I saw this video at Assorted Babble of Susie and still can hardly believe it. My daughter is an Alabama alumni and so I have to have a certain amount of loyalty to the Crimson Tide – or pachyderms as my husband calls them.

But this is really over the top …..

Out of all the outrageous statements made by Nick Saban, now Alabama football coach, in the past, this latest tirade is definitely over the top and he should have been suspended on the spot. After a couple of days of planning a speech for a presser, it was not off the cuff or a slip of the tongue type of screw-up, he deliberating made the comparison of losing (a football game) with the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Pearl Harbor. Still no apology, only a statement sent out by a spokesman, Jeff Purinton trying to explain what was meant by it.

I am sure our veterans and soldiers would disagree with Saban’s analogies. Not only did he tick off Alabama fans, the players, but he managed to create a firestorm throughout the country angering everyone that heard it. The media went negative on him and rightfully so. This is not the first time either, that this self-absorbed, egotistical nut sounded off with something stupid.

Read more at Assorted Babble of Susie

It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. MoveOn.org continues its efforts to undermine the military by running ads making our military look like a bunch of pathetic morons who got tricked into having to go over to an ‘illegal war’. When they aren’t running those kinds of ads they are promoting our Soldiers as being heartless, sociopathic robots who kill, kill, kill.

This year they are asking for money to run their ad. They are asking for donations. The photo they are using is the one above. The thing is, they ran the very same photo of British Soldiers identifying them as American Soldiers two years ago. They don’t seem to realize it dilutes their point about Soldiers having to be in Iraq on Thanksgiving when they picture British Soldiers.

I thought that since they had taken the trouble to photoshop long pants on the Soldiers a couple of years ago that they must have realized their mistake and tried to make the Brits look like Americans. I thought they just didn’t realize that the uniforms have different camouflage patterns and that they must have thought just photoshopping on long pants took care of their mistake.

Well, now that I think about it – that must really be what they think since they are running the same photo again. They don’t even know what mistake they made two years ago. I guess they couldn’t find any photos of pitiful American Soldiers having to eat Thanksgiving dinner in foxholes or something so they just decided to recycle the same ol’ photo.

Since they care so much about our Soldiers I would think that they would at least learn to tell the difference between British, American and Australian. One would think.

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More at: Hot Air

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I know its completely pathetic but I just realized that I missed watching Survivor tonight!! That’s the only show I watch regularly and I completely forgot about it tonight. I didn’t think about it till I saw some google searches for ‘who got voted off Survivor tonight’ which brought them to my blog.

I’m completely bummed out now. I missed the show, I don’t know who got voted off AND apparently a lot of other people missed it because they are looking to see who got voted off.

I guess I’ll have to watch it on the Survivor website whenever they post it

I was reading some Thanksgiving posts earlier and was a little taken aback at the vile words written by some about Thanksgiving. It seems that some people view it as a ‘racist’ holiday! It seems that anything that is traditionally American is ‘racist’ anymore. That’s really very sad to me. I have a hard time understanding the need some people have to destroy every tradition in our culture and to rewrite history in order to make Americans of European descent out to be the bad guys in every single incident that ever happened in history.

It makes me mad that even our holidays have become rallying cries for controversy instead of celebrations of our heritage.

Of course, the pretend controversy has to do with the allegations that Thanksgiving is about the Pilgrims killing and destroying the culture of the American Natives. That is NOT what Thanksgiving is about. The Pilgrims had a good relationship with the Natives, for the most part and whatever parts weren’t good came from both sides. Major conflicts with the Natives didn’t start until much later in history.

In fact, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated with the Pilgrims and the American Natives TOGETHER. The Natives saved those first Pilgrims. Literally. They taught the Pilgrims how to use fish as fertilizer and how to plant corn in the hills. For this, they gave thanks WITH the Natives for God blessing them all with the bounty of this rich and fertile land. They gave thanks for the Natives who taught them how to work the land and shared the fruits of their labors in a feast together. After almost starving to death because of their lack of knowledge on how to work this land, they gave thanks for the realization that they would survive after all.

At the first Thanksgiving there were 50 remaining Pilgrims and something like 90 Wampanoag men. It was a joint Thanksgiving. It was a period of celebration that the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag enjoyed TOGETHER.

If you want to blame European-Americans, or Anglo-Americans or whatever we would be hyphenated as, for everything that has ever happened bad in your life then at least take the trouble to read a little history and try to grasp the complexities of the events in the context of the times in which these people lived.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who write those kinds of diatribes want all of us who had ancestors who came over on the Mayflower to just pack up our bags and move back to Europe. What then? My people came over here in the 1600s for the most part. I am an American. Rage against America all you want. It won’t change history and it won’t make you a happy person.

Thanksgiving is a celebration of and a period of gratitude for our mutual interests, our mutual dependence and our mutual blessings. Thanksgiving is about a part of history we did well. Its about a time when we worked together and survived together and celebrated life together. We are a diverse melting pot that has worked and is continuing to work. THAT is something worthy of Thanksgiving.

Okay – that said. HAPPY THANKSGIVING to ALL Americans regardless of how you might want to hyphenate your Americanism. As for me, I’m just an American. Period. Eat till you are stuffed like the turkey on your table and be thankful for the bounty our land affords us. Be grateful for all the blessings that we, as Americans of all backgrounds and ethnic heritages, have been granted.

Spc. Roger G. Ling
20 years old from Douglaston, New York
Company C, 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team
February 19, 2004

When Spc. Roger G. Ling’s Humvee was struck by a homemade bomb in October of 2003, he survived the attack and he worked to keep his superior officer, Lt. Matt Homa, alive. Spc. Ling was riding in the backseat of the Humvee when it was hit. It destroyed Lt. Homa’s door.

“It almost killed me. From what I’ve been told, Roger helped keep me awake until my medic arrived.” said Lt. Homa. “Ling was a good kid. You could count on him to do anything.”

Spc. Ling was killed, along with Second Lieutenant Jeffrey C. Graham of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, when their unit came under fire from insurgents in Khalidiyah, Iraq. Only two miles from where he’d survived the attack just four months earlier.

Leona Ling said she was grateful her brother came home in August of 2003 just before leaving for Iraq.

“He had to have his tonsils taken out,” she said. “It was a blessing in disguise because we got to see him again.”

In phone calls home, the soldier spoke wistfully of returning to New York and going to college. “He wanted to hear about what was going on at home and all the latest family gossip,” Leona Ling recalled.

Survivors include his father, Wai Ling, a U.S. Army veteran.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.

Pennsylvania Representative John The Saboteur™ Murtha still trying to surrender. I guess he’ll be trying to find a way to surrender right up until we completely defeat our enemies. As Butch, at 123Beta says, its one of the many reasons I despise the man. Butch said it better than that though.

Murtha is chairman of House Appropriations defense subcommittee and declares, “We can’t win militarily.”

How despicable is that??? Chairman of the House defense subcommittees for appropriations and he declares that the United States is INCAPABLE OF WINNING A WAR AGAINST A BUNCH OF INSURGENTS!!!!

House Democrats’ point man in the war-funding showdown with the White House today dismissed U.S. military gains in Iraq and vowed to tighten the purse strings until President Bush accepts a pullout plan.

So this disgrace to our country says he admits we are winning, but since he’s in charge of the purse strings he’s going to deny funding for our Soldiers.

This shouldn’t surprise us considering he was willing to hang some Marines out to dry and accuse them of murder just so he could get more national attention in his hopes of being named majority leader. As usual, everything he says and does is about him and how it will get him what he wants. Its not about what’s best for our country.

The dim view of U.S. military progress in Iraq and a resolve to force a pullout have been echoed by the two top Democrats on Capitol Hill – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

The funding standoff will force the Pentagon to make budget cuts at bases in the U.S. to cover the costs of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, including sending furlough notices to as many as 100,000 civilian employees, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

So, in order to further their own careers and cater to the lowest common denominator of their constituencies, they are willing to put people out of work, substantially weaken the United States military and further endanger our Troops! John Murtha has blood on his hands. He has the blood of our Troops and the Pendleton 8 Marines in particular on his hands.

Is this really what the people of Pennsylvania expect from their Representative? Is this how the people of Pennsylvania feel? Do they want a weaker America? Do they want an America that turns tail and runs from a bunch of hoodlums?

Does John Murtha REALLY represent the people of Pennsylvania?

Just out of curiosity. Does anyone know of any other time that Congress has threatened to cut funding to and reduce the size of our military during a time of war? Its almost unbelievable to me that they would play these kinds of games while our military is actively engaged in conflict.

More about John Murtha.

source

Yid with Lid says Murtha is dumb as toast.

The Hot Joints says that apparently Murtha hasn’t been able to find any Marines to accuse of murder today. John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, represent a trifecta of stupid.

Wake Up America offers some alternatives to Murtha.

And the political games heat up as pointed out at Hot Air and here.

More good posts on this: All American Blogger, California Conservative, Sword At-the-Ready, Murtha Must Go, Jammie Wearing Fool

From Southern Sass on Crime (who happens to be kin to the Commander). Jo, of Southern Sass on Crime is the sister-in-law of Army Brig. Gen. James C. Boozer and the aunt of a Soldier who will be a Sgt next month. She swiped the story and provided the photos from her family album. BTW, she mentions that Jim, Jr is single … just in case anyone is interested!

Story by Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press Service 16 Nov 2007 WASHINGTON – Success is possible in Iraq, a senior Army commander there said Nov. 15, based on progress he has seen since his recent return to the country.

Speaking to a group of Internet journalists and “bloggers” via telephone from Iraq, Army Brig. Gen. James C. Boozer Sr., deputy commander of Multi-national Division North, said he is “absolutely amazed” at improvements there since his return last month. This is his third tour in the country.

“This is a turning point. … I think in the next 12 or 15 months … that we’re going to make history. We’re going to allow the nation of Iraq to build itself,” Boozer said. “I believe that we can have success in Iraq, that it is possible.” Boozer said he has seen “an absolute certain increase in capacity” in the Iraqi security forces since a previous tour there in 2004 and 2005.

Four Iraqi army divisions with about 55,000 soldiers operate in the nearly 50,000-square-mile area Boozer is responsible for. About 80,000 Iraqi police operate there, along with 25,000 coalition forces. Boozer called the Iraqi security forces there some of the best he’s seen. For the most part, he said, they are conducting independent operations at a brigade combat team level.

“That is a large leap from what they were able to do back in 2004-2005,” he said. The commander said three elements are essential to continued progress in the region: Allowing provincial local governments the ability to dialogue with the central government; Transitioning Iraqi security forces so they can conduct independent operations; and Setting conditions for a stable economic environment so the economy can grow. “We’re doing nation building here,” he said. “We need to sustain and attain the security environment that we are currently enjoying.” Increased security has resulted in a decline in violence in the region, he said. Also, a groundswell of local citizens is coming forward to help secure neighborhoods and join the Iraqi security forces. “All of this is coming together at the right time and the right place, I think, where we can see success here in Iraq in the coming future,” Boozer said.

Some al-Qaida cells have migrated north after being driven out of Baghdad by military operations there. But, Boozer said, his forces are pinpointing those cells. “We believe that we have clearly disrupted al-Qaida here in MND North, and we will continue to sustain that pressure on them. We believe that that they are on their heels, that we’ve certainly knocked the breath out of them. But they can still conduct vicious attacks, … but they are isolated vicious attacks. They cannot bring together complex attacks like they could in the past,” Boozer said. Coalition forces also will continue working with the Iraqi army and police on their logistics abilities and sustainment capabilities, which are showing progress, as well, Boozer said.

James C. Boozer Jr., United States Army

Yeah, y’all are right – hollywood don’t have nuthin’ on The Sexiest Man Alive – We know who the REAL sexiest men alive are! HA!

The Thunder Run has a WONDERFUL story of a happy homecoming. She sweet talked the Patriot Guard Riders into giving them an escort from the Atlanta Airport … how cool is THAT!

All in all, everything went great… he seemed really blown away by the welcome home and all the support!!! It just seemed to me that he was really loving every minute of it… and that made me pretty darn happy!

I told him that 30 years from now, he’ll be telling his grandkids about his return from the war, how he was welcomed home…. which will be a far, far different story than many of the Patriot Guard Riders had to share with THEIR grandkids, when they came home from Another War in a jungle far away…when they came back to either silence or insults or indifference or out-right hatred. NEVER AGAIN. EVER!

Judging by the almost constant, ear-to-ear grin on his face the whole day, I’d have to say….
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!! Thank you, PGR!!!

Happy HAPPY Thanksgiving to you and your family and friends. I have happy tears in my eyes!

The Gallery Collection, a Corporate Holiday Cards Company, has teamed up with Soldier’s Angels to send cards to our Troops and to provide them with cards to send home. The Gallery Collection is the leading mail order publisher of premium quality personalized greeting cards. They have donated greeting cards that will be sent to each Soldier to say ‘THANK YOU!’ and to wish them Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. They also donated blank cards with envelopes so that the Troops can write home. The cards will be included in care packages sent by Soldiers’ Angels.

As you know, the Soldiers’ Angels do a variety of wonderful things for our Troops and military families. They are, indeed, angels for our Troops. I never talk to a Soldier, Marine, Airman or Sailor that isn’t familiar with the work of this wonderful group and consider them a real source of support and comfort.

I love to hear of instances in which corporate America participates in supporting our Troops. You can help by giving whatever support you can to Soldiers’ Angels. They really do good work. Also, drop by The Gallery Collection and say ‘Thank You’ to them for supporting our Troops. Take a look at their huge inventory of corporate greeting cards.

First Lieutenant Pete Hegseth, Executive Director of Vets for Freedom, went to see the hollywood film Redacted so that he would be able to speak on it. It seems he was one of about 10 people who actually paid to see American Soldiers slandered. The film actually grossed around $25,000 on its opening weekend.

As you might know, Redacted is a movie by Brian De Palma based on the story of a sociopathic soldier who went into the home of an Iraqi girl, raped her and killed her and her family. This was a terrible incident in the war that took a dominant place on the front pages of news media for a good long period when it happened. It was an isolated incident and the soldiers involved in this incident have been tried and convicted and are serving life sentences. De Palma has chosen to portray this incident – out of all the things that have happened in Iraq – as though behavior like this is the norm, rather than an isolated exception. In fact, I don’t know of a single other incident of this nature that has happened there.

De Palma makes no secret that his intent is to slander our Soldiers.

You would think that with an opening weekend as dismal as this movie has had would be a message to Hollywood. We know that the bottom line is money. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter to them that the people of our country don’t want to go see a movie that slanders our Troops and paints America as a big bully. The movie will go to CD and it will be distributed overseas. I’m sure that De Palma feels he will make his money from the overseas market that is more than willing to believe that our Soldiers are monsters.

This sort of movie that is distributed to our enemies and others overseas is directly responsible for the deaths of American Soldiers. It plants the seeds and then nurtures the myth that American Soldiers are heartless sociopaths who are on bloodthirsty rampages. This feeds into whatever justifications our enemies use in dehumanizing and killing our Soldiers. On top of that, they believe they have the blessings of hollywood, if not the American public to murder our Troops.

We obviously need to boycott these anti-American and anti-military movies. But it seems that it needs to go further. Perhaps boycotting movies made by these people regardless of their subject.

I still don’t understand what these people get out of portraying our military in the worst possible light. I don’t understand what they get out of portraying our country in such a horrible light. Do they think it makes them ‘cool’? Do they seriously think the world would be a better place if the United States fell? Who would send aid and Troops to help other countries that have had catastrophes or are in need if not for us?

Not only do we not convict people for treason anymore, but most of the time they are the most prosperous people because of the system they are trying to undermine. It defies reason.

I was a cheerleader in high school. Since I was the smallest one I always ended up on the top of whatever acrobatics we did. I was the one way up in the air that was supposed to do all sorts of flips and jumps and land gracefully on the ground. Coincidentally, I was also a gymnast for much the same reason. I had a squaty body that’s well suited for that sort of thing. I still have the squaty body, but I’m not so well suited for that sort of thing anymore!

The first time I injured myself was in the eight or ninth grade. I was on top of a pyramid of other girls, much like the photo to the left. We were practicing in the gym at my school. Our movements were synchronized so that we climbed up into that position while shouting out a cheer. It all culminated in the pyramid and then a dramatic flip – by me – that was supposed to end up with me going into a split immediately after I landed on the gym floor. We did it over and over again to get every thing lined up just right. At that age I had no fear and no understanding of ones body was just not made to do some things. I was as invincible as any other girl that age!

There was a very definite last time that I performed that particular feat. I remember it well even though its been a few years. Every thing went just fine right up to the point I landed on the gym floor and went into the split with my arms triumphantly in the air. Perfect poise, perfect flair, perfect smile. One problem, I did the split with the wrong leg in front and slightly out of kilter. Something tore and something hurt. BAD. It didn’t hit me till I tried to jump up and I couldn’t. Then the pain radiated through me like an electric shock. I started crying, the other girls gathered around me concerned, the coach ran over to see about me. It was all quite dramatic, as only a group of girls that age can make something.

Long story short, I had pulled a ligament in my leg. I got to hobble around on crutches for a while which is great fun for a ninth grader. I was told to not do anymore splits with that leg out front and it all was hunky dory. I healed up and went on and didn’t think that much of it again until I started getting, shall we say, a tad older. At some point, I don’t know exactly when, that leg started aching again. It took me a long time to associate that particular ache with the injury I’d had so many years before. I did finally realize that the ache was from that injury and it ached a lot more when there was moisture in the air. On top of that I developed arthritis. I was told I had arthritis when I was THIRTY!! Nobody has arthritis at thirty! Yes, my joints hurt. Yes, they hurt worse when it rained. Yes, I ached all over at times. I NEVER thought it was arthritis. I just thought it was life. It really upset me when the doctor told me I had that. At that point in my life I associated arthritis with old age and I was NOT old!