“Plausible denial” was the word in 1968, when some U.S. military personnel were taking the battle to the communist enemy in Cambodia and Laos as “civilians.” What was undeniable, and what finally became crystal clear decades later, was the heroism and selflessness that was exhibited by one of those men, United States Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Richard Loy Etchberger. In March 1968, a remote radar site in Laos, known as Lima Site 85, was attacked and eventually overrun. Etchberger, one of the defenders at that site, remained in his position despite heavy fire that had killed or wounded most of his comrades. Fighting with everything at his disposal, including calling in air strikes, he battled back. When med-evac helos finally came, he put his wounded comrades aboard first, braving enemy fire to get them up to safety before he himself was mortally wounded. Though he had received posthumously the Air Force Cross for his actions that day, Etchberger will now receive his full due: the Medal of Honor.
Archive for the ‘Editorial, Opinion’ Category
Profiles of Valor: U.S. Air Force CMSgt Etchberger
September 24, 2010Perjury in Black Panther Case?
September 24, 2010We’re closer to the next election than we are the last, but the fallout from the Black Panther case percolates on. Recall that New Black Panther Party members stood outside a Philadelphia polling place in Nov. 2008 brandishing a billy club, shouting racial epithets and otherwise intimidating white voters. This week, the watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained internal e-mail logs from the Department of Justice that suggest that senior officials had a hand in making the decision to pull the plug on the case, contradicting sworn testimony by Thomas Perez, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Perez said in May that the decision was, “a case of career people disagreeing with career people.”
While it’s doubtful that Perez will be on the rack for these allegations anytime soon, the incident reveals both the difficulty of extracting information on how a slam-dunk case was dropped and the lengths to which Attorney General Eric Holder may be going in not pursuing certain cases based on race. It took a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch just to receive the logs and a summary of what particular e-mails stated, with a court ordering the disclosure.
Democrats Run From Their Record: epic fail obama
September 24, 2010How bad is it for Democrats? They’re running against their own programs. ObamaCare, cap-n-tax, you name it, they’re against it now. This situation reached absurdity when five Democrat members of Congress ran ads claiming to have voted “no” on TARP. The five are Frank Kratovil (MD), Dina Titus (NV), Mary Jo Kilroy (OH), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA) and Glenn Nye (VA). The inconvenient truth is, according to FactCheck.org, “None of the five lawmakers who are running these ads is listed in the roll call vote. That’s because none of them had taken office yet.” But if they had been in Congress, they would have been against it. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
“I still remember Sasha, when she was three months old … had meningitis, and she had to get a spinal tap, and they had to keep her [in the hospital] for three or four days. … I still remember that feeling of just desperation, watching the nurse take her away to provide treatment for her. But I was thinking, what if I hadn’t had insurance?” –Barack Obama at a “backyard discussion” in Virginia about health care
Obama lectures the press to leave his girls alone, yet turns around and uses them as a political prop whenever it suits his own leftist policy initiatives.
However, he does “take the blame” for public opposition to ObamaCare. “Sometimes I fault myself for not being able to make the case more clearly to the country.” He may think that if only he had talked more about it, voters would get it, but as the first provisions kicked in this week, it’s more likely that voters will now blame Democrats for every health care problem.
The Recession Is Over? Yeah, right…
September 24, 2010In case you missed the news, the recession is over. As of June 2009, no less. So say the economic sages at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the arbiter of these things. According to the NBER, the recession began in December 2007 and lasted 18 months — the longest since the Great Depression. That it’s over is good news, but there’s a “but.”
“On the other hand,” writes The Wall Street Journal, “the recession was only two months longer than the 16-month downturns of 1973-1975 and 1981-82, the two other most serious post-World War II periods of falling economic growth. The 2007-2009 downturn was painful but not extraordinary in historical context. What is different about this period is the relative weakness of the economic recovery.”
For years after 1982, GDP growth was at least 4 percent. Today, GDP remains below that of the fourth quarter of 2007. One difference is that in 1983, Ronald Reagan’s cuts in marginal tax rates were taking hold, while in 2010, the economy is bracing for trillions of dollars in tax increases in January. The current administration’s “recovery” policies have also been a major drag on economic growth, no matter how they may crow about their “success.”
Since January 2009, the economy has lost 3.2 million jobs, and the current 9.6 percent unemployment rate is higher than the 9.5 percent in June 2009 when the recession supposedly ended. U.S. household net worth fell by another $1.5 trillion in the second quarter, and is now $10.7 trillion less than at its high point in 2007. Foreclosures are at record highs.
Perhaps all of this is why some of the jobs now being shed are those of Barack Obama’s economic advisers. He may say on the campaign stump that Tea Party supporters are “misidentifying who the culprits are” for this economic trouble, but heads are rolling at the White House. “This is tough, the work that they do,” Obama said. “They’ve been at it for two years, and they’re going to have a whole range of decisions about family that will factor into this as well.” As in spending more time with family.
Lawrence Summers, chairman of the president’s National Economic Council, is heading back to Harvard. Apparently, the “Recovery Summers” is over. Other recent departures include budget director Peter Orszag and head of the Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer. Meanwhile, Herb Allison, who took charge of the Troubled Asset Relief Program in April 2009, is stepping down. That leaves Treasury Secretary Timothy “Turbo Tax Cheat” Geithner as the lone remaining member of Obama’s original economic team.
We’ll say it again: In order to generate real economic growth, tax rates must remain level (or, even better, decline), regulation must ease and, in general, government must shrink. Of course, Obama and his refurbished economic team are unlikely to come to the same conclusion.
We won, this time…
September 24, 2010Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org
The U.S. Senate today defeated the so-called DISCLOSE Act when it failed to garner the 60 votes necessary to overcome Republican objections to the bill. The final vote was 59-39.
Even though the exact same bill, sponsored by Chuck Schumer (D-NY), had been defeated just two months ago and was unlikely to pass, anti-gun Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) brought it up for another vote to “stir up” his left-wing base.
Instead of protecting the most important type of speech protected by the First Amendment — political speech — with this bill Congress attempted to force groups like GOA to “disclose” the names of donors in certain political advertisements.
Since Gun Owners of America will never disclose its membership lists to the federal government, it could be prohibited from running radio or TV ads exposing a federal candidate’s voting record in the weeks leading up to an election.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) aptly summed up the bill when it came to the floor in July:
“This DISCLOSE Act is not about reform, it’s nothing more than Democrats sitting behind closed doors [choosing] which favored groups they want to speak in the 2010 elections — all in an attempt to protect themselves from criticism of their government takeovers, record deficits and massive unpaid-for expansions of the federal government into the lives of the American people.”
With a lame-duck session of Congress looming after the election, anything is possible — including another attempt to push through DISCLOSE. So please stay tuned.
It’s back: Disclose Act returns
September 23, 2010Anti-gun Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) is giving voters yet another reason why he must be defeated in November.
Preparing for heavy losses in the general election, anti-gun Democrat leaders like Reid and Charles Schumer (D-NY) appear to be readying for a vote on the so-called DISCLOSE Act, possibly this week.
While Reid has not yet officially taken the necessary steps to move the bill, his communications director sent out this Tweet on Tuesday: “We’re debating DISCLOSE Act tomorrow [Wednesday] w/ vote Thursday.”
You may recall that the DISCLOSE Act, which passed the House in June, died in the Senate in July after an intense lobbying effort by Gun Owners of America and other groups.
The bill, sponsored by Schumer, puts severe and unconstitutional limits on GOA’s ability to hold individual congressmen accountable in the weeks leading up to an election.
Instead of protecting the most important type of speech protected by the First Amendment — political speech — this bill would force groups like GOA to “disclose” the names of donors in certain political advertisements.
Since Gun Owners of America is not willing to disclose its membership lists to the Federal Election Commission, we could be prohibited from running radio or TV ads exposing a federal candidate’s voting record within 60 days of a general election.
This is just another attempt by pathetic, anti-gun politicians to save their jobs before the political earthquake in November strikes.
And, as has been the case so often over the past two years, Reid, Schumer and Co. are using the rules of the Senate to bring the bill directly to the floor. There have been no committee hearings to debate the merits of the bill, thus the American people have no opportunity to see just how egregiously DISCLOSE violates the Constitution.
While the bill does contain a controversial provision to exempt the National Rifle Association, GOA remains adamantly opposed to it on constitutional grounds.
Please urge your Senators to protect ALL of the Bill of Rights. Remind them that your ability to protect the Second Amendment relies on the safeguards of the First Amendment.
ACTION: Please contact your Senators and urge them to oppose the DISCLOSE Act. You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators the pre-written e-mail message below.
—– Pre-written letter —–
Dear Senator:
I stand with Gun Owners of America in opposing Senator Schumer’s so-called DISCLOSE Act.
This bill was defeated once in the Senate, but now anti-gun Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring it back to the floor for another vote.
The DISCLOSE Act is just another attempt by politicians to cling to their jobs by silencing groups like Gun Owners of America.
And, as has been the case so often over the past two years, Reid, Schumer and Co. are using the rules of the Senate to bring the bill directly to the floor. There have been no committee hearings to debate the merits of the bill, thus the American people have no opportunity to see just how the ironically named DISCLOSE Act violates the Constitution.
Gun Owners of America represents the views of hundreds of thousands of Second Amendment supporters. Any bill that squelched the free speech rights of groups like GOA is also an attack on my rights.
Please vote NO on Sen. Schumer’s DISCLOSE Act.
Sincerely,
The Senate will likely vote on the DISCLOSE Act again TODAY. That’s why we’re sending this message earlier than normal. It’s urgent that you act quickly.
Incumbents banded together in 2002 to make it effectively a crime, punishable by jail, for a non-profit group like DownsizeDC.org to broadcast issue ads during the final days of an election campaign.
The Supreme Court fixed this problem earlier this year, getting something right for a change. In the Citizens United case they restored the right of non-profit corporations like DownsizeDC.org, Inc., to broadcast issue ads during elections.
The name of the case fits. Non-wealthy CITIZENS are UNITED in organizations: They band together using their First Amendment rights of association and press to publish and broadcast their opinions. Bad laws have forced we citizens into a legal cul de sac, where WE NEED CORPORATIONS LIKE CITIZENS UNITED AND DOWNSIZE DC TO HELP US ACHIEVE OUR GOAL OF BEING HEARD. But . . .
In this year when most Americans want to fire Congress, the incumbent politicians are making a last ditch effort to protect incumbency — by chilling dissent. Here’s what’s at stake . . .
Because DownsizeDC.org is un-willing to expose its list of supporters (your name) to the Federal Election Commission we would be PROHIBITED from running ads exposing a candidate’s record.
We explain, in greater detail, how this law would affect the groups you love most at the web page opposing the anti-First Amendment DISCLOSE Act.
To create artificial demand for this terrible bill, numerous politicians, including the President, have lied about the Citizens United decision. It’s time to call them on it — literally.
First, send them a letter RIGHT NOW. Here’s what I wrote using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System:
There has been a massive disinformation campaign designed to push through this anti-First Amendment bill.
* Some Representatives and Senators have said that the Citizens United ruling overturned 100 years of law, when it fact it merely overturned a 20-year old decision. http://tinyurl.com/2f9c4qq
* Many of these same incumbent politicians claimed that now major corporations, like BP, would be able to buy our elections (one of your members even said bribery was now legal!).
* Which is richly ironic, because . . .
a) The DISCLOSE Act only restricts regular-sized non-profits while exempting behemoths like the NRA and AARP, and . . . http://tinyurl.com/2vxe23w
b) Major commercial corporations have always held tremendous sway over our government, and any pretense that they don’t insults my intelligence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
Face it: The DISCLOSE Act is about NOTHING MORE THAN CHILLING DISSENT.
And I’m in on the secret.
If you vote for this bill then it means you want to disenfranchise the little guy for the benfit of yourself and big special interests.
There’s a better alternative. As James Madison said Federalist No.10, the best way to counter the influence of tremendous wealth, and the concentrated benefits that big corporations seek, is to foster the freedom for many voices to join the political fray. That’s why the First Amendment reads, “Congress shall make no law,” that even “abridges” (remotely infringes) on my rights of association and expression — NO LAW.
I emphatically urge you to work and vote for a filibuster, and failing that, to work as hard as you can to defeat the DISCLOSE Act.
END LETTER
Second, because the vote is occurring today, PLEASE ALSO CALL YOUR SENATORS ON THE PHONE. Their numbers are provided on the same page where you send your letter to Congress, if you’re logged-in to your account.
Remember to tell them you’re a constituent of theirs, and to be brief, polite, but forceful.
Please pass this message on to others, removing the information below my signature so no one accidentally unsubscribes you. Also, if you have a blog, please repost this information.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
GOP’s ‘Pledge to America’
September 22, 2010Why does the Taxed Enough Already Libertarian come out in me when I hear Republicans talk like responsible people? 1994 and the Contract with America maybe? Anti- Constitution Republicans maybe? Republicans In Name only like John McCain maybe..?
House Republican leaders will unveil a 21-page “Pledge to America” on Thursday that presents a “governing agenda” for what Republicans would do if they win control of Congress in November.
CNN obtained a copy of the document Wednesday.
The plan focuses primarily on jobs and the economy, with a short reference in the “preamble” to the party’s position on social issues.
Can Republicans, based upon their history, be trusted with the reins of government? Would you trust an active crack whore with your safety and well being? That’s precisely what Republicans act like once they get into power.
The alternative though?
Analysis: Summers exit lets epic failure obama retool team and message
September 21, 2010Sheer idiocy, sheer idiocy I tell you! Socialism and Communism just don’t work great leader with Romulan ears! Such an epic failure! The American people deserve so much better in their leaders!
Read on…
(Reuters) – The departure of economic adviser Larry Summers opens the way for President Barack Obama to shake up leadership of his economic team and show he is taking seriously growing public frustration over the sluggish economic recovery.
Whoever replaces Summers will have policy options constrained by a record $1.47 trillion budget deficit and the possible Democratic loss of control of the House of Representatives in November 2 congressional elections.
* With slow economic growth and nearly double-digit unemployment the central issues in the elections, Summers’ exit continues the overhaul of Obama’s economic team, after White House budget director Peter Orszag and top White House economist Christina Romer departed recently.
Obama’s team had been widely criticized for overly optimistic forecasts about an economy that has not gathered enough steam to erode stubbornly high unemployment.
Word of Summers’ departure followed a town hall meeting on Monday where Obama came face-to-face with supporters disillusioned with his economic recovery efforts.
Full story HERE
Read it… Then go and find a royal throne to puke in.
Our impostor in chief yet again fails to accomplish anything, anything at all that the fools that voted for him wanted. I personally think that is a good thing. A very good thing.
Obama uses IRS to retaliate against opponents
September 21, 2010The Weekly Standard reports that Barack Obama may have seized private tax information provided by the IRS in order to retaliate against his political opponents.
Profiles of Valor: U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta
September 21, 2010Way to go AIRBORNE!
United States Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta will become the first living service member to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The White House described Giunta’s actions:
Then-Specialist Salvatore A. Giunta distinguished himself by acts of gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a rifle team leader with Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment during combat operations against an armed enemy in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan on October 25, 2007.When an insurgent force ambush split Specialist Giunta’s squad into two groups, he exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a comrade back to cover. Later, while engaging the enemy and attempting to link up with the rest of his squad, Specialist Giunta noticed two insurgents carrying away a fellow soldier. He immediately engaged the enemy, killing one and wounding the other, and provided medical aid to his wounded comrade while the rest of his squad caught up and provided security. His courage and leadership while under extreme enemy fire were integral to his platoon’s ability to defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow American paratrooper from enemy hands.
Giunta himself was shot in the chest, though his ballistic vest prevented injury, and another bullet disabled the weapon on his back. Unfortunately, Sgt. John Brennan, the first soldier Giunta saved, did not survive surgery. They were best friends. No date has been set for the award ceremony, but we offer our sincerest thanks for Giunta’s service.
Conservative Libertarian Outpost 