9/11/2011...Images, Memories, Prayers...from Mark

President George W. Bush with some powerful words yesterday in Shanksville, where the brave passengers of Flight 93 saved the Capitol or the White House from destruction...


It was ten years ago today...on a beautiful Tuesday morning....over 3000 people would go to work, or out to eat, or what have you....and never come home...

19 scumbag islamofascist thugs would use innocent people and aircraft as weapons to try to pry us into fear...Here are some images and remembrances from that horrible day...


Shortly after the attacks, our Commander in Chief told the bravest and finest we were with them and made a vow....



A vow that not only led to a new emphasis on those who fear us because we are free, but led to freedom for millions who had been under the heel of brutal e dictators...And the justice for this, while it may never be complete in this life, the cowardly dirtbag who orchestrated this has been sent to hell...



And though that particular devil is gone, there are more out there, looking to try to do what UBL and others have tried and failed to do: Bring America to her knees. As long as America has the brave men and women of the military and the law enforcement and first responders, as long as we are a people of freedom and liberty under God; then no group of religious fascist fanatics can destroy us....God bless the men and women who serve us....

God bless our brothers and sisters who ran into the maelstrom as others fled, seeking to save everyone they could...and God bless those who took things into their own hands to defeat evil with a cry of "Let's Roll..."

May we never, ever forget the Fallen....




Let us continue on to live our lives as they lived, striving to be all we can be and live out this unique American Dream, but with a renewed vigilance and understanding of how rare, precious, and special is our gift of liberty. Let us live in freedom, hoping for peace but ready to defend the cause of justice and liberty...God bless America....

Obama's Apology Tour Has Done Nothing But Weaken America

Barack Obama's bowing, IPod giving, I'm a Citizen of the world, taking Michelle out on expensive dates on your dime, America Sucks and We're Sorry Apology tour has done nothing but add to the national debt and erode confidence and respect for the strength of our country. While Obama has been apologizing to the likes of Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Japan, and others, while flipping the bird to our allies in Polnd and elsewhere; nothing has come good of his globetrotting. He can't even get an Olympics with Oprah's help! Iran is laughint at us, continuing to build up nuke techonology. North Korea ignores us unless a Clinton photo op is promised. Don't just take it from me. Check this out from the WSJ:

'He talks too much," a Saudi academic in Jeddah, who had once been smitten with Barack Obama, recently observed to me of America's 44th president. He has wearied of Mr. Obama and now does not bother with the Obama oratory.

He is hardly alone, this academic. In the endless chatter of this region, and in the commentaries offered by the press, the theme is one of disappointment. In the Arab-Islamic world, Barack Obama has come down to earth.

He has not made the world anew, history did not bend to his will, the Indians and Pakistanis have been told that the matter of Kashmir is theirs to resolve, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the same intractable clash of two irreconcilable nationalisms, and the theocrats in Iran have not "unclenched their fist," nor have they abandoned their nuclear quest.
There is little Mr. Obama can do about this disenchantment. He can't journey to Turkey to tell its Islamist leaders and political class that a decade of anti-American scapegoating is all forgiven and was the product of American policies—he has already done that. He can't journey to Cairo to tell the fabled "Arab street" that the Iraq war was a wasted war of choice, and that America earned the malice that came its way from Arab lands—he has already done that as well. He can't tell Muslims that America is not at war with Islam—he, like his predecessor, has said that time and again.

It was the norm for American liberalism during the Bush years to brandish the Pew Global Attitudes survey that told of America's decline in the eyes of foreign nations. Foreigners were saying what the liberals wanted said.

Now those surveys of 2009 bring findings from the world of Islam that confirm that the animus toward America has not been radically changed by the ascendancy of Mr. Obama. In the Palestinian territories, 15% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 82% have an unfavorable view. The Obama speech in Ankara didn't seem to help in Turkey, where the favorables are 14% and those unreconciled, 69%. In Egypt, a country that's reaped nearly 40 years of American aid, things stayed roughly the same: 27% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 70% do not. In Pakistan, a place of great consequence for American power, our standing has deteriorated: The unfavorables rose from 63% in 2008 to 68% this year.

Damn, and Barry worked so hard to pronounce it Pahhh-kee-stahn.

We had once taken to the foreign world that quintessential American difference—the belief in liberty, a needed innocence to play off against the settled and complacent ways of older nations. The Obama approach is different.

Steeped in an overarching idea of American guilt, Mr. Obama and his lieutenants offered nothing less than a doctrine, and a policy, of American penance. No one told Mr. Obama that the Islamic world, where American power is engaged and so dangerously exposed, it is considered bad form, nay a great moral lapse, to speak ill of one's own tribe when in the midst, and in the lands, of others.

Right here is proof Obama is not a Muslim, he doesn't know how they think over there. So see, he isn't a Muslim. But, such an abject ignorance of the psychology of a region belies a certain arrogance about the certainty of one's own self loathing for one's own country, does it not? But let's look at Iran....

Mr. Obama could not make up his mind: He was at one with "the people" and with the rulers who held them in subjugation. The people of Iran who took to the streets this past summer were betrayed by this hapless diplomacy—Mr. Obama was out to "engage" the terrible rulers that millions of Iranians were determined to be rid of.

On Nov. 4, on the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran, the embattled reformers, again in the streets, posed an embarrassing dilemma for American diplomacy: "Obama, Obama, you are either with us or with them," they chanted. By not responding to these cries and continuing to "engage" Tehran's murderous regime, his choice was made clear. It wasn't one of American diplomacy's finest moments.

It is obvious that when it comes to expanding liberty, Obama will not even vote present.

Mr. Obama has himself to blame for the disarray of his foreign policy. American arms had won a decent outcome in Iraq, but Mr. Obama would not claim it—it was his predecessor's war. Vigilance had kept the American homeland safe from terrorist attacks for seven long years under his predecessors, but he could never grant Bush policies the honor and credit they deserved. He had declared Afghanistan a war of necessity, but he seems to have his eye on the road out even as he is set to announce a troop increase

Check out the whole thing....

Obama's Big Afghan Speech: What's Missing?

Here is a link to the full text of Der Dithering One's Afghan speech. There is something very important missing, something crucially important to the well being of our troops and the outcome of the Afghan war. It is a single word. Can you guess what it is? It is a 7 letter word.

V I C T O R Y

Either you are in this to win it, or you bring the boys home. If you are not trying to win the war and have victory, then there is no point. Obama is trying hard to get America to screw another generation of American soldiers.

Liberal Patriotism: West Point is Now an Enemy Camp

Chris Matthews is a disgusting human being. Not only did he used to have intern sandwiches with the deceased drunken vehicular manslaughterer Ted Kennedy, but he considers the military academy at West Point as "an enemy camp." He did it last night before Obama's speech about the "quasi" surge in Afghanistan.
Check it out:



This is liberal patriotism. The home of our future officers is an enemy camp. Terrorism is man caused disasters.

Who is writing for Matthews now, Gaffe-tastic Joe Biden?

This guy gets a tingle down his leg when Der Chosen One speaks but can't respect West Point?

Good news is that only 5 people saw it because it was on MSNBC.

When Hillary Met the Taliban....

OK, did you see the exchanges last week between Madame Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, and the Taliban in Afghanistan? If you missed it, you missed a great example of why liberals should not be in charge during a time of war. Or, like, ever.

Check this out:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday at a U.N. conference on Afghanistan that Taliban members in Afghanistan who abandoned extremism must be granted an "honorable form of reconciliation."

"We must also support efforts by the government of Afghanistan to separate the extremists of al Qaeda and the Taliban from those who have joined their ranks not out of conviction, but out of desperation," Clinton said at an international conference on Afghanistan in the Hague.

"This is, in fact, the case for a majority of those fighting with the Taliban," she told delegates from more than 70 countries at the meeting.

Clinton's comments echo those of U.S. President Barack Obama who said this month that he was open to the idea of reaching out to moderate elements of the Taliban.

Where is the moderate Taliban, anyway? How do we differentiate? Are the moderates the ones who behead you quick, as opposed to the extremes, who take their time? Come on now. I guess this Taliban is not very moderate:

The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on the White House that would "amaze" the world. Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday's attack on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore was retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.

"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details.

But you don't understand, conservatives...these people are oppressed...blah de blah blah...No liberals, you don't understand. You don't negotiate with evil. You eradicate it. But wait, this gets more interesting...I guess the moderate Taliban doesn't want to take HillRod and Barry the Buffoon up on their offer of love and joy:

The Taliban tonight dismissed American overtures for peace in Afghanistan.
Crushing an olive branch offered by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Taliban leaders rejected a U.S. appeal to moderate militants as ‘a lunatic idea.’
The Americans are hoping to isolate war weary Afghan fighters from their hard line Taliban and al Qaeda bosses by proposing an amnesty in return for them laying down their arms.
But her appeal was quickly shot down by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who said the Islamic fundamentalists would keep fighting until the U.S. pulled out of the country.
‘They have to go and find the moderate Taliban, their leader and speak to them. This is a lunatic idea,’ he said.

Newsflash, liberal morons, there is no moderate Taliban. They hate us. They want us dead. Nuff said. Therefore, we have to fight them. But, I guess, we could always do it the Clinton 90s way, and in ten years our kids will have another 9/11 on their hands....but that is OK, Barry can always say it didn't happen on his watch and seek to foist blame on someone else.

These people are scary stupid with their naivete and self hatred. It is no wonder they can't say War on Terror, and seek euphemisms. It might make them feel better about Francing our way to surrender.

In His Own Words....A Memorial to Stephen Fortunato

Who is Stephen Fortunato? Let me tell you....The following is a blog entry written on Aug. 30, 2008, by Army Specialist Stephen Fortunato, who was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in was blown up by an improvised explosive device. Read the following...God bless the brave, we are forever in your debt:

If I may …
I’d like to say something….Just to get it out there so it is clear.
To all the pampered and protected Americans who feel it is their duty to inform me that I am not fighting for their freedom, and that i am a pawn in Bush’s agenda of greed and oil acquisition: Noted, and [expletive deleted] You.

I am not a robot. i am not blind or ignorant to the state of the world or the implications of the “war on terrorism.” i know that our leaders have made mistakes in the handling of a very sensitive situation, but do not for one second think that you can make me lose faith in what we, meaning America’s sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers in uniform are doing.
I am doing my part in fighting a very real enemy of the United States, i.e. Taliban, Al Qaida, and various other radical sects of Islam that have declared war on our way of life. Unless you believe the events of 9/11 were the result of a government conspiracy, which by the way would make you a MORON, there is no reasonable argument you can make against there being a true and dangerous threat that needs to be dealt with. i don’t care if there are corporations leaching off the war effort to make money, and i don’t care if you don’t think our freedom within America’s borders is actually at stake. i just want to kill those who would harm my family and friends. it is that simple. Even if this is just a war for profit or to assert America’s power, so what? Someone has to be on top and I want it to be us. There’s nothing wrong with wishing prosperity for your side.

I am a proud American. i believe that my country allows me to live my life more or less however i want to, and believe me, i have seen what the alternative of that looks like. i also believe that our big scary government does way more than it has to to help complete [expletive deleted]-ups get back on their feet, a stark comparison to places where leaders just line their own pockets with gold while allowing the people who gave them their power and privilage to starve. I have chosen my corner. I back my country, and am proud to defend it against aggressors. Also, if you dare accuse us of being inhumane, or overly aggressive because we have rolled into someone else’s country and blown some [expletive deleted] up and shot some people, let me remind you of just how inhumane we COULD be in defending ourselves. Let me remind you that we have a warhead that drops multiple bomblets from the stratosphere which upon impact, would turn all the sand in Iraq to glass, and reduce every living thing there to dust. Do we use it? No. Instead we use the most humane weapon ever devised: the American soldier. We send our bravest (and perhaps admitably craziest) men and women into enemy territory, into harms way, to root out those whom we are after and do our best to leave innocent lives unscathed.

…One last thing…a proposal. i know it has been stated time and time again but i just think it is worthy of reiteration. If you find yourself completely disgusted with the way America is being ran, and how we handle things on the global stage, you can leave. Isn’t that amazing? No one will stop you! If you are an anarchist, there are places you can go where there is no government to tell you anything. That’s right…you are left solely to your own devices and you can handle the men who show up at your door with AKs in any way that you see fit. Just don’t try good old American debate tactics on them because you will most likely end up bound and blind-folded, to have your head chopped off on the internet so your parents can see it. However if you insist on staying here and taking advantage of privilages such as free speach and WIC, keep the counter-productive [expletive deleted] to a minimum while the grown ups figure out how to handle this god-awful mess in the middle east.

Spc. Fortunato, I wish our leaders had half the common sense, courage, and understanding that you do. God bless you, your family and friends, and your comrades both living and passed.

Biden on Afghanistan: Fuzzy Math...

Remember Al Gore's fuzzy math? It appears slow Joe and Obama are suffering from the same issue. For example, on Afghanistan, Joe Biden said THREE TIMES that :

We have spent more in 3 weeks in Iraq than we did in the last 6 years in Afghanistan"

However, what about this CRS report which shows the REAL NUMBERS:

CRS Report for Congress

The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War
on Terror Operations Since 9/11

Covers FY2001 - FY2009
Afghanistan war $172 billion (8 yrs)
Iraq war $653 billion (6 years)

Let's just take average / year / week

AF: $21.5 billion / yr
IR: $109 billion / yr

3 weeks of IR $6.3 billion
7 years of AF $150.5 billion

Hmmmm....someone do the math...

Western Standard has this to say:

Biden is telling absurd lies about Afghanistan tonight. In particular, he's repeatedly claimed that "we've spent less in Afghanistan in seven years than we spend in a month in Iraq."
According to the Congressional Research Service, spending on the war in Afghanistan since 2001 has been $172 Billion. Spending in Iraq is, as the Democrats repeatedly mention, a little under $10 Billion a month.

In other words, Biden's number is off by, oh, something like 2000%. Perhaps Obama's Sub-Committee ought to have held some hearings on Afghanistan after all.

As a side note, amazingly, Biden just fell apart on foreign policy there. Did he really promise that Obama would launch a war in Darfur? Never mind his whole mess of an answer on his vote for the Iraq War. Does anyone think that it's really even remotely credible that Joe Biden voted to give George Bush the authority to go to war because he thought he wouldn't use it. If Joe Biden did that, he's among the stupidest men alive.

Hearings? What? I am sorry...I am only present...besides, I am too busy campaigning...sincerely, Barry O.

The 143 Day Man Missed Opportunities to Find out about Afghanistan and Iraq...and Now he Wants to Lead on these issues?

With a hat tip to Joe Biden, we come to find out Barry Obama, he who thinks 143 days is enough experience to be President, attended only 1 of three important committee hearings on NATO's role in Afghanistan, and at that hearing only asked one question, totally unrelated to Afghanistan. Yet, this effite liberal self serving snob wants to be commander in chief and lead on Afghanistan? Come on now. Here's the skinny from Political Punch @ ABC:

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his allies have been hitting Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, for not holding any hearings to examine the role of NATO in Afghanistan in his perch as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs.

"He's never had a hearing," McCain said Tuesday, "so I am not surprised that all he has done is said, 'Well, we need more troops.'"

In a letter to Obama earlier this week, McCain-backing Sen. Jim DeMint R- SC, wrote, “With oversight of NATO relations and its role in Afghanistan, I believe it is time for us to focus closely on these issues,” DeMint wrote, suggesting a meeting of the subcommittee upon Obama’s return from a much anticipated trip abroad.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del., had previously told Meet the Press that "the reason Obama didn't hold a hearing on NATO, I chair the committee. Every one of those committee hearings are held at full committee."

But today Biden decided to take his defense of Obama one step further, writing to DeMint that there have been plenty of hearings on European Affairs, they've just been held at the "full committee level."

"On the particular issue of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan," Biden wrote, "We have held three Full Committee hearings in the last 22 months: one under Senator Lugar’s chairmanship (September 21, 2006: “From Coalition to ISAF Command in Afghanistan: The Purpose and Impact of the Transition”), and two undermine (March 8, 2007: “Afghanistan: Time for a New Strategy?” and January 21, 2008: “Afghanistan: A Plan to Turn the Tide?”). At all three of these hearings, we were fortunate enough to have the expert testimony—in addition to other witnesses, both in and out of government— of former NATO commander and Supreme Allied Commander-Europe, Gen. James R. Jones (USMC, ret.)."

But Biden's letter brought attention to the fact that Obama did not attend two of those three hearings -- and for the third, on March 8, 2007, Obama only asked one question, one unrelated to Afghanistan.

How do I know the latter fact? From an August 2007 press release from Biden himself, when he was running for president.

"BIDEN CAMPAIGN CONGRATULATES SEN. OBAMA FOR JOHNNY-COME-LATELY POSITION," it read. Noting that at the March 2007 hearing, "Sen. Obama asked one question that was unrelated to Taliban or Afghanistan."

Thanks, Joe!

Well, he doesn't take his job seriously, and has terrible attendance...but at least he is clean and articulate, right, Joe?

WMD Blast

Programming Note: The unofficial voice of the GOP in Ohio is NOT going to Minnie-so-cold for the GOP Convention, but fellow SOB Alliance member Justin Higgins from Right on the Right has been credentialed. Congrats!!!

AP News Alert:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Afghanistan says it has evidence proving Pakistani agency was behind Indian Embassy bombing.

This is not good news. The last thing that region needs is an escalation of conflict involving India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The story of an Iranian CIA agent in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Some people are just never going to change their minds no matter who does the talking...

Speaker Jon Husted comes off rather well in this piece on McCain's economic message. Yeah, this is a change from the usual reaction I get from the Speaker...

MORE LATER...OPEN THREAD IN COMMENTS...

Change that Worked, and that We Can Believe in...VETS FOR FREEDOM AD

Check out this great ad from Vets for Freedom, who are fighting the MSM and networks and are fighting to get this ad aired as part of an ad buy.



God bless our men and women serving...and their families....

Good News for Afghanistan

AP News Alert:

WASHINGTON (AP) A senior U.S. counterterrorism official says Abu Obaidah al-Masri, the al-Qaida chief responsible for attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan, is dead, apparently of "natural causes."

Enjoy Hell, scumbag.

This is the Time on WMD When We Dance!

AP News Alert:

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) A U.S. monitoring group says an Islamist militant Web site has announced the death of the al-Qaida commander in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi.

A hearty "Well done!" goes out to the men and women responsible for this little bit of news...

Afghanistan Surge?

AP News Alert:

WASHINGTON (AP) Military officials say the Pentagon is preparing to send at least 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan in April.

This is good news because Afghanistan has been needing a Surge of its own...

Karzai's Bad Idea

Here is an AP News Alert from over the weekend that we talked about a little bit on the radio show on Saturday night...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he would personally meet with Taliban leader Mullah Omar for peace talks and give the militants a high position in a government ministry.

Isn't this a lot like President Bush saying that he would personally meet with Osama bin Laden and make him Secretary of Defense?

I'm hoping that there is some context that is missing from this reportage, but I haven't seen much on the story beyond this...

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey has much more on this subject and is well worth a look if you are interested in more info...

Shocker: Islamic Fascist Iran and al Queda? Who Knew?

In case you are incompetent or a liberal, let me break this news. Ties between al Queda and Iran are growing, according to Western officials. Shocking! An Islamic fascist state and an islamic fascist group having ties? You must be kidding me! No, it appears there is evidence for Dems to deny.

Evidence that Iranian territory is being used as a base by al-Qaeda to help in terrorist operations in Iraq and elsewhere is growing, say western officials.

It is not clear how much the al-Qaeda operation, described by one official as a money and communications hub, is being tolerated or encouraged by the Iranian government, they said.

The group’s operatives, who link the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan with their disciples in Iraq, the Levant and North Africa, move with relative freedom in the country, they said.

The officials said the creation of some kind of al-Qaeda hub in Iran appears to be separate from the group of seven senior al-Qaeda figures, including Saad bin Laden, son of the group’s figurehead, that Iran is said to have detained since 2002.

A senior US official said the information had produced different assessments. “The most conservative, cautious intelligence assessment is that [the Iranian authorities] are turning a blind eye

The official then said it is not clear to what extent Iran is cooperating. Well, if they are not arresting and taking these animals off the street and turning a blind eye, they are aiding and abetting. I remember somebody talking about being with us or against us, do you?

Author of Dem Position on Iraq Admits it is the Central Front in War on Bumper Stickers

Yep, you heard it here. Maybe the Dems will come around. The source of many of their talking points, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Queda's Deputy Leader, says Iraq is the central front in the War on terror Bumper Stickers. I guess new receivers of the talking points Pete Domenichi, Lamar Alexander, et. al. did not receive the memo. Here are the key points:

A new video by al-Qaida's deputy leader Thursday left no doubt about what the terror network claims is at stake in Iraq - describing it as a centerpiece of its anti-American fight and insisting the Iraqi insurgency is under its direct leadership

And, in a less obvious quip, Zawahiri admitted that things are not going well for the insurgency:

The speech is perhaps most significant for its admission that Sunni militants have grown divided over the usefulness of the alternative regime that the Islamic State of Iraq claims to offer.

In recent weeks, US soldiers have formed partnerships with Sunni insurgents, in places such as western Baghdad and in Baqubah, north of the capital, to track down Al Qaeda in Iraq members and find their weapons. Members of insurgent groups such as the 1920s Revolution Brigades and the Islamic Army have said they have grown disillusioned with Al Qaeda in Iraq's seemingly indiscriminate killing and its repressive style of Islam.

These fighters, whom the American military wants to fashion into a grass-roots police force in several areas, have in some cases arrested and killed suspected Al Qaeda in Iraq members.

Wow, could it be that even though things are still rough, the US military is adjusting tactics and battling al Queda? Isn't it sad that we get more truth out of the mouth of the Devil in the Sand than from the devils in our own legislature?

War on Terror Update

AP News Alert:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE THUNDER, Afghanistan (AP) NATO says it killed about 80 insurgents in two battles, including about 60 along the border with Pakistan.

Well done!

Jack Idema is Free

AP News Alert:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Afghan officials say an American who was imprisoned in Afghanistan for running a private jail for terror suspects has been freed and has left the country.

Most folks from the Wide Awakes Radio days knew about this yesterday, but it is an amazing story. Check out Cao's Blog for all the details and the history. An American hero is coming home... Jack actually did a live show from the prison in Afghanistan on Wide Awakes Radio.

Iran Update

AP News Alert:

PARIS (AP) A senior U.S. diplomat, Nicholas Burns, says Iran is transferring weapons to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Well, well, well...not only is Iran interferring with Iraq, but now Afghanistan too. Surely there is a Democrat (other than Liebermann) who will stand up and say that enough is enough. But I suspect Congressional Democrats are spoiling for us to lose the global war on terrorism. Because of the politics...

War on Terror Update

6:51AM

AP News Alerts:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) A provincial police chief says more than 60 suspected Taliban insurgents killed in airstrikes in Kandahar.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) Witnesses say that at least five Fatah men were killed during a Hamas assault on a key border crossing.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) Police say Peshawar hotel bombing that killed at least 24 was a suicide attack.

11:15AM UPDATE - AP News Alert:

ROME (AP) Authorities say armed attackers have taken over a bus traveling in northern Italy.