Theodore's World

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Rodger, thank you for your awesome blog and your kindness and friendship.
Have a wonderful birthday!
Rodger’s blog is Curmudgeonly &Skeptical
Chrissie and everyone at Theodore’s World

Wall of silence broken at state’s Muslim public school
star tribune
By KATHERINE KERSTEN
Recently, I wrote about Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights. Charter schools are public schools and by law must not endorse or promote religion.
Evidence suggests, however, that TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers.
TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school.
* It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is “establishing Islam in Minnesota.”
* The building also houses a mosque. TIZA’s executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.
* Students pray daily,
* the cafeteria serves halal food – permissible under Islamic law —
* and “Islamic Studies” is offered at the end of the school day.
Zaman maintains that TIZA is not a religious school. He declined, however, to allow me to visit the school to see for myself, “due to the hectic schedule for statewide testing.” But after I e-mailed him that the Minnesota Department of Education had told me that testing would not begin for several weeks, Zaman did not respond — even to urgent calls and e-mails seeking comment before my first column on TIZA.
Now, however, an eyewitness has stepped forward. Amanda Getz of Bloomington is a substitute teacher. She worked as a substitute in two fifth-grade classrooms at TIZA on Friday, March 14. Her experience suggests that school-sponsored religious activity plays an integral role at TIZA.
Arriving on a Friday, the Muslim holy day, she says she was told that the day’s schedule included a “school assembly” in the gym after lunch.
Before the assembly, she says she was told, her duties would include taking her fifth-grade students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform “their ritual washing.”

Afterward, Getz said, “teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day,” was preparing to lead prayer. Beside him, another man “was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered.”

“The prayer I saw was not voluntary,” Getz said. “The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred.”

Islamic Studies was also incorporated into the school day.

“When I arrived, I was told ‘after school we have Islamic Studies,’ and I might have to stay for hall duty,” Getz said. “The teachers had written assignments on the blackboard for classes like math and social studies. Islamic Studies was the last one — the board said the kids were studying the Qu’ran. The students were told to copy it into their planner, along with everything else. That gave me the impression that Islamic Studies was a subject like any other.”

After school, Getz’s fifth-graders stayed in their classroom and the man in white who had led prayer in the gym came in to teach Islamic
Studies. TIZA has in effect extended the school day — buses leave only after Islamic Studies is over.
Getz did not see evidence of other extra-curricular activity, except for a group of small children playing outside. Significantly, 77 percent of TIZA parents say that their “main reason for choosing TIZA … was because of after-school programs conducted by various non-profit organizations at the end of the school period in the school building,” according to a TIZA report. TIZA may be the only school in Minnesota with this distinction.
Why does the Minnesota Department of Education allow this sort of religious activity at a public school? According to Zaman, the department inspects TIZA regularly — and has done so “numerous times” — to ensure that it is not a religious school.
But the department’s records document only three site visits to TIZA in five years — two in 2003-04 and one in 2007, according to Assistant Commissioner Morgan Brown. None of the visits focused specifically on religious practices.
For the rest of the article you can go HERE
Kersten requested a visit to the school to see for herself, that visit was declined by TIZA’s executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.
According to the US Department of Education is a written statement it says:

The guidance clarifies the rights of students to pray in public schools. As stated in the guidance, “…the First Amendment forbids religious activity that is sponsored by the government but protects religious activity that is initiated by private individuals” such as students. Therefore, “[a]mong other things, students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray or study religious materials with fellow students during recess, the lunch hour, or other noninstructional time to the same extent that they may engage in nonreligious activities.” Public schools should not be hostile to the religious rights of their students and their families.
At the same time, school officials may not “compel students to participate in prayer or other religious activities.” Nor may teachers, school administrators and other school employees, when acting in their official capacities as representatives of the state, encourage or discourage prayer, or participate in such activities with students.

Students are allowed to pray, but the school is not allowed to force them nor “encourage” them to do so.
This makes the substitutes teacher’s witnessing the students being required to go to the prayer assembly and well as the school officials pushing them to do, illegal under the law.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), named for the Muslim conquerer of Spain. General Tarek ibn Ziyad’s bloody battle marked the beginning of the Muslim rule of Spain in the eighth century. chiefly remembered for one incident in particular. Landing in Spain, he ordered the Muslim forces’ boats to be burned, and then told his soldiers: “Brothers in Islam! We now have the enemy in front of us and the deep sea behind us. We cannot return to our homes, because we have burnt our boats. We shall now either defeat the enemy and win or die a coward’s death by drowning in the sea. Who will follow me?” The soldiers, crying “Allahu akbar,” rushed ahead and defeated a vastly superior Spanish force.
Does the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy represent the same idea for those who founded it and now operate it?

….Thank you Lynn for sending this to me.

Make Mine Freedom (1948)

Wild Thing’s comment…….
This video is so well done, and to see that it was done in 1948, amazing how far to the left our Nation has gone.
I am a glass half full person and I truly believe we can take our country back. It is going to take time, it didn’t turn left over night. Honestly I think if we do it step by step and not want to make huge changes that will be stopped in their tracks we can do it.
The one thing I have noticed about the left, they are willing to settle for one change at a time, some small and some big. But after years of pushing their agenda they have won more battles then the conservatives have won.
Another thing too is that the democrat party has gone so far to the left it is in the twilight zone. Many of the Democrats have seen this happening over the years and don’t like it. So what did they do? They joined OUR party, the Republican party. But they brought with them the liberal thinking, the liberal LITE agenda, making them the rino’s we have seen destroy our party. This is of course my opinion but it sure seems like this is what has been happening.
Years ago a John McCain would never be running for President, he would never make it out of the gate. Yes he is a war hero and I respect him for that. But his stand on many things is not something I respect and what he did to the POW’s and their families as well …..it is despicable. The many other ( insert liberal word here) issues as well he is more of a Democrat then a Republican and certainly not a conservative.
Years ago a Barack Hussein Obama would not even be running in the Democrat party. Maybe the communist party or the socialist party, the labor party or whatever. There would never be mosques and schools on our soil like we have today and Muslims in our government like Keith Ellison and that other jerk I forget his name.
And Hillary, good Lord, she would be in jail right now or worse for the crimes of treason she and Bill Clinton did with China. And I don’t think he would have won in the first place with his burning our Flag and being a draft dodger.
And they hate Bush with a deep seeded passion because of the chad’s and the Judges call on the election????????
How much more should we be upset that a Bill Clinton got in office. How much more should we be upset that we even have to tolerate a white hating, Muslim call to prayer loving, arrogant, SOB like Obama. IMO our being upset about these things has roots dug deep into the earth that our Founding Fathers once walked upon, fought for and sacrifices much for.
I said before I don’t stay mad at things, I rant and am done with it. But the passion remains in what I believe in and that will always be a driving force never to give up.
LOL I feel like grabbing a handful of dirt and holding it to the sky ( like in Gone with the Wind) and saying we WILL not forget the Veterans and soldiers that fought for this country and by God we won’t let the liberals totally destroy her.
Oh and by the way…..heh heh I did this comment then used spell check to try and not have so many typo’s. The good news is that the word Obama is not an approved name they know about YET. LMAO So see there is hope!

…Thank you RAC for this video.

3-73 Cavalry Is on Point
By Spc. Jamie Avila
1st Brigade Combat Team
82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs
IRAQ
On a daily basis, paratroopers of Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division patrol villages to search a number of houses suspected of harboring criminals in a attempt to find them or information that would lead to arrest of those involved in illegal activities against Iraqi and coalition forces.
Although every patrol does not result in the capture of a criminal, it does result in valuable information through the constant interaction and rapport with the local people.
Over the past eight months, paratroopers of Troop C, 3rd Sqdn., 73rd Cav. Regt. have captured numerous suspects, of which 17 remained detained in U.S. facilities and 14 remain detained in Iraqi security force’s detention facilities.

“We’ve detained about fifteen guys since we’ve been here, which is less than a year. We’ve been getting good intel (intelligence) that we can act on while were out there doing patrols,” said Staff Sgt. Shane J. Weigel, a squad leader for 1st platoon.

According to 1st Lt. Aaron Doutt, platoon leader for 1st platoon, Troop C has reduced the number of illegal weapons throughout the area, lowered the improvised explosive device threat and reduced the number of indirect fire attacks on Convoy Supply Center Scania.
The 3rd Bn., 73rd Cav. Regt. paratroopers attribute their success to the way they do things, which is different from what past units did before them.

“The biggest thing that we do different than the last unit is the amount of local national engagement and the specific targeting that we do … all our paratroopers are familiar with the top TWN list and the active targeting process,” said Doutt.

“Our success is largely due to the way we conduct operations. What makes Charlie Troop different from the guys who have done this in the past is that we’re a reconnaissance troop. We like to dismount and walk into villages all hours. It keeps them on their toes,” said Doutt.

Prior to their deployment to Iraq, these paratroopers went through countless hours of training at both Fort Bragg and the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La.. Focusing their training on infantry tasks to include search and seizure procedures, clearing rooms and buildings, combat lifesaving techniques and various other battle drills. Upon arrival in Iraq and able to see and interact in their area of operations, these paratroopers have continued to refine and train on their tactics, techniques and procedures.

“All around we have a pretty mature group of guys. They know what we expect of them because of all the training we did with them back at Bragg,” said Weigel.

“We are always critiquing ourselves and trying to find better and more effective ways to engage the locals and enemy,” said Doutt.

Charlie Troop continues to remain focused on their mission to support the overall mission of the squadron. These guys are usually working long hours with very little rest and their work is appreciated by their chain of command.

“They’re out there trying to hunt down the people who have been attacking us with rockets. They come back, get a few hours of sleep, get their trucks ready and they’re back out doing it again. They do that everyday without us hearing any complaints,” said Capt. Jim Pilkauskas, Troop C commander.

“They have exceeded my expectations and I’m very happy with the effort these guys are putting forward. They’ve been very successful and will continue to be succesful,” he added.

An AH-64D Apache Longbow belonging to 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, heads out on a mission.The 1-1 ARB “Gunfighter” air crews work around the clock sustaining air operations and are part of the Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, from Fort Riley Kan., flying in support of Task Force Iron, 1st Armored Division, in northern Iraq.

By Maj. Enrique Vasquez
Combat Aviation Brigade
1st Infantry Division
TIKRIT, Iraq
Four AH-64 Apache Longbow pilots assigned to the 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, “Gunfighters” where awarded Air Medals for their actions during a combat air patrol while flying in support of Task Force Iron in northern Iraq.
Mission Commander Lt. Col. Mike Mahony, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Duane Crawford, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Coy Pennington, and Capt. Nate Thompson, received their Air Medals for their actions.
The Apache pilots flying in two gunships distinguished themselves while providing direct combat support to Multi-National Division-North ground forces near Tikrit, Iraq.
After conducting two hours of security operations with ground forces about 40 miles south of Contingency Operating Base Speicher, the team was contacted by Blackhorse Troop, 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment. They asked the Gunfighters to assist the Sons of Iraq, who were being engaged by black-hooded enemy with automatic weapons.
Shortly after receiving the call, Thompson in the trail aircraft quickly located the five enemy fighters moving in a palm grove. The crews maneuvered their Apaches to maintain contact with both the enemy and friendly forces while coordinating actions between the aircraft and the Soldiers on the ground.
Crawford in the lead descended into small arms range and dropped flares above the enemy location in order to get them to surrender. Mahony radioed the ground forces to maneuver thus preventing the enemy from escaping. This allowed Pennington and Thompson to close in and positively identify the weapons employed by the enemy forces.

With both Apache helicopters in position, the enemy made the mistake of moving toward the friendly ground forces. “We knew that we had cut the enemy off from escape, and we could not allow the insurgents to get into close combat with the ground forces,” said Mahony.

The two Apaches responded with 30mm chain gun fire and within minutes the threat to friendly ground forces ceased. Three enemy insurgents were killed and the two others surrendered.
After the initial enemy force was defeated, the AWT refueled at a forward arming and refueling point and provided route security for Blackhorse vehicles as they returned to base.
Other enemy forces alerted by the Apache’s gunfire set up an ambush in an attempt to shoot down the aircraft. As the helicopters passed, the enemy launched rockets and fired heavy machine guns from numerous locations at the aircraft. The Gunfighter pilots maneuvered and escaped further ground fire.
The decision was made to break contact with the enemy and return to base. The ground forces and the AWT all made it safely back to their bases.
In a ceremony, March 7 Mahony, Thompson, Pennington and Crawford were all awarded the Air Medal for their actions. Col. Jesse O. Farrington, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, commander pinned the Air Medal on the pilots in front of the other Soldiers of the task force.

“You guys are the quiet professionals with a huge reputation,” said Farrington. “You’re so clinical and precise in all that you do and you deal with the craziness of the battlefield in a calm and deliberate manner that speaks highly of your great outfit.”

Bin Laden’s ‘right-hand man’ set for life on British benefits after judges rule
Daily Mail .co.uk.
Terror suspect Abu Qatada cannot be deported to Jordan because he risks not getting a fair trial, judges ruled today.
They overturned a decision by a special panel last year that the extremist cleric, who is known as Osama bin Laden’s “right-hand man” in Europe, could be sent to his home country.
The Home Office may even have to free Qatada if the Law Lords and European judges uphold the decision of the Court of Appeal and he cannot be brought to trial.
Ministers would be very reluctant to order such a move which would spark uproar.
Qatada could be placed under a control order to monitor him but this system has proved ineffective in several cases where terror suspects have gone on the run.
The Court of Appeal also upheld the panel’s blocking of the deportations of two other suspected terrorists to Libya on the grounds that they may be tortured.
The rulings are a blow to the Government’s anti-terror laws as it had signed memorandums of understanding with Jordan and Libya that individuals expelled from the UK would get fair trials and not be tortured.
The pacts are key to removing around 20 terror suspects to countries which sanction torture or the death penalty.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith launched an immediate appeal to the Law Lords against the Qatada judgment.
Right-hand man: Qatada is Osama bin Laden’s (pictured above) spiritual ambassador
The case could end up in the European Court of Human Rights leaving the British taxpayer with a bill expected to hit £500,000.
Ministers hailed a ruling by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission last February that Qatada, now in Belmarsh prison, could return to Jordan.
But a panel of three senior judges headed by the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, today quashed this judgement on the grounds that the Jordanian national could face a trial in which evidence against him may have been extracted by torture.
However, the Government stressed Qatada’s deportation was blocked on just one ground, despite claims by his lawyers that he would face beatings, and is confident this obstacle can be resolved.
Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said: “We are seeking to overturn that point, and I believe that we will be able to secure his deportation to Jordan.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
I think the only way this subhuman pictured above would look good is through a telescopic sight.
And I see he’s got the same prayer scar on his forehead as “Bumps” Zawahiri. That’s the result of zillions of obsessive prostration prayers by moose limbs. It’s known colloquially as a “zabiba’” (raisin).
Devout moose limbs consider the presence of a zabiba to be a worthy sign of religious dedication and piety. We consider it an excellent biomarker for pulling these clowns out of airport boarding lines.
Of course these liberal useful idiot judges don’t care about the human rights of the people these scumbags have killed. How about the human rights of the fifty some odd Londoners that were killed by these terrorists back in July of 05 when they bombed the London subways? Or the human rights of the over 700 people that were wounded in the attacks? I guess they don’t matter because they don’t wear a stinking diaper on their head.
These people have no perspective or concept of reality.
Not all that long ago, a battered English people stood amidst the rubble of their land and defiantly sang “There Will ALWAYS be an England”. Listen, now, hark to the Sound of Silence. Sorry, Winston, you tried your best.

Many features of the chosen Flight 93 Memorial design are intolerable:
1. THE GIANT CRESCENT. The centerpiece of the original “Crescent of Embrace” design was a giant red Islamic shaped crescent. Every particle of this original crescent design remains completely intact in the so-called redesign, which only added a few irrelevant trees. The giant crescent is still there.
2. IT POINTS TO MECCA. The giant crescent points to Mecca. A crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca is called a “mihrab,” and is the central feature around which every mosque is built. The Flight 93 Memorial is on track to become the world’s largest mosque.
3. THE ISLAMIC SUNDIAL. The minaret-like Tower of Voices is a year-round accurate Islamic prayer-time sundial (one of many typical mosque features that are realized in the crescent design, all on the same epic scale as the half mile wide central crescent).
4. THE 44 BLOCKS. There are 44 glass blocks on the flight path, equaling the number of passengers, crew, AND terrorists.
Intentional or not, these features are entirely unacceptable. This travesty must stop and investigations must begin.
There is a Petition:
Online petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/HonorFlight93/
Sponsor of Petition:
Tom Burnett Sr. (father of Tom Burnett Jr., murdered on Flight 93)
Other sponsors of the Petition:
Alec Rawls
Bill Steiner
Lt Col. Harry Beam U.S. Army Ret.
Fran Bevan
From Tom Burnett Sr:
Dear Fellow Americans:
The planned Flight 93 Memorial contains extensive Islamic symbolism. It is an insult to my son Tom, and to the other murdered heroes of Flight 93 who stopped Islamic terrorists from destroying the White House or the Capitol that terrible September day.
Please consider signing this online petition that I and some compatriots have put together. It calls for a new memorial design, and for investigation of the present design. If you want to do more, feel free to forward or post this appeal.
For those who are not familiar, the original “Crescent of Embrace” design was laid out in the crescent and star configuration of an Islamic flag:

Outrage over this overt Islamic symbolism forced the Memorial Project to disguise the original crescent with a few additional trees, but every particle of the original design remains completely intact in the so-called redesign. The giant crescent and star flag is still there!
The Memorial Project assumes that any similarity to an Islamic crescent has to be unintentional. Even if it WERE unintentional it would still be intolerable, but how can anyone look at that crescent and star configuration and think that it CAN’T be intentional? That is like seeing an airliner fly into the World Trade Center and thinking that it CAN’T be intentional. Worst of all, the Memorial Project refuses to confront voluminous evidence that the Islamic symbolism IS intentional.
It turns out that a person facing into the giant crescent will be facing Mecca. A crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca is called a “mihrab” and is the central feature around which every mosque is built. The crescent memorial will be the world’s largest mosque!
When TWO airplanes fly into the World Trade Center, even the most naïve person has start taking the possibility of intent seriously, but not the Memorial Project. The Islamic symbolism in Flight 93 Memorial goes on and on, but the Park Service refuses to be concerned.
Architect Paul Murdoch says that the crescent shape comes from the hijacked airplane breaking the circle where it crosses the upper crescent tip. The flight path then continues down to between the crescent tips where Flight 93 crashed. (That’s right: the crash site is the star on the crescent and star flag.)
Along the flight path are to be placed 44 translucent blocks, equaling the number of passengers, crew, AND terrorist

Left image: The Memorial Wall, traces flight path just above the point of impact. The white line at eye level is a set of 43 glass blocks, 40 to be inscribed with the names of my son and the other passengers and crew, and three (on the near side of the gap) to be inscribed with 9/11 date. Right image: At the upper crescent tip, at the end of the Entry Portal Walkway, sits a huge glass block, the 44th glass block on the flight path. It marks the spot where, in the architect’s description, the terrorists broke our humanitarian circle, turning it into a giant (Islamic shaped) crescent. Inscription: “A field of honor forever.”
I don’t want to celebrate the terrorist’s circle-breaking crescent-creating feat, and I certainly don’t want my son’s name inscribed on that terrorist memorializing block count.
We need to get the word out: the Flight 93 Memorial has been re-hijacked, and this time the whole nation is aboard. We have to get up out of our seats and stop this abomination!
Sincerely,
Tom Burnett Sr.
Northfield Minnesota, March 2008
Online petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/HonorFlight93/

Wild Thing’s comment……..
The terrorists had years to plan. The passengers; mere minutes. The terrorists presumed all the weak Americans aboard the various flights they hijacked could be cowed with box cutters and fake bombs. When those cowards targeted United Flight 93 their presumption didn’t serve them well. They tangled with the wrong bunch of Americans.
We will never forget the heroism, of Todd Beamer, of Jeremy Glick, Mark Bingham, and Tom Burnett, and of flight attendants CeeCee Lyles and Sandy Bradshaw.
“The first American flag flown by the patriots of the early Revolutionary War was not the Stars and Stripes but a banner showing a coiled snake, with the inscription DON’T TREAD ON ME. America’s latest war for freedom did not begin with a speech by George W. Bush or a cruise-missile attack on a terrorist-training camp in Afghanistan. It began with a group of citizen soldiers on Flight 93 who rose up, like their forefathers, to defy tyranny. And when they came storming down the aisle, it wasn’t the Americans who were afraid.”
9:03
United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower of the WTC. United warns pilots to “Beware cockpit intrusion.” One of the two pilots simply typed, “Confirmed.”
9:27
United Flight 93 checks in with Cleveland flight control with a jaunty, “Good Morning.”
9:28
Cleveland control hears screams and scuffling over the radio channel. Asks if somebody called and gets no answer. One minute later, a controller hears a pilot yelling, “Get out of here! Get out of here.”
9:30
Passengers are herded to the back of the plane. One terrorist, with a red box strapped around him, guards them. They immediately start phoning loved ones and discussing amongst themselves what to do. Who are these “weak and impudent” American infidels?
Jeremy Glick, a 6-foot-1 220-pound NCAA Judo champion.
Tom Burnett, a take-charge kind of guy who was a college quarterback.
Todd Beamer, a college point guard known as a “gamer,” the team member who makes the winning play.
Mark Bingham, 6 feet 5, had played rugby on a championship team at Cal (once arrested for tackling the Stanford mascot at a football game!) Lou Nacke, 5 feet 3 and 200 pounds, was a weightlifter with a superman tattoo on his shoulder.
Rich Guadagno, trained in hand to hand combat.
William Cashman a former iron worker and paratrooper with the 101st Airborne.
Alan Beaven, 6 feet 3, a rock climber and former Scotland Yard prosecutor
Flight attendant CeeCee Lyles had been a detective with the Ft. Pierce, Florida police force.
Linda Gronlund, a lawyer, had a brown belt in karate.
Lauren Grandcolas had organized a skydiving expedition. On her fridge she had a note, GET BUSY LIVING OR GET BUSY DYING.
There was even a pilot among them:Don Greene, who, with the right instructions from ground control might have been able to land the Boeing 757.
9:36
United Flight 93 makes a hairpin turn west of Cleveland and heads southeast toward, D.C.
Deena Burnett was preparing breakfast for her three girls in San Ramon, CA when the phone rang. It was Tom. He told her they were being hijacked and told her to call the authorities. Deena called the FBI. She was on the phone with them when her call waiting beeped. This time Tom told her the hijackers were in the cockpit. Deena told Tom about the World Trade Center.
Jeremy Glick called his wife Lyz. He described “three Iranian-looking men” wearing red headbands and said they had a bomb. Lyz panicked for a moment when she heard the word ‘bomb.” For several minutes husband and wife said “I love you” over and over. Jeremy asked Lyz if it was true, as other passengers were saying, that the WTC had been attacked. Lyz told him about it. Lyz asked Jeremy if the hijackers had machine guns. “No machine guns, just knives.”
Todd Beamer’s call, at 9:45, was routed from an Airfone to operator Lisa Jefferson at GTE’s Customer Center in Oakbrook, Illinois. Lisa and Todd were all business until the plan lurched and bobbed (some speculate the terrorists, knowing the passengers were up to something, were attempting to knock them off their feet and frighten them). For a moment his composure cracked, “Jesus we’re going down.” Then he steadied. “We’re coming back up.” “Lisa,” he said suddenly. “Yes?” responded Jefferson. “That’s my wife,” said Beamer . “Well, that’s my name, too, Todd.” “Oh, my God. [pause] I don’t think we’re going to get out of this thing. I’m going to have to go out on faith.” Jefferson tried to comfort him. Todd made Jefferson promise to call his wife if he didn’t make it home. He told her about his little boys and the new baby on the way. Then he said the passengers were going to try to jump the hijackers. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do, Todd?” “It’s what we have to do.” He asked her to pray with him.
Sandy Bradshaw’s husband, Phil, could hear a group of men reciting the 23rd Psalm in the background. “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Sandy told Phil, the flight attendants were filling pots with hot water to throw on the hijackers. “It’s time to go now, we’re running up to first class.”
CeeCee Lyles was telling her husband, Lorne about the situation. They were saying their good-byes when suddenly Lorne heard screaming, and CeeCee yelled, “They’re doing it! They’re doing it!”
Tom Burnett called Deena for a fourth time. “We’re going to do something,” said Tom. Deena pleaded with him to sit down and not draw attention to himself. “If they are going to run this plane into the ground, we’re going to do something.” Deena told him she loved him and asked what else she should do. “Just pray, Deena, pray.” He hung up.
Todd Beamer and Lisa Jefferson prayed the Lord’s Prayer. “Jesus help me!” he said, then Jefferson heard him recite the 23rd Psalm and say, “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.”
“Beginning at 9:57 the cockpit voice recorder began to pick up the sounds of a death struggle. There is the crash of galley dishes and trays being hurled, a man’s voice screaming loudly. The hijackers can be heard calling on each other to hold the door. One of the passengers cries out, “Let’s get them!” More crashing and screaming. In a desperate measure to control the rebellion, a hijacker suggests cutting off the oxygen. Another one tells his confederates to “take it easy.” The end is near. The hijackers can be heard talking about finishing off the plane, which has begun to dive. The hijackers cry out, “God is great!” The cockpit voice recorder picks up shouting by one of the male passengers. It is unclear whether the passengers have breached the cockpit or are just outside the door. Eyewitnesses on the ground in Somerset County, PA, saw the plane rocking from side to side as it plunged to earth. United Flight 93 was about 20 minutes from the Whitehouse when it crashed.
On September 15, Lisa Beamer and Lisa Jefferson had a tearful conversation. Jefferson told Beamer that her husband had been calm and matter-of-fact. Lisa Beamer was relieved; she had not wanted her husband to die in terror. Actually, Todd had been afraid. They all had been deathly afraid. More than once, he cried out for his Savior. But Beamer, like so many other passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93, overcame his fear. They did not wait to die. They went out fighting and by doing so they may have saved countless others and spared the Whitehouse from death and destruction. And the fifty foot crater United Flight 93 left in that PA hillside was the first strike of our new war on global terrorism.
Lisa Beamer found this Teddy Roosevelt quotation on a piece of paper at the bottom of the in-box on Todd’s den office:
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . . who strives valiantly, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in worthy causes.

When you go to the site for the Petition there are also many articles listed on the left side of the site that you can also read more about this.
There is something very sick happening in our country when this kind of thing would even be thought of and to see it actually being considered and happening is disgusting beyond words.
Islam followers attacked us, killed Americans and we are to allow a Memorial that favors there DAMN cult, the death cult of Islam???????????
We are so screwed!

….Thank you RAC so much for sending this to me!

Excerpt of Tuesday’s Senate testimony:
Sen. John Warner (R-VA): “Can you now, just in simple language, tell us, ‘yes, it is worth it’ and ‘it is making us safer here at home’?“
Gen. David Petraeus: “Senator, I do believe it is worth it … I took on the task, the privilege, of command of Multinational Force-Iraq, because I do believe that it is worth it and I do believe the interests there are of enormous importance, again, to our country, not just to the people of Iraq and the people of that region and the world.”
Sen. Warner: “Mr. Ambassador, how do you answer? Is it providing greater security here at home?”
Ambassador Ryan Crocker: “Sir, I will try to answer that at two levels. First, in the little over a year that I have been in Iraq we have seen a significant degradation of al Qaeda’s presence and its abilities. Al Qaeda is our mortal and strategic enemy. So, to the extent that al Qaeda’s capacities have been lessened in Iraq, and they have been significantly lessened, I do believe that makes America safer.”
Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, a longtime critic of the administration’s war strategy, told Petraeus: “The American people have had it up to here.”
Petraeus responded, “I certainly share the frustration.”

But when it came to promising or predicting a timetable for further withdrawals, Petraeus didn’t budge. He said he had recommended to Bush that he complete, by the end of July, the withdrawal of the 20,000 extra troops. Beyond that, the general proposed a 45-day period of “consolidation and evaluation,” to be followed by an indefinite period of assessment before he would recommend any further pullouts.
The Petraeus plan, which Bush is expected to embrace, reflects a conservative approach that leaves open the possibility that roughly 140,000 U.S. troops could remain in Iraq when the president leaves office next year.
On Thursday Bush will make a speech about the war, now in its sixth year, and his decision about troop levels.

In exchanges with several senators, Petraeus refused to say when he thought it would be safe to resume troop reductions beyond July without risking “fragile and reversible” security gains.
Asked Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee: “Could that be a month, could that be two months?”
Petraeus began to respond: “Sir, it could be less than that. It could be. …”
Levin: “Could it be more than that?”
Petraeus: “It could be more than that. Again, it’s when the conditions are met that we can make a recommendation for further reductions.”
Levin: “Could it be three months?”
Petraeus: “Sir, again, at the end of the period of consolidation and evaluation. …”

On they went in the same vein, even after a demonstrator – “Bring them home! Bring them home!” – interrupted the hearing and was escorted out.

When Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., started in again later, Petraeus said it would defy logic to establish a timetable before knowing what conditions will be like this summer.
Petraeus said.: “If you believe as I do – and the commanders on the ground believe – that the way forward on reductions should be conditions-based then it is just flat not responsible to try to put down a stake in the ground and say this is when it would be or that is when it would be,”
One of three senators who could be the new president by January, Hillary Rodham Clinton, said much earlier, not in a response to Petraeus, that she disagreed with those who criticized lawmakers who are calling for an orderly withdrawal.
Hillary Clinton: “Rather, I think it could be fair to say that it might well be irresponsible to continue the policy that has not produced the results that have been promised time and time again at such tremendous cost to our national security and to the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States military,” she said.
Sen. Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, told Petraeus that while he wants U.S. troops out of Iraq he would not initiate a precipitous withdrawal. And he said talking regularly to the Iranians is critical to getting to the point where it would be safe to end American involvement.
“I do not believe we are going to be able to stabilize the situation without them,” Obama said.
War supporter John McCain, who will be the GOP nominee, said: “Our goal – my goal – is an Iraq that no longer needs American troops. And I believe we can achieve that goal, perhaps sooner than many imagine. But I also believe that to promise a withdrawal of our forces, regardless of the consequences, would constitute a failure of political and moral leadership.”
Petraeus said his plan is supported by Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has been notably public in his expressions of concern that the heavy commitment of troops in Iraq has limited U.S. military options elsewhere and has put enormous strain on troops and their families.
Petraeus made no mention of reducing soldiers’ tours of duty in Iraq from the current 15 months to 12 months, but the administration is expected to announce a decision to do that this week. It would take effect this summer, coinciding with the completion of the drawdown to 15 combat brigades in Iraq.
Petraeus said the recent flare-up of violence in Basra, in Baghdad and elsewhere points up the importance of the cease-fire declared last year by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and highlighted the role Iran allegedly plays in funding and training Shiite militias through cells the U.S. military calls “special groups.”
“Unchecked, the special groups pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq,” Petraeus said.
Testifying beside Petraeus was Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, who also focused on the violence in Basra, where Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dispatched Iraqi security forces to combat Shiite militias.
Crocker said : “Taken as a snapshot, with scenes of increasing violence, and masked gunmen in the streets, it is hard to see how this situation supports a narrative of progress in Iraq,” “There is still very much to be done to bring full government control to the streets of Basra and eliminate entrenched extremist, criminal, and militia groups. When viewed with a broader lens, the Iraqi decision to combat these groups in Basra has major significance.”

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) listens to testimony from US Commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington April 8, 2008. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES)

Brave men risk their lives, so Obama can nap in peace at tax payer expense.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
This man will NEVER be President. He cannot even listen to the testimony and advisors on how the war is going.

Michelle Obama arrived at Skibo Gymnasium to the cheering of a crowd of students from Carnegie Mellon and community members from all over Pittsburgh. She spoke specifically of her husband’s campaign. (image credit: J.W. Ramp/Photo Editor)

Michelle Obama speaks at presidential rally in Skibo Gym
The Tartan
by Andrew Peters
Only a week after her husband drew throngs to Soldiers and Sailors, Michelle Obama wooed a small crowd at Skibo Gymnasium on Wednesday.
Skibo’s risers were packed with community members and students from many of Pittsburgh’s universities. The rally was staffed by volunteers from a number of Carnegie Mellon student organizations, including Carnegie Mellon Students for Barack Obama, Student Senate, AB Political Speakers, and College Democrats.
Helping Students for Obama lead the crowd in cheers of “Ready to go” was Steve Sovern, a professional mediator from just outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who got excited enough about the campaign to travel to Pennsylvania and rally for Mrs. Obama. Sovern, alongside student volunteers, built up a palpable excitement around Mrs. Obama’s speech.

“I’ve been here since 11 a.m. setting up and it’s been amazing. It feels like [Barack] Obama is coming,” said sophomore social and decision sciences major Rotimi Abimbola, a leader of Students for Obama who had only a few days to coordinate the event.

While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another,

“Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.”

“I didn’t know they would say, ‘We need a white person here,’ ” said attendee and senior psychology major Shayna Watson, who sat in the crowd behind Mrs. Obama. “I understood they would want a show of diversity, but to pick up people and to reseat them, I didn’t know it would be so outright.”

Mrs. Obama was introduced by Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of former Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry (D–Mass.), who endorsed Mr. Obama’s candidacy in South Carolina last January.
Heinz Kerry stressed the similarities between Mr. Obama and her late husband John Heinz III, the popular senator from Pennsylvania. She remarked that she has become friends with Mrs. Obama, mainly from exchanging messages on their Blackberries.
Mrs. Obama spoke about her husband’s triumphs over adversity throughout his life, focusing on the decisions he had made that, she said, set him apart from his opponent, Hillary Clinton. As the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, Mrs. Obama said, Mr. Obama could have been successful in the private sector, but chose to go into community organization instead.

“When you’re given the gift of advocacy, you don’t sell it to the highest bidder,” Mrs. Obama said. Mrs. Obama stressed how her husband has relied on “regular folks” instead of big donors.

Instead of thousand-dollar donations, the Obama campaign has raised millions on small checks of $20 to $50. Mrs. Obama sees this participatory attitude as a new trend.

“Folks have been engaged in a way they have not been before. People sit around the TV with their 5-year-olds watching debates.”

Mrs. Obama was careful to note that the Obamas, both of whom are Harvard-educated lawyers and who together own a million-dollar home in Illinois, grew up under difficult conditions.

“In my house, there were no miracles. All I saw was hard work and sacrifice,” Mrs. Obama said, speaking of her youth. “My father did not complain and went to work every single day.”

Most of Mrs. Obama’s statements were met with cheers and enthusiastic support, especially the televised crowd, many of whom were long-time fans of Mr. Obama.
One attendee, Joanne Plummer, a resident of Wilkinsburg, has been waiting a long time for an Obama presidency.

“Four years ago, when I first saw him speak for Kerry, I just knew — this man will be president,” Plummer said.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Oh my gosh! I always thought they set up seating for the camera to show a varied support for a candidate, but I never heard anyone that would say it like that in my life. LOL
There just isn’t an ounce of class in the left for either of the candidates or their mates. And I will include their staff as well.