05/24 Morning Report

Well, what do you know! Bin Laden and Iraq were connected after all. Can I be not surprised? I have always found it a bit hard to believe that al-Qaeda could get so well entrenched so quickly without having some kind of network in place. And, I will grant it could be done using appropriate exploitation of local discontent. But, the level of organization that existed when it announced it’s “official” presence far exceeded that, in my opinion.
(…before you ask…no I can’t prove that…it’s just what I believe…)

On the subject of the war in Iraq, what were insurgents doing with large sums of Iranian cash? Given the availability of money in just about any currency, why would terrorists want Iranian money? I only have two questions, really. How much influence and power is being bought with it? And by who? I know there will lots of accusations about terrorists using it to buy Iranian arms. And, I am quite sure some of that is going on. There is already a good bit of evidence that Iranian weapons and technology are being used by the terrorists and insurgents. But, personally, I think Iran would be more interested in getting foreign currencies for the exchange rates, and the influence that could generate on foreign governments. But, again, that’s my opinion.

So, I guess it should come as no surprise that Iran is continuing to UN nuclear requirements. Two telling statements about where things stand were:

"There are no obstacles to lawful and legal IAEA inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities," said Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organisation.
In March, the UN Security Council imposed a second round of sanctions on Iran for failing to suspend uranium enrichment, prompting Tehran to limit its co-operation.

My summation of Iranian actions would be something like, ”we are cooperating as long as you don’t interfere and let us do what we want.” It comes on the heels of this announcement on Tuesday:

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed that Iran has solved its technical problems and is now capable of making fuel suitable for nuclear reactors…The findings come after a short-notice inspection by the agency at Iran's main nuclear facility at Natanz on Sunday.

Of course, the UN being the UN is doing nothing but talk. In this case, that’s probably a good thing. At this point in time, I doubt enough soldiers could be brought together in a coalition strong enough to take on AND defeat Iran. Unfortunately, it also means it will be that much harder to accomplish when (…yes…I said when, not if…) the fight actually happens.

And, when the whole thing blows up, should we be surprised to find Muslims in America turning to some sort of violence in the defense of their faith? Well, it depends on what the definition of defending their faith is, at the bottom line. And, it will depend on who you talk to. NPR had a good discussion of the Pew Research survey that’s causing so much concern. And, the Daily Banter had a good discussion of what could be some statistical flaws in the research.
(…personally, I think there will be a lot of it going on…just like it is in Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Gaza, and points European…I think America will se it as well…)

Meanwhile, catching up, the follwing two reports of sad news come from Any Soldier:

Spc. Kyle A. Little, age 20, of West Boylston, MA, died May 8 in Salman Pak, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an IED detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

Lance Cpl. Jeffrey D. Walker, age 21, of Macon, Ga., died May 14 while conducting combat operations in al-Anbar province, iraq. He was assigned to Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, NC.

At our house we remember your cry—the cry of all warriors:

"Tell them of us and say,
For their tomorrow, we gave our today."
--The Kohima Epitaph--

We remember what you have given. And we say thank you for the tomorrows you have given others. May God give back to your families more than they have sacrificed and lost.

And, now, we dance In Memoriam.

05/23 Wednesday Hero

Pfc. Joseph Allen Jeffries
21 years old from Beaverton, Oregon
Army Reserve’s 320th Psychological Operations Company
May 29, 2004


Below is all the information that could be found on Pfc. Joseph Jeffries.

Pfc. Jeffries was killed with two fellow soldiers, Capt. Daniel W. Eggers and Sgt. 1st Class Robert J. Mogensen, and an unnamed sailor, when their vehicle drove over an IED in Kandahar, Afghanistan. All four service members were attached to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan. He is survived by his wife, Betsy, and his parents Mark and Linda Jeffries.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesay Hero, you can go here.

05/16 Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Soldier Was Suggested By Cindy

Lance Cpl. Steven Chavez
20 years old from Hondo, New Mexico
2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
March 14, 2007


Tears ran down cheeks and strong men choked back emotion as the city of Hondo, NM payed tribute to fallen Marine, Steven Chavez. LCpl. Chavez lost his life on March 14, 2007 in a non-combat incident in which he was accidentally shot.

Chavez enlisted in the Marine Cops. right after he graduated in 2005. "You pray and you pray that the day never comes, and then it does," said Novelda Chavez, Chavez's mother. "Your emotions are mixed — it’s not true, it’s a bad dream, a bad dream you never wake up from."

In a letter Chavez wrote before he was sent to Iraq, he wrote:
"First of all I would like to thank everyone for your support. When I'm home on leave and when I'm away. That is so important to me. Thank you for your kind, supporting words in your letters and for the packages I've received. Those are awesome.

I've been through some pretty hard times, in the short time I've been in the Marine Corp. None harder then what I'm about to face. Yes I'm scared; nothing is scarier than the uncertainty of what your future holds for you. I'm prepared to face whatever lies ahead.

I put my life in the hands of the Lord. And pray that He guides my fellow soldiers and I down a safe path, that He will calm our fears, and give us the strength to do the job we have been trained to do, and to do that job well.

There are many lonely nights, when you're lying in your bunk thinking of family and friends, wondering what they are doing at that very moment. Wondering what mom is cooking for supper. I can almost taste the tortillas on the griddle.

I want to say to all of you tonight, I wouldn't change one thing about my life.

I've never been more proud of the choices I made in my life than the day I graduated from basic drill instructor placed that Anchor, Globe and Eagle Pin in my hand I knew then I was a UNITED STATES MARINE!

I'm Proud to protect and serve My Country

I'm Proud to protect and serve My Community

I'm Proud to protect and serve you

Thank you so much for your Support. Keep those letters coming. Mail is a precious commodity when you're so far from Home.

YOUR U.S. MARINE

LANCE CORPORAL STEVE CHAVEZ"

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesay Hero, you can go here.

The Pastor's Ass

The rural pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and It won again.

The local paper read: PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT.

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.

The next day, the local paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey. The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.

The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The bishop fainted . He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.

The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.

The next day the headlines read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The bishop was buried the next day.
........................................................

(...the moral of the story is....being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery...and even shorten your life. So be yourself and enjoy life...

Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer!...)

05/11 Morning Report

Well, the Democrats and Republicans seem to have finally agreed to approve overseas unions. Don’t get me wrong, there are rights that workers should have protected and upheld. However, the effectiveness of unions for other than raising prices and controlling the workplace have been declining for years. And, despite the media uproar on the issue, it was the Democrats holding up all the trade agreements. As stated in the New York Times, April 21, 2007:

At issue is the Democratic demand that pending trade deals with Colombia, Panama, Peru and South Korea include a provision guaranteeing certain rights for labor in the trading partner countries, including a ban on child and slave labor and the right to organize.

(…I’ll ask an honest question here…would someone refresh my memory…when was the last time unions brought about an industry change besides raising of wages through a strike?...I honestly don’t remember hearing of one…)

Good news from the abortion front. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled parents should be informed and be able to make decisions regarding their daughters medical care. It really is a puzzle to me how abortion gives the state, specifically schools, rights that in all other medical situations belong to parents or legal guardians.
(…it’s good to see state’s taking their authority in this arena…too bad it won’t hold…this will move up the chain to federal court…)

Meanwhile, in Iraq, al-Sadr and, presumably, the Mahdi Army, trying to make new alliances. His latest moves bring him more in line with Sunni goals than Shiite. But, among other things, it seems he is trying to distance himself from failures in the current government:

Moreover, by distancing himself from the ruling Shi'ite coalition, he absolves himself of any failures associated with the current government, including the absence of an oil-revenue law, the lack of progress on constitutional amendments, and the inability to pass legislation to allow Ba'athists to resume their positions. Most importantly, if the current government is not able to deliver on security with the Baghdad security plan, it may create the opening for a figure like al-Sadr to step in.

It’s important to remember that all al-Sadr seems interested in is power. His most recent activities to stop coalition forces from enforcing the rules on his own group, followed by his demands for US withdrawal, are good indicators of this.
(…leaves you wondering where he’s going with playing on the Sunni side now…)

Speaking of Iraq, the MSM always has an outcry over despicable actions by coalition troops. Just once, I would like to see something like last as long over something like the video of prisoner executions. I know this isn’t the first. And it won’t be the last, either. But, where is the outcry?
(…I suppose the outcry will probably be “It’s Bush’s fault”…maybe we could all say it was the gun’s fault, not the trigger puller…)

Finally, I have been remiss in not posting the report of a soldier in need. There are a lot of important details here. But, the short version is Chris Cooper, Jr’s father passed away from cancer. The family has been financially wiped out. And, this soldier has taken out loans against his future military pay to pay for his father’s funeral and medical bills. Please help this servant of our country. A Paypal account has been set up, and there is a website set up with more information. Thank you for any help you can provide.

05/09 Wednesday Hero

Spc. Josiah H. Vandertulip
21 years old from Irving, Texas
2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division
October 14, 2004


Louise Vandertulip fussed at her son about his spending. He bought wild, overpriced hats that had flames on them or horns coming out of the top, she said.

While in Army basic training, he bought portraits of himself. His mother told him to save his money.

She's glad he didn't listen.

The hats and the pictures are all a part of her memories now.

Spc. Josiah H. Vandertulip was killed in Baghdad when his patrol came under small arms fire.

Josiah Vandertulip joined the Army right after his graduation from Irving High School in 2002. He spent a year in South Korea before being stationed at Texas' Fort Hood in February. Against his mother's advice, he volunteered to go to Iraq. She told him to wait, to go to college.

"When he was determined to do something in his heart, he would do it and hell or high water couldn't keep him from it," she said

By going, he knew someone else with a young family could be saved from serving, relatives said.

He always had the important things right, Louise Vandertulip said.

"There's a lot of rest in knowing that he died doing what he believed in and doing what he thought was right," she said.

"We have a much more real sense of the cost for the freedom that we enjoy now," said his father, Robert Vandertulip.

"Josiah was the first brand new soldiers I recieved as a dismounted team leader in Korea. He was one of the Best soldiers I have had the honor to train and work with. He loved being a soldier as much as any guy I have met. He was a great leader in the absence of his superiors. I could always count on him to make sure the mission was accomplished. I watched him change over the year I had him from a goofy kid, to a hard charging soldier."
Sgt. Nickolas Faul

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesay Hero, you can go here.

05/09 Morning Afternoon Report

This is just really stupid. I mean, I understand the point of the law, which is to keep prices fair. But, to penalize someone for supporting the community via discounted products is really bad.

Center City BP owner Raj Bhandari has been offering senior citizens a 2 cent per gallon price break and discount cards that let sports boosters pay 3 cents less per gallon. But the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says those deals violate Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act, which requires stations to sell gas for about 9.2 percent more than the wholesale price. Bhandari said he received a letter from the state auditor last month saying the state would sue him if he did not raise his prices.

I’ve coached youth sports, I know how hard it is to keep a team equipped. And senior citizen discounts?
(…come on…let’s be real about this…)

That wasn’t the only stupid piece of legislative work that came to light. If Iraq was a construction project, and there were no lives on the line, I probably wouldn’t have too much trouble with the Democrats latest war funding proposal. This kind of funding initiative will get soldiers killed. Fortunately, it seems a large portion of the Senate understands that.

Under the bill, which is not expected to become law, Bush would get a $42.8 billion down payment. Then, after getting White House war progress reports in July, Congress would cast votes late that month on whether to release an additional $52.8 billion to continue fighting in Iraq through September, or whether to use the money to withdraw most of the troops by the end of this year.

Of course, President Bush is promising to veto this one, too.
(…I would love to see the Democrats fund the Senate like that. Can you imagine what would happen if they only got so much money IF they met some sort of real-world performance measurement?...)

Vice President Cheney, meanwhile, told the Iraqi government to get their act together. No one is oblivious to the fact that Shiites and Sunnis are killing each other over desire for power and control in Iraqi society. Iraqi leadership must hammer out those power sharing agreements, or most everything will fall apart. US officials have even put pressure on for the Iraqis to forgo a parliamentary recess in order to get this done. The US troop surge is only a short term measure. So, the Iraqis have to step up.

And, there was this announcement from Any Soldier.

Ssgt. Christopher N. Hamlin, 24, of London, KY, died May 4 in Baghdad, Iraq. He died of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, TX.

As with the team at Any Soldier, the prayers of our family go out to the family.