the four widows of 9/11. She told only the truth. Those four women, and many of the other family members of the 9/11 victims, came away millionaires by taking tax money from Americans. Many of us donated money to the 9/11 fund, thinking the money was going to go for cleanup. Instead, that money went to make victim’s families millionaires.

That is in the past, I’m not here to complain about that. What I am here to speak on, is how four of those widows have used the fifteen minutes of fame, and the money, to stand on a podium to criticize the USA, George W. Bush and the Republican party. That is their right as free Americans. Just as Anne Coulter said in her latest book, the left has put a shield around those family members where they can say what they please without facing counter opinions.

The leftist media wants to crucify Ann for speaking her mind, the truth. Many of us have thought the same thing, but have only spoken it in quiet voices. I want to applaud her for having the strength and conviction to speak the truth. I want denounce NBC and the rest of the left wing media for striking out at free speech. The left has placed victims, such as Cindy Sheehan, on a pedestal beyond reproach. Being a victim in this country should not give you special rights.

People lose loved ones everyday. One loss is no greater than that of another. There should never be special rewards for loss as we did for the families of the 9/ll victims. In the Unites States we strive for equality. That should apply in death as well. It should apply equally for grieving family members.

You have seen them advertised on television for only $19.95. You can, of course, find them in flea markets for much less. I am not sure what brand I have. I’ll look up the information later. The point is, they are a scam. After getting poor results, no apparent charging, I disassembled two of them.

First, let me point out I have over 30 years in the electronic industry. I was dubious of the type of energy storage the light used. My mind told me this couldn’t work as advertised. I was right. Their claims are not just outrageous, but they are down right lies.

After having problems with the flashlight not charging, I finally took the time to disassemble one. To my surprise I found two button type batteries. Maybe I wasn’t that surprised. I had expected wafer capacitors or something similar.

Okay so it had batteries, that’s not that bad of a thing. On further research, I found the wires from the charging coil not connected. This was the problem, why it didn’t work. Unable to find exactly where they went, I dug farther. This is when I discovered the iron core, that you see shaking black and forth, wasn’t a magnet at all. It was a common piece of cold roll steel. With no magnet passing through the coil, I see no way the device could charge.

The nail in the coffin was when I took apart the one flashlight that I thought worked. There was at least one wire from the coil which was not connected to anything. There is no doubt this is a scam.

I nearly forgot, the batteries are lithium and non rechargeable.

We sometimes forget that the world is made up of customs and religions different from our own region. Every once in a while someone comes along and reminds you there are differences, sometimes, huge differences.

The other night I met some people that reminded me of one of those differences. At first it was mild amusement, and then, shock. I happened across two girls that were raised in Catholic schools. The scandals of the church have reached every one of us. We know of the wide spread abuse of boys in the church, but what of the girls?

The church, it seems, has a different idea for the punishment of girls and boys. Boys are often whipped or expelled, while girls seem to have only one punishment, kneeling. You might think kneeling is a light punishment. One example I know of, a girl was forced to kneel for three days in front of the Virgin Mary statue. A day in this instance was from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with only the usual school breaks, dinner etc…

If a parent did this to a child they would be arrested and incarcerated for child abuse. Some might compare it to “timeout”. I don’t think so. It is pure and simple abuse.

What I want to know, when are the churches going to be held accountable for their misdeeds? It seems, never. Child abuse is prevalent in churches and no one cares. If it’s done in the name of God, it’s okay to do?

I understand so few in the mainstream media are afraid to speak out about the churches. Either they are so brainwashed or they just don’t have the nerve. Its time some spoke out and called for the Catholic Church to account for its actions. The rape of young boys has been pushed to the back burner. How much more is hidden behind those ornate doors?

I think this is as close to exactly how it is in Iraq.

Here’s his letter :

Following the article I sent about Bush’s national address and troop increase, I thought it was a good idea to let you all know what the perspective is over here. I’m tired of hearing the media’s skewed version, the politicians squabbling over what they read in a report, and the average ill-informed American ranting about things he knows NOTHING about.

I’ve been over here a couple of months now, and I’ve learned more about this country than a year’s worth of watching CNN. I’ve sat in mission briefs with Colonels, talked with village elders, had tea with Shieks, played with the kids. And I agree with the President. We need more troops and we need to take greater action.

There are 3 major factions here. The Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The Shiites are in the majority, but Saddam was a Sunni, so he kept the Shiites in check. Everyone hates the Kurds, who are Christian and in the vast minority. The Kurds received the brunt of Saddam’s murderous tyranny. Now that Saddam is gone, the Shiites have taken control of Baghdad. The largely peaceful Sunnis are now the victims of radical Shiite terrorism. So the young Sunni men, who can no longer go to work and support their families, do what all young men would do. They join the Sunni militia and battle the Shiites. And thus the country sits on the brink of civil war.

But this war is between them. They largely do not concern themselves with the U.S. troops. The insurgents who battle the Coalition Forces are from outside the country. And the biggest problem down here isn’t the insurgents. Its the politicians. The local politicians. Even though the country is controlled by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, downtown Baghdad is controlled by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Shiites follow al-Sadr and thus the Prime Minister does what al-Sadr says. Think of it as if a warlord controlled New York and blackmailed the President into diplomatic immunity.

When 1st Cav (mainly 2/5 Cav) came here in 2004, they took downtown Baghdad (known as Sadr City) by force. It cost many lives, but after a year, we held an iron grip on the largest insurgent breeding ground in Iraq. The insurgents were afraid of the Horse People, and rightfully so. But when 1st Cav left, al-Sadr influenced the Prime Minister to kick out the Coalition forces from that area of Baghdad. He said the Iraqi military forces could hold the city. But all that happened was al-Sadr regained control of his city, and it is now a heavily guarded fortress. A place where insurgents and terrorists can train and stockpile arms. And we cannot go back in because the Prime Minister won’t let us. Our hands are tied.

So where does al-Sadr get his backing? From Iran and Syria. Iran supplies him with money and Syria supplies the terrorists. The insurgents that battle the Coalition Forces are from Syria, Somalia and dozens of other places outside of Iraq. Iraq is literally a terrorist breeding ground. They have terrorist and sniper schools here. Why not? They train by teaching them to attack the military forces here. And they have an endless supply of these training tools. They have factories in Sadr City to build bombs. Both Iran and Syria have openly proclaimed their number one goal in life is to destroy the great Western Devil and the little Western Devil ( America and Britain). Iran wants to control Iraq to further this purpose. Al-Sadr will get to “run” the country and live like a king, but in reality Iran will pull the puppet strings. Iran will have access to thousands of radical Shiites who will do whatever al-Sadr tells them to. And Iraq will be used as a breeding ground for terrorism. Terrorism that will be targeted directly at America and Britain. The Iraq Study Group advised we should let Iran and Syria help with rebuilding? Bravo to President Bush for striking that idea down and vowing to keep those two countries out of Iraq.

So how do the Iraqi people feel about everything? Of course they don’t want the Americans here. But they would far rather have us here than the Iranians. My platoon visited an average Sunni village on a patrol a few days ago. Their only source of income was to farm, as they could not go to the city to work for fear of violence. Many of the young men had already run off to join the militia for no other reason than to feed their families. They had no school or hospital near them and the community was dying. The village elder’s granddaughter was very sick and I was able to treat her. Afterwards he invited me and my Platoon Leader to sit in his house and have tea with him, and we talked about the situation.

The people want peace. The Shiites kill the Sunnis because al-Sadr tells them to do so. The Sunnis fight back because they have no choice. They are glad Saddam is dead (Sunni or not), but do not want to replace him with another dictator in a politician’s clothes (which is what al-Sadr will become). And they especially don’t want Iran in charge. Many innocent Iraqis will die if this happens. These are the words that came out of the elder’s mouth:

“We do not want America here, and America does not want to be here. But you cannot leave because the militias control the country. America must use the might of its giant army and sweep through, root out and destroy the militias. Then Iraq can be free and you can leave.”

What appears to have happened within our diplomatic community, is that Prime Minister finally realizes that his days are numbered. If al-Sadr remains, he will be kicked to the curb. So hopefully he is about to allow us to reenter Sadr City, root out and destroy the enemy. A dramatic troop increase will allow us to do this. And the Horse People are back and ready to finish what they started over 2 years ago.

If we leave now, it will be a failure for democracy. Iran will control Iraq and the end result will be more terrorist attacks on America. The American people don’t want soldiers dying over here, but its better than American civilians dying over there. Do NOT forget 9/11. They will do it again. The moment we loosen our grip on the noose, they will do it again. And the only way to root out the evil here is to stop beating around the bush, increase troops and destroy the insurgents once and for all. The Iraqi government cannot do this on their own. The Iraqi security forces are inadequate for this task. We are the only ones who can stop al-Sadr.

Feel free to share this with whomever wants a real soldier’s opinion about the war.

SPC “Doc” Shurley
2/5 Cav, 1st CB

This diatribe is one I have been hesitant to write. The thoughts from this one came about because of a personal conversation. With that said, I hope I can write this without revealing anything that was said to me in confidence.

The gentleman I was speaking with was admittedly, a liberal. It’s rare that a liberal admits to being one, so that is something at least. Throughout our conversation, he often mentioned social conscience. That is, when he wasn’t complaining about President Bush and all conservatives.

Of course, when talking to a liberal, Iraq is going to come up. He said that all the money that was being spent on the war could be used to take care of the poor around the world. I’m not sure about the rest of the world, but I can’t argue the poor in the USA could use some help.

This guy went on to tell me how the republicans had increased his taxes. How could he have come up with that, since Bush lowered taxes? Eventually I found out that it was more state and local taxes that had gone up. Amazing, A northern liberal state that has high taxes.

Somewhere in the conversation, I asked what he did for a living. This was only to get an idea of what he might make a year. This is when he confessed to being a complete liberal. He worked for some institution that helped the poor around the world. Its admirable to have a job where you do something to help others, and you get paid for it.

By this time I am guessing he doesn’t make much, and with life’s expenses, he might have a legitimate gripe about some things. It was at this point I found out his annual income was six figures. I’d feel guilty if I say in a public forum the things I then said to him.

Again I have drifted from my point. What I want to talk about is the social conscience thing. I remember several years ago when Elizabeth Dole was president of the Red Cross. I think at the time she resigned, she was making $150,000. A six-figure income would make a lot of people have a social conscience.

All this about social conscience confuses me. If you take a six-figure income from a helping organization, you have a social conscience. If you are Bill Gates and have contributed a quarter of a billion dollars to charity, you are demonized.

From the heading you might think this is going to be about terrorism. On the contrary, it’s about an invasion, the invasion of America, not only by Mexican immigrants, but also by the Mexican army. Are you aware our border guards are having shootouts with the Mexican army?

Just this week there were uniformed Mexican soldiers that were trying to smuggle drugs into the United States. They were confronted by US border guards, and the border patrol was fired on. The Mexican army used 16 caliber machine guns to fend off our border patrol. Eventually the Mexican soldiers fled back across the border and out of jurisdiction of the border guards.

I doubt anyone believes the Mexican soldiers were authorized by their government to cross the border. That does not excuse the Mexican government from liability. These incursions into our country are just as illegal as are the millions of immigrants pouring across the border. There have been several hundred of these incursions, so it’s not an isolated incident.

If American soldiers were to go into Mexico, there would be a worldwide outcry. As it is, few in this country are even aware it’s happening, so it’s easy to see why there is no outcry. What I would like to know, where is the US media on this? If it were not for Michelle Malkin and the Fox News Network, I doubt we would ever know it was happening.

So, what is it the left wants to do about the border? I suppose they, as do the Libertarians, just want to open the border and let people come in unchecked. Do that and the violence we see from terrorist, gangs, and drug lords, is only a taste of the violence we will experience.

The people that are not willing to see there is a problem, because they have on blinders, so they can have a social conscience, you need to feel guilty for the death caused by every illegal immigrant or terrorist. Let your social conscience be your guide to the bloodbath you have allowed to go on in this country.

The next time an American, or an illegal immigrant dunk driver, gang member, or drug dealer, the blood is on your hands for not doing anything about it kill a legal immigrant. I can’t do much myself, but at least I can recognize the problem and try and get people to understand.

In Washington DC a mother has risen to power and she leads an interesting group of protesters. You can see the mad mother, Cindy Sheehan, along side Jesse Jackson who never fails to find a camera. At first I pretty much ignored this protest and then some names being mentioned caused me to take notice.

This rag tag group is a mixed bag of extreme leftist, the ones that really scare me. There is the group known as ANIMAL, what ever that is to mean, that supports Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavaz. These people want to take away the right to own land in the United States, one of the founding principles of the country.

This might be enough for me to take notice but there is a buzzword I listen for in any speech, demonstration or debate. That would be “progressive”. The more times you hear that word the farther to the left is the organization or person using it.

pro·gres·sive   

1. A person who actively favors or strives for progress toward better conditions, as in society or government.
2. Progressive A member or supporter of a Progressive Party.

This is the definition according to dictionary.com. Now that we know what progressive is, lets define “better”. Something being better is objective to the point of view. These people want to take away private ownership and distribute the world’s wealth. This might all sound fine unless you are the one giving up the wealth.

Most people gather wealth through selling or manufacturing a product. Usually this requires the one acquiring wealth to hire others who in turn acquire wealth. One can see how this trickles down as the one that was hired uses his or her pay to purchase food or other goods.

Now lets take the wealth from the first guy and see what happens. He will close his factory or store since why strive for wealth when it cannot be attained. The person hired would quit anyway since he or she gets the money without working. One day you look up and you are standing in long bread lines and there is so little of it to go around. Why, do you ask is there so little, because the baker was the man who strived to gain wealth?

Now pay attention to those like Cindy Sheehan who gathered in the pretence of stopping the war. Ending the war in the correct way would be a noble cause. This rally was about everything but ending the war. I wonder if the mad mother understands the group she has fallen in with. She is being placed out front as a figurehead because she can draw the cameras these progressive groups can’t. Her being arrested and carried off by officers while she laughed was well rehearsed.

Since I am on this topic I am going to touch on the left wanting to raise taxes. This is just a reminder this is all part of the plan to redistribute the wealth. Please keep this in mind when you are following other’s leads on saying we need higher taxes. Sure we have a huge deficient but this country has had some unusual circumstances. We can reduce it through spending cuts.

As for you mad mother Cindy Sheehan, go home and grieve for your son and get on with your life. I am sure he would be ashamed of your actions and the new group around you that you call comrade.

In the days following hurricane Katrina, there were few rational minds. From all aspects of life in the devastated areas they were calling on the federal government to help them. The news people were slamming President Bush for not doing enough. Could these reporters have been hunting for people or even prodding people to say vicious things about Bush? Even FOX news, which has been purported to be a right wing news agency, was shouting the loudest.

Along comes the mayor shouting profanities at Bush and the federal government. I am sure he was caught up in the heat of the moment and having to face his own failures. Earlier I had talked about the blame game. This may just be a continuation but with added facts.

Was Bush to blame for anything? Of course he was but his fault lies in not having people around him that kept him informed of the true facts. Reporters wanted to know if the president ever watched television. I am sure he does but do we want a president that makes decisions based on media reports?

In the beginning of the second week after the disaster it is starting to look like President Bush was the only one making good decisions. The mayor now says that as soon as he was able to talk to the president and make him aware of the facts there was immediate and massive action.

In every war a good president is no better than his generals. Apparently Bush put the best man on the job. That man would be Lt. Gen. Russel Honore.

This man, under the leadership of President Bush, did more in one day than all the local officials had done in a week. While Nero watched Rome burn, George W. Bush put the right man on the job.

Each day that passes Bush is slowly becoming the hero even thought the standard Bush haters will never admit it. Those from the left that think anything from the right is a joke will never accept the fact that for once Federal government did do something right.

I did not mean to turn this into a left/right issue but its just part of the facts. I suppose I need to write a separate entry as to why the left always want more government but always wants to blame government for their woes.

In closing there have been mistakes made on all levels of government but that is to be expected in something of this magnitude. In my book Bush may not be the hero but he surely put the man in charge that is the hero of the hour. Thank you Lt. Gen. Russel Honore.

I said I did not have enough information on Homeland Security. I have rectified that, at least in part. I have learned that before Katrina struck the gulf coast, Louisiana had 7000 National Guard at the ready to enter the disaster area. In addition I have learned that the National Guard is under the command of Homeland Security.

So you ask what took them so long? It was the shear size of the disaster area. Those 7000 guardsmen were just not enough. I have not heard how many in total moved into the disaster areas. I am sure it is a lot more than the 7000 Louisiana guardsmen. How many would have been enough? More than anyone could have guessed.

Again lets wait till we get all the facts before we start finger pointing. I am sure there will be a lot of people having to eat their heated words. The victims will be frustrated for a long time to come. There will be instances of preferential treatment, such as the mayor of New Orleans having his friends airlifted from the Hyatt while others were begging for help.

Lets have cooler heads prevail and get these people some normalcy in their lives. Donate with your heart, not you brain.

In the aftermath of the worst disaster in the history of our country you at first have tears in your eyes for the victims. Then comes the blame game, namely finger pointing at President Bush. I have somewhat been involved in disaster preparedness and from my point of view; the state of Louisiana let these people down. The mayor who should have seen to it they had some type of disaster plan played the blame game when he himself is to blame.

Lets look at all the blame here. Lets start at the top where most say all the blame lies. Bush may have waited longer to act than I would have. Yet, how do we know when he acted? Could he have sent in federal troops sooner, maybe, but at what cost? I heard reporters screaming for troops to come in and restore order. If Bush had done that he would have been arrest for one of the most horrendous acts a president can make. He would have violated the posse comitus (sic) act. No federal soldier in this country can act as police force without martial law being installed. I doubt anyone wanted that to happen in New Orleans.

I live in South Carolina that has had its fair share of hurricanes, albeit none as bad as this one but we have in the past had category 4 storms. We have never had federal troops brought in, especially because we were shooting at our rescuers. Most civilized places in the world accept rescuers with open arms.

In All states the governor is in charge. They see to the statewide preparedness. Through out the three states hit, the preparedness was not what it should have been. If the news reports are right, the Louisiana governor did nothing to prepare. From what I hear she had that preparedness to close to the storm and lost much of it, due to the fact the storm’s destruction was more than anyone predicted.

Lets move down the ladder of the blame game to the mayor and what other town official that ere in charge of the local preparedness of New Orleans. Apparently they did absolutely nothing. They left their fire and rescue equipment sitting in low lands and was lost. They did not evacuate the city and when they needed to evacuate, they had no busses. They had left them sitting in the low spots and were covered with water.

Then there are the people of New Orleans themselves. Apparently they have been taught to just sit back and wait on government to do for them. A few took control of their environment, commandeered vehicles and drove out of that swamp that used to be New Orleans.

Even now there are people that will not leave. They try and hang onto their homes. Oddly, I feel for those the most. I would probably be one of them. They at least are taking some control over their environment.

The last segments of the blame game are the news reporters and the New Orleans residents that made it a black and white issue. What person in their right mind would believe those people was not rescued because of the color of their skin. Look around and you find a sea of white rescuers in a sea of black victims. Lets not fall victim to the reporters that are only out to dramatize this unfortunate disaster. Lets just hope all this blaming is just being brought on by the heat of the moment and clearer heads will prevail in the days to come. Blaming never solves anything.

The death and destruction was not a racial thing. New Orleans was the only predominately black city that was hit. No city is getting more help than another. There are a lot of white families that are displaced as well and believe me, all are not affluent whites. It’s really sad that this disaster has brought about the blame game, a game that I refuse to play.

We made the biggest mistake of all in thinking that we can outguess Mother Nature. We will keep trying and some day we may come lose in predicting the actions of a storm enough to take better precautions. Sadly that day is not here yet.

Lets ban together and give these people the best life possible, even the ones that called us racist because their life became what it is. We give a shit no matter what the news reporters say.

In closing I would like to send a message to many of you reporters out there. I personally would have arrested you for inciting a riot. I’m sure some of you helped when you could. I suspect you got food and water in by helicopter. Why didn’t you use your helicopters to help feed these people? I guess you had to be objective and couldn’t get involved.

From someone who has been through a hurricane, lighten up. It’s going to be a long time before these people’s lives return to anything close to normal. That’s not just for the people of New Orleans.

I almost forgot homeland security. At the time I don’t have enough information to determine their blame, if any.