When we read the headlines it’s often quite misleading. People on the right know this and those on the left don’t; they run with the headline without taking in the substance of the article. IOW, they don’t read the whole thing AND think about it.

An example of hype if I ever saw one, right here:
Study finds troops shy away from mental health care

Really?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. military personnel fear that seeking help for mental health problems could harm their careers, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Three out of five members of the military worry it would have at least some impact, according to the small online survey conducted for the American Psychiatric Association. About half said they thought other people would think less of them if they sought help for mental health problems.

Red Flag alert: SMALL ONLINE SURVEY.

Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, president of the APA, called those figures “alarming” and urged Congress to devote more money to treating mental health problems arising from service in combat zones.

One in four of the troops surveyed said he or she knew “nothing at all about effective mental health treatments for issues that may arise from their service in a war zone,” Robinowitz said.

As if pouring money into this will help. There’s an old saying: You can’t force a horse to drink water it doesn’t want to drink. Troops do not need government telling them what effective treatments options are; their doctors are quite capable of this. People, including military service members, usually KNOW when they are having real and true problems. Often, through their human spirit they resolve these on their own. Without anyone’s help. And we don’t need to assume that admitting a mental health problem equates some weakness in a man. That’s an excuse that is bogus. And it’s the excuse some are grasping at here in an effort to push this agenda.

“The military has done a good job of having a lot of educational materials around,” she said, but she is not sure the information “filtered down” to the people who need it.

An Army psychiatrist admitted it is a challenge to get people to seek help.

It’s not a challenge to get the pamphlets and brochures into the grunt barracks. I’ve seen them in these places. The guys simply ignore them and would prefer to play a video game or watch American Idol. They are fine. I’ve heard many say they are sick and tired of the government trying to tell them they have should have mental problems they just don’t have.

So how big is this so called problem?

A clear majority of troops rated their own mental health as good or excellent, but many reported regularly experiencing common symptoms of mental illness, including difficulty sleeping at least twice a week and a lack of interest in daily activities at least twice a week.

So here we have a government, looking to convince soldiers and Marines they have mental health issues and even going so far as to tell them they might, just might, have brain injuries, and very few are taking up offers of help. Why? Cause the vast, not clear, majority are okay. Sure, they have nightmares now and again. They miss friends who have been killed in action. They have seen things most of us never nightmare about. But, the human spirit can rise above these demons and compensate for the feelings and emotions that sometimes come with it all. Men in particular, are able to section off certain memories and thoughts and keep them in check. We don’t need to mess with this.

Liberal whine bags and other limpdicks often decry President Bush and the Republicans for a lack of true caring for the troops. I call bullshit. It’s not something anyone can force upon a person who isn’t showing true clinical symptoms- treatment, therapies- AKA medications- can ruin a person’s life much more than the will to call oneself a survivor. These bleed hearts don’t trust people to take care of themselves.

Good Bye Matt…and it’s been a long goodbye.

CINCINNATI - Military workers and supporters from across the country joined in memorials Sunday for a slain Army reservist who had become a poignant picture of the war in Iraq after he was captured by insurgents.

Officials estimated that about 10,000 people walked past Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin’s casket during a weekend visitation at a civic center in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati, where he grew up. Another 4,000 headed Sunday to Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds, for an afternoon memorial service billed as a celebration.

You’ll be (and have been) missed by many, Matt. Rest in peace.

I love the Marines. Everyone knows this.

But when I read this I wanted to go smack them upside their high and tighties.

In a special ceremony, the Pentagon recently promoted a Wahhabi-trained Muslim chaplain who catered to al-Qaida detainees at Guantanamo and fought to establish the first mosque in Marine Corps history.

When we cater to enemies, they stab us in our backs.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England personally promoted Navy chaplain Abuhena Mohammed Saifulislam from lieutenant to lieutenant commander. Saifulislam also received a Joint Service Commendation Medal at the Pentagon ceremony held on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The Pentagon has gone completely PC. Like it was before 9-11.

England also earlier this year personally dedicated a new Islamic center at Marine headquarters in Quantico, Va., on the advice of Saifulislam, a Bangladesh immigrant who became a U.S. citizen in 1995.

The Muslim chaplain, who is stationed at Quantico, recited verses from the Quran in Arabic and English at the summer dedication ceremony, which included representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, several leaders of which have been convicted on terrorism-related charges.

Uugh. How can a Marine do this knowing the very people he is praising are actively killing his comrades in a war that is one against an ideology seeking to kill freedom as we know it?

Saifulislam, which is Arabic for “Sword of Islam,” received his religious training at a radical Islamic school raided by federal agents after 9/11. The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, based in Leesburg, Va., is run by Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Sami al-Arian terror case. A federal affidavit used to obtain a warrant to search the school alleges Al-Alwani gave at least $50,000 in jihad money “to support suicide bombings.”

The Marines have a sword as well. Here, the evil sword takes precedent. All to appease those who cry and make noise when we stand up to them, ready to fight back.

“With the Quantico mosque, the Pentagon is facilitating the study of the holy text the enemy uses, heretically or not, as their manual of warfare.”

Saifulislam’s promotion along with the dedication of his new Quantico mosque – the first of its kind in the 230-year history of the Corps – comes on the heels of a Muslim spy scandal at Gitmo involving another Muslim chaplain.

Army Capt. James “Yousef” Yee, who ministered to al-Qaida detainees, was charged with mishandling classified information. Yee, a convert to Islam, quit the Army and the charges were dropped. But two of his Muslim military friends at Gitmo were convicted of espionage-related crimes.

Some say it’s just a few. It was only a few who planned, plotted and carried out those attacks on September 11th.

It’s ironic this these few chaplains and their followers have joined the Few and Proud.

Read the entire article and ask: What’s going on here? And weep for those who truly stand for freedom and who directly fight for it.

Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing of the Murrah Building. I was unable to make it then, so I went today to see the memorial (I have some training here at OKC). It is a very, very sober memorial; one that was also quiet and peaceful. Beautiful even.

I was 18 years old when that attack happened. I was sad that it happened, I knew it was horrible, but I didn’t truly grasp the devastation and the lives lost that day (though I learned quickly after 9/11, not to take away from OKC, but being even six years older gave me the maturity I needed to realize the scope of such an attack). Walking through the memorial brought me back to a tragedy that has been overshadowed by the larger attack of 9/11 and our Global War on Terror.

The museum itself is very well done, and it walks you through chronologically, from the time people got up and went to work, up to the moment of the attack, and through the rescue and recovery. I would highly recommend all who visit the memorial to make time, atleast an hour if not more, to walk through it.

Being the father of two little girls, one almost four and a 1 year old who just learned to walk, what broke my heart were the smaller chairs amongst the bigger chairs, each empty chair representing the person missing from their families. You can see one of the smaller chairs, representing one of the little ones murdered by Timothy McVeigh, on the left of this image:

Walking through the memorial, I saw the picture of this little angel, one of many who perished that morning.

Her name is Baylee Almon. She had just turned one year old, much like my daughter. A precious bundle of love. Innocent and fragile. If your heart doesn’t wrench at the thought of pain and suffering happening to that little creature, you don’t have one. She had an entire life to live. She’d be 14 years old right now.

But hate stepped in. Not the hate of an out of control religion or a racist hate-monger, but hate of the federal government. Our federal government is not a fascist dictatorship. Revolution is by far the most unnecessary means by which to effect change in it, and I don’t see how this terroristic act was ever going to change politics in Washington or the behavior of the people. Revenge for Ruby Ridge and Waco? If so, what petty, little men McVeigh and Nichols were. No, scratch that. What evil, cold, and ruthless men they were/are. We can never forget that our enemies are not only at our gates, they can live amongst us, ready to kill for a myriad of perceived grievances. We can not let them. We can not let them ever again kill our fellow citizens. It can not be allowed to happen.

That little angel above was broken by those bastards…

My heart aches for those parents. I could not imagine losing my child, much less like that. May God look after them and comfort them, and may Jesus hold little Baylee in His arms, and gather around the 18 other little ones to him.

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ” - Luke 18:16

Except it ain’t the Democrats saying it… its Al Qaeda’s #2 guy:

(AP) Al Qaeda’s No. 2 man claimed in a new audiotape released on a militant Web site early Friday that that five years of U.S. occupation of Iraq brought only “failure and defeat,” which the Bush administration will pass on as a “problem” to the next American president.

In the recording, Ayman al-Zawahri alleged that by acting on the advice of his top commanders in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and halting further U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq until after July, U.S. President George W. Bush was “covering up for the failure” of his Iraq policies.

…

“Bush declared that he will grant Petraeus all the time he needs, a ridiculous show to cover up for the failure in Iraq and to allow Bush to evade the decision to withdraw the forces, which is an admission of the failure of the crusader invasion of Iraq, by passing the problem on to the next president,” al-Zawahri said.

“The truth is that if Bush keeps all his forces in Iraq until doomsday and until they enter hell, they will only see crisis and defeat by the will of God,” al-Zawahri said. “If the American forces leave, they will lose everything. And if they stay, they will bleed to death.”

Sounding the gong of defeat for the United States, Coalition Forces, and the Iraqis. You’ve got the Dhimmicrats, the rabid leftists that run said party and Al Qaeda seemingly talking out of the same set of talking points. I really wish that some organization would create a commercial that shows quotes from the Dhimmicratic leadership next to quotes from Al Qaeda, playing it during primetime from now until election day. This is so blatantly obvious to me that one party in this nation looks to be more closely aligned to the beliefs of our enemies. And the fact that the American people are poised to elect them to complete control of the executive and legislative branches, worries me deeply.

What do Obama, Jimmy Carter and HAMAS have in common? They all like one another and HAMAS wants Obama to be the next President of the US.

On the eve of a planned meeting of its leader Khaled Meshaal with former President Jimmy Carter, the Hamas terrorist organization has expressed the “hope” that Senator Barack Hussein Obama will win the presidential elections and change America’s foreign policy.

Even though Obama has said that he would not meet with Hamas unless it renounces violence and recognizes Israel, or becomes the recognized leadership of the Palestinians — he has no qualms about holding talks with the leadership of Iran, Syria, and North Korea — that doesn’t seem to bother the Hamas leadership.

“We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections,” Ahmed Yousuf, Hamas’ top political adviser in the Gaza Strip, said in an exclusive interview with World Net Daily and with the John Batchelor Show on WABC Radio in New York.

Great. The man who has a very good chance of becoming the next President will sell out to the terrorist groups and factions, in the name of peace and good will. Screw the fact that these bastards have killed tens of thousands of innocent Israelis and would think nothing of doing that to Americans.

Gah I hate this shit.

Never forget.

Hmm.

WASHINGTON — The new chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee on Monday condemned fellow Democrat Jimmy Carter for plans to meet with Hamas, saying the former president holds “warped” views on the Middle East.

By meeting with the Islamist group that controls Gaza and does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, Carter “in effect is undermining a current policy which is not just American but held by many others,” Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Yah think? Jimmy Carter’s latest exploitation should be condemned by all Americans. A terrorist doesn’t care who you are. Or how you act. Or how much money you give him. Cowarding down to their level won’t help either. Befriending a terrorist won’t guarantee he won’t turn around and behead you from one moment to the next.

Perhaps both? I am trying to figure out which accurately describes the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy (John, not Ted).

Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich), Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, opened the hearing where General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker were set to testify to the situation in Iraq and the progress of “The Surge” and its eventual drawdown. Here is what he said:

To open the hearing, Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said recent fighting in Iraq has cast new questions on the effectiveness of the U.S. troop surge, and the United States must move toward shifting the burden of fixing Iraq over to the Iraqis.

“The purpose of the surge as announced by President Bush last year … has not been achieved,” said Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Reminds me when Senator Harry Reid (D - Nev) came out and declared The Surge a failure before it even really started. Now that we’re well into The Surge, the Surrendercrats are grasping onto ANYTHING to declare it a complete and utter failure.

Levin said the recent outbreak of fighting in Basra “leads many of us to once again challenge Bush’s policies.” He called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s plans “haphazardly” developed, and said the United States must “force that government to take responsibility for their own future. (emphasis mine)

Didja get that? Our enemy has just learned (just learned? nah, they know, this just reaffirms it) that everytime they either strike or fight back, even if they lose completely in the effort (ie: Tet Offensive), the Party of Surrender, and their willing accomplices in the MSM, are ready to wave the white flag and proverbially snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Under questioning by Levin, Petraeus said he could not predict when troop reductions would be resumed or how many U.S. troops were likely to remain in Iraq by the end of this year.

…

Levin reminded Petraeus that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said a “pause” in troop reductions should be “brief.” Noting that Petraeus used neither word, Levin said the Petraeus plan amounted to an open-ended suspension.

“What you’ve given to your chain of command is a plan which has no end to it,” Levin said. He asked Petraeus when he would be in position to recommend further troop cuts, once the 45-day evaluation period ends in September.

“It could be right then, or it could be longer,” the general said. He declined to be pinned down, saying he would recommend further cuts when conditions were right.

When conditions are right. No General Petreaus, that is not acceptable. The Party of Surrender requires that we have a timetable for withdrawal, preferably one that can fit on the pages of the New York Times and is written in arabic and farsi so that the PoS’s allies in the region don’t have to translate.

I endorse…

Getting to the heart of the matter…

From Sgt. Grit’s Newsletter:

“Once a Marine Always a Marine”

Here is proof of that. In the Chicago Sun-time March 21, 2008. Brian Troy of Rockford IL, a Marine in the 1980’s. suffered several heart attacks before receiving a new heart in 2006. He didn’t know who the donor was but felt it was a Marine.

Eventually he found out the heart was from Ricky Martinez who was shot on April 26, 2006 while driving home from a Cubs game with friends. Martinez had signed up after 9/11 and served 2 tours in Iraq.

‘His heart seems to fill my chest’

Semper Fi

First up, if you are not a Muslim… you are fair game.. man, woman or child. Fair game to whatever sick, twisted evil a person, as long as they’re Muslim, wants to do to you….

A report posted on Islam Watch, a site run by Muslims who oppose intolerant teachings and hatred for unbelievers, exposes a prominent Islamic cleric and lawyer who support extreme punishment for non-Muslims — including killing and rape.

A question-and-answer session with Imam Abdul Makin in an East London mosque asks why Allah would tell Muslims to kill and rape innocent non-Muslims, including their wives and daughters, according to Islam Watch.

“Because non-Muslims are never innocent, they are guilty of denying Allah and his prophet,” the Imam says, according to the report. “If you don’t believe me, here is the legal authority, the top Muslim lawyer of Britain.”

The lawyer, Anjem Choudary, backs up the Imam’s position, saying that all Muslims are innocent.

“You are innocent if you are a Muslim,” Choudary tells the BBC. “Then you are innocent in the eyes of God. If you are not a Muslim, then you are guilty of not believing in God.”

Choudary said he would not condemn a Muslim for any action.

“As a Muslim, I must support my Muslim brothers and sisters,” Choudary said. “I must have hatred to everything that is not Muslim.”

Nice. Real nice. The Religion of Anything Goes as long as you are doing it to a non-Muslim.

Next up we have an example of what cave-dwelling troglodytes that worship their 7th century moon-god do to their own:

A couple found guilty of adultery by an Islamic “qazi” court was stoned to death by Taliban militants in Pakistan’s northwest border region, according to a report in Dawn, Pakistan’s English-language newspaper.
The execution, which reportedly took place Monday, is the first by stoning reported in the region, which borders Afghanistan. “Qazi” courts, which are allowed to administer Islamic law outside the Pakistani judicial system, traditionally have ordered execution by firing squad in cases of adultery.

The married woman, identified as Shano, had allegedly eloped on March 15 with Daulat Khan Malikdeenkhel.

A spokesman for the Taliban said a complaint had been received from the woman’s family that she had been abducted by Daulat Khan. They later changed the report to say she had run away with him.

Taliban militants captured the couple as they were returning from Karachi, the spokesman said.

I am sure that they were given all of their Natural Rights, including due process and a fair court. (/sarcasm)

Thank God for the U.S. Constitution and the rights that it protects. Thank God for the U.S. military that keeps these cavemen from forcing their evil beliefs on to me and mine. I just hope we can keep it that way, if only the Surrendercrats don’t get in office…. if that happens God (Yahweh, not Allah) help us…

They’ve apparently recovered Sgt. Maupin’s remains in Iraq. Looks like he was given his Geneva Convention rights… ya know.. the same rights we give the jihadis…. (/irony and sarcasm).

Michelle Malkin has some tributes that were done for Sgt. Maupin.

More good news regarding the Marines being prosecuted persecuted for the civilian deaths in Haditha.

The Haditha Eight has now shrunk to three as all charges against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum were dropped today and his case dismissed just before jury selection was about to begin for his court martial.

Cpl. Tatum has also been issued an immunity order, and his lawyer stated that he will testify if called upon in Sgt. Frank Wuterich’s court martial, the date of which continues to be delayed and has still not been set. Cpl. Tatum’s lawyer also affirmed that they has struck no agreement with the government before the dismissal of charges.

The next scheduled action is the court-martial of First Lt. Andrew Grayson in mid-April.

Lawyers for Sgt. Wuterich and Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani said that this dismissal demonstrates the weakness of the government’s case and are hopeful that this whole house of cards will soon fall over completely.

I agree: it’s past time to end this travesty!

The whining and temper tantrums have begun, again. In earnest.

WASHINGTON — Democrats and human rights advocates criticized President Bush’s veto Saturday of a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.

Bush said such tactics have helped foil terrorist plots. His critics likened some methods to torture and said they sullied America’s reputation around the world.

Yeah…well our reputation is only as good as our ability to survive attacks and acts of war against us. Prior to 9-11-01, much of the world viewed the US as an impotent giant. Much to the Democrats and others’ pleasure.

“Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al-Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland,” the president said.

I agree. While some people cry like babies about how water boarding is harmful to human beings, I can only imagine what the people who were inside the WTC buildings were thinking on the morning of September 11 2001.

I dare to say, if they knew, they would have much preferred to be water boarded than pulverized to death in the collapse of those towers.

Heck, I bet they would have preferred we water boarded those 19 Islamafreakoids had we suspected such an attack was being plotted and soon carried out.

But who cares about them? Not Democrats. Or human rights advocates. Fuck no. A few thousand lives here and there are the price to pay for being…humane… and we should view these lives as an expendable price for human rights.

“The president’s refusal to sign this crucial legislation into law will undermine counterterrorism efforts globally and delay efforts to rebuild U.S. credibility on human rights,” said Elisa Massimino, Washington director for Human Rights First.

May I ask? Who the fuck gives a shit about the human rights of people who have no respect for humanity? When we are at a point in time where the rights of criminals and terrorists take precedent over their potential victims, we’re in sad times for sure.

X Posted @ Michael’s

“We realized something happened so I cocked my handgun,” Yitzhak Dadon told Ynet Thursday evening.

“I went up on the roof and waited for the terrorist. Meanwhile, I saw blood and shattered glass,” Dadon said. “The terrorist continue firing in the air, so I waited to see him again, and then I shot him twice in the head.”

How many more might have been killed had Yitzhak Dadon not been armed? Thankfully, we’ll never know. But hey… maybe if they had just put a “Gun Free Zone” sign on the doors then the terrorist would have turned around and left…. (/sarcasm)

Atleast he made sure to double-tap that cowardly douchebag twice in the melon…..

Hat-tip to the Jawa Report.

My wife played for me Tim McGraw’s “If You’re Reading This” for the first time this weekend. I haven’t kept up with the country music since I was a senior in high school, so I know this is an older song. That being said, I don’t think that I’ve cried this hard in a long time. I just kept thinking ’bout my buddy Ernie (tribute in my sidebar). And how he would never be a husband and a father. That he sacrificed what I currently have. He is a better man than I, which makes me wonder why God took him instead of me. I know this is a question man has asked since the beginning, and I doubt it will be answered until the end, but is a question that will be asked…

I am including a tribute that includes the song. I won’t stop thinking about those who have, and continue, to sacrifice for this country.

Ernie, I love you man.. and this world is a darker, colder place without you in it…

Two Marines are being railroaded. They’re heroes and don’t deserve this…but the shiny Pentagon brass asses want to hang them out to crucify. Please help the Marines involved. This is political correctness gone MAD.

Get this:

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi Interior Ministry ordered police yesterday to begin rounding up beggars, homeless people, and mentally disabled people from the streets of Baghdad and other cities to prevent insurgents from using them as suicide bombers.
more stories like this

The decision, which elicited concern from advocates for the mentally disabled, came nearly three weeks after twin suicide bombings against pet markets. Officials said those blasts were carried out by mentally disabled women who might have been unwitting attackers.

What’s the concern for the so called advocates?

The people detained in the Baghdad sweep will be handed over to social welfare institutions and psychiatric hospitals that can provide shelter and care for them, Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.

Yes and the point being??

It is not clear that such people would be safe in psychiatric hospitals.

Says who? Unnamed advocates, that’s who. Could it be that the media is acting in this role here? Is it not better to be in a welfare institution than be used as a human carrier of bombs that will not only kill you, but many other people as well? I guess the advocates aren’t sure.