“I graduated in 1979.  The Vietnam War had come to an end.  We weren’t engaged in an active military conflict at that point.  And so, it’s not an option that I ever decided to pursue.” - Barack Obama on why the U.S. military had no need for his soldiering services.

In my life thus far, I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited four of the seven continents. I’ve been to well over 20 countries and over half the United States. I’ve sipped sake’ with Japanese workaholics, and pounded ale with polished German and British executives. I’ve known seasoned sailors and Marines, farmers, well-drillers and have associated with people from every conceivable background.

I grew up on the streets of Los Angeles before it became a Third-World extension of Mexico because of an invasion of illegal aliens. I lived through earthquakes, mudslides, riots, firestorms and heatwaves along with a representative sampling of every conceivable type of human being on Earth. I thought I had seen just about everything by the age of 25. But every now and then, I read or hear something uttered by a candidate for national office that is so patently absurd, I simply can’t believe it. 

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Technorati Tags: 2008, Barack Obama, Chris Matthews, Illegal Immigration, Iraq, Keith Olbermann, patriotism, political commentary

Well, it’s unanimous.

For the first time since this endless election cycle started, it appears that people are finally getting sick and tired of hearing about Barack Obama. Recent news reports show that large percentages of Americans believe Obama is completely over-exposed and given far too much praise and positive publicity. It would be nice if the nation could focus on a different subject, perhaps one that actually has some substance, but the mainstream media simply won’t allow that to happen. Instead of providing coverage of the facts needed to address American doubts over Obama, all we get is gleaming smiles on magazine covers and squishy, softball interviews, saturation coverage of Obama speaking to wooing German fans and Obama posing in family portraits or pictures portraying him as a regular guy bowling or playing basketball.

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Technorati Tags: 2008, Barack Obama, Iraq, John McCain

“Hindsight is 20/20, but I think that what I am absolutely convinced of is, at that time, we had to change the political debate because the view of the Bush Administration at that time was one that I just disagreed with, and one that I continue to disagree with.” - Barack Obama on his Iraq tapdance

Hindsight may be 20/20, but then why is Barack Obama blindly placing so much emphasis on his supposed hindsight to oppose the war in Iraq? That argument may have sold like hotcakes when we were losing, but all you can get for it these days is a handful of loose change.

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Technorati Tags: 2008, Barack Obama, Iran, Iraq, John McCain, Obamapalooza 08, political commentary, Politics, Terrorism

In these times of economic uncertainty, global terrorism and nationwide tumult, the last thing this country needs is a Commander-In-Chief that has absolutely no military or foreign policy experience.

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Technorati Tags: 2008, Barack Obama, Iraq, Politics, Terrorism

Freedom -Free-dom frē-dəm\ n. The quality or state of being free as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. b: Liberation from slavery. c: The quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous. © 2008 Merriam Webster Inc.

Many people think of Independence Day as a day off from work. A day to shoot off fireworks. A chance to enjoy a summer barbecue, a weekend camping trip or a day at the beach. But when I think of Independence Day, all at once I am filled with both gratutide and an overabundance of caution. I celebrate the magnificent gift of freedom that our founders bestowed upon us with their fantastic experiment, yet I am increasingly wary of the current generation of it’s handlers. As Americans, we owe our allegiance to our Constitution, not some elected body that pretends to carry out our wishes every few odd years so they can maintain their stranglehold on power.

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Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Iraq, patriotism, political commentary, Terrorism

(An Open Letter To Jack “Cold-Blooded” Murtha) 

Congressman Murtha,

Were I you sir, I would hang my head in shame and pray to my Creator, begging His forgiveness for the pain that I’ve caused innocent people. And then I would perform some serious personal introspection to see what I could possibly do to begin the process of restitution for my crimes.

But you won’t because you have no shame.

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Technorati Tags: Frank Wuterich, Haditha, Iraq, Jeffrey Chessani, John Murtha

Warning: Contains coarse language.

The military has long recognized that when the unwelcome stench of undue command influence begins to waft through the halls of justice, you’d better hold your nose, because bad things are about to happen. That is why they have regulations in place to seek out and eradicate the influence of commanders on the military judicial process. Unlawful command influence has been called “the mortal enemy of military justice” and for good reason. In this particular case, the ones wielding that illegal influence are figuratively fragging Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani.

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Technorati Tags: Haditha, Iraq, John Murtha, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, USMC Iraq Investigations

USMC 1st Lt Andrew Grayson

On June 4th, 2008, yet another ace was yanked from the house of cards that laid foundation of the government’s case against eight Marines for their actions relating to a terrorist ambush in Haditha, Iraq in November of 2005. 

Although that deck was completely stacked against them and reshuffled repeatedly, five of eight Marines have had their charges dismissed and First Lieutenant Andrew Grayson has faced court martial and was rightly found not guilty on all counts.

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Technorati Tags: 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, Haditha, Iraq, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, Madeline Albright, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich

“An Army is a team; lives, sleeps, eats, fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crap.” - General George S. Patton
 

Barack Obama should really check his ego at the door. In recent days he has assumed regal airs and it isn’t very Presidential. The fat lady has yet to begin warming up, but Obama has already completed his victory lap. Although it appears he will –in all likelihood– get the Democratic nomination, there is no excuse for him to get cocky. His continuing problems connecting with white, middle-class voters expose a huge vulnerability, despite what the media and “superdelgates” (or the Democrat political leadership) say. The reasons he can’t connect in the primaries are the same reasons he’ll face trouble in the General Election; his inexperience, extreme liberal views and refusal to answer tough questions dealing with either of those two subjects.

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Technorati Tags: 2008, Barack Obama, Iraq, John McCain

Ever since the Iraq war began, politicians and media elites have been using the health care of returning veterans as a campaign issue; a political football to be kicked around and fought over. And ever since those first Iraq veterans began returning from battle, those same politicians and media elites have been sounding the alarm about the horrendous care our veterans have received at the hands of the military health care system and V.A.

I, for one, am sick of the lies. I know they’re lies. I am as familiar with navigating the military’s medical review process as any. I spent 6 months and endured 4 major surgeries at military facilities on the west coast. I was treated by some of the most compassionate, dedicated and experienced doctors, surgeons, nurses that this country has to offer. I also witnessed this superior level of care extended to all military personnel on a daily basis. I saw sight restored to badly lacerated, blind eyes. I saw lumps of flesh that passed for burned off ears that were completely reconstructed from the patient’s own body parts. I saw the crushed, the impaled and the burned pieced back together and healed.

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Technorati Tags: Disabled veterans, Iraq, military retirement, VA, veterans, Walter Reed

USMC Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum has finally been exonerated of the bogus charges leveled against him. Perhaps now he can begin to rebuild his life in the peace and prosperity he has fought so hard to secure for so many of us.

While I celebrate the decision to drop all charges against this Marine Rifleman, I also view the circumstances that surround that decision with much trepidation. When combined with the history of prosecutorial misconduct in these cases, it is a clear indication of how desperate the government is to nail the 3 remaining Marines, particularly Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich.

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Technorati Tags: Haditha, Iraq, John Murtha, Justin Sharratt, Stephen Tatum

“I would rather be tried by a jury of my peers than be carried by six of my friends in a casket.”  - Justin Sharratt  

Michelle Obama recently said that for the first time in her adult life, she was proud of her country. While I unequivocally disagree;  while I have found many occasions in my adult life to be proud of my country, I can emphatically say that this is not one of them. As a matter of fact; for the first time in my adult life, I am unabashedly ashamed of my country. Ashamed that our Commander-In-Chief would order Marines from Lt. Col Jeffrey Chessani’s 3rd Battalion to battle terrorists in Iraq only to turn his back and hold his nose while these brave men, who should be held aloft on our shoulders and celebrated, are viciously and selectively prosecuted. It is nauseating, this wretched betrayal.

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Technorati Tags: Haditha, Iraq, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, Media Bias, UCMJ

There was a time not very long ago that most Americans had never even heard of Barack Obama. I unabashedly admit that I was ignorant of his very existence until he delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Obama’s oratory captivated Democrats and he became an overnight sensation. Next thing you know, he’s occupying a Senate seat from Illinois –and after merely a year– vying to be Commander-In-Chief of the world’s mightiest military.

It’s quite obvious that Obama saw the US Senate as the quickest route to Pennsylvania Avenue even though he hasn’t really done anything substantive there. Hillary Clinton has criticized his record as a state legislator due to his penchant for voting “Present”, but I am more concerned over his record (or lack thereof) in the US Senate. He has missed nearly 40 percent of all Senate votes during the 110th Congress (190 out of 477) going back to early 2007. He has avoided rather than confronted controversial issues. Despite claiming unmatched opposition to the Iraq war, he has passed up various opportunities to cast his vote against it.

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Technorati Tags: 2008, Barack Obama, Iraq

“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…”

Americans know that without the sacrifices of our military, we’d soon bow to Mecca.We send phone cards and care packages to soldiers overseas. We focus vast resources on rehabilitating our combat wounded and employing our returning vets.

But while America opens its wallet to these men and pours out its heart for the wounded and the fallen, lost in the chatter are the political casualties of the Iraq war; brave men such as USMC 1st Lieutenant Andrew Grayson.

Grayson - 26,  is charged with obstruction of justice and making false official statements surrounding his alleged destruction of some 70 photographs the military contends were proof of the Little Massacre That Could in Haditha, Iraq in November of 2005. He is also charged with attempted fraudulent separation from the Marine Corps. Grayson’s trial is scheduled for May 2008.

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Technorati Tags: Haditha, Iraq, John Murtha

“We look pretty silly when we lecture Baghdad on being in political stalemate and insist on staying in one ourselves.” - Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN).

No matter how hard Democrats try; No matter how many worthless resolutions they pass; No matter how many times they try to pull the rug out from under our soldiers, their seditious efforts are doomed to failure.

Despite beginning the drawdown for at least 5 of 15 Army combat brigades due to recent tactical successes, House Democrats conjured up another funding proposal that puts the screws to our military by making supplemental war funding contingent upon a rapid withdrawal. But once again, the measure fell short of the bulletproof majority needed to stop a Republican filibuster. Senate Republicans are again siding with the President and calling for a “clean bill” with no timetables. As punishment for the President’s obstinance, Democrats won’t bring the measure up again until next year, implementing the slow bleed approach and draining military coffers of their operating budgets until our men have no more bullets to fight with. Defense Secretary Gates has signaled that would mean the layoffs of thousands of civilian DoD employees, frozen contracts and cutbacks.

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Technorati Tags: Code Pink, Dennis Kucinich, George W Bush, Iraq, John Murtha, MoveOn.org