From politics (moderates who lean to the right) to Pogo (drools during poker stare) to rants (Whatcha expect from savvy, sassy sexagenarians?) to raves (Have you had your kudo today?) -- we never take ourselves too seriously.
We do, however, reserve the right to slaughter an occasional sacred cow. And in case we fail to mention it -- we will never forget....
He is in the infantry. This is his second tour. His commitment was supposed to be over this spring. He is not getting out or coming home then. He is staying until his unit's deployment is over and their mission completed -- whenever that is.
His younger brother is in Army ROTC and expects to be commissioned into the infantry later this year.
The Army did not pay either son's tuition. We did. They don't "owe" this to the government.
Nobody wants this war over more than we do.
My sons accepted danger
The older one started his journey toward this three-year tour in the Army before Sept. 11, 2001, but he did not sign the dotted line and commit himself until the summer of 2002. It was clear at the time that this nation would be at war with Islamofascist extremists somewhere in the world by the time he graduated from college and entered active duty.
The younger one started his ROTC program that same year and signed his commitment in 2004, long after it had become clear that the war against terror was not a walk in the park and would not be over in a couple of months, as Desert Storm had been. He was already simultaneously enlisted in the South Carolina National Guard when he committed to extending his tour by six years after officer training.Unlike our politicians, Brian and Paul are unable to change their minds according to the latest poll.
The older one has seen war, with its death, destruction and evil, up close and personal. His roommate was killed by an IED last time. He has lost several friends and seen several others in his "band of brothers" sustain life-changing injuries.
He doesn't like it much.
But he wouldn't leave his men if Congressman Robin Hayes himself sent a helicopter over there with special orders to bring Lt. Floyd home to his mother right this minute.
His is a level of commitment and character that few politicians are able to fathom.
The younger one has seen that war is not much fun for the families at home.
He doesn't get to change his mind, either.
He doesn't want to.
Gutless fat cats in Congress
Meanwhile, those who have sent them to war have turned on them. That includes our politicians and many of the American public who are more wrapped up in and knowledgeable about the Anna Nicole saga than they are about the history of this great nation and the threats we now face.
Two hundred and eighteen gutless fat cats in Congress have passed a bill telling the world that we are quitting in less than 18 months.
Now, let me get this straight: We're going to put our men and women in danger every minute for 17 months but we have no objective other than to leave?
Why not leave now if we are just throwing in the towel?
Who knows how many self-serving demagogues in the Senate will jump on this bandwagon? It all depends on the media and the polls, I think.
And, oh yes, one more thing was driving the House vote:
Money.
Pork.
I call it Blood Money -- and I come from a long line of peanut farmers.
They sweetened their little bill with ridiculous pork projects, paid for by us, and designed to bribe a few congressmen who were on the fence, trying to decide if they should go with what they know is right for the country and for our servicemen or if they should play politics in order toimprove their chances of holding on to their dream jobs.
A little money thrown in to the decision-making process usually helps to clear up all the confusion.
They sicken me.
I'm tired of them playing their games.
Memo to Congress
Here's my memo to Congress.
Dear senators and representatives:
If this nonsense continues, I want my son on the first chopper out of there. My boys will lay down their lives for all of you. You have no right to turn on them. AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO RISK THEIR LIVES FOR NOTHING.
If you think I'm mad, you don't even want to think about the hurt and anger of the majority of those thousands of servicemen and women who have sacrificed their physical and mental health or of the families who have lost loved ones for a cause that we are now told is not important.
WASHINGTON - "Like their counterparts in the House, the Senate has larded its version of an "emergency" war spending bill with nearly $20 billion in pork-barrel outlays, including $100 million for the two major political parties' 2008 presidential conventions.
The $121 billion bill includes $102 billion for the troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as $14 billion for Hurricane Katrina aid and more than $4 billion for "emergency farm relief."
"Congress will have to make the choice between booze and balloons or bullets and body armor," John Hart, a spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told The Examiner on Monday. Coburn and a handful of other senators hope to shame their colleagues into stripping the pork out of the war spending bill.
The Senate bill is $18 billion more than President Bush requested for military operations. The House bill, which passed last week, exceeded the administration's request by $21 billion and included money for spinach growers, peanut storage and citrus farmers.
If the Senate bill goes to conference committee as written, the two chambers may find themselves fighting over the best cuts of pork.
Coburn and his fellow pork foes will offer a series of amendments this week aimed at eliminating fat domestic spending or redirecting it to crucial needs for soldiers, sailors and airmen.
"Maybe this is what Democrats mean by 'phased redeployment'," Hart said.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., Monday defended the extra spending, describing it as "common sense and good economics."
"Funding for the war is not the only critical need worthy of the supplemental spending," he said. The war "must not obliterate every other concern."
The $100 million for the political party conventions — $50 million for the Democratic convention in Denver and $50 million for the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn. — is included in a section described as "Katrina recovery, veterans' care and for other purposes."
The Senate Appropriations Committee noted that the committee provided roughly $50 million to help defray the costs of policing the 2004 conventions. A senate staffer pointed out, however, that the 2004 funding earned approval through the normal appropriations process rather than the less-stringent "emergency" process permitted for the current bill.
The new bill also includes $13 million for "ewe replacement and retention," $24 million for sugar beets growers and $95 million for dairy producers.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the bill contains "enough in each of the four food groups for a balanced meal."
And it includes $3.5 million for the Capitol's guided–tour program and $20 million for, in part, insect infestation control in Nevada, thanks to Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Among the other beneficiaries of the Senate "emergency" war bill is the tree assistance program, including, specifically, Christmas trees.
"This bill is both literally and figuratively a Christmas tree," said one Senate staffer who has studied the bill."
::::oinkoinkoink:::::
The vote on NOT stopping the slow bleeding of our military are listed at The Defeat Caucus.
The final vote will be posted when it is available.
Several years ago, a dear friend was diagnosed with liver cancer. Everyone was devastated. Except her, of course. She spent the next 8 functional months of her life entertaining friends (dang, could she cook) -- while canning and freezing enough heat-and-eat-meals for her disabled husband for a year.
She figured that it would take him at least a year to find someone who would continue to prepare his meals and care for him.
She was right. Almost to the last meal.
Just as Kay Yow coached her team through the NCAA tournament last week. Many, many years ago, I competed against Kay Yow. You know a winner when you meet one, by the way.
One of the more memorable people I've ever met was a high school volleyball coach who led her team to a state championship from a gurney behind the bench. She was also battling cancer.
Such demonstrations of strength are not unheard of, but rarely found among those facing life-threatening diseases.
And that, in my assessment, will be the disposition of Tony Snow as he faces his battle against a re-occurrence of cancer.
Godspeed, Tony Snow. We need you back in front of that mic as soon and as often as you are able. Keep the faith and keep those good words coming, fella.
We need your inspiration as much as you need our support.
So much to the interests of the American people or Nancy Pelosi's promises on ethics and efficiency. Oh, she was efficient, alright. But ethical? She fooled no one (not even main stream media) by adding "pork" projects totaling billions of dollars to "buy" votes of support for bringing the troops home in 2008. This doesn't say much for those who went along with her deceit, either.
We've known all along that Pelosi was using the war issue as a political agenda to confound President Bush. Now she's stooped to levels utterly unspoken in the history of the Speakership.
As for her career -- I hope the pinkos and far leftists are her political undoing. I hope they continue to haunt her home and her office. She deserves to experience hell and harassment. Oh, she'll never go hungry or miss a mortgage payment as our troops and their families will likely experience when this bill is vetoed, but she deserves to know how anxiety tastes and feels .... All I can hope is that --- personally and professionally --
She's finally chewed the green sausage from the pork bar. As for Murtha, he will hopefully retire to will spend the remainder of his delusional days with a taste of putrid pork in his palate.
My sentiments may be a little strong and over the top --- but I'm not the only one who sees through the political smoke screen perpetrated today. Try the Washington Post:
TODAY THE House of Representatives is due to vote on a bill that would grant $25 million to spinach farmers in California. The legislation would also appropriate $75 million for peanut storage in Georgia and $15 million to protect Louisiana rice fields from saltwater. More substantially, there is $120 million for shrimp and menhaden fishermen, $250 million for milk subsidies, $500 million for wildfire suppression and $1.3 billion to build levees in New Orleans.
Altogether the House Democratic leadership has come up with more than $20 billion in new spending, much of it wasteful subsidies to agriculture or pork barrel projects aimed at individual members of Congress. At the tail of all of this logrolling and political bribery lies this stinger: Representatives who support the bill -- for whatever reason -- will be voting to require that all U.S. combat troops leave Iraq by August 2008, regardless of what happens during the next 17 months or whether U.S. commanders believe a pullout at that moment protects or endangers U.S. national security, not to mention the thousands of American trainers and Special Forces troops who would remain behind.
The Democrats claim to have a mandate from voters to reverse the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. Yet the leadership is ready to piece together the votes necessary to force a fateful turn in the war by using tactics usually dedicated to highway bills or the Army Corps of Engineers budget. The legislation pays more heed to a handful of peanut farmers than to the 24 million Iraqis who are living through a maelstrom initiated by the United States, the outcome of which could shape the future of the Middle East for decades.
Congress can and should play a major role in determining how and when the war ends. Political benchmarks for the Iraqi government are important, provided they are not unrealistic or inflexible. Even dates for troop withdrawals might be helpful, if they are cast as goals rather than requirements -- and if the timing derives from the needs of Iraq, not the U.S. election cycle. The Senate's version of the supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan contains nonbinding benchmarks and a withdrawal date that is a goal; that approach is more likely to win broad support and avoid a White House veto.
As it is, House Democrats are pressing a bill that has the endorsement of MoveOn.org but excludes the judgment of the U.S. commanders who would have to execute the retreat the bill mandates. It would heap money on unneedy dairy farmers while provoking a constitutional fight with the White House that could block the funding to equip troops in the field. Democrats who want to force a withdrawal should vote against war appropriations. They should not seek to use pork to buy a majority for an unconditional retreat that the majority does not support.
I'm not sure how these idiots will save face or maintain their aloofness after the President's veto. Frankly, I could care less. How vengeful is the wench Pelosi? She bumped a fellow democrat (Lee) who didn't vote for the bill from the flight to CA this weekend. She'll live to regret that one, also.
Shame on you, Nancy Pelosi. You are a disgrace to the concept of women as effective leaders. What you could not gain by appealing to true sentiment and leadership, you achieved by trickery and deceit.
Anti-War Protesters: "We oppose the war, but we support the troops ...."
You would expect to see the images below on the streets of Tehran or another middle eastern country: burning a U.S. soldier in effigy, burning the U.S. flag; a banner that says, "F**k the troops."
These, however, are images of youth in Portland last weekend.
I'm disappointed, but not surprised that our Congressional leaders who made such a "to-do" over the non-binding resolution have not expressed their outrage.
Since I've been involved with other critter-topics lately (i.e., Eagles, dog food, cattin' and horsin' around every chance I get, ponying up when I have to and herding a few of my own sheeple), I totally missed an opportunity to blog about the pig-controversy coming out of the UK last week. While I respect most things Muslim, I'm not willing to concede certain elements of my cultural and literary history. For example, pigs.
I have a definite fondness for most things piggish. One of my favorite BBQ eateries is named for the Little Pigs. I carry my money in a pigskin wallet. I even munch on pork skins occasionally. Piglet and the Piggly Wiggly will forever have a special place in my heart. There are at least three seasoned pork rolls in my freezer. A pork roast is sitting in my fridge right now. I have to watch myself to avoid pigging out on pork 'n beans. And ham -- country, sliced, sugar-cured, smoked, boiled, baked or fried -- is an all-time favorite!
I even speak pig-latin. U-day u-yah?
I admit I have pig heroes, too. What woman doesn't identify with Miss Piggy, eh? And Babe --- one of my favorite movies! What ahh-be-deet-ahh-be-deet child of Saturday cartoons doesn't remember Porky Pig?
And if you ever collected Beanie Babies, you surely had a Squealer or a Knuckles in your collection, right?
You get the picture, I hope.
Whether playing "This little pig went to market" on baby toes or reading "Three Little Pigs" in pre-school --- pigs are simply part of our culture.
Not always in a positive light, either.
Like .... I frequently think of Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell as pig prototypes. Congressman John Murtha fits the same image. And so does Henry Waxman. Especially Henry Waxman. Man, I'm talking epitome when referring to Waxman.
I even grew up with pigs. Literally. We raised them. Every fall, neighbors came in for a pig-killing. Men butchered them; women cooked or wrapped the meat. Sausage, livermush, pigs feet, intestines, brains, bacon, fatback, ham, ham hocks -- the works.
I still have a scar on my knee from crawling over a broken bottle under the pig pen. But that's another story.
When I left PHILCAG in TayNinh (S. Vietnam), I was feted at a large banquet. The main dish was a roasted pig. As guest of honor, I was supposed to have dibs on plucking the eyes from the critter that lay on the platter in front of me. Uh uh. I relinquished that honor to my host. Some things even a pork-lover won't eat.
For those offended by things piggish -- how do they ignore the Chinese calendar? Where do they get leather? What do they eat with eggs? How do they season their pinto beans? What do they do with their slop? And if they own souped-up motorcycles do they also call them "hogs?"
This is probably boaring boring to most readers. I'll just close by saying --
MSM -- drive-by media, as Rush L. calls it -- missed the true message on March 17. Even if they had been looking for 30,000 Eagles, they wouldn't have seen them in one gathering on Saturday.
Why?
Because the Eagles were not clustered enmass. Instead, they were at every memorial and momument or lining the streets and sidewalks.
Michelle Malkin was among them and compiled this video.
So much to the interests of the American people or Nancy Pelosi's promises on ethics and efficiency. Oh, she was efficient, alright. But ethical? She fooled no one (not even main stream media) by adding "pork" projects totaling billions of dollars to "buy" votes of support for bringing the troops home in 2008. This doesn't say much for those who went along with her deceit, either. 
Since I've been involved with other critter-topics lately (i.e., Eagles, dog food, cattin' and horsin' around every chance I get, ponying up when I have to and herding a few of my own sheeple), I totally missed an opportunity to blog about the pig-controversy coming out of the UK last week. While I respect most things Muslim, I'm not willing to concede certain elements of my cultural and literary history. For example, pigs.
