Wild Thing’s comment………
LOL Even though this is in another languge it still gets the point across. It is in French and is asking what will they tax next?
It is very funny but also close to being true. If Obama wins we all know how he wants to tax everyone.
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……Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion – 1st Aviation Brigade – Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
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Click HERE: SFGate Single Title Player Video
This is a really good video showing something few get to see about our Military Airevac.
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….Thank you Tom for sending this to me.
University of Illinois to release Obama records
WASHINGTON (AP)
The University of Illinois said Friday it is releasing records of Barack Obama’s service to a nonprofit organization linked to former 1960s radical William Ayers.
Supporters of John McCain have been trying to exploit the tie between Obama and Ayers, with a conservative group spending $2.8 million on an ad focusing on Ayers. Ayers’ Weatherman group took credit for bombings that included nonfatal blasts at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago.
The records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an organization that Obama chaired and that Ayers co-founded, will be made available to the public Tuesday, the University of Illinois at Chicago said in a statement.
On Monday, National Review magazine posted an online article saying the university had initially declared that the records were open to inspection but that the university subsequently reversed its position.
On Tuesday, the university said that there had been a misunderstanding about the status of the collection.
The unidentified donor of the records notified the university about the absence of a signed ownership agreement last week.
The donor’s only concerns regarding the collection are due to personal information that could include names, confidential salary information and even Social Security numbers, a university spokesman said at the time.
In its latest statement, the institution said that it now has legal authority to allow public access to the material.
In the 1990s, Ayers was instrumental in starting the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was awarded nearly $50 million by a foundation to help reform Chicago schools. Ayers is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Obama and Ayers have other ties.
Ayers held a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s. Ayers and Obama live in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
Ayers and Obama served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based charity that develops community groups to help the poor. Obama left the board in December 2002.
The new ad sponsored by American Issues Project says that Obama and Ayers served together “on a left-wing board. Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it? Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?”
One of the board members at American Issues Project, Ed Failor Jr., was a paid consultant for McCain’s campaign in Iowa last year.
In April, Obama said he “deplored” Ayers’ actions in the 1960s and that “by the time I met him, he is a professor of education at the University of Illinois. We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education.”
Wild Thing’s comment………..
Why the sudden change of heart…did they get a call from Clinton Inc.?
…The University of Illinois said Friday it is releasing records…
There is one word missing in this article though maybe on purpsose not sure…..the word missing — “all records”.
I wonder how many are missing, cleansed and redacted?
They better put an extra fire alarm in that university building over the weekend.
I did a search on Wikipedia on these folks last night and there were too many to easily count: Here is the list (links are to original article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_(organization)
This is what we know:
How many buildings did Bill Ayers and his wife try to blow up?
Chronology of events
18-22 June, 1969 – SDS National Convention held in Chicago, Illinois. Publication of “Weatherman” founding statement. Members seize control of SDS National Office.
We are talking about TRAITORS and TERRORISTS who banded together with our enemies in time of war:— Wild Thing side note here
July, 1969 – Members Bernardine Dohrn, Eleanor Raskin, Dianne Donghi, Peter Clapp, David Millstone and Diana Oughton travel to Cuba and meet representatives of the North Vietnamese and Cuban governments.
August 1969 – Weatherman member Linda Sue Evans travels to North Vietnam. Weatherman activists meet in Cleveland, Ohio, in preparation for “Days of Rage” protests scheduled for October, 1969 in Chicago.
4 September 1969 – Female members converge on South Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they run through the school shouting anti-war slogans and distributing literature promoting the “National Action.” The term “Pittsburgh 26” refers to the 26 women arrested in connection with this incident.
24 September 1969 – A group of members confront Chicago Police during a demonstration supporting the “National Action,” and protesting the commencement of the Chicago Eight trial stemming from the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
7 October 1969 – The Haymarket Police Statue in Chicago is bombed; The Weathermen later claim credit for the bombing in their book, Prairie Fire.
8 October-11, 1969 – The “Days of Rage” riots occur in Chicago, damaging a large amount of property. 287 Weatherman members are arrested, and some become fugitives when they fail to appear for trial in connection with their arrests.
November-December, 1969 – A small number of Weatherman members join the first contingent of the Venceremos Brigade (VB) that departs for Cuba to harvest sugar cane.
6 December 1969 – Bombing of several Chicago Police cars parked in a precinct parking lot at 3600 North Halsted Street, Chicago. The WUO claims responsibility in Prairie Fire, stating it is a protest of the fatal police shooting of Illinois Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark on 4 December 1969.
27 December-31, 1969 – The Weathermen hold a “War Council” in Flint, Michigan, where they finalize their plans to change into an underground organization that will commit strategic acts of sabotage against the government. Thereafter they are called the “Weather Underground Organization” (WUO).
February, 1970 – The WUO closes the SDS National Office in Chicago, concluding the major campus-based organization of the 1960s. The first contingent of the VB returns from Cuba and the second contingent departs. By mid-February the bulk of the leading WUO members go underground.
13 February 1970 – Several police vehicles of the Berkeley, California, Police Department are bombed in the police parking lot; 16 February 1970: A bomb is detonated at the Golden Gate Park branch of the San Francisco Police Department, killing one officer and injuring a number of other policemen. No organization claims credit for either bombing.
March, 1970 – Warrants are issued for several WUO members, who become federal fugitives when they fail to appear for trial in Chicago.
6 March 1970 – 34 sticks of dynamite are discovered in the 13th Police District of Detroit, Michigan. During February and early March, 1970, members of the WUO, led by Bill Ayers, are reported to be in Detroit, for the purpose of bombing a police facility.[citation needed]
6 March 1970 – WUO members Theodore Gold, Diana Oughton, and Terry Robbins are killed in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, when a nailbomb they were constructing detonates. The bomb was intended to be planted at a non-commissioned officer’s dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
30 March 1970 – Chicago Police discover a WUO “bomb factory” on Chicago’s north side. A subsequent discovery of a WUO “weapons cache” in a south side Chicago apartment several days later ends WUO activity in the city.
April, 1970 – The FBI arrests WUO members Linda Sue Evans and Dianne Donghi are arrested in New York.
2 April 1970 – A federal grand jury in Chicago returns a number of indictments charging WUO members with violation of federal anti-riot laws. Also, a number of additional federal warrants charging “unlawful flight to avoid prosecution” are returned in Chicago based on the failure of WUO members to appear for trial in local cases. (The Anti-riot Law charges were later dropped in January, 1974.)
10 May 1970 – The National Guard Association building in Washington, D.C. is bombed.[citation needed]
21 May 1970 – The WUO releases its “Declaration of a State of War” communique under Bernardine Dohrn’s name.
6 June 1970 – In a letter, the WUO claims credit for bombing of the San Francisco Hall of Justice, although no explosion has occurred. Months later, workmen locate an unexploded bomb.[citation needed]
9 June 1970 – The New York City Police headquarters is bombed by Jane Alpert and accomplices. The Weathermen state this is in response to “police repression.”[citation needed]
23 July 1970 – A federal grand jury in Detroit, Michigan, returns indictments against a number of underground WUO members and former WUO members charging violations of various explosives and firearms laws. (These indictments were later dropped in October, 1973.)
27 July 1970 – The United States Army base at The Presidio in San Francisco is bombed on the 11th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. [NYT, 7/27/70]
12 September 1970 – The WUO helps Dr. Timothy Leary escape from the California Men’s Colony prison.
8 October 1970 – Bombing of Marin County courthouse. WUO states this is in retaliation for the killings of Jonathan Jackson, William Christmas, and James McClain. [NYT, 8/10/70]
10 October 1970 – A Queens traffic-court building is bombed. WUO claims this is to express support for the New York prison riots. [NYT, 10/10/70, p. 12]
14 October 1970 – The Harvard Center for International Affairs is bombed. WUO claims this is to protest the war in Vietnam. [NYT, 10/14/70, p. 30]
December, 1970 – Fugitive WUO member Caroline Tanker, who fled the country for Cuba, is arrested by the FBI in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fugitive WUO member Judith Alice Clark is arrested by the FBI in New York.
1 March 1971 – The United States Capitol is bombed. WUO states this is to protest the invasion of Laos. President Richard M. Nixon denounces the bombing as a “shocking act of violence that will outrage all Americans.” [NYT, 3/2/71]
April, 1971 – FBI agents discover an abandoned WUO “bomb factory” in San Francisco, California.
29 August 1971 – Bombing of the Office of California Prisons, allegedly in retaliation for the killing of George Jackson. [LAT, 8/29/71]
17 September 1971 – The New York Department of Corrections in Albany, New York is bombed, as per the WUO to protest the killing of 29 inmates at Attica State Penitentiary. [NYT, 9/18/71]
15 October 1971 – The bombing of William Bundy’s office in the MIT research center. [NYT, 10/16/71]
19 May 1972 – Bombing of The Pentagon, “in retaliation for the U.S. bombing raid in Hanoi.” [NYT, 5/19/72]
18 May 1973 – The bombing of the 103rd Police Precinct in New York. WUO states this is in response to the killing of 10-year-old black youth Clifford Glover by police.
19 September 1973 – A WUO member is arrested by the FBI in New York. Released on bond, this member again submerges into the underground.
28 September 1973 – The ITT headquarters in New York and Rome, Italy are bombed. WUO states this is in response to ITT’s alleged role in the Chilean coup earlier that month. [NYT, 9/28/73]
6 March 1974 – Bombing of the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare offices in San Francisco. WUO states this is to protest alleged sterilization of poor women. In the accompanying communiqué, the Women’s Brigade argues for “the need for women to take control of daycare, healthcare, birth control and other aspects of women’s daily lives.”
31 May 1974 – The Office of the California Attorney General is bombed. WUO states this is in response to the killing of six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
17 June 1974 – Gulf Oil’s Pittsburgh headquarters is bombed. WUO states this is to protest the company’s actions in Angola, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
July, 1974 – The WUO releases the book Prairie Fire, in which they indicate the need for a unified Communist Party. They encourage the creation of study groups to discuss their ideology, and continue to stress the need for violent acts. The book also admits WUO responsibility of several actions from previous years. The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) arises from the teachings in this book and is organized by many former WUO members.
11 September 1974 – Bombing of Anaconda Corporation (part of the Rockefeller Corporation). WUO states this is in retribution for Anaconda’s alleged involvement in the Chilean coup the previous year.
29 January 1975 – Bombing of the State Department; WUO states this is in response to escalation in Vietnam. (AP. “State Department Rattled by Blast,” The Daily Times-News, January 29, 1975, p.1)
March, 1975 – The WUO releases its first edition of a new magazine entitled Osawatomie.
16 June 1975 – Weathermen bomb a Banco de Ponce (a Puerto Rican bank) in New York, WUO states this is in solidarity with striking Puerto Rican cement workers.
11 July-13, 1975 – The PFOC holds its first national convention during which time they go through the formality of creating a new organization.
September, 1975 – Bombing of the Kennecott Corporation; WUO states this is in retribution for Kennecott’s alleged involvement in the Chilean coup two years prior.[49]
October 20, 1981 – Brinks robbery in which Kathy Boudin and several members of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army stole over $1 million from a Brinks armored car at the Nanuet Mall, near Nyack, New York on October 20, 1981. The robbers were stopped by police later that day and engaged them in a shootout, killing two police officers and one Brinks guard as well as wounding several others.
This Ad above is running in VA and it is ticking off Obama’s team off big time. I had posted it this last Thursday and am putting it here again. heh heh
Tell Virginia TV stations this kind of garbage shouldn’t run on the public’s airwaves
Some stations are running a full-fledged attack ad from a right-wing group connected to John McCain that pulls in every baseless lie and re-hashed false assertion in the playbook to smear Barack Obama.
Contact Virginia TV stations and tell them not to let this trash pollute another election.
Our online tool will help you share your voice.
To begin, click Participate.
We’ll provide you with talking points on this potentially illegal hit ad to help guide you through the process.
This is the email that was sent out to supporters, I got it from Nicholas’s brother who is unfortunately a socialist and voting for Obama. AUGH!
Supporter —
Yesterday, a right-wing smear group launched a full-fledge attack against Barack, pulling in every baseless lie and re-hashed false assertion in their playbook.
Not only that — it turns out the ad may be illegal. Campaign finance experts are weighing in about violations of election law. And the ad is so ridiculous that CNN and even Fox News have both refused to run it.
This is exactly the kind of politics Barack is running to change.
Unfortunately, some TV stations in Virginia are running the ad right now.
Contact stations in Virginia and tell them this kind of garbage shouldn’t be run on the public’s airwaves — no matter how much money they are making to run it.
John McCain claims he had nothing to do with this attack, but a former McCain consultant leads the so called ‘third-party’ group behind these lies.
The primary funder of the ads, Harrold Simmons, is one of the main culprits behind the Swift Boating of John Kerry and a top bundler for John McCain. The spokesman for the group also has ties to the Kerry Swift Boat attacks.
The McCain camp and the Swift Boaters must be truly desperate to change the subject from John McCain’s shocking disconnect with the economic struggles of the American people.
Take action right now to make sure this trash doesn’t pollute another election:
http://va.barackobama.com/offtheairVA
Keep fighting the good fight,
Obama Action Wire
The Obama Action Wire is a grassroots rapid response group for supporters to fight smears, spread the truth, push back on misleading media, and take positive action.
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Wild Thing’s comment…………
What pray tell, was inaccurate about that ad? LOL It is all the truth. Obama just does not like the truth but he knows it is not a lie.
The Ad is igreat and there’s not one bit of exaggeration in the ad. Well known facts plainly stated.
LMAO I clicked on the link
Obama campaign have set up to conveniently send a message to multiple TV stations.
And it took me to this page where they have the statioins listed.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/speakout/offtheairVA?js=true
So what is a girl to do. heh heh I used their wonderfully efficient email system to send the stations a thank you for airing the ad.
My note to them:
I appreciate your running the ad on Ayers/Obama. I am disgusted by Obama’s relationship with known domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers. I’d heard about this but hadn’t seen it covered in such detail and I appreciate you running the ad. People need to know this kind of thing. Thank you for doing this public service. It helps increase my trust of the local TV media to not hide such things for political reasons.
Thank you
McCain’s staff quarantined after receiving threat letters: Officials
Canada.com
Staff members at two campaign offices for White House hopeful John McCain were quarantined Thursday after threatening letters containing a suspicious powder substance were received, officials said.
The first letter arrived at the Republican’s campaign headquarters in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. A second letter was later reported at a McCain office in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Both buildings were evacuated and staff members sent to medical facilities for treatment under quarantine while FBI and Secret Service agents joined hazardous materials experts at both scenes.
Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren told AFP that the envelope received in Centennial, a Denver suburb in the western state, “also contained a generic warning regarding the contents,” but gave no further details.
“McCain staffers reported that they had received an envelope containing white powder in McCain’s campaign office in Centennial,” Zahren said.
“The staff has been quarantined and the building has been evacuated.”
McCain spokesman Jeff Sadofky said that all campaign offices were put on the alert after the New Hampshire letter was found.
“We have put all of our offices on highest alert. They’re looking for anything suspicious and all staff has been quarantined as of right now,” he told Fox news.
“Immediately upon learning of this, federal and local law enforcement officials were notified,” Sadofky said.
“Staffs were immediately transported to a local hospital. Hazmat is on the scene and is looking for more information,” he added. “Our staff has evacuated as a precaution.”
Asked about the content of the letters, Sadofky said: “The best I can tell you is that the letters contained a threat to those who have read it. We have turned everything over to law enforcement.”
Fox television reported that between five and 25 staff and volunteers were at the McCain office in Centennial when the letter arrived in the mail, and that those people had been taken to hospital. It was unclear how many were in the New Hampshire office.
In Colorado, the Arapahoe County sheriff’s office said police and fire officials responded to a “a call of a suspicious package, containing an unknown powder, that was delivered,” to the headquarters.
“At this time the scene has been secured and several people who may have been exposed to the substance are being examined by medical personnel,” it said in a statement.
“The substance is being examined to determine if it is hazardous.”
A spokeswoman for McCain’s rival Barack Obama said they were unaware of any similar incidents at the Democrat’s offices.
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Is Crist threat letter linked to McCain’s?
Miami Herald
TALLAHASSEE, Florida
State investigators are trying to find out who sent a threatening letter to Republican Gov. Charlie Crist in an envelope filled with a white powdery substance, The Miami Herald has learned.
The powder was quickly tested and deemed nontoxic, said Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Heather Smith. She said FDLE is coordinating with federal authorities who are investigating the circumstances behind two threatening letters reported Thursday by presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign.
Smith said the letter sent to Crist directly threatened him. She suggested the perpetrator could soon be caught and called this an “isolated incident.”
The letter addressed to Crist was received Wednesday, but news of it didn’t leak out until McCain’s campaign reported similar letters. McCain and Crist are friends. McCain has been considering Crist as a vice-presidential candidate. Crist is scheduled to speak briefly at the Republican National Convention next month in Minneapolis.
The Crist letter was detected during a routine screening of Crist’s mail at a site away from the Capitol, Smith said.
”We believe significant progress has been made in the investigation,” Smith said. “We’ve worked aggressively on this. It appears to be isolated incident. We expect this will be resolved quickly, and when it does the information will be made public.”
And now there are three counting a letter sent to Joel Dykstra……
Threatening Letter Sent To Joel Dykstra
Sioux Falls, SD
ksfy.com
The incident happened at about 10:30 Tuesday morning. Staff members for Republican Joel Dykstra were opening mail in his U.S. senate campaign office when they came across an angry sounding letter with white powder.
“The message on the letter was very threatening. Very direct,” said Dykstra.
Dykstra was at DakotaFest in Mitchell but his staff called 911. Soon Hazmat crews were suiting up outside the strip mall on Minnesota Avenue to find out what the white powder was. A special machine indicated it was baby powder, but crews didn’t take any chances. Becky Otten’s business is right next door to Dykstra’s campaign office.
“The firemen did come in to let me know what was going on. We share the same heating and air conditioning system and stuff to make sure I was safe,” said Otten.
Becky was safe as was everyone else in the building. Dykstra says if there’s any silver lining, it’s that law enforcement and rescue crews knew how to handle the situation. Dykstra says as for his campaign, it’s back to business.
“We intend to carry on with activities of our campaign that we have been. And I believe we’ll do that without too much further interruption,” said Dykstra.
Even though that powder is believed to be baby powder, it’s being sent to SDSU for further testing.
Tuesday Police told KSFY it is possible to pull finger prints from an envelope but they’ll have to see if they can do that in this case.
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Wild Thing’s comment…………
There have been three letters containing white powder sent to Republicans in the last two days.
Why can’t we disagree with people without trying to harm/kill/threaten them? Sheesh! To anxswer myself, it started when idiots thought that violence “in the name of the proletariat” was cool (William Ayers et al.).
Obama’s fall from grace really has the ‘RATS riled up. I imagine we’re going to see more of this.
Obama: Russia, U.S. should not ‘charge into’ other countries
Reuters
LYNCHBURG, Virginia
Democrat Barack Obama scolded Russia again on Wednesday for invading another country’s sovereign territory while adding a new twist: the United States, he said, should set a better example on that front, too.
The Illinois senator’s opposition to the Iraq war, which his comment clearly referenced, is well known.
But this was the first time the Democratic presidential candidate has made a comparison between the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Russia’s recent military activity in Georgia.
“We’ve got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies,” Obama told a crowd of supporters in Virginia. “They can’t charge into other countries. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point.”
Wild Thing’s comment………….
Obama, you traitor go to hell. And people want this guy to be our President? Obama always kicks the U.S.A. at the end of everything he says….Good luck jackass in the election!
We cannot afford this amateur hour foreign policy when we are engaged all across the globe with potential threats!
Hey Muslim freak B. Hussein Obama, the Philippines, Midway Islands, France on June 6, 1944, etc. were sovereign territories of Imperial Japan. Normandy and Sicily were sovereign territories of the Third Reich. We should have left them alone, and avoided provoking their legitimate fascist rulers too? According to your way of thinking.
This below is so shocking to me!!!!
Eight days after the atrocities of September 11, 2001, Barack Obama wrote a piece for the Hyde Park Herald—and blamed the attacks on “a failure of empathy.”
“Even as I hope for some measure of peace and comfort to the bereaved families, I must also hope that we as a nation draw some measure of wisdom from this tragedy. Certain immediate lessons are clear, and we must act upon those lessons decisively. We need to step up security at our airports. We must reexamine the effectiveness of our intelligence networks. And we must be resolute in identifying the perpetrators of these heinous acts and dismantling their organizations of destruction.”
“We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.”
“We will have to make sure, despite our rage, that any U.S. military action takes into account the lives of innocent civilians abroad. We will have to be unwavering in opposing bigotry or discrimination directed against neighbors and friends of Middle Eastern descent. Finally, we will have to devote far more attention to the monumental task of raising the hopes and prospects of embittered children across the globe—children not just in the Middle East, but also in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and within our own shores.”
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Clips taken from the – Saddleback Forum. This is hilarious!!!
August 18, 2008
Miami Herald
Military.com
TAMPA, Fla.
Grayston L. Lynch, a hero of the anti-Castro movement for his leadership in the Bay of Pigs invasion, where fired the first shot of the battle, died at 85 on Aug. 10.
Lynch, a wounded combat veteran of World War II and Korea who suffered multiple health problems, was hospitalized for foot surgery when he had a heart attack at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, near his Tampa home, said Karen Lynch, his wife of 18 years.
In his 1998 book, Decision for Disaster: Betrayal at the Bay of Pigs, Lynch detailed his role as CIA case officer in charge of the April 16, 1961, operation.
He fired the first shot of the three-day assault — at a Jeep shining its headlights on Brigade 2506 frogmen landing at Playa Giron — then returned to his ship and shot down two Cuban fighter planes.
Despite the invasion’s disastrous failure, Lynch continued to direct clandestine assaults on the island from Miami until 1967.
His anger at the Kennedy administration’s decision to cancel air support never abated.
Janet Weininger, whose father, American pilot Thomas “Pete” Ray, died in the attack, recalls how decades later Lynch’s voice rose when he talked about the losses.
“You could tell he was emotional, and this was really coming from his heart,” she said.
His wife said Lynch attributed Fidel Castro’s longevity to the supernatural.
‘He’d laugh and say, ‘You can’t kill someone in league with the devil.’ ”
Lynch, a Catholic, was “very spiritual,” she said. “He prayed every day.”
A strapping six-foot-two Texan, Lynch looked every bit the role he chose after lying his way into the U.S. Army at 15: highly decorated career soldier and undercover agent.
He’s been the subject of several documentaries, and director Ron Howard optioned his book for Universal Studios.
“He was the John Wayne type, and you’d go to hell and back with him,” said Amado Cantillo, a Bay of Pigs frogman, now a Miami-Dade County Public Works pilot.
A fierce anti-communist, Lynch “inspired respect and attention. He motivated his men and led by example. Whenever there was a mission, he was there up front. He took care of his men and kept them informed.”
Lynch, whose mother died giving birth to him on June 14, 1923, was the son of an East Texas ranch hand and oil driller.
“He was meant to be a soldier,” Karen Lynch said, given that June 14 is both Flag Day and the 1775 birthday of the Army.
Lynch joined in 1938: the 5th Cavalry (Horse). He later landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day — where a hand grenade at his back peppered him with shrapnel. During the Battle of the Bulge, an exploding shell shattered his right leg.
He earned a political science degree from the University of Maryland and, after much surgery, he reenlisted for Korea, where he fought in the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge.
He served with the Special Forces in Laos and Panama before retiring from the military as a captain in 1960.
Lynch then joined the CIA and while recruiting for Brigade 2506, met Cantillo.
“He closed ranks with us,” Cantillo said. ‘He said, ‘You have to work hard if you want to save your country.’ ”
In time, Cantillo came to “love him like a father. . . . He taught me discipline. He taught me never to surrender.”
During the invasion, the two men went ashore together and before the fighting stopped, rescued 35 and buried four of their comrades — as well as one of Castro’s pilots.
A month later, a disillusioned Cantillo ‘was mopping floors at Mount Sinai Hospital, and there he was with the cowboy boots. He says, ‘Let’s go, man!’ He was in charge of [secret] missions to Cuba.”
In all, Lynch oversaw 2,126 missions, participating directly in 113.
“He was best man at my wedding in 1975, and we were supposed to go to Laos together” with the CIA, Cantillo said, “but they sent me to Africa for two years. After that, I was working with him locally and internationally.”
When Karen Hartley-Soben met him in 1987, Gray Lynch was retired from the agency and long divorced.
Twenty years his junior, she was involved in breeding racehorses and writing a spy novel. Already in failing health, Lynch was writing as well.
His book — and his life — became her cause.
Cantillo and Janet Weininger credit Karen with keeping him alive far longer than his poor health would have predicted.
“It took 10 years to pull the book out of him,” said Karen, who married Lynch in 1990. ‘He was so emotionally involved. He cried through the whole chapter ‘Rescue.’ ”
In his speeches, she said, “he never said anything about his exploits, but he talked about how bravely the men fought. He never had a note and could have you crying at the end. It would get to the soul of the people listening.”
In June, Lynch celebrated his birthday at the VA hospital. Karen brought a cake decorated with toy soldiers, tanks and American flags.
It would be his last birthday, he told Cantillo, who said, “Don’t talk like that!”
Cantillo and other South Florida Bay of Pigs veterans plan to attended a memorial service for Lynch on Aug. 30. It’s scheduled for 1 p.m. at the MacDill Air Force Base chapel in Tampa, where the Lynches were married.
The body will be cremated.
“We consider him a member of Brigade 2506,” Cantillo said. “I’m giving the widow a flag of the brigade.”
Wild Thing’s comment…………..
These Heroes walk among us and I am forever grateful.
….Thank you Tom for sending this article to me.
The Ad: Barack Obama knows a lot about housing problems. One of his biggest fundraisers helped him buy his million-dollar mansion. Purchasing part of the property he couldn’t afford. From Obama, Rezko got political favors including 14 million from taxpayers. Now, he’s a convicted felon, facing jail. That’s a housing problem.
Wild Thing’s comment………..
It also looks like Obama has a “glass jaw”. haha
Country music star John Rich in support of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Wild Thing’s comment………….
He did good, this is the knid of music that makes a person want to get up and dance. I am glad to see this after I read yesterday that Toby Keith is pulling for …………OBAMA.
GRRRRRRRRR
I wsas so disappointed to hear that.
….Thank you Cheryl for sending this to me.
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