Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Global Warming: A Gigantic Hoax?
From the UK Guardian
By Leo Hickman and James Randerson
Climate sceptics claim leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists
Hundreds of emails and documents exchanged between world's leading climate scientists stolen by hackers and leaked online
Hundreds of private emails and documents allegedly exchanged between some of the world's leading climate scientists during the past 13 years have been stolen by hackers and leaked online, it emerged today.
The computer files were apparently accessed earlier this week from servers at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, a world-renowned centre focused on the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change.
Climate change sceptics who have studied the emails allege they provide "smoking gun" evidence that some of the climatologists colluded in manipulating data to support the widely held view that climate change is real, and is being largely caused by the actions of mankind.
The veracity of the emails has not been confirmed and the scientists involved have declined to comment on the story, which broke on a blog called The Air Vent.
The files, which in total amount to 160MbB of data, were first uploaded on to a Russian server, before being widely mirrored across the internet. The emails were accompanied by the anonymous statement: "We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it."
A spokesperson for the University of East Anglia said: "We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all this material is genuine. This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation. We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and have involved the police in this inquiry."
In one email, dated November 1999, one scientist wrote: "I've just completed Mike's Nature [the science journal] trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie, from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline."
This sentence, in particular, has been leapt upon by sceptics as evidence of manipulating data, but the credibility of the email has not been verified. The scientists who allegedly sent it declined to comment on the email.
"It does look incriminating on the surface, but there are lots of single sentences that taken out of context can appear incriminating," said Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. "You can't tell what they are talking about. Scientists say 'trick' not just to mean deception. They mean it as a clever way of doing something - a short cut can be a trick."
In another alleged email, one of the scientists apparently refers to the death of a prominent climate change sceptic by saying "in an odd way this is cheering news".
Ward said that if the emails are correct, they "might highlight behaviour that those individuals might not like to have made public." But he added, "Let's separate out [the climate scientists] reacting badly to the personal attacks [from sceptics] to the idea that their work has been carried out in an inappropriate way."
The revelations did not alter the huge body of evidence from a variety of scientific fields that supports the conclusion that modern climate change is caused largely by human activity, Ward said. The emails refer largely to work on so-called paleoclimate data - reconstructing past climate scenarios using data such as ice cores and tree rings. "Climate change is based on several lines of evidence, not just paleoclimate data," he said. "At the heart of this is basic physics."
Ward pointed out that the individuals named in the alleged emails had numerous publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. "It would be very surprising if after all this time, suddenly they were found out doing something as wrong as that."
Professor Michael Mann, director of Pennsylvania State University's Earth System Science Centre and a regular contributor to the popular climate science blog Real Climate, features in many of the email exchanges. He said: "I'm not going to comment on the content of illegally obtained emails. However, I will say this: both their theft and, I believe, any reproduction of the emails that were obtained on public websites, etc, constitutes serious criminal activity. I'm hoping the perpetrators and their facilitators will be tracked down and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows."
When the Guardian asked Prof Phil Jones at UEA, who features in the correspondence, to verify whether the emails were genuine, he refused to comment.
The alleged emails illustrate the persistent pressure some climatologists have been under from sceptics in recent years. There have been repeated calls, including Freedom of Information requests, for the Climate Research Unit to make public a confidential dataset of land and sea temperature recordings that is "value added" by the unit before being used by the Met Office. The emails show the frustration some climatologists have had at having to operate under such intense, often politically motivated, scrutiny.
Prof Bob Watson, the chief scientific advisor at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, "Evidence for climate change is irrefutable. The world's leading scientists overwhelmingly agree what we're experiencing is not down to natural variation."
"With this overwhelming scientific body of evidence failing to take action to tackle climate change would be the wrong thing to do – the impacts here in Britain and across the world will worsen and the economic consequences will be catastrophic."
A spokesman for Greenpeace said: "If you looked through any organisation's emails from the last 10 years you'd find something that would raise a few eyebrows. Contrary to what the sceptics claim, the Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, Nasa and the world's leading atmospheric scientists are not the agents of a clandestine global movement against the truth. This stuff might drive some web traffic, but so does David Icke."
_____________________
More from American Thinker:
Scientific scandal appears to rock climate change promoters
______________________
Looks like we have a scandel brewing...
Algore is NOT happy!
I wonder if they'll take back his oscar?
By Leo Hickman and James Randerson
Climate sceptics claim leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists
Hundreds of emails and documents exchanged between world's leading climate scientists stolen by hackers and leaked online
Hundreds of private emails and documents allegedly exchanged between some of the world's leading climate scientists during the past 13 years have been stolen by hackers and leaked online, it emerged today.
The computer files were apparently accessed earlier this week from servers at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, a world-renowned centre focused on the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change.
Climate change sceptics who have studied the emails allege they provide "smoking gun" evidence that some of the climatologists colluded in manipulating data to support the widely held view that climate change is real, and is being largely caused by the actions of mankind.
The veracity of the emails has not been confirmed and the scientists involved have declined to comment on the story, which broke on a blog called The Air Vent.
The files, which in total amount to 160MbB of data, were first uploaded on to a Russian server, before being widely mirrored across the internet. The emails were accompanied by the anonymous statement: "We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it."
A spokesperson for the University of East Anglia said: "We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all this material is genuine. This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation. We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and have involved the police in this inquiry."
In one email, dated November 1999, one scientist wrote: "I've just completed Mike's Nature [the science journal] trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie, from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline."
This sentence, in particular, has been leapt upon by sceptics as evidence of manipulating data, but the credibility of the email has not been verified. The scientists who allegedly sent it declined to comment on the email.
"It does look incriminating on the surface, but there are lots of single sentences that taken out of context can appear incriminating," said Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. "You can't tell what they are talking about. Scientists say 'trick' not just to mean deception. They mean it as a clever way of doing something - a short cut can be a trick."
In another alleged email, one of the scientists apparently refers to the death of a prominent climate change sceptic by saying "in an odd way this is cheering news".
Ward said that if the emails are correct, they "might highlight behaviour that those individuals might not like to have made public." But he added, "Let's separate out [the climate scientists] reacting badly to the personal attacks [from sceptics] to the idea that their work has been carried out in an inappropriate way."
The revelations did not alter the huge body of evidence from a variety of scientific fields that supports the conclusion that modern climate change is caused largely by human activity, Ward said. The emails refer largely to work on so-called paleoclimate data - reconstructing past climate scenarios using data such as ice cores and tree rings. "Climate change is based on several lines of evidence, not just paleoclimate data," he said. "At the heart of this is basic physics."
Ward pointed out that the individuals named in the alleged emails had numerous publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. "It would be very surprising if after all this time, suddenly they were found out doing something as wrong as that."
Professor Michael Mann, director of Pennsylvania State University's Earth System Science Centre and a regular contributor to the popular climate science blog Real Climate, features in many of the email exchanges. He said: "I'm not going to comment on the content of illegally obtained emails. However, I will say this: both their theft and, I believe, any reproduction of the emails that were obtained on public websites, etc, constitutes serious criminal activity. I'm hoping the perpetrators and their facilitators will be tracked down and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows."
When the Guardian asked Prof Phil Jones at UEA, who features in the correspondence, to verify whether the emails were genuine, he refused to comment.
The alleged emails illustrate the persistent pressure some climatologists have been under from sceptics in recent years. There have been repeated calls, including Freedom of Information requests, for the Climate Research Unit to make public a confidential dataset of land and sea temperature recordings that is "value added" by the unit before being used by the Met Office. The emails show the frustration some climatologists have had at having to operate under such intense, often politically motivated, scrutiny.
Prof Bob Watson, the chief scientific advisor at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, "Evidence for climate change is irrefutable. The world's leading scientists overwhelmingly agree what we're experiencing is not down to natural variation."
"With this overwhelming scientific body of evidence failing to take action to tackle climate change would be the wrong thing to do – the impacts here in Britain and across the world will worsen and the economic consequences will be catastrophic."
A spokesman for Greenpeace said: "If you looked through any organisation's emails from the last 10 years you'd find something that would raise a few eyebrows. Contrary to what the sceptics claim, the Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, Nasa and the world's leading atmospheric scientists are not the agents of a clandestine global movement against the truth. This stuff might drive some web traffic, but so does David Icke."
_____________________
More from American Thinker:
Scientific scandal appears to rock climate change promoters
______________________
Looks like we have a scandel brewing...
Algore is NOT happy!
I wonder if they'll take back his oscar?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Army to Allow Some Media Coverage During Palin Event at Fort Bragg
From the AP and FOX News
Army to Allow Some Media Coverage During Palin Event at Fort Bragg
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The U.S. Army will allow the media limited coverage of Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, but will bar reporters from interviewing her or her supporters on the post, officials said Thursday.
A Fort Bragg spokesman initially said the Army would ban the media from Palin's book signing next week, fearing it would turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama. After The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer protested, Col. Billy Buckner said the post would permit restricted access.
A small pool of reporters will be allowed to view and document the event but will be barred from the interviews. The public will be allowed.
Buckner said the setup will allow reporters their right to access while preventing the appearance from turning political -- something that officials believe would violate policy.
"If media are present, they can capture the imagery of what's going and sort of the ambiance of what's taking place," he said.
Fort Bragg, which is base for some 35,000 soldiers, does not hold many promotional events, especially not with political figures. Officials said they worried that media coverage would turn the appearance into a chance for people to express political opinions "directed against the commander in chief."
"The main reason is to stop this from turning into a political platform," said Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum. "There are Army regulations that basically prohibit military reservations from becoming political platforms by politicians."
Palin has already agreed not to give a speech, McCollum said. Palin will sign her new book for people and will not stop to pose for photographs, officials said.
A spokeswoman for the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor didn't immediately return an e-mail message seeking comment and a spokeswoman for Palin's publisher, HarperCollins, did not immediately return a call.
Palin began a promotional tour this week for her memoir, "Going Rogue," with plans to travel through several states that were key to the 2008 election, including North Carolina. She made several stops in the state while campaigning on the ticket of GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
McCollum said it's not clear if military officials consider Palin a politician but noted that she has been critical of Obama while promoting the book. She said in an interview with ABC News that Obama should provide more troops to Afghanistan.
"It frustrates me and frightens me -- and many Americans -- that President Obama is dithering around with the decision in Afghanistan," she said.
Palin doesn't appear to be using her book signings to promote her politics. She spoke briefly to supporters in Michigan on Wednesday, saying it was great to be there and not mentioning Obama.
At least one person in the crowd yelled: "Palin power. 2012, yes."
Army to Allow Some Media Coverage During Palin Event at Fort Bragg
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The U.S. Army will allow the media limited coverage of Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, but will bar reporters from interviewing her or her supporters on the post, officials said Thursday.
A Fort Bragg spokesman initially said the Army would ban the media from Palin's book signing next week, fearing it would turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama. After The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer protested, Col. Billy Buckner said the post would permit restricted access.
A small pool of reporters will be allowed to view and document the event but will be barred from the interviews. The public will be allowed.
Buckner said the setup will allow reporters their right to access while preventing the appearance from turning political -- something that officials believe would violate policy.
"If media are present, they can capture the imagery of what's going and sort of the ambiance of what's taking place," he said.
Fort Bragg, which is base for some 35,000 soldiers, does not hold many promotional events, especially not with political figures. Officials said they worried that media coverage would turn the appearance into a chance for people to express political opinions "directed against the commander in chief."
"The main reason is to stop this from turning into a political platform," said Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum. "There are Army regulations that basically prohibit military reservations from becoming political platforms by politicians."
Palin has already agreed not to give a speech, McCollum said. Palin will sign her new book for people and will not stop to pose for photographs, officials said.
A spokeswoman for the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor didn't immediately return an e-mail message seeking comment and a spokeswoman for Palin's publisher, HarperCollins, did not immediately return a call.
Palin began a promotional tour this week for her memoir, "Going Rogue," with plans to travel through several states that were key to the 2008 election, including North Carolina. She made several stops in the state while campaigning on the ticket of GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
McCollum said it's not clear if military officials consider Palin a politician but noted that she has been critical of Obama while promoting the book. She said in an interview with ABC News that Obama should provide more troops to Afghanistan.
"It frustrates me and frightens me -- and many Americans -- that President Obama is dithering around with the decision in Afghanistan," she said.
Palin doesn't appear to be using her book signings to promote her politics. She spoke briefly to supporters in Michigan on Wednesday, saying it was great to be there and not mentioning Obama.
At least one person in the crowd yelled: "Palin power. 2012, yes."
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Rush Interviews Sarah Palin
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We are going to open this hour with a rare personal interview, a rare guest. It doesn't happen much on this program, but we are happy to have with us former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, whose book, Going Rogue, hits the shelves today and it's already headed for I think a record in sales. Governor Palin, thanks for making time. It's great to talk to you again. We spoke last Thursday in an interview for the Limbaugh Letter, but it's great to have you here on the radio.
GOV. PALIN: Hey, thank you so much, and dittos from an Alaskan.
RUSH: Where are you, by the way? Where are we speaking to you from?
GOV. PALIN: In a hotel room in New York City. I'm going to do a couple of interviews after that and then head to Grand Rapids for the kickoff of the book tour.
RUSH: This is going to be exciting. Are you looking forward to that?
GOV. PALIN: I am so looking forward to this. I cannot wait to meet some of these good Americans all across this country. It's going to be a blast.
RUSH: They can't wait to meet you, judging by the reception you got during the campaign. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Governor Palin, when we spoke last Thursday I spoke to her a lot about the things in her book regarding the campaign. That stuff you'll read in the Limbaugh Letter, and I predicted to Governor Palin then that much of her book would be ignored in light of the dirt that she was supposedly dishing from the campaign.
So Governor Palin what I'd like to do here is go some different directions from what we did in the newsletter interview and start with the economy. We have 10.2% unemployment. We see no end in sight.
The administration and others are suggesting next year could be just as bad with unemployment going up to 11%. What would you do differently than is being done now?
GOV. PALIN: It's over 10%, and in fact it could be closer to 17 or 18 when you consider those who have kind of given up and are not applying for unemployment benefits. So it's bad, it's really bad and then of course Fed Chair Bernanke announced that there are still weak job prospects for the very short term and probably long term, and that's an uncomfortable place for our country to be. What we need to do is shift gears and really head in another direction because what we're doing right now with the Fed, it's not working.
We need to cut taxes on the job creators. This is all about jobs, creating jobs. We have to ramp up industry here in America, and of course reduce the federal debt, quit piling on and growing more.
But those commonsense solutions there, especially with the cutting taxes on the job creators, that's not even being discussed. In fact, increased taxes is the direction it sounds like Obama wants to go.
RUSH: You mean that you don't even hear it being discussed on the Republican side or within the administration?
GOV. PALIN: Within the administration, and as it is discussed on the Republican side, Republicans need to be bolder about it. Independents need to be bolder about that solution that has got to be considered and plugged in. This is the only solution that will be successful.
We need to rehash some history that proves its success. Let's go back to what Reagan did in the early eighties and stay committed to those commonsense free market principles that worked. He faced a tougher recession than what we're facing today. He cut those taxes, ramped up industry, and we pulled out of that recession. We need to revisit that.
RUSH: Why do you think this administration is ignoring that blueprint? What is their ultimate objective here? They're sitting in the middle of abject failure of their number-one stated goal, and that's job creation. So what are they really trying to do here do you think?
GOV. PALIN: Well, you wonder, you wonder because history proves what will work and you wonder if they're realizing that and if it's just perhaps a stubbornness at this point that they are so committed to going down this road of growing government and interjecting the Feds' control in the private sector more and more, which will prove to be more failure.
I don't know if it's obstinate thinking that they're engaged in right now or if they truly just do not believe what the free market, free enterprise economic solutions are that built up this country.
RUSH: Do you think this is going to be a major issue in the congressional elections in 2010, and if so, how would you advise Republicans to pursue it?
GOV. PALIN: It better be a major issue, absolutely.
Of course, national security will be, too, and hopefully we'll talk a little bit about some of the decisions being made in that arena that cause so many of us concern but, yeah, the economy, that's what it's going to be because it's all about jobs, it's all about Americans who are hurting right now and what those solutions are that are so obvious, so commonsense that need to be plugged in.
And those are Republican, they're commonsense conservative principles that we just need to apply.
RUSH: New York-23 is being portrayed as a race in which you and I -- because we supposedly went up there -- handpicked Doug Hoffman, he supposedly lost, even though that race, they still haven't finished counting the votes. It's two weeks! This is not Chicago. They haven't finished counting the votes.
He says he wishes he could un-concede now. But they're trying to diminish conservatism, and I think in the process intimidate the Republican Party from going in that direction. What's your read on New York-23?
GOV. PALIN: I think this is exciting. It's encouraging. No matter the outcome even with his recount of some of those, well, uncounted ballots, it's exciting that the race is going to be even closer, and it's a clearer and clearer picture that what Americans are seeking, even in a district there in New York, they are seeking commonsense, conservative solutions to all the challenges that we're facing. I'm glad to see this.
RUSH: So the positive thing there is that the Republican Party was rebuffed in nominating essentially a RINO, a liberal?
GOV. PALIN: Well, I think what you saw there is -- and of course it's not just the Republican machine, it's the Democrat machine, too. You know, if you're not the anointed one within the machine, sometimes you have a much tougher row to hoe and that's what Hoffman faced. He was the underdog.
I think great timing for him, though, to stand strong on his conservative credentials and essentially come out of nowhere and prove that an American without that resume, without that machine backing can truly make a difference in an election like this.
RUSH: Well, now, you used the term, "If you're not the anointed one by the party machine, you're the underdog and you have a tough row to hoe."
Based on things that I read, the Republican establishment would not anoint you to be a nominee of their party should you choose to go that way. I'm not asking you the question because I know you're not going to answer and give away what your plans are in 2012.
GOV. PALIN: (chuckles)
RUSH: Do you consider yourself one of these unanointed ones within your own party?
GOV. PALIN: Well, to some in both parties, politics is more of a business. It's not so much a commitment to an agenda or a person or values or issues. It's more of a business -- and, no, I'm not a part of that. So if they're going to keep using that way of thinking in their decisions on who they anoint, who they will support or not then, no.
I'll never be a part of that.
But hopefully we're going to see a shift with independents, with the Republican Party and the Democrat Party, and we're going to get back to what the issues are, what really matters, and then hopefully we're going to go from there, which will be much fairer to the electorate.
RUSH: All right, independents, slash, third party. A lot of people -- mistakenly, in my view -- are looking at New York-23 as evidence that, see, a third party could actually do well. But that's not a good example because there was no primary there. As you said, the party bosses chose Dede Scozzafava on the Republican side and a Democrat.
Had there been a primary, New York-23 would not have been constituted as it was. So what are your thoughts now on the viability of a third party if the Republican Party can't be brought around?
GOV. PALIN: You know, to be brutally honest, I think that it's a bit naive when you talk about the pragmatism that has to be applied in America's political system. And we are a two-party system.
Ideally, sure, a third party or an independent party would be able to soar and thrive and put candidates forth and have them elected, but I don't think America is ready for that.
I think that it is... Granted it's quite conventional and traditional, but in a good way that we have our two parties, and I think that that's what will remain. And I say that, though, acknowledging that I'm not an obsessive panther, I understand why people -- good people like my own husband -- refuse to register in a party.
Todd's not a Republican and yet he's got more commonsense conservatism than a whole lot of Republicans that I know because he is one who sees the idiosyncrasies of the characters within the machine and it frustrates him along with a whole lot of other Americans who choose to be independent. But in answer to your question, I don't think that the third party movement will be what's necessary to usher in some commonsense conservative ideals.
RUSH: Now, you mentioned independents. We need to get independents. Independents right now are abandoning the Democrat Party. They did so in New Jersey. They did so in Virginia. And the White House pretty much proves this because the White House was out prior to the election saying, "Ah, Republican Party identification in polls is as low as it's ever been."
Therefore, for Republicans to win these races there had to be independents moving in their direction. Now, I know you're not in politics now but you have political experience. I'm not in politics. I've never gone out and gotten votes.
I've always been curious about the professional politicians' insistence that we go out and "get independents." Sure you want to shore up the base. But these magical, whatever it is, 20% of people that are not identified or do not self-identify themselves with either party, what's the way to get them?
GOV. PALIN: I think just naturally independents are going to gravitate towards that Republican agenda and Republican platform because the planks in our platform are the strongest to build a healthy America.
We're all about cutting taxes and shrinking government and respecting the inherent rights of the individual and strengthening families and respecting life and equality. You have to shake your head and say, "Who wouldn't embrace that? Who wouldn't want to come on over?"
They don't have to necessarily be registered within the Republican Party in order to hook up with us and join us with that agenda standing on those planks. In Alaska, about 70% of Alaskans are independent. So that's my base. That's where I am from and that's been my training ground, is just implementing commonsense conservative solutions.
Independents appreciate that. You're going to see more and more of that attraction to the GOP by these independents as the days go on.
RUSH: If the GOP articulates what you just articulated. I've always believed the way to get them... Reagan got them by just being who he was, articulating conservatism.
Conservatism is nothing different than the founding principles of the country. Therefore, the key to getting independents is Republicans who can articulate those beliefs.
GOV. PALIN: You know another key to this, too, is to not hesitate duking it out within the party. This is what I appreciate about the Republican Party. We have contested, aggressive, competitive primaries.
We're not like this herd mentality like a bunch of sheep -- with the fighting instincts of sheep, as Horowitz would say -- like some in the Democrat Party; where, heaven forbid, you take a stand and you oppose somebody within your own party because it's the right thing to do.
I appreciate that in the Republican Party. Some on the other side say -- you know, they're observing what goes on in the GOP and say -- "That's infighting, and they can't get along, and there's no consensus there."
No. This is healthy debate, good competition that makes candidates work harder. It makes for a better product, if you will, at the end of the day. I appreciate that about our party.
RUSH: We are talking to Governor Sarah Palin. We take a brief prosperity time-out. We'll be back and continue with Governor Palin right after this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: And we're back. Our remaining moments with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, starting her book tour today. Let's talk about your book tour, your career in general, Governor Palin. Who are you trying to reach, and for what purpose, with the book and your book tour? What's your goal here?
GOV. PALIN: I'm not trying to reach the liberal elites in this country, and it's a good thing I'm not trying to, because I'm not succeeding there. Just everyday, hardworking Americans who want government back on their side and I want to help them have their voice be heard. And the book is all about that, and the book is about my record and my accomplishments as a mayor and as a governor that kind of lay the foundation for Americans to see where it was that I was and how I got to where I am.
It was just a lot of hard work and it was a lot of very commonsense measures that I undertook politically and practically speaking, and the book is about that, and hopefully people will read it and enjoy it and learn something from it.
RUSH: What's our biggest energy challenge as a country? Do you believe at all or some or a lot in the modern-day go-green movement of solar and wind and all of these nefarious things that really don't produce anything yet?
GOV. PALIN: I think there's a lot of snake oil science involved in that and somebody's making a whole lot of money off people's fears that the world is...
It's kind of tough to figure out with the shady science right now, what are we supposed to be doing right now with our climate. Are we warming or are we cooling?
I don't think Americans are even told anymore if it's global warming or just climate change. And I don't attribute all the changes to man's activities. I think that this is, in a lot of respects, cyclical and the earth does cool and it warms.
And our greatest challenge with energy is that we're not tapping it to the abundant domestic supplies that God created right underfoot on American soil and under our waters.
It's ridiculous that we are circulating hundreds of billions of dollars a year in foreign countries, asking them to ramp up production so that we can purchase it from them -- especially from the regimes that can control us via energy, using it as a weapon against us, potentially.
It's nonsense that this administration and past administrations haven't really understood yet that inherent link between energy and security. I think more and more Americans are waking up to the fact, though, and we will hopefully see changes there soon.
RUSH: Vice President Biden chided you, saying, "It's a little bit more complicated," Governor Palin, than "Drill, Baby, Drill," which is one of your chapter titles. What's complicated about drilling for oil?
GOV. PALIN: Exactly. What is complicated about tapping into abundant, safe domestic supplies that could provide stability for our country and security for our country? I know Alaska has billions of barrels of oil underfoot, and we have the natural gas that's waiting to be tapped, too; and other states do, too. It's not that complicated.
It's political, and that's what is the shame in this, is that for political reasons we're not allowing to tap these domestic supplies.
RUSH: What are your thoughts on the congressional health care reform bills going through the House and the Senate?
GOV. PALIN: Well, we don't really know, do we, what's in that Senate version, the Senate consideration? It will be soon but we have no idea of costs. We don't know how many will be insured. We're waiting to hear that.
We don't know if the tax funding of abortions will be in this new version that's sitting over on the Senate side. We don't know if those who choose not to purchase this government-mandated level of coverage will face jail time as punishment.
There are so many questions unanswered.
I don't like the idea, in general, of the federal government thinking it needs to take over health care -- which essentially this is -- and control one-sixth of our economy.
Not when there are commonsense solutions to meeting health care challenges in our country, like allowing the intra- and interstate competition with insurers, tort reform, cutting down on the waste and fraud that the Obama administration insists if we just did that we'll pay for this one-point-some trillion-dollar health care reform package. So lots of commonsense solutions that need to be plugged in before ever considering federal government taking it over.
RUSH: You mentioned earlier you wanted to talk about national security, that you hoped it came up. Well, here it is: What do we face? What are our threats, and are we prepared, or not?
GOV. PALIN: Well, I think domestically a threat that we're facing right now is the dithering and hesitation in sending a message to the terrorists that we're going to claim what Ronald Reagan claimed. Our motto is going to be: "We win, you lose."
The way that we do that is allow McChrystal to have the reinforcements that he's asking for in Afghanistan. That sends that message to the terrorists over there that we're going to end this thing with our victory.
We need to start facing Iran with tougher and tougher sanctions that need to be considered. We need to work our allies with the Iranian issues, like Britain and France and not allow access to favorable international monetary deals. That's a great threat that I think would kind of shake up Ahmadinejad and get him to listen.
We need to look at halting Iran's imports of refined petroleum products. They're quite reliant on imported gasoline, and we need to use that hammer to wake up the leadership there, too. Those are two big challenges that we have right now, domestically and in naming those two countries, Afghanistan and Iran. Two big challenges there, too.
RUSH: Thirty seconds: Immigration. Can you do it in 30 seconds before we have to go?
GOV. PALIN: I can't do it in 30 seconds but just know that... You know, let me put it simply: Illegal immigrants are called "illegal" for a reason. We need to crack down on this. We need to listen to the border states where the governors there have some solutions and we need to get serious about that.
RUSH: Governor Palin, thanks very much. It's been a pleasure. It's been fun. Thanks for last week as well and good luck on what I know is going to be a life-changing book and book tour.
GOV. PALIN: Hey, thank you. Keep up the good work.
RUSH: Thank you.
GOV. PALIN: And all the best to all your listeners.
END TRANSCRIPT
It's Time Obama Apologize to 1945 Germany
From Ameican Thinker
It's Time Obama Apologize to 1945 Germany
Lee Cary
In China, President Obama apologized for America ... again. The problem with frequent apologies is that they soon beg the question: Where does one stop, once one starts?
In China, “He acknowledged America's shortfalls and went out of his way to welcome China into a role of global leadership. He even ducked the only edgy question - from his ambassador, Jon Huntsman - about the great ‘firewall’ of China.” He apologized for the way “women in America” are treated by “men with old fashioned ideas about women.” China censored some of his remarks about them censoring others’ remarks. What a surprise!
In a recent posting, AT Readers contributed richly to A Lexicon of Political Speech. Given the President’s propensity to apologize for America, it’s time we offer the White House suggestions for more Obamapologies.
Otherwise, we’ll eventually have to apologize to all those to whom he fails to apologize for not having apologized to them.
Here’s one suggestion: It’s time Obama apologize to the German people for having foisted upon them governments they did not choose for themselves at the end of World War II.
The National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis) was the duly elected ruling party in the 1932 German elections. They legally, by German law at that time, became the power brokers of the Third Reich. Okay, some of what they did when they got power was questionable, but, hey, the German people did vote them in. And, as we are often reminded, elections do have consequences.
After the end of World War II, new political systems were imposed on West and East Germany. So, it’s time that our President delivers this apology.
“As the President of the United States of America, and on behalf of the American people, I apologize to the German people for having participated in the imputation of not one, but two political systems on Germany the end of World War II.
First, we apologize for being complicit in the imputation of a totalitarian government on East Germany by our former ally, the Soviet Union.
Second, we apologize for joining with our primary European allies, Britain and France, in forcing a Western style democracy s on West Germany. In doing so, we engaged in industrial-strength meddling in the internal affairs of post-World War II Germany.
It was, in retrospect, an unfortunate exercise in blatant hegemony. And, for this reason, we, the American people, whom I represent since they elected me, just as Germans once elected Adolf Hitler, do herein apologize for our arrogant meddling.
We’re sorry.”
There are, no doubt, other opportunities for Obamapologies. You’re invited to offer suggestions (without citations). I’ll add them to a list I’ll mail to the White House as representing recommendations from me and some of my unidentified “friends.”
It's Time Obama Apologize to 1945 Germany
Lee Cary
In China, President Obama apologized for America ... again. The problem with frequent apologies is that they soon beg the question: Where does one stop, once one starts?
In China, “He acknowledged America's shortfalls and went out of his way to welcome China into a role of global leadership. He even ducked the only edgy question - from his ambassador, Jon Huntsman - about the great ‘firewall’ of China.” He apologized for the way “women in America” are treated by “men with old fashioned ideas about women.” China censored some of his remarks about them censoring others’ remarks. What a surprise!
In a recent posting, AT Readers contributed richly to A Lexicon of Political Speech. Given the President’s propensity to apologize for America, it’s time we offer the White House suggestions for more Obamapologies.
Otherwise, we’ll eventually have to apologize to all those to whom he fails to apologize for not having apologized to them.
Here’s one suggestion: It’s time Obama apologize to the German people for having foisted upon them governments they did not choose for themselves at the end of World War II.
The National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis) was the duly elected ruling party in the 1932 German elections. They legally, by German law at that time, became the power brokers of the Third Reich. Okay, some of what they did when they got power was questionable, but, hey, the German people did vote them in. And, as we are often reminded, elections do have consequences.
After the end of World War II, new political systems were imposed on West and East Germany. So, it’s time that our President delivers this apology.
“As the President of the United States of America, and on behalf of the American people, I apologize to the German people for having participated in the imputation of not one, but two political systems on Germany the end of World War II.
First, we apologize for being complicit in the imputation of a totalitarian government on East Germany by our former ally, the Soviet Union.
Second, we apologize for joining with our primary European allies, Britain and France, in forcing a Western style democracy s on West Germany. In doing so, we engaged in industrial-strength meddling in the internal affairs of post-World War II Germany.
It was, in retrospect, an unfortunate exercise in blatant hegemony. And, for this reason, we, the American people, whom I represent since they elected me, just as Germans once elected Adolf Hitler, do herein apologize for our arrogant meddling.
We’re sorry.”
There are, no doubt, other opportunities for Obamapologies. You’re invited to offer suggestions (without citations). I’ll add them to a list I’ll mail to the White House as representing recommendations from me and some of my unidentified “friends.”
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Obama All 'Wrong' on 9/11?
From FoxNews.com
Bush Attorney General:
9/11 Trial Offers Jihadists Platform
Michael Mukasey, the final attorney general in the Bush administration, defended military tribunals, asserting that they were created for this kind of case and noting that they were used during and after World War II.
Mukasey, the attorney general at the end of President Bush's second term, ripped his successor's decision to prosecute the Sept. 11 conspirators in a federal court, saying the trial will give jihadists a forum and could compromise delicate intelligence.
Mukasey, in an interview with Fox News, called the civilian trial announced Friday by Attorney General Eric Holder "the wrong place, under the wrong circumstances, in the wrong forum."
"After 9/11, we recognized that we were at war," he said, arguing that military tribunals were created for this kind of case and noting that they have been used since the Revolutionary War and during and after World War II.
"There are forums that allow the presentation of evidence in a controlled atmosphere, where you can limit access to classified information, and where you can receive evidence gathered on the battlefield, not necessarily under the kinds of conditions in which police gather evidence in a conventional case," he said. "That's not true in federal court."
On Friday, Holder announced that the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo detainees will be tried in federal court in New York for their alleged role in the attacks that killed 2,976 American civilians -- saying the U.S. will seek the death penalty against the defendants.
Holder said he decided to seek justice against the suspects in federal court rather than a military tribunal because the attacks targeted civilians on U.S. soil. But Mukasey and other critics say the attack was an act of war that should be prosecuted in a military tribunal.
Mukasey said it's unlikely that Mohammed will be acquitted because of his confession and other evidence linking him to the attack. But he added that same evidence could present problems in federal court.
"The real problem is that there is other evidence that may very well come from classified sources, that would be easier to handle in a military tribunal, much harder to handle in a civilian tribunal," Mukasey said.
He added that the trial also puts the terrorists on the kind of stage they seek.
"They want to be on a big stage and there's no bigger stage than New York," he said.
____________________
This idea that these terrorists, these scum of the earth, these murderers, deserve ANY consideration is something only a 'bleeding heart liberal' would consider.
Giving them an 'audience' is absolutely the worst possible thing that could happen. They should be tried by a war crimes court just like the Nazis were, and Guantanamo is the perfect place!
Oh, sure, Americans are supposed to be compassionate and considerate of their fellow human beings, bet these jihadists mean to kill us all!
They believe that their 'religion' is THE ONLY way!
Americans and all un-believers are infidels and MUST be killed!
Bringing them to American soil is a disgrace and a dishonor to those killed on September 11. 2001, to our soldiers that have died in this War on Terrorism, and those still fighting in the field!
Liberalism IS a mental disorder!
They're ALL crazy!
Obama and his Socialism MUST be stopped!
Bush Attorney General:
9/11 Trial Offers Jihadists Platform
Michael Mukasey, the final attorney general in the Bush administration, defended military tribunals, asserting that they were created for this kind of case and noting that they were used during and after World War II.
Mukasey, the attorney general at the end of President Bush's second term, ripped his successor's decision to prosecute the Sept. 11 conspirators in a federal court, saying the trial will give jihadists a forum and could compromise delicate intelligence.
Mukasey, in an interview with Fox News, called the civilian trial announced Friday by Attorney General Eric Holder "the wrong place, under the wrong circumstances, in the wrong forum."
"After 9/11, we recognized that we were at war," he said, arguing that military tribunals were created for this kind of case and noting that they have been used since the Revolutionary War and during and after World War II.
"There are forums that allow the presentation of evidence in a controlled atmosphere, where you can limit access to classified information, and where you can receive evidence gathered on the battlefield, not necessarily under the kinds of conditions in which police gather evidence in a conventional case," he said. "That's not true in federal court."
On Friday, Holder announced that the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo detainees will be tried in federal court in New York for their alleged role in the attacks that killed 2,976 American civilians -- saying the U.S. will seek the death penalty against the defendants.
Holder said he decided to seek justice against the suspects in federal court rather than a military tribunal because the attacks targeted civilians on U.S. soil. But Mukasey and other critics say the attack was an act of war that should be prosecuted in a military tribunal.
Mukasey said it's unlikely that Mohammed will be acquitted because of his confession and other evidence linking him to the attack. But he added that same evidence could present problems in federal court.
"The real problem is that there is other evidence that may very well come from classified sources, that would be easier to handle in a military tribunal, much harder to handle in a civilian tribunal," Mukasey said.
He added that the trial also puts the terrorists on the kind of stage they seek.
"They want to be on a big stage and there's no bigger stage than New York," he said.
____________________
This idea that these terrorists, these scum of the earth, these murderers, deserve ANY consideration is something only a 'bleeding heart liberal' would consider.
Giving them an 'audience' is absolutely the worst possible thing that could happen. They should be tried by a war crimes court just like the Nazis were, and Guantanamo is the perfect place!
Oh, sure, Americans are supposed to be compassionate and considerate of their fellow human beings, bet these jihadists mean to kill us all!
They believe that their 'religion' is THE ONLY way!
Americans and all un-believers are infidels and MUST be killed!
Bringing them to American soil is a disgrace and a dishonor to those killed on September 11. 2001, to our soldiers that have died in this War on Terrorism, and those still fighting in the field!
Liberalism IS a mental disorder!
They're ALL crazy!
Obama and his Socialism MUST be stopped!
Friday, November 13, 2009
If Obama Is So Bright, Why Does He Keep Drawing the Auto Insurance Analogy?
From The Center For Individual Freedom
If Obama Is So Bright, Why Does He Keep Drawing the Auto Insurance Analogy?
By Timothy H. Lee
Since Barack Obama charged into the spotlight with his 2004 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, we have received constant instruction from our high cultural arbiters about Obama’s supposed intellectual prowess.
Never mind that when speaking without his teleprompter, Obama typically appears ineloquent and befuddled when forced to think on his feet. Or that despite having taught Constitutional Law, he has confused rudimentary provisions of the Constitution itself.
To his apologists, Obama’s elevated chin and inspirational cadence from behind his teleprompter are conclusive evidence of his brilliance. National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman even lionized Obama as “the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar.”
But if those sycophants are correct, why does Obama constantly say things that are so facially absurd? Examples are legion, from his misstatement that the world stood “unified” during the Cold War to his suggestion that our economic difficulties somehow derive from structural flaws within the healthcare, education and energy sectors that overactive government must now “fix.”
But his recent habit of analogizing automobile insurance with health insurance may set a new low for someone so supposedly brilliant.
In an interview this week with ABC News’s Jake Tapper, Obama declared that Americans should be forced under penalty of law to purchase health insurance under the House legislation, just as we’re allegedly required to purchase auto insurance already:
“What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance, and if you don’t, you’re subject to some penalty, that in this situation, if you have the ability to buy insurance, it’s affordable and you choose not to, forcing you and me and everybody else to subsidize you, you know, there’s a thousand-dollar hidden tax that families all across America are burdened by, because of the fact that people don’t have health insurance, you know, there’s nothing wrong with a penalty… Penalties are appropriate for people who try to free ride the system and force others to pay for their health insurance.”
There are just a few problems with this theory, which should be obvious to anyone who has devoted serious thought to the matter.
First and foremost, it is not true that “everybody has to get auto insurance” in America. If you voluntarily choose not to own an automobile, you are not forced to purchase insurance. In contrast, ObamaCare would force every American to make a purchase that many freely choose not to make for a variety of reasons. This is so obvious as to render his declaration facially preposterous.
Second, it’s not always true that we collectively “subsidize” people without auto insurance or health insurance. If an uninsured motorist inflicts damage to another driver, or an uninsured citizen falls ill, they can be held personally responsible to pay the costs that they’ve incurred.
After all, widespread health insurance is actually a recent phenomenon in American history, as citizens traditionally paid healthcare debts just like any other form of debt. Most people possess assets and future income from which they can pay costs without shifting them to taxpayers at large.
There are obviously instances in which indigent citizens are unable to pay auto accident or healthcare costs, but it’s simply inaccurate for Obama to assume that such costs are always involuntarily dumped onto other American citizens.
Third, we aren’t on the same slow-motion course toward a government monopoly of auto insurance that would commence under ObamaCare. The auto insurance market remains fairly healthy due to free and open competition, whereas Obama insists on a public “option” that would inevitably become a public “mandate” after taxpayer-subsidized government insurance and draconian regulations ultimately drive private health insurers out of business.
Fourth, what provision in the Constitution empowers Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to commandeer the healthcare sector and command private citizens to purchase health insurance?
What would the Founding Fathers have thought of the prospect that sanctimonious federal officials could compel purchases of specific goods or services? The Constitution empowers the federal government to regulate interstate commerce, but that’s a far cry from dictating to every single American citizen that he or she buy something or face fines or imprisonment.
Auto insurance is very different because it is governed by state law, not federal law. And as noted above, American citizens can abstain from purchasing auto insurance by foregoing their privilege of driving, but ObamaCare would not allow such freedom – every citizen would have to make that involuntary purchase.
When asked by a member of the press what provision of the Constitution justified this compulsory provision, Nancy Pelosi could only glibly reply, “Are you serious? Are you serious?” If an obvious answer existed, Pelosi would presumably be capable of providing a simple answer.
But no – the Speaker of the House of Representatives couldn’t even answer that fundamental question.
The auto insurance analogy is pure sophistry, and it’s frightening that our nation’s highest elected officials are fatuous enough to thrust it upon the American people.
______________________
WAKE UP AMERICA!
If Obama Is So Bright, Why Does He Keep Drawing the Auto Insurance Analogy?
By Timothy H. Lee
Since Barack Obama charged into the spotlight with his 2004 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, we have received constant instruction from our high cultural arbiters about Obama’s supposed intellectual prowess.
Never mind that when speaking without his teleprompter, Obama typically appears ineloquent and befuddled when forced to think on his feet. Or that despite having taught Constitutional Law, he has confused rudimentary provisions of the Constitution itself.
To his apologists, Obama’s elevated chin and inspirational cadence from behind his teleprompter are conclusive evidence of his brilliance. National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman even lionized Obama as “the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar.”
But if those sycophants are correct, why does Obama constantly say things that are so facially absurd? Examples are legion, from his misstatement that the world stood “unified” during the Cold War to his suggestion that our economic difficulties somehow derive from structural flaws within the healthcare, education and energy sectors that overactive government must now “fix.”
But his recent habit of analogizing automobile insurance with health insurance may set a new low for someone so supposedly brilliant.
In an interview this week with ABC News’s Jake Tapper, Obama declared that Americans should be forced under penalty of law to purchase health insurance under the House legislation, just as we’re allegedly required to purchase auto insurance already:
“What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance, and if you don’t, you’re subject to some penalty, that in this situation, if you have the ability to buy insurance, it’s affordable and you choose not to, forcing you and me and everybody else to subsidize you, you know, there’s a thousand-dollar hidden tax that families all across America are burdened by, because of the fact that people don’t have health insurance, you know, there’s nothing wrong with a penalty… Penalties are appropriate for people who try to free ride the system and force others to pay for their health insurance.”
There are just a few problems with this theory, which should be obvious to anyone who has devoted serious thought to the matter.
First and foremost, it is not true that “everybody has to get auto insurance” in America. If you voluntarily choose not to own an automobile, you are not forced to purchase insurance. In contrast, ObamaCare would force every American to make a purchase that many freely choose not to make for a variety of reasons. This is so obvious as to render his declaration facially preposterous.
Second, it’s not always true that we collectively “subsidize” people without auto insurance or health insurance. If an uninsured motorist inflicts damage to another driver, or an uninsured citizen falls ill, they can be held personally responsible to pay the costs that they’ve incurred.
After all, widespread health insurance is actually a recent phenomenon in American history, as citizens traditionally paid healthcare debts just like any other form of debt. Most people possess assets and future income from which they can pay costs without shifting them to taxpayers at large.
There are obviously instances in which indigent citizens are unable to pay auto accident or healthcare costs, but it’s simply inaccurate for Obama to assume that such costs are always involuntarily dumped onto other American citizens.
Third, we aren’t on the same slow-motion course toward a government monopoly of auto insurance that would commence under ObamaCare. The auto insurance market remains fairly healthy due to free and open competition, whereas Obama insists on a public “option” that would inevitably become a public “mandate” after taxpayer-subsidized government insurance and draconian regulations ultimately drive private health insurers out of business.
Fourth, what provision in the Constitution empowers Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to commandeer the healthcare sector and command private citizens to purchase health insurance?
What would the Founding Fathers have thought of the prospect that sanctimonious federal officials could compel purchases of specific goods or services? The Constitution empowers the federal government to regulate interstate commerce, but that’s a far cry from dictating to every single American citizen that he or she buy something or face fines or imprisonment.
Auto insurance is very different because it is governed by state law, not federal law. And as noted above, American citizens can abstain from purchasing auto insurance by foregoing their privilege of driving, but ObamaCare would not allow such freedom – every citizen would have to make that involuntary purchase.
When asked by a member of the press what provision of the Constitution justified this compulsory provision, Nancy Pelosi could only glibly reply, “Are you serious? Are you serious?” If an obvious answer existed, Pelosi would presumably be capable of providing a simple answer.
But no – the Speaker of the House of Representatives couldn’t even answer that fundamental question.
The auto insurance analogy is pure sophistry, and it’s frightening that our nation’s highest elected officials are fatuous enough to thrust it upon the American people.
______________________
WAKE UP AMERICA!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Obama To Purge Republicans From Civil Service
From RedState.com
Obama Administration Intends to Purge Republicans From the Civil Service
Remember how the Democrats reacted when the Bush Administration started replacing U.S. Attorneys? At least they were actually political appointees employed at the will and whim of the President.
...The federal government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) intends to purge the federal government of Republican civil servants all in the name of purify the federal bureaucracy.
You can read the OPM memo here
It is a typical Washington process that many political appointees are able to take jobs within the civil service once their political appointment expires — usually at the conclusion of one administration. What often happens as well is Congressional staffers, before an election or shortly thereafter, will move over to the Executive Branch placed into the civil service, in effect, by appointment.
So, for example, when George Bush became President in 2001, a number of Clinton political appointees became civil service employees. As a result, they became subject to civil service hiring and firing rules, which meant they could no longer be replaced simply for having been a Democratic appointee.
Barack Obama is changing that. He intends to purge all Republicans from the federal bureaucracy retroactive to five years ago.
Under his new rules, made retroactive for five years, the Office of Personnel Management will examine civil service employees who got their start as political appointees in the Bush administration and terminate those employees.
The order is retroactive to 2004, that moment when a number of Republican congressional staffers and others sought to embed into the second Bush administration right after the election.
According to John Berry, the Director of OPM:
Beginning January 1, 2010, agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level under the provisions of title 5, United States Code.
OPM will review these proposed appointments to ensure they comply with merit system principles and applicable civil service laws.
I have delegated decisionmaking authority over these matters to career Senior Executives at OPM to avoid any hint of political influence.
The memorandum goes on to apply this change to civil servants who were political appointees in the last five years, in effect freezing these employees out of other positions, denying them promotions, and forcing them out of their jobs.
No one is allowed to stand in the way of Barack Obama’s agenda, including his own bureaucracy. This is what happens in third world kleptocracies and totalitarian regimes.
This is scary stuff.
Just for perspective: remember the Democrats threatened to throw Bush administration people in jail for firing United States Attorneys who happened to be Democrats.
In that case, it was clear as crystal that U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President and he can fire them whenever he wants. In this case, these people are now civil service employees who do not serve at the pleasure of the President and cannot be fired just because they are Republicans. in fact, the law is very clear on that point.
_____________________________
This guy wants to 'fundamentally change America' alright...
He wants America to become a banana republic and have 'the state' nationalize all business and enterprises!
AND, he wants to freeze-out Republicans in the process!
Wake Up America!
Obama Administration Intends to Purge Republicans From the Civil Service
Remember how the Democrats reacted when the Bush Administration started replacing U.S. Attorneys? At least they were actually political appointees employed at the will and whim of the President.
...The federal government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) intends to purge the federal government of Republican civil servants all in the name of purify the federal bureaucracy.
You can read the OPM memo here
It is a typical Washington process that many political appointees are able to take jobs within the civil service once their political appointment expires — usually at the conclusion of one administration. What often happens as well is Congressional staffers, before an election or shortly thereafter, will move over to the Executive Branch placed into the civil service, in effect, by appointment.
So, for example, when George Bush became President in 2001, a number of Clinton political appointees became civil service employees. As a result, they became subject to civil service hiring and firing rules, which meant they could no longer be replaced simply for having been a Democratic appointee.
Barack Obama is changing that. He intends to purge all Republicans from the federal bureaucracy retroactive to five years ago.
Under his new rules, made retroactive for five years, the Office of Personnel Management will examine civil service employees who got their start as political appointees in the Bush administration and terminate those employees.
The order is retroactive to 2004, that moment when a number of Republican congressional staffers and others sought to embed into the second Bush administration right after the election.
According to John Berry, the Director of OPM:
Beginning January 1, 2010, agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level under the provisions of title 5, United States Code.
OPM will review these proposed appointments to ensure they comply with merit system principles and applicable civil service laws.
I have delegated decisionmaking authority over these matters to career Senior Executives at OPM to avoid any hint of political influence.
The memorandum goes on to apply this change to civil servants who were political appointees in the last five years, in effect freezing these employees out of other positions, denying them promotions, and forcing them out of their jobs.
No one is allowed to stand in the way of Barack Obama’s agenda, including his own bureaucracy. This is what happens in third world kleptocracies and totalitarian regimes.
This is scary stuff.
Just for perspective: remember the Democrats threatened to throw Bush administration people in jail for firing United States Attorneys who happened to be Democrats.
In that case, it was clear as crystal that U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President and he can fire them whenever he wants. In this case, these people are now civil service employees who do not serve at the pleasure of the President and cannot be fired just because they are Republicans. in fact, the law is very clear on that point.
_____________________________
This guy wants to 'fundamentally change America' alright...
He wants America to become a banana republic and have 'the state' nationalize all business and enterprises!
AND, he wants to freeze-out Republicans in the process!
Wake Up America!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The President of Resentment
From American Thinker
The President of Resentment
By James Lewis
Some people have a government, and some governments have a people, said Ronald Reagan. We are being turned into a nation where the government owns the people.
It is the demagogic heirs to the dreadful history of slavery who are now trying to turn the tables; Obama is a slave-master in the making.
He looks the part, he acts the part, and behind the scenes, his commissars are making it happen.
Obama has never displayed his bitter, long-harbored resentment toward America quite as obviously as he did after the Fort Hood massacre. The president couldn't figure out how to respond with the dignity befitting his office.
_______________
I happened to be going through the Washington, D.C. airport a couple of months ago when I heard a lot of people clapping and whooping in a little demonstration.
When I looked, I noticed a single elderly French horn player sitting on a folding chair and playing patriotic tunes to enliven a parade -- if you can call it that -- of elderly wheelchair-bound vets from World War Two coming off their plane: the Greatest Generation, as even Tom Brokaw called them.
They looked shrunken, most of those lifelong handicapped vets, wearing baseball and VFW caps, but some of them left their wheel chairs and walked through the reception as the old horn player did his tunes. My eyes started to tear up and I walked over to join the applause as these real saviors of the West went on by.
They were greeted by a little reception committee and then went on to what was almost surely their last celebration with their buddies from the war. And that octogenarian horn player kept on playing his patriotic tunes.
Some of the bystanders joined in the applause, but there were some who made a display of their indifference and contempt as well.
It was an interesting lesson in our split society.
One young man jauntily walked away from the little homecoming demonstration, prancing in the opposite direction --
-- a little counter-demonstration all by himself.
Those old vets in wheelchairs had no meaning for him.
They were just mean old white guys, or something equally bizarre.
The most democratic army in history, the one that brought together Italians, Jews, Germans, Poles, and yes, blacks and Japanese Americans and everyone else, all of them scared of dying but convinced that their country was imperiled by some pretty evil characters in Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Soviet Union.
So they fought and died, sometimes in great numbers.
Bob Dole got his lifelong wounds in the murderous Italian campaign, just like John McCain got his shoulder-bones broken in the Hanoi Hilton. Some of those World War II guys were wounded for life, and some of them were now being rolled in wheelchairs before our eyes.
They meant nothing to the contemptuous young man who pranced away from them.
That's a small metaphor for this administration.
The young counter-demonstrator had no idea about the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation, the lethal dangers the country confronted after Pearl Harbor, and the heroism of our soldiers, sailors and marines.
He'd no doubt been told from childhood onward how evil White America really is.
Yes, those WWII soldiers represented an imperfect democracy, but it just happened to be the best one on earth. And those young soldiers knew that because of their own family histories, because American history was still taught in all the schools, and because they were good and decent people who were shocked by the vile regimes conquering Europe and Asia, ruthlessly killing millions of innocent civilians as they went.
It was a huge resurgence of barbarism, and their very souls cried out against the injustice of it all. They were Americans.
It wasn't necessary to explain things to them.
They got it.
And so the high school girls stayed home to watch their sweethearts go off to war. Some of their men came back, often shell-shocked, but they didn't talk about the war. They went back to their lives and tried to pursue happiness.
A lot of them never came back.
And then some guy named Joe Stalin exploded the first Soviet nuclear bombs, an A-bomb and an H-bomb.
After all of their pain and homesickness and sacrifice, another totalitarian enemy had infiltrated the U.S. government, up to and including the White House staff.
Those infiltrations were real, as we now know. They were not just the wild imaginings of Tailgunner Joe McCarthy.
So Americans became angry and frightened by this new danger, especially because the State and Federal bureaucracies, the teachers, the media, and the universities were penetrated by the Stalinist Left and their front organizations.
For the first time in human history, a single Soviet bomber could fly from Europe to New York City and obliterate all of Manhattan with the push of a button.
Americans were outraged and frightened by this new threat, and they supported a vigorous anti-Communist movement led by people like Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, Dwight Eisenhower, and a host of others.
For some decades the American people defended themselves vigorously and effectively against the Stalin-directed fifth column that threatened their lives and freedom.
Today we are seeing a Second Cold War, but the enemy is within, just as it was after World War II.
We are seeing outright front organizations again.
"J Street" is a classic example; it should be called "J Front."
It's a fraud, claiming to represent people who never voted for them.
George Soros, who sets up many of these phony organizations, is a man who accommodated the Nazis, among other distinctions.
He has never displayed a smidgen of guilt for his role in the the disposition of Jewish possessions after their owners were arrested and sent to death camps -- men, women, and children.
Normal Holocaust survivors feel tremendous guilt; Soros sounds jaunty and devil-may-care about the murderous cannibalism of those years. He made out well and started his long road to fortune.
Today he is financing Obama's "Coup from Above" with the same insouciance with which he betrayed his Jewish relatives in Hungary.
There's a story to be told there.
But don't expect the media to tell it.
The American people are hearing a call to arms -- not literal arms, for our system can self-correct.
But we have to out-organize and out-pressure the Left.
They have called us "the enemy" ever since Alinsky's little book radicalized the revolutionaries of the Boomer Left (and this only after the violent revolutionary groups were suppressed).
When somebody really considers you an enemy, you have no choice: either you return the compliment, or you get overwhelmed by the new Chicago Mob in D.C.
The Left has shown how to win from a minority standpoint.
According to a recent poll, American conservatives have a two-to-one majority.
They are constantly undermined by the political Left: ridiculed in the media, demeaned in the schools and universities, and outmaneuvered at the state and national level by Leftists who are far nastier and far more ruthless than ordinary, decent Americans.
This is a struggle for the country.
We need to toughen up.
The first lesson is to start telling the truth without fear.
Shout it out.
Demonstrate.
Tell your truth to your relatives that you've been trying to be nice to all these years. Make it pleasant and polite, but firm.
Don't yell. Just talk and talk and talk.
Yes, you can stand out from the crowd. Half of your listeners will privately agree with you if you state your case well, and over time they will find the courage to speak up, too.
The second lesson is to build up a cadre of leaders -- in the media, in politics, in the educational system, everywhere.
We have at least one charismatic leader now in Sarah Palin.
That's why she is under constant, vicious attack from the Left.
That's why they burned down her church in Wasilla.
They fear her.
I love her for the enemies she has made.
There are many other good people, but a charismatic political talent comes just once in every generation. She needs and deserves support.
So do others.
When conservatives betray American conservatism, let them know you will vote against them, and support their conservative opponents in all the ways that work.
Don't get nasty and hysterical. Just be calm and firm.
The third lesson is to organize, organize, and organize.
That's how the Left did it.
Tea Parties are good; the Heritage Foundation is good. There are many good organizations, and we need to support them with our dollars and our voices.
We need to mobilize conservatives into active pressure groups around their greatest concerns. Web freedom is a crucial one right now. So is free radio and TV.
When the Left attacks Fox News or Rush, we have to raise a gigantic fuss on their behalf. The media cannot be allowed to ignore our demonstrations. We have shrugged our shoulders and allowed far too many good people to be attacked.
The elections of 2010 will be a major survival test.
If Americans fail that test, we will become Britain in its catastrophic decline under fifty years of socialism.
A new Ruling Class will arise, just as it has in socialist Europe, and they will not care one bit about the people.
They will import hostile voters from third-world countries. They will forge alliances with Islamists, as they are already.
America will be helpless, and all the hostile forces around the world will know it. They will all try to push us under. If we are governed by a domestic fifth column, then North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, Hugo Chavez, the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood...all of them will beat us down.
Real democracy is just not their thing.
At the U.N. we see kleptocracies in charge. Behold our future if we do not act. Chicago and Detroit stand as warnings.
Conservatives are individualists, so we have to do something unusual: organize, organize, organize.
Local and national.
Even international.
We have friends in the British media looking for us to stand up and defend civilization, just as they stood up against Hitler when we were still dithering.
Some of our friends are in Australia, in Canada, and yes, in France. Around the world there are millions who get it. We can be American patriots with allies all around the world. They need leaders and vocal support just as much as we do.
And we must militantly defend the freedom of the web. The Stalinoids will attack it viciously, just as they will attack talk radio and Fox News. We are fighting the same enemy Ronald Reagan fought. We have to do it just as intelligently and vigorously as he did.
The word "activist" used to be a media word for the Left. It's high time to make it work for American conservatives.
Become an activist or lose your country.
The President of Resentment
By James Lewis
Some people have a government, and some governments have a people, said Ronald Reagan. We are being turned into a nation where the government owns the people.
It is the demagogic heirs to the dreadful history of slavery who are now trying to turn the tables; Obama is a slave-master in the making.
He looks the part, he acts the part, and behind the scenes, his commissars are making it happen.
Obama has never displayed his bitter, long-harbored resentment toward America quite as obviously as he did after the Fort Hood massacre. The president couldn't figure out how to respond with the dignity befitting his office.
_______________
I happened to be going through the Washington, D.C. airport a couple of months ago when I heard a lot of people clapping and whooping in a little demonstration.
When I looked, I noticed a single elderly French horn player sitting on a folding chair and playing patriotic tunes to enliven a parade -- if you can call it that -- of elderly wheelchair-bound vets from World War Two coming off their plane: the Greatest Generation, as even Tom Brokaw called them.
They looked shrunken, most of those lifelong handicapped vets, wearing baseball and VFW caps, but some of them left their wheel chairs and walked through the reception as the old horn player did his tunes. My eyes started to tear up and I walked over to join the applause as these real saviors of the West went on by.
They were greeted by a little reception committee and then went on to what was almost surely their last celebration with their buddies from the war. And that octogenarian horn player kept on playing his patriotic tunes.
Some of the bystanders joined in the applause, but there were some who made a display of their indifference and contempt as well.
It was an interesting lesson in our split society.
One young man jauntily walked away from the little homecoming demonstration, prancing in the opposite direction --
-- a little counter-demonstration all by himself.
Those old vets in wheelchairs had no meaning for him.
They were just mean old white guys, or something equally bizarre.
The most democratic army in history, the one that brought together Italians, Jews, Germans, Poles, and yes, blacks and Japanese Americans and everyone else, all of them scared of dying but convinced that their country was imperiled by some pretty evil characters in Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Soviet Union.
So they fought and died, sometimes in great numbers.
Bob Dole got his lifelong wounds in the murderous Italian campaign, just like John McCain got his shoulder-bones broken in the Hanoi Hilton. Some of those World War II guys were wounded for life, and some of them were now being rolled in wheelchairs before our eyes.
They meant nothing to the contemptuous young man who pranced away from them.
That's a small metaphor for this administration.
The young counter-demonstrator had no idea about the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation, the lethal dangers the country confronted after Pearl Harbor, and the heroism of our soldiers, sailors and marines.
He'd no doubt been told from childhood onward how evil White America really is.
Yes, those WWII soldiers represented an imperfect democracy, but it just happened to be the best one on earth. And those young soldiers knew that because of their own family histories, because American history was still taught in all the schools, and because they were good and decent people who were shocked by the vile regimes conquering Europe and Asia, ruthlessly killing millions of innocent civilians as they went.
It was a huge resurgence of barbarism, and their very souls cried out against the injustice of it all. They were Americans.
It wasn't necessary to explain things to them.
They got it.
And so the high school girls stayed home to watch their sweethearts go off to war. Some of their men came back, often shell-shocked, but they didn't talk about the war. They went back to their lives and tried to pursue happiness.
A lot of them never came back.
And then some guy named Joe Stalin exploded the first Soviet nuclear bombs, an A-bomb and an H-bomb.
After all of their pain and homesickness and sacrifice, another totalitarian enemy had infiltrated the U.S. government, up to and including the White House staff.
Those infiltrations were real, as we now know. They were not just the wild imaginings of Tailgunner Joe McCarthy.
So Americans became angry and frightened by this new danger, especially because the State and Federal bureaucracies, the teachers, the media, and the universities were penetrated by the Stalinist Left and their front organizations.
For the first time in human history, a single Soviet bomber could fly from Europe to New York City and obliterate all of Manhattan with the push of a button.
Americans were outraged and frightened by this new threat, and they supported a vigorous anti-Communist movement led by people like Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, Dwight Eisenhower, and a host of others.
For some decades the American people defended themselves vigorously and effectively against the Stalin-directed fifth column that threatened their lives and freedom.
Today we are seeing a Second Cold War, but the enemy is within, just as it was after World War II.
We are seeing outright front organizations again.
"J Street" is a classic example; it should be called "J Front."
It's a fraud, claiming to represent people who never voted for them.
George Soros, who sets up many of these phony organizations, is a man who accommodated the Nazis, among other distinctions.
He has never displayed a smidgen of guilt for his role in the the disposition of Jewish possessions after their owners were arrested and sent to death camps -- men, women, and children.
Normal Holocaust survivors feel tremendous guilt; Soros sounds jaunty and devil-may-care about the murderous cannibalism of those years. He made out well and started his long road to fortune.
Today he is financing Obama's "Coup from Above" with the same insouciance with which he betrayed his Jewish relatives in Hungary.
There's a story to be told there.
But don't expect the media to tell it.
The American people are hearing a call to arms -- not literal arms, for our system can self-correct.
But we have to out-organize and out-pressure the Left.
They have called us "the enemy" ever since Alinsky's little book radicalized the revolutionaries of the Boomer Left (and this only after the violent revolutionary groups were suppressed).
When somebody really considers you an enemy, you have no choice: either you return the compliment, or you get overwhelmed by the new Chicago Mob in D.C.
The Left has shown how to win from a minority standpoint.
According to a recent poll, American conservatives have a two-to-one majority.
They are constantly undermined by the political Left: ridiculed in the media, demeaned in the schools and universities, and outmaneuvered at the state and national level by Leftists who are far nastier and far more ruthless than ordinary, decent Americans.
This is a struggle for the country.
We need to toughen up.
The first lesson is to start telling the truth without fear.
Shout it out.
Demonstrate.
Tell your truth to your relatives that you've been trying to be nice to all these years. Make it pleasant and polite, but firm.
Don't yell. Just talk and talk and talk.
Yes, you can stand out from the crowd. Half of your listeners will privately agree with you if you state your case well, and over time they will find the courage to speak up, too.
The second lesson is to build up a cadre of leaders -- in the media, in politics, in the educational system, everywhere.
We have at least one charismatic leader now in Sarah Palin.
That's why she is under constant, vicious attack from the Left.
That's why they burned down her church in Wasilla.
They fear her.
I love her for the enemies she has made.
There are many other good people, but a charismatic political talent comes just once in every generation. She needs and deserves support.
So do others.
When conservatives betray American conservatism, let them know you will vote against them, and support their conservative opponents in all the ways that work.
Don't get nasty and hysterical. Just be calm and firm.
The third lesson is to organize, organize, and organize.
That's how the Left did it.
Tea Parties are good; the Heritage Foundation is good. There are many good organizations, and we need to support them with our dollars and our voices.
We need to mobilize conservatives into active pressure groups around their greatest concerns. Web freedom is a crucial one right now. So is free radio and TV.
When the Left attacks Fox News or Rush, we have to raise a gigantic fuss on their behalf. The media cannot be allowed to ignore our demonstrations. We have shrugged our shoulders and allowed far too many good people to be attacked.
The elections of 2010 will be a major survival test.
If Americans fail that test, we will become Britain in its catastrophic decline under fifty years of socialism.
A new Ruling Class will arise, just as it has in socialist Europe, and they will not care one bit about the people.
They will import hostile voters from third-world countries. They will forge alliances with Islamists, as they are already.
America will be helpless, and all the hostile forces around the world will know it. They will all try to push us under. If we are governed by a domestic fifth column, then North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, Hugo Chavez, the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood...all of them will beat us down.
Real democracy is just not their thing.
At the U.N. we see kleptocracies in charge. Behold our future if we do not act. Chicago and Detroit stand as warnings.
Conservatives are individualists, so we have to do something unusual: organize, organize, organize.
Local and national.
Even international.
We have friends in the British media looking for us to stand up and defend civilization, just as they stood up against Hitler when we were still dithering.
Some of our friends are in Australia, in Canada, and yes, in France. Around the world there are millions who get it. We can be American patriots with allies all around the world. They need leaders and vocal support just as much as we do.
And we must militantly defend the freedom of the web. The Stalinoids will attack it viciously, just as they will attack talk radio and Fox News. We are fighting the same enemy Ronald Reagan fought. We have to do it just as intelligently and vigorously as he did.
The word "activist" used to be a media word for the Left. It's high time to make it work for American conservatives.
Become an activist or lose your country.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Hasan v. Cook - A Contrast In Politically Correctness
I'd like to thank the folks over at America Coast To Coast for this:
____________
Hasan v Cook – A Contrast in Political Correctness
Friday, 06 November 2009 16:21 Author: William M Lolli
Was Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the killer of Fort Hood’s 13 people at last count, a victim? The major media outlets would have us think so.
It seems that the only thing Major Hasan really wanted was to get out of the racist, religiously bigoted Army. And when he couldn’t, he had no choice but to do the right thing and gun down as many of those bad Army people as he could while proclaiming how great God is [“Allahu Akbar”].
Contrast the press handling of Major Hasan with that of Army Major Stefan Cook, whose only crime was he was a “Birther”.
Yes, that’s right—one of those evil Obama birth-certificate people who willing to serve our nation in combat, desirous of continuing a military career, not wanting out of overseas duty nor an end to their service; but whose only offense is that they dared to ask for clarification of the Commander in Chief’s Constitutional Article 2 Section 1 status.
As a result of his lawful questioning of authority, Cook was granted conscientious objector status, had his orders revoked (not of his choosing – the Army’s decision) and was fired from his defense department civilian contractor job. Major Cook still wants to deploy to Afghanistan – just not under potentially unlawful circumstances.
If Major Hasan wanted out of the military because he feared the awful pressure of his religious convictions in fighting the Bush-Obama War, all he would have had to do is go to his commanding officer and ask:
“Where’s the Birth Certificate?”
I can practically guarantee you that Hasan would have been granted a discharge the next day.
But then, he would not be the misunderstood “victim” of the press that he is today.
Don’t believe that Hasan is a victim? How about these quotes from news outlets:
“Fort Hood shooting suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, wanted out of the Army after being constantly harassed by others in the military and was called a ‘camel jockey,’ his family said.
“As Hasan was about to be deployed to Iraq, he was suffering from some of the same stresses that he was trained as an Army psychiatrist to treat.
“Although the 39-year-old had just been promoted to major in May, his family says he had hired a lawyer to help him get out of the Armed Forces.
“Hasan is an American citizen of Palestinian descent and after the 9/11 attacks, his cousin says he was the target of constant harassment from others in the military. His tormentors called him a "camel jockey," said his cousin, Nader Hasan. He wanted out of the Army, so he paid back his military student loans and hired an attorney.”
“While the bullying irritated Hasan, Nader Hasan believes his upcoming deployment is what set him off”
And what a great guy. What sterling credentials.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan:
39 years old. Born in Arlington, raised primarily in southwestern Virginia, graduated from William Fleming High School in Roanoke . Also attended Arlington's Wakefield High School for a year. U.S. Army psychiatrist. Graduated from Virginia Tech with honors in 1995. Studied at Barstow Community College in California and Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke. Received doctorate in psychiatry from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda. Resident and then a fellow at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District. Commissioned as a Captain, he was promoted to Major in May. Was awaiting deployment to Afghanistan, which was to be his first Army service overseas. He is listed by the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress as a fellow for disaster and preventive psychology. As of Oct. 13, he had less than a year of clinical practice. He attended the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring and is devout, according to Faizul Khan, former imam at the center. He attended prayers at least once a day, seven days a week, often in his Army fatigues, Khan said.
SOURCES: Army records and officials, Virginia Tech officials, Arlington schools officials, Washington Post staff writers
See? Hasan was a great guy that just got pushed too far.
And what about that evil Stefan Cook character?
Here is what the lib-press and blogosphere says:
“Army Reserve Major Stefan Frederick Cook Successfully Weasels His Way Out Of Afghanistan Combat Orders By Challenging President Barack Hussein Obama’s Eligibility As His Commander-In-Chief”
“Cook is anything more than a common coward who is frightened about going to a war zone one way and coming back a bit “altered” like so many of us have before him.”
“Huffpost - Stefan Frederick Cook: Soldier Won't Deploy Over Obama Birth Certificate”
“[Cook’s position is..] Boilerplate nutjobbery, sure. This man should be brought before a court martial, stripped of his rank, and dismissed from the service. Plain and simple”
“[Re]'Tard of the Week - Major Stefan Frederick Cook, USA”
Gee—I am almost convinced.
But wait! Let’s look at Major Cook’s record compared to the Religion of Peace Hasan:
Stefan Cook’s Decorations, Service Medals, and Badges:
Combat Patch
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Joint Meritorious Unit Award with one Oak Leaf Cluster
Joint Service Achievement Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster
Army Achievement Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster
Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters
National Defense Service Medal with one Bronze Star device
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Army Service Ribbon
Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M device
Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon
Educational Degrees:
St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York, BS Economics 1983
Fordham University, New York, New York MBA Finance/Quantitative Analysis 1988
Anna Maria College, Falmouth, Mass., MS Quality Management 1996
Military Schools Attended: Year Completed
NJ Military Academy, Officer’s Candidate School 1990
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Basic Course (Resident) 1991
Defense Mapping School, Mapping Charting & Geodesy Officer Course (Resident) 1991
Engineer School, Engineer Construction Course (Correspondence) 1992
Engineer School, Engineer Combat Support Course (Correspondence) 1993
NJ Military Academy, Instructor Trainer Course (Resident) 1993
Physical Fitness School, Master Fitness Trainer Course (Resident) 1994
MI School, Military Intelligence Officer Transition Course (Ph I Correspondence) 1995
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Advance Course (Ph I Correspondence) 1995
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Advance Course (Ph II Resident) 1996
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph I Correspondence) 1998
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph II a Resident) 2000
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph II b Resident) 2000
NJ Military Academy, Officer’s Candidate School 1990
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Basic Course (Resident) 1991
Defense Mapping School, Mapping Charting & Geodesy Officer Course (Resident) 1991
Engineer School, Engineer Construction Course (Correspondence) 1992
Engineer School, Engineer Combat Support Course (Correspondence) 1993
NJ Military Academy, Instructor Trainer Course (Resident) 1993
Physical Fitness School, Master Fitness Trainer Course (Resident) 1994
MI School, Military Intelligence Officer Transition Course (Ph I Correspondence) 1995
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Advance Course (Ph I Correspondence) 1995
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Advance Course (Ph II Resident) 1996
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph I Correspondence) 1998
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph II a Resident) 2000
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph II b Resident) 2000
Transportation School, Transportation Officer Advanced Course (Ph I Correspondence) 2001
Transportation School, Senior Transportation Officer Qualification Course
Marine Terminal Track (Web Based Course) 2002
USARC Risk Management Train the Trainer Course (Resident) 2002
Signal School, Signal Officer Advanced Course (Ph I Correspondence) 2003
C&GSC, Command and General Staff officer Course (Ph I Correspondence) 2004
C&GSC, Command and General Staff officer Course (Ph II Correspondence) 2004
C&GSC, Command and General Staff officer Course (Ph III Correspondence) 2004
C&GSC, Command and General Staff officer Course (Ph IV Correspondence) 2004
Joint Forces Staff College, Advanced Joint Professional Military Education 2005
Engineer School, Joint Engineer Officer Course 2006
Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF) Level I course (Web-based) 2008
Improved Explosive Device Awareness Course (Web-based) 2009
Civil Military Relations in an Interagency Context (Web-based) 2009
Defense Against Suicide Bombing Course (Web-based) 2009
Pre-Deployment Cultural Awareness – Afghanistan Course (Web-based) 2009
Chronological Record of Duty Assignments: From To
Active Duty – USAF
Cadet, US Air Force Academy Jun 78 Jul 79
Company Clerk, Co B., 104th EN BN Sep 88 Mar 89
Officer Candidate, NJ Military Academy Mar 89 Jun 90
Platoon Leader, Co E, 104th EN BN Jun 90 Jan 91
Student, Engineer School, Fort Leonard Wood Jan 91 May 91
Platoon Leader, Co E, 104th EN BN May 91 Aug 91
Student, Defense Mapping School, Ft. Belvoir Aug 91 Nov 91
Platoon Leader, Co E, 104th EN BN Nov 91 Dec 91
Platoon Leader, 554th EN BN, Honduras Jan 92 Mar 92
Platoon Leader, Co E, 104th EN BN Mar 92 Jun 92
Asst. S3, HHC 104th EN BN Jun 92 Apr 94
Student, US Army Physical Fitness School, Ft. Benning, GA Apr 94 May 94
Asst. S3, HHC 104th EN BN May94 Nov 94
Individual Ready Reserve, (Control Group) Army Reserve
Personnel Center, St. Louis, MO Nov 94 Dec 94
Engineer Staff Officer, HQ, State Area Command Jan 95 Nov 96
Student, Engineer School, Fort Leonard Wood, MO Nov 96 Dec 96
Engineer Staff Officer, HQ, State Area Command Jan 96 Jan 98
Engineer Staff Officer, HQ, State Area Command Jan 98 Jun 00
Student, C&GSC, Combined Arms and Services Staff School
MacDill Air Force Base, FL Jul 00 Aug 00
Engineer Staff Officer, HQ, State Area Command Aug 00 Oct 00
Air Movements Officer, HQ, 32nd TRANSGROUP, Tampa, FL Oct 00 Aug 01
S3 Plans Officer, HQ, 32nd TRANSGROUP, Tampa, FL Aug 01 Feb 02
S3 Plans Officer, HQ, 32nd TRANSGROUP, Camp Doha, Kuwait
Direct support to 143d TRANSCOM (FWD) Feb 02 Feb 03
Individual Ready Reserve, (Reinforcement) Army Reserve
Personnel Center, St. Louis, MO Feb 03 Oct 03
Individual Mobilization Augmentee, Army Reserve, assigned
HQ USSOUTHCOM SCEN as Regional Contingency Engineer
Management Cell Liaison Officer for South America Team Oct 03 Jul 05
HQ USSOUTHCOM, Standing Joint Force Headquarters
Miami, FL, Engineer Planner Aug 05 Jan 06
HQ USSOUTHCOM, SCEN Miami, FL
Engineer Planner/Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Engineer SME Jan 06 Jul 07
Individual Mobilization Augmentee, Army Reserve, assigned
HQ USSOUTHCOM SCEN as Regional Contingency Engineer
Management Cell Central American Team Chief Jul 07 Present
Gee. I don’t get it.
Why would a decorated warrior like Major Cook be branded by the media as a coward, kook, and nut job when it is plain that he took a significant risk, ultimately jeopardizing and losing his sterling military career, simply to get the answer to the question “Is the current holder of the president of the United States lawfully eligible?”
Likewise, why would the media gush with confused astonishment and hand-wringing cries of compassion over a mass murderer?
I doubt the US Armed Forces would tolerate a practicing Nazi. Why did the command structure of the Army sustain and promote one such as Major Hasan?
The answer is simple. Shockingly simple:
Cultural-political correctness has infiltrated our Armed Forces so completely that it has now bred an explosive, deadly Jihadist-enemy culture within the very forces created for our protection.
And in the same morally twisted way, Major Cook was an enemy of the state and a threat to the cohesion of military authority, simply because he wanted proof that Barack Obama was Constitutionally eligible.
Somehow, “where’s the birth certificate?” is more of a threat to the United States than killing 10's of innocent Americans.
This is how bad things have become in America: Those who hold the Constitution as sacred are condemned, mocked, and destroyed, while those who murder in the name of Jihad have to be “understood” and cherished as “victims”.
Where has your moral clarity gone, America?
____________
Hasan v Cook – A Contrast in Political Correctness
Friday, 06 November 2009 16:21 Author: William M Lolli
Was Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the killer of Fort Hood’s 13 people at last count, a victim? The major media outlets would have us think so.
It seems that the only thing Major Hasan really wanted was to get out of the racist, religiously bigoted Army. And when he couldn’t, he had no choice but to do the right thing and gun down as many of those bad Army people as he could while proclaiming how great God is [“Allahu Akbar”].
Contrast the press handling of Major Hasan with that of Army Major Stefan Cook, whose only crime was he was a “Birther”.
Yes, that’s right—one of those evil Obama birth-certificate people who willing to serve our nation in combat, desirous of continuing a military career, not wanting out of overseas duty nor an end to their service; but whose only offense is that they dared to ask for clarification of the Commander in Chief’s Constitutional Article 2 Section 1 status.
As a result of his lawful questioning of authority, Cook was granted conscientious objector status, had his orders revoked (not of his choosing – the Army’s decision) and was fired from his defense department civilian contractor job. Major Cook still wants to deploy to Afghanistan – just not under potentially unlawful circumstances.
If Major Hasan wanted out of the military because he feared the awful pressure of his religious convictions in fighting the Bush-Obama War, all he would have had to do is go to his commanding officer and ask:
“Where’s the Birth Certificate?”
I can practically guarantee you that Hasan would have been granted a discharge the next day.
But then, he would not be the misunderstood “victim” of the press that he is today.
Don’t believe that Hasan is a victim? How about these quotes from news outlets:
“Fort Hood shooting suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, wanted out of the Army after being constantly harassed by others in the military and was called a ‘camel jockey,’ his family said.
“As Hasan was about to be deployed to Iraq, he was suffering from some of the same stresses that he was trained as an Army psychiatrist to treat.
“Although the 39-year-old had just been promoted to major in May, his family says he had hired a lawyer to help him get out of the Armed Forces.
“Hasan is an American citizen of Palestinian descent and after the 9/11 attacks, his cousin says he was the target of constant harassment from others in the military. His tormentors called him a "camel jockey," said his cousin, Nader Hasan. He wanted out of the Army, so he paid back his military student loans and hired an attorney.”
“While the bullying irritated Hasan, Nader Hasan believes his upcoming deployment is what set him off”
And what a great guy. What sterling credentials.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan:
39 years old. Born in Arlington, raised primarily in southwestern Virginia, graduated from William Fleming High School in Roanoke . Also attended Arlington's Wakefield High School for a year. U.S. Army psychiatrist. Graduated from Virginia Tech with honors in 1995. Studied at Barstow Community College in California and Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke. Received doctorate in psychiatry from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda. Resident and then a fellow at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District. Commissioned as a Captain, he was promoted to Major in May. Was awaiting deployment to Afghanistan, which was to be his first Army service overseas. He is listed by the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress as a fellow for disaster and preventive psychology. As of Oct. 13, he had less than a year of clinical practice. He attended the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring and is devout, according to Faizul Khan, former imam at the center. He attended prayers at least once a day, seven days a week, often in his Army fatigues, Khan said.
SOURCES: Army records and officials, Virginia Tech officials, Arlington schools officials, Washington Post staff writers
See? Hasan was a great guy that just got pushed too far.
And what about that evil Stefan Cook character?
Here is what the lib-press and blogosphere says:
“Army Reserve Major Stefan Frederick Cook Successfully Weasels His Way Out Of Afghanistan Combat Orders By Challenging President Barack Hussein Obama’s Eligibility As His Commander-In-Chief”
“Cook is anything more than a common coward who is frightened about going to a war zone one way and coming back a bit “altered” like so many of us have before him.”
“Huffpost - Stefan Frederick Cook: Soldier Won't Deploy Over Obama Birth Certificate”
“[Cook’s position is..] Boilerplate nutjobbery, sure. This man should be brought before a court martial, stripped of his rank, and dismissed from the service. Plain and simple”
“[Re]'Tard of the Week - Major Stefan Frederick Cook, USA”
Gee—I am almost convinced.
But wait! Let’s look at Major Cook’s record compared to the Religion of Peace Hasan:
Stefan Cook’s Decorations, Service Medals, and Badges:
Combat Patch
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Joint Meritorious Unit Award with one Oak Leaf Cluster
Joint Service Achievement Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster
Army Achievement Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster
Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters
National Defense Service Medal with one Bronze Star device
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Army Service Ribbon
Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M device
Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon
Educational Degrees:
St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York, BS Economics 1983
Fordham University, New York, New York MBA Finance/Quantitative Analysis 1988
Anna Maria College, Falmouth, Mass., MS Quality Management 1996
Military Schools Attended: Year Completed
NJ Military Academy, Officer’s Candidate School 1990
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Basic Course (Resident) 1991
Defense Mapping School, Mapping Charting & Geodesy Officer Course (Resident) 1991
Engineer School, Engineer Construction Course (Correspondence) 1992
Engineer School, Engineer Combat Support Course (Correspondence) 1993
NJ Military Academy, Instructor Trainer Course (Resident) 1993
Physical Fitness School, Master Fitness Trainer Course (Resident) 1994
MI School, Military Intelligence Officer Transition Course (Ph I Correspondence) 1995
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Advance Course (Ph I Correspondence) 1995
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Advance Course (Ph II Resident) 1996
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph I Correspondence) 1998
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph II a Resident) 2000
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph II b Resident) 2000
NJ Military Academy, Officer’s Candidate School 1990
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Basic Course (Resident) 1991
Defense Mapping School, Mapping Charting & Geodesy Officer Course (Resident) 1991
Engineer School, Engineer Construction Course (Correspondence) 1992
Engineer School, Engineer Combat Support Course (Correspondence) 1993
NJ Military Academy, Instructor Trainer Course (Resident) 1993
Physical Fitness School, Master Fitness Trainer Course (Resident) 1994
MI School, Military Intelligence Officer Transition Course (Ph I Correspondence) 1995
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Advance Course (Ph I Correspondence) 1995
Engineer School, Engineer Officer Advance Course (Ph II Resident) 1996
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph I Correspondence) 1998
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph II a Resident) 2000
C&GSC, Combined Arms Services Staff School (Ph II b Resident) 2000
Transportation School, Transportation Officer Advanced Course (Ph I Correspondence) 2001
Transportation School, Senior Transportation Officer Qualification Course
Marine Terminal Track (Web Based Course) 2002
USARC Risk Management Train the Trainer Course (Resident) 2002
Signal School, Signal Officer Advanced Course (Ph I Correspondence) 2003
C&GSC, Command and General Staff officer Course (Ph I Correspondence) 2004
C&GSC, Command and General Staff officer Course (Ph II Correspondence) 2004
C&GSC, Command and General Staff officer Course (Ph III Correspondence) 2004
C&GSC, Command and General Staff officer Course (Ph IV Correspondence) 2004
Joint Forces Staff College, Advanced Joint Professional Military Education 2005
Engineer School, Joint Engineer Officer Course 2006
Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF) Level I course (Web-based) 2008
Improved Explosive Device Awareness Course (Web-based) 2009
Civil Military Relations in an Interagency Context (Web-based) 2009
Defense Against Suicide Bombing Course (Web-based) 2009
Pre-Deployment Cultural Awareness – Afghanistan Course (Web-based) 2009
Chronological Record of Duty Assignments: From To
Active Duty – USAF
Cadet, US Air Force Academy Jun 78 Jul 79
Company Clerk, Co B., 104th EN BN Sep 88 Mar 89
Officer Candidate, NJ Military Academy Mar 89 Jun 90
Platoon Leader, Co E, 104th EN BN Jun 90 Jan 91
Student, Engineer School, Fort Leonard Wood Jan 91 May 91
Platoon Leader, Co E, 104th EN BN May 91 Aug 91
Student, Defense Mapping School, Ft. Belvoir Aug 91 Nov 91
Platoon Leader, Co E, 104th EN BN Nov 91 Dec 91
Platoon Leader, 554th EN BN, Honduras Jan 92 Mar 92
Platoon Leader, Co E, 104th EN BN Mar 92 Jun 92
Asst. S3, HHC 104th EN BN Jun 92 Apr 94
Student, US Army Physical Fitness School, Ft. Benning, GA Apr 94 May 94
Asst. S3, HHC 104th EN BN May94 Nov 94
Individual Ready Reserve, (Control Group) Army Reserve
Personnel Center, St. Louis, MO Nov 94 Dec 94
Engineer Staff Officer, HQ, State Area Command Jan 95 Nov 96
Student, Engineer School, Fort Leonard Wood, MO Nov 96 Dec 96
Engineer Staff Officer, HQ, State Area Command Jan 96 Jan 98
Engineer Staff Officer, HQ, State Area Command Jan 98 Jun 00
Student, C&GSC, Combined Arms and Services Staff School
MacDill Air Force Base, FL Jul 00 Aug 00
Engineer Staff Officer, HQ, State Area Command Aug 00 Oct 00
Air Movements Officer, HQ, 32nd TRANSGROUP, Tampa, FL Oct 00 Aug 01
S3 Plans Officer, HQ, 32nd TRANSGROUP, Tampa, FL Aug 01 Feb 02
S3 Plans Officer, HQ, 32nd TRANSGROUP, Camp Doha, Kuwait
Direct support to 143d TRANSCOM (FWD) Feb 02 Feb 03
Individual Ready Reserve, (Reinforcement) Army Reserve
Personnel Center, St. Louis, MO Feb 03 Oct 03
Individual Mobilization Augmentee, Army Reserve, assigned
HQ USSOUTHCOM SCEN as Regional Contingency Engineer
Management Cell Liaison Officer for South America Team Oct 03 Jul 05
HQ USSOUTHCOM, Standing Joint Force Headquarters
Miami, FL, Engineer Planner Aug 05 Jan 06
HQ USSOUTHCOM, SCEN Miami, FL
Engineer Planner/Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Engineer SME Jan 06 Jul 07
Individual Mobilization Augmentee, Army Reserve, assigned
HQ USSOUTHCOM SCEN as Regional Contingency Engineer
Management Cell Central American Team Chief Jul 07 Present
Gee. I don’t get it.
Why would a decorated warrior like Major Cook be branded by the media as a coward, kook, and nut job when it is plain that he took a significant risk, ultimately jeopardizing and losing his sterling military career, simply to get the answer to the question “Is the current holder of the president of the United States lawfully eligible?”
Likewise, why would the media gush with confused astonishment and hand-wringing cries of compassion over a mass murderer?
I doubt the US Armed Forces would tolerate a practicing Nazi. Why did the command structure of the Army sustain and promote one such as Major Hasan?
The answer is simple. Shockingly simple:
Cultural-political correctness has infiltrated our Armed Forces so completely that it has now bred an explosive, deadly Jihadist-enemy culture within the very forces created for our protection.
And in the same morally twisted way, Major Cook was an enemy of the state and a threat to the cohesion of military authority, simply because he wanted proof that Barack Obama was Constitutionally eligible.
Somehow, “where’s the birth certificate?” is more of a threat to the United States than killing 10's of innocent Americans.
This is how bad things have become in America: Those who hold the Constitution as sacred are condemned, mocked, and destroyed, while those who murder in the name of Jihad have to be “understood” and cherished as “victims”.
Where has your moral clarity gone, America?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Home Grown Muslim Sleeper...
From The Wall Street Journal
Hash Browns, Then 4 Minutes of Chaos
Role of Texas Shooter's Muslim Faith Is Examined;
Policewoman Hailed as Hero
By ANA CAMPOY, PETER SANDERS and RUSSELL GOLD
FORT HOOD, Texas -- On Thursday morning, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan gave a key to his apartment manager, lined up some cleaning supplies under his sink and asked Patricia Villa if he could pay her $60 to tidy up his one-bedroom place. He was shipping out to Afghanistan on Friday, he told her.
"I asked him, 'Are you afraid of going over there?'" Ms. Villa recalls. "He said, 'I'm ready for it."
Then, authorities said, he packed two handguns, drove to this bustling military base, and opened fire on a brigade of young engineers prepping to deploy to Afghanistan after Christmas. In a matter of about four minutes -- before he himself was taken down in a face-to-face shootout with a female police officer -- he killed 13 people and wounded 30.
As victims and witnesses came forward to describe the worst soldier-on-soldier violence in U.S. military history, authorities worked Friday to learn more about the alleged shooter, Maj. Hasan. They seized his home computer in hopes of trying to discern a motive.
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the top commander at Fort Hood, said soldiers at the base have told investigators Maj. Hasan, a Muslim, shouted "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," in the attack. One military official at the Pentagon who has been briefed on the investigation said officials are "close to 100%" certain Maj. Hasan authored an Internet posting defending suicide bombings.
At the same time, the authorities cautioned troops not to jump to conclusions about why one of their own may have chosen to go on a murderous rampage. It remains unclear what role Maj. Hasan's religion played in Thursday's events. Army officials said the alleged shooter's fear and anger about his deployment to Afghanistan could have sparked the assault.
Maj. Hasan -- who was transfered Friday afternoon to an Army hospital in San Antonio, in stable condition according to a hospital spokesman -- was an Army psychiatrist, trained to counsel soldiers wrestling with the horrors of war. If he was agitated about his own deployment, he showed few signs of it, according to friends, neighbors and religious leaders.
"It's a shock," said Col. Kimberly Kesling, who supervised Maj. Hasan.
Before chatting with Ms. Villa on Thursday morning, Maj. Hasan went to a local mosque for morning prayer, arriving a half-hour early, as was his custom, according to an Army veteran who prayed with him. And he made his customary stop at a 7-Eleven convenience store just off the base for hash browns and coffee. Surveillance tapes from the store show him smiling and chatting.
In recent days he had carefully emptied his dingy, $350-a-month apartment, giving away two bookcases, his air mattress, four folding chairs, a clock.
The shooting rampage began shortly after 1:20 p.m. Thursday, as scores of soldiers from the 36th engineer brigade, which has the motto "Stay Rugged," waited for medical exams at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, a gymnasium-sized building at Fort Hood where troops are prepped for deployment. The process is long and as the soldiers milled about, they texted friends, called parents, watched ESPN.
Then, chaos.
Authorities say several witnesses heard Maj. Hasan open fire with two weapons, neither of them Army-issued. One person with knowledge of the weapons said one was a revolver, the other a FN Herstal "Five-seveN"tactical pistol, which one firearms Web site describes as capable of defeating "most body armor in military service around the world today."
The FN carries 20 rounds per magazine. One witness said he saw Maj. Hasan reload at least once. A medic who treated the major's injuries said his camouflage cargo pant pockets were full of magazines.
The shots came so rapidly that Pvt. First Class Marquest Smith, who was going over some paperwork in a cubicle in the building, says he first thought he was hearing microwave popcorn.
Someone shouted: "Gun!"
Pvt. Smith dived under a desk. He says he waited several long minutes, listening to the terror unfold, until he thought he should make a dash for safety.
As he broke for the door, he saw Maj. Hasan in combat fatigues, moving around the room. His handgun was pointed downward, he said, as though he were methodically shooting the soldiers who had fallen or were crouching, seeking cover.
A bullet hit Pvt. Smith's boot as he fled, sticking in the sole. His mom called, too, on Thursday, and he told her he was fine.
The first 911 calls to the police station on base came in at 1:23 p.m. Officers across the sprawling base sprang into action.
Kimberly Munley, a 35-year-old police officer, happened to be nearby, waiting for her squad car to get a tune-up, when she heard the commotion. She raced to the scene, according to her boss, Chuck Medley, director of emergency services on base.
As she rounded a corner, she saw Maj. Hasan chasing a wounded soldier through an open courtyard. He looked as though he was trying to "finish off" the wounded soldier, Mr. Medley said.
"He looked extremely focused," said Francisco De La Serna, a 23-year-old medic who had fled the building and was watching the same scene unfold from a hiding spot across the street.
Ms. Munley's first shot missed Maj. Hasan. He spun to face her and began charging, Mr. Medley said.
The time was 1:27 p.m., just four minutes after the initial 911 call.
Authorities haven't said precisely how many shots were fired during the running gun battle between Maj. Hasan and Ms. Munley. But one of her shots hit Mr. Hasan in the torso, knocking him to the ground. With that, officials say, she quite likely prevented more injuries or deaths on the base.
Ms. Munley took two bullets to her legs. Both entered her left thigh, ripped through the flesh and lodged in her right thigh. She also received a minor wound to the right wrist.
Specialist De La Serna, the medic hiding across the street, sprinted to the scene as the shooting stopped and put a tourniquet on Ms. Munley, who was fading in and out of consciousness, he said. Then he moved to Maj. Hasan, who had a gunshot wound through the chest. Mr. De La Serna described the wounded major as calm and quiet, conscious but weak, a handgun at his side.
Ms. Munley underwent surgery Thursday night to halt bleeding and faces at least two more operations to remove the bullets in her thigh. Authorities said her husband, a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, was on his way. Her Twitter account filled with messages of thanks and admiration from strangers world-wide.
As soon as the shooting stopped, soldiers in the processing center shifted into combat mode, ripping apart their uniforms to use as tourniquets. The wounded flooded the emergency room on base, where nurses and doctors struggled to cope with the injuries.
The slain included at least one teenager, 19-year-old Aaron Nemelka, who joined the Army last year, out of high school. Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, was 22 and had just married. Francheska Velez, 21, was an oil-tank driver who had completed tours in Korea and Iraq. She was two months pregnant with her first child. Five Army reservists were also killed, including Michael Cahill, who was 62 and worked at the processing center as a physician's assistant.
In all, 13 caskets, each draped with an American flag, were loaded into a C-17 transport plane on Friday afternoon, to be flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
—Stephanie Simon, Yochi Dreazen, Kris Hudson and Nomaan Merchant contributed to this article.
______________________________________-
The enemy is amoung us!
He is in The White House...
He is in our military...
He is Muslim and he is ruthless!
Stay vigilant!
Hash Browns, Then 4 Minutes of Chaos
Role of Texas Shooter's Muslim Faith Is Examined;
Policewoman Hailed as Hero
By ANA CAMPOY, PETER SANDERS and RUSSELL GOLD
FORT HOOD, Texas -- On Thursday morning, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan gave a key to his apartment manager, lined up some cleaning supplies under his sink and asked Patricia Villa if he could pay her $60 to tidy up his one-bedroom place. He was shipping out to Afghanistan on Friday, he told her.
"I asked him, 'Are you afraid of going over there?'" Ms. Villa recalls. "He said, 'I'm ready for it."
Then, authorities said, he packed two handguns, drove to this bustling military base, and opened fire on a brigade of young engineers prepping to deploy to Afghanistan after Christmas. In a matter of about four minutes -- before he himself was taken down in a face-to-face shootout with a female police officer -- he killed 13 people and wounded 30.
As victims and witnesses came forward to describe the worst soldier-on-soldier violence in U.S. military history, authorities worked Friday to learn more about the alleged shooter, Maj. Hasan. They seized his home computer in hopes of trying to discern a motive.
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the top commander at Fort Hood, said soldiers at the base have told investigators Maj. Hasan, a Muslim, shouted "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," in the attack. One military official at the Pentagon who has been briefed on the investigation said officials are "close to 100%" certain Maj. Hasan authored an Internet posting defending suicide bombings.
At the same time, the authorities cautioned troops not to jump to conclusions about why one of their own may have chosen to go on a murderous rampage. It remains unclear what role Maj. Hasan's religion played in Thursday's events. Army officials said the alleged shooter's fear and anger about his deployment to Afghanistan could have sparked the assault.
Maj. Hasan -- who was transfered Friday afternoon to an Army hospital in San Antonio, in stable condition according to a hospital spokesman -- was an Army psychiatrist, trained to counsel soldiers wrestling with the horrors of war. If he was agitated about his own deployment, he showed few signs of it, according to friends, neighbors and religious leaders.
"It's a shock," said Col. Kimberly Kesling, who supervised Maj. Hasan.
Before chatting with Ms. Villa on Thursday morning, Maj. Hasan went to a local mosque for morning prayer, arriving a half-hour early, as was his custom, according to an Army veteran who prayed with him. And he made his customary stop at a 7-Eleven convenience store just off the base for hash browns and coffee. Surveillance tapes from the store show him smiling and chatting.
In recent days he had carefully emptied his dingy, $350-a-month apartment, giving away two bookcases, his air mattress, four folding chairs, a clock.
The shooting rampage began shortly after 1:20 p.m. Thursday, as scores of soldiers from the 36th engineer brigade, which has the motto "Stay Rugged," waited for medical exams at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, a gymnasium-sized building at Fort Hood where troops are prepped for deployment. The process is long and as the soldiers milled about, they texted friends, called parents, watched ESPN.
Then, chaos.
Authorities say several witnesses heard Maj. Hasan open fire with two weapons, neither of them Army-issued. One person with knowledge of the weapons said one was a revolver, the other a FN Herstal "Five-seveN"tactical pistol, which one firearms Web site describes as capable of defeating "most body armor in military service around the world today."
The FN carries 20 rounds per magazine. One witness said he saw Maj. Hasan reload at least once. A medic who treated the major's injuries said his camouflage cargo pant pockets were full of magazines.
The shots came so rapidly that Pvt. First Class Marquest Smith, who was going over some paperwork in a cubicle in the building, says he first thought he was hearing microwave popcorn.
Someone shouted: "Gun!"
Pvt. Smith dived under a desk. He says he waited several long minutes, listening to the terror unfold, until he thought he should make a dash for safety.
As he broke for the door, he saw Maj. Hasan in combat fatigues, moving around the room. His handgun was pointed downward, he said, as though he were methodically shooting the soldiers who had fallen or were crouching, seeking cover.
A bullet hit Pvt. Smith's boot as he fled, sticking in the sole. His mom called, too, on Thursday, and he told her he was fine.
The first 911 calls to the police station on base came in at 1:23 p.m. Officers across the sprawling base sprang into action.
Kimberly Munley, a 35-year-old police officer, happened to be nearby, waiting for her squad car to get a tune-up, when she heard the commotion. She raced to the scene, according to her boss, Chuck Medley, director of emergency services on base.
As she rounded a corner, she saw Maj. Hasan chasing a wounded soldier through an open courtyard. He looked as though he was trying to "finish off" the wounded soldier, Mr. Medley said.
"He looked extremely focused," said Francisco De La Serna, a 23-year-old medic who had fled the building and was watching the same scene unfold from a hiding spot across the street.
Ms. Munley's first shot missed Maj. Hasan. He spun to face her and began charging, Mr. Medley said.
The time was 1:27 p.m., just four minutes after the initial 911 call.
Authorities haven't said precisely how many shots were fired during the running gun battle between Maj. Hasan and Ms. Munley. But one of her shots hit Mr. Hasan in the torso, knocking him to the ground. With that, officials say, she quite likely prevented more injuries or deaths on the base.
Ms. Munley took two bullets to her legs. Both entered her left thigh, ripped through the flesh and lodged in her right thigh. She also received a minor wound to the right wrist.
Specialist De La Serna, the medic hiding across the street, sprinted to the scene as the shooting stopped and put a tourniquet on Ms. Munley, who was fading in and out of consciousness, he said. Then he moved to Maj. Hasan, who had a gunshot wound through the chest. Mr. De La Serna described the wounded major as calm and quiet, conscious but weak, a handgun at his side.
Ms. Munley underwent surgery Thursday night to halt bleeding and faces at least two more operations to remove the bullets in her thigh. Authorities said her husband, a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, was on his way. Her Twitter account filled with messages of thanks and admiration from strangers world-wide.
As soon as the shooting stopped, soldiers in the processing center shifted into combat mode, ripping apart their uniforms to use as tourniquets. The wounded flooded the emergency room on base, where nurses and doctors struggled to cope with the injuries.
The slain included at least one teenager, 19-year-old Aaron Nemelka, who joined the Army last year, out of high school. Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, was 22 and had just married. Francheska Velez, 21, was an oil-tank driver who had completed tours in Korea and Iraq. She was two months pregnant with her first child. Five Army reservists were also killed, including Michael Cahill, who was 62 and worked at the processing center as a physician's assistant.
In all, 13 caskets, each draped with an American flag, were loaded into a C-17 transport plane on Friday afternoon, to be flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
—Stephanie Simon, Yochi Dreazen, Kris Hudson and Nomaan Merchant contributed to this article.
______________________________________-
The enemy is amoung us!
He is in The White House...
He is in our military...
He is Muslim and he is ruthless!
Stay vigilant!
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