Theodore's World

Governor Expresses Concerns on Economic Stimulus While in D.C.
Gov.State Alaska
Governor Sarah Palin this weekend met with business, economic and political leaders in the nation’s capital to discuss problems she sees for Alaska with the pending economic stimulus package in Congress.

“Alaska and other states need to be treated fairly,” Governor Palin said. “Much of the stimulus plan we’ve seen focuses on spending for government programs that would be a burden on states to continue funding, and doesn’t focus enough on spending that actually does put people back to work and stimulate the economy. Working with our D.C. staff, I took advantage of the opportunity to speak with Democrats and Republicans to voice my concerns. I appreciate their time and assistance in paying attention to our state.”

Governor Palin discussed troubling elements in the stimulus package including provisions that punish Alaska for forward-funding education, the mass transit funding formula that will limit Alaska opportunities but will pour money into other states, and the “shovel-ready” criteria for projects that northern climates might not be able to accommodate consistently due to the shortened construction season.
The governor continues to express concerns first identified in a Jan. 7 letter to the Alaska congressional delegation about the overall level of spending and the hugely increased deficit our nation is growing. Under the legislation, the U.S. would continue sending money to OPEC nations even as it continues to borrow and miss opportunities to develop domestic supplies of energy.

“Worst of all, the stimulus package rewards states for not planning when it comes to prioritizing for things like education, as Alaska has planned ahead by forward-funding 21 percent of our General Fund dollars for this very important priority,” said Palin. “It appears only those states that did not plan ahead with education will benefit. States like Alaska should not be punished for being responsible; yet that’s what the plan means for Alaska right now.”

The governor has asked the nation’s leaders to look at these issues to ensure fairness in the stimulus package and that the package does not harm the long-term fiscal health of the nation. Contrary to some news reports, she looks forward to continuing to work with Alaska’s congressional delegation to accomplish the state’s goals.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
I am so glad Sarah put this out for all to see. Several of the media outlets have been saying Sarah agreed with the stimulus bull. She was voted on and hired in Alaska to do a job and she has been doing a wonderful job. Alaska is her priority as it should be. Some in the media have also been saying she is thinking too small and only about Alaska. How stupid is that, she is the Gov. of Alaska and when she decides to run for a different office like maybe President then she will speak on bigger terms.
Sarah is concerned about the package, she is in no way in favor of it, just the opposite. She is for FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY and she is right. Why should people who are responsible have to be punished for those who are not. She is 100 percent right.

Bill creates detention camps in U.S. for ’emergencies’
Sweeping, undefined purpose raises worries about military police state
wnd
By Jerome R. Corsi
Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, D-Fla., has introduced to the House of Representatives a new bill, H.R. 645, calling for the secretary of homeland security to establish no fewer than six national emergency centers for corralling civilians on military installations.
The proposed bill, which has received little mainstream media attention, appears designed to create the type of detention center that those concerned about use of the military in domestic affairs fear could be used as concentration camps for political dissidents, such as occurred in Nazi Germany.
The bill also appears to expand the president’s emergency power, much as the executive order signed by President Bush on May 9, 2007, that – as WND reported – gave the president the authority to declare an emergency and take over the direction of all federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments without even consulting Congress.
DHS ( Dept. Homeland Security) has awarded a $385 million contract to Houston-based KBR, Halliburton’s former engineering and construction subsidiary, to build temporary detention centers on an “as-needed” basis in national emergency situations.

According to the text of the proposed bill, the purpose of the National Emergency Centers is “to provide temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster.”

Three additional purposes are specified in the text of the proposed legislation:

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CENTERS. (a) In General- In accordance with the requirements of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish not fewer than 6 national emergency centers on military installations. (b) Purpose of National Emergency Centers- The purpose of a national emergency center shall be to use existing infrastructure– (1) to provide temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster; (2) to provide centralized locations for the purposes of training and ensuring the coordination of Federal, State, and local first responders; (3) to provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations; and (4) to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security.

* To provide centralized locations for the purposes of training and ensuring the coordination of federal, state and local first responders;
* To provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response and recovery efforts of government, private, not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations;
* To meet other appropriate needs, as defined by the secretary of homeland security.
The broad specifications of the bill’s language, however, contribute to concern that the “national emergency” purpose could be utilized by the secretary of homeland security to include any kind of situation the government wants to contain or otherwise control.
Rep. Hastings created controversy during the 2008 presidential campaign with his provocative comments concerning Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention,” Hastings said, as reported by ABC News. “Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through.”

H.R. 645, which seeks to allocate $360 million for developing the emergency centers, has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and to the Committee on Armed Services.
Here is a LINK for the bill:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-645

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Alcee L. Hastings, D-Fla. is the disgraced former Federal Judge, removed for bribery, and elected in one of those fake Gerrymandered districts. He is also a typical socialist and totalitarian.Someone that would fit right in with Obama and his ilk.
One of the problems with this Bill is that it depends on who is in power. Someone like Ronald Reagan I would have no worries about it. I would know without a doubt that it would be used for true emergencies like Katrina etc. But with B. Hussein Obama in power and being in the minority now that causes me concern.
Like this part of the Bill:

(f) Cooperative Agreement for Joint Use of Existing Military Installations- If an existing military installation other than a closed military installation is designated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense shall enter into a cooperative agreement to provide for the establishment of the national emergency center.

OK now the way I read this please tell me if I am wrong or right about it. This provision will allow BO and the socialists in Congress to close military bases consequently removing them from the military authority and thereby weakening the military,ending free speech and creating a stronger centralized form of government.
Remember when Biden came out of a briefing and said Obama would have to make “unpopular” decisions, and Obama starts targeting Rush. They know where the opposition is. It’s not in Washington- it’s in the Bible Belt. We are their nightmare.
“Mexico is within inches of a total collapse. If this happens, as Michelle Malkin said today, Venezuela and other Communist countries may take control of our next door neighbor.”
Think about what is happening to Israel with its enemies across its border. They can try, but they would be making a big mistake. We’re not disarmed Russians.
Remember this………………Obama Civilian Security……..

….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67

Country singer-songwriter Stephen Cochran is a former Marine and a wounded veteran. His back was broken in an ambush while he was serving in Afghanistan . Now, with his music career on track, Cochran also works to promote programs that help to meet the needs of wounded veterans.

Stephen Cochran was a normal 19-year-old with a dream of making music his life when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks led him down an unplanned path to the Marine Corps.
Country singer-songwriter Stephen Cochran is a former Marine and a wounded veteran. His back was broken in an ambush while he was serving in Afghanistan in July 2004. Now, with his music career on track, Cochran also works to promote programs that help to meet the needs of wounded veterans.

“I dropped out of college. I walked away from a record deal,” he said. “I was engaged.”

He didn’t discuss his decision with his parents, or even his then-fiancée, who broke the engagement when he announced he’d enlisted. “It was really the first grown-up decision I’d ever made,” Cochran said.

The musician, born in Pikeville, Ky., grew up in Nashville’s songwriting and recording community. There, he learned the art of songwriting from his father. He made his musical debut on the radio at age 3 and had his first band by 15.
At 17, he was offered a record deal, but he and his parents agreed that he needed to go to college first. If this offer had been made now, they reasoned, there would be others after college.
While at Western Kentucky University, Cochran played lacrosse and continued to write songs and play music. True to his parents’ prediction, he was offered another record deal. But he wanted to finish school.
The company offered a promissory note, but then Sept. 11 happened.

“It was just so horrific,” he said. “It’s like I’d been called. I’d never been pulled so hard to do something.”

It may have been the audacity of the attacks, but more likely it was his family’s long history of military service that drew him to enlist, he said. Both grandfathers served, as did an uncle and several other relatives.

“I’ve always been raised very, very patriotic. It’s just what I had to do,” Cochran said of his decision to join the Marines.

It wasn’t long before he found himself in Kuwait with the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, waiting to cross into Iraq. He was 20.
Once the unit crossed the Kuwait-Iraq border, contact with the enemy was a daily ocurrence, Cochran said. When the unit’s tour was finished, the Marines had fought their way to Tikrit and back.

“We brought every man home with us,” he said. “They said we did 111 missions.”

But daily battle takes its toll. Cochran said he thinks every Marine in his section showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Four months later, however, the entire battalion volunteered to go to Afghanistan with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. They figured nothing could be worse than Iraq.
They were wrong.

“In Afghanistan, everything was just dead. There was no foliage. The people wouldn’t look you in the eye,” he said, adding that he and his buddies had learned that usually meant they had something to hide.

In fact, after several months of daily fighting in Afghanistan, the Marines began to wonder just how wrong they’d been about nothing being worse than the fighting in Iraq.

“Some of us came up with a theory that maybe we had been killed in Iraq and now we were in hell,” Cochran said with a chuckle that belied the seriousness of the thought.

That theory may have been conceived during a mission where the Marines were outnumbered more than 2 to 1 and he lost one of his best friends.

“It was a suicide mission,” Cochran said. “We 100 percent knew there was going to be a casualty on this mission. We knew it.”

The mission initially sent a five-man team into what Cochran described as very hostile territory. When 26 insurgents ambushed the team, another seven-man team responded. Despite killing 14 insurgents before the fight was over, they’d lost one Marine.

“If you wanted to pick one man to represent the entire military, it was him,” he said about the Marine. “We were all trying to figure out different ports we could get drunk in. He was trying to get us into Bible study.”

About a month later, on July 14, 2004, Cochran was on his last mission, working security for convoys carrying equipment back to Kandahar, when he was injured.
Just 20 yards inside Kandahar, the vehicle he was riding in hit an anti-tank mine. He was thrown from the vehicle and broke the five vertebrae in his lower back.
When he woke in the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., a month later, he discovered he was paralyzed from the waist down and most likely never would walk again.
The record company that had offered Cochran the deal dropped him, saying they couldn’t put $1 million dollars into a paraplegic.

“I understand. It’s a business,” he said. “[But] I never believed I was never going to walk again.”

The doctors at Bethesda weren’t so hopeful. Despite the fact that Cochran’s spinal cord was intact, the bone and cartilage were severely damaged and were pulling on his spinal cord. The doctors’ best suggestion was to fuse the bone together to alleviate the pain.
Another option surfaced, however. Though his doctors in Bethesda, who were just beginning to see the types of injuries that became typical with servicemembers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, were vehemently against the idea, his mother — and first sergeant — pushed for the procedure. They finally won.
Kyphoplasty, a procedure used to restore fractured vertebra, usually is reserved for older patients suffering from degeneration of the vertebrae and cartilage. However, six months after an orthopedic surgeon at Vanderbilt Medical Center used essentially 4 pounds of cement to fix the crushed vertebrae in Cochran’s back, he was up and walking with the help of a walker.
Today, he’s back on the country music scene and has a deal with Aria Records. His debut album, “Friday Night Fireside,” has received more than favorable reviews.
While music is his passion, Cochran said, he found room for a second passion after his recovery: working to make sure wounded veterans have what they need to recover and live the fullest life possible.

He does this is by working with the Independence Fund, a nonprofit organization that, among other things, provides robotic wheelchairs to veterans confined to wheelchairs. The high-tech chairs can walk stairs and give the veterans their height back, Cochran said.

“They can look everybody in the eye,” Cochran said. “That’s the biggest thing. When I was in a wheelchair … I had to look up at everybody. It was a big shock to your confidence. This raises them up to where they can have a conversation and look you in the eye.”

It has the same technology as the Segway personal transporter, so it won’t fall over, he added.
As amazing as that piece of technology is, Cochran said, bigger things are on the horizon and he’ll do everything he can to make sure veterans have access to them.

“My goal is that the bigger I get in music, the bigger my pulpit can get to preach on my soapbox … and really get more people involved,” he said. “There’s a lot of people in the music business who talk a lot. We just need them to get their checkbooks out now.”

What Cochran said he would really like, however, is for veterans to never have to worry about what comes next.

“I want to have a foundation that covers you from the time you enlist or from the time you’re commissioned until we put you in the ground,” he said. “There is no reason a man shooting a basketball should have to not worry about anything in life, and a man that is ready to take a bullet should.”

An interview where he gives credit to the Marine Corp for teaching him never to give up.

Singing a great song I had never heard before…….”When a Hero Falls”….

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Another examplle of the kind of person that serves our country, and the kind of man that the left will never understand in a billion years.

Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid: taxes are voluntary in America
This man is a U.S. SENATOR… In fact he is the Majority Leader! This has got to be seen and heard to be believed!

Wild Thing’s comment……..
The tax system is about as “voluntary” as pulling over to the side of the road when you see flashing blue and red lights in your rearview mirror.
Between this video and the one I posted awhile back where Harry Reid said ” coal is evil”. How the heck do people keep voting for this total idiot.

……Thank you SSGT Steve
SSGT Steve Gaston, USMC
Big D Detachment

Daschle Received $220G From Health Care Groups With Vested Interest
FOX News
Tom Daschle, the former South Dakota senator picked by President Obama to preside over the nation’s healthcare system, received $220,000 in speaking fees from health care groups with an interest in the work he would do once confirmed as health chief, Politico.com reported Saturday.
Daschle, who has come under fire in recent days for his failure to pay taxes, reportedly received thousands from health care groups — such as the Health Industry Distributors Association — that stand to gain or lose depending on the outcome of Obama’s universal health care initiative.
The Health Industry Associated paid Daschle a speaking fee of $14,000 in March 2008, according to Politico.com.
The speaking fees were detailed in a financial disclosure statement released Friday after it was revealed that Daschle — Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services — failed to pay $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest.

The White House acknowledged Friday that Daschle had “some tax issues,” which, the administration says, have been resolved and should not bar his confirmation as secretary.

FOX News confirmed that Daschle alerted the Senate Finance Committee, which is set to oversee his confirmation hearing, that the matter involves more than $100,000 in back taxes and interest for a car and driver that was provided to him for four years by Leo Hindery, a wealthy Democratic donor, longtime friend and business associate of Daschle.
Daschle incorrectly assumed the use of the car and driver was not subject to taxation. But the White House says he discovered the error during preparation for his confirmation and filed amended tax returns with the proper payment and interest.
The unreported income for the car service totaled more than $250,000 over three years.

Wild Thing’s comment…
What an EXAMPLE they are setting for TAX CHEATING!!
The Chicago and Clinton Machines have made the peace like the Tartaglia and Corleone Families in The Godfather, for the purpose of making as much money as possible. Let the mega-thievery begin!
It’s funny how everyone that Obama nominates with financial problems is the right person for the job, except minority Hispanic nominee Bill Richardson.
How it works when thes Democrats have to pay their taxes……
Get the democrat “Form 1040dem.” You fill it out in crayon and then toss it in the trash. If you’re tapped for a high level position in DC, you then fill out Form OOOPS. And after that everything’s all right for you.

….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67

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February 11th ( 1964) is Sarah Palin’s birthday.
If you would like to send Sarah a card you can send your cards to:
Alaska State Capitol Building
Third Floor
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau , AK 99811-0001

Let’s see if I have this right. Barack Obama has been President for just a few days and his first
three major actions were to:
1. Order the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay to protect the
civil rights of foreign terrorist suspects.
2. Order the shutting down of all “secret jails” in other countries where the worst
of the terrorists are taken to be interrogated about future plans to attack us.
This was done to protect the civil rights of foreign terrorist suspects.
3. Order the cessation of any “harsh” interrogation techniques of captured terrorists,
including those that have been most successful at getting information that is
known to have prevented attacks on Americans. This was done to protect the civil
rights of foreign terrorist suspects.
I guess I was wrong in assuming that we had just elected a “President of the United States”. It definitely seems that there is another group whose interests have a much higher priority to this administration than the people of the United States.
Michael Connelly
U.S. Army Veteran

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Excellent! I think a child could understand how wrong this is more then Obama does.

….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67

Defense Official: Obama Calling for Defense Budget Cuts
FOX News
The Obama administration has asked the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon’s budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent — about $55 billion — a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News.
Last year’s defense budget was $512 billion. Service chiefs and planners will be spending the weekend “burning the midnight oil” looking at ways to cut the budget — looking especially at weapons programs, the defense official said.
Some overall budget figures are expected to be announced Monday.
Obama met Friday at the White House with a small group of military advisers, including Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman, and Gen. Jim Jones, National Security Council chairman.

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Wild Thing’s comment………
So much for the latest and greatest body armor, armored vehicles or what is pertinent to the needs of our military. The left never has had the troops interests at heart . Even if it is a war that are all for. They just think somehow our troops will BYOG (bring your own gun) to the fight.
Clinton made a ton of cut backs in our military and that is one of the reasons President Bush had to spend money to make sure our troops had what they needed. And then Harry Reid, Pelosi, Murtha ( traitors all) no other word for it they bitched about the cost of the war. Yep Obama will will do what Clinton did, stop making new arms, stop developing new technology and he will pull our troops out of all battle zones and hand them over to the UN or use them for “The good of humanity”, like building roads, bridges, hospitals, etc,, in Africa, and other poor countries.
Oh, and Michelle will have them waiting on tables at White House dinners and serving the President and his family, like Hillary did.
I have posted before how Obama has said he wants to increase troop level in Afghanistan . But what are they going to shoot with ….spitballs? Remember Zell Miller and what he said in his his keynote convention speech, delivered September 2004 at the GOP convention, when he criticized John Kerry’s Senate voting record, claiming that Kerry’s votes against bills for defense and weapon systems indicated support for weakening U.S. military strength.

“The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40 percent of the bombs in the first six months of Enduring Freedom. The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hussein’s command post in Iraq. The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot down Khadafi’s Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora. The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican Guard tanks in Kuwait in the Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation’s Capital and this very city after 9/11. I could go on and on and on: against the Patriot Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein’s scud missiles over Israel; against the Aegis air-defense cruiser; against the Strategic Defense Initiative; against the Trident missile; against, against, against. This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?”

….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67

Super Bowl XLIII will be played at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. This will be the fourth time that Tampa has hosted a Super Bowl, and the second time for the Raymond James Stadium.
Troops in Iraq allowed beer for Super Bowl
Air Force Times
BAGHDAD
American troops in Iraq will be allowed to drink beer without fear of court-martial for this year’s Super Bowl — an exception to a strict military ban on drinking alcohol in combat zones.
In what is sure to be a major morale boost, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, issued a waiver Wednesday paving the way for troops to participate in the popular American football tradition.

Super Bowl XLIII will kick off on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla., but it will be 2 a.m. in Baghdad when the live broadcast starts. Troops will gather in dining halls on military bases nationwide to watch the game.

A copy of the waiver said the consumption of alcoholic beverages will be limited to Feb. 1-2, and service members can only have two, 12-ounce beers each.
Odierno also appeared to acknowledge the sensitivity of drinking alcohol in an Islamic country, particularly considering the game falls during a holy period for Iraq’s majority Shiite Muslims.
The waiver orders commanders to “keep in mind all host nation laws and customs regarding alcohol consumption” and “to exercise discretion and good judgment in enforcing these guidelines and restrictions.”
U.S. troops have been banned from drinking, possessing or selling alcoholic beverages under a general order that also bans them from possessing pornography and other activities. They can face a reduction in pay or rank or even a court-martial if they violate the rule.
The Washington Post reported that several service members said the only other time the ban was lifted was in 2005, for troops operating under the Baghdad command.
Drinking alcohol isn’t illegal in Iraq but is banned under Islam, and extremists have frequently targeted liquor stores.

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Deployed Troops to Watch Super Bowl From Forward Operating Base Tillman
As deployed U.S. troops pull up to their TV screens this weekend to watch the Arizona Cardinals take on the Pittsburgh Steelers during Super Bowl XLIII, there’s likely to be a special sense of commemoration at Forward Operating Base Tillman in Afghanistan.
The remote base in Afghanistan’s Paktia province is named in memory of Army Sgt. Pat Tillman. Tillman was a three-year starter for the Cardinals, but left the team before the 2002 season to join the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He became an Army Ranger and deployed to Afghanistan, where he was killed during a highly publicized friendly-fire incident in April 2004.

Only two of the Cardinals headed for Tampa for the Super Bowl were Tillman’s teammates. But Adrian Wilson, a rookie during Tillman’s final season, told the New York Daily News Tillman’s memory lives on. “He’s not a forgotten man,” he said. “He’s an inspiration for the whole organization.”

The Pat Tillman Memorial erected near the stadium includes an 8-foot-tall, 500-pound white bronze sculpture of Tillman and a circular reflection pond on the Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza that surrounds the stadium.
These troops, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry “White Currahees” Regiment, serve as a trip wire to Taliban infiltrators attempting to cross the Pakistan border, less than two miles to the east.
Army Maj. Jason Westbrock, the unit’s executive officer, said he expects many of his soldiers to watch the Super Bowl, which will be broadcast live on American Forces Network. AFN Afghanistan is coordinating with the Pentagon Channel to produce a video tribute to Tillman, and hopes to air it during the game.

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National Football League, Military Continue Super Bowl Traditions
From fighter jet flyovers to military performances at halftime shows, the National Football League and U.S. military have shared more than 40 years of Super Bowl history.
The tradition continues on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla., during Super Bowl XLIII, with Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, performing the ceremonial coin toss for the Arizona Cardinals’ and Pittsburgh Steelers’ team captains.

“It is a privilege to represent our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen in the coin-toss ceremony,” Petraeus told American Forces Press Service today in an e-mail. “And it is an honor to thank the NFL commissioner and the teams and players for all that they have done in recent years to recognize the service of our troopers and their families.”

The Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration squadron is set for a pregame flyover, and an all-service U.S. Special Operations Command color guard is planned to present the nation’s colors during the game’s national anthem.
Air Force Tech Sgt. Holly Bracken will be on the field in the color guard formation, presenting the Air Force colors. She’s privileged to represent her service and the military, she said, adding that it just wouldn’t be a Super Bowl without military support.

“It’s such an honor to go there and present the colors,” said Bracken, who grew up near Pittsburgh rooting for the Steelers. “You can’t have the presentation of the colors without [military] representation.”

The NFL-military Super Bowl partnership stems from the first Air Force flyover in 1968 over Miami’s Orange Bowl for Super Bowl II. Ever since, flyovers have become a staple of the Super Bowl, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, citing military flyovers as “an unbelievable experience” to watch from the football field.
Since then, the military has supported flyovers for nearly every Super Bowl, he said. Also, military choirs have performed the pregame national anthem twice, with the U.S. Air Force Academy Chorale singing for Super Bowl VI in 1972, and a combined chorus from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy singing for Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005.
The Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon performed at halftime for Super Bowl VI in 1972, and the U.S. Air Force Band did the same in 1985 for Super Bowl XIX.
The military even has taken on its normal role as peacekeeper and protector for past Super Bowls, with the Florida Army National Guard taking part in security efforts in 2005 and 2007 along with other federal and state agencies.

“The NFL has had a longstanding tradition of supporting the military,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told American Forces Press Service during a phone interview. “We have a great appreciation for what the military does and feel honored to include the military in the Super Bowl.”

Throughout the years, the Super Bowl has become one of the most highly rated televised events of the year. This year, Super Bowl XLIII will be broadcast to more than 230 countries to a potential worldwide audience of more than 1 billion viewers, including military members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
McCarthy said the NFL is working with NBC, which has the broadcast rights for Super Bowl XLIII, to coordinate a “look-in” from some of those military members serving abroad. A live satellite feed will show military football fans watching the big game from a military post in the Middle East, he explained.

“The NFL feels that the 70,000 fans attending the Super Bowl this year should be cheering louder for the military than the two teams playing,” he said. “It is, indeed, very important for the NFL to look for every opportunity to support the troops.”

Mr. Jim Freeland, corporate chef, principal for Lou Malnati’s, signs a wall-sized troop greeting card at Lou Malnati’s corporate office in Chicago, Ill., Jan. 23, before shipping two crates of Schlitz beer and a truck-load of pizza to Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan for Super Bowl XLIII.

Cardinals Cheerleaders Make Whirlwind Preparations for Biggest Audience Yet
FOX news
The Arizona Cardinals cheerleaders have prepared dance routines to five new songs, adjusted their beauty regimen to a humid climate and traveled to Florida for their biggest game yet, Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa on Sunday, the Arizona Republic reports.
The 28-member team, made up of women who work as engineers, mothers, teachers and students off the field, toured Raymond James Stadium on Friday to see where they would be performing.
Team captain Marcie (whose last name the Cardinals will not release for security purposes), an electrical engineer, told the Arizona Republic that the whole team is thrilled to be part of the Cardinals’ first trip to the Super Bowl.
“It’s almost overwhelming,” she told the Republic. “We’re just so proud to be part of this.”
The team had only two weeks to adapt their best routines to songs chosen by the NFL such as No Doubt’s “Hey Baby” and the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.”

Wild Thing’s comment…….
The Steelers don’t have cheerleaders, I think all the teams should have them. It makes it nice and also they do a lot for our troops and many of them make tours to visit the troops at Bases here at home and also where the troops are deployed.

….Thank you Darth for sending the article to me.
Darth
U.S. Airforce
C-5 loadmaster
84-97