Theodore's World

I am so sorry, but I won’t be able to have a post up for today. I have a fever, the flu I think, and I guess it is lucky but today I go to the doctor to see what he has to say about my arm. They have done the X-ray’s and MRI’s on it, so maybe they can help me get rid of this horrible pain. augh
Well better to be a pain in the arm then a pain in the A#$.
Have a great day everyone and again I am so sorry. It is just too hard to sit at the computer tonight. And I always like to have posts up for the morning.
Love you all

Assad, Ahmadinejad vow to form alliance against U.S., IsraelHaaretz
Iranian President Mahmoud Adhmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday vowed to form an alliance against what they called U.S. and Israeli conspiracies against the Islamic world.
The Iranian president also praised the agreement by rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government.

“Dispute among Muslim factions has always been harmful for regional nations and useful for Islam’s enemies,” he said.

“America’s policies have failed in the region … By creating divisions among Muslim nations, Washington wants to pursue its aims,” IRNA quoted Assad as saying during his meeting with Ahmadinejad, who urged “Muslim countries to preserve unity.”
Ahmadinejad said that what the US really aims for under the pretext of development in the region “is just another effort to strengthen its own status and that of the Zionists (Israel).”
The Syrian leader said Muslims worldwide should be informed about “the evil aims by the U.S. and Zionists” which he said were sowing discord among Muslims.
Assad arrived earlier Saturday in Tehran for a two-day visit to discuss developments in the Middle East and was scheduled to also meet Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.
On the agenda would be Iraq, Lebanon and cooperation with the Palestinians. Assad was in Tehran in August 2005 immediately after the start of Ahmadinejad’s presidential term.
Ahmadinejad said earlier Saturday that Lebanon and Hezbollah have his complete support in their struggle against Israel and the United States.
“Iran and Lebanon are two parts of the same body, and only through cooperation between our two nations will it be possible to foil the conspiracies of the enemy,” Ahmadinejad said.
“Thanks to Hezbollah, the Lebanese people have become a symbol of courage, faith and respect for all nations, and all this through the power of resistance,” Ahmadinejad added.

Wild Thing’s comment……
I would bet that the Democrats will be glad to give Iran and Syria a blank check from the US.

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.
It is the fifth in a new class of warship – designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.
Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship’s bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept. 9, 2003, “those big rough steelworkers treated it with total &nbs p; reverence,” recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. “It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.”
Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the “hair on my neck stood up.” “It had a big meaning to it for all of us,” he said. “They knocked us down. They can’t keep us down. We’re going to be back.”
The ship’s motto? “Never Forget”

Clinton urges start of Iraq pullout in 90 days
Reuters/Yahoo news
U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the early front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has called for a 90-day deadline to start pulling American troops from Iraq.

“Now it’s time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or the Congress will revoke authorization for this war,” the New York senator said in a video on her campaign Web site, repeating a point included in a bill she introduced on Friday.

In offering what she called a roadmap out of Iraq, Clinton said a visit there last month had made her more determined to start what she called a long overdue withdrawal.
Clinton’s bill would cap the number of troops in Iraq at the January 1 level, prior to Bush’s decision to add 21,500 to the approximately 130,000 soldiers already there.
Clinton’s bill would require congressional authorization to exceed her proposed cap on U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

U.S. senators Harry Reid (D-NV) (R) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) hold a news conference about the Senate’s failure to vote on a House resolution that opposes President George W. Bush’s decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington February 17, 2007. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the following statement on the Saturday vote in the United States Senate.

“Today, a bipartisan majority of the United States Senate voted against the President’s flawed plan to escalate the war. The Senate joined the House of Representatives, put itself on the record, and told the President that America needs a new direction in Iraq. As for the Republicans who chose once again to block further debate and protect President Bush, the American people now know they support the escalation. “

“Today’s vote against the escalation is not the end of this Iraq debate in the Senate. This war is too important to permit Senate Republicans to brush it aside. The Bush Administration’s failures have put our troops and America in a deep hole, and it is time for this country and this Congress to climb out. The Republican Leadership can run from this debate, but they can’t hide. The Senate will keep fighting to force President Bush to change course.”

Republicans who did vote for surrender cloture:
Coleman, Norm (MN)
Collins, Susan M. (ME)
Hagel, Chuck (NE)
Smith, Gordon H. (OR)
Snowe, Olympia J. (ME)
Specter, Arlen (PA)
Warner, John (VA)

Wild Thing’s comment…….
The Democrats have based their entire future on the hopes that we fail in Iraq. So now they’re doing all in their power to make that failure happen. Traitors all.
The terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan must be having quite the party following this traitorous BS happening in the Senate today. It sickens me that our service men and women have to see this Democrat driven treason.
As for LIAR Harry Reid, he assumes the White House will not challenge his statements and the NYT will carry his words all the way until they become accepted as truth. Hey Harry, The Senate is on record for not invoking cloture!!
From Roll Call…..

Despite falling four votes short of breaking a GOP filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) claimed a symbolic victory in the fight over the Iraq War today as Democrats mustered a bipartisan majority of 56 lawmakers to support taking up a resolution opposing President Bush’s plan to increase U.S. troop levels in the war-torn country.

I thought this was good…..It is from Investors.com

So fully have they committed themselves to losing that, should we win, they can take no credit whatsoever.
Having thus stuck their necks out, they will have been politically decapitated. They’ll return in the minds of the public to being the party of higher taxes, out-of-control entitlement programs that they refuse to fix, abortion on demand, same-sex marriage and every other item in the far-left playbook.
The Democrats last week may just have voted themselves a one-way ticket back to the political wilderness and minority status.

New York Post Front Page headline: TREASON
COWARDS GIVE UP ON GIS – & GIVE IN TO EVIL
NY POST
by Ralph Peters
As a former soldier who still spends a good bit of time with those in uniform, what infuriates me personally is the Doublespeak, Stalin-Prize lie that undercutting our troops and encouraging our enemies is really a way to “support our troops.”
As for bringing them home, why not respect the vote the troops themselves are taking: Sustained re-enlistment rates have been at a record high.
And our soldiers and Marines know they’ll go back to Iraq or Afghanistan. And no, Senator Kerry, it’s not because they’re too stupid to get a “real” job like yours or because they’re “mercenaries.” Some Americans still believe in America.
If our troops are willing to fight this bitter war, how dare Congress knife them in the back?
On Thursday night, I was in Nashville as a guest of the 506th Regimental Combat Team – with whom I’d spent all too brief a time in Baghdad.
The occasion was their welcome-home ball, complete with dress uniforms spangled with awards for bravery. Proud spouses sat beside their returned warriors.
Of course, those soldiers were glad to be home with their loved ones. But they also know they’ll go back to one theater of war or another – and no one complained.
They share a value that Congress has forgotten: duty. They’re willing to bear the weight of the world on their shoulders. Because they know that freedom has a price.
As you entered the ballroom for the event, the first thing you saw was a line of 34 photographs. A single white candle softly lit each frame. Those were the members of the 506th who didn’t come home.
Soldiers honor their dead. It’s the least Congress could do to honor the living men and women in uniform.
You don’t support our troops by supporting our enemies.

Wild Thing’s comment……
Can you even imagine if someone had proposed such a resolution during WWII??? Kudos to the NY Post. They should have included photos of Murtha, Pelosi and Reid ….heck all of them on the cover.

The last Republican to speak against the Democrats’ anti-surge, pro-defeat resolution yesterday was Sam Johnson of Texas. Johnson was a 29-year Air Force veteran, who flew something like 90 combat missions in Korea and Vietnam. He was shot down over North Vietnam and spent seven years as a POW, more than half of that time in solitary confinement. He returned to the U.S. in 1973 and was elected to Congress in 1991.
Coincidentally, this week in 1973 as one of the longest held captives, Johnson finally left Hanoi on February 12, 1973 and returned home to Texas on February 17, 1973.
He got a standing ovation from those in the House chamber, but see how few Democrats were willing to hear him speak.
As I watched this I cried, I cried in pride that we have Veterans like this man and Veterans like those of you here at Theodore’s World blog. And for all the Veterans I have met and are my friends. I cried too for my broken heart that this is happening for a second time to our military that without them we have nothing!!!!!
I hope you all watching it and hear his voice, the whole thing, it is so moving and made my heart burst with pride.

Ladies and gentlemen I introduce to you………………..

Congressman Johnson (R-TX) Floor Speech

I am putting the transcript of what he said as well……..
Johnson’s floor statement follows:

“You know, I flew 62 combat missions in the Korean War and 25 missions in the Vietnam War before being shot down.
“I had the privilege of serving in the United States Air Force for 29 years, attending the prestigious National War College, and commanding two air bases, among other things.
“I mention these stories because I view the debate on the floor not just as a U.S. Congressman elected to serve the good people of the Third District in Texas, but also through the lens of a life-long fighter pilot, student of war, a combat warrior, a leader of men, and a Prisoner of War.
“Ironically, this week marks the anniversary that I started a new life – and my freedom from prison in Hanoi.
“I spent nearly seven years as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam, more than half of that time in solitary confinement. I flew out of Hanoi on February 12, 1973 with other long-held Prisoners of War – weighing just 140 pounds. And tomorrow – 34 years ago, I had my homecoming to Texas – a truly unspeakable blessing of freedom.
“While in solitary confinement, my captors kept me in leg stocks, like the pilgrims… for 72 days….
“As you can imagine, they had to carry me out of the stocks because I couldn’t walk. The following day, they put me in leg irons… for 2 ½ years. That’s when you have a tight metal cuff around each ankle – with a foot-long bar connecting the legs.
“I still have little feeling in my right arm and my right hand… and my body has never been the same since my nearly 2,500 days of captivity.
“But I will never let my physical wounds hold me back.
“Instead, I try to see the silver lining. I say that because in some way … I’m living a dream…a hope I had for the future.
“From April 16, 1966 to February 12, 1973 – I prayed that I would return home to the loving embrace of my wife, Shirley, and my three kids, Bob, Gini, and Beverly…
“And my fellow POWs and I clung to the hope of when – not if – we returned home.
“We would spend hours tapping on the adjoining cement walls about what we would do when we got home to America.
“We pledged to quit griping about the way the government was running the war in Vietnam and do something about it… We decided that we would run for office and try to make America a better place for all.
“So – little did I know back in my rat-infested 3 x 8 dark and filthy cell that 34 years after my departure from Hell on Earth… I would spend the anniversary of my release pleading for a House panel to back my measure to support and fully fund the troops in harm’s way….and that just days later I would be on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives surrounded by distinguished veterans urging Congress to support our troops to the hilt.
“We POWs were still in Vietnam when Washington cut the funding for Vietnam. I know what it does to morale and mission success. Words can not fully describe the horrendous damage of the anti-American efforts against the war back home to the guys on the ground.
“Our captors would blare nasty recordings over the loud speaker of Americans protesting back home…tales of Americans spitting on Vietnam veterans when they came home… and worse.
“We must never, ever let that happen again.
“The pain inflicted by your country’s indifference is tenfold that inflicted by your ruthless captors.
“Our troops – and their families – want, need and deserve the full support of the country – and the Congress. Moms and dads watching the news need to know that the Congress will not leave their sons and daughters in harm’s way without support.
“Since the President announced his new plan for Iraq last month, there has been steady progress. He changed the rules of engagement and removed political protections.
“There are reports we wounded the number two of Al Qaeda and killed his deputy. Yes, Al Qaeda operates in Iraq. It’s alleged that top radical jihadist Al-Sadr has fled Iraq – maybe to Iran. And Iraq’s closed its borders with Iran and Syria. The President changed course and offered a new plan …we are making progress. We must seize the opportunity to move forward, not stifle future success.
“Debating non-binding resolutions aimed at earning political points only destroys morale, stymies success, and emboldens the enemy.
“The grim reality is that this House measure is the first step to cutting funding of the troops…Just ask John Murtha about his ‘slow-bleed’ plan that hamstrings our troops in harm’s way.
“Now it’s time to stand up for my friends who did not make it home – and those who fought and died in Iraq – so I can keep my promise that when we got home we would quit griping about the war and do something positive about it…and we must not allow this Congress to leave these troops like the Congress left us.
“Today, let my body serve as a brutal reminder that we must not repeat the mistakes of the past… instead learn from them.
“We must not cut funding for our troops. We must stick by them. We must support them all the way…To our troops we must remain…always faithful.
“God bless you and I salute you all. Thank you.”

Senate Democrats promise `relentless’ flood of anti-war legislation
Kansas City.com
The tough talk came a day after the House of Representatives passed its own anti-Iraq resolution and as the GOP used a procedural vote to stop the Senate from taking a position on the 21,500 troop increase.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats would be “relentless.”

“There will be resolution after resolution, amendment after amendment . . . just like in the days of Vietnam,” Schumer said. “The pressure will mount, the president will find he has no strategy, he will have to change his strategy and the vast majority of our troops will be taken out of harm’s way and come home.”

Republicans Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, John Warner of Virginia, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Gordon Smith of Oregon and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania sided with Democrats in calling for debate to begin, as did the two Republicans already on board, Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut joined the 33 Republicans to block the vote.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
I realize none of us are surprised to hear that the left wants another Vietnam. I’m only posting this because I’m surprised they’re willing to talk about their goals so openly. I have been disappointed with the President on several different issues, but I’ll bet big money that he will not buckle in to these traitors. Bush will go mano-to-mano with these pukes and prevail.
The one thing the Dems cannot tolerate is the potential the troup buildup might work. This would destroy their chances in the 2008 elections. For them to succeed, the US must fail in Iraq. This is the Dems Second Tet Offensive.

‘They won’t be able to continue.
“They won’t be able to do the deployment.
“They won’t have the equipment
“They don’t have the training
“They won’t be able to do the work.
“There’s no question in my mind.”…John Traitor Murtha

House Passes Iraq Resolution With 17 Votes From G.O.P.
LINK to the list of who voted
( Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
The seventeen Republicans who decided today to end their political careers:
Representative James T. Walsh
Phone: 202-225-3701
Fax: 202-225-4042
Representative Walter Jones
Phone: 202-225-3415
Fax: 202-225-3286
Representative Wayne Gilchrest
Phone: 202-225-5311
Fax: 202-225-0254
Representative Michael Castle
Phone: 202-225-4165
Fax: 202-225-2291
Representative Richard (Ric) Keller
Phone: 202-225-2176
Fax: 202-225-0999
Representative Philip Sheridan English
Phone: 202-225-5406
Fax: 202-225-3103
Representative Ronald Ernest Paul
Phone: 202-225-2831
Representative Frederick Stephen Upton
Phone: 202-225-3761
Fax: 202-225-4986
Representative Thomas M. Davis
Phone: 202-225-1492
Fax: 202-225-3071
Representative Mark Kirk
Phone: 202-225-4835
Fax: 202-225-0837
Representative Howard Coble
Phone: 202-225-3065
Fax: 202-225-8611
Email: howard.coble AT mail.house.gov
Representative John J. Duncan Jr.
Phone: 202-225-5435
Fax: 202-225-6440
Representative James Ramstad
Phone: 202-225-2871
Fax: 202-225-6351
Email: mn03 AT mail.house.gov
Representative Steven C. LaTOURETTE
Phone: 202-225-5731
Fax: 202-225-3307
Representative Robert Inglis
Phone: 202-225-6030
Fax: 202-226-1177
Representative Timothy V. Johnson
Phone: 202-225-2371
Fax: 202-226-0791
Representative Thomas Petri
Phone: 202-225-2476
Fax: 202-225-2356

Wild Thing’s comment……
Every single one of those that voted for this should be executed for treason. I am fed up with their loathing of our fight against Islam that wants us all dead. NO way are these people NOT informed. No way are they illiterate and don’t know any better. This is an agenda of the worst order and it IS against America and our troops.
Today’s action by the Democrats and a few Republicans will be interpreted by the mullas as weakness , thus ensuring another major attack in the U.S. These Democrats and the seventeen former Republicans have just voted in the most binding of all ways to cut the heart out of troop morale, to aid our sworn enemies abroad, and to give assistance and comfort to the leftists and Marxists in the Democratic Party, and their Old Media buddies.
As far as I am concerned there are TWO wars, one that our military is fighting against Islam, and the other back here at home….the war against the enemy within. God help us, God help America and God please protect our troops.

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear.”- Marcus Tullius Cicero

“They won’t be able to continue. They won’t be able to do the deployment. They won’t have the equipment, they don’t have the training and they won’t be able to do the work. There’s no question in my mind.”

– John Murtha
Washington Times
In the wake of September 11, McGovernism — that is, the reflexive opposition to the use of force by the United States against foreign enemies that has dogged the Democratic Party since Richard Nixon’s time — became more of a liability than ever.
But in last year’s congressional elections, the Democrats came up with a shrewd, cynical new P.R. strategy that has until now served them well: saying lots of nice things about American soldiers fighting in Iraq while simultaneously advancing resolutions that denigrate their mission. But the decision to effectively cut off funds by micromanaging their use — rather than by doing so directly — may also be unconstitutional.
When the House votes today on the resolution denouncing Mr. Bush’s plans for additional troops to combat al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in Iraq, members should be under no illusions about what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic Party leadership are trying to do: to make it impossible for American troops to properly do their job in Iraq.
In an interview yesterday with MoveCongress.org, a Web site for a coalition of anti-war groups, Mr. Murtha, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, explained that by placing conditions on $93.4 billion in new combat funds, he would make be able to effectively stop the troops in their tracks.

“They won’t be able to continue. They won’t be able to do the deployment. They won’t have the equipment, they don’t have the training and they won’t be able to do the work. There’s no question in my mind,” Mr. Murtha said.

“We will set benchmarks for readiness,” a top Democratic leadership aide told the nonpartisan Politico.com Web site, which summarized the Democrats’ strategy this way: “If enacted, these provisions would have the effect of limiting the number of troops available for the Bush surge plan, while blunting the GOP charge that Democrats are cutting funding for the troops in Iraq.”

Aside from doing severe damage to the war effort in Iraq, the Democrats’ political strategy to cripple the war effort by attaching thousands of legislative strings to war funding may also be unconstitutional. Noted attorney and constitutional scholar David Rivkin makes a strong case that Congress cannot act like a “puppet master” appropriating and authorizing funds while attaching conditions that would effectively transform the president into a marionette.
If Congress wants to cut off funding, it must do so honestly and directly, rather than dishonestly through micromanagement. In addition to paving the way for a geopolitical catastrophe for this country, the Democratic leadership may be setting the stage for a constitutional confrontation with the White House.

HERE is Murthda and the Democrats plan Murtha describes his strategy for not only limiting the deployment of troops to Iraq but undermining other aspects of the president’s foreign and national security policy. If you have the stomach to watch this entire thing … do!

MoveCongress is part of the Win Without War coalition. This of course comes as no suprise but here are some other members of the win without war coalition:
20/20 Vision
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities
Center for International Policy (CIP)
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Council for a Livable World
Families USA
Feminist Majority
Fourth Freedom Forum
Global Exchange
Greenpeace
Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR)
MoveOn
NAACP
National Council of Churches
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Organization for Women (NOW)
NETWORK A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Pax Christi USA
Peace Action
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)
Psychologists for Social Responsibility
Rainbow/Push Coalition
Shalom Center
Sierra Club
Sojourners
Soulforce
The Tikkun Community
TrueMajority
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United Church of Christ
United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
Us Foundation
USAction
Veterans for Peace
Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND)
Working Assets
Artists United to Win Without War
Musicians United to Win Without War

Wild Thing’s comment…….
What a loathsome scourge has been unleashed upon our country!!! OH and get this, one of the Haditha Marines who Murtha called a cold-blooded killer is actually from Murtha’s district?
Darryl Sharratt (father of LCpl. Justin Sharratt) has asked repeatedly sent requests to meet with Murtha or anyone in his office. Darryl has never even had the courtesy of a returned phone call.
It comes down to this in pure vile fact!!
The Bush administration “won’t be able to continue.
They won’t be able to do the deployment.
They won’t have the equipment.
They don’t have the training and they won’t be able to do the work,”
Murtha said in the post on the Democrat-friendly Web site MoveCongress.org.
“This vote will limit the options of the president and should stop this surge.”

From the information I have read, this strategy is already well underway. In acting on the Omnibus spending bill, the Congress has cut the Army budget for BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) in half. Since BRAC is mandated by law, the Army will have to move money from other accounts in order to meet the BRAC statuatory requirements. One way they have done this is to inactivate the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division rather than to move this brigade from Germany to Fort Bliss (this brigade is just now returning from a tour in Iraq). This will make the brigade unavailable for a return deployment to Iraq when their turn next comes.
Democrats are also moving to remove funding for an Army Stryker Brigade’s equipment from the Supplemental Funding bill. This means that this brigade cannot convert as scheduled and therefore will not be available for deployment to Iraq.
Their scheme is designed to fool the American people by saying that they are “supporting the troops” and “funding the troops”. Neither statement is true. They are supporting the enemy, of that there is no doubt.
The President said of Congresses’ plans: ‘I hope they don’t do anything to stop the troops from doing what I told them to do’. I’m hoping with all my heart that those words mean what they would coming fom a Man(as opposed to a politician).
Push these clowns to the edge, Mr. President, you might be surprised at the resolve of those of us and others behind you.

“Currahee,” a Cherokee word meaning “stands alone” and a word that became the cry of the 506th Paratroopers Regiment (which included Easy Company). Stands Alone Together!

A video about one of our soldier’s tour in Ramadi, Iraq.
A co 1/506 2nd Plt Maniacs
Music by Johnny Cash

John 5 VN 69-70 for sending this video link to me.