Veteran's/Remembrance Day

1) Today is Veteran's Day, known as Remembrance Day in Canada. I hope that everyone took at least a minute today to thank a veteran, or acknowledge that the freedoms we all take for granted were won by the veterans in our military. Ladies and Gentlemen of the military, I honour and thank you for the service................
2) A little less than 20 hours ago, a horrifying chapter in the history of this country was brought a close when John Allan Muhammad, the infamous DC Sniper, was executed by the State of Virginia. When he and Lee Boyd Malvo (who was only 17 at the time) went on their rampage in the fall of 2002, they put an entire region on edge with their indiscriminate murders. People forget how much fear there was--Muhammad and Malvo ended up murdering 10 innocent victims, people whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I go back and forth on the death penalty. On one hand, I feel that there are crimes--such as this one--that merit the "ultimate" punishment. On the other, if I am to be true to my ideals, I should not be in favour of ANYONE being put to death. I really am torn about this issue..........
3) While I was on my blogging sabbatical, a major historical anniversary passed. In June, the world--minus China, of course--marked the 20th anniversary of the Tiannanmen Square massacre. We will never know how many innocent people were murdered that day by the People's Liberation Army, which was acting on orders from the malevolent leadership of the Communist Party, but it's a safe bet that it probably numbered in the thousands. Who can forget that one picture of a single, incredibly brave man, standing in front of the line of tanks? I often wonder what happened to him.................
4) Another historical anniversary passed just a few days ago, as Germans celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I remember watching the Wall come down in utter amazement. I was born in 1965, and it (along with the communist system that built it) seemed to be a permanent fixture in life. Then, in a matter of hours, it was gone, destroyed and consigned to memory and to the ash-heap of history. Today's college kids never lived in a world with the Berlin Wall, or the Cold War. Talk to them about the Soviet Union and you draw a blank stare. Kind of scary sometimes.................
5) Well, you didn't think that I'd ignore the Fort Hood shootings, did you? We learn more everyday, and what we're finding out is not exactly reassuring. The shooter, army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan, had contacted al Qaeda, or tried to, on several occasions. Authorities knew this and did nothing. There were signs everywhere that this was not a loyal soldier, yet the military sat on its hands. Most stunning to me was the comment by Army Chief of Staff George Casey, who made the following asinine comment: "And what happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here." Try telling that to the families of the 13 victims, General.
6) Gotta love the people running the University of Massachussets. They invited Raymond Luc Levasseur, a convicted terrorist, to speak at their school. Among Levasseur's victims was a Massachussets State Trooper. In any event, word got out about the speech and the public was understandably outraged. As a result, the invitation was quietly withdrawn. Then, the faculty got involved, and the Administration flip-flopped again, reinstating the invitation in the name of "academic freedom". Hmm............I wonder, would the faculty at the school have been so hot on "academic freedom" if, say, Ralph Reed had been invited to speak? No? How about Scott Roeder, who shot and killed abortion doctor George Tiller? Somehow, I doubt it...........
7) We're going broke. No, really, I mean we're going BROKE. The Pew Center has just published a study of the financial status of all 50 states, and it found that ten--among them New Jersey, where I live--are literally heading for economic disaster. Let's see, we in the Garden State are already the most heavily taxed people in the country, and yet, our government is also the most heavily-indebted. That's quite the combo. Everyone talks about California's well-publicized budget problems, but the Golden State has nothing on us! And, if you live in Florida, Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, don't get too excited--you're right down there in the economic cesspool with us. Then again, if the national government can print money like it's going out of style (and then spend it even faster), why should the states be any different?
8) Finally, something enjoyable about which I can write. Sports. Here is the Top Five in College Football this week:
i) Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0, #1): The Tide needed some officiating help to beat LSU 24-15 last Saturday, but now the stage is set for a great clash between Alabama and Florida in the SEC title game.
ii) Texas Longhorns (9-0, #2): Texas' job is simple. Take care of business the rest of the way, against inferior opponents, and the Longhorns will play either Alabama or Florida for the national title.
iii) Florida Gators (9-0, #3): I will never, ever feel sorry for UF, but the Gators have to be the most maligned, undefeated national champion in recent years.
iv) Cincinnati Bearcats (9-0, #4): It would take a lot to get the Bearcats into the national title game, and they still have their toughest games to play (Pittsburgh is still on the schedule, as is West Virginia), but the Bearcats are still a very young team. Scary as it is to think, they're a year or two away from being their best.
v) Boise State Broncos (9-0, no ranking): Not TCU? No, because the Broncos have already proven that they can play with and beat the "big boys". They dominated Oregon, which dominated USC, a constant B(C)S title contender. Boise State belongs in a major bowl if it runs the table, which it should do.
Dropped out: Iowa Hawkeys (#5)
9) The Top Five and Bottom Five in the NFL this week, with the team's record and last week's ranking in brackets.
Top Five
i) New Orleans Saints (8-0, #1): The Aint's no more. New Orleans is undefeated at the midway point of the season for the first time in franchise history.
ii) Indianapolis Colts (8-0, #2): From the "Did You Know" department.......Did you know that the Colts have now won 16 consecutive regular season games?
iii) Minnesota Vikings (7-1, #3): A Minnesota-New Orleans NFC Conference Final would be a lot of fun, don't you think?
iv) New England Patriots (6-2, #5): Like a Swiss watch, the Pats just keep ticking. Looming ahead for them, a game in New Orleans against the Saints.
v) Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2, no ranking): That 1-2 start is ancient history now. The Steelers won't give up that Super Bowl crown without a fight.
Dropped out: Denver Broncos (#4)
Bottom Five
i) Detroit Lions (1-7, #2): It took half a season, but the de-clawed Lions have finally resumed their rightful place as the worst team in the league.
ii) Cleveland Browns (1-7, #3): The Browns would have to improve just to be a joke.
iii) St. Louis Rams (1-7, #4): A perfectly balanced team. They can't score or stop anyone.
iv) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-7, #1): Maybe bringing back the creamsicle unis was a GOOD idea!
v) Kansas City Chiefs (1-7, no ranking): A proud franchise is being disgraced by the dreck currently wearing the team's uniforms.
Dropped out: Oakland Raiders (#5)
10) The Top Five and Bottom Five in the NHL this week, with the team's record and last ranking in brackets:
Top Five
i) San Jose Sharks (13-4-2, #2): Everyone knows that the Sharks turn in great regular seasons. It's the playoffs that count, though.
ii) Washington Capitals (10-3-4, #5): Alexander Ovechkin is injured, but so far, the Caps haven't missed a beat.
iii) Colorado Avalanche (12-4-2, #3): They just keep winning. It's never pretty, but getting Ws is all that matters.
iv) Calgary Flames (11-4-1, no ranking): Jarome Iginla is red hot right now, and so is his team.
v) New Jersey Devils (11-4, no ranking): It doesn't matter who the coach is, or even who most of the players are. This team is a lock for 95+ points and a playoff spot every season.
Dropped out: Pittsburgh Penguins (#1. *A caveat--the team is ravaged by injuries right now, with the most disabling being that which knocked out Evgeni Malkin), Buffalo Sabres (#4)
Bottom Five
i) Carolina Hurricanes (2-11-3, #2): Coach Paul Maurice has to be wondering what's going on. The Hurricanes should NOT be this bad.
ii) Florida Panthers (5-9-1, #3): They have a horrible goals differential, which is usually indicative of a bad team.
iii) Toronto Maple Leafs (3-8-5, #1): The Leafs have (unfortunately) showed signs of life of late.
iv) Minnesota Wild (7-10, #4): You have to think that the team's discipline will pay off with some wins eventually.
v) Montreal Canadiens (8-10, no ranking): Am I unduly hard on them because they're "my" team? Maybe, but this is a shallow team with a bad defense.
Dropped out: Anaheim Ducks (#5)
11) The Top Five and Bottom Five in the NBA this week, with the team's record and last ranking in Brackets:
Top Five
i) Los Angeles Lakers (6-1, #2): Showtime is back, and Kobe Bryant is the master of ceremonies.
ii) Phoenix Suns (7-1, no ranking): Don't know how long the Suns will keep it up, but regardless, they're still the most fun team in the NBA to watch.
iii) Boston Celtics (7-1, #1): So long as Kevin Garnett stays healthy, the Celtics will be a threat to win the title.
iv) Miami Heat (6-1, no ranking): The Suns may be the most fun TEAM to watch, but in my mind, Dwayne Wade is the most PLAYER to watch.
v) Denver Nuggets (6-2, #3): Are playing well on the road in the early season, which is not usually this team's strong suit.
Dropped out: Orlando Magic (#4), San Antonio Spurs (#5)
Bottom Five
i) New Jersey Nets (0-7, #1): And tonight, they were down by nine in the first quarter at home to the mediocre Philadelphia 76ers.
ii) New York Knicks (1-7, #3): (Because my mother always taught me that if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all).
iii) Minnesota Timberwolves (1-7, #4): I wonder if they'd like to undo that Kevin Garnett trade right about now.
iv) Memphis Grizzlies (1-7, #5): Perpetually bad. The NBA's answer to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
v) Washington Wizards (2-6, no ranking): Let's see, the nation's capital has Capitals (good), Redskins (boring AND bad), the Nationals (awful), and the Wizards (bad). Yuck........
Dropped out: Los Angeles Clippers (#2--don't worry, like Arnold, they'll be back).

Georgia on my mind

Russia's offensive against Georgia, ostensibly over the "rights" of the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia, continues unabated, despite worldwide pleas for a ceasefire: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080811_Analysis__U_S__has_few_moves_against_Russia_.html. I used the word "rights" because I think that Russia is trying to make a much bigger point than just that it cares about Russian natives in South Ossetia. It is telling everyone of those "breakaway republics" that were part of the old Soviet Union that they're really not very safe, and that if they think that NATO is going to come to their rescue, they are sadly mistaken. No one had any illusions that the Georgian military would be able to provide much of an opposition to the Russian army, including I am certain the Georgians (hence their desire to join NATO). So, the messages here are for the Ukraine, the Baltic states, etc.: 1) Tow Moscow's line or face the consequences; 2) Don't count on help from the United States or NATO. They are paper tigers. You can be sure that those messages are being heard loud and clear in Tbilisi today, whose President, Mikhail Saakashvili, writes despondently in today's Wall Street Journal of what Russia is doing to his country: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121841306186328421.html?mod=djemEditorialPage.

Historical ignorance is bliss

That must be what Barack Obama is thinking--how else can anyone explain his failure to attribute anything positive the American military might, including the Berlin Airlift?! How can anyone go to Berlin and deliver a speech on U.S. foreign policy which fails to mention what was arguably the most significant example of the positive use of American military force: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/07/27/missing_from_that_berlin_speech/. Then again, he talked about how the Berlin Wall was brought down without mentioning President Ronald Reagan, the man who brought it down, so I guess that this too should not surprise me.

I'd have to say that he's right

Ralph Peters has a column in the New York Post on the looming conflict with Iran, and he makes a valid point. If we're going to do this, we'd better be ready to go to the mattresses and do what it takes. We can't fight this war on the cheap, nor can it be outsourced to Israel: http://www.nypost.com/seven/07172008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/what_bomb_iran_really_takes_120263.htm?page=0. Then again, maybe we could just adopt the Baracck Obama model and sing kumbaya with the Iranians, because that will make them love us, won't it?

Canada, heaven for U.S. deserters

Thanks to an asinine ruling from a Canadian judge, Canada will in essence become a "sanctuary" for any U.S. military deserter who feels as though American military policies are causing him/her to "insult human dignity": http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/07/04/jonathan-kay-on-joshua-key-canada-just-became-a-utopia-for-u-s-military-deserters.aspx.

Basically, what this does is open up Canada to a flood of military deserters who signed up to serve and then found that, well, serving is not all its cracked up to be.

More San Francisco "values"

The frontal assault against the military by the powers-that-be in San Francisco wasn't apparently enough, so now we have schoolboard officials in the city voting to bar those enrolled in the Junior ROTC ("JROTC") program from using their participating in JROTC to obtain physical education credits: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/27/BAJ411FPOE.DTL.

I've really had it with that left wing nuthouse. The people who run the city (and everyone who voted for them) obviously hate the United States. So, good bye. Leave. I'd be more than happy to see the city secede. It wouldn't be missed..............

Canadian Highway of Heroes

This actually brought a tear to my eyes and a lump to my throat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFmXKMki8sA. I honour the fallen soldiers as well as the crowds that gathered to welcome them back home. I just hope that they know how much their sacrifice is appreciated.

A stereotype

That's what Washington State Congressman James McDermott is. He is the prototypical "Angry Left", blame America first type. Don't believe me? Look at this revealing article, which admittedly comes from McDermott's future opponent in the 2008 Congressional election, Steve Beren: http://www.berenforcongress.com/rainier.html.

McDermott, as you will recall, was one of the Congressmen who went to Baghdad right before the start of the Iraq War in 2003 to propagandize for Saddam Hussein's regime. Now, it comes out that he really doesn't think very much of either this country (we are running "gulags" in Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq), and our troops are "mercenaries" who are either felons or too stupid and/or poor to know better than to enlist in the army.

Shame on the State of Washington for continuing to send this man back to Congress.

A price to be paid

The bizarro world that is Berkeley, California, may finally start to pay a price for its relentlessly left-wing, anti-American activity. One business has publicly announced that it is moving its headquarters out of the city due to the negative publicity associated with being a Berkeley-based corporation: http://www.dailycal.org/article/101127/local_company_to_leave_berkeley_due_to_protests.

There was one very telling comment at the end of the article which I found to be a very telling indicator of the mindset of those running the city:

"I'm sorry to hear they're leaving, but I think it's inevitable given the conflict that is happening with the Marine recruiting center," [Downtown council member Dona] Spring said. "... I don't see how the businesses in that square can sustain the kind of controversy that the Marine recruiting center has had on that locale."

So, this idiot politician is blaming the Marines for the problem. No, it has NOTHING to do with the license to intimidate and harass that the city council has given to Code Pink and its seditious allies.

Spy wars of tomorrow

If anyone else read the book "Deception Point", by Dan Brown, they read in the beginning of the book about tiny robotic spy devices designed to look like flies, and which we were no bigger than insects. This technology is a lot closer to reality than one might have thought: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,345192,00.html.

What concerns me is that if we have this, our enemies will have it soon after. It goes both ways, you know...............

Message sent

The U.S. Military has successfully shot down a spy satellite which was (so the story goes) in a decaying orbit: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080221/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/dead_satellite. I don't know whether this is true or not, but I DO strongly suspect that the shoot down was intended to send a not-so-subtle message to China--and possibly Russia, too--that we can shoot down satellites as well. How the Chinese react to this will be anybody's guess..............

Grounding the air force

Our military is the last bastion of defense for this country. However, it seems as though the military in general and the Air Force in particular are being left to whither away on the vine, a fact noted in this Associated Press article: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/military-warns-of-geriatric-air-force/20080219094809990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001. Forty year old planes? How can we expect the supposedly most advanced military in the world to defend this country with equipment that is literally as old as I am? That's not adequate to defend against existing threats, let alone the ones that will emerge in the future.

A war we lost?

It's commonly accepted that the United States "lost" the Vietnam War. In fact, to suggest otherwise is to invite scorn, ridicule and anger. However, a writer in the Wall Street Journal has done just that, pointing out that from a military standpoint, the Amerian forces had decisively defeated the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese in ever single military encounter, including the Tet Offensive, which was widely reported by the media as being an ignominious U.S. defeat: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120226056767646059.html.

I have long wondered about the reporting on the Vietnam War, which was perhaps the first "television war" in world history. The public perception of it was shaped by a media which was against the war and the soldiers who were fighting it (hmmm, doesn't this sound familiar?). Unfortunately, it set a pattern which is still followed today.............

Defending the West

This was in The Guardian of all places. It's an Op-Ed by former heads of NATO, wherein they excoriate the current, feckless leadership of the organization and call for a revamping of it to respond to the current threats facing the West: http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,332160591-111202,00.html.

I have long wondered what has become of NATO, which began as a military alliance to counter the Soviet threat, and has evolved over time into a Western global response team...........or so I thought. In reality, NATO is rarely willing to "stick its neck out" for anything or any reason, and many of its members seem unwilling to risk their soldiers getting hurt for any reason. If so, what's the point in being a member?

Mark Steyn debunks another myth

Needless to say, it's the New York Times which is perpetuating this latest fantasy, one which has American veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq committing crimes on a "disproportionate" basis: http://ocregister.com/opinion/war-times-iraq-1962198-one-home. And the thing is, as Steyn notes, the NYT is RIGHT. American veterans are committing crimes at a disproportionate rate relative to others who are their age...................DISPROPORTIONATELY LOWER.

The left-wing (I won't dignify it by calling it "liberal") bias of the New York Times is well known, but at some point, doesn't that bias become so absurd that even the most devoted reader has to ask "Are you for real?"

More lunacy out of the U.K.

This one is almost beyond belief. A British vet of the second Iraq War has been forced to move out of Great Britain (and to Bulgaria, of all places) because the British Army won't pay him a decent pension after he suffered severe combat-related injuries: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=DAM3BG4F5CQCNQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2008/01/14/narmy214.xml. It gets worse, too. While he was in the hospital, he was ordered to remove his uniform because "it might offend the ethnic patients" at the hospital. Gee, I wonder who THEY might have been?

What is wrong with England, anyway?

Does our Air Force deserve the best?

It seems like a silly question to ask. One of the things that has made this country's armed forces the best in the world is the cutting edge technology in the equipment to which it has access. That may unfortunately be changing. The Air Force has been flying F-15s for 35+ years now. It is a very old plane which doesn't do well against modern competition: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110011043. There is a much more advanced plane available, the Raptor, which completely outclasses every other plane out there. The cost is high, though as the link above demonstrates, the cost goes down with each and every plane that is purchased.

To me, it seems like this is an investment well worth making. We can't pretend to have the best armed forces if our soldiers, be they Army, Navy or Air Force, don't have the best equipment.

No refugee status for you!

Two deserters from the American Armed Forces who fled to Canada to avoid being sent to Iraq in 2004 have been denied refugee status by the Canadian Supreme Court: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/11/15/hinzman-decision.html. To be more precise, the Court refused to hear their appeals of earlier decisions denying them refugee status.

I have to say that I am pleased by this decision. Let's not forget that unlike during the Vietnam War, there is no draft currently. Those in the Armed Forces have joined voluntarily, and it seems only logical that if you do join the military, you should go where they tell you. Then again, I will concede (as one Ron Paul supporter keeps harping) that I am not and have never been in the military. So, maybe I have no right to comment at all on this issue.

Veteran's/Remembrance Day Followup

After I went to bed last night, I couldn't fall asleep. I tossed and turned for a while, and eventually just gave up and got out of bed. I went downstairs and turned on the computer, and in my e-mail inbox was a link to two YouTube videos honouring Canada's soldiers who have falled in Afghanistan and elsewhere. They brought a tear to my eye, and I think that the videos could be equally applicable to vets and their families here in the U.S. My own father was a WWII veteran, and I have close friends and colleagues who are serving now. So, this whole subject is one that is very near and dear to my heart.

To the veterans out there, THANK YOU again. THANK YOU for everything that I have, and I know that without your sacrifices I would have nothing. THANK YOU for giving up your futures so that my family could have its [future].

To my readers, many of whom have families of their own, think of all families out there who have lost mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, aunts, uncles and cousins, and say a prayer for them.

Here is the full text of the e-mail I received:

Don Cherry may be gruff and loud, but that man has a heart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzgSI2PO8s0

Bryan Adams "Remembrance Day" video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj0WX0jtJJI

Veteran's/Remembrance Day

Today is Veteran's Day in the United States, Remembrance Day in Canada. To all of the veterans out there, to any military personnel who may read my blog, you have my appreciation, gratitude and respect. Thank you.