Wild Thing’s comment……..
These people are alive and wonderful Tony Snow has passed away. I wish it was the other way around. They are so horrible it is impossible to even describe them to someone that never heard of them before, it is just so vile.
Tony, We’re Proud We Knew Ye
You’re on the road to eternity, huroo, huroo,
Your spirit’s flown your soul is free, huroo, huroo,
With wringin’ hands and tearful eyes,
We pray you hear our mournful cries,
And we all feel so sad today,
But, Tony, we’re proud we knew Ye.
Where is that voice so smilin’ mild, huroo, huroo,
That drove the White House press so wild, huroo, huroo,
Where are those eyes that sparklin’ smiled
With which our hearts Ye so beguiled,
Oh darlin’ boy you made our day,
Ah, Tony, we’re glad we knew Ye.
We’ll miss that spirit that loved the run, huroo, huroo,
That flashin’ smile for everyone, huroo, huroo,
That mike Ye wielded like a gun,
But never wounding anyone,
Oh your sparklin’ spirits flown away,
Sweet Tony we’re goin’ to miss Ye.
We’re sad young lad to see Ye gone, huroo, huroo,
But glad your sad ordeal is done, huroo, huroo,
With sorrowed hearts we accept you’re gone,
But know your goodness still lives on,
Oh, Tony Snow, we must let go,
But, Lord, we were blessed we knew Ye.
Russ Vaughn
Vietnam 65-66
Author’s note: I am so saddened that we have lost this bright spirit, this so very talented young man. I do not know if Tony Snow is of Irish extraction, but his origins are in Kentucky which was mainly settled by the Scots-Irish, of which I am one with my American roots in that region as well. For that reason, I chose to make my tribute to Tony a derivation of the old Irish song, “Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye.”
The music for the American version of this ballad, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, can be found here.
Listening to it as you read my words may help you better appreciate this tribute. It is a simple tune and these are but simple words, so it is easy to sing them. I think Tony would like that, hearing all us singing him off on his eternal journey.
….Thank you Russ so much for this poem you wrote and your notes along with it as well.
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The US brewer Anheuser-Busch has agreed to be taken over by Belgium-based InBev, in a move that will create the world’s largest beer maker.
BBC
The $50bn (£25bn) takeover bid by InBev, which makes Stella Artois beer, was accepted by Anheuser’s board.
The combined company will now be called Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Anheuser makes Budweiser – the most popular beer in the US – and some US politicians had expressed anger at the prospect of a foreign takeover.
‘Unrivalled brands’
In a concession to political concerns about the deal, Budweiser’s headquarters will remain in St Louis, Missouri while none of Anheuser’s US breweries will be closed.
It will bring a host of popular brands including Beck’s, Hoegaarden and Staropramen – in addition to Budweiser and Stella – under one roof.
InBev, itself formed by a giant merger several years ago, described the deal as “historic”.
“Together, Anheuser-Busch and InBev will be able to accomplish much more than each can on its own,” said InBev boss Carlos Brito, who will become chief executive of the new firm.
“This combination will create a stronger, more competitive global company with an unrivalled worldwide brand portfolio and distribution network, with great potential for growth all over the world.”
Anheuser boss August Busch said the transaction would “enhance global market access for Budweiser, one of America’s truly iconic brands”.
Job concerns
There are widespread fears that the deal will lead to substantial job losses in the US Midwest at a time while the threat of recession is hanging over the economy.
The two firms have said the deal will generate annual savings of $1.5bn but have suggested that job losses will be kept to a minimum because there is little current overlap between the two businesses.
Anheuser currently controls nearly half of the US market, while InBev is strong in Western European and Latin American markets. Anheuser also owns stakes in Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo and Chinese brewer Tsingtao.
The deal should give Budweiser a platform to boost its growth in Europe where, apart from a number of markets like the UK, it has been relatively weak.
The beer market has been rapidly consolidating in the face of cost pressures and declining sales in many mature markets.
Scottish & Newcastle, the UK’s largest brewer, was recently bought out by Heineken and Carlsberg
Wild Thing’s comment…….
I was wondering if INBEV associated with Cuba and I saw this from Reuters:
“InBev, through a subsidiary, has a partnership with the government of Cuba to produce and distribute products in Cuba, Anheuser-Busch said.”
….Thank you Cheryl for the article.
U.S. Teens Released From Pakistani Madrassa, Flying Home to Atlanta
Fox News
Two American teenage boys, allegedly kept against their will at a radical Islamic madrassa in Pakistan, have been released and are on their way back to the United States.
The boys’ release followed an appeal by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul and Democratic Reps. Gene Green and Henry Cuellar. The Texas congressmen had called on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to intervene.
Noor Elahi Khan, 17, and Mahboob Elahi Khan, 16, are from the Atlanta area. Noor and Mahboob were born in the United States to Pakistani parents and lived in this country until being sent to Karachi several years ago by their father, an Atlanta taxi diver.
A family member said that the boys were sent to the Binoria Institute to learn to memorize the Koran, which the family believed would enable the entire clan to gain entry to heaven. A source told FOX News that the family wanted the boys back but were afraid to speak out because of potential religious and political repercussions.
FOX News learned Thursday that the boys were released and are scheduled for an afternoon landing at the airport in Atlanta.
The boys’ story became known after documentary filmmaker Imran Raza went to the madrassa and filmed the boys’ alleged radicalization.
Raza fears that despite these two boys’ release, dozens or even hundreds more U.S. citizens might be going through similar ordeals.
“This pipeline to jihad must be closed,” Raza said Thursday in a written statement.
The three congressmen brought the issue up with Musharraf during a trip last week to Pakistan to discuss military affairs. Musharraf told the congressional delegation that he has been trying to close this particular madrassa, according to Green.
McCaul told FOX News that Pakistan has 20,000 madrassas, and he knows of at least 80 Americans studying in them.
The director of the documentary who found them says “I am grateful for the safe return of the two American children from Atlanta from a Taliban-backed madrassa but the mullah claims to have up to 78 more in his institution. The headmaster comes to the United States once a year and personally recruits American children to enroll in his madrassa. This pipeline to jihad must be closed. Let me be clear – these children do not learn math, or science, or grammer or liberal arts. They learn one thing – they memorize over the course of seven years every verse of the Koran coupled with the radical interpretation of their teachers. This is just the first step in integrating these children back to American society. I am proud we did our part so we could say ‘Welcome Home.” It is imperative that Members of Congress and the State Department undertake an accounting of just how many Americans are in the other 20,000 madrassas in Pakistan. Hundreds if not thousands remain behind.”
The Karachi Kids is a documentary about American children in the Jamia Binoria madrassa in Karachi Pakistan. A trailer of the film is available at www.karachikids.com. Facts About the Madrassa • Located in Karachi, Pakistan, the Jamia Binoria madrassa was founded by Mufti Muhammed Naeem and espouses Deobandism — the religion of the Taliban. • The institution houses over 3,000 students including children from the United States and Canada. • Selig Harrison, the Director of the Asian Program for the Center for International Policy recently gave a speech reaffirming the link between the Jamia Binoria and the Taliban: “In Karachi, the Jamia Binoria, with some 10,000 students enrolled in eight affiliated madrassas, displays a banner at its main gate urging Muslims to join the Taliban.” • A large number of graduates from the Binoria have become senior figures in the Taliban. • Right before 9/11, Osama bin Laden addressed the students emphasizing the importance of jihad. • Mufti claims to have graduated over 100 Americans from his institution and asked what they teach the children, Mufti relied, “Islam, not math or anything else, only Islam.”
HERE is a sample of the VIDEO of The Karachi Kids …..what they call these children sent there from America.
Wild Thing’s comment……..
I am just going to say it. I would prefer these two students be left there, I do NOT want them back in the USA. The father that sent them there as well as the other families that have done this ….. they have allowed their childrens souls to be sold to the devil. They will be coming back here totally brain washed.
Our troops do NOT deserve this kind of thing happening when they risk their lives 24/7 in this war against Islam the death cult. Our troops do not deserve our country to allow these freaks back into our country to cause more harm to our citizens later on.
A congressman from, I believe Texas, said he was very fearful of what they may do when they return to the US.
Also I want to know WHY this headmaster is being allowed in the U.S. to start with!!!
“The headmaster comes to the United States once a year and personally recruits American children to enroll in his madrassa.”
What good is it if we’re winning in Iraq and losing the war at home?
….Thank you Darth for the Fox News article that had more information.
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The boys change from naive schoolchildren to solemn teenagers who assert that no Muslims were involved in 9/11.
Source ….for complete article
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) cited a Pakistani law that prohibits foreigners from enrolling in madrassahs. However, the principal of the school, Mufti Mohammed Naeem, is shown on film saying that 29 nations, including the United States, Britain and France, are represented at his school. He also said his madrassah does not promote hatred or militant activity.
In Atlanta, the Khan brothers loved to watch “The Simpsons” and skateboard. They said in the film that their father grew angry with their habits and once threw the television out of the house. They said their father decided to send them to Pakistan after he discovered dust on their Quran, a sign they had failed to pick it up in a while.
The brothers arrived in Pakistan in 2004, unable to speak Urdu and communicate with others. They faced the daunting task of memorizing a 600-page Quran. Noor estimated it would take him eight years.
“My dad told me, ‘I am not bringing you back until you memorize the Quran,'” he said on camera.
In the last on-camera interview in March, Noor said he is glad his father sent him to the madrassah. “I’m a better person,” he said.
He goes on to say that he believes no Muslims were behind the attacks of 9/11. “Not one Jew died that day. That is what they say,” he said.
Christine Fair, a senior political scientist with the nonprofit research organization RAND Corp., said children in Pakistan’s Islamic schools are not subjected to math, English, social studies or other secular topics emphasized in public schools in Georgia.
Wild Thing’s comment…….
There are a few comments from NON approved commenters I have allowed through the last few days. Only a few out of the many that have tried to get through,LOL, and tell us all how evil the USA is and how evil our military is and how wonderful Islam is which of course is baloney.
I wonder now long will it take for themse bolys that were releasesd to come back to America to unlearn that muslims were, indeed, the perpetrators of September 11? Or that Jews were killed as well on that day?
Here the trailer from the film:
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Obama Refusing to Meet McCain for Foreign Policy Town Hall Meeting Before Military Audience
Obama is refusing to meet John McCain for a debate on Foreign Policy before a Town Hall Meeting audience composed of veterans, military service members, and military families from the Fort Hood, Texas military base.
New York Times
A coalition of military groups is planning a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort Hood, Tex., the largest active-duty military installation in the country. But so far, only Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, has agreed to attend.
CBS has agreed to broadcast the meeting live from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Aug. 11. The candidates would face questions directly from an audience of 6,000 people, made up of veterans, service members and military families from the base.
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has not agreed to participate.
“Senator Obama strongly supports America’s veterans and military families and has worked hard on their behalf in the Senate,” said Phillip Carter, director of Mr. Obama’s veterans effort and an Iraq war veteran. “While we unfortunately had a previously scheduled commitment on the date proposed, Senator Obama looks forward to continuing the dialogue he’s been having throughout the country with veterans on how we can better serve our men and women in uniform as they serve us.”
Carissa Picard, managing director of the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium, said she had suggested Aug. 11 and asked the campaign to suggest other dates if that was not convenient, but after several conversations she had not been able to work anything out.
“I’m having extreme difficulty getting the Obama campaign to commit to this event, and we do not understand why,” said Ms. Picard, whose husband is deployed in Iraq. “We made it very clear to them that if they would commit to the event, we would work with them on dates.”
“This was a decision that was made with tremendous difficulty, to publicize it,” Ms. Picard said. “We were at a point where we had no other option. We got the impression that they could talk us to November.”
The meeting would be at the Expo Center in Belton, Tex., about 25 miles from Fort Hood.
McCain and Obama are asking to be the next commander in chief,” Ms. Picard said. “What’s a more compelling audience than this, the people that you have asked to maintain our security? It would be tremendous for the morale of this community.”
Organizers include American Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Veterans for Common Sense and Military Spouse Corporate Career Network.
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Wild Thing’s comment……..
If Obama wants to be Commander-in-Chief, he ought to be willing to stand before the men and women he wants to lead and answer their questions and hear their views.
Obama and his campaign won’t even suggest a date that is not in conflict with their schedule, according to organizers.
This is the same Barack Obama who arrogantly said he would meet John McCain “anytime, anywhere” to debate Foreign Policy.
B.Hussein Obama is a walking, talking national defense and foreign affairs disaster, not to mention numerous other disasters.
I don’t care who the person is, but NO ONE SNUBS our awesome military and gets a free pass from me. No way!
If Obama was a REAL man he would not do something like this.
Backlash: 2 million angry Democrats reject Obama?
wnd
More than two million angry Democrats are rejecting Sen. Barack Obama as the likely Democratic nominee for the presidency this year, according to a new protest organization.
“I hate to use this word but it’s fascist, and that’s the approach they’re taking to silence any Hillary Clinton supporters,” Will Bower, co-founder of PUMA/Just Say No Deal, an exploding coalition of voters who say they have raised $10 million in just days to pay down Clinton’s campaign debt.
“Barack Obama wants to give his acceptance speech in a stadium because he intends to minimize any pro-Hillary supporter dissent. It’s not because he wants to include more people. He knows that if they pull any shenanigans at convention, the Hillary delegates will walk out, and they don’t want that to be seen or heard. They’re bringing as many Obama supporters as they can to fill that stadium. It’s fascism,” he said.
The voters who still are supporting Clinton are doing everything they can to make sure that doesn’t happen, raising an estimated $10 million since Independence Day to retire her debt.
Nearly 18 million people voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential primaries and many of them believe their candidate was cheated out of being the Democratic nominee for president.
Now more than two million, based on donation and other records, are determined to protest the nominating process and push for an open convention in Denver this August.
“The seeds of discontent for the birth of the PUMA/Just Say No Deal movement were planted during Barack’s poor performances at the debates, the media assault on Clinton after Iowa, Obama’s arrogance on the campaign trail, and the DNC’s selective application of its own rules,” Bower explained.
“We said we are not falling in line just because Obama and (David) Axelrod and the DNC were saying ‘All right, this is over, let’s all get behind Barack Obama.’ There are plenty of us out here saying, ‘No this is not over. You have treated us very unfairly and in fact, anti-democratically,'” he said.
More of the article HERE
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Wild Thing’s comment……..
I love it when the Clintons get teed off at the loss of their iron-fisted control over the Democratic Party machinery. The irony is just stunning!
LOL Look at this CLICK HERE , it is one of the sites of the Hillary people and it says on there they want Obama put in jail. heh heh
….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Obama’s Campaign Office Robbed
Detroit news
The Detroit campaign office of Presidential hopeful Barack Obama was targeted by thieves. The crooks stole hundreds of dollars in electronics and may have been hiding in the building waiting for the right time to make their move.
VIDEO at website
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Wild Thing’s comment……..
bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahah!!!!!
The gazillion campaign dollars are safely locked in the vault. Just chump-change in that story.
Now I guess we can expcet for the sympathy vote. Obama is being picked on waaaa. I guess they will say it is Bush’s fault. haha Sorry I just could not resist they blame him for everything.
Detroit is the area where Obama had the problem with the Muslim women in hijab by his team not allowing them to be in the scene behind him when he spoke.
Tony Snow, Former White House Press Secretary and FOX News Anchor, Dies at 53
Fox News
Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary and conservative pundit who bedeviled the press corps and charmed millions as a FOX News television and radio host, died Saturday after a long bout with cancer. He was 53.
A syndicated columnist, editor, TV anchor, radio show host and musician, Snow worked in nearly every medium in a career that spanned more than 30 years.
“Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend Tony Snow,” President Bush said in a written statement. “The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character.”
Snow died at 2 a.m. Saturday at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Snow joined FOX in 1996 as the original anchor of “FOX News Sunday” and hosted “Weekend Live” and a radio program, “The Tony Snow Show,” before departing in 2006.
“It’s a tremendous loss for us who knew him, but it’s also a loss for the country,” Roger Ailes, chairman of FOX News, said Saturday morning about Snow, calling him a “renaissance man.”
As a TV pundit and commentator for FOX News, Snow often was critical of Bush before he became the president’s third press secretary, following Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan. He was an instant study in the job, mastering the position — and the White House press corps — with apparent ease.
“One of the reasons I took this job is not only to work with the president, but, believe it or not, to work with all of you,” Snow told reporters when he stepped into the post in 2006. “These are times that are going to be very challenging.”
During a tenure marked by friendly jousting with journalists, Snow often danced around the press corps, occasionally correcting their grammar and speech even as he responded to their questions.
“Tony did his job with more flair than almost any press secretary before him,” said William McGurn, Bush’s former chief speechwriter. “He loved the give-and-take. But that was possible only because Tony was a man of substance who had real beliefs and principles that he was more than able to defend.”
As he announced Snow as his new press secretary in May 2006, Bush praised him as “a man of courage [and] a man of integrity.”
Snow presided over some of the toughest fights of Bush’s presidency, defending the administration during the Iraq war and the CIA leak investigation
“I felt comfortable enough to interrupt him when he was BSing, and he kind of knew it, and he’d shut up and move on,” Snow said.
His tenure at the White House lasted 17 months and was interrupted by his second bout with cancer.
Snow had his colon removed and underwent six months of chemotherapy after he was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005. In 2007 he announced his cancer had recurred and spread to his liver, and he had a malignant growth removed from his abdominal area.
He resigned from the White House six months later, in September 2007, citing not his health but a need to earn more than the $168,000 a year he was paid in the government post. He was replaced by his deputy, Dana Perino, Bush’s current press secretary.
After taking time off to recuperate, Snow joined CNN as a political commentator early this year.
At the White House, Snow brought partisan zeal and the skills of a seasoned performer to the task of explaining and defending the president’s policies. During daily briefings he challenged reporters, scolded them and questioned their motives as if he were starring in a TV show broadcast live from the West Wing.
“The White House has lost a great friend and a great colleague,” said Perino in a statement released to the media. “We all loved watching him at the podium, but most of all we learned how to love our families and treat each other.”
Critics suggested Snow was turning the traditionally informational daily briefing into a personality-driven media event short on facts and long on confrontation. He was the first press secretary, by his own accounting, to travel the country raising money for Republican candidates.
As a commentator, he had not always been on the president’s side. He once called Bush “something of an embarrassment” in conservative circles and criticized what he called Bush’s “lackluster” domestic policy.
A sometime fill-in host for Rush Limbaugh, Snow said he loved the intimacy of his radio audience.
“I don’t think you ever arrive,” he said. “I think anybody who thinks they’ve arrived or made it, anywhere in the media — they’re nuts.”
Robert Anthony Snow was born June 1, 1955, in Berea, Ky., the son of a teacher and nurse. He graduated from Davidson College in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, and he taught briefly in Kenya before embarking on his journalism career.
Because of his love for writing, Snow took a job as an editorial writer for the Greensboro Record in North Carolina and went on to run the editorial pages at the Newport News (Virginia) Daily Press, Detroit News and Washington Times. He became a nationally syndicated columnist, and in 1991 he became director of speechwriting for President George H.W. Bush.
“He served people, and we can learn from that. He was kind, and we can learn from that. He was just a good person,” the senior Bush told FOX News.
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Tony Snow on flute
Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary, plays “Stormy Monday” with Leslie West of Mountain at the Rock ‘n Roll Fantasy Camp.
Snow played six instruments — saxophone, trombone, flute, piccolo, accordion and guitar — and was in a D.C. cover band called Beats Workin’. He also was a film buff.
“He was a great musician,” Ailes said. “And he loved movies.”
More than anything, said Snow’s colleagues, he was a joy to work with.
“He was a lot of fun,” his former FOX News producer Griff Jenkins said. “This is a loss of a family member.”
FOX News Chief Washington Correspondent Jim Angle called Snow a “gentleman.”
Snow is survived by his wife, Jill Ellen Walker, whom he married in 1987; their son, Robbie; and daughters, Kendall and Kristi.
“The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing though the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes (Spain), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.
There’s nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue—for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.
Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the holy city. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf.
We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us—that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God’s love for others. Sickness gets us partway there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two people’s worries and fears.
Learning How to Live.”
-—end quote-—
Wild Thing’s comment……..
Rest in peace Tony Snow. Tony was a blessing to his family, friend, and country.
Thank you to all of you that sent me the news and links about Tony passing away.
We’re Oh So…
Russ Vaughn
We’re hip, we’re cool and oh so arty;
We’re Democrats, the smarter party.
We’re sophisticated unlike you;
We understand merci beaucoup.
We’re urbane while you’re provincial;
We’re worldly-wise, so existential.
We’re cultured, complex, so refined;
We’ve left you ignorant serfs behind.
We’re witty authors of clever puns,
While you clods cling to God and guns.
Were you not so closed and clannish,
We’d have you peons speaking Spanish.
We say all this with knowing smirks;
We’re Democrats, you red-state jerks.
Russ Vaughn
Vietnam 65-66
…Thank you Russ for writing this and sending it to me.
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