Thursday, February 28, 2013

9-11 terrorists are NOT "freedom fighters": Re-Writing History

Yet another example in the disturbing trend of teaching our children revisionist history.  I have long watched the way our schools are busily rewriting the textbooks our kids are given as *history* books.

This one is out of Texas.  Read on:

Students Told to Call 9-11 Hijackers “Freedom Fighters”

Students Told to Call 9-11 Hijackers “Freedom Fighters”
Feb 26, 2013
 
By Todd Starnes


An Advanced Placement World Geography teacher at a Texas high school who encouraged students to dress in Islamic clothing also instructed them to refer to the 9-11 hijackers not as terrorists – but as “freedom fighters,” according to students who were in the class.

Students at Lumberton High School were also told to stop referring to the Holocaust as Genocide – instead they were told to use the term “ethnic cleansing.”

John Valastro, the superintendent of the Lumberton Independent School District, told Fox News that the teacher did absolutely nothing wrong.

“What is more dangerous – fear and ignorance or education and understanding,” he asked. “From our standpoint, we are here to educate the kids.”

Valastro said the teacher involved is a 32-year veteran who was simply following state teaching guidelines.
“I don’t think my freshman-level teacher was trying to politicize radical Islam or anything like that,” he told Fox News. “I don’t think our teacher has..to my knowledge ever converted a single student to Islam.”

A Texas mom became outraged after she discovered a Facebook photo of her child wearing Islamic garb.
A Texas mom became outraged after she discovered a Facebook photo of her child wearing Islamic garb.

The Islamic lessons in the small public high school generated national attention after a photograph of four female students wearing burqas surfaced on Facebook.

April LeBlanc’s 15-year-old daughter was one of the students in the photograph. She told Fox News that many parents in the district feel betrayed by school officials.

“My biggest thing is not the burqa,” she said. “That was the key to opening up the rest. It’s scary how far they dove into the Islamic faith. It’s scary what they taught my daughter. Who’s in charge of this? How did our superintendent let this slip through the cracks?”

Read the rest here.

Let me be clear:  I absolutely believe and support education of different cultures.  When I was in high school, I studied religions of the world, and I later worked in the public school system for a few years myself.   I think it is vitally important that yes, we DO understand other cultures, especially those which spawn terrorists that vow to kill us all..  However, I also believe that such topics do NOT need to include adding things like 'Islam immersion' into ANY school curriculum.  No child of mine needs to wear a burka to *get* what Islam means...

I wish I could say this is just happening in Texas, an isolated incident.  It is not.  History is being rewritten across America, and all over the world. There are more than a few examples, for instance, of English students across the UK, being taught Islam to a degree that should make most parents uncomfortable.  Now, more than ever, parents MUST know what their kids are being taught by so-called education professionals.  

 Now, more than ever:  PAY ATTENTION!   

 

Check out Wake Up America's thoughts on this one..

Happy Birthday, SJP!



In my daughter's eyes I can see the future
A reflection of who I am and what will be
Though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone I hope you see how happy
she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes

HAPPY happy birthday to my most favourite person in the whole wide world.  

To infinity and beyond - yes, THAT much! 



Video: Afghan Women's Radio

From ISAF:

Published on Feb 27, 2013


A story from The Pentagon Channel on an Afghan Women's Radio Talk Show.  

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

To This Day Project - Shane Koyczan

In honour of Pink Shirt Day:


Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy
 
I sat for three days trying to figure out how to write this post and I couldn't figure out how to do it right. 
 The Buffalo Soldiers are such an important part of not only military history, but American history as well. So how do you condense 85 years of history into a couple of paragraphs and not skip over something important? They were the first all Black military regiment. 
 
They played a role in every war from the Civil War to the Korean. They gave rise to the Park Rangers and the Tuskegee Airmen. 
 
And they've had 23 men be awarded the Medal Of Honor. While not a forgotten part of history, the Buffalo Soldiers are certainly a part of it that doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
 
 
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

World Trade Center Bombing: 20 years ago

Have YOU forgotten? 


Investigators going through the rubble following the bombing of the World Trade Center


From FBI:


Twenty years ago today, at about 17 minutes past noon, a thunderous explosion rocked lower Manhattan.



The epicenter was the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center, where a massive eruption carved out a nearly 100-foot crater several stories deep and several more high. Six people were killed almost instantly. Smoke and flames began filling the wound and streaming upward into the building. Those who weren’t trapped were soon pouring out of the building—many panic-stricken and covered in soot. More than a thousand people were hurt in some way, some badly, with crushed limbs.


It was Friday, February 26, 1993, and Middle Eastern terrorism had arrived on American soil—with a bang.


wtc_320_022608.jpg



















As a small band of terrorists scurried away from the scene unnoticed, the FBI and its partners on the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force began staffing up a command center and preparing to send in a team to investigate. Their instincts told them that this was terrorism—they’d been tracking Islamic fundamentalists in the city for months and, they’d later learn, were tantalizingly close to encountering the planners of this attack. But hunches weren’t enough; what was needed was definitive proof. 



They’d have it soon enough. The massive investigation that followed—led by the task force, with some 700 FBI agents worldwide ultimately joining in—quickly uncovered a key bit of evidence. In the rubble investigators uncovered a vehicle identification number on a piece of wreckage that seemed suspiciously obliterated. A search of our crime records returned a match: the number belonged to a rented van reported stolen the day before the attack. An Islamic fundamentalist named Mohammad Salameh had rented the vehicle, we learned, and on March 4, an FBI SWAT team arrested him as he tried in vain to get his $400 deposit back.


One clue led to another and we soon had in custody three more suspects—Nidal Ayyad, Mahmoud Abouhalima, and Ahmed Ajaj. We’d also found the apartment where the bomb was built and a storage locker containing dangerous chemicals, including enough cyanide gas to wipe out a town. All four men were tried, convicted, and sentenced to life.

The shockwave from the attack continued to reverberate. Following the unfolding connections, the task force soon uncovered a second terrorist plot to bomb a series of New York landmarks simultaneously, including the U.N. building, the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, and the federal plaza where our office in New York is housed. On June 24, 1994, FBI agents stormed a warehouse in Queens and caught several members of a terrorist cell in the act of assembling bombs.



wtcterrorists022608.jpg
Meanwhile, the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing was still on the run—and up to no good. We’d learned his name—Ramzi Yousef—within weeks after the attack and discovered he was planning more attacks, including the simultaneous bombing of a dozen U.S. international flights. Yousef was captured in Pakistan in February 1995, returned to America, and convicted along with the van driver, Eyad Ismoil. A seventh plotter, Abdul Yasin, remains at large. 


We later learned from Yousef that his Trade Center plot was far more sinister. He wanted the bomb to topple one tower, with the collapsing debris knocking down the second. The attack turned out to be something of a deadly dress rehearsal for 9/11; with the help of Yousef’s uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al Qaeda would later return to realize Yousef’s nightmarish vision.


 From BBC On This Day:
 [...]


 An emotional Mario Cuomo, New York's state governor, told journalists: "We all have that feeling of being violated. No foreign people or force has ever done this to us. Until now we were invulnerable."[**Bratnote: emphasis mine]

[...] 

In Context 

In May 1994, four men - Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima and Ahmad Ajaj - were sentenced to life for bombing the World Trade Center, which killed six people and injured 100. In October 1995 Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind cleric who preached at mosques in Brooklyn and Jersey City, was sentenced to life for masterminding the bombing,. 

He was also found guilty of the murder of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane and a scheme to assassinate Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak during a trip to New York in 1993. 


The bombing of the World Trade Center has been totally eclipsed by the events of 11 September 2001 which saw thousands killed, the collapse of both Twin Towers and an all-out "war on terror" declared by the Western world. 


Rahman's organisation, the Islamic Group, is believed to have links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, accused of carrying out the 11 September attacks. 

Go read more at the Beeb here. 

 More at ABCNews.


These days, as we have Kerry and Hagel as the MIC's most favored and visible water-carriers, it is incumbent on ALL of us to remember such days as this: days when terrorism reared its ugly head on American soil.  These days, to stick our heads in the sand, to allow the administration to distract us from the major upheavals in the world, is insanity...

These days, we must ALL remember warnings such as we had on 26 February 1993.  To do otherwise is suicide.

Pay attention.. 

2013 Face of America bike ride needs banners

From Mail Call! Supporting the Troops:

This year, I will again be collecting banners to use at the 2013 Face of America bike ride 
 

The banners are hung along the ride at rest stops and lunch stops to cheer the riders along with messages of support.

 If you, or a group that you know, would be interested in making and donating a banner to be used at the bike ride, please email me with the subject line Banner to  kasee60@gmail.com   


For more details - and helpful hints - go here.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Afghanistan Relationship Destroyed; Now what?

From War On Terror News:


Monday, February 25, 2013

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Michael

Watertender First Class Elmer Charles Bigelow
Watertender First Class Elmer Charles Bigelow 24 years old from Hebron, Illinois USS Fletcher 
 
(DD-445) July 12, 1920 - February 15, 1945 U.S. Navy 
 
 The Son of German immigrants, Elmer Bigelow joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 and was assigned to the U.S.S. Fletcher in 1943. In 1945 Watertender Second Glass was killed when his boat was hit by enemy fire which ignited several powder cases. With little regard for his own safety, Bigelow rushed below with two fire extinguishers to put out the fires before they could cause anymore damage. In doing so he forwent the breathing apparatus that would have saved his life because it would have taken too much time to put on. He was able to extinguish the fires but his lungs were seared and he succumbed to his injuries the following day. For his heroics that day, Watertender Second Glass Elmer Bigelow was posthumously awarded the rank of Watertender First Class, the Medal Of Honor and in 1957 a destroyer, USS Bigelow (DD-942), was named in his honor.
 
 
You can read more about Elmer Bigelow here These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

USS Cole bomber nuts? Trial delayed - again

Yet more bs. Are YOU paying attention? :

Mental Health Test Delays Cole Bombing Suspect Hearings

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service


FORT MEADE, Md., Feb. 7, 2013 – Pretrial hearings for the suspected USS Cole bomber are on hold until mid-April as doctors assess his mental competency and the military commission determines how that will affect future proceedings.

The latest round of hearings for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri kicked off Jan. 4 at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and had been scheduled to conclude today.

However, that schedule got derailed after the prosecution requested a mental-health assessment, challenging the defense claim that Nashiri suffers from long-term post-traumatic stress allegedly caused by enhanced interrogation techniques the CIA used on him before he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay.  [Yes, emphasis mine]

Members of the defense questioned what such an assessment would provide, telling the commission judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, they lack faith in any medical practitioner the convening authority might appoint to conduct it. Pohl authorized the exam, but granted the defense’s request that Dr. Vincent Iacopino, a member of the Physicians for Human Rights organization with expertise in torture, be called on to provide advice on how to conduct it without “doing harm.”

Iacopino testified via teleconference Feb. 5, explaining special requirements for mental health exams on torture victims. He acknowledged that he has neither met nor examined Nashiri.

Dr. Sondra Crosby, who reportedly has examined hundreds of torture victims as director of medical care at the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights, is expected to conduct the exam.

Pohl told the court Feb. 4 that he would not take up other legal and administrative issues surrounding the case until after the mental-health assessment is complete. He recessed the court following Iacopino’s testimony, and proceedings are expected to continue in mid-April.

Nashiri is the alleged mastermind behind the attack off the Yemeni coast that killed 17 sailors. He is charged with perfidy, murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, terrorism, conspiracy, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects and hazarding a vessel.

The charges arise out of an attempted attack on the USS The Sullivans in January 2000, the actual attack on the USS Cole in October 2000, and an attack on the motor vessel Limburg -- a civilian oil tanker -- in October 2002.

Nashiri is a Saudi-born member of al-Qaida. U.S. officials allege he was under the personal supervision of Osama bin Laden, and that bin Laden personally approved the attacks on the U.S. Navy ships.

(source)

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Lucy Joy Bratdog: Beyond the Rainbow Bridge

This last Tuesday, 12 February, I honoured my girl's very clear wishes and sent her on ahead. At 10.42am, I felt her mighty heart as it stopped beating. She continued on just as she came into our lives as a 9 week old fuzzy puppy : fearless, with absolute trust, and surrounded by unconditional love.


Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. 


When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. 



There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. 



There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. 



All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.



The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. 



They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. 


Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... 



Author unknown... 




To infinity and beyond...

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Wednesday Hero

Cpl. Alvin Krumrey
Cpl. Alvin Krumrey 91 years old from Tulsa, Oklahoma Army Air Corps 
 
Alvin Krumrey didn't think much about his military dog tags that he had lost over 70 years ago. That is until they were found in a coin store in the Solomon Islands.
 
You can read more about Alvin Krumrey here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Condors on the Wings of Destiny


From ISAF: 

Published on Feb 1, 2013
Feature nat. package video about the OH-58 Kiowa pilots and AH-64 Apache pilots of C Troop, 2-17 CAV, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and why they fly in "Pink teams." Interviews from Chief Warrant Officer 2 Seth Armstrong of Crawfordsville, Ind. and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Les McNellie of Tampa, Fla. Courtesy visual media content from SFC Eric Pahon, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs and SGT Christopher Bonebrake, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. (Video by Staff Sgt. Anna Rutherford, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

Thursday, February 7, 2013

MUST READ! The MIC "won" - and the slippery slope to the Post-American Century continues

From War On Terror News:

02/05/2013

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Wednesday Hero

Maj. Gen. Glenn M. Walters
Maj. Gen. Glenn M. Walters U.S.M.C 
 
 
Maj. Gen. Glenn M. Walters, commanding general of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, pilots a KC-130J Hercules in southwestern Afghanistan in 2011, when he commanded 2nd MAW (Forward). Walters assumed command of 2nd MAW in May 2012, just two months after returning from Afghanistan. "Instead of employing the wing in combat, now I'm preparing Marines for combat," Walters said. "It's the continuum of who we are as Marines, answering the call to do our nation's defense wherever we're called."
 
Photo taken by Staff Sgt. James R. Richardson courtesy U.S. Marines These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
 
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Friday, February 1, 2013

Red Shirt Friday: Canada Supports Our Troops!

NO Canada Goose - that I could see - in here....oh and NO Brats, either! But a very cool video nonetheless, and NO!  You do not have to RUN to support our Troops - trust me, I know this.  BUT you can wear RED!