Thursday, August 29, 2013

Syria: Obama's 'Coalition' not so willing


From Homeland Security News Wire:

British MPs vote against U.K. military participation in attack on Syria

29 August 2013

In a heavy defeat to Prime Minister David Cameron,  the British Parliament voted against British military contribution to or involvement in an attack on Syria in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons last week. The vote is an embarrassing defeat for Cameron, and a major set-back for President Obama’s plan to put together a coalition of the willing to strike military targets in Syria. The parliamentary vote has no military significance, as the British contribution to the actual military operations would have been minimal at best. The U.K. vote, rather, is a political blow to the United States as it highlights on-going skepticism among Western publics – including U.S. public opinion — about yet another Western military involvement in the Middle East.

 

In a vote of 285-272, the British Parliament voted against British military contribution to or involvement in an attack on Syria in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons last week.


The vote is an embarrassing defeat for Cameron, and a major set-back for President Obama’s plan to put together a coalition of the willing to strike military targets in Syria.


A grim Cameron, speaking after losing the vote, sounded as if he was conceding that the United Kingdom would not participate in any U.S.-led strike on Syria.


While the house has not passed a motion, it is clear to me that the British parliament, reflecting the will of the British people, does not want to see military action.
I get that and the government will act accordingly...

 

 Go read the rest here.

As I listen to Obama the last few days, I can't help but think back to the criticism that President George W Bush got as he put together the Coalition of the Willing back in the dark days following 9/11.  As I hear about the 'evidence' that Obama claims to have out of Syria, can't help but remember and note that the debate about the evidence on which decisions were made by Blair and Bush.  Seems to me, that Obama is expecting allies to jump on board with his 'strike across the bow' (!)  of Syria based on even less credible 'evidence' than his predecessors were able to show.  

 From 'the most transparent administration EVAAAAH, there are consultations behind closed doors.  That IS the Obama way, after all.

 

From Twitchy comes this:

Ted Cruz slams ‘unacceptable’ state of Syria debate with striking photo


 

President Waffles hasn’t figured out his approach to Syria yet, though a fearsome “shot across the bow” is apparently on the table. Even though he hasn’t made up his mind, Obama wants you to know he totally has this decision covered and doesn’t much care what elected members of Congress think. Evidently he’s not too concerned with what the intel says about the Syrian gas attack either.

As always, Sen. Ted Cruz had a meme-worthy graphic response to the president. It was retweeted more than 600 times in an hour.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called on Obama to consult Congress before any use of military force in Syria.

You know there's more -  here.

I would be the first to say that something needs to be done about the situation in Syria.  I have been saying THAT for two years.  Seems to me that Obama should keep his mouth SHUT and figure out what the US' role should be.  As it stands right now, by flapping his jaws and wagging his (ineffectual) finger since he so welcomed the dawn of the Arab Spring set the Middle East on fire, he has done NOTHING for the citizens caught in the crossfire of  despots and predominantly Muslim Brotherhood uprisings.  He has done nothing, that is, except paint himself into a corner.


Time for the supposed 'smartest man in the room' to quit proving how stooopid he is.

Dangerous times we live in.

Obama - King of the Great Oratory - on Syria

In this video of an interview with the Great Orator on PBS, MIC surpasses even my expectations of his powers of bafflegab and bs.

Does anybody really believe that Assad is quaking in his boots?  Really?



[H/T Michelle Malkin]

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

9/11 Million Muslim March: Bikers Respond

From Homeland Security News Wire:

Islamic group’s plan for a 9/11 "Million Muslim March" on Washington denounced

19 August 2013

 

The American Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC) is organizing what it hopes would be a mass demonstration by American Muslims on 11 September in Washington, D.C. Critics called the demonstration ill-timed, if not downright offensive. Mainstream Muslim American groups describe group members as virulently anti-Semitic “truthers” who question al Qaeda’s responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. There is little chance a million people would show up for the march: AMPAC, based in Kansas City, Missouri, has just 57 supporters signed up for the 11 September event on Facebook.

 The demonstration was initially called the “Million Muslim March,” but AMPAC later changed the name of the event to “Million American March against Fear.”



The organizers say the purpose of the March is to complain about religious profiling and abut President Obama’s handling of an investigation into the 9/11 terror attacks.


Fox News reports that AMPAC claims American Muslims have been the victims of anti-Islamic bigotry in the years following 9/11 al Qaeda terrorist attacks.


“On 9.11.01 our country was forever changed by the horrific events in New York. The entire country was victimized by the acts done on that day,” the group said in a statement. “Muslim and Non-Muslim alike were traumatized but we as Muslims continue 12 years later to be victimized by being made the villains. To this day every media outlet and anti-Islamic organization has committed slanderous and libel statements against us as Muslims and our religion of Islam.”


Yet our Government either sits idly by and does nothing to protect our freedoms or it exacerbates the problem with its constant war on terrorism in Islamic countries, congressional hearings on Islam in America, and its changes to the NDAA law,” the statement says.


M. D. Rabbi Alam, one of the march’s organizers, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last Thursday that the demonstrators will stand on that day to “show America that we Muslims denounce terrorism.” [Emphasis mine.]

Read the rest of this report here.  


Maybe I have been sleeping, and missed something, BUT I have heard less than a handful of Muslims - anywhere in the world - publicly denouncing the terrorist acts on 9/11/2001.  Further, do I need to remind ANYone that every one of the 9/11 murderers were Muslims?  No, I didn't think so.

The organisers can change the name of this *march* to whatever they like (is America a great country or what???) but to deliberately stage such an event on 9/11?   'Ill-timed'?  'Offensive'? No, flat out WRONG!

Bikers are responding.  

From Mr Conservative:

Bikers Staging Massive Protest Against “Million Muslim March” Scheduled For 9/11

 The best way to counter bad speech is to oppose it with good speech. Sometimes “speech” can be expressed simply by the number of people who are willing to show up to support a principle. That’s the view that hundreds of bikers (so far) across America have as they prepare to join a “2 MILLION BIKER RIDE TO DC” to counter the planned September 11 “Million Muslim March” on DC. 

 

 [...]

 

Ugly though the Million Muslim March is, it’s taking place in America and we value and protect free speech – even if it’s ugly, hate-filled speech. Freedom loving people also understand that the best way to oppose bad ideas in the marketplace of ideas is to counter with good ideas. To that end, a group of bikers has created a Facebook page to promote “2 MILLION BIKERS TO DC”:

 

 

Go check out the links above for more info...BE informed.  

More opinion on the Million Muslim March from The Clarion Project:

Million March Against Fear on 9/11 Linked to Islamist Radicals

Wednesday Hero

Staff Sgt. April
Welch

Staff Sgt. April WelchU.S. Air Force
Staff Sgt. April Welch wraps the head of a simulated victim during a Major Accident Response Exercise July 24, 2013, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. The purpose of the MARE was to test the response of the base’s and the city of Jacksonville’s first responders. Welch is a medical technician assigned to the 19th Aerospace Medicine Squadron.



Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force taken by Airman 1st Class Cliffton Dolezal
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, August 27, 2013

Bombs in Boobs

 A couple of years ago, I raised the spectre of terrorists developing bombs for use in boobs.  Seems the idea was not so far-fetched after all:

Heathrow Airport staff have been warned that women could conceal dangerous explosives in their breasts. Photo: ALAMY - The Telegraph
 



Published 23 August 2013

Boob bombs: breast implants suicide bomb a threat to aviation


Security checks at Heathrow Airport have been beefed up this past week following “credible” intelligence that al Qaeda operatives may use a new method to attack airlines flying out of London: explosives concealed in breast implants. This would not the first time Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) chief bomb maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, has sought to use the human body as a hiding place for explosives. In September 2009, al-Asiri sent his younger brother on a suicide mission in Saudi Arabia. He built a bomb which could fit in his brother’s anal cavity, and sent him to kill the Saudi deputy interior minister, who at the time was in charge of hunting down al Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia. The worry about medically implanted explosives has already led airports to use behavioral analysis to augment detection methods already in use to screen people. Body scanners are good at identifying things outside the body but not inside.


Heathrow Airport security has been on high alert amid reports of a new type of terrorist threat to aviation: explosives concealed in breast implants.


The Telegraph reports that security checks have been beefed up following “credible” intelligence that al Qaeda operatives may use the method to attack airlines flying out of London.


One Heathrow security staff member told the Telegraph: “There are genuine fears over this.


We have been told to pay particular attention to females who may have concealed hidden explosives in their breasts.


“This is particularly difficult for us to pick up but we are on a very high state of alert.

[...]


The worry about medically implanted explosives has already led more airport to use behavioral analysis to augment detection methods already in use to screen people at airports.


Body scanners are good at identifying things outside the body but not inside....


You KNOW there is more, much more, here.


 Are YOU paying attention?

Monday, August 26, 2013

Syria: Same song, different country





 From Jewish News One:

Published on Aug 25, 2013

 
A top Obama administration official has said there is "very little doubt" the Syrian government last week used a chemical weapon on civilians, killing at least 100 people. The news came as the Syrian government appeared close to allowing United Nations inspectors to visit the site of the reported attack on August 21st on the outskirts of Damascus. The reports of thousands killed or stricken by chemical weapons is the latest allegation about such tactics in the Middle East country's roughly 2-year-long civil war. Obama said famously last year that the use of chemical weapons by Assad would "cross a red line." But the White House has been reluctant to take direct military actions, instead supplying rebel forces with non-lethal aid and weighing military options. US defense officials, meanwhile, have said the US Navy has already sent a fourth warship armed with ballistic missiles into the eastern Mediterranean Sea.



 [h/t:  Chicks on the Right]

Meanwhile:  Deja Vu, all over again.  

From the BBC:


Syria crisis: UN inspectors' convoy 'hit by sniper fire'

Snipers have opened fire on a convoy of UN inspectors heading to the sites of suspected chemical weapons attacks in Syria's capital, the UN has said.


The UN did not say who fired the shots, but the first car in the convoy was hit and the team returned to a checkpoint.


The Syrian government and the rebels had agreed to a ceasefire to allow the inspectors to collect evidence.


The experts say they will continue the inquiry into Wednesday's attacks in Damascus, in which hundreds died.


The US says there is little doubt Syrian forces used chemical weapons in the attacks, which reportedly killed more than 300 people in rebel-held areas.


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed the accusation as "an insult to common sense" and warned the US against military intervention.


"If someone is dreaming of making Syria a puppet of the West, then this will not happen," he told the Russian newspaper Izvestiya....


Much more here. 


After watching the slaughter of Syrian citizens for over TWO years - over 100,000 dead and I million plus fleeing to neighbouring countries -  how long before the MIC - no longer *leader of the free world* - proclaims Syria a "good and just war"???

Obama expresses 'grave concern' as he prepares to lead from behind, as usual....


Sing it, Jay:

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Syria: 'Red line,' what red line?'

 

From Breitbart:

Report: On Anniversary of Obama 'Red Line' Speech, Syria Gasses Hundreds


21 Aug 2013

Exactly one year and one day after Barack Obama issued a warning to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad that using chemical weapons would cross a “red line,” opposition forces in Syria have claimed that Assad’s forces launched a nerve gas attack that killed at least 213 people.


Much more (and graphic pictures) here. 

 Homeland Security New Wire has this:

 

Conflicting readings of possible chemical weapons use in Syria

Published 21 August 2013
Rebel sources say the number of dead in a Syrian army chemical weapons attack, which targeted a dozen villages in a rebel-held area east of Damascus, is between 750 and 1,300. They say it is not possible to offer precise numbers because some areas are not yet accessible. The Syrian government strongly rejected the allegations about chemical weapons use by the Syrian army. The Israeli defense minister, in the first official Israeli reaction, confirms the Syrian military used chemical weapons. Chemical weapons experts say there are two other possibilities: the Syrian regime may have used crowd-dispersal chemicals in higher-than-usual concentration, causing death among people trapped in bunkers and shelters; or the army may have used fuel-air bombs in bombing Sunny residential areas. Such bombs, also called thermobaric explosives, rely on oxygen from the surrounding air, unlike most conventional explosives which consist of a fuel-oxidizer premix.


Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, earlier today (Wednesday) offered the first official Israeli reaction to the reports about the use of chemical weapons in Syria earlier in the day.
Rebel sources say the number of dead in the attacks, which targeted a dozen villages in a rebel-held area east of Damascus, is between 750 and 1,300. They say it is not possible to offer precise numbers because some areas are not yet accessible.


The Syrian government strongly rejected the allegations about chemical weapons use by the Syrian army.


Ya’alon said: “The civil war in Syria is continuing, and there are about a 100,000 dead. The regime has also used chemical weapons, and not for the first time.”


Talking with reports, Ya’alon added: “This is a life-and-death struggle between a regime which represents the Alawite community and a fragmented opposition. We don’t see the end [of the struggle], and even the fall of Assad will not bring this conflict to an end.”


Last week, in a meeting with the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, who was on a visit to Israel, Ya’alon said that “We should be prepared for a long-term civil war in Syria.” Ya’alon told Ban that Israel’s intelligence and security analysts have concluded that the conflict in Syria has become a global conflict,   [emphasis mine] with one side supported by Russia and the other side backed by the United States....


Much more - with insightful analysis and FACTS, here.


 Out of the White House, it is reported that the administration is 'deeply concerned'.  This from an article (go read) that asks: If Syria's deadly poison gas attack doesn't cross Obama's 'red line,' what does?  

Throughout history, atrocities have been committed and the world turns away.  Obama et al have taken that ignorance to a whole new level. So far, that seems to have worked for him - he is the undisputed master of 'divert and distract,' after all - but as I always comment: If you think that what happens 'over there' has nothing to do with us, you really are not paying attention.  We ARE living in very dangerous times, and if we ignore history, and the echoes of the ages, the implications threaten us ALL.. 

 PAY ATTENTION!


Syria's Darkest Hour

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

A WTH update: Manning Sentenced: 35 years

From the Beeb:



The US soldier convicted of handing a trove of secret government documents to anti-secrecy website Wikileaks has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.


Pte First Class Bradley Manning, 25, was convicted in July of 20 charges against him, including espionage.


Last week, he apologised for hurting the US and for "the unexpected results" of his actions.


Prosecutors had asked for a 60-year sentence in order to send a message to future potential leakers.
Pte Manning will receive credit for time he has already served in jail, plus 112 days' credit in recompense for the harsh conditions of his confinement immediately after his arrest....


Read the rest of their report  here. 



Any long-time readers I have left know VERY well what I think about Manning. For those of you who may have missed it, go read here:



This Aint Hell has commentary.

UPDATE:


It seems that Manning's lawyers plan to ask the MIC to pardon Manning...  Globe and Mail (from Canada) has the presser video here.

While there, check out the link titled: Manning's lawyer says "Brad would do it all again" [!!!!!!!!]

Sadly,  I really would not be surprised, given MIC's track record....

Wednesday Hero

Cpl. Daniel Bedford
Moore

Cpl. Daniel Bedford Moore86 years old from Mifflin, Wisconsin
June 12, 1838 - July 02, 1914


U.S.
Army


The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Corporal Daniel Bedford Moore, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 9 April 1865, while serving with Company E, 11th Wisconsin Infantry, in action at Fort Blakely, Alabama. At the risk of his own life Corporal Moore saved the life of an officer who had been shot down and overpowered by superior numbers.






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, August 20, 2013

Memorial, fire truck used on 9/11, to visit NYC

From WSJ:


August 18, 2013

Now memorial, fire truck used on 9/11 to visit NYC 

    Associated Press
NEW YORK — A fire truck that carried a crew of firefighters to the World Trade Center for what would prove to be their last assignment is returning to Staten Island for the first time in more than a year.


The Rescue Co. 5 truck is to be the centerpiece of an Aug. 25 fundraiser at the Staten Island Mall. Organizer Massimo DiDonna said Sunday he expects it to be an "extremely emotional" event.

Firefighters from Rescue 5 took the truck to ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001. Eleven died, including DiDonna's father-in-law, Carl Bini.


"The moment I sit in that driver's seat, knowing that my father-in-law was one of the chauffeurs, it's going to be a very, very emotional moment," DiDonna said....

Much more here.

 



TF Helmand HQ leaves Lashkar Gah

From the MoD: 

19 August 2013

The headquarters of UK military forces in Afghanistan has moved from Lashkar Gah to Camp Bastion in an early morning helicopter operation.


 
Headquarters staff from 1st Mechanized Brigade moving from Lashkar Gah to Camp Bastion [Picture: Sergeant Barry Pope, Crown copyright]



The move, which was completed on 9 August, has been hailed as probably the most complex headquarters move on operations ever undertaken by the British Army.


Task Force Helmand (TFH) headquarters has been based in Lashkar Gah since May 2006, co-ordinating UK operations across Helmand province for over 7 years. The headquarters has now moved to Camp Bastion, the main hub of UK forces in Afghanistan.


The move reflects the fact that Afghan security forces now plan and conduct their own operations across the province and the UK military presence outside Camp Bastion is consequently in the process of drawing down.


The UK Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond, said:

The growing capability of the Afghan security forces our troops have trained is allowing us to reduce the number of UK forces in Afghanistan this year – and the relocation of HQ Task Force Helmand from Lashkar Gah to our main base at Camp Bastion marks a key milestone as we draw down. By the end of next year the UK’s combat operations in Afghanistan will be over.


Much more here.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Omagh 1998: Lest We Forget

From the Beeb:


1998: Dozens die in Omagh bombing

At least 27 people are feared dead in the worst paramilitary bombing since the start of the Northern Ireland conflict three decades ago. 

 The blast in the market town of Omagh, County Tyrone, at around 1500 BST on Saturday, left more than 100 people injured or maimed. 


People who survived the car bomb blast in a busy shopping area of the town have been describing scenes of carnage with the dead and dying strewn across the street. 

[...]

The death toll eventually reached 29. The dead included nine children and a woman pregnant with twins.

The Real IRA - a breakaway group formed after the Provisional IRA declared a ceasefire - admitted planting the bomb. ...




Much more here, including videos and pictures.



NEVER forget.


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Wednesday Hero

Sgt. Sergeant Philip A. McCulloch,
Jr.

Sgt. Philip A. McCulloch, Jr.Company K, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, Regimental Combat Team Eight, SECOND Marine Division (Forward), I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward)
U.S. Marines
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Philip A. McCulloch, Jr., United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Squad Leader, Company K, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, Regimental Combat Team Eight, SECOND Marine Division (Forward), I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) Afghanistan on 8 January 2011 in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.


 During a six-hour engagement with insurgent forces in Sangin District, Sergeant McCulloch led his squad of Marine sin a determined pursuit of a numerically superior enemy force. After being attacked by enemy fighters, he personally led his squad's counter attack by assuming point and closing on the enemy, pausing just long enough to destroy an enemy fighting positions with an AT-4. Once he regained the initiative, he pursued the enemy into a nearby row of compounds and forced them into fixed positions where many of them were destroyed by close air support and indirect fires, combined with maneuver.


Maintaining constant pressure on the enemy, he forced them to fall back as aircraft departed for fuel and ammunition re-supply. Throughout the engagement, he aggressively drove his Marines to remain focused, exposing himself to enemy fire to identify enemy positions and coordinate fires in support of maneuver. Even after beginning to return to base, as the enemy again engaged the Marines, he controlled another section of helicopters with devastating effects, allowing his squad to return to friendly lines. By his bold leadership, wise judgment, and complete dedication to duty, Sergeant McCulloch reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.




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, August 13, 2013

Purple Hearts for Public Affairs

From War On Terror News comes a story about Troops whose usual mandate is to tell the stories of our Troops.  In this case, they became the story.  Read on:


Monday, August 12, 2013

Purple Hearts for Public Affairs

102nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Story by Staff Sgt. Scott Tynes



 

Capt. Jennifer Dyrcz (rear left), public affairs officer for 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, and Staff Sgt. Jason Ragucci (second from right), public affairs broadcast specialist, receive treatment at a forward aid station March 28, 2013, following an improvised explosive device strike on their vehicle while conducting a mission in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province. Dyrcz and Ragucci were awarded Purple Heart medals, Aug. 6, 2013, during a ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. (U.S. Army photo)


KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – They were assigned to tell the story of a battalion-sized operation in the Maiwand District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, but two 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armor Division, Public Affairs soldiers became the story March 28, 2013, when an improvised explosive device struck their vehicle.

It was a temperate southern Afghanistan spring day. Although the mid-afternoon sun blazed down,

Capt. Jennifer Dyrcz, the brigade public affairs officer, and Staff Sgt. Jason Ragucci, a public affairs broadcaster, were comfortable with the heat as they sat side-by-side in the dark within the passenger compartment of the lead Stryker. They were riding with the brigade commander and providing coverage of the operation for release to military news outlets and the civilian media.

The convoy was returning from a mission to check on the progress of the Combined Task Force Ready First and Afghan National Army operation when the quiet of the afternoon was shattered.

“All of a sudden, there was a big canned boom,” Dyrcz said. “The Stryker was lifted, we lifted with it, and the inside of the vehicle was filled with dust.”...



Go - now - and read the rest of this HERE.

NASA: Perseid Meteor



Perseid Meteor 
This Perseid fireball meteor was observed in the skies over Chickamauga, Ga., on Aug. 11, 2013, at 2:14:49 a.m. EDT. It was also recorded by four other cameras in the NASA All Sky Fireball Network.

The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on Aug.11 and 12, 2013, filling the sky with streaks of light. The big meteor showers like the Perseids, and later the Leonids in November, are caused when Earth and its atmosphere travels through a region of the sky filled with left over debris lost by a particular comet. In the case of the Perseids, the small fragments were ripped off the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 130 years.


Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/MEO

The Daily Mail, out of England, has some fantastic pictures HERE.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Monday Morning Mission: 9/11 Memorial Ride




Can you help my friend Ken Fairben -  please? 

Ken writes:

  I am participating in the 9/11 Memorial Ride once again...This will be my 8th Year doing it...This year is more personal to me,  They are honoring ALL THOSE EMT'S,  AMT'S   AND MEDICAL RESPONDERS....     I would greatly appreciate any support that You may consider donating as one of my sponsors...



On Saturday evening August 17th between 6:30 & 7:00 PM



One Thousand Motorcycle Riders will enter Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel.

This will be day three for most of the riders who come from across the country and gather first in Shanksville PA where flight 93 went down, then the next night at the Pentagon, and then finally we come into NYC to pay our Respects at GZ on Sunday morning.




This ride is a rolling memorial, it's a support system of families,  friends who lost loved ones,  co-workers on that tragic morning, it's also a fundraiser that provides scholarships to the children of first responders as well as emergency equipment to departments in need.





As we ride through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virgina and New Jersey, small towns have their streets lined with residents waving flags and cheering the riders on, almost all overpasses are crowded with Fire Dept trucks flying flag arches, even the highways have people pulled over waiting for us to ride by.



I am asking New York,  New Jersey to line the West Side Highway from Canal Street to 42nd street.

(the Ride will be heading to Times Square from the Holland Tunnel)




Bring Flags, Signs, Family, and Friends.

Show the Country New York hasn’t Forgotten!!

We spend 100's of miles going thru small towns on this ride and the locals are out in force showing their Patriotism.




Please share this event!!, Let’s make it go Viral!!



For more information about the foundation that hosts the ride


Or just google Americas 911 Ride to see pictures and videos of last 12 rides!!


To make a donation to America's 9/11 Ride click here

 
****[Bratnote: No matter what I do, the link to that doesn't want to work, so go HERE please..]

Friday, August 9, 2013

Exercise Prairie Thunder in Canada

From British Forces News:






Published on Aug 6, 2013
The Queen's Royal Hussars have been reunited with their Challenger 2 tanks, after 3 years, for Exercise Prairie Thunder.

Taking place in Canada, the exercise is the culmination of foundation training for 20th Armoured Brigade, before they start preparing for operations in Afghanistan.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Wednesday Hero

Chief Damage Controlman Regan Schraeder & Chief
Aviation Machinist's Mate Cedric


Hickey

Chief Damage Controlman Regan Schraeder & Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate Cedric HickeyU.S.
Navy
Chief Damage Controlman Regan Schraeder(Left) and Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate Cedric Hickey move supplies on the flight deck of the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) during a vertical replenishment with the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3). Monterey is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.



Photo courtesy U.S. Navy taken by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Billy Ho
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, August 6, 2013

6 August 2011: Lest We Forget



All much-loved sons, brothers, husbands.  Go to BlackFive here and read every name.

Remember them.  Honour them.

[One of my previous columns on this team of Heroes: All Men Are Created Equal...But are not equal in life.   To read other columns I wrote about that time, type SEAL Team 6 in the search bar top left.]