Regarding Sarah

I have sat mostly quietly, since coming in from traveling with work for the past few weeks this rotation off duty, recharging myself, regrouping, and reorganizing my thoughts after the past year or more of Presidential election wrangling by the parties, the candidates, and the media.

Now, before I leave for my next extended run in which I will be gone for a month or so, I'm going to have my say. I'm taking my turn, if indeed there are any "turns" to be taken in this process of expressing opinion and ideas.

I want to address this specifically to one individual, one person to whom it is intended to be said, in the hopes that mayhap she sees what is said here and takes heart in it.

Governor Palin, you have been in the eyes of the conservative movement of many of us here in the lower 48, specifically the former Confederate south, for some time now. We have watched you come into the spotlight, quietly but determined, the proverbial blip on the radar at first in the minds of the left. But we have been watching you.

It is no coincidence that your addition to the Republican ticket for this past election cycle recharged the conservative base of the Republican party. We understand and know where you're coming from; you speak our language, and you put action to your words.

It is no small thing that you have done on the national level for the conservative movement. Your joining with a candidate that we, conservatives, were less than thrilled to have as the top Republican coming out of the primaries; you gave us hope, gave us a rallying point, a single candle burning brightly as a beacon for us to rally to in a time when we were less than enthused about the choice we were going to have to make on November 4th.

A great many of us swallowed our pride, stuck our our chest, and took up the banner of McCain, knowing that the choice we faced from the Democrats was considerably less than desirable. We knew Senator McCain, we knew him to be far less conservative in his own principals and ideology than he was trying to present himself to be. This does not detract from the man's character; I admire Senator McCain greatly, most conservatives do, for being a man of honor and integrity, having that maverick reputation that does, indeed, get things done, but as the base of the party, we really, truly were not given a candidate in this past election cycle that spoke to the conservative membership and to conservative independents. There was one who gave us a glimmer of hope, but it was a fast and fading hope as the one candidate who we considered to be a real conservative with a possibility of leading this nation entered late into the campaigns and showed less than desirably.

Take heart, Governor Palin, you have not let the conservative movement down in any way, by any means, or in any shape, form, or fashion. You came into the campaign fighting, you continued to fight in spite of "gotcha" interviews by the dinosaur media, and you carried that fight right up until the end.

We are proud of you.

And we are still watching you, and you have our support.

We shall endure...

Once and always, a Southern American Fighting Man

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Regarding the Klan, the Panthers, and Confederate Gray...

I want to make things perfectly clear as I write this. I come from a mixed racial background; I'm classified as Caucasian, but that's really only a surface issue in regard to that I'm not as dark as my Cherokee ancestors. No one of mixed heritage, and most, I repeat, MOST Americans ARE from a blending of ancestors of different heritage, has any right or reason to take up the outmoded and degrading concept of racism. I equate the Black Panthers as being on equal ground with the Ku Klux Klan in their concepts of racial ideology.

That being said...

I was asked in town today by someone I know if I had voted. I smiled and said "I'm a veteran, I'm a soldier at heart still today, and I'm a patriot. I wore my Confederate gray shirt and went to the polls and voted.

In the past couple of years I've written a few times about the attitude and demeanor of a great number of Southerners that I know and have been associated with in my work travels. We don't see an Obama victory as healing anything; we don't see him as a unifier, we don't see him as a healer, we don't see him as a "messiah." Most of us see him for what we read him to be by listening to him speak and examining his associations. We see him as a Black Liberation Theology Marxist Totalitarian who's been manipulated into a position he has no business nor experience in being elevated to, and in my mind, and the minds of some I've talked to today, it's become obvious in part who has been behind the rise of the Obama as Black Panthers have stationed themselves at polling places in Pennsylvania.

I don't believe in coincidence.

I'm too damned old to start believing in it now.

The time for campaigning by those of us working to bring out the truth is coming to an end, today, as today we decide, as a nation, who we are going to send not only into the White House, but into a great number of Senate and House seats that are up for election today as well. We stand at a crossroads that many Americans who don't understand nor study and research history understand.

We are reliving a collision of the Compromise of 1850 and the 1860 election cycle all over again.

May God help us as a nation, whichever way this election day goes. It is highly conceivable, and I'm not calling for anything in saying this, I'm merely reporting the rumblings that I hear when I'm traveling, that our nation fractures once again into armed conflict depending upon how the numbers come in tonight.

If and when that happens, some of us will have to make a decision, once again, as our ancestors did over a century and a half ago, of which flag we fight under.

I'm a veteran, and I'm a patriot. But I know that I speak for many others out there who are also veterans and patriots when I say, God help me, I don't know that I can say for sure what I'll do when what many Southerners have been expecting to happen through the generations since 1865, that feeling in the back of our mind, that knowledge of a day that will come when the Stars and Bars will be dusted off and someone will look to the South and say, "It's back on..."

And for most of us, like last time, it will have nothing to do with race, and everything to do with personal liberty and states rights.

Once and Always, a Southern American Fighting Man

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Germans remember...

I got this in email today, and found it to be very poignant and telling in what it had to say. Since the senders have requested that it be forwarded to others, I'm doing just that, for you, anyone out there who wishes to read the experience of Germans who have seen times of hardship before those imposed upon us today by our government and the media, have to say about what they experienced...

May God help us all should we fail to learn the lessons of history.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

A German Lady Remembers and Speaks

by Lori Kalner


In Germany, when Hitler came to power, it was a time of terrible financial depression. Money was worth nothing.

In Germany people lost homes and jobs, just like in the American Depression in the 1930s, which we have read about in Thoene's Shiloh books.

In those days, in my homeland,
Adolph Hitler was elected to power by promising 'Change.'

He blamed the 'Zionists' around the world for all our problems.
He told everyone it was greedy Zionist Bankers who had caused every problem we had.
He promised when he was leader, the greedy Zionist bankers would be punished. The Zionists, he promised, would be wiped off the face of the earth.
So Hitler was elected to power by only 1/3 the popular vote.

A coalition of other political parties in parliament made him supreme leader.
Then, when he was leader, he disgraced and expelled everyone in parliament who did not go along with him.

Yes. Change came to my homeland as the new leader promised it would.
The teachers in German schools began to teach the children to sing songs in praise of Hitler.

This was the beginning of the Hitler Youth movement.
It began with praise of the Fuhrer's programs on the lips of innocent children.
Hymns in praise of Hitler and his programs were being sung in the schoolrooms and in the playyard.

Little girls and boys joined hands and sang these songs as they walked home from school.

My brother came home and told Papa what was happening at school.
The political hymns of children proclaimed Change was coming to our homeland and the Fuhrer was a leader we could trust.

I will never forget my father's face. Grief and fear. He knew that the best propaganda of the Nazis was song on the lips of little children.

That evening before he said grace at the dinner table, he placed his hands upon the heads of my brothers and me and prayed the Living Word upon us from Jeremiah 1:4-5.

'Now the Word of the Lord came to me, saying,
'Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you,
and before you were born I
consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to
The nations.'

Soon the children's songs praising the Fuhrer were heard everywhere on the streets and over the radio. 'With our Fuhrer to lead us, we can do it! We can change the world!'

Soon after that Papa, a pastor, was turned away from visiting elderly parishioners in hospitals. The people he had come to bring comfort of God's Word, were 'no longer there.'

Where had they vanished to while under nationalized health care? It became an open secret.

The elderly and sick began to disappear from hospitals feet first as 'mercy killing' became the policy.

Children with disabilities and those who had Down syndrome were euthanized.

People whispered, 'Maybe it is better for them now. Put them out of misery.
They are no longer suffering.And, of course, their death is better for the treasury of our nation. Our taxes no longer must be spent to care for such a burden.'
And so murder was called mercy.

The government took over private business. Industry and health care were 'nationalized.' (NA-ZI means National Socialist Party)

The businesses of all Jews were seized. (Perhaps you remember our story in Berlin on Krystalnacht in the book Munich Signature)

The world and God's word were turned upside down.
Hitler promised the people economic Change?
Not change. It was, rather, Lucifer's very ancient Delusion leading to Destruction.

What began with the propaganda of children singing a catchy tune ended in the deaths of millions of children.

The reality of what came upon us is so horrible that you in this present generation cannot imagine it. Our suffering is too great to ever tell in a book or show in a black and white newsreel.

When I spoke to Bodie about some of these things, she wept and said she could not bear to write them.

Perhaps one day she will, but I asked her, 'who could bear to read our suffering?'
Yet with my last breaths I warn every Christian and Jew now in the name of the Lord,
Unless your course of the church in America is spiritually changed now, returning to the Lord, there are new horrors yet to come.

I trembled last night when I heard the voices of American children raised in song, praising the name of Obama, the charismatic fellow who claims he is the American Messiah.
Yet I have heard what this man Obama says about abortion and the 'mercy killing' of tiny babies who are not wanted.

There are so few of us left to warn you.

I have heard that there are 69 million Catholics in America and 70 million Evangelical Christians.

Where are your voices?
Where is your outrage?
Where is passion and your vote?

Do you vote based on an abortionist's empty promises and economics?
Or do you vote according to the Bible?

Thus says the Lord about every living child still in the womb.

'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you.'

I have experienced the signs of the politics of Death in my youth.
I see them again now.
Christians! Unless you stand up now, you will lose your freedom of religion.

In America priests and preachers have already lost their freedom to speak openly from their pulpits of moral danger in political candidates.

They cannot legally instruct you of which candidate holds fast to the precepts of scripture!
American law forbids this freedom of speech to conservative pastors or they will lose their 'tax exempt' status.

And yet I have heard the words of Obama's pastor Damning America!
I have heard the words of Obama damning and mocking all of you in small towns because you 'Cling to your religion.'

But I am a woman whose name is unknown. My life is recorded as a work of fiction.
I have no fear of reprisal when I speak truth to you from the pages of a book.
(Though the Zion Covenant books are mocked and condemned by the Left in America.)

I am an old woman and will soon go to be with my Lord.
I have no fear for myself, but for all of you and for your children, I tremble.

I tremble at the hymns to a political leaders which your children will sing at school.
(Though even now a hymn or a prayer to God and our Lord Jesus is against the law in public school!)

Your vote must put a stop to what will come upon America if Barrack Obama is elected.
I pray you will personally heed this warning for the sake of your children and your grandchildren. Do not be deceived.

The Lord in Jeremiah 1:7-8 commands every believer to speak up!

'Do not say, 'I am only a youth,' for to all whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them for I am with you, declares the Lord!'

I am in Prayer for you, and for the Church!
Spoken to you in the authority of Jesus the Christ,
the Name Above All Names,

Republican's Balk at ACORNs in the Recipe

Republicans have been balking at Democratic propositions on fixing the economy, and the main reason has finally come to light. There has been a taint of ACORN in the original propositions.

Republican protests that any propositions forwarded for consideration in the "bail-out" discussions have a root cause to them. Original proposals included a plan for some of the profits earned by the governmental loaning of funds to financial institutions to go to ACORN, a group closely associated with the Democratic party that does work to ensure Democrats are elected to office. Republican opposition members issued a statement on Saturday expressing their outrage at such inclusion on the part of the Democrats, outlining the reasons they would not support any proposal including monies allocated for ACORN.

In issuing the statement, House leaders are reflecting -- and also feeding -- a reaction to the provision that has exploded in the last day or more. Our colleague Ben Smith says he's gotten more than a dozen anti-ACORN e-mails in just the last few hours. The viral uprising is both organic and institutionally driven. Prominent bloggers have fed the flames and so has the Wall Street Journal editorial page; several of the e-mails sent to Smith reference a House leadership alert on the "ACORN Slush Fund" and others refer to the Journal opinion. On Thursday night, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told The Crypt that his friend Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) opposes the provision.

"The draft bill includes a left-wing giveaway that would force taxpayers to bankroll a slush fund for a discredited ally of the Democratic Party," reads one leadership alert. "At issue is ACORN, an organization fraught with controversy for, among other scandals, its fraudulent voter registration activities on behalf of Democratic candidates. Rather than returning any profits made in the long-term from the economic rescue package, Democrats want to first reward their radical allies at ACORN for their (often illegal) help in getting Democrats elected to office."

In the end, how much of the bailout's potential profits are earmarked for ACORN? "None. Absolutely none. All funds would go to state and local governments," said Steven Adamske, spokesman for Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Financial Services Committee and a lead negotiator.

A proposal rife with the possibility of more corruption, more mismanagement, and more mishandling of money, proposed by the democrats? But how can this be, out of the party that had promised that if elected to majority status in 2006 it wouldn't be "politics as usual?" So far, and especially in light of the most recent situation regarding the financial market, that has been exactly what the majority party has given the American people. Despite this shady and underhanded attempt by Democrats, Nancy Pelosi has deemed to accuse Republicans of being "unpatriotic."

Fortunately, perhaps, all references and inclusions of ACORN in the Democratic proposals have been removed from their offerings, as shown in a side by side comparison of proposals that have been considered.

The question of the Constitutionality of the entire process has still not been answered completely, in the minds of many Americans. One can look throughout the contents of the Constitution and be hard pressed to find anything regarding the nation's economy, other than powers of levying taxes and tariffs and the responsibility of Congress to mint the nation's money.

We have reached, perhaps, a cross-roads, as a nation, one in which it must be decided whether to remain a free-market nation, or one that begins to turn a hard turn to socialism. The efforts of the Roosevelt administration during the great depression put the United States on the road to a quasi-socialistic state of economy that the nation has existed under ever since, growing the government larger and more intrusive into the lives of the American citizenry by leaps and bounds with each passing year.The current economic crisis, if not handled carefully and with cool heads, could change the scope of not only the American economy in coming years, but the very structure under which we, as a nation, exist. Socialism, the control of business and industry by the state, and capitalism can not exist side by side under the same roof. If the past nearly 70 years has not shown that, nothing will.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Klan Announces They Will Have A Presence at Debate

In what is sure to be a headache already for Secret Service members and other security officials in charge of making sure the candidates are safe during tonight's debate, a wild card has been thrown into the deck. The Klan is planning to show.

Confirming rumors that have been circulating the past few days, the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan have announced that they will have members present in the audience for tonight's scheduled Presidential debate between candidates John McCain and Barack Obama at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

The Klansmen will be “invisible,” trying to blend in just as anyone else, the emperor of the MWK said in an e-mail.

The emperor wrote, “The Mississippi White Knights will have officers and Klansmen on hand for the presidential debate on September 26, 2008. Our people will be in Oxford and on the campus ‘invisible.’ That means our people won’t be in regalia or demonstrating. So, I guess you’ll just have to guess which of the people present are Klansmen.

“Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions about the Mississippi White Knights.

‘NON SILBA SED ANTHAR’

Emperor,

Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”

The e-mail came from the address, emperor@mississippiwhiteknights.com, but the sender would not identify himself nor respond to more questions.

The Latin words, “Non silba sed anthar,” translate to: “Not for oneself but for others,” a motto the Klan has used since the 19th century.

Why it should be a surprise to anyone that the Klan should put a presence at a Presidential debate in Mississippi where the first non-white candidate for a major party will be in attendance? This is a possibility and a scenario that should have been expected and made ready for from the outset, for which the Secret Service, undoubtedly, has contingency plans in place and ready. If not, then they are sorely deficient in their security arrangements.

Race has been an under the surface issue for this campaign from the outset, from the primary season in which other candidates tap danced around the issue in order not to be offensive to the Obama campaign to Obama's campaign using his race as a tool, themselves, proclaiming any and all disagreements with Obama to be based in racist attitudes. There are many, many reasons not that Obama is undesirable for the Presidency that have nothing to do, whatsoever, with his race, and those are the reasons that should be focused upon by the voting public who intend not to vote for him in the upcoming November elections.

The Klan, with it's bastardization of Confederate regalia and their adoption of the emblems of a proud nation that lasted for less than five years, has been and remains a thorn in the side for true Southerners who have, since the inception of the Confederacy in 1860, desired nothing more than the rights of the state, and more importantly, the individual, taking precedence over the powers of the federal government.

Does the Klan have the right to have a presence at tonight's debate? As American citizens interested in the political process of the nation, yes. To create a disturbance by promoting hatred based in nothing other than outdated notions of racial superiority of one skin color over another? It is a shame and a disgrace that in the 21st century such attitudes are still around and fomented by those who live their lives promoting the hatred of others who are different. In contrast and comparison, the same can be said of those members of the Islamic world who promote the same sort of hatred from their standpoint. It could be argued that there is no difference between the Klan and al Qaeda save the color of skin of their members.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Iraqi Benchmark Reached During U.S. Economic Crisis

During the focus by the American media on the circus activity going on in Washington in regards to the nation's economy and House and Senate efforts to devise a plan to fix it, an important benchmark achievement has gone all but unnoticed in Iraq.

Iraqi Parliament members have unanimously passed a resolution opening elections in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces next year, opening the door for a more stable political environment in the country and allowing for a new, more secular and more inclusive legislative body to be elected. The current system, which allowed religious authorities to dominate in the previous elections, have been reworked in order to make the electoral process more secular and less open to religious influence. It also allows for women to occupy approximately 25% of legislative seats, and will allow Sunni sects inclusion into the process, which they have boycotted since 2005, but who have allied themselves with U.S. troops in fighting against the al-Qaeda, thus allowing them to compete for positions within the the Iraqi government.

As always in Iraq's halting journey toward a new order, the reform was not complete. Elections were put off in the province surrounding the volatile city of Kirkuk, where Kurds, Sunni Arabs and other groups compete for power, and in three Kurd-run provinces. Staging fair and peaceful elections will be another major challenge: In the south of Iraq, competition among Shiite parties, including those of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Mahdi Army leader Moqtada al-Sadr, could easily spill over into violence. The importance of securing the elections is one good reason for President Bush's decision to withdraw only 8,000 of the 146,000 remaining U.S. troops in Iraq between now and February. Still, the precipitous drop in violence in Iraq during the past year offers strong reason for hope that a good election can be held -- and that the new Sunni and Shiite leaders who emerge will be well positioned to jump-start reconstruction in the provinces and negotiate with each other.

This latest benchmark has been what Ambassador Ryan Crocker has been calling one of the most important for the Iraqi's to reach and achieve. Another key benchmark expected to be reached is the distribution of revenue from Iraq's oil industry into the provinces and local economy. Perhaps, in light of the current economic crisis that is distracting the nation, for the moment, from Iraq and it's ground gaining, it should be noted that the strategy of gradual withdrawal of forces from the country has allowed it the time to develop a political system in which such benchmark achievements have been possible. Should the balance and pace that have been established be disrupted by an escalated withdrawal of American forces, it remains possible that the political stability that the region has been working toward might be undermined.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Boehner Takes Democrats to Task

In a letter from House Republican Leader John A. Boehner (R-OH) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the issues of a day of fruitless negotiation are addressed, making clear, in no uncertain terms, the Republican stand on the "joint proposals."

Despite claims by House Democrats early on that there was a "joint proposal" that had been prepared in dealing with the economic package being bandied about by legislators, a group of Republicans have asserted that no such joint proposal had yet been agreed upon yesterday, leading to a letter sent from House Republican Leader John Boehner to House Speaker Pelosi, detailing the position of the Republicans on the issues that still need to be addressed before any proposals can be considered "joint," and taking to task certain House members, and the speaker herself, for allowing word to be given that such an item existed, leading to misinformation and confusion in an already confusing and difficult situation.

In his letter to the speaker, Boehner threatened that "a large majority of Republicans cannot - and will not - support Sec. Paulson's plan" unless she actively considers some of the measures offered by his working group.

"In the interest of the men and women we represent in Congress, I hope it does not come to that conclusion," Boehner said in his letter to the speaker.

With Republicans still overwhelmingly opposed to Treasury's bailout proposal - as well as the principles on which House and Senate Democrats agreed to on Thursday - Democratic leaders can't do much until GOP leaders iron out concerns on their side of the aisle. Leaving a meeting of Democratic leaders on Friday, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said, "The reality is that you're going to need very significant votes from both sides of the aisle."

Mentioned in particular in Boehner's letter were House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) and Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd Christopher Dodd (D-CT) for "announced that a bipartisan deal was at hand even though the reservations about the underlying proposal I had expressed to you had not been addressed. Each time such announcements were made, or even rumored, I or my staff made it clear to media and to your staff that any such deal did not include House Republicans."

Given the activity of the Democrats during yesterday's negotiations in their conduct in public eyes, it brings their reliability, honesty, integrity, and fitness to hold office into question in the eyes and minds of many American citizens. If elected officials can't be trusted to be honest in something as simple as announcing that there was no agreed upon proposal in their attempts to handle a time of crisis, what else are the Democratic officials prepared to lie about to the American people?

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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GOP Claims Leverage on Bailout

Republicans are holding out on any bail out proposals being offered up for bail out measures in the current Wall Street financial debacle. What is the driving force behind their stand, and how will it affect the outcome of any proposal that does pass?

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) is not pleased with the Democratic proposals coming out to "bail out" for the financial system. Shelby, who until the early 90's served in the Senate as a Democrat, is no stranger to the way that Democrats do business, which is part and parcel the reason he chose to switch parties, with the support of the majority of his constituency in his home state of Alabama, who have chosen to return him to his office since his party switch.

Republicans by and large are claiming that they have the leverage that they need to make sure that any "bail out" that is approved be done the way that they want it to be done, otherwise they will continue to balk at proposals being laid forth by Democrats, claiming that the Democrats alone will be responsible for any flawed legislation that is passed in an effort to save the United States financial system.

Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) are leading an effort by House Republicans to circulate the set of principles to their colleagues and like-minded Democrats, according to a senior Republican.

Asked whether the effort comes too late, the GOP official said the votes would be leverage enough to have the principles considered by congressional negotiators.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has indicated that a bill will not be brought to the floor without broad Republican support.

GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and the White House have been made aware of their alternative.

Fingers are being pointed on both sides of the aisle, as always, as politicians attempt to pass the blame for the economic situation from one to the other, with neither side truly being capable of standing in either blame nor credit for the state of the nation's economy, unless it such blame lies in economic policies that put burdens upon American businesses and their ability to conduct trade and commercial ventures both at home and abroad. The decline of the American economy lies more in the way that we have been forced, by necessity of economic survival on the part of our industry, to have our manufacturing base moved overseas and off shore due to regulatory and tax structures that make it unprofitable for large industry to maintain operations domestically. Both parties can take credit for that development.

Who suffers? The American people. There is much caution that needs to be undertaken in any federal aid lent to the financial system; caution that the tenets of the United States Constitution are not violated, caution that any aid is not a first step towards nationalization of any industry, caution that any aid rendered does no harm to the American public.

To give credit where it is due, several Republican members of the House and Senate have been warning of this coming meltdown for years, with Democrats calling for and pushing legislation for cheaper and more available credit for the public. Cheap and easy credit, if one looks to history, were the main causes for the market failures leading to the great depression, a global economic nightmare that gave rise to the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, a situation that I don't think anyone wishes to see repeated less than 100 years after the rise of the last world war.

Any "bail out," a misnomer created by the main stream media, once again, for a loan proposal in which money lent to the financial institutions would be repaid to the federal government, will have to be carefully crafted and such safeguards included that the monies lent are tightly regulated, monitored, and assurances made that there be no room for abuse of the funds lent to companies so that they can continue to operate. The failure of these businesses, the inability of banking and lending to lend money to business, means an overall shutdown of the American economy at large. Such a situation would have global repercussions, creating a hole in the economic stability of other nations who trade with us, and who, in turn, trade with other nations.

This is a much larger and more broad scoped problem than many people realize.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Hefner Sacking Bunnies? Imagine That...

As economic tides continue to be in turmoil, and economic advisers are recommending that CEO's make cutbacks in order to continue to operate, how does Hugh Hefner deal with the economic crisis? By firing models, of course.

Tough times have hit the Playboy mansion. While being held as a closely guarded secret, reports have leaked out that the multi-million dollar Playboy empire may be struggling with its budget. Only the top brass at the mansion are reported to really know the true situation going on financially in the Hefner empire and the "little house that Hugh built." Rumors are that Hefner has been advised to lay off some of his staff in New York and Los Angeles or face bankruptcy, which has been denied by Hefner spokeswoman Elizabeth Austin, who said, in response to the rumored sackings, "It is our policy not to comment on corporate matters such as employee issues."

The news will be another blow to Hefner who recently discovered that two of his "bunnies" may have been cheating on him.

Holly Madison, who has previously been named as Hefner's "No.1" girlfriend, is alleged to have had an affair with magician Criss Angel and another bunny, Kendra Wilson, is reportedly dating football star Hank Baskett.

Playboy spokesman Rob Hillburger denied the rumours, saying: "The rumours that Holly left Hef for Criss Angel are not true. Holly and Kendra are all still living at the Mansion."

Actually, I wasn't aware that Hefner was a man to cringe from a blow that was delivered to him, as he has made an entire industry into and of itself out of selling sex. One would have to think that sacking staff would be something of a common occurrence at the Playboy Mansion, but it seems to be that they take great umbrage at reports of anyone being sacked over the economy...

Once and Always, An American Fighting Man

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Senator Joseph Biden is the Mouse That Roared

Joe Biden, a long term Senator from Delaware cum Vice Presidential candidate, has taken upon himself the mantle of the attack dog for his running mate, Barack Obama. But is it working, or is Biden finding himself trying too hard to make himself heard?

In Leonard Wibberley's novel and the subsequent Peter Sellers movie of the same name released in 1959 The Mouse that Roared, a small and insignificant country does the unthinkable, with hilarious results; they attack the United States. While the truth is indeed often stranger than fiction, in the novel, and the movie, the theme works, and the upstart little nation wins, by losing.

Joseph Biden, while not necessarily an insignificant political candidate, has, however, taken on a task that it could be argued that he isn't up for. Biden has undertaken to attack Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain over issues of foreign policy. Biden, of course, as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, seems to think he has the upper hand on understanding how to handle foreign relations over John McCain, and possibly, in his own way of thinking, he does, as he in a recent speech criticized McCain over several points, including McCain's attitude toward Russia:

“John McCain has gotten it wrong on so many fundamental issues. Imagine; imagine if we had listened to John McCain when he tried to remove Russia from the G8. That’s the industrial nations, last year. Such a move would not have done anything to stop Russia from the inextricable and unfair and overwhelming invasion of an independent country of Georgia. But I tell you what it would have done: it would have triggered a crisis in our alliance since no one else in Europe thought that action should be taken. An alliance we now need, we now need to help us in dealing with Russian aggression.”

Is Biden saying here that Russia was stopped from invading Georgia? I don't know what news outlet he was watching or where he was getting his information, but Georgia was in fact invaded by the Russians this summer and there are still, today, Russian troops occupying territory inside what is sovereign Georgian territory. Of course, Senator Biden has a record of changing things a bit to suit his own purposes, himself, having supported, initially, the war in Iraq and then changing his position on that, as well as supporting military action in Bosnia.

Perhaps there is another issue that needs to be addressed in the case of Senator Biden in examining his attacks on John McCain over issues of foreign relations. Biden, who has been a lawyer and a politician for his entire working life (Biden is one of the six longest term senators to hold office in the nation), Biden doesn't have the up close and personal experience in dealing with representatives of foreign nations in the worst of times that McCain has:

John McCain's capture and subsequent imprisonment began on October 26, 1967. He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam, when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.[30][31] McCain fractured both arms and a leg, and then nearly drowned, when he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi.[30] After he regained consciousness, some North Vietnamese pulled him ashore, then others crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him.[30] McCain was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton".[31]

Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to treat his injuries, instead beating and interrogating him to get information, and he was given medical care only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral.[33] His status as a prisoner of war (POW) made the front pages of major newspapers.[34][35]

McCain spent six weeks in the hospital while receiving marginal care.[30] Now having lost 50 pounds (23 kg), in a chest cast, and with his hair turned white,[30] McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi[36] in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week.[37] In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years.[38]

A far cry, it would seem, from state dinners and conferences. McCain is often criticized by opponents and naysayers about having no experience outside of politics and military service. That same scrutiny can be applied to Senator Biden, who is one of the six longest term senators to serve in Washington, and to Barack Obama, as well, whose work as a "community organizer" is a dressed up name for "lobbyist." Adding to that Biden's failure twice to win in a bid of his own for his party's nomination for party candidate for the Presidency, Biden, in what could be considered a conciliatory position as Vice Presidential candidate, could be, himself, that roaring mouse trying to make a bluster and noise bigger than he is capable of achieving.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Biden Confirmation Tainted By Family Legal Problems

On the day after the confirmation as Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as the Vice Presidential choice for presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama, his son and brother are reported to be named in lawsuits for allegations of fraud.

Hunter Biden, son of Senator Joe Biden, and the Senator's brother James, are named in a lawsuit involving fraud and millions of dollars that has been playing out in the New York Supreme Court since 2007, revolving around their involvement in the hedge fund industry during their involvement with Paradigm Companies LLC. A Washington lobbyist, the younger Biden served for a time as the Paradigm's president.

A lawsuit filed by their former partner Anthony Lotito Jr. asserts in court papers that the deal was crafted to get Hunter Biden out of lobbying because his father was concerned about the impact it would have on his bid for the White House. Biden was running for the Democratic nomination at the time the suit was filed.

Hunter Biden was made president with an annual salary of $1.2 million, despite his inexperience in the hedge fund industry, the lawsuit said. Before that, he had been part of the Washington law firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, which earned $1.76 million in lobbying revenue in the first half of 2006, according to Congressional Quarterly's CQ MoneyLine. One of its biggest clients is the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys, a District-based group representing law firms specializing in investment and corporate law.

The details of the case can be found in the article itself at the Washington Post site by following the above link. What is truly fascinating, and needs to be taken into consideration, is that this information was out there prior to the announcement of Joe Biden as Obama's running mate, a choice that was supposedly made after Biden had been fully vetted and confirmed as being viable for the position.

The vetting process is supposed to uncover this kind of thing and eliminate a potential candidate from position because of the possibility of bringing a scandal into a campaign. Obama's campaign has already seen enough scandal as it is, because, as has been said over and over, he's an unknown. And it seems there is a lot of effort being put in play to make sure that he's an unknown, considering that there are sealed documents regarding him at the University of Illinois, Chicago's Richard J. Daley Library, among other missing records.

We're not going to count this one as strike three for Obama yet for the past several days. This one can be considered a hard flying fowl ball into left field.

Biden, the vetted running mate. Makes you wonder how much effort was really put into the process, doesn't it?

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Russia Withdraws, Georgia Prepares for Refugee Flood

As Russian forces withdraw, finally, behind the buffer zone back into South Ossetia, Georgia prepares for a new crisis: the influx of thousands of refugees who had fled the area during the conflict returning to try and rebuild their lives after leaving.

Despite skepticism and in spite of still maintaining a presence in several key Georgian locations, Russian forces have finally begun to withdraw into territory in South Ossetia, as they said they would do by yesterday. This creates a new situation for Georgian authorities, that of masses of people displaced by fighting who now wish to return to their homes and attempt to resume their lives.

Georgia has deployed a “massive police presence” in and around the city of Gori to help guarantee security for returning residents in the wake of the Russian withdrawal on Friday evening, said Shota Utiashvili, a high-ranking Interior Ministry official.

At dusk on Friday, columns of armored personnel carriers and troop transports ferried most of the Russian forces in Georgia back to Kremlin-defined security zones in Abkhazia, a separatist enclave in Georgia’s west, and South Ossetia, the breakaway region where the war broke out two weeks ago.

On Saturday, Russian armored columns continued to flow over the Inguri River from the Georgian city of Zugdidi into Abkhazia, a local police spokesman said. The Russians have also left the Georgian military base in Senaki, but only after confiscating almost everything of value, including televisions, refrigerators and even toilets, according to local residents who have watched the steady stream of Russian trucks moving in and out of the base for more than a week.

Russian troops still maintain checkpoints and are entrenched in the Georgian cities of Poti, a port city on the Black Sea, and have several locations within Georgian territory along the border area of South Ossetia. Russia's Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian military’s general staff, stated that the Russians would not "sit behind the fence and watch as they drive around in Hummers,” a reference to captured United States Marine Corps captured by Russian forces last week. Georgia and Western allies maintain that the Russians are in violation of earlier agreements and demand a Russian return to their prewar positions. Russia, meanwhile, intends to announce it's recognition of two separatist enclaves, which creates an even more murky diplomatic and political situation in the region.

Currently some 112,000 refugees have been registered by the Georgian government, with estimates being that there are possibly closer to 200,000 in total. Refugees who are moving back into areas still held by Russian forces are cautiously optimistic that the conflict has begun to come to an end. Housing for refugees has not been an easy task to undertake. Many refugees have been forced to seek housing in dilapidated buildings that have been far from capable of handling the large numbers of people flooding into them; in one case, a shelter housing around 1,700 refugees shared a single, rigged up water faucet and two toilets.

As Russia withdraws, even to the point that they have and are withdrawing, the main concern now for the people of the nation of Georgia is certain: for Georgians to return to any semblence of their former lives is going to be a slow, hard process. Especially if they're keeping a watch out for bears wandering the countryside.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Forming Ranks, as Veterans Solidly Backing McCain Over Obama

It's been an ongoing battle between McCain and Obama in the attempt to win the hearts and minds of the American Veteran vote in recent weeks. An August 19th Gallup Poll shows which candidate leads among voters, and by how wide of a margin.

According to Gallup, American veterans, after recent addresses by both McCain and Obama to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, registered voting veterans are more solidly in support of McCain than his prospective Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, and the margin of separation between the candidates is telling.

With both presidential candidates addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention this week (John McCain on Monday and Barack Obama on Tuesday), Gallup finds that registered voters who have served in the U.S. military solidly back McCain over Obama, 56% to 34%.

This is based on aggregated data from Aug. 5-17 Gallup Poll Daily tracking, involving interviews with more than 11,000 registered voters, including 2,238 military veterans. Veterans are defined as those who are or have been members of the U.S. military. Obama leads McCain 46% to 43% among all registered voters during this time.

A 22% difference between McCain and Obama among polled veterans, and only a 3% lead by Obama nationally according to Gallup, which is a slip in the polls for Obama since his initial emergence as the likely nominee of the Democratic party.

Perhaps it is telling that veterans prefer McCain, a fellow veteran, to become the next Commander-in-Chief of the United States armed forces, over Obama, who has no military experience whatsoever. Leadership experience, especially actual combat leadership experience, is critical to understanding and analyzing information in times of crisis; this is experience that McCain has and Obama does not.

Still, there does seem to be a trend among veterans to vote Republican rather than Democrat, as shown in the final Gallup Poll results of the 2004 elections, in which President Bush lead opponent Senator John Kerry 55% to 39%. Nationally, veterans tend to be more along the lines of 47% Republican, 39% Democrat, as compared to the rest of the nation, which according to Gallup tends to run 48% Democrat to 37% Republican.

With the veteran vote secured, the uncommitted voters are the essential battleground for McCain and Obama. With a slipping lead that is now down to 3 points over McCain, Obama may very well be discovering how having a retired veteran fighter pilot on his tail is not a to his advantage.

I know this American Fighting Man is voting for him...

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So You're an Evangelical Christian Supporting Obama...

For evangelical Christians, the issue of abortion is a hot topic, especially in regards to politics. Knowing a candidate's record on the issue can be either supportive or damning for the candidate when they try to move from one level of office to another.

There is an ongoing debate about when life begins. For some, there is no question that life begins at conception; for others, life begins at birth, and for others still, life begins somewhere in between. So what about a baby that has been through the abortion procedure and was able to survive outside the womb? Can there be any doubt that once a breathing, pulse bearing infant is out in the air that it's alive? If you're Senator Barack Obama, there is obviously some question to that state.

Looking back over Obama's record, there is one significant case that comes to bear from his days in the Illinois state senate, such a long, long time ago (2002), and his challenging of a bill that would protect the lives of infants who had survived the abortion procedure, called the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. The legislation was created after Illinois nurse Jill Stanek had held a baby for 45 minutes that had been left to die after surviving a late term abortion procedure, and her subsequent reporting of the incident to the Illinois Department of Human Services, who determined that no laws had been broken in the incident (see her commentary here).

What is disturbing about all of this in the case of Senator Obama is his stand on the issue, as shown in statements made while challenging the passage of this legislation in the Illinois Senate.

So — and again, I’m — I’m not going to prolong this, but I just want to be clear because I think this was the source of the objections of the Medical Society. As I understand it, this puts the burden on the attending physician who has determined, since they were performing this procedure, that, in fact, this is a nonviable fetus; that if that fetus, or child — however way you want to describe it — is now outside the mother’s womb and the doctor continues to think that it’s nonviable but there’s, let’s say, movement or some indication that, in fact, they’re not just coming out limp and dead, that, in fact, they would then have to call a second physician to monitor and check off and make sure that this is not a live child that could be saved. Is that correct?

"Not coming out limp and dead?" Would "limp and dead" not imply that there had been life to begin with? Apparently the Senator from Illinois believes that it is more important to protect the physician performing the abortion than the life of the child, it would seem. Is this a position that Christians, evangelical or otherwise, are willing to support and promote out of a candidate?

Personal note: I'm sure that there are going to be those who come out with the tired old "separation of church and state argument" on this issue. Let me make one clear little reminder before that is bandied about on here: there is absolutely no wording in the United States Constitution that proclaims such a thing. The Constitution clearly states that there shall be no laws enacted that protect or promote any one religion as being a state institution.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Who can it be now? Evidently it won't be Hillary Clinton...

She gave him a derby-esque run for the roses during the primaries, hanging on as long as she could before conceding, and then offered her support for his campaign as she suspended hers. Now it seems the final snub of Hillary Clinton is being readied.

It's one of the most anticipated announcements of the year. The announcement of the running mate for likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Over the past few weeks, names have been bandied about across the country as analysts and pundits have speculated on who the candidate for Vice-President of the United States will be, but one thing seems clear: it won't be Hillary Clinton.

There are so many, many reasons that Clinton is the obvious choice for Obama to pick as his running mate. A master politician in her own right, Clinton was the ultimate insider during the administration of a former President, having been First Lady to husband Bill during his own terms in the White House. She's connected, she's definitely been vetted as a candidate, and she has a huge following among Democratic voters, which gave her the wherewithal to run such a tight race against Obama in the primaries to begin with. With Hillary as Vice President, Obama would have the potential for a more intimate relationship with former President Bill Clinton.

And yet she hasn't even been vetted as a potential running mate by team Obama.

Obama has often said, most recently on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on July 27, that Clinton “would be on anybody’s short list.”

But apparently not his.

“She was never vetted,” a Democratic official reported. “She was not asked for a single piece of paper. She and Senator Obama have never had a single conversation about it. How would he know if she’d take it?”

The official also said Clinton never met with Obama’s vetting team of Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy.

Perhaps it's no wonder that a Clinton supporters are outraged at the DNC for playing such an active role in the rocket rise of a candidate that no one had heard of nationally two years ago. The Democratic party is in such disarray that the upcoming Democratic National Convention slated for next week in Denver is already a media and public relations circus, with local law enforcement officials clearing room in the local lock-ups to handle a large number of out of hand protesters, should the need arise. And given the punitive measures placed against Florida and Michigan for their holding primaries ahead of the approved Democratic National Party schedule having possibly been the determining factor in Clinton's failed bid for the nomination, there is little doubt as to why she would be a less than whole-hearted supporter of Obama in rallies across the nation, as mentioned by one Democrat campaign worker noted after a rally in Boca Raton, Florida.

Minutes after pushing through the rope line to thank Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for “all that you do,” Robin Shaffer said she was worried. She feared that the senator she respected and admired for being tough and experienced had not done all that she could to unify Florida’s fractured Democratic Party while campaigning here on Thursday for her former opponent.

“It was good that she said my supporters need to now support Barack Obama,” said Ms. Shaffer, 46, reflecting on Mrs. Clinton’s speech before about 700 people. But, she added, “I wanted her to repeat that one more time.”

Many who had supported Mrs. Clinton’s run for president shared Ms. Shaffer’s opinion. Democrats who said they had recently accepted that Mr. Obama, of Illinois, would be the Democratic presidential nominee greeted Mrs. Clinton’s 30-minute speech — her first rally in Florida on his behalf — with warmth but also demands for more.

The reasons for Hillary Clinton not being selected for the Vice Presidential position can and will be speculated over for some time to come, as well as the "what-if" factor had she been chosen for the spot and Obama winds up losing to McCain in the November race. The presence of unhappy Clinton supporters in Denver also shows a severe lack of the purported party unity that the Obama camp keeps harping to the media, lending itself to a potential black eye for the convention before it even has a chance to begin.

Party of unity? Don't bet on it.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Obama Swings, Misses, Strike Two...

In another stunning example of inexperience in running for office at the national level, Barack Obama has gone after John McCain over how many houses McCain owns, only to hear the swishing sound of air as McCain's Rezko fastball gets by him.

Maybe Obama should stick to playing basketball.

In an attempt to show how that John McCain is "out of touch" rich, Obama released an ad today in which he proclaimed that McCain doesn't even know how many houses he owns. Once again, leaving himself wide open for a counter-attack, Obama shows that his inexperience is not only in international affairs and domestic policy, but in political wrangling, as well. His own dealings with Tony Rezko have left Obama a vulnerable place for a McCain counter-attack, which McCain had no qualms in making sure was put out for public consumption before the end of the day.



Perhaps we can see Obama go after McCain on something else he is vulnerable on. Religion, perhaps, or military service. Or possibly even financial investing, since he doesn't seem to be aware that there are some who invest in real estate, not necessarily to live in, as is obviously the case with the McCain's, but rather as an investment, along with other investments, such as stocks and bonds.

This is the kind of knowledge and experience we need in the White House? That would be change, all right, and it would definitely give us all a reason to hope, as in, "I hope that we can survive three more years of this moron that we've elected..."

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Report States Third WTC Tower Fell Due to Fire

The official report on 7 WTC is complete, but it's sure not to set well with conspiracy theorists who are no doubt going to cry "cover-up" when the news becomes more widely known. The third tower collapse on Sept 11, 2001, was caused by fire.

Rosie O'Donald is sure to come out claiming that it is all part of a cover-up. Others will undoubtedly claim that the report is further evidence of a conspiracy on the part of the Bush administration to cover their tracks in having been behind the attacks of 9-11. The fact remains, however, that the official report on the collapse of 7 World Trade Center states that the third building fell as a result of structural failure caused by fire, not by bombs or incendiary devices positioned to bring it down after the planes were flown into the twin towers.

Fires in the 47-story office tower at the edge of the World Trade Center site undermined floor beams and critical structural columns, federal investigators concluded Thursday, as they attempted to curb still-rampant speculation that explosives or fuel fires were responsible for the building’s collapse of Sept. 11, 2001.

The long-delayed report by engineers here at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in suburban Washington is intended to solve one of still lingering central questions about the 2001 attacks: Why did 7 World Trade Center fall, if it was not hit by an airplane.

“Heating of floor beams and girders caused a critical support column to fail,” said Shyam Sunder, the lead investigator. “Video and photographic evidence combined with detailed computer simulations show that neither explosives nor fuel oils played a role in the collapse that brought the building down.”

Fire, as pretty much any firefighter will tell you, is considered by those in the fire service to be a living entity. It consumes, and when fed, it grows; it is created, and it dies. The more it consumes, the larger it becomes, the larger it becomes, the hotter and faster it burns, affecting even the materials in it's path that it can not consume.

To say that there is any substance that can't be consumed, ultimately, by fire, is a misconception. The very earth that the iron and other metals that are used in making steel are the result of the life cycle of the planet: the earth's core is not a solid mass, but a molten, churning mixture of elements that are constantly being consumed and reintroduced into the upper levels of the interior of the planet. Everything that exists on planet earth was initially forged by the fires of the core of the planet. Metals are purified, shaped, and formed of fire, as it requires heat make solid construction grade metal malleable for working. And, regardless of Ms. O'Donald's uninformed opinion as expressed some time back on The View, steel girders can be heated to the point at which they will fail.

Perhaps if the water main had not been broken and the fire suppression system had been able to work in 7 World Trade Center, the building would not have collapsed some seven hours after the collapse of the twin towers. At this point, that can only be a matter of speculation. The fact is, however, after years of research and study into the cause of it's collapse, the determination has been made, and the official report has been filed. All that remains now is for the conspiracy theorists to once again begin tossing wild theories and explanations.

For my 343 brothers and sisters who gave all. May God give you rest.


Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Russia Announces Pullout Date - What, Again?

Russia has announced a "firm" date for withdrawing it's troops from central Georgia back into an area behind a "buffer zone" in South Ossetia. Hasn't the world been assured of a Russian pullout before?

Russia has announced that it will begin withdrawing troops from Georgia back into South Ossetia behind a buffer zone where Georgian forces will not be allowed by late Friday, according to reports coming out of Moscow. The announcement comes from General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy head of Russia's General Staff, who made the announcement at a Moscow news conference, stating that Russia will observe a 1992 peacekeeping agreement between Russia and Georgia. He further stated that Georgia had violated the terms of the agreement by withdrawing their own peacekeepers and sending them toward the regional capital, Tskhinvali, thus negating their right to engage in peacekeeping operations within the region.

Georgian officials say that Russia is the aggressor, and may not be considered a peacekeeper itself. Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told VOA that the buffer zone around South Ossetia is ill-defined and that Russia is "playing games" with the facts.

Utiashvili says Russian officials show journalists one thing during the day, and return their forces at night. He claims that the number of checkpoints and amount of territory held by Russian forces are not decreasing.

Given the previous announcements of cease-fire orders and troop withdrawals by Moscow, it's a reasonable understanding why Georgian officials are skeptical that Russia will withdraw it's troops at this point. Georgia isn't alone in doubting Russia, as negotiations between Russia and NATO reached a near total breakdown yesterday, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice harshly criticizing Russia for it's actions in Georgia.

U.S. Secretary of State led the charge against Russia, beginning with sharply-worded statements to journalists on the plane over to Brussels. At the meeting, Rice also spoke of Russia’s increasing aviation presence in near Alaska. “It is not cost free,” Rice commented. “This is a very dangerous game, and perhaps one the Russians might want to reconsider.” Moscow responded to that statement through Deputy Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn yesterday. “That is a Russian issue,” Nogovitsyn said. “The decision on those flights was made by the supreme commander. Strategic aviation will no longer remain laid up. There is nothing criminal about it. We’ve been flying there for half a year already.”

Sources in Western diplomatic circles say the NATO session was tense. The United States, some of the Scandinavian countries and the vast majority of Eastern European countries were in favor of taking a hard line against Russian actions and quickly providing Georgia with a membership action plan. Western European diplomats, in particular French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, opposed a harsh position. The final statement from the four-hour-long session was a compromise.

For now, the world can only wait, watching to see if Russia will, this time, follow through with it's word to withdraw troops back at least into South Ossetia. From there, the future remains uncertain. One thing that is certain, as the situation in Georgia begins to, hopefully, wind down, Russia has certainly shown exactly how much her current government can be trusted by the rest of the world.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Obama and McCain take off the gloves

In a case of making an attempted uppercut to McCain, team Obama has released a new ad linking the Republican to high level wrong-doing in his past. Perhaps the Obama people should have realized that their own chickens would come home to roost, as well.

The Obama campaign has a new political ad out today linking John McCain to Jack Abramoff, alleging corruption and conspiracy on the part of Obama during the entire Abramoff situation, a situation in which McCain had very little, if any actual, involvement in the entire scandal other than possession of an email communication, protecting Alabama Governor Bob Riley. Hardly, in the grand scheme of things, as controversial and damning as some of the things in Obama's past, as McCain is more than willing to point out in response to the Obama ad:

“Barack Obama’s ad is ridiculous. Because of John McCain, corruption was exposed and people like Jack Abramoff went to jail. “However, if Barack Obama wants to have a discussion about truly questionable associations, let’s start with his relationship with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, at whose home Obama’s political career was reportedly launched. Mr. Ayers was a leader of the Weather Underground, a terrorist group responsible for countless bombings against targets including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and numerous police stations, courthouses and banks. In recent years, Mr. Ayers has stated, ‘I don’t regret setting bombs … I feel we didn’t do enough.’

“The question now is, will Barack Obama immediately call on the University of Illinois to release all of the records they are currently withholding to shed further light on Senator Obama’s relationship with this unrepentant terrorist?” —McCain spokesman Brian Rogers

The records surrounding the relationship of Obama and Ayers are currently housed at the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and are not accessible for public viewing, as journalist Stanley Kurtz discovered earlier this month, despite his having been promised access to the files.

Is Obama hiding things that he, and his supporters, would rather not be seen by the public eye? If so, they're certainly not doing an impressive job in covering their tracks. Rather than moving in a way that doesn't attract attention, Obama and his cronies have a history and record of making major errors in regards to public appearances, leaving themselves wide open to scrutiny and speculation.

For Obama to have gone after McCain on Abramoff, while having so many questions concerning his own relationship with Ayers under such scrutiny, Obama has shown a very significant lack of skill in maneuvering in the arena of national politics.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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The 2008 Denver DNC: Rise of the Machines?

Denver is in full swing as preparations are being made for the upcoming Democratic National Convention, an event that promises to have all the drama and intrigue of Terminator, Othello and Macbeth rolled into one neat package.

The question "Is it dead, yet?" seems to be floating around Democratic circles in regards to the Hillary Clinton campaign. With grass roots organizations such as PUMA and others around, it seems that there is still life in the Clinton machine, something that creates a very dangerous political situation for the presumed nominee for the DNC, Barrack Obama.

History has shown time and again that you can't turn your back on the Clinton machine, nor can you count it out of the game until the game is officially over and team Clinton has been left on the sidelines watching someone else sprint to victory. Thus seems to be the case for the Denver convention, as there is discussion of a brewing coup being planned by Clinton supporters that will take place on the floor of the convention.

As of July 31, the Democratic National Convention was still in need of one-fourth of the estimated cost of the Denver convention – amounting to 10 million of the $40 million.

Moreover, Washington Examiner political columnist Tony Campbell explains in detail why this national convention could be absolutely explosive:

"I talked to a Clinton delegate here in Maryland. He told me they have been instructed to vote for Hillary (for president) on the first ballot. To make things more interesting, there is a movement to swing 160 delegates from Obama to Clinton. If that happens, Clinton could re-establish her campaign and face John McCain in the fall."

And further:

"The group P.U.M.A. (for Public Unity My A--) claims that 15 delegates have switched from Obama to Clinton in July. There is still the possibility of a floor convention vote to fully seat the delegations from Michigan and Florida – which would benefit Senator Clinton.

Given the mood and atmosphere surrounding the Clinton "defeat" by Obama in the primaries, in which both Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates initially, the issues surrounding Obama both in his relationships with controversial figures and the funding he's been receiving from Middle Eastern backers, the relentless work by Hillary supporters in trying to make sure that the message is clearly delivered that they are NOT happy with the Democratic National Party for what they see as having lauded Obama by virtue of race over substance, the new allegations that Obama is "selling" tickets to his planned and potential acceptance speech, among other issues, the party is clearly not moving forward in a united front toward the November elections. Clinton supporters, to be sure, are anything but fully behind the potential nomination of Obama:

A massive e-mail and Internet campaign is under way aimed at derailing the nomination of Barack Obama and making Hillary Clinton the party’s standard bearer next week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

“It’s downright nasty,” said Memphis, Tenn., superdelegate and city council member Myron Lowery, who has shared dozens of the messages he’s received with The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal newspaper.

“I think it’s divisive for the ‘Support Hillary’ campaign to continue at this time. She made the decision to fully support Mr. Obama,” said Lowery, who initially supported Clinton but later switched his allegiance to Obama. “I don’t know why they’re not taking their cue from Hillary and falling in line.”

But is that really the cue that Hillary is sending forth? Lowery thinks so, but with statements made by the Senator from New York and former First Lady to the effect that her supporters should be heard at the convention, is she truly putting one hundred percent effort behind Obama? Given the "terminatrix" image that some pundits have created around Hillary, I somehow can't imagine her standing over Obama and saying "Come with me if you want to live." I think, personally, she would be more inclined to use the "I'll be back" line made famous during the FIRST movie. This concept becomes more apparent with the news that Senator Clinton's brother and chief campaign backers have met with McCain a top McCain surrogate in Phoenix, Arizona, raising speculations as to what sort of topics where discussed and where the Clinton support will truly rest come the conclusion of the convention.

With the Democratic National Convention less than a week away, the gathering raises questions about the support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama can expect from former local supporters of Mrs. Clinton, who dominated at the polls in the Northeast in the April primary election. Mrs. Clinton won 74 percent of Lackawanna County Democrats to Mr. Obama’s 26 percent.

Ms. Fiorina’s daylong local visit, part of a two-day bus tour of the state, was aimed at talking disenchanted former supporters of Mrs. Clinton into supporting Mr. McCain. The private gathering was not a fundraiser.

“I think there’s going to be a groundswell of support for McCain,” said Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola, a Republican and one of the people who attended. “I think a lot of Hillary supporters are going to be for McCain.”

Neither the Obama camp nor members of team Clinton have been available for comment, and Obama, once enjoying a more comfortable lead in the polls, has recently seen that lead slipping as McCain, a former fighter pilot, has begun to come in on him from behind, a position the Senator from Arizona has stated in the past that he feels very comfortable being in.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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More 'Weather' Challenges for Obama

The story that isn't a story just won't go away for Barack Obama. His connection with Weather Underground Pentagon bomber cum professor William Ayers has never been fully explained, and if files pertinent to their relationship remain sealed, it may not.

Stanley Kurtz is an unhappy camper. And he's unhappy because he's been denied access to files that may fill in the blanks surrounding the relationship between Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama in his association with a known terrorist, William Ayers.

According to Obama and Ayers, there is simply no story. They both sat on a foundation together, they've had passing acquaintance through the years, but there is no "relationship." If that's the case, then why are there files relating to the Obama and Ayers connection that are not viewable at the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois, Chicago? That's what Kurtz wants to know in his article in National Review, detailing his pursuit of a story that supposedly "isn't there," but very much seems to be, in that there is such large evidence of a cover-up going on surrounding the relationship between Obama and Ayers.

Unfortunately, I don’t yet have access to the documents. The Special Collections section of the Richard J. Daley Library agreed to let me read them, but just before I boarded my flight to Chicago, the top library officials mysteriously intervened to bar access. Circumstances strongly suggest the likelihood that Bill Ayers himself may have played a pivotal role in this denial. Ayers has long taught at UIC, where the Chicago Annenberg Challenge offices were housed, rent-free. Ayers likely arranged for the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to be housed in the UIC library, and may well have been consulted during my unsuccessful struggle to gain access to the documents. Let me, then, explain in greater detail what the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) records are, and how I have been blocked from seeing them.

Is there something that the Obama campaign is afraid of the American people seeing? Is there something there that Ayers doesn't want uncovered? What, exactly, is in these files that is such a secret that access to them is being treated with the same scrutiny as official classified governmental documents? It should be noted that these files are being housed at a library, a place that is, by definition, a repository of information that is made available to the public. The government is not in possession of these files.

So why the secrecy, unless there is something in there that someone doesn't want to be made public?

Kurtz plans to continue his endeavors for access to these documents. I wish him well, and hope that he can gain access to them. I won't discount, however, the possibility that by the time he is allowed access that there will be things that have been removed, after all of the hooplah surrounding his initial probe into this story.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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McCain to Announce VP: Who Says Timing Isn't Everything?

What's the best birthday present John McCain could give himself this year? The media blitz that will accompany his announcement of his running mate overshadowing the Democratic Convention and the nomination of Obama.

It's been one of the most anticipated and speculated upon decisions on the minds of both Democrats and Republicans. Who will be the running mates?

It is very likely Obama will announce his decision during the Democratic convention in Denver, an event that is already promising to be a media circus with the expectations of protests BY groups that claim to carry the Democrat mantle.

In a strategic move slated for August 29, McCain's birthday, the likely Republican candidate is expected to announce his choice for a running mate for the November general election in the key battleground state of Ohio.

The campaign has begun building a crowd of 10,000 for Dayton, Ohio, according to an organizer. McCain is scheduled to appear with his running mate at a large-scale event in Pennsylvania shortly thereafter.

Senior Republicans are in the dark about who he’ll name, although they say former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty are prime contenders after a trial balloon by McCain gave him very negative feedback about the idea of picking an abortion-rights running mate such as Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania and the first secretary of homeland security.

Another speculative prospect has been Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn), which would have been the first time in history since the candidacy of Abraham Lincoln, whose vice-Presidential choice was Andrew Johnson (D-Tenn) to have seen a vice-Presidential candidate not of the same party as the Presidential nominee.

As of now, the announcement is slated for 29 August, although McCain, who has been playing a very close hand concerning his choice of running mate, has stated that he may make his announcement sooner than that.

UPDATE: According to Drudge, Obama appears to be close to announcing his running mate, as well.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Georgia On My Mind...

For days on end the world has had it's attention torn in several directions. With the U.S. Presidential race entering the convention phase, the controversies surrounding the Olympics in Beijing, the Middle East, and now Russia and Georgia?

If you asked the average American on June 27, 1914, who Archduke Franz Ferdinand was, the vast majority would have looked at you and said "never heard of him. Indeed, almost a full century later, if you mention Franz Ferdinand you're likely to bring to mind the rock group from Glasgow, Scotland, who's hit song "Take Me Out" was featured in commercials for the Sony PSP.

On June 28, 1914, Europe began it's decline into a state of continental war that would become, at the end, the most costly and devastating war to ever face the world. Even with the American entrance into the conflict in 1918, many Americans weren't sure why the U.S. was involving itself in a European conflict. And a great many Americans still weren't exactly sure what had started the war to begin with.

It's a century later, nearly, and until a few days ago, the vast majority of Americans really didn't have a clue that there was a problem in the former Soviet satellite nation of Georgia, let alone having any knowledge of a region known as South Ossetia. Yet once again the less well known regions of Europe have engaged the attention of the world as they become an object of turmoil and strife. The reason? South Ossetia has been seeking to break away from Georgia, as a large percentage of the population of the region are ethnic Russians, and wish for closer ties to Moscow than to Tbilisi. Or at least, that's what the Russians claim.

To some in the west, Russia has proven itself, at the governmental level, not to be trusted at their word. With the claims of having given cease-fire orders to their forces that rolled into the region on the one hand, and the first-hand accounts of Russian armor rolling into flanking positions around key Georgian cities, the bombing of the infrastructure (communication facilities and the like), and the sinking of Georgian ships by Russian warships, one can only speculate as to the long term goal of the Russian government. Georgia was, after all, one of the nations that made up the former Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was a member at one time of the KGB's "Fifth Directorate," which focused on political dissenters against Soviet policy, as well as having worked in the KGB's foreign intelligence divisions. Relevant? Perhaps not, unless one looks at the documented history of the practice of disinformation practiced by the KGB and Soviet Union throughout the years. To be fair, the United States and other western nations have practiced this method through the years, as well, but in this case it is Russia that is claiming non aggression at the governmental level while Russian troops have been occupying Georgian sovereign soil.

There will be, and probably are already, those who shrug their shoulders and proclaim, "It's no different from the United States invading Iraq and Afghanistan." In the case of the United States in regards to both Afghanistan and Iraq, there was evidence that has been documented and gone over ad nauseum to show terrorist activities being sponsored by or supported by both countries. Ethnic Russians living in the nation of Georgia are citizens of Georgia, not mother Russia, and the conflict that was brewing between South Ossetia and Tbilisi was an internal matter, not something for Russia to become, legally, involved in, which leads to the question; is the world witnessing the awakening of the Russian bear after a period of hibernation?

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Traveling time

The time has come. After some time off it's time to go back to work again, and I'll be out for probably about a month. I should be able to pop on here from time to time for a bit, but probably won't have much time, if any, for writing, while on the road.

Ya'll take care, and I'll be back in soon as I can.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Denver Imposes Restrictions on Protesters Tactics

Field commanders and generals know that the best way to win a battle is to be prepared ahead of time for any tactics and tricks the opposing side will use in a pending conflict and confrontation. Denver is making plans now for the DNC convention.

There will be no urine tossing in Denver. Nor will there be any buckets filled with feces nor "cut-proof" devices that protesters can use to thwart local police officers as protesters gather outside the Pepsi Center in Denver when the DNC gathers there to meet next month for the party's convention. Denver law enforcement and lawmakers are working together to make sure that they have as many bases covered as possible to keep protesters from blocking traffic and creating undue disturbance in the Mile-High City.

"Protesters are getting pretty sophisticated," said Councilman Doug Linkhart, chairman of the council's safety committee.

"In other cities, they're not just handcuffing themselves to each other," he said. "They put their handcuffs inside PVC tubes, which are inside concrete. They've figured out ways that keep the police from just using bolt cutters to cut them apart. They also use buckets of urine and feces and various noxious substances to pour on themselves or the police."

Denver's proposed ordinance would make it illegal to carry any "tool, object, instrument or other article" that can be used to obstruct streets, sidewalks and entry or exits from buildings or for hindering emergency equipment.

"We're just trying to very narrowly define an area where, if they have these kinds of tools and we can prove intent, then we can arrest them," Linkhart said.

Among banned items will be chains, quick-setting cement, and locking devices resistant to bolt cutters, along with containers used to transport urine and feces, and any other items that might be seen as being used as a tool for disrupting order. Arapahoe County, where some delegates will be staying during the convention, has also placed bans on items that could be used as weapons, including gas masks that protesters might be carrying to use in case of tear gas being employed by law enforcement officials for crowd control.

Personally, I'm kind of amazed at the mindset of some protesters. I can understand picketing, I can understand the chants used by marchers, but there are some things my mind can not fathom. Urine and feces? Are we talking about people protesting, or chimpanzees here? Mind boggling.

In all honesty, while I can see why there would be a lot for Democrats to protest in regards to their party, especially those who belong to such groups as PUMA, I can't really say that I see many of the Hillary Clinton supporters that would be attending being the feces flinging type.

Of course I could be wrong.

What does sinking to this level of primate behavior accomplish, really? It smells, it potentially spreads disease, and we won't get into the whole concept of that one has to actually take the time to collect containers filled with feces or urine in order to take that one pride filled moment in which they can proclaim, "I tossed my shit on a cop!" I'm sure they have a mother somewhere who would be very proud of them for such adult behavior.

Protesting in such manner does little to accomplish actual real political change. It creates a breeding ground for violence, lawlessness, and potential injury to both the protesters and public safety officials who are there to maintain order. The rare exceptions were the non-violent protests led by Dr. Martin Luther King in which he urged passive resistance. But the days of King are over, and I'm certain that he would have highly disapproved of the use of human/animal waste as a means of attempting to make a point.

I wonder if they've also banned jamming devices for the undercover officers who will be communicating by shoe phone? Just a thought.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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McLaughlin Steps In It, Calls Obama an Oreo

Perhaps the question of the day for John McLaughlin could be "got milk?" The long time host of "The McLaughlin Group" is catching heat for his comments on last Sunday's edition in regards to Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama.

It's one of the signs that something has been going on for far too long. People start getting edgy, tense, and, using the word used by someone near and very dear, "punchy." This is what we are seeing out of Presidential race that has gone on for way too long in the United States. And the tension begins to show in everyone closely watching or participating in the races.

A prime example of this was found on Sunday's "The McLaughlin Group," when host John McLaughlin, a long time journalist and correspondent, referred to Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama as an "oreo" when discussing how Jesse Jackson must feel about Obama's reaping the benefits of the votes from the black community without having put in the work that Jackson is seen to have done through the years.

The veteran Washington journalist was discussing the recent comments from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was caught last week by an open microphone on Fox News saying the Illinois senator is "talking down to black people" as he campaigns for the White House. Those remarks were largely seen in reference to Obama's recent admonishment at a Chicago church of some black men who he said were not living up to their responsibilities as parents.

Referencing Jackson's comments, McLaughlin said Obama "fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo — a black on the outside, a white on the inside."

"Does it frost Jackson, Jesse Jackson, that…an Oreo should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle which Jesse Jackson spent his lifetime fighting for?" McLaughlin asked his panelists.

The term "Oreo" is often viewed as a derogatory term toward some African-Americans who appear not to exhibit certain stereotypes of their race.

Heat of the moment freudian slip? True inner feelings coming out? Or is it, as Obama called a his recent stand on Jerusalem, a matter of "poor phrasing?" In any event, McLaughlin is certainly taking heat for his choice of words. Panelists from McLaughlin's show and other commentators have spoken out against McLaughlin's use of "oreo" in describing Obama, expressing their disappointment in the turn of phrase and the meaning behind it.

Race certainly has been an issue in this election cycle, and rightly so. It's been a very important thing to many members of the media and many politicians in the Democratic party that Obama become the first black President. His skyrocketing career from practically out of nowhere bespeaks of some sort of behind the scenes maneuvering to ensure that he is the one to take the place in history, should he be elected, to become the first black United States President. His race, especially his mixed race of being African and white, has been an issue of discussion in many quarters during his rock star rise to the top, and anyone who even mentions it is generally labeled as a racist, a label McLaughlin has seemingly hung upon his own neck of his own accord. Given the context in which the statement was made (watch the video archive), he may very well be innocent of such a labeling. It still doesn't detract from the fact that the term was used and used in such a manner as to be seen as a racial slur.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Bush Lifts Presidential Ban on Off-Shore Drilling, Congressional Ban Still in Place

There is an old saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures." Given the state of the nation's economy and the exorbitant price of fuel, President Bush has removed the Presidential ban on offshore drilling, and calls for Congress to follow suite.

Recent polling data has shown a shift in the American desire to drill off our coastal shores. Soaring fuel prices over the past two years, despite Democratic promises to work to bring them down, have put a strain on the American economy and the wallet of the average American family. Rising fuel prices have driven up the cost of nearly everything, from food to services, and American's are demanding something be done to truly change the situation.

The introduction of bio-fuels in certain markets has proven unreliable as a current alternative and remedy to the fuel situation; even the blending of grain fuels into petroleum products have left consumers complaining of decreased fuel mileage and performance in their automobiles. The auto industry itself is suffering from a lack of sales, and a look in the vehicle section of the local classified ads in newspapers around the country show a significant increase in the number of SUV's, pick-up trucks, and larger cars being offered for sale at near give-away prices.

Today, President Bush took the first step in doing something from a governmental level to help take the stress off of consumers by signing an executive order rescinding the Presidential ban on off shore drilling along the United States coastal regions, and called for Congress to remove the Congressional ban, as well. (Full text of speech here)

"This is a difficult period for millions of American families," Bush said. "Every extra dollar they have to spend because of high gas prices is one dollar less they can use to put food on the table or send a child to school. And they are rightly angered by Congress' failure to enact common-sense solutions."

Bush said increasing access to offshore exploration of the Outer Continental Shelf is one of the most important steps the country can take. He laid blame on Democrats who he said have rejected "virtually every proposal" to expand domestic oil production.

"... Congress has restricted access to key parts of the OCS since the early 1980s," Bush said. "Experts believe that these restricted areas of the OCS could eventually produce nearly 10 years' worth of America's current annual oil production. And advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills."

Historically significant is the fact that the original Presidential ban on drilling was signed into being by the President's father during his term in office as President in 1990. The Congressional ban came around the same time period.

This is President Bush's second call for Congress to remove their ban, having made the first request in June.

Environmental groups and activists are already denouncing the executive order, with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) proclaiming that such a move will destroy the economy of the country's coastal region.

Frankly, I'm not sure how that would be the case, given that there would be a migration of oil workers to towns along the coast for access to transportation to and from work on ocean based oil rigs, a move that would bring commerce into those regions in the form of housing sales, goods and services being sold and rendered, and the addition of jobs in those fields to support the influx of new population into those regions.

It is by no means going to be a quick fix, if and when Congress does lift their ban on off-shore drilling, but such an action would clear the way for oil production domestically, and perhaps the reinvestment of refinery processes on American soil, thereby creating more jobs in that area, as well.

The next move is up to Congress, leaving the American people to wait and see if their Congressmen and Senators are paying attention to what the American public is demanding of them.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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