The new normal ....

On Wednesday, August 1, CNN carried a breathless report sourced to “U.S. officials” that our beloved Nobel Peace Prize recipient in the Oval Office “has signed a covert directive authorizing U.S. support for Syrian rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad.” According to the story, which was picked up by dozens of other outlets within hours, “The secret order, referred to as an intelligence ‘finding,’ allows for clandestine support by the CIA and other agencies.”

Obama’s Drive to Disenfranchise Soldiers.....

There is only one word for this action...Heinous! To try and screw around with the vote of ANY military person is disgusting. We can't stand by silently on this! Please pass this forward!

This nickel-and-dime approach to disenfranchisement was used by then-presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000. The unsuccessful Democrat turned global warming hoaxer had his lawyers disqualify ballots from military personnel overseas. The new lawsuit is also an apparent acknowledgement that Obama is writing off the military vote this year.

1,200 veterans wrongly told they got fatal disease

And you want these people taking care of all our health care???....except of course theirs, because they are so much more "special" than we mere mortals and deserve so much more....

1,200 veterans wrongly told they got fatal disease:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - At least 1,200 veterans across the country have been mistakenly told by the Veterans Administration that they suffer from a fatal neurological disease.

One of the leaders of a Gulf War veterans group says panicked veterans from Alabama, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming have contacted the group about the error.

Denise Nichols, the vice president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, says the VA is blaming a coding error for the mistake.

Letters dated Aug. 12 were intended to notify veterans who have Lou Gehrig's disease of disability benefits available to them.

Calls to the VA were not immediately returned Monday."

A Soldier Comes Home

My nephew, Brian Bradshaw, was killed by an explosive device in Afghanistan on June 25, the same day that Michael Jackson died. Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media. Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?

Among the responses was the following letter, written July 9 by an Air National Guard pilot and a fellow member of the crew that flew Lt. Bradshaw's body from a forward base in Afghanistan to Bagram Air Base. Capt. James Adair, one of the plane's pilots, asked the editorial page staff to forward the letter to the Bradshaw family. He and Brian Bradshaw's parents then agreed to publication of these excerpts.

Dear Bradshaw Family,

We were crew members on the C-130 that flew in to pick up Lt. Brian Bradshaw after he was killed. We are Georgia Air National Guardsmen deployed to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom. We support the front-line troops by flying them food, water, fuel, ammunition and just about anything they need to fight. On occasion we have the privilege to begin the final journey home for our fallen troops. Below are the details to the best of our memory about what happened after Brian's death.

We landed using night-vision goggles. Because of the blackout conditions, it seemed as if it was the darkest part of the night. As we turned off the runway to position our plane, we saw what appeared to be hundreds of soldiers from Brian's company standing in formation in the darkness. Once we were parked, members of his unit asked us to shut down our engines. This is not normal operating procedure for that location. We are to keep the aircraft's power on in case of maintenance or concerns about the hostile environment. The plane has an extremely loud self-contained power unit. Again, we were asked whether there was any way to turn that off for the ceremony that was going to take place. We readily complied after one of our crew members was able to find a power cart nearby. Another aircraft that landed after us was asked to do the same. We were able to shut down and keep lighting in the back of the aircraft, which was the only light in the surrounding area. We configured the back of the plane to receive Brian and hurried off to stand in the formation as he was carried aboard.

Read more

American Thinker: Why I'm Thankful for George W. Bush

American Thinker: Why I'm Thankful for George W. Bush:

On October 23, 1983 the Marine Corps Battalion Landing Team (BLT) building located at the Beirut International Airport was blown up. Two hundred twenty Marines, 18 Sailors and 3 Soldiers were killed in a split second by a suicide bomber. I wasn't there at the time. I was participating in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada. I was a squadron CH-46E helicopter co-pilot in Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261 (HMM-261) and also the squadron classified materials officer. Being the one who set up the squadron classified messages, I read about it before most others. It was an unbelievable gut punch and breathtaking in a bad way."

Living On Obama Beach - Forbes.com

Living On Obama Beach - Forbes.com: "Obama likes to talk about improbable journeys...For this D-Day anniversary... he spoke of 'the sheer improbability of this victory,' in which American, British and Canadian forces won a beachhead in 1944 on the French coast.
Actually, while the heroism of the Allied troops was astounding, their victory at Normandy was not improbable; it was the result of immense resources, sacrifice and will poured into retaking Europe and winning that war. For the 225 Rangers sent to scale the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc to take out German guns, the probability of any one man surviving was terrible; as Obama noted, only 90 survived. The success of their assault, however, was not merely a matter of luck, but of heroes willing take the colossal risks and pay the cost, so that some could get through."

Praise for our military's compassion and innovation

Michelle Malkin:

Greetings, America-haters. Do you think you could stop raving against our 'war criminals' and 'killing machines' — and you, Teddy Kennedy, could you stop panting over those Abu Ghraib photos — for a moment and join me in praise for our military's compassion and innovation?"

Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the "Homeland"? - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the "Homeland"? - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com: "'the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.'"

Further information: Google CBRNE-Consequence-Management-Response-Force- or CCMRF

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1 - Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1 - Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times: "The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home."