Monday, May 31, 2010

Does our government really stand behind our wounded soldiers?

 
Today is Memorial Day, that day we set aside every year to honor our veterans, many who have given their lives to protect our freedom and the freedom of so many of our allies. It is also noteworthy to mention that this year the commander in chief (a title not to be dignified with capital letters) of our Armed Forces decided he wasn't going to lay the traditional wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. He felt it was more important to spend the weekend with his family in Chicago. Not only does this administration not pay homage to our deceased veterans but they also consider many of them to be untrustworthy domestic terrorists as the Dept. of Homeland Security has proclaimed.
As the Iraq/Afghanistan war runs into its eighth year with no end in sight all kinds of stories have come back from the battlefield to make anyone wonder who's side our Defense Department is really on. We have heard about those doorless Humvees that were originally used in the invasion, the ones that looked like military golf carts. Not much in the way of protection even after they added the doors. Those Hummers didn't have any armor plating so our industrious soldiers started scavenging local scrap yards for steel plates that they cut up and welded to their vehicles. After the photos started showing up in the news back home, the DOD issued contracts for armor plating to be added in the factory when the Hummers were built.

Other stories came home about newly issued rifle cleaning kits that were not designed for use in desert conditions because it allowed sand to jam up the weapons. Many soldiers wrote home about them and asked their friends and family to buy commercial gun cleaning kits that contained dry lube and send them over. That went over big with the brass and after much embarrassment new kits were issued and the soldiers were told they could not receive any from home. None of the main stream news media inquired as to how many soldiers may have been killed or wounded after their weapons jammed. No one inquired about why the original gun cleaning kits were replaced with the faulty kits that caused the jams. The story was simply swept under the rug. The same situation happened with bullet proof vests that were is short supply in Iraq. Families of soldiers were being asked to buy them and mail them and this went on for months until the Army forbid it. Their excuse for this was the domestic vests didn't meet the specifications of the ones the Army didn't have to issue. To add more insult to injury, Donald Rumsfeld the Secretary of Defense was fond of a smart-alec comment that "We go to war with what we have". I used to wonder how quickly we replaced the fleet of battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor, but the United States of America was a much different country then.

And then, of course, we read all about our diligent Defense Department lawyers who were so ready, willing and able to bring court martial charges against any soldier who accidentally shot a civilian. The definition of what is a civilian over in Iraq is something of a mystery because we are fighting an enemy that does not wear a uniform and frequently hides out in schools and hospitals to conduct ambushes and when they are shot someone else quickly takes their weapons and runs away. Don't forget about those three Navy SEALs who captured the Taliban terrorist who was responsible for the brutal torture and murder of two civilian contractors. That terrorist claimed one of the SEALs punched him and the DOD put up all three SEALs for court martial.

Then some news was reported out of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. that wounded soldiers were being charged for their meals while recovering from their battlefield injuries. A few members of Congress caught wind of this and ordered an immediate change in policy.
Or the latest news about the changes made to the Rules of Engagement to protect all those innocent "civilians". Soldiers on patrol can no longer carry a live round chambered in their weapons and must not shoot until they have been shot at first. This country won a bigger war in Europe in half the time because we didn't place so many restrictions on our soldiers.
Now, on Memorial Day, in 2010, a new story appears in the press that adds more insult to injury (literally). Wounded soldiers are being charged for the replacement of lost equipment in the battlefield after they were sent back for medical treatment. Here is the story.
Shot by sniper in Iraq, billed for $3K by military in U.S.
By Laura Rillos KVAL News

LEBANON, Ore. -- A former Oregon National Guard soldier and Purple Heart recipient is being billed for military-issued equipment he believes was lost in Iraq after he was shot and evacuated from the country.
Gary Pfleider II feels disrespected by the charges.  He said he lost sight of the gear when he left Iraq and believes he should not be responsible for it now.
He doesn't remember much about getting shot in September 2007.  He knows he was riding in a truck on patrol near Balad, Iraq.
"I remember grabbing ahold of my leg and realizing I had blood on my hands," said Pfleider.  "And from that point on, until I got loaded onto the Stryker, was just a big blur."
Pfleider was taken to Landsthul Regional Medical Center in Germany and treated for a week at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, before arriving at what is now called Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington State.
He lost one-third of the muscle in his left leg and will have to wear a brace for the rest of his life.
After one year, he left the base and the Oregon National Guard.  By then, his unit had returned to Oregon.
Pfleider inventoried his belongings and discovered several personal items and military-issued gear, including clothing, canteens and grenades, were missing.
He believed the supervisors at his former unit in Albany had filed paperwork clearing him of the charges.
But in June 2009, Pfleider received a bill for $3,175.88.  Shortly afterward, the federal government began taking $120 out of his Social Security disability checks each month.  Pfleider said his state and federal tax returns were also frozen.
It's tough for Pfleider, who says he cannot work and cannot afford to visit his young daughters in Vancouver, Washington, to swallow.
"Honestly, I do, I think it's just sitting somewhere on somebody's desk at Fort Lewis and they just don't want to mess with it because they don't think it's a big enough issue," said Pfleider.  "It's my livelihood."
Capt. Stephen Bomar, a public affairs officer with the Oregon Military Department, said Joint Base Lewis McChord is billing Pfleider.
He said it is standard for soldiers in similar situations to receive bills for missing equipment.
When a soldier is medically evacuated from a country, his or her chain of command takes responsiblity for the equipment.  Responsiblity returns to the soldier upon his or her return to the unit, he explained.
"It's one of the processes. That way we keep good accountability for the equipment," said Capt. Bomar.
In those cases, soldiers can submit sworn statements explaining their situation, said Bomar. For example, said Bomar, a soldier would write they were separated from their gear when they were flown out of the country.  Other soldiers might be asked to make sworn statements corroborating the account.
The charges would then go away, said Bomar.
Pfleider provided KVAL News with a sworn statement he filed at the Albany Armory in February 2010.
KVAL News asked Bomar if it was possible that Pfleider's paperwork was filed incorrectly.
"I think it could be on our part on this one or could be on the soldier's part," said Bomar.  "That's one thing they're going to take a look at."
He added, if the charges are erroneous, Pfleider will be reimbursed and stop being billed.  If not, he will still be responsible for the charges.
KVAL News contacted the public affairs office at Joint Base Lewis McChord.  They tell KVAL News they are investigating the issue.
Pfleider says he is frustrated and just wants to focus on his upcoming ninth leg surgery and adjusting to life after war.
"Car going down a road backfiring, it still sends me into flashbacks of being over there," he said.  "But I deal with it because I know it's part of my life that's never going to leave."








Sunday, May 30, 2010

Hollywood Heroes that served in war time.

   
This is a repost from the Bare Naked Islam web site:

Today, Hollywood celebrities make movies about war…

Yesterday, they served in wars. God Bless our Troops and all those who so courageously served before.

This is a partial list of REAL Hollywood heroes who suspended their careers to serve in the United States Armed Forces after America was attacked on December 7, 1941.


  • Eddie Albert - U.S. Navy … Saw combat on Saipan and Tarawa. Earned the Bronze Star

  • James Arness – U.S.Army, 3rd infantry division Italy, severely wounded and left with a lifelong limp

  • Gene Autry – U.S. Army Air Corps … Flew cargo planes in China, Burma and India

  • Humphrey Bogart – U.S. Navy … Wounded in World War I, he tried to enlist after Pearl Harbor but was turned down because of his age.

  • Charles Bronson - U. S. Army tailgunner aboard a B-29 Superfortress over the skies of Japan and was also awarded the Purple Heart for wounds.

  • Mel Brooks - U.S. Army… served as a forward artillery observer

  • Johnny Carson – U.S. Navy officer

  • Jackie Coogan – U.S. Army Air Corps … Volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group

  • Tony Curtis – U.S. Navy submarine duty

  • Sammy Davis, Jr. – U.S. Army … Assigned to Special Services Command

  • Kirk Douglas - U.S. Army

  • Charles Durning – Served in very intense combat from Omaha beach to the Battle of the Bulge as a infantryman and was wounded no less than three times in a year while being awarded the silver star for valor.

  • Buddy Epsen - Coast Guard officer

  • Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. – U.S. Navy … Served on a battleship and as a commando raider. Helped to organize the forerunners of today’s Navy SEALs. Won a silver star while serving on PT Boats in combat.

  • Henry Fonda - U.S. Navy … Served aboard a destroyer in the Pacific. Earned a Bronze Star for Valor.

  • Glenn Ford – U.S. Marine Corps … Earned a number of citations and awards for combat action. After the war, he transferred his commission to the U.S. Naval Reserve.

  • John Ford (director) – U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, landed on Omaha Beach at Normandy

  • Clark Gable – U.S. Army Air Corps … Enlisted in 1942 at age 41. Volunteered for combat duty and flew missions over Germany. Earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. Gable joined the Army Air Corps and led a film section making training films. Unsatisfied with this he flew on combat missions over Germany where his biggest fan Adolf Hitler placed a bounty on his head if captured alive.

  • Charlton Heston – U.S. Army Air Corps … B-25 gunner; saw action in the Pacific.

  • Hal Holbrook - Served in Canada with the Army

  • William Holden – U.S. Army Air Corps … Served 1942-1945. His brother, a U.S. Navy pilot, was killed in the Pacific in 1944.

  • Rock Hudson – U.S. Navy aircraft mechanic in the Philippines.

  • Brian Keith – U.S. Marine Corps … Saw combat on Rabal

  • Werner Klemperer – U.S. Army … Stationed in Hawaii as a Military Policeman, he auditioned for and was accepted into Maurice Evans’ Special Services unit.

  • Harvey Korman – U.S. Navy

  • Nancy Kulp – U.S. Navy … Served as a Navy WAVE

  • Bert Lancaster – U.S. Army … Served in Tunisia and Italy

  • Lee Marvin – U.S. Marine participating in the invasions at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and was wounded on Saipan

  • Ed McMahon – U.S. Marine Corps … Became a fighter pilot in 1944. Recalled to active duty in 1952 for the Korean War and flew 85 combat missions. Remained in the Air National Guard until 1966 when he retired as a Brigadier General.

  • Burgess Meredith – U.S. Army Air Corps

  • Glenn Miller – U.S. Army … Assigned to the Army Specialist Corps. Convinced the Military that he could modernize the Army Band and improve the morale of the troops. Organized the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. His plane disappeared on 15 December 1944 over the English Channel.

  • Robert Montgomery – U.S. Navy … Enlisted in the British Military before American joined the war and drove ambulances in France until the Dunkirk invasion. When America entered the war, he joined the U.S. Navy and served as a Naval Attaché on British destroyers hunting German U-Boats. He commanded a PT boat and participated in the D-Day invasion aboard a destroyer.

  • Wayne Morris – U.S. Navy … Flew 57 combat missions in the Pacific. Shot down seven Japanese aircraft, becoming an “Ace”. Credited with assisting the sinking of five Japanese warships.

  • Paul Newman – U.S. Navy radioman in torpedo bombers

  • Tyrone Power – U.S. Marine Corps … Enlisted immediately after Pearl Harbor. Flew wounded Marines from Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

  • Gene Raymond - Served in both World War II and Vietnam

  • Ronald Reagan – U.S. Army Air Corps … Enlisted in the Army Reserve in 1937; commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant and was called to active duty in 1942. Because of a hearing loss, he was not allowed to fly, so he was assigned to make training films.

  • Don Rickles – U.S. Navy

  • John Russell – U.S. Marine Corps … Wounded at Guadalcanal

  • Robert Ryan – U.S. Marine Corps … Served with the O.S.S. in Yugoslavia

  • Soupy Sales - U.S. Navy

  • Rod Serling – U.S. Army … Was a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific where he specialized in combat demolitions. Severely wounded by shrapnel during the invasion of the Philippines.

  • Rod Steiger - U.S. Navy

  • Jimmy Stewart – U.S. Army Air Corps … Flew B-17 and B-24 combat missions, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, France’s Croix de Guerre and 7 Battle Stars. His son, 1st Lt. Ronald McLean, was killed in Vietnam in 1969.

  • Buddy Hackett, Jack Paar, Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan, Jack Klugman, Red Skelton, Robert Stack, Lee Van Cleef, Dick Van Dyke, also served, although they never saw combat. Musician Desi Arnaz was drafted but after being hurt in boot camp served the rest of the war helping with the USO. Dean Martin was drafted into the army and served for a year in Ohio before being found 4-F and discharged

  • These actors attempted to serve but were turned down because of medical conditions … Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Peter Lawford, Gregory Peck, George Raft, John Wayne and Richard Widmark



  • This is a complete list of Hollywood ‘Heroes’ who suspended their careers to enlist in the United States Armed Forces after America was attacked on September 11, 2001: NONE

     

    Texas State Board of Education prayer invocation

    Texas State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar opens debate on new social studies standards May 21, 2010.
    "I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses. Whether we look to the first Charter of Virginia or the Charter of New England or the Charter of Massachusetts Bay or the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the same objective is present – a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it: freedom of belief, of expression, of assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the home, equal justice under law, and the reservation of powers to the people…I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country."

    Friday, May 28, 2010

    Do you think that Barack Hussein Obama is actually a Muslim?

     
    Some of the news this weekend concerns a potentially explosive development in Washington, D.C. that every conservative reporter is saying could lead to the impeachment of Barack Hussein Obama. Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak ran a successful primary campaign against Sen. Arlen Spector who had the endorsement of Barack Hussein Obama. Spector lost and Sestak won adding to the embarrassment over Obama's ineffectual support. Sestak later mentioned on two national television news shows that he was offered a high ranking position in Washington if he would drop out of the primary. In case you haven't figured this out, a crime may have been committed because it is a Felony to offer someone a job in exchange for them dropping out of a primary. As the L.A. Times wrote:
    "The issue of what Democrat Sestak was offered by an Obama aide to drop out of his ultimately successful Pennsylvania Senate primary challenge of what's-his-name-the-old-former-Democrat-ex-Republican-now-Democrat Specter may well come up this morning at President Obama's first White House news conference in months. "
    The Los Angeles Times story continued with these remarks spoken by Karl Rove.
    Here's Rove on Sestak:
    "One of two things is true, you can't have two things true. One or the other is true. Either Joe Sestak is lying and he was not offered a position in the administration in return for getting out of the primary.
    You know he's a liar, in which case not worthy of public service.
    Or, he's telling the truth, in which case somebody inside the White House committed a felony. 18usc211 says that, a government official cannot promise a job in return for anything of value and it has a long list of values.
    Saying to a member of Congress if you drop out of the primary and give a free ride to the general election for our Democratic nominee in return for which we will give you a government job, is clearly receiving something of value. The value is a clear path to the nomination of your favorite candidate.....
    What he in essence is saying is that there's a felon inside the White House and I am going to stonewall and protect that individual. He has an obligation to tell. Either you're a liar, Joe Sestak, or you're protecting a felon."
    This isn't the only controversy brewing in the capitol this weekend. It appears that our Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces will, for the first time in history, not honor our deceased soldiers on Memorial Day. The ceremony that has taken place in Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day has always involved the president placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This year, Obama will skip the ceremony and take a long weekend vacation back home in Chicago.  This rather long intro is meant to highlight the main commentary of this blog for it has become rather obvious that Barack Hussein Obama not only cares little for the Constitution and the laws of America but has a growing dislike for America's military in their battle against the forces of radical Islam in Iraq and Afghanistan. So the obvious question needs to be asked and answered: Do you think that Barack Hussein Obama is actually a Muslim?
    Why not let Barack Hussein Obama answer the question in his own words?
    From the lips of Barack Hussein Obama:

    “A salaam aleikum”

    “. . .many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim majority country. I know, because I am one of them.”

    ” . . .My father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azzan at the break of dawn . . .”

    “I have know Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction”

    “. . . . You’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith”

    “In a 2007 interview with the New York Times, Obama recited the Muslim call to prayer in a perfect Arabic accent, and then went on to say that the Muslim call to prayer was “The prettiest sound on earth.”
    Obama Quotes From the Koran. . .

    “As the holy Qur’an tells us . . .”
    “The holy Qur’an teaches that . . .”

    “The holy Qur’an tells us. . .”

    “And the holy Qur’an also says . . .”

    Obama Praises And Glorifies Islam

    “We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world”

    “I would like to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, their great and celebrated culture, over many centuries, your art, your music, literature and innovation have made the world a better and more beautiful place.”

    “We know that you are a great civilization and your accomplishments have earned the respect of the United States and the world.”

    “I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam at places like al Azhar that carry the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and enlightenment.”

    “It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra, a magnetic compass and tools of navigation, our mastery of pens and printing, our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires, timeless poetry, and cherished music, elegant caligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation.”

    “They have fought in our wars, they have served in our government, they have stood for civil rights, they have started businesses, they have taught at our universities. They’ve excelled in our sports arenas. They’ve won Nobel prizes, built our tallest building and lit the Olympic torch. And when the first Muslim American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same holy Qur’an”

    “In ancient times, and in our times, Muslim communities have been in the forefront of innovation and education.”

    Obama Defends Islam

    “Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism. It is an important part of promoting peace. The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few.”

    “In the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligations. That’s why I’m committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.”

    “It is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit.”

    “And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

    Obama Declares America To Be A Muslim Nation

    “We are no longer a Christian nation.”

    “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation. . .”

    “The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans.”

    “Since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States.”

    “Islam has always been a part of America’s story.”

    “There is a mosque in every state in our union, and over twelve hundred mosques within our borders.”

    “You know, one of the points I want to make is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we would be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”

    [D'ailleurs, si l'on compte le nombre d'Américains musulmans, on voit que les Etats-Unis sont l'un des plus grands pays musulmans de la planète.” - subtitled copy]

    “Let there be no doubt, Islam is a part of America.”

    Obama Bows Before A Muslim King

    Fox News video segment from O’Reilly’s program:
    Brigitte Gabriel:
    “He did bow to the Muslim King while he did not do it to the British Queen of England. By bowing, he showed the world that I am subservient, I do bow down to you as a Muslim King, something no other President has done with Saudi Arabia. The Saudi King uses fear. He is not, he is subordinate in order to bow for him and this is an exactly what Obama did. Usually it is out of respect that someone would nod his head, with bowing to royalty and the ladies would curtsy. But Obama went beyond what is required as a head of state and bowed to the Saudi King. That’s not acceptable, it sent the wrong signal.”
    O’Reilly:

    “You say it sends the wrong signal, what signal do you think it sends?”
    Brigitte Gabriel:

    “It sent a message that Islam is superior to any other master or King or President in the world. That an American President bowed to a Muslim King. It also sent the message that terrorism and jihadism is giving Islam the respect it should have on the world stage to the point that it made an American President, for the first time in history, bow to a Muslim King.”
    Obama In Traditional Muslim Dress
    Image
    Obama Visits A Mosque
    [AP video clip from Istanbul Turkey]

    Obama Sides With Islam

    WCBS 2 News video with Beth Mulicki:
    “Presidential candidate, Barack Obama is trying to change political fashion. He gave a speech in Iowa City today and he wasn’t wearing an American Flag pin. Those pins have become synonymous with politicians since 9/11. Obama says he doesn’t like how the pin has come to represent patriotism in America.”

    Barack Obama:

    “I won’t wear that pin on my chest.”

    Fox News Alan Colmes with Kate Obenshain of the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute:

    “It’s a little weird Alan, that in the middle of the campaign, the guy takes off the American flag. Most people wear it because they are proud of their country.”
    Barack Obama:

    “Let me speak as clearly and as plainly as I can. America is not, and never will be at war with Islam.”
    Video image of 9/11 at 8:46 am, fire fighters on the street look up to view and instinctively turn video camera to face and focus in the direction of the sound of a plane flying uncomfortably low and unexpectedly captures the first plane crashing into the first World Trade Center tower.
    Next video segment shows the second plane aiming at the second tower to be hit, film capturing the collision of the second plane exploding in the second tower, as seen from multiple cameras.

    “. . .I am one of them.” – Barack Hussein Obama
    Barack Obama:
    “Thank You and Eid-e-shuma-Mubarak”

    Tuesday, May 25, 2010

    In preparation for Memorial Day

        
    REALLY MAKES ME PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
    Preparation for Memorial Day
    It is 
    the VETERAN, 
    not the preacher, 
    who has given us freedom of religion. 

    It is 
    the VETERAN, 
    not the reporter, 
    who has given us freedom of the press.

    It is 
    the VETERAN, 
    not the poet, 
    who has given us freedom of speech.

    It is 
    the VETERAN, 
    not the campus organizer, 
    who has given us freedom to assemble. 

    It is 
    the VETERAN, 
    not the lawyer, 
    who has given us the right to a fair trial. 

    It is 
    the VETERAN, 
    not the politician, 
    Who has given us the right to vote.

    It is

    the VETERAN  
    who salutes the Flag,



    It is 
    the VETERAN
    who serves under the Flag,


    ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, 
    AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

    I'd be EXTREMELY proud if this message reached as many as possible. We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve. 
    God Bless them all!!!

    Makes you proud to be an AMERICAN!!!!
    While it may appear as an insult to our American Veterans to mention the name of Barack Hussein Obama in the same story about them, it is interesting to note the following news item reported by Newsmax.

    Obama to Skip Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetery
    In a highly unusual move, President Barack Obama is going to skip the traditional Memorial Day event at Arlington National Cemetery to return home to Chicago for the long holiday weekend.

    Obama sees it as addressing one of the great broken promises of his administration: his early pledge to return home to Chicago every six weeks or so, according to The Washington Post.

    On Monday, Obama will make remarks at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery and miss the usual tradition of presidents speaking at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.

    A conservative’s view on the last episode of LOST.

    I was a big fan of the television show LOST when it premiered 6 years ago. Then as the plot twists and turns became too illogical to comprehend I stopped watching the show sometime during the third season. I kept reading the running commentaries in the news that mentioned the Time Travel and dead people who came back to life and I reveled in the fact that I no longer had to sort any of that out to make it comprehensible. After all, it was just a television program and a figment of someone else’s imagination.

    Since I made a brief departure from politics in this blog a few months ago and wrote a glowing review of the movie AVATAR and as a result, became the only God-fearing, patriotic American to do so, I thought I would give my humble interpretation of this show as well. To sum it up in a few words, I enjoyed the final ending of LOST so let me tell you why.

    When I began watching LOST it became obvious that the “survivors” of the plane crash were on the island for a purpose. The purpose became clear in the last two episodes. First of all, there were no survivors of that plane crash. When a large airplane flying at a normal altitude of about 35,000 feet breaks apart at a cruising speed of over 500 miles per hour, everyone dies. So what do we make of two groups of people, one group that was in the back of the plane and the larger group in the front walking away? It takes a certain belief in God and in the afterlife to accept the answer.

    The basic premise of the story is simple: All of the people on the plane that became the central characters of LOST were troubled souls who were not worthy of Paradise at the moment of their deaths. They were being given a second chance to redeem themselves. They were being tested and those that passed the test and became worthy made it to the final chapter of the story. During the course of the story some of the “survivors” died a second time and were written out of the ending. It is possible these people were found unworthy or that there were a few exceptions to the story made necessary for other reasons. The entire six-year ordeal on TV was supposed to only take place in a few months of real time. Contractual obligations may have been responsible for the lack of availability of some of the actors and for some that no longer fit their role.

    The island was populated with other people who existed only for the purpose of creating the test environment that applied to the “survivors”. I suspect that they may have been spirits representing good and evil but a few other characters who had not been on the plane who made it to the church in the final scene may also have been troubled souls also being tested, as well. The story line in LOST was not perfect and this explanation cannot possibly explain everything so there will be some inconsistencies. I also think the writers and producers added too many twists that added a few extra years to the show for the sake of making money. So if you discount the plot lines in years 4 and 5 it seems to make more sense.

    The  part of the story toward the end that showed the parallel lives of the people in Los Angeles was, in my opinion, a test of how they would have transformed themselves after they had been redeemed. Then they began to help each other in various ways to reach the final gathering place in the church.
    Depending on the personal beliefs or lack of them, others who review this show may have different opinions than I have. An atheist, for instance, would not acknowledge the spiritual aspects as I did and would come to a different conclusion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. This is mine.

    A final comment on the movie AVATAR. As I stated in my original review, I saw the movie twice in the theater, once in 3-D which I did not like because of the polarized glasses, and once in 2-D which I loved. I purchased a BluRay copy of AVATAR on the day it was released on DVD and have since watched it four more times. That makes six views in 5 months. The story has not diminished my belief in God or in my sense of patriotism toward my country or my respect for all the good things about America. Some people who reviewed this movie suggested that it would have that effect. Well, did any of the Harry Potter films cause a number of children to believe in witchcraft? I will venture to say that heavy metal music has caused more people to follow devil worship than Harry Potter encouraged practice in black magic. Motion pictures are made for entertainment and you go to see the stories you enjoy. I have also enjoyed Harry Potter for the fantasy part and think the author J. K. Rawling has done more to get young people interested in reading than anyone on Sesame Street.

    Friday, May 21, 2010

    They are building a mega mosque at the World Trade Center Ground Zero

    Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch and Debra Burlingame, sister of one of the 9/11 pilots, discuss the  proposed Ground Zero monster mosque’s radical imam whose stated goals are to destroy Western civilization and replace our system of laws with Shari’a (Islamic) law.


    Andrea Peyser, New York Post
    A mosque rises over Ground Zero. And fed-up New Yorkers are crying, "No!"

    A chorus of critics -- from neighbors to those who lost loved ones on 9/11 to me -- feel as if they've received a swift kick in the teeth.

    Plans are under way for a Muslim house of worship, topped by a 13-story cultural center with a swimming pool, in a building damaged by the fuselage of a jet flown by extremists into the World Trade Center.
     
    The opening date shall live in infamy: Sept. 11, 2011. The 10th anniversary of the day a hole was punched in the city's heart.

    How the devil did this happen?

    Plans to bring what one critic calls a "monster mosque" to the site of the old Burlington Coat Factory building, at a cost expected to top $100 million, moved along for months without a peep. All of a sudden, even members of the community board that stupidly green-lighted the mosque this month are tearing their hair out.

    Paul Sipos, member of Community Board 1, said a mosque is a fine idea -- someplace else.

    "If the Japanese decided to open a cultural center across from Pearl Harbor, that would be insensitive," Sipos told me. "If the Germans opened a Bach choral society across from Auschwitz, even after all these years, that would be an insensitive setting. I have absolutely nothing against Islam. I just think: Why there?"

    Why, indeed.

    A rally against the mosque is planned for June 6, D-Day, by the human-rights group Stop Islamicization of America. Executive director Pamela Geller said, "What could be more insulting and humiliating than a monster mosque in the shadow of the World Trade Center buildings that were brought down by an Islamic jihad attack? Any decent American, Muslim or otherwise, wouldn't dream of such an insult. It's a stab in the eye of America."

    Called Cordoba House, the mosque and center is the brainchild of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. Executive director Daisy Khan insists it's staying put.

    "For us, it's a symbol, a platform that will give voice to the silent majority of Muslims who suffer at the hands of extremists. A center will show that Muslims will be part of rebuilding lower Manhattan," said Khan, adding that Cordoba will be open to everyone.

    "We were pleased to see that the community welcomed us as an asset to lower Manhattan," she added. "The community board approved it."
    Not so fast.

    The Financial District Committee of Community Board 1 seems to have gotten ensnared in a public-relations ploy by mosque-makers. At a May 5 meeting, the committee gave the project an enthusiastic thumbs-up. But boards have zero say over religious institutions.

    Board chair Julie Menin, blind-sided by the move, predicts "this will be overturned by the full board" later this month.

    But the damage is done.

    Wounds that have yet to heal are now opening, as mosque opponents are branded, unfairly, as bigots.

    "The worst tendency is the knee-jerk, emotional, angry, hateful response to acts of violence and war," said Donna Marsh O'Connor, who lost daughter Vanessa on 9/11 and supports the mosque. "I think it's racist tendencies."
    Many more feel like Bill Doyle -- doubly maimed as he's forced to defend himself against charges of prejudice.

    "I'm not a bigot. What I'm frightful about is, it's almost going to be another protest zone. A meeting place for radicals," said Doyle, whose son, Joseph, was murdered on 9/11.

    "It's a slap in our face!" said Nelly Braginsky, who lost son Alexander.
    Unclear is how the mosque will raise the $100 million-plus it needs.
    "We would be seeking funding from anyone who would help," Khan told me. "Seeking maybe some bonds or something like that." At the May 5 community board meeting, she displayed a sign with names like "Rockefeller Brothers Fund" and "Ford Foundation," which observers believed meant money is coming from those organizations. But Khan says those groups merely gave money in the past, and no funding is yet in place.
    There are many questions about the Ground Zero mosque. But just one answer.

    Move it away.

    Wednesday, May 19, 2010

    Is the NRA about to commit the ultimate treachery against gun owners?

       
    If you read my bio you will know that I have been a proud member of the National Rifle Association for over 42 years. In fact, I have been a Life Member since 1968 and in the last 15 years have elevated my status from Life Member to Endowment level membership to Patron level membership to my current Benefactor level membership which is the highest level anyone can attain outside of actual employment with the NRA. I have willingly supported the goals of the NRA over the years because I have recognized that they are the foremost supporter of 2nd Amendment gun rights in America. My support of the NRA has been a bumpy ride over the last 42 years due to the changing leadership of this organization. In the mid 1970s a group of elite intellectuals gained control of the NRA and began a campaign of smearing conservative, right-wing groups who in actuality were among their biggest supporters. The NRA, out of necessity, has always been a politically driven organization because politics either protects or threatens our rights and freedoms and liberty.
    Is the NRA about to commit the ultimate treachery against gun owners? Or are they about to do the stupidest thing in the history of their existence?
    The bold fact is that the NRA is a recognized force that influences its 3-million plus membership to vote for political candidates that purport to endorse the rights of gun owners. The downside of this is that the NRA is a single-issue group that does not judge any other aspect of the candidates qualifications. It is also blind to the reality of political affiliations. Two years ago the NRA gave its endorsement to 54 so-called Blue Dog Democrats running for Congress. These Blue Dog Democrats were supposed to be center right conservatives. In the 2008 landslide that elected a Marxist Socialist far-left candidate named Barack Hussein Obama, 53 of those Democrats endorsed by the NRA were also elected. The result of that election has given the Democrats total control of our government. The Democrat majority proceeded to pick Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and Senator Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader. We have seen how these two leaders have ramrodded one ultra-liberal piece of legislation after another through Congress that were encouraged by and willingly signed into law by the White House. In fact, the tax and spend policies of Reid and Pelosi have had such a dramatic impact on the citizens of this country that it gave birth to the Tea Party movement and the Take Back America campaign that brought together millions of protesters.

    There is a rule of thumb used by many conservative groups to evaluate political candidates. It is how they stand on a core group of issues. A candidate must not only support the 2nd Amendment, they must be Pro-Life, pro Constitution, for limited government and support and defend American sovereignty. These combined issues produce candidates of good character that can be trusted. The NRA uses only one of these issues to pass judgment on a candidate and is seemingly ignorant of the implications surrounding party affiliation. To be a candidate for elected office in any political party an individual must swear allegiance to the party platform in order to have the support of the party. The platform of the national Democratic Party often reads like the communist manifesto with its pro-socialist agenda. The platform of the national Republican party is just the opposite. 

    Now we have another ultra-liberal, Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State who has just signed the United Nations treaty to ban small gun ownership. This treaty needs to be passed by the United States Senate and if it does, some informed people fear it will abrogate our rights under the U.S. Constitution. Barack Hussein Obama wants this ban on gun ownership applied to all Americans. Obama is Harry Reid's boss and it will be Harry Reid's job to push this treaty through the Senate.

    Senator Harry Reid is up for reelection in Nevada this coming November and the Tea Party has shown great strength in supporting his opposing candidate. Reid is in trouble and he knows it so he has been pandering to the NRA to get their endorsement. The current issue of the NRA magazine American Rifleman has a lengthy story praising Harry Reid for his efforts to have a large shooting range built outside of Las Vegas. Newsmax, the conservative magazine and Internet news group has recently stated that Harry Reid is boasting of a comfortable relationship with the NRA. Will the NRA return the favor for Reid's help in getting the shooting range built by giving him their endorsement? God help us if they do.

    I wrote a letter on May 9th to Cris Cox, Chairman of the NRA Political Victory Fund that I would like to share with you.
    NRA Political Victory Fund
    Chris W. Cox, Chairman

    Dear Mr. Cox,

    I don’t usually pay attention to rumors but this one has some disturbing facts and I couldn’t put it aside. Two years ago, the NRA endorsed 54 so-called Blue Dog Democrats for Congress and I read that 53 of them were elected. This fact enabled the Democrats to gain control of Congress and Nancy Pelosi to become the Speaker of the House. As a citizen of the United States and a conservative American I am aware of the consequences that have happened since: We all now face the most anti-gun administration in the history of America.

    Now, if the following report proves to be true and the NRA endorses Harry Reid, you can count on at least three things to happen.

    1. I will submit my resignation to the NRA and end my 42 year long Life Membership and present Benefactor level status.
    2. I will write endless blogs denouncing your treasonous acts against patriotic gun-owning Americans.
    3. I predict that my reaction will be shared by a large percentage of other NRA members, many of whom may also be followers of the Tea Party movement.

    In light of this Newsmax report, below, I am withholding all contributions to NRA-PVF.

        Regards,
      
        Nelson F. Abdullah

    article from Newsmax 5-9-2010

    NRA Still Loves Harry Reid

    The National Rifle Association has a record of supporting far more Republicans than Democrats, but there’s one powerful Democrat who has a not-so-secret admirer in the NRA — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

    The NRA hasn’t officially endorsed Sen. Reid, who is facing a tough re-election battle in Nevada, but the gun rights group “really loves” Reid, an NRA insider tells Newsmax.

    Even as tea partyers rallied against Reid in his hometown of Searchlight, Nev., on March 27, Reid was joined by NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre at the official grand opening of a $60 million shooting range Reid helped build north of Las Vegas.

    “I know how you worked,” LaPierre said to Reid at the opening. “[This] would not have opened without the work of Sen. Reid.”

    Reid’s re-election campaign describes LaPierre as “one of the senator’s supporters,” according to CNN.

    Since his election to the Senate in 1986, Reid has consistently voted to protect the rights of gun owners and manufacturers:

        * In 1993, he was 1 of only 8 Democrats to vote against an assault weapons ban.
        * The following year he voted in favor of a bill preventing third-party lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors when their weapons are used illegally.
        * He voted against legislation that would have made it a federal crime to keep a gun unlocked and loaded for personal protection in the home.

    The NRA sent a letter to its members in July 2009 stating that “for many years, Harry Reid has been supporting our Second Amendment rights in the U.S. Senate.”

    At the opening of the shooting range, Reid donned ear plugs to test out his 12-gauge shotgun, Politics Daily reported. After the ribbon cutting, he autographed shell casings.







    Tuesday, May 18, 2010

    A British subject views Gun Control

    I received the following story from a friend who lives in New Zealand. It was addressed to every American as a warning about what may well happen here if we are not vigilant in protecting our rights. It needs to be pointed out that the title is more accurate than you would first imagine. In the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as Great Britain, the British people are considered to be "subjects" as derived from the ancient form of a sovereign monarchy that ruled a population of serfs. In a monarchy the rights of subjects are bestowed or taken away at the whim of the ruling government.
    In America, we are called citizens and our rights as citizens are guaranteed by our United States Constitution. In our Declaration of Independence it is stated: 
    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
    Charlton Heston once observed when he was president of the NRA, "The Second Amendment is the most important amendment because it protects all of the others."
    Now read the warning that I received.
    You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door.
    Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers.
    At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way.
    With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun.
    You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it.
    In the darkness, you make out two shadows.

    One holds something that looks like a crowbar.
    When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire.
    The blast knocks both thugs to the floor.
    One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside.
    As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.
    In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless.
    Yours was never registered.
    Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died. They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm.
    When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter. "What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask. "Only ten-to-twelve years,"  he replies, as if that's nothing.
    "Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."
    The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper.Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them.
    Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times.
    But the next day's headline says it all:
    "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die."
    The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters. As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up, then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.
    Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win.
    The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects.
    After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.
    A few months later, you go to trial.
    The charges haven't been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you.
    Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges.

    The judge sentences you to life in prison.

    This case really happened.

    On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England , killed one burglar and wounded a second.
    In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term. 
    How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire?

    It started with the Pistols Act of 1903.
    This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns. Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.

    Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw.

    When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.

    The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

    Nine years later, at Dunblane , Scotland , Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.

    For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearms still owned by private citizens.

    During the years in which the British government incrementally took away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism. Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

    Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."

    All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.

    When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities.

    Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply.

    Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.

    How did the authorities know who had handguns?

    The guns had been registered and licensed.

    Kind of like cars. Sound familiar?

    WAKE UP AMERICA ; THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.

    "...It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."
    --Samuel Adams

    You had better wake up, because your new president is going to do this very thing over here if he can get it done. And there are stupid people in Congress and on the street that will go right along with him.

    Tuesday, May 11, 2010

    The Power of God and the Creation of the Universe

    In defining the creation of the universe scientists have estimated that between 13 and 14 billion years ago a mass of hot, dense primordial matter somehow condensed and exploded. That explosion expanded to create billions of galaxies each containing billions of stars. They have termed this event The Big Bang Theory. Several factors are lacking in this theory. Scientists have never offered an explanation of what created the mass itself or caused it to condense and suddenly ignite in the first place but it seems the description 'Big Bang' is an extraordinary understatement. To put things into comparison, take note of a scientific experiment that took place recently.
    A few weeks ago the world's largest particle accelerator called The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), 17 miles in circumference, located underground at the French/Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland completed the first successful collision of two protons which had been accelerated to a velocity approaching the speed of light. The energy produced by this collision was equal to 7 trillion electronvolts. Two small protons, the nucleus of two single atoms. The LHC was built at a cost of over 10-Billion dollars for the explicit purpose of trying to recreate on an infinitely small scale what took place at the moment of The Big Bang. Yet scientists still cannot answer the question about what brought The Big Bang about or created the spark that set it off. But for now, just imagine the energy that was produced at the moment of the creation of the universe when compared to the impact of two colliding protons!
    What follows is my own somewhat fanciful explanation of how the universe was created. The concept of time, distance, size and place have no meaning in this document. In the terms of Infinite, there is no beginning and no end. The words in the Bible that refer to God as in human terms as "our Heavenly Father" or "in His image" are not meant to be taken literally. So are my references to His hands. Read it with an open mind.
    One day in a place I will call Heaven (because those who believe in God believe that is where He is) God had an idea. He decided to make something very eloquent out of something so common that it exists everywhere, dust. If one is to postulate a belief in God then one must also recognize that God is the source of all things material and immaterial. God is the creator of the Laws that govern the universe as well. On that day in Heaven, God gathered up some dust in His hands and He squeezed it together and the force of His grasp condensed and heated the dust. Binding this mass together, God infused it with the Laws of Physics that He had also created and decided should apply. God then created a place outside of Heaven to put this little tiny mass so He could watch and see it grow. And God enjoyed His handiwork. After a time, not the same concept of time as we know it, the glowing embers of dust followed the Laws of Physics it had been given, it expanded into the galaxies and stars that we see today. The Universe had been created and God was filled with joy over His work.
    God looked at his handiwork which pleased Him so much and chose a small planet circling a dim yellow star in an obscure rim of one of the galaxies and decided to populate that planet with another idea, Life. Now to understand the concept of time it is necessary to consider that time from God's perspective is most certainly not the same as from the perspective of mere living things. To put things rather bluntly, God does not wear a wristwatch so the length of a unit of time to God is not the same as it is to us. We humans have a document that contains a brief description of what God did when He created the universe. It is The Bible and the first section of this book is called Genesis and it begins with the words: "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth". The passages of Genesis describe the creation of the universe in seven days but consider that the first humans God told this story to had no concept of science as we have today so the description was given is a greatly simplified form. There is something else in The Bible that I believe, that the message found in Genesis is like a legal document. That is to say, anything that isn't mentioned did not happen. 
    God's plan for his human creation was filled with infinite wisdom. He had decided to let human curiosity seek out knowledge about things they observed. As stated by the poet Robert Browning, "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for.". So the moon and the stars traveling across the sky in such precise mathematical precision became a learning tool that taught humans to measure the seasons for agriculture and Galileo about the planets orbit around the sun and early seafarers how to navigate the open seas. 
    Many people today try to trivialize the human existence and the wisdom and existence of God by saying that life must exist elsewhere in the universe if the same conditions that helped create it on Earth are found. As if to say a mere combination of chemical elements in a pool of water that have produced some slime would evolve into a living organism that would further evolve into intelligent life. There are many strange ideas in the world today, some come from people who believe they are doing good work. Some of those have decided that adding up together all the ages mentioned in The Bible means that we humans were created 6,000 years ago and because of that we must have walked the Earth along with the dinosaurs. These same people believe that God must have carried a wristwatch when He told the first humans how He created everything in 7 days. What is a "day" to God anyway? To us it could probably be a billion years. Those who believe in a 6,000 year old earth are called the Young Earth Believers. They used to call fossils strange looking rocks and have no explanation to describe how living matter can decompose and transform by a process called mineralization only because the existence of fossils contradicts some of their other ideas.
    I am an an avid fan of science fiction. In my lifetime I have seen hundreds of movies based on science fiction ideas and of worlds populated by other beings. My favorite all time movies are the Star Wars saga, Star Trek, Avatar and The Abyss and too many more to be counted. In spite of this fascination with the science fiction genre I hold a very unusual belief. That is that we humans and all the living creatures on Earth are the only lifeforms in the universe. Not just the only intelligent lifeforms but the only lifeforms, period. I truly believe that God created the universe for the enlightenment of mankind, to stimulate our thirst for knowledge and for us to seek out, explore and to learn.
    I do not believe that God hedged His bet when He created us by creating other forms of life elsewhere to see which one turned out better. I believe we are His only act of creation and because of that, we hold a very special place in His eyes.  I can only wonder what human philosophers would think if this idea were commonly held. If the human race were so special would we act the way we do today? God forbid those who do evil things in His Name.
    (If you have read this prior to May 12, 2010 then please read it again for this work has been in various stages of progress for several days and this is the final version.)

    Sunday, May 9, 2010

    Before Arizona, Illegal immigrants protested Immigration Laws.

    Four years before Arizona enacted its new immigration law the state of California was the scene of numerous protest demonstrations by Mexicans living illegally on U.S. soil. On March 27, 2006 at Montebello High School in the Whittier-Pioneer are of California, a mob of 800-1000 Mexican students from El Rancho High School (Pico Rivera) another school in the area pulled down the American flag and hoisted a Mexican national flag in its place. 
    Click the image for a larger view.
    Today, the state of California is on the brink of bankruptcy and the principle cause is the huge influx of illegal immigrants from Mexico. State and Federal courts have ruled these illegal residents must be provided with free school of which they pay no taxes to support and health care, all of which is paid by the legal residents and taxpayers of California.  
    What are the consequences of these illegal immigrants today? Watch this short video and see and notice the reaction given to it by our most notable illegal immigrant, Barack Hussein Obama. These are the people whom the Democrats are so desperate to grant citizenship to so that they can return their appreciation by voting.
    Read this account of the events staged across the nation on that day in March 2006 from WWW.FRONTPAGEMAG.COM .
    Who's Behind the Immigration Rallies?
    By: Ben Johnson Wednesday, March 29, 2006


    The Open Borders Lobby’s pied pipers convince half-a-million illegal aliens and students to skip school and play in traffic.
    BIG CORPORATIONS AND THE FAR-LEFT HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON: both like to employ cheap illegal immigrants to do their heavy lifting.
    The leftist media have tried to portray this weekend’s massive protests against House measures to curtail illegal immigration as the uprising of “The Other America”: forgotten, humble, hidden Hispanic members of the working poor simply demanding their “rights.” As events spanned from California to Detroit, Phoenix to Washington, D.C., the media kept up its anti-enforcement drumbeat. Although some have credited Latino DJs for the 500,000-strong illegal immigrant turnout in Los Angeles alone – and some credit is deserved – the real legwork was done by a more eclectic group of organizations: leftist labor unions, George Soros-funded agitators, Open Borders lobbyists, Roman Catholic clergy, and teachers unions.

    Los Angeles

    Los Angeles predictably had the largest turnout – and the most disruptive. Half-a-million people crowded the streets demanding the “right” to flaunt this nation’s immigration laws, and underage students ran onto a California freeway, risking their lives and shutting down interstate traffic.

    Andres Jiminez, director of the University of California's California Policy Research Center, told the media, “It's not only Latinos who are marching in the streets, its unions too: firefighters, farm workers and Hispanic students who had thought of U.S. law as protecting them and are now starting to see it as a threat to their future.”

    He was right about this much: Latino organizations did not act alone. The media has failed to report that organized labor directed the illegals and minors. The L.A. Times revealed the rally’s “security” was handled by a union identified only as “Local 1877.” That would be local 1877 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the far-Left union founded by New Left radical Andrew Stern, which called for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in June 2004 and worked in concert with Ted Kennedy to roll back anti-terrorist Homeland Security measures. According to the L.A. Times, the SEIU’s goons kindly helped “herd marchers along the route.” That was not the extent of SEIU’s help, though. The union also “coordinated the more than 100 buses that dropped off marchers from throughout California, Las Vegas and a few Southwestern cities.”

    In other words, the massive rally against Homeland Security – since that is what gaining control of America’s borders would promote – was staged by a leftist labor union and staffed primarily with illegal immigrants.

    SEIU did not work alone in this. It was aided by other radical or left-wing political pressure groups, including:

    ·        Southern California Human Rights Network (SCHRN), whose members are apparently affiliated with the International Socialist Organization. SCHRN drafted a resolution in Orange County declaring, “We believe that no human is illegal and oppose the criminalization, dehumanization, and exploitation of migrants, immigrants and or economic and political refugees, by means of media, legislation, ideology, rhetoric, etc. [This] includes augmenting border patrol units, commissioning other law enforcement agencies to work in conjunction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and [includes] such policies as the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and other policies that exploit the indigenous, peasantry, and environments of countries abroad.” In other words, capitalism and any form of immigration laws are exploitative.
    ·        Pomona Day Labor Center, which helps employers hire “day laborers.” One must presume this organization knows its employees are illegals.
    ·        Central American Resource Center, which advocates for illegals and lobbies for the government to make a “‘presumption’ of hardship” for and grant “permanent residency” to Central American illegals.
    ·        Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), founded in 1986 to “get as many people as possible through the amnesty program established” by Ronald Reagan.

    The cause is being helped in another way by the Los Angeles Unified School District – where more than 25,000 walked out of classes: through taxpayer-subsidized lobbying courses. According to the district, students “would remain in their home rooms through the day for discussions on the immigration issue, how to influence lawmakers and the consequences of walkouts, said Rowena Lagrosa, executive officer for educational service.” (Emphasis added.)

    Michelle Malkin obtained a copy of a letter Lagrosa wrote Monday to the students of the school district stating LAUSD would chauffer students to high school after they protested on the freeway. The letter states after the rally, the district “will provide buses to return students to schools when appropriate.”  Moreover, “we will do everything we can to ensure that those students who do leave the campus are supervised as they leave the campus.”

    Naturally, the leftist groups, illegals, and teachers unions could count on the media to cover for them. Mickey Kaus pointed out in Slate that the L.A. Times wrapped the protestors in the American flag, erasing all references to the Mexican standard, although the Mexican flag was hoisted at least as often in the crowd as Old Glory.

    Gone from the media coverage, too, was mention that these protests had all the hallmarks of leftist riots of bygone days. Although depicted as nonviolent and mainstream, FrontPage Magazine columnist Tammy Bruce noted Hispanic protestors burned American flags at the L.A. rallies. Michelle Malkin has preserved some of the protestors’ other extremist messages. L.A. protestors ran onto freeways and threw rocks and bottles. LAPD Chief William Bratton – who put his men on tactical alert – said the protestors diverted police resources from fighting crime in the City of Angels. Fights broke out at protests in Watsonville, CA, and police arrested 21 minors and three adults for riotous behavior, including assaulting a police officer, in Escondido, CA.

    D.C.: “Clergy” Against the Law

    On Monday, the “mainstream media” reported some 300 clergy met near the Capitol for a prayer service to support illegal immigrants. The rally flyer claims these concerns sacerdotal ministers objected to legislation that would “Deny basic civil rights to immigrants.” No outlet reported this meeting was organized by the far-Left Center for Community Change, a member of the United for Peace and Justice coalition, headed by atheist and Marxist Leslie Cagan. On the CCC Board of Directors are:

    • Former Rep. Ron Dellums, D-CA, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee 1993-7. A letter written by a Dellums staffer to Grenada’s Marxist dictator discovered by U.S. troops as they liberated the island stated besides that toppled Marxist, “The only other person that I know of that [Dellums] expresses such admiration for is Fidel [Castro]”;
    • Cecelia Munoz, VP of the National Council of La Raza;
    • Sara K. Gould of the Ms. Foundation for Women;
    • Peter Edelman, a professor at Georgetown Law School, former Clinton administration official, and board president of the New Israel Fund. Today, he is perhaps best known as the husband of Hillary Clinton mentor Marian Wright Edelman. ; and
    • Sandra L. Ferniza, Arizona State University’s director of the Office of Public Affairs.
    CCC is generously funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the George Soros-funded Open Society Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Tides Foundation.

    Other event sponsors include:

    • Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). A large, sometimes violent leftist organization with a history of invading welfare offices and intimidating left-wing groups it perceives as “rivals.” In 2003, the group supported a resolution condemning the U.S. liberation of Iraq. ACORN’s would-be platform calls for the establishment of socialism in the United States. It founded the socialist Working Families Party in 1998 and endorsed Hillary Clinton’s senate campaign two years later.
    • American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Although it has long presented itself as a benign Quaker organization, the AFSC has a multi-decade history of supporting unilateral disarmament and aiding Communist regimes, even eulogizing the head of a Tanzanian Communist party 13 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. AFSC signed a document days after 9/11, saying the terrorist attacks should be treated as a police matter. It has for decades promoted the “rights” of illegal workers.
    • League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Steve Brown and Chris Coon reported, “José Velez, the head of LULAC 1990-1994 used his “special status with the INS” to submit false papers for over 6,000 illegals seeking amnesty.”  LULAC is today associated with race-based Affirmative Action programs and often allied with Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
    • Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. As I noted in my book, 57 Varieties of Radical Causes, Teresa Heinz Kerry awarded a Heinz Family Foundation grant to MIRA. In June 2002, MIRA instructed its members, “Please do NOT aid people in applying with INS unless you are familiar with their immigration history and are certain they would not be at risk of deportation by doing so.” (Emphasis theirs.) Immediately after 9/11 a MIRA press release asked people to “Refer local Arab, Muslim, and affected groups to MIRA.” They also advocate for illegals to receive in-state college tuition rates.
    • National Council of La Raza, a race-based organization that signed the Statement of Solidarity with Migrants,” calling on the government to recognize the contributions of illegal immigrants to the labor market. It calls reduced welfare payments (to illegals), ““a disgrace to American values” and has firmly opposed numerous Homeland Security measures; and
    • The Gamaliel Foundation, a leftist organization inspired by Saul Alinsky. In addition to lobbying for illegal aliens, this member of the “Religious Left” hosted a campaign event in 2003 featuring Sen, Russ Feingold, D-WI, and then-presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.
    The event was another attempt for the Left to wrap its message in clerical garb, this time executed successfully.

    Phoenix

    Also on Monday, several hundred underage students in Phoenix staged a walkout that culminated with protests at the state Capitol. Underreported was the role played in the rallies by MEChA, a radical Hispanic organization demanding the U.S. government give the Southwestern portion of the United States “back” to Mexican-Americans for the establishment of a new state called Aztlan. MEChA promotes its agenda alongside the National Council of La Raza, Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), and the American Friends Service Committee.

    A sense of MEChA-like entitlement pervaded the entire rally, as an illegal alien told the media:

    I'm not a criminal. I'm a good person and I deserve a quality education. That's why I'm here. To show that I'm willing to work toward that goal and that I've earned that right.

    She did not elaborate on how she “earned” the “right” to illegally cross the border and access taxpayer-subsidized services restricted to U.S. citizens.

    Georgia

    Last Friday, tens of thousand of Georgians, including not a few illegals, staged a “sick-in” to protest a bill that passed the state house the day before. CNN reported, “That bill, which has yet to gain Senate approval, would deny state services to adults living in the U.S. illegally and impose a five percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegal immigrants.” Not only do immigrants have the “right” to live in Georgia illegally and collect government services, they also have the “right” to use Western Union without paying an extra five cents on the dollar. That’s some willingness to contribute to one’s home country. These are supposedly the minority members willing to work tirelessly to help their host country at jobs no one wants.

    FrontPage Magazine columnist Allan Wall – whose National Guard brigade recently returned from serving our country in Iraq – has pointed out the Georgia protest’s organizer, Teodoro Maus, acted as Mexico’s consul general in Atlanta for 12 years. During that time, this Mexican government official protested Georgia’s declaration of English as the state’s official language, opposed a talk show host who supported border enforcement, and petitioned the Peach State to issue drivers licenses to illegals. Maus’ involvement raises the question whether Friday’s unofficial labor strike had the sanction of the Mexican government.

    Dallas-Ft. Worth

    Yesterday, area school districts estimated 4,000 students walked out in Dallas-Ft. Worth alone, staging a violent and disruptive rally to sanctify their illicit status.

    Media accounts specify: “At Kiest Park, about 1,500 students from Dallas and Grand Prairie schools demonstrated. Dallas police outfitted in riot gear moved in on the crowd after some of the students started throwing rocks and bottles at a woman who staged a one-person counterprotest.” (Emphasis ours.)

    Protestor Francisco Rojas, speaking in Spanish, told The Dallas Morning News, “It's like an animal that's waking from many years of sleep. We are very strong, and right now is our opportunity.”

    These minor students then processed into a city council meeting, waving Mexican and El Salvadoran flags. To her credit, Councilwoman Elba Garcia courageously commandeered a police PA system to tell the truants to go back to school (where Dallas school officials said this week’s walkouts will be an unexcused absence).The warning came too late for one girl, whose hand was severed as a result of an accident that took place at the walkout.

    Undeterred by the violence and harm done to their children’s education, leaders in the Open Borders Lobby set out plotting their next move. “At a dinner meeting of the Latino group LULAC, leaders announced a major rally on April 9. ‘We are going to be having, hopefully it will be the largest civil rights demonstration in the history of Dallas, Texas – 100,000-plus,’ said LULAC representative Domingo Garcia.” 

    No word on how many lone women will be battered the next time Mexican citizens exercise American First Amendment rights.

    The Impact

    These massive gatherings of illegals, who denounced their government unmolested by police or immigration officials, had an immediate impact – on legislation and on border security.

    Reporter Sara Carter of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin says since these protests, border patrol agents have reported an explosion in illegal crossings from Mexicans (and others) keenly observing the Senate debate and emboldened by same. Some were under the impression amnesty had already been granted and hoped to be the first to take part in the second California Gold Rush. [1]

    The rallies had a political impact, too. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-CO, stated on Monday:

    The immigration rallies over this weekend and today show how disordered our immigration system has become. For years, the government has turned a blind eye to illegal aliens who break into this country. It isn’t any wonder that illegal aliens now act as if they are entitled to the rights and privileges of citizenship.

    As a sign of their political impact, Republicans immediately began discussing the potential threat their political careers face from an Hispanic backlash, should they have the temerity to pretend the United States is a sovereign nation with definable political boundaries.

    Leftists and illegals began their massive protest – because they saw U.S. law “as a threat to their future” – the same day the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would allow illegals to attain American citizenship without facing deportation by a 12-6 vote. John McCain joined forces with Ted Kennedy to promote this amnesty measure. “It is not amnesty,” said Ted Kennedy, who has a 41-year history of fibbing about immigration bills.

    The Judiciary Committee yesterday approved Dick Durbin’s amendment granting amnesty to individuals and non-profits that provide non-emergency aid to illegal immigrants. The committee had previously approved Durbin’s amendment to drop illegal immigration to a misdemeanor offense.

    These measures are at odds with the will of the American people. According to the Associated Press, 59 percent of Americans oppose laws allowing illegal immigrants to apply for guest worker status, and 62 percent oppose easing the path to U.S. citizenship for those who are here illegally.

    Americans know illegal immigrants account for nearly one-third of all inmates in federal prisons and add millions of dollars to their tax load every year. Even Mother Jones magazine exposed the health dangers posed to border towns throughout America, as a result of uninsured illegals bankrupting local hospitals – six years ago.

    Americans cannot comprehend why Congress feels a need to add a guest worker program to mollify these disruptive, violent, lawbreaking protestors, who are occasionally political radicals and overwhelmingly individuals who are in violation of U.S. immigration law. What makes Congressmen think those whose first action in this country was to break the law will suddenly obey their newest futile measure?

    These illegals claimed they marched to demand their “rights.” Those would amount to the right to a speedy trial, followed by rapid deportation. Illegal aliens have no additional rights under our Constitutional system, nor should they be given any. A more inspired leadership, with a requisite number of border patrol agents and paddy wagons, would have made these massive rallies an instructive object lesson in the enforcement of immigration law. Instead, political cowardice has transformed them into international exhibits of American impotence and paralysis.

    ENDNOTES:
    1. “Scarborough Country,” MSNBC. March 28, 2006.

    Ben Johnson is Managing Editor of FrontPage Magazine and co-author, with David Horowitz, of the book Party of Defeat. He is also the author of the books Teresa Heinz Kerry's Radical Gifts (2009) and 57 Varieties of Radical Causes: Teresa Heinz Kerry's Charitable Giving (2004).