From Troop Scoop:

Marines Help Afghans Gather in Protest Aftermath

By Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dwight Henderson

HELMAND PROVINCE – Ironically, when protestors in the Garmsir district set fire to a school, Jan. 12 in a fervor over allegations that a Quran had been desecrated, about 300 copies of the Muslim holy book burned with the school. On Jan. 19, the school’s white walls were stained black from the fire and smoke that had billowed out of its broken windows just a week before.

“We are here to help each other and to talk about the horrible incident that happened here and why it happened,” said Helmand Gov. Mangal. After an opening prayer, tribal elders, village elders and Abdullah Jan, the Garmsir district gov., spoke to the people about the demonstrations.

“During the demonstration, the district gov., the police chief, and the colonel came together and solved the problem,” one tribal elder said. Mangal delivered a passionate speech about the protests and the district’s future. “The demonstration that happened is not like the people of Garmsir,” Mangal said. “It was terrorists, and the Taliban, that used the people of Garmsir.”

Mangal added that he would start his own investigation into the accusations of a desecrated Quran, saying he believes the allegation that sparked the demonstration was planned outside the country by foreign members of the Taliban.

“There was no way for the Taliban to fight us,” Mangal said. “The only way for them to fight us was to use the civilian people. Our enemy doesn’t like us to progress. They don’t like us to be successful in our lives.”

Mangal noted the restraint shown by Marines during the riots, as the crowd damaged their vehicles with gunfire and stones.  He promised to rebuild the school, and he spoke about the future of Helmand prov., pledging that in a short amount of time, “we’re going to take over all districts from the Taliban.”

British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, ISAF RC South cmdr noted that out of Helmand’s 60 districts, Garmsir is one of the greatest examples of progress.  He also commented on the restraint shown by the Marines.
“The restraint shown here is evident of how much they respect you,” he told the local residents. “General Nicholson’s forces are here to help and protect you.”

Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, MEB Afghanistan cmdr said it was appropriate to have the shura in the school that had been damaged in the riots. “The No. 1 target of this entire protest was to destroy this school, and that’s because this school represents the future,” he said. “This is where the future doctors, lawyers, engrs, and generals come from in Garmsir.”

Nicholson told the local residents of the hours of cultural training Marines receive in preparation for deployment, and promised that any Marine who showed disrespect or misconduct would be sent home.

The shura’s message was of hope for the future of Garmsir and all of Helmand prov., through continued partnership between ISAF, Afghan forces and the local populace. “If we work together, we can ensure something like this doesn’t happen again, and Garmsir can become one of the great cities of this country,” Nicholson said.

Yeah, I think having talks with the Taliban will do the trick…

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From Rock The Vote, their new ad in support of healthcare:

Warning: bad language, lack of ethics, integrity and morals)

I’m not putting it up on my blog. (If you decide to watch it, you’ll see why.  If you don’t, go away.)  But Yid with Lid did:

F the Vote w/ Zach Gilford & Eva Amurri from Zach Gilford

These are Obama’s people.

Heart-warming, yes?

Saw a lot of this in California - surprise!   Saw a lot of lost kids too ~ many from well-off families with two parents.  Parents who were hardly ever home and when they were, shared their recreational drugs with their kids.  This attitude is pretty much mainstream out there on the CA coast. (The only reason I didn’t leave CA much sooner was because I was held by a family court order placed on me by my daughter’s father that wouldn’t allow me to take her out of the nine Bay Area counties until she was 18.  Gotta love those radical judges!))

Now read this: You’ll feel better. Oh, and be sure to follow the links in the article ~  some mindblowing insanity there!

ObamaCare Rocks the Dolt Vote!

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Obama: Cutting deficit as important as job growth

“…as we work to create jobs, it is critical that we rein in the budget deficits we’ve been accumulating for far too long…”

“…Reinstating this law (”pay-as-you-go”) will help get us back on track, ensuring that every time we spend, we find somewhere else to cut…”

Yeah, and pigs will fly.

And…we can keep Nancy Pelosi and her family from flying back and forth from San Francisco and DC.

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Thank you

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Soldier Missing in Action from Vietnam War Identified
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:42:00 -0600

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

On the Web: http://www.defense.gov/releases/
Media Contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public Contact: http://www.defense.gov/landing/questions.aspx or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

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Welcome Home, Soldier!

You have been missed.

Now rest easy with your brothers.

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If you were wondering why Sec. Clinton wasn’t at the SOTU, it was because she was busy in London at a global conference on Afghanistan:

Talks Plot Handover to Afghan Forces   ~ Nations Set 5-Year Security Transition, Plan Fund to Pacify Taliban Militants

By ALISTAIR MACDONALD, MATTHEW ROSENBERG And JAY SOLOMON

LONDON—Afghanistan agreed at an international conference here to timetables for taking control of certain military and police functions in the war-torn country, and rolled out details of a new program to lure Taliban insurgents back to mainstream life with financial incentives.

The one-day London conference, attended by about 65 nations, was meant to kick-start the transition of the country’s security to Afghan troops from foreign ones and bolster Afghanistan’s ability to develop its economy and stamp out corruption….

Oh dear…It’s always worrisome when “officials and leaders” get together to come up with solutions.

Here’s Sec. Clinton’s statement:

Remarks by Secretary Clinton

Be sure to read the reporters’ questions and her answers too.

Sing with me!

Kumbayah, m’lord, Kumbayah…

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Here’s another interesting news article about certain Congressmen and Hamas:

Hamas’ 54 Democratic Congressmen   ~   Amerabia isn’t as far away as we have thought

By Daniel Greenfield Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Keith Ellison, widely hailed as America’s first Muslim congressman, could more accurately be described as CAIR and Hamas’ man in Congress. Congressman Ellison has been a regular presence at CAIR fundraisers and at pro-Hamas rallies in the United States. As a former member of Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, Ellison has enough anti-semitic and Islamist credentials to satisfy anyone, and had expressed openly anti-semitic beliefs in the past….

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But the call for Israel to open its borders is nothing more than a way of making it easier for terrorists to strike. Ellison’s letter buries its real agenda in paragraphs of prose about how everyone will be better off, except somehow Hamas, if Israel complies with their demand… that Israel ease the movement of people in and out of Gaza. This of course is a fancy way of saying, “Let my Suicide Bombers go”.

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…what Congressman Keith Ellison accomplished was to convince 53 other Democratic congressmen to join him in this venture….

Be sure to follow the links in the original article.

You may recognize these names:

The Full List of Congressmen who signed on to the letter, by State and District, and their current list of challengers in the upcoming elections

Arizona

* Raul Grijalva = AZ 7th Distict

California

* Lynn Woolsey – CA 6th District
* Lois Capps – CA 23rd District – Challenger John Davidson
* Sam Farr – CA 17th district
* Bob Filner – CA 51st district – challenger Nick Popaditch
* Barbara Lee – CA 9th District
* Loretta Sanchez – CA 47th District – challenger Van Tran
* Pete Stark – CA 13th District
* Michael Honda – CA 15th District
* Jackie Speier – CA 12th District
* Diane Watson – CA 33rd District
* George Miller – CA 7th District

Connecticut

* Jim Himes – 4th district – challenger Dan Debicella

Indiana

* Andre Carson – 7th district – challenger Carlos May and Marvin Bailey Scott

Iowa

* Bruce Braley – 1st district – challenger Rod Blum

Kentucky

* John Yarmuth – 3rd district – multiple challengers

Maryland

* Elijah Cummings – 7th district
* Donna Edwards – 4th district

Massachusetts

* Michael Capuano – 8th district
* William Delahunt – 10th district – multiple challengers
* Jim McGovern – 3rd district – challenger Marty Lamb
* John Tierney – 6th district – Challenger David Sukoff and Bill Hudak
* John Olver – 1st district – challenger Jeffrey Paul Donnelly
* Stephen Lynch – 9th district – challenger Vernon Harrison and Keith Lepor

Michigan

* John Conyers – 14th district
* John Dingell – 15th district
* Carolyn Kilpatrick – 13th district

Minnesota

* Keith Ellison – 5th district – challenger Barb Davis
* Betty McCollum – 4th district – challenger Ed Matthews
* James Oberstar – 8th district – multiple challengers

New Jersey

* Donald Payne – 10th district -
* Rush Holt – 12th district – challenger Mike Halfacre and Scott Sipprelle
* Bill Pascrell – 8th district – challenger Danielle Staub

New York

* Yvette Clarke – 11th district
* Maurice Hinchey – 22nd district – challenger George Philips
* Paul ‘taxin’ Tonko – 21st district – challenger Arthur Welser
* Eric Massa – 29th district – challenger Tom Reed (in a GOP district)

North Carolina

* David Price – 4th district – challengers George Hutchins, Lawson and Frank Roche

Ohio

* Mary Jo Kilroy – 15th district – challengers John Adams and Senator Stivers
* Marcy Kaptur – 9th district

Oregon

* Earl Blumenauer -3rd district
* Peter DeFazio – 4th district – challenger Sid Leiken

Pennsylvania

* Chaka Fattah – 2nd district
* Joe Sestak – 7th district – challenger Patrick Meehan and Dawn Steisland

Vermont

* Peter Welch – 1st district

Virginia

* Jim Moran – 8th district – challengers Matthew Berry , Mark Ellmore, J Patrick Murray

Washington

* Jim McDermott – 7th district
* Adam Smith – 9th district – challengers Dick Muri and James Postma
* Jay Inslee – 1st district – challenger James Watkins
* Brian Baird – 3rd district – challengers David Castillo, David Hedrick and Jon Russell

West Virginia

* Nick Rahall – 3rd district – challengers Lee Bias, Gary Gearheart and Conrad Lucas

Wisconsin

* Tammy Baldwin -2nd district – Tim Terenz
* Gwen Moore – 4th district – challenger Dan Sebring

Virginia

* Glenn Nye – 2nd district – challengers Ben Loyola, Ken Golden, Ed Maulbeck, Bert Misuzawa, Scott Rigell and Scott W Taylor

Feel better now?

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The POTU’s TOTU’s SOTU address was 70 minutes of campaign promises, Bush blaming and disparagement.

Bottom line?

He’s going to tell you what you want to hear and do what he damn well pleases and then when you complain, tell you again what you want to hear, all the while chastising you for not seeing his brilliance.

Now that’s a leader ~ not!

That’s a tin pot dictator.

Transcript here:

Text: Obama’s State of the Union Address

Let the spin begin!

Also, he never once thanked the Troops.

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The Republicans’ Response:

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Gives Republican Response to Obama

I’m damn glad he’s the Governor of my state.

Oh, and btw, he thanked the Troops.

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Different rules for different folks.

Remember the 3 Black Panthers standing outside one of the Philadelphia voting stations?

Wolf seeks Panther case dismissal probe

GOP legislator disappointed by IG’s ‘reluctance to investigate’

By Jerry Seper

A senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee asked the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General on Tuesday to investigate “potential improprieties” in the department’s dismissal of a civil complaint brought against the New Black Panther Party after its members disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the November 2008 elections.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia told Inspector General Glenn A. Fine in a letter he was “disappointed” in Mr. Fine’s “reluctance to investigate the unfounded dismissal of an important voter intimidation case,” adding that despite repeated requests for information by members of Congress, the press and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Justice Department “continues to stonewall all efforts to obtain information regarding the cases abrupt dismissal.

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According to Mr. Wolf, Mr. Shabazz recently issued a statement that said: “These right-wing white, red-faced, red-neck Republicans are attacking the hell out of the New Black Panther Party, and were organizing now to fight back … We gearing up for a showdown with this cracker … He keep talking — we going to Capitol Hill, were just gearing up right now, well go to Capitol Hill.”

Nice language.  Waiting for the outcry of racism…waiting.  Still waiting.

Do read the entire article.  Rep. Wolf has been trying to get to the bottom of this for months.

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And…regarding terrorists?

Come clean, Mr. Holder

“Whose side is the Justice Department on: America’s — or the terrorists’?

It’s just insane that a lawyer who defended Osama bin Laden’s driver and bodyguard — and who sought constitutional rights for terrorists — could be one of the Obama administration’s top legal officials.

But there’s Neal Katyal, occupying a top perch at the Justice Department as the principal deputy solicitor general.

Then there’s Jennifer Daskal — who just months ago was an anti-Guantanamo activist. Now she’s in Justice’s National Security Division — working on detainee issues…”

Exactly.

Neal Katyal

Jennifer Daskal

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Investigation into Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va.

By Steven Allen Adams on January 26, 2010 Nearly four years after the U.S. Department of Justice started an investigation into Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., that investigation is now closed.

The Washington Post reports:

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia had been overseeing an investigation of Mollohan, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, for steering roughly $250 million in line-item expenditures to several nonprofit organizations run by close friends, who also were real estate partners with him.

Mollohan’s office was notified this month that the investigation had been closed without criminal charges filed. Federal prosecutors declined to elaborate on what the investigation had found.

“We’re not going to get into any details, but I can confirm we’ve closed the investigation into Alan Mollohan,” Ben Friedman, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, said Monday evening.

Surprised? Didn’t you catch the “D” after his name?

But wait!  It’s not only those on the right who are a bit miffed at the DOJ:

Is the White House Pressuring DOJ to Delay Torture Report Until Health Care Bill Passes?

For an entirely different reason, of course.

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First Lady Announces Family Program Budget Boost

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2010 - “President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget request calls for a record $8.8 billion for military family support programs, First Lady Michelle Obama told military spouses today at Bolling Air Force Base here.

The request represents a 3 percent increase over current funding, she told attendees at the Joint Armed Forces Officers’ Wives Club annual luncheon…”

Oooh!   A three percent increase!

Gee.  Can you spare it??

How about paying our guys and gals in uniform what they should be paid in the first place?

Oh, that’s right.  You need more money for all those people not working at all.

Sorry, I forgot…

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UPDATE ~ from This Ain’t Hell

Smaller payraise for troops?

A few weeks ago I wrote that retired military checks got smaller this year compared to last year, despite the fact that our costs of living had risen - 2.7% the last six months of 2009 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Well, now it’s time for the active duty to shoulder their part of the White House budget, too, according to Stars & Stripes;

“The White House will propose a 1.4 percent military pay increase in 2011, which if approved would be the smallest since the start of all-volunteer military in 1973…”

Keep reading here.

Also go to this post:

Valerie Jarrett ruined my lunch

Maybe my Cynic is on to something….

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“a military working dog specially trained for tracking explosive ordinance and insurgents in Afghanistan. Scenes include a Soldier talking about the specialized training the dog has received and various views of the dog walking along a road with the military dog handler. Produced by Spc. Jennifer Dolsen”

Love those four footed heroes!

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