Friday, December 17, 2004

F-16 Accidental School Shooting Blamed on Pilot Error

It turns out that the accidental straffing of a New Jersey elementary school by an Air National Guard F-16 we wrote about in early November was the result of pilot error. Major Roberto Balzano, was attempting to use the onboard laser targeting pod on a ground target at the Warren Grove Gunnery Range, but when he pressed the trigger, he forgot he'd left the air-to-ground machine gun mode turned on. Let's try to be a little more careful about selected modes next time, Major.

See: Pilot Error Blamed in N.J. School Shooting

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Sgt. Rafael Peralta, American Hero

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a former Mexican national who was granted citizenship after joining the military, was on a brief mission as platoon scout in Fallujah, Iraq. He came across a Marine first assult team, about to secure a suspected insurgent house. Not even assigned to the dangerous assault mission, Peralta volunteered his assistance. He was one of the first to enter the house and immediately was wounded in the face by a rifle shot near the front door. As Peralta and other Marines were seeking cover in the house, the enemy rolled a frag grenade into the room. As some of the Marines fled for their lives, trying to break their way through a locked door, Peralta cradled the grenade to minimize the injuries to his new friends. He was killed instantly, but Marines are certain he saved several other lives.

Peralta was 25 years old and assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr20041116-1544.html
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/17/br/br02p.html
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/20/ln/ln10p.html
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/18/ln/ln03p.html
http://www.starbulletin.com/2004/11/18/news
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20041121-9999-1m21peralta.html

Updated list of coalition deaths

Friday, November 12, 2004

Canadians and French Show Support for International Terrorists

As the civilized world quietly rejoiced this morning during the burial of Arafat--author of international terrorism, suicide bombings, plane hijackings, the slaughtering of Olympic athletes, and more--the flags of the once-great nations of Canada and France were hoisted high and unmolested in the chaotic scene of thousands of Palestinians at the burial site in Arafat's Ramallah compound in the West Bank. The time has long passed that we can rely on our neighbors and old allies to identify and fight evil. The number of countries on the side of Good is getting smaller by the day. Fence-sitters like France will have the same fate as their non-combative neutralities in WWII: complete domination by the forces of evil, right up until we arrive and save them. Again.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

F-16 Accidentally Strafes New Jersey School

An Air National Guard F-16 accidentally strafed the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School at around 11:00 pm on Nov. 3 with 25 rounds from its M-61A1 20mm cannon for which an F-16 typically carries 500 rounds. According to available information, the F-16 Fighting Falconpilot missed an intended target at a military firing range by some 3 1/2 miles! Coincindentally an ANG F-16 from a different squadron crashed in this very area in January, 2002.

In my hometown in SC, there was speculation that the then-open U.S. Air Force base in Myrtle Beach regularly ran A-10 attack simulations on my rural high school. An A-10 is significantly more deadly to ground targets than an F-16, but I don't recall any live-fire incidents in the area.

As sick as it sounds, there's something funny about an F-16 accidentally strafing a school on American soil. I don't think my disturbing chuckles are because New Jersey is a blue state. Is it?

Read the entire story.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Could Yasser Arafat be dying of Aids from homosexual relationships?

According to the latest buzz in the blogosphere, CIA, KGB, and former White House speechwriter David Frum ("Axis of Evil") in an article at National Review Online, Arafat has been living a secret life as a homosexual and is likely dying of AIDS-induced liver failure. Arafat's reported gay encounters first began with a teacher when he was a teenager and continued until very recently with bodyguards.

The evidence:

  • Low blood platelet count, pointing to weak immune system. Most causes other than HIV have been ruled out.
  • Considerable recent weight loss, very common in latter AIDS stages
  • Hopital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy, Arafat's hospital, is well-known for AIDS/HIV treatment
  • Possible recent dementia, an attribute common in late stages of AIDS
  • Evidence of kaposis sarcoma, a type of malignant tumor sometimes associated with homosexuals and AIDS


No doubt this would be one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Arab world. According to contemporary Islamic teaching, homosexuality is one of the worst acts under Allah. Whatever credibility Arafat has retained in the Arab world over the past 20 years, it will mostly be lost if this turns out to be true. Of course, if this information becomes public:

1) Palestinian and other Arab leadership will disregard it as slanderous myth spread by Israelis

2) They will claim that it's part of some elaborate Mossad assassination conspiracy (i.e. Israel gave him AIDS)

This whole situation has the traits of endless conspiracy theories since we will never be told the whole truth. It's in the best interest of insiders who do know the whole truth to keep in under wraps because of such historical implications. Frankly, your best bet for figuring out the truth is to read as many blogs as possible and draw your own conclusions.

Other Sources:
http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2004/10/arafat_watch.php
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Diplomacy/4348.htm
http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/11/110104arafat.htm
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41286


Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Bush is Smarter than Kerry

We've been hearing for years from the left about how dumb G.W. Bush is, commonly referring to him as "the chimp." Although always disregarded by Bush supporters, we have never been able to point to objective ratings to show that Bush isn't the buffoon they claim.

Finally, VDare.com has extensively studied the historical test scores of the two primary presidential candidates and extrapolated their IQ's:

Bush - 123
Kerry - 120

Read This Just In—Kerry's IQ Likely Lower than Bush's.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

The Washington Times Tells the Hidden Truth About Kerry's Tax Hike Plan

By Donald Lambro
The Washington Times

John Kerry promised in the second presidential debate not to raise taxes on people making less than $200,000 a year, but critics of his revenue-raising plan said yesterday that it would hit people who earn less and further complicate the income tax code.

One critic notes that the Democratic candidate's promised tax increases probably would fall on many of his supporters "who believe they are middle class."

Mr. Kerry's campaign Web site states that he would "restore [sic] the top two tax brackets to their levels under President Clinton," which were set at 39.6 percent and 36 percent respectively until President Bush cut all the marginal tax rates in 2001 — lowering the two highest to 35 percent and 33 percent.

The lower of these two top tax brackets applies to single people who earn at least $143,500 and married couples filing jointly who have a combined income of $174,700 or more. Thus, a two-earner married couple filing jointly, each making $87,350 a year, could be taxed under the higher tax rate that Mr. Kerry proposes if he applied it to the income brackets that are currently in the income tax schedule used by the Internal Revenue Service.

Read the rest of the story.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Possible Opening: U.S. President"Traitors Need Not Apply"

The BBC reports that Brazilian UN peacekeeper General Augusto Heleno said in a recent press conference that the recent upsurge in violence in Haiti can be directly attributed to John Kerry's comments earlier this year that as U.S. President, he would have sent American troops to protect corrupt former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Kerry's comments were in response to Bush's February decision to eliminate all U.S. support for the former president, including military aide. Heleno says that Kerry's possible U.S. presidency has given hope to Aristide supporters, who otherwise would have no reason to think Aristide may return.

Along with recently calling interim Iraqi president Allawi a liar and delusional, labeling the rest of the coalition "window dressing," and insulting Italian coalition troops fighting in Iraq -- saying that the Iraqi military was so bad that even the Italians could have defeated them -- John Kerry is demonstrating to America his idea of "diplomacy," an area in which he so regularly criticizes Bush as being incompetent. With the recent promise of the French and Germans that they would not be sending troops to Iraq regardless of who is or will be president, Kerry's claims of superior diplomatic talent are falling very, very flat.

Remember this is the same diplomacy giant that secretly met with North Vietnamese officials in Paris -- while the war was still going on -- then lobbied Congress for the terms the Communists gave him.

We need a president whose diplomatic efforts have American interests in mind, not those of our enemies. In other words:

Possible Opening: U.S. President
"Traitors Need Not Apply"

Friday, October 15, 2004

SixHertz's live blog of final debate

There are a lot of live debate blogs out there, but this one has to be the funniest. These guys are like the Mystery Science Theater of debates.

Check out SixHertz House of Pain

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Bush extends Electoral College lead: 291-228

According to Electoral-Vote.com, Bush has extended his lead over Kerry to 291-228. Only New Hampshire and New Jersey are too close to call.

BREAKING NEWS: John Kerry Calls the Debate Audience 'Losers'

One of the most remarkable things happened at the 2nd Presidential debate the other night. Our favorite elitist of them all called the entire live audience a bunch of losers. Did you catch it? I did. So did my wife. We were stunned. Even offended. And that's pretty hard for me. Even more amazing, none of the media is talking about it.

The scenario...

After being tossed a softball by an audience member asking Kerry to look into the camera and pledge not to raise taxes on everyone making under $200,000 (wow, where did that number come from!), Kerry babbled on and on about child-care credits, tuition credits, health care, the energy bill, etc.

Then after promising to raise taxes for everyone making over $200,000, Kerry said:

And looking around here, at this group here, I suspect there are only three people here who are going to be affected: the president, me, and, Charlie, I'm sorry, you too (FoxNews.com).

How typical a Kerryism. There are ultimately four ways to get rich: earn it, inherit it, steal it, and marry into it. Kerry falls into the last category. I suppose someone who's never worked a real job in his life, but sits in luxury after two marriages to extremely wealthy woman, is an expert at spotting those who are earning their wealth? Did John Kerry really think of that entire audience as incapable of success? How would he possibly know there were no rich folks in the room?

He didn't. You see, John Kerry and the Democrats have found a weakness in the American people: class warfare. The simple-minded thrive on the notion that the wealthy never earned their way, that the only reason that everyone isn't rich is because of some vast conspiracy by the rich to keep them down. Kerry and the Democrats play into that. And it earns them a lot of votes.

Think about it. Why would Kerry care what 1% of the country thinks? He doesn't need their votes. The other 99% is much more attractive. Simple statistics. Appeal to the largest demographics, and if you can create some sort of battle-bond among them and pit them against that other minority, you're bound to win.

Remember that Kerry doesn't need to appeal to all rich people to raise significant campaign funds. He only needs that small portion of the guilty, socialist rich -- people like George Soros, who can funnel hundreds of $millions into the political race through web sites, newspaper ads, and tv ads. One Soros is worth ten Ken Lays.

Is this the kind of president we want? A man who can't even conceive how common Americans could ever get rich? With his planned tax hikes, it's not surprising. How American is it to raise taxes only for the successful? Hasn't Kerry heard the old saying about taxing those activities you wish to discourage and not taxing those activities you wish to encourage? Kerry's tax plan is the parental equivalent of only giving a weekly allowance to a child that gets bad grades and doesn't do his chores.

The final debate is tonight. You better believe I'll be watching closely for more elitist screw-ups.

Bush takes Electoral College lead: 274-260

Electoral-Vote.com reports that Bush has just taken his first EC lead in several weeks. Even more important for Bush is his increasing number of strong EC votes.

Totals: Bush (274) - Kerry (260)
Strong: Bush (148) - Kerry (91)
Weak: Kerry (91) - Bush (70)
Barely: Kerry (74) - Bush (56)
Tied: 4

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Urban Legends: Bush Wants to Reinstate the Draft

Everywhere I look, I hear mention of this rumor about President Bush wanting to reinstate the draft. Liberal talk radio, forums, blogs, televised debates, pundit interviews. You name it, and chances are, this rumor has been repeated.

The National Annenberg Election Survey (NAES) reported recently that 51% of 18 to 29-year-olds believes this rumor, compared to only 8% of those thinking the same about Kerry, and 7% thinking both will! 1

Both Kerry and Bush have repeatedly denied any intention of bringing back a draft, most recently in the Oct. 8, 2004 debate at Washington Univ. in St. Louis. "I hear there's rumors on the Internets (sic) that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period...Now, forget all this talk about a draft. We're not going to have a draft so long as I am the president," remarked Bush during the debate. 2

How did we get to this point? A little history...

House of Representatives

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)On January 7, 2003, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) introduced H.R. 163, named "Universal National Service Act of 2003." Its official title was "To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes."

The cosponsors were all Democrats: Rep Neil Abercrombie (HI), Rep Corrine Brown (FL), Rep Donna Christensen (VI), Rep Wm. Lacy Clay (MO), Rep John Conyers (MI), Rep Elijah Cummings (MD), Rep Alcee Hastings (FL), Rep Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL), Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX), Rep John Lewis (GA), Rep Jim McDermott (WA), Rep James Moran (VA), Rep Pete Stark (CA), Rep Nydia Velazquez (NY), Rep Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) (withdrawn - 6/21/2004). The bill failed on October 5, 2004 by a vote of 402-2. The only representatives who voted for the bill to bring back the draft: Pete Stark (D-CA) and John Murtha (D-PA). 3

Senate

Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC)Also on January 7, 2003, Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) submitted S.89, comparably named "Universal National Service Act of 2003" and officially titled "A bill to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." The bill had no cosponsors. It's currently still awaiting approval in the Committee on Armed Services before it can be voted on in the Senate. 4

Both the Senate and House versions of the bill were introduced by Democrats, not because they wanted to reinstate the draft, but to make an anti-war statement. This is obviously a terrible use of taxpayer dollars. Senators and Representatives should never introduce bills with the intention of voting against them, just to make a political statement. This is juvenile and unprofessional. You are encouraged to send emails or letters to the Senator and Representatives mentioned to voice your disgust with such selfish, partisan, political tactics.

Email Hoax

The introduction of these two bogus bills triggered a slew of email hoaxes convincing people a draft was eminent. These emails were obviously intended to scare voters into opposing President Bush, going so far as to claim the fictitious draft was set to "begin as early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election" and the Bush Administration "is quietly trying to get these bills passed now." 5,6

This is, of course, false, but it doesn't stop gullible internet newbies from propagating a lie. You know the type. They've only found the internet in the past 5 years. They receive these email hoaxes all the time, but instead of deleting them like the rest of us, they read them carefully and believe them. These things look official. They're written like official news stories. They are formatted perfectly and have no editing or spelling errors. They even have references to some web links, most of which don't exist. But it doesn't matter. The lie is out there.

Even as recently as October 8, CNSNews.com reports that Democrat Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe is repeating this lie, "'I know it's controversial to say it, but don't think for one second that if George Bush gets re-elected and we have another conflict in some other theater of the world, we're going to have to reinstitute the draft.'" 7

An official response debunking the hoax can be found on the U.S. Selective Service System web site.

Sources
1 NAES 04 Press Release: October 8, 2004, National Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
2 Transcript & Video: Debate #2, FoxNews.com.
3 H.R. 163, Library of Congress.
4 S.89, Library of Congress.
5 Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (Draft Fear), Snopes.com.
6 Urban Legends and Folklore: Congress Is Planning to Reinstate the Military Draft, UrbanLegends.About.com.
7 McAuliffe to College Dems: Bush Will Reinstitute Draft, CNSNews.com.

Friday, October 08, 2004

Learning Math on TV

Nobody seems to have an answer to the question, "What TV show did John Edwards' father learn math from?" Considering Edwards' age, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC)this must have been somewhere between 1955-1962, several years before Sesame Street. Gumbi? Mr. Ed? How about some Howdy Doody reruns?

Let's see...
Learning Math on TV
Christmas in Cambodia
Boston Marathon
M16/Chinese Assault Rifle
Enemy Fire
"I've been consistent on the war since the beginning."
etc.

How many on-the-spot lies does that make for the Johns? I'm losing count.