Theodore's World

Statue of baseball-loving family unveiled outside Hadlock Field
PORTLAND, Maine
Boston.com
With snow still surrounding the stadium, the Portland Sea Dogs on Monday unveiled a 9 1/2-foot-tall bronze monument depicting a family of four heading to the ball park to enjoy America’s favorite pastime.
Initially, the six-figure gift was met with a cold shoulder after Sherbell’s preliminary model ran into opposition from members of the city’s public art committee.

The vice chairman of the committee declared that he was not enthused with designs featuring “white folks on pedestals.” Another committee member said Portland already had too many statues depicting “white, Anglo-Saxon people.” The committee also didn’t like the fact that the “family” wore clothing with the Portland Sea Dogs logo.

The committee voted against accepting the gift, based on photographs of a “maquette,” a small, preliminary clay design of Sherbell’s vision for the project. But the City Council ultimately voted unanimously to accept it.
The monument, on the sidewalk outside the city-owned ball park, consists of four statues depicting a boy wearing a baseball glove, his father with sunglasses and camera in his pockets, and a mother carrying a baby girl and a teddy bear.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
The vice chairman of the committee declared that he was not enthused with designs featuring “white folks on pedestals.”
I guess some of those people want statues that have faces with no features whatsoever. How silly for people to be like this!

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York reacts to seeing and old friend during a campaign stop at the National Education Association New Hampshire, in Concord, N.H.( AP)

Wild Thing’s comment……….
LMAO this is too funny, it says she is reacting to seeing and old friend. She looks more like she is angry then happy. I would hate to see that look coming at me from a friend I had not seen in a long time. Yikes!

Some suggestions for her photo………..
“You gave money to Obama!”
“He’s doing WHAT to all the female donors!???”
“No…wire…HANGERS!”

WASHINGTON
Newsday
The 2008 presidential campaign is long on war rhetoric and short on warriors. Despite the high-profile roles of the battle against terrorism and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the presidential campaign, few of the candidates can claim military experience on their resumes.
DEMOCRATS:
* Delaware Sen. Joe Biden – None. Rejected for medical reasons, but would have been eligible in a national emergency.
* New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton – None.
* Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd – Served in the Army Reserve (1969-75).
* Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards – None. Draft number was never called.
* Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich – None. Was rejected for military service because a heart murmur.
* Illinois Sen. Barack Obama – None. Too young to have been drafted for the Vietnam War.
* Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico – None. Received student and medical classifications. Draft number was never called.

REPUBLICANS:
* Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback – None. Came of age as draft was ending.
* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani – None. Received student and occupational deferments. Draft number was never called.
* Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee – None. Came of age as draft was ending.
* California Rep. Duncan Hunter – Served as an Army paratrooper and Ranger in Vietnam (1969-71).
Also his son, a Marine, has completed two tours of duty in Iraq.
* Arizona Sen. John McCain – Served in the Navy (1958-81); prisoner of war in Vietnam (1967-73).
* Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney – None. Received a deferment as a Mormon missionary in France, was eligible for the draft upon his return to the states but was never selected.
* Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo – None. Received student deferments. Was available for military service in 1969. Reclassified in 1970 because of stress-related anxiety and could have been called up only during a pressing national emergency.

Congress has also seen a drain in the number of members with military experience.
Only 131 members have had some form of military service, according to a Congressional Research Service report. During the 93rd Congress from 1973 to 1975, 390 veterans served.
Even if a military background isn’t essential to voters, a sense that a candidate can handle the role of commander in chief remains important to most Americans.

Wild Thing’s comment………
I am not saying that serving in the military is a qualification for President, John Kerry is a perfect example of why that’s not true. But personally I think it helps in the times we live in now to have someone that has served in the military and have that connection to be Commander in Chief.
At least that is what I would wish for, but he would have to be a Conservative and not a Rhino.

Charlie Daniels photo from one of his many trips to Iraq to visit the troops.

This writing is one of Charlie’s, it is from Charlie Daniels Soapbox and Message board
Confrontation
As far as I’m concerned Nancy Pelosi’s name can be put alongside Jane Fonda as someone
who has no trouble delivering a slap to the face of every man and woman serving in the military.
To think that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United
States would go to a terrorist state, play patty cake with a dictator who is
directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of scores of service men
and women serving in Iraq is past disgusting, it’s downright sickening.
And all this in defiance of the Commander and Chief.
She is so blinded by her determination to bring down a president that she
seems to care little about how she does it.
What possible good can a meeting between Nancy Pelosi and Assad do?
She is not a head of state, she can’t make any policy or do anything except
to impress on the Syrians that the Left Wing of the United States Congress
wants to destroy George Bush and if they destroy a little bit of America in
the process so be it.
Maybe she went to bask in the glow of the support of Middle Eastern
dictators who probably think that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are the
greatest thing since sliced bread.
Some in Congress and the Senate actually want to set a date for withdrawing the troops
from Iraq. That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. It’s like telling a burglar what time
you¹ll be leaving your house so he can come in and take every thing you own.
Ms. Pelosi thinks you can bargain with thieves and deal with terrorists. She
thinks that they can be placated and dealt with diplomatically. Boy has she
got a lesson to learn.
These people will settle for nothing less than the total destruction of
Israel and the United States of America and it makes no difference how many peace
deals are struck or how many treaties are signed. None of them are worth the paper
they¹re written on.
The only kind of diplomacy people like Assad and the mullahs in Iraq understand is
strength and Pelosi has taken a giant step in demonstrating that there is a breach in
the American armor, There are people who had rather placate and run instead of
standing and fighting.
I guess she has grandiose imaginings of being some great statesman but all
she has done is pour gasoline on the burning determination of the radical
maniacs who have no problem with slaughtering women and children or hacking
an infidel’s head off.
Nancy Pelosi, history will prove that you have done a vast disservice to
America. You’ve given aid and comfort to the enemy. You’ve undermined the war
on terror and you¹ve done it all for political reasons.
I pray your children and grandchildren won’t reap the results of your
selfish folly.
Pray for our troops
What do you think?
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
April 9, 2007

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Charlie Daniels a good man, a patriot and an awesome performer. I am so glad he has a site for his soapbox writings. Excellent! Thank you Charlie! And God bless you.

Curmudgeonly Skeptical Blog

Have a very special Birthday
and many, many more! 

Wishing you all the best!
A year of fun and happiness
is my birthday wish for you
You are someone special
and your birthday should be too!

Happy Birthday!

from, 
Wild Thing 

and everyone here at 
Theodore’s World

This is a movie that is one of my favorites. The Four Feathers, produced in England in 1939. I loved it so much I bought the video. It was remade a few years ago, but nothing can compare to the original, it is the best.
A British army officer, Harry Faversahn, trains all day and even has time to conquer beautiful Ethne. With that Harry decides to leave the army, but good things do not last forever, so in the evening of his engagement party his regiment is call to arms to Egypt to fight against the wicked Egyptian rebels. But Harry refuses and so his former best friends send him three feathers, a sophisticated way to call him a coward. But the fourth, ah! the fourth one is the most terrible of all because it is Ethne who gives it to him.
So our hero is an outcast, nodoby loves him, nodoby cares for him. And Harry proving that after all he is a Favershan, embarks to Egypt to save his comrades. Disguised as a mute native he saves them all. Crosses the dessert, saves Durrance (who is in love with Ethne too), saves Willoughby and Burroughs from a dreadful prision and evidently gives back each of the four feathers.
This movie celebrates courage and determination. Something that the 15 Brits taken hostage will never be able to do. Oh they are trying the I am a Hero now thing, but that is just not the case. They handled this wrong from the get go imo.
This movie I mentioned came to mind not when the 15 sailors were taken hostage, but when they were released. They are just not the ” Let’s Roll” character that sets a person apart and each thing they are doing now confrims it even more. I don’t have a lot of sympathy or respect for the way these hostages handled themselves. It definitely is not a shining moment for the British military. It does not live up to the proud history of their military.
And to make matters worse once they were released, some were effusive in their praise for the Iranians, apologizing yet again for their intrusion! sheesh!
Let’s compare something here…..
From the 15 hostages:
* We were blindfolded and subjected to interrogation
* We were told we faced seven years in prison if we did not ‘confess’
* Iranians entered Iraqi waters deliberately to detain us. Fighting back was not an option
* We were 1.7 nautical miles away from Iranian waters
* We were under psychological pressure and mind games
* Faye Turney was isolated in a cell away from the rest of the crew
* All 15 of them had been blindfolded, handcuffed and pushed against a wall by their Iranian captors
* they heard the sound of guns being cocked – and believed they were about to be shot by firing squad.
They were fed three times a day and given cigarettes. They were given clothes and slept on blankets. There certainly was nothing “brutal” about their treatment. The soldiers, and one must keep in mind they were soldiers, decided to roll over and cooperate with their captors almost immediately with little evidence of overt coercion.
But wait that is not all, now there are book deals being made. The former captives are expected to make around £250,000 between them. Faye Turney, the 26-year-old seawoman, is likely to get the most profitable deal. She is said to have sold her story for £150,000 in a joint contract with a newspaper and ITV.
In contrast let’s look at a different kind of Britt:

John Peters came to the world’s attention in January 1991, when his bruised and battered face flashed onto television screens around the world. On the first day of the Gulf War, a British Tornado bomber crewed by John Peters and John Nichol was shot down over Iraqi territory and the two men were captured. After four days of mental and physical torture, they were forcibly shown on Iraqi television. It was John Peters’ disfigured image that became a potent symbol of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless aggression.
John’s powerful and moving story focuses on how he coped with both the brutal physical and mental pressure inflicted on him by his captors. His dramatic and sometimes harrowing experiences reach deep into our innermost minds, showing us how we can overcome even our worst fears and nightmares. He inspires and motivates people with his own dramatic account of his experiences during Operation Desert Storm. His war was not all as he expected – it became a seven-week ordeal of torture and interrogation testing John Peters to the absolute limit and bringing him close to death.

Thinking about these things and comparing it to our troops that were taken hostage and prisoner in other wars, such as Vietnam. I will NEVER forget the brave American troops, prisoners of former wars, who endured years of captive isolation without disclosing any information, even under torture. And England has its own Greatest Generation, troops who fought a determined and superior enemy while vowing never to surrender. As Churchill observed, that was England’s finest hour. I have posted on here at TW of Brits that have been brave, I have thanked England for their support in our war against Islam. But when it comes to these 15, they reflect on their country and their military and what a pity it is they will not be able to hold their heads high knowing they did all they could, and that their whinning of their so called torture is making them look even worse.
Heroes show up when the time calls for it, these 15 did not show up. For these 15 the 4 Feather comes to mind.

al-Sadr calls for attacks on U.S. troops
BAGHDAD
The powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his militiamen on Sunday to redouble their battle to oust American forces and argued that Iraq’s army and police should join him in defeating “your archenemy.”
Al-Sadr commands an enormous following among Iraq’s majority Shiites and has close allies in the Shiite-dominated government. The statement Sunday carried his seal and was distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where the cleric called for an enormous demonstration to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad’s fall.

“You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don’t walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy,” the al-Sadr statement said.

He urged his followers not to attack fellow Iraqis but to turn all their efforts on American forces.

“God has ordered you to be patient in front of your enemy, and unify your efforts against them — not against the sons of Iraq,” the statement said.

Al-Sadr apparently issued the statement in response to three days of clashes between his Mahdi Army militiamen and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops in Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad.
In Washington, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent of Connecticut, said al-Sadr’s words showed the American troop surge was working.

“He is not calling for a resurgence of sectarian conflict. He’s striking a nationalist chord. We’re going to have to watch him closely. He’s not our friend. He’s acknowledging that the surge is working,” the senator, a strong backer of the war, said on CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.”

Wild Thing’s comment………
OK so now we have Mookie is openly calling for war against US forces. This POS shoul dhave been taken out when our troops hit Baghdad. My bet is they wanted to but the higher ups, not military, told them to hold back. Then of course they let him play in setting up the new government, but alas he showed he cannot do that. It just isn’t in him to play nice, so can we please oh please take him out now? I mean he has declared war on our troops, doesn’t this make him a legitimate target?
I realize this terrorist Al Sadr has been calling for war against the US for four years, and his militia lost thousands of terrorists fighting the US. I agree with Lieberman ( OMG did I say I agreed with a democrat) anyway the Surge is working, and Al Sadr is unable to stop it. Also I believe that he just got his latest orders from his masters in the Iranian terrorist regime to send his terrorist militia for a final battle against the US forces to undermine the surge. I wish they will come out in the open because these terrorists will be annihilated by our troops, and al-Sadr along with them would be a nice present to our troops.

Iraqi army Brigadier Qassim Moussawi, a spokesman for the Baghdad security operation, right, gestures as he speaks during a press conference while US military spokesman Maj. Gen William Caldwell looks on, in Baghdad (AP Photo/Mahmoud al-Badri)

Guns, TNT found at Sunni lawmaker’s home
BAGHDAD
U.S. and Iraqi troops found a huge stash of weapons in a raid on the home of a Sunni lawmaker and detained at least a dozen men for questioning, officials said Sunday.
Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, said the raid targeted a house of legislator Khalaf al-Ilyan — one of the three leaders of the Iraqi Accordance Front, which holds 44 seats in parliament.

“During the search, we discovered many weapons and explosive materials,” al-Moussawi said at a news conference. He did not say when the raid took place, but a U.S. military statement said it occurred Tuesday.

Among the weapons found in the house were 33 Kalashnikov rifles, three pistols, one hand grenade, 4.4 pounds of TNT and 13 82-mm mortar rounds, al-Moussawi said.
The U.S. military said eight 57-mm rockets and 5,000 rounds of ammunition were also seized, along with photos of burning British soldiers and American flag-draped coffins. A detailed search revealed buried mortar rounds with new explosive timing and initiation devices.
Al-Ilyan was believed to be in Jordan at the time of the raid, and was unreachable for comment.

Al-Moussawi said troops detained 12 people for questioning. A U.S. military statement put the number of detainees at 14, and said they were al-Ilyan’s personal bodyguards.

As a parliament member, al-Ilyan has immunity from prosecution. But al-Moussawi said “no one is immune when it comes to the law, and if anyone is convicted the person will be detained by security forces.”

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, suggested U.S. officials would not back away from prosecuting a parliament member.

“Anytime we find someone operating outside the law, not following the rules that have been set by this government, they are subject to being detained and arrested,” Caldwell said.

Last month, Iraqi security forces raided the home of another prominent Sunni lawmaker, Dhafer al-Ani, and seized four vehicles, confiscated weapons and detained seven suspects.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
The U.S. military said eight 57-mm rockets and 5,000 rounds of ammunition were also seized, along with photos of burning British soldiers and American flag-draped coffins.
And in the homes of his legions of Minneapolis cab drivers perhaps.
Finding a guy with lots of weapons at home over there should be no surprise, but the explosives is where I would get very suspicious.

Andrea Bocelli & Celine Dion – The Prayer

Have a very special Easter everyone.
Love and hugs
Wild Thing