Amateur Radio Operators have begun a unique way of showing support for our Military Veterans, and Active Duty Members. Emery McClendon, KB9IBW, founded ARMAD - Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day as a way to allow the people of communities worldwide to express thanks, and appreciation to those that serve in the military.

Read the rest at Soldiers' Angels Germany

Marines from the 24th MEU’s Force Reconnaissance Platoon assault role players from BLT 1/8 aboard the vessel Patriot State.The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is conducting Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) training in support of Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO) at Fort Eustis, Va., as part of their pre-deployment training. Photo by: Gunnery Sgt. James H. Frank

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Really. Someone needs to start testing the Potomac. The water on the left side must have lead in it, 'cause the Dems are really starting to lose it.

For starters, the behavior at the NSA hearings was contemptible. I thought we were talking about the balance of security and rights - about the law. Apparently we're talking about campaigning for 2008. This exchange, in particular, was pathetic:

FEINGOLD: It was a question about your view of the law -- about your view of the law -- during a confirmation on your nomination to be attorney general.

So, of course, if you had told the truth maybe that would have jeopardized your nomination. You wanted to be confirmed, and so you let a misleading statement about one of the central issues of your confirmation, your view of executive power, stay on the record until the New York Times revealed the program.

GONZALES: Senator, I told the truth then, I'm telling the truth now.

You asked about a hypothetical situation of the president of the United States authorizing electronic surveillance in violation of our criminal statutes. That has not occurred.

FEINGOLD: Mr. Chairman, I think the witness has taken mincing words to a new high.

There's no question in my mind that when you answered the question that was a hypothetical you knew it was not a hypothetical and you were under oath at the time.

Let me switch to some other misrepresentations.

Nice. Hit and move. Hit and move. Specter, at this point, had to break in:

SPECTER: Wait a minute.

Do you care to answer that, Attorney General Gonzales?

GONZALES: Senator, as I've stated before, what I said was the truth then, it is the truth today.

The president of the United States has not authorized electronic surveillance in violation of our criminal statutes. We have laid out in great detail our position that the activities are totally consistent with the criminal statute.

And then there was this beauty - Dick Durbin on Gonzales calling FISA a "useful tool":

DURBIN: And I've thought about that phrase because it's a phrase that's been used by the White House too.

Referring to FISA as a useful tool in wiretapping is like referring to speed limits and troopers with radar guns as useful tools on a motoring trip.

I think FISA is not there as a useful tool to the administration. It is there as a limitation on the power of a president when it comes to wiretapping.

And I think your use of that phrase, "useful tool," captures the attitude of this administration toward this law: We'll use it when it doesn't cause a problem; we'll ignore it when we have to."

And I think that's why we're here today.

And I'm curious, Mr. Attorney General, as we get into this, and I look back on some of your previous testimony and what you said to this committee in confirmation hearings and the like, how far will this administration go, under the theories which you have stated today, to ignore or circumvent laws like FISA.

I asked you during the course of your confirmation hearing a question about this whole power of the commander in chief. I wish I could play it to you here, but there's a decision made by the committee that we aren't going to allow that sort of thing to take place.

But I do believe that, if I could play it, you would be asked to explain your answer to a question which I posed to you.

And the question was this: "Mr. Attorney General, has this president ever invoked that authority, as commander in chief or otherwise, to conclude that a law was unconstitutional and refused to comply with it?"

Mr. Gonzales: "I believe that I stated in my June briefing about these memos that the president has not exercised that authority."

You've said to us today, several times, that the president is claiming his power for this domestic spying -- whatever you want to call it, terrorist surveillance -- program because of the president's inherent powers, his core constitutional authority of the executive branch.

DURBIN: And so I have to ask you point-blank, as Senator Feingold asked you earlier.

You knew when you answered my question that this administration had decided that it was going to basically find a way around the FISA law, based on the president's, as you called it, inherent constitutional powers. So how can your response be valid today in light of what we now know?

GONZALES: Oh, it's absolutely valid, Senator.

And this is going to sound repetitious, but it has never been our position that we are circumventing or ignoring FISA. Quite the contrary, the president has authorized activities that are totally consistent with FISA, with what FISA contemplates.

I have indicated that I believe that, putting aside the question of the authorization to use military force, that, while it's a tough legal question as to whether or not Congress has the authority under the Constitution to cabin or to limit the president's constitutional authority to engage in electronic surveillance of the enemy, that is not a question that we even need to get to.

It has always been our position that FISA can be and must be read in a way that it doesn't infringe upon the president's constitutional authority.

Not that this is a surprise, but clearly, these hearings aren't so much about the validity of the program as they are representative of the real priorities of the libs - seizing any chance they have to attack a sitting President, and his Administration, during a time of war. Do they really want this country to have an inability to prevent terrorist attacks? I hope not, but some days, I just don't know.

What is clear is that the goal of protecting this country takes second place to the goal of advancing themselves. It's pathetic, disgusting, and places this country at risk.

And then there's Coretta Scott King's funeral. How many times have you seen a sitting President criticized by a former President? OK, how many times have you seen that don't involve Jimmy Carter? There we go. Almost never. To use the funeral of an American Civil Rights icon as a chance to insult the administration, and advance political agendas, is simply repugnant. There's a time and place for criticizing the policies of the Administration - and a funeral isn't it. Sadly, the funeral became less about honoring a hero, and more about a political agenda. I noticed none of them are leading the crusade to deal with the scam artist who took advantage of her ailing health....

Jimmy Carter:
"It was difficult for them personally, with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the target of secret government wiretapping," he said.

Yep. Wiretapping personally authorized by a liberal Civil Rights icon - the Attorney General at the time - Robert F. Kennedy. Not wiretapping of foreign terrorists conspiring to murder Americans, mind you - of political enemies seeking to advance Civil Rights in this country. But that was OK. He was a Democrat.

Joseph Lowery provided amusing alliteration and rhythmic rhyming amid his shot at Bush:

"We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there," he said in a boisterous, rhyming oration. "But Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here -- millions without health insurance, poverty abounds. For war, billions more, but no more for the
poor."

The Fems and the Dems -- the pills on the Hill. See, I can rhyme, too. Maybe Lowery should have a conversation with General Sada about the whole "no weapons" thing.

I'm telling you, they really need to start taking water samples.

Labels: Left-Wingnuts, My Two Cents, opinion, politics

C-130 Critical cargo
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- (Left to right) Maj. John Eric Hall, Tech. Sgt. Craig Schueller and Capt. Tim Pemberton approach a runway, and its lights, in a C-130 Hercules after completing a combat support mission. The Reservists are with the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung)
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Think Jihadism is a European problem? Think the kind of violence being exhibited there (over cartoons, for crying out loud) is only going to happen there?

Well, then how do you explain this?

See that flag flying over the White House in the picture? That would be the black flag of Islam. This sign, and several other missives of the "religion of Peace," was displayed at Ground Zero (yep, that's right) during the UAC's February 1st Rally Against Islamo-Fascism.

The full picture is posted on Jihad Watch.

Islamic leaders who are still advising us of Islam's peaceful nature should take note - if that's the case, then they'd really better get their house in order. Widespread violence, and calls for mass murder, over cartoons, aren't exactly keeping with the message that a few maddened radicals are the problem. Either Islam is a religion of peace, in which case that needs to be the clear message, and they need to deal with the radicals who are perverting and poisoning the faith...or it's not the radicals - it's the religion.

They're going to need to decide which it is.

One wonders how long a Catholic bishop would be hanging around if he called the faithful to murder over a few cartoons? I'm betting he'd be worried about the door hitting him on the way out.


UPDATE: You have got to read the "Best Unintentionally Hilarious Quote" over at the Q and O Blog. On point, and really funny. (H/T to Pajamas)

COMBAT PATROL — U.S. Army Spc. Randy Moyer, assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavarly Regiment, conducts a combat patrol in Tall Afar, Iraq, Feb. 2, 2006. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon

Department of Defense
Rumsfeld Topic: Budget, QDR Process - Story Photos
Pace Highlights Troops' Needs to Senators - Story Photos
NATO Transformation, Ops on Tap for Meeting - Story
Casey: Violence Not Normal, Not Acceptable - Commentary

ON THE GROUND
U.S. Troops Find Block of Gold Worth $110K - Story

IN IRAQ
U.S. Soldiers Train Iraqi Medics in Combat Lifesaving
Iraqis Bring Combat Experience to Training
Town Welcomes Food Distribution Center
Iraqi Soldiers Learn From Transition Teams

FACE OF DEFENSE
Air Force Doctor Helps Ailing Children in Zambia - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Radio Station Runs Salute - Story
Former NFL Players Visit Troops

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Ops Net Suspects, Weapons Caches
IED Attacks Kill 4 U.S. Marines
Water Treatment Plant Opens
U.S. Army Aids Iraqi Businesswomen
Troops Graduate Leadership Course
Forces Detain 10 Suspects
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq (pdf)
Multinational Force Iraq
Eye on Iraq Update (pdf)
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (pdf)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Taliban Detained; Cadets Train
Coalition Achieving Goals
Karzai: Attacks Show Desperation
U.S. Troop Killed in Lagham Province
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Rumsfeld: Must Cooperate to Win
Interpol Issues Alert for Terrorists
Surveillance Goal: Prevent Attacks
Rumsfeld: Terror War Is War of Wills
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Army Reserve to Streamline Force
Bush Sends Budget Request to Hill
Budget Proposal Ensures National
Plan Outlines Terror War Strategy
National Guard, Reserve Update


Weather
Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo

Today in History
0421 - Flavius Constantine becomes emperor Constantine III of West Roman empire
1526 - Heavy storm strikes Dutch coast, many die
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots beheaded
1601 - Earl Robert Devereux of Essex armies draws into London
1622 - King James I disbands the English parliament
1672 - Isaac Newton reads 1st optics paper before Royal Society in London
1690 - French & Indian troops set Schenectady settlement New York on fire; Lord Halifax resigns as Lord Privy Seal
1693 - William & Mary becomes the 2nd college chartered in US
1743 - Comet C/1743 C1 approaches within 0.0390 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth
1744 - French/Spanish fleet leaves Toulon
1750 - Minor earthquake in London
1802 - Simon Willard patents banjo clock
1807 - Napoleon defeats Russians in battle of Eylau
1809 - Franz I of Austria declares war on France
1837 - 1st Vice President chosen by the Senate, Richard Johnson (Van Buren administration)
1861 - Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery, AL
1862 - Battle of Roanoke Island, NC - Federals gain control of Pimlico Sound
1865 - 1st Black major in US Army, Martin Robinson Delany
1883 - Louis Waterman begins experiments to invent the fountain pen
1887 - Dawes Act passed (Indians living apart from tribe granted citizenship)
1889 - Flood ravages Dutch coast
1894 - Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to disenfranchise blacks
1898 - John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding & gumming machine (Massachusetts)
1904 - Outbreak of hostilities in Russo-Japanese war
1905 - Cyclone hits Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people
1909 - France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
1910 - Boy Scouts of America incorporated & chartered (William D Boyce-Chicago)
1911 - US helps overthrow President Miguel Dávila of Honduras
1912 - 1st eastbound US transcontinental flight lands in Jacksonville FL
1914 - General Zamon becomes President of Haiti
1916 - French cruiser "Admiral Charner" torpedoed off Syrian coast, kills 374
1918 - "Stars & Stripes", weekly US armed forces newspaper, 1st published
1922 - Radio arrives in the White House
1923 - Coal mine explosion at Dawson, NM kills 120
1924 - 1st coast-to-coast radio hookup - General John Joseph Carty speech in Chicago
1926 - Walt Disney Studios is formed; German Reichstag decides to apply for League of Nations membership
1927 - Belgian-Swiss treaty signed
1928 - 1st transatlantic TV image received, Hartsdale, NY; Scottish inventor J. Blaird demonstrates color-TV
1931 - Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000
1933 - 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247
1934 - Gaston Doumergue forms new French government
1935 - 1st NFL draft; Jay Berwanger of University of Chicago is 1st pick (by Eagles); He never plays in the NFL
1936 - 1st ski jumping tournament, Red Wing, MN; Pandit Jawaharlal follows Gandhi as chairman of India Congress Party
1940 - Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in Poland
1941 - Japanese armored barges cross Strait of Johore to attack Singapore; NSB'er Max Blokzijl begins Nazi propaganda on Dutch radio
1942 - Congress advises FDR that Americans of Japanese descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the US war effort
1943 - Red Army recaptures Kursk
1944 - 1st Black reporter accredited to the White House, Harry McAlpin; U-762 sunk off Ireland
1945 - Allied air attack on Goch/Kleef/Kalkar/Reichswald
1946 - Premier Salazar of Portugal forbids opposition parties
1948 - 5th Winter Olympics games close at St Moritz, Switzerland
1949 - Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty sentenced to life in prison
1955 - Malenkov resigns as USSR premier, Bulganin replaces him
1956 - Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
1958 - Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia; French planes bomb Sakiet, Tunisia - 75 die
1960 - Congress opens hearings looking into payola
1963 - 1st transmission of Clandestine Voice of Iraqi People (Communist)
1964 - Representative Martha Griffiths address gets civil rights protection for women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
1965 - Eastern DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach, NY, kills 84
1967 - French Diadème D-1C satellite launches into Earth orbit
1968 - Officers kill 3 students demonstrating in South Carolina State (Orangeburg)
1969 - Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua, México; Last edition of "Saturday Evening Post"
1971 - South Vietnamese troops invade Laos
1973 - Senate names 7 members to investigate Watergate scandal
1974 - Skylab 4's astronauts land; "Good Times" debuts on CBS TV
1975 - 1800 Unification church couples' wed in Korea
1977 - Earthquake in San Francisco CA, at 5.0, strongest since 1966
1978 - Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes PM of Kuwait
1983 - Eric Peters sets transatlantic sailboat record (E-W)-46 days
1984 - 14th Winter Olympics games opens in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia; Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7; 1st time 8 people in space
1985 - Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung returns to South-Korea
1988 - NASA launches DOD-2
1989 - US Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die
1990 - "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney suspended by CBS for racial remarks attributed to him by a gay magazine
1992 - Ulysses spacecraft passes Jupiter; 16th Winter Olympics games open in Albertville, France
1993 - GM sues NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" program had rigged 2 car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were prone to fires; Suchoi-24 crashes into Tupolev passenger flight, 134 die
1995 - 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed)
1996 - NFL & Cleveland allows Art Modell to move his NFL franchise to Baltimore but he had to leave the Browns' name behind (a dark day at my house)

Birthdays
0412 - St Proclus patriarch of Constantinople
1291 - Afonso IV, King of Portugal (1325-57)
1712 - L. Joseph de Montcalm de Saint-Véran, French General in America
1811 - Edwin Denison Morgan, Secretary of War (Confederacy)
1817 - Richard Stoddert Ewell, Confederate Lieutenant General
1818 - Austin Blair Governor/MC (Union)
1820 - William Tecumseh Sherman, Union Major General
1824 - Barnard Elliot Bee, Confederate Brigadier General
1828 - Jules Verne, pioneered sci-fi (From the Earth to the Moon)
1883 - Joseph A. Schumpeter, Austrian/US economist/minister of finance
1890 - Claro Mayo Recto, Filipino nationalist/opponent of US colonialism
1903 - Abdulrahman, minister of Internal affairs/premier of Malaysia
1911 - Elizabeth Bishop, US poet (North & South)/Pulitzer Prize (1956); Henri Knap, Dutch resistance fighter/journalist/writer
1913 - John Grandy, British Royal Air Force-marshal
1918 - John Intoxication, resistance fighter
1927 - John T. Myers (Representative-IN)
1930 - Arlan Stangeland (Representative-MN)
1932 - Jan H. Christiaanse, president, Dutch political party (CDA)
1935 - Vincent Weir, 3rd baron Inverforth, Scottish shipping magnate
1940 - Ted Koppel, newscaster (ABC Nightline)
1950 - Jose Armando Lopez-Falcon, Cuban cosmonaut
1952 - Nancy Lord, Libertarian Vice-President candidate (1992)

Passings
1124 - Stefanus of Thiers/Muret, founder of order of Grammond/saint
1513 - Alonso de Ojeda, Spanish explorer (Curaçao & Bonaire)
1587 - Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1560-87), beheaded at 44
1676 - Aleksei M. Romanov, Czar of Russia, dies at 46
1686 - François Tak, Dutch diplomat on Java, murdered
1725 - Peter I "the Great" Romanov, Czar of Russia (1682-1725), dies at 52
1740 - Clement XII [Lorenzo Corsini], blind Pope (1730-40), dies at 87
1897 - Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, premier of Spain, murdered at 69
1924 - Gee John, US mobster (1st executed in gas chamber-Nevada)
1932 - Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, mobster, killed by Dutch Schultz gang
1963 - Abdul Karim Kassem, PM of Iraq (58-63), assassinated in Baghdad at 48
1968 - J. Borremans, Belgian politician (Communist), dies at 56
1974 - Fritz Zwicky, Swiss/US astronomer (supernova), dies at 75
1982 - John Hay Whitney, US newspaper magnate, dies at 76
1993 - Eliot Janeway, financial columnist (Eliot Doomsday), dies at 80; Paul Brickhill Dutch/US WWII pilot/physician

Reported Missing in Action
1968
The following US Army personnel reported MIA when their UH1D was shot down:
Chenoweth, Robert P. (OR); crewchief, released by PRG March, 1973 - alive and well as of 1997

George, James E. (TX); believed executed by VC shortly after the crew was captured, body not recovered

Lenker, Michael R. (IL); door gunner, released by PRG March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Purcell, Benjamin H. (GA); released March, 1973 - alive and well as of 1998
** Author - "Love and Duty"

Rose, Joseph III, (WV); pilot, released March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Ziegler, Roy E.; co-pilot, released by PRG March, 1973 - retired as a CW4 - alive as of 1998

Also reported MIA this day in 1968:
Hammond, Dennis W., USMC (MI); DIC March, 1970

Lapham, Robert G., USAF (MI); A1E shot down, KIA, body not recovered

Zawtocki, Joseph S., Jr., USMC (NY); KIC December, 1968 - remains returned August, 1985

1969
The following Civilians kidnapped from their car in Bien Hua province:
Fritz, John J., Jr. (NJ); released by PRG February, 1973 (injured)

Kalil, Tanos E.; DIC June, 1969

Newingham, James A.; released by PRG February, 1973

Also reported MIA this day in 1969:
Clark, Thomas E., USAF (PA); F100D shot down

MacPhail, Don A., US Army (MA); released by PRG March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Wilkins, Calvin Wayne, USMC (TX); KIA, body not recovered

1971
Stewart, Paul C., US Army (CA); UH1H shot down