Theodore's World

Disney’s Piglet banned in Middle East!
Qatar Living
In Qatar there is only one decent bookshop (that happens to be a Saudi chain) that has a few shelves of English books. Shopping there is hit or miss – you don’t go there to look for a title. You go there in the hope of stumbling upon something interesting.
The kids selection is not bad though. The other night we saw Disney’s “My Very First Encyclopedia with Winnie the Pooh and friends”. We grabbed it and thought it was exactly what we needed for our daughter – not only does she love Winnie the Pooh but she’s also started taking a keen interest in nature.
We flipped it open and noticed that some of the pages had been vandalised with a black marker. We figured it must have been bought and returned after some kids had got there hands on it. Further inspection made us realise that this was actually systematic. Someone had deliberately “censored” out each and every picture of Piglet from hundreds of pages in the book with a black marker (my guess is that the book got caught by Saudi Censors enroute to Doha).

From the first page to the last page. Big and small. The black marker was hogging the limelight, so to speak.
Yes, the cuddly cute pink Piglet had disappeared. First, I have no idea who would buy a book that cost about $30 that was marked up like this. Secondly, what the hell were the censors thinking!?
Now as a Muslim, I can venture why they did this. But as a Muslim, I think it is totally ridiculous.
As in Judaism, there are laws governing what can and cannot be eaten. Muslims are forbidden from eating pork, as pigs are believed to be unclean. Now the point of this post isn’t to discuss this. The point is, what is wrong with a picture of Piglet in a kids book? I think absolutely nothing!

Wild Thing’s comment……
Poor sweet little Piglet is the great satan! We shouldn’t be living with them, we should be bombing the crap out of them all. I remember when the Saudi’s refused to allow President Bush 41 to Pray for the Troops before the Gulf War on Saudi soil but made him…..thru their extortion observe the Ceremony from a U.S. Carrier in the Persian Gulf.
The Saudi Royal Family are hypocrites.They party in private…booze,cigars…foods which they will not eat in public,
plus the nocturnal entertainment. They are enabled continualy….after they complain. Others fight and resolve problems for them they make Unbelievably large amounts of money in our lands. And Christianity is marginalized by them…..and thats what they want.
Look at these, many of them I have already posted about before….
From October 2005
England: Toy pigs (trinkets, calenders, Piglet, etc.)must go at council.

Novelty pig calendars and toys have been banned by bosses at Dudley Council in case Muslim staff are offended.
Workers in the council’s benefits department have been told to remove or cover up all pig products including toys, porcelain, calendars and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. It comes after a Muslim worker said they were offended by pig-shaped stress relievers delivered to the authority.

From last June 2006….Piglet banned from Turkey TV

The authorities in Turkey imposed censorship of the cartoon for Winnie the Pooh of the Walt Disney Studios because of the participation of the Piglet

Muslims Refuse to Wash Hands at UK Hospitals
December 2006

Because the anti-bacterial gel contains alcohol: Muslims ‘refuse anti-MRSA gel’. Some Muslims are undermining the battle to rid Britain’s hospitals of killer infections by refusing to wash their hands when visiting sick relatives.
Dispensers containing anti-bacterial gel have been placed outside wards at hospitals all over Britain in a bid to get rid of superbugs like MRSA and PVL. It prevents people bringing in more infections. But some Muslims refuse to use the hand cleansers on religious grounds because they contain alcohol.

February 2007
Minnesota
Muslim cabbies tell airport they won’t bend in alcohol dispute

According to airport officials, about 80 percent of their cabdrivers are Somali, who are commonly Muslim. Islam religious law strictly forbids the carrying of alcohol.
Last year, airport officials said alcohol-bearing passengers were being refused service an average of 77 times a month, though that dropped drastically after new travel safety rules prohibited liquids in carry-on luggage.

Sorry about the fuzzie photo of this man, it is the only one the FBI had.

FBI looks for man who held Clinton, Boxer fundraisers
Pakistani immigrant is alleged to have supplied illegal contributions
Baltimore Sun
WASHINGTON
A Pakistani immigrant who hosted fundraisers for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being sought by the FBI on allegations that he funneled illegal contributions to Clinton’s political action committee and to Sen. Barbara Boxer’s 2004 re-election campaign.
Authorities say Northridge, Calif., businessman Abdul Rehman Jinnah, 56, fled the country shortly after being indicted on charges of engineering more than $50,000 in illegal donations to the Democratic committees. A business associate charged as Jinnah’s co-conspirator has entered a guilty plea and is scheduled to be sentenced in Los Angeles next week.

…The case has transformed Jinnah from a political point man on Pakistani issues, a man often photographed next to foreign dignitaries and U.S. leaders, into a fugitive with his mug shot on the FBI’s most-wanted list.

Jinnah’s profile peaked in 2004 and 2005 as he wooed members of Congress to join a caucus advancing Pakistani concerns and brought Clinton to speak to prominent Pakistani-Americans, lauding their homeland’s contributions to the war on terrorism and calling relations with Pakistan beneficial to U.S. interests.

…Authorities say that from June 2004 to February 2005, Jinnah directly or indirectly solicited contributions from more than a dozen “conduits,” reimbursing them with funds from his company, All American Distributing, a seller of cell phone service and accessories.

The scheme allowed Jinnah to get around limits then in effect on individual donors of $5,000 per year to PACs and $2,000 per election to candidates, as well as the ban on using corporate money for political donations.

…The indictment, handed down last May without a press release, mentions only the initials of the committees that received the illegal donations, referring to them as “HP” and “FB.” However, the charging document filed against Jinnah’s co-conspirator, Stuart Schoenburg, identifies one of the committees as HILLPAC

WANTED
By The FBI
ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS; CONSPIRACY
ABDUL REHMAN JINNAH
Photograph taken in 2003
Alias: Ray Jinnah
DESCRIPTION
Date of Birth Used: February 6, 1951 Hair: Black
Place of Birth: Pakistan Eyes: Brown
Height: 5’9″ Sex: Male
Weight: 168 pounds Race: White
(Central Asian)
NCIC: W150502690 Nationality: Pakistani
Occupation: Jinnah has owned several businesses, including ones that sell cellular phones and accessories, and frozen yogurt. Additionally, he is known to have an interest in purchasing real estate.
Scars and Marks: None known
Remarks: Jinnah has connections to Karachi, Pakistan, and Los Angeles, California, and is known to travel to London and United Arab Emirates. He may suffer from heart problems.
CAUTION
Abdul Rehman Jinnah is wanted for the alleged violation of United States federal election laws. Between June 2004 and February 2005, Jinnah allegedly solicited employees, family members, and business contacts to provide campaign contributions to several United States federal and state politicians. Jinnah then allegedly reimbursed the contributors with corporate monies from his own business. On May 18, 2006, a federal arrest warrant was issued by the United States District Court, Central District of California, after Jinnah was charged with illegal campaign contributions and conspiracy.
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS PERSON, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FBI OFFICE OR THE NEAREST AMERICAN EMBASSY OR CONSULATE.
ROBERT S. MUELLER, III
DIRECTOR
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535
TELEPHONE: (202) 324-3000

Wild Thing’s comment……….
Well this is not surprising, once again the name Clinton connected to something done illegally to obtain their goals of power. Hmmmm but which party is the one accused by the Democrats as the party of the “culture of corruption??!!
I can’t wait for the AP, the New York Times, and CNN to pick up on this! We have to rely on the Baltimore Sun to report this? Well, of course, our lousy Democrat lying liberal news media only reports Republican scandals.

Torgallmenningen is one of scenic Bergen’s many attractions

Norwegian anti-immigration politicians in Bergen have promised to chase off Muslims with pigs feet and squealing noises if Bergen’s central square is used for prayers
aftenposten
Norwegian anti-immigration politicians in Bergen have promised to chase off Muslims with pigs feet and squealing noises if Bergen’s central square is used for prayers
The leader of the Demokratene, an extreme populist party formed by outcasts of the populist Progress Party, Vidar Kleppe, said Wednesday that he backed the remarks of city council representative Kenneth Rasmussen.
Rasmussen reacted with threats of porcine tactics after Labour Party politician Jerad Abdelmajid said that the city’s Muslims could take their Friday prayers in Torgallmenningen, Bergen’s central square, when they will be without a mosque from March 31. Building of a new mosque is behind schedule.
Abdelmajid’s announcement provoked heated public debate.

“I completely agree with Kenneth Rasmussen that Muslims having their Friday prayers with their butts in the air in the city center is no solution. They can find other places,” Kleppe told news agency NTB.

Kenneth Rasmussen told newspaper Dagbladet’s web site that Bergen residents should hang up pig’s feet and play pig squeals over loudspeakers to scare off Muslims, and claimed these tactics worked when he was a soldier for the United Nations in Somalia and Lebanon in the 1990s.
Kleppe was willing to admit that this was provocative, but that it was correct of his party colleague to propose vigorous solutions.

“It is healthy with lively debates… his main point is surely that Bergen’s residents do not appreciate Friday prayers in the city’s main square,” Kleppe said.

“This will do more damage than good. A threat does not justify another threat, no matter who proposes it,” entrepreneur Shahzad Rana told newspaper VG. “Here there have been provocations from both sides. Is it not possible for them to sit down and talk?” Rana asked.

Wild Thing’s comment……
“…Muslims having their Friday prayers with their butts in the air in the city center is no solution. They can find other places,” Kleppe told news agency NTB. ”
LOL ….Good for him! Maybe they should have some pig races next to a mosque. heh heh

Teheran Agents Smuggled In Missile That Shot Down RAF Helicopter In Iraq
Telegrphc.co.uk
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph
A missile which brought down an RAF Lynx helicopter and killed five British Service personnel was smuggled into Iraq by Iranian agents, an official inquiry into the attack will reveal.
The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that a British Army Board of Inquiry (BOI) into the events surrounding last May’s attack will state that the weapon, a shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile known as an SA14 Strella, came from Iran.
The attack, which was also responsible for the death of Flt Lt Sarah Mulvihill, the first British servicewoman to be killed on active service since the Second World War, appears to provide further evidence of Iran’s direct involvement in the deaths of British troops serving in Iraq.
It is understood that the inquiry, which has assessed evidence from military engineers and scientists, will conclude that the aircraft was shot down with an Iranian SA14 missile. The inquiry, which is conducted by senior RAF and Army officers, will deliver its finding to defence chiefs next month.
The report will also reveal whether the helicopter’s self-defence systems were working properly and whether they provided adequate protection from a missile fired from relatively short range.
Traditionally, the role of a military board of inquiry, which can examine everything from the loss of a piece of equipment to the deaths of servicemen, is not to attribute “blame” for a particular incident. Instead, senior officers make recommendations as to how a similar situation might be prevented.
The Foreign Office is expected to use the findings to step up diplomatic pressure on the Iranian government, which has been asked to crack down on units within its defence and security services believed to be supplying weapons and bomb-making technology to insurgents in Iraq.
Dozens of British soldiers have been killed in Iraq by improvised explosive devices in the form of roadside bombs, thought to have either been manufactured in Iran or by insurgents trained by the Iranians.
Hundreds of thousands of Strellas were produced by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and were used to equip armies throughout the Warsaw Pact, central Asia and the Middle East, including Syria and Iran. The same weapon system is also believed to have been responsible for bringing down several US helicopters in Iraq.
Although the weapon is cheap to produce and easy to assemble, operators need some skill to use it effectively, suggesting that the missile was fired either by an Iranian agent or by someone who had been trained by a skilled soldier.
The attack also claimed the life of the most senior officer to have been killed in the three-year conflict, Wg Cdr John Coxen, 46, who was about to take over command of the British helicopter fleet in southern Iraq.
The other three men killed were the pilot, Lt-Cdr Darren Chapman, 40, his co-pilot, Capt David Dobson, 27, and the door gunner, Marine Paul Collins, 21.
The Lynx Mark 7 was travelling low over central Basra on a sortie to familiarise Wg Cdr Coxen with the dangers that his pilots might face. Although it was believed at first that the helicopter had been brought down by a “lucky hit” from a rocket-propelled grenade, British troops found discarded missile parts in a nearby building after the incident.
Patrick Mercer, the shadow minister for homeland security and a former infantry commanding officer, said:

“This is another indication of a deeply dangerous escalating situation about which the Government has got to come clean. It’s no good pretending that these things are not happening. When British servicemen are being killed, the Government has got to be far more robust than this.”

Wild Thing’s comment……
Wouldn’t this be an act of war? I mean they have been doing this for awhile now, weapons, trained killers sent to Iraq, so many things and now this. But let’s see that’s right, that Baker freak wants us to make nice with Iran, Syria and those wanting to kill our troops. God help us.

Texas cop faces prison after shooting at illegals’ van
SGT NEWS – Texas police officer Gilmer Hernandez sits in a federal prison in Del Rio County, Texas for the crime of shooting at the rear tires of a van after the driver attempted to run the officer over. The catch is the van was filled with illegal immigrants.
Reports from WorldNetDaily indicate the federal government recommends seven years in prison for violating the civil rights of the occupants of the van. A fragment of the bullet hit a woman passenger in the mouth, breaking two of her teach and cutting her lip.

Hernandez’s attorney, Jimmy Parks, has described his client as “terrified’. “If the judge sends him to prison,” says Parks, “he will spend every day of the next several years trying to protect himself from the very people he dedicated his life to protect us from.”

Parks continued:

“Gilmer worked diligently and assiduously to put criminals away, to take people who were committing dangerous crimes away, to assure that they are placed behind bars to protect us and to rehabilitate them, and now all of a sudden Gilmer is facing a time where he will be locked up in a cage with these criminals and he knows they are ready and prepared to retaliate and seek their vengeance.”

The recent case of Ramos and Compean, the border patrol agents sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for shooting an illegal drug smuggler on the United States/Mexican border, sets a frightening precedent of how lazy, inactive and downright neglectful our nation is becoming in the fight to protect our nation’s borders and control illegal immigration.
Ramos was beaten in prison by 5 Hispanic inmates. Ramos said the inmates repeatedly kicked him with steel-toed boots and unloaded a verbal tirade of curses, spoken entirely in Spanish. The prison was forced to place Ramos in the Special Housing Unit of the prison until the investigation of the incident was completed.
In a society where police offers are looked at with increased scrutiny, especially when illegal immigrants are involved, this case further proves the priority of our federal government seems to lie more with the protection of the rights of illegal immigrants, rather than the protection of our national security.
Parks said the outpouring of support on Hernandez’s behalf from the small Texas community has been overwhelming.

Wild Thing’s comment……….
Since when did illegal border invaders get civil rights? I thought those were reserved for American citizens. It seems our Constitution really doesn’t matter much anymore. Could it be there is an effort underway to make being a border patrol officer such an unattractive profession to go into that there will be a need in the future, due to no border guards, to just throw open the gates and welcome out neighbors on in?
He shot at the vehicle when is was driving away, AFTER the driver attempted to run the police officer down. He has every right to stop a fleeing criminal with force if the criminal will not stop and submit to arrest. The illegal immigrant who was sneaking into our country will sue us for millions for her pain and suffering…That is, after we give her a mouth full of beautiful new veneers.
No wonder they love coming here..

With the advent of World War II many of our actors went to fight rather than stand and
rant against this country we all love.
I am listing only a few, but from this group of only 18 men came over 70 medals in honor of their valor,
spanning from Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, Distinguish Service Cross’, Purple Hearts and one
Congressional Medal of Honor.
I would like to remind the people of what the entertainers of 1943 were doing, (61 years ago).

Alec Guinness (Star Wars) operated a British Royal Navy landing craft on D-Day.

James Doohan (“Scotty” on Star Trek) landed in Normandy with the U. S. Army on D-Day.

Donald Pleasance (The Great Escape) really was an R. A. F. pilot who was shot down, held prisoner and tortured by the Germans.

David Niven was a Sandhurst graduate and Lt. Colonel of the British Commandos in Normandy

James Stewart Entered the Army Air Force as a private and worked his way to the rank of Colonel.
During World War II, Stewart served as a bomber pilot, his service record crediting him with leading more than 20 missions over Germany , and taking part in hundreds of air strikes during his tour of duty.
Stewart earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, France’s Croix de Guerre,and 7 Battle Stars during World War II.
In peace time, Stewart continued to be an active member of the Air Force as a reservist, reaching the rank of Brigadier General before retiring in the late 1950s.

Clark Gable (Mega-Movie Star when war broke out) Although he was beyond the draft age at the time the
U.S. entered WW II, Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the AAF on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles.
He attended the Officers’ CandidateSchool at Miami Beach, Fla. and graduated as a second lieutenant on Oct. 28, 1942.
He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943 he was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook
where he flew operational missions over Europe in B-17s. Capt. Gable returned to the U.S. in Oct. 1943 and was relieved from active duty as a major on Jun. 12, 1944.

Charlton Heston was an Army Air Corps Sergeant in Kodiak.

Ernest Borgnine was a U. S. Navy Gunners Mate 1935-1945

Charles Durning was a U. S. Army Ranger at Normandy earning a Silver Star and awarded the Purple Heart.

Charles Bronson was a tail gunner in the Army Air Corps, more specifically on B-29’s in the 20th Air Force out of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan

George C. Scott was a decorated U. S. Marine.

Eddie Albert (Green Acres TV) was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroic action as a U. S. Naval officer aiding Marines at the horrific battle on the island of Tarawa in the Pacific Nov. 1943.

Brian Keith served as a U.S. Marine rear gunner in several actions against the Japanese on Rabal in the Pacific.

Lee Marvin was a U.S. Marine on Saipan during the Marianas campaign when he was wounded earning the Purple Heart.

John Russell: In 1942, he enlisted in the Marine Corps where he received a battlefield commission and was wounded and highly decorated for valor at Guadalcanal

Robert Ryan was a U. S. Marine who served with the O. S. S. in Yugoslavia

Tyrone Power (an established movie star when Pearl Harbor was bombed) joined the U.S. Marines, was a pilot
flying supplies into, and wounded Marines out of, Iwo Jima and Okinawa

Audie Murphy, from Texas
Most Decorated serviceman of WWII and earned: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Star Medals, Legion of Merit, 2 Bronze Star Medals with “V”, 2 Purple Hearts, U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, 2 Distinguished Unit Emblems, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Silver Star, Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead (representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France) World War II Victory Medal Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar, Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar, French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre, French Legion of Honor, Grade of Chevalier, French Croix de Guerre With Silver Star, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Medal of Liberated France, Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 Palm.

And these are
only a very few
that have been mentioned.

Can
you imagine these stars of
yester-year saying they hate our flag,
making anti-war speeches,  
marching in anti-American parades  
and saying they hate our
president?

Major Bruce P. Crandall “Snake” was assigned as Commanding Officer of “A” Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in the Republic of Vietnam in 1965-66. Bruce’s heroic efforts in the Ia Drang Valley are well documented in the book and film “We Were Soldiers” by Joe Galloway

This from the comments President Bush made.

A few years ago, Bruce learned he was being considered for our nation’s highest military distinction. When he found out that Captain Freeman had also been nominated, Bruce insisted that his own name be withdrawn. If only one of them were to receive the Medal of Honor, he wanted it to be his wingman. So when I presented the Medal to Captain Freeman in 2001, Bruce was here in the White House. Captain Freeman wished he were here today, but he got snowed in, in Iowa. His spirit is with us. Today the story comes to its rightful conclusion: Bruce Crandall receives the honor he always deserved.

LTC Bruce Crandall (Ret.) received his wings in the first aviator class at Camp Rucker, Ala., in 1955. He participated in mapping operations from Africa to the Arctic and in Central and South America, where he was director of the first project using military satellites for terrestrial mapping. He has been a fixed and rotary wing test pilot and helped to develop and test the airmobile concept and doctrine he so effectively helped implement in Vietnam.
Crandall served in the Dominican Republic and two tours in Vietnam. His 750 combat operations in Southeast Asia included the famed Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, during which he saved more than 70 wounded soldiers and provided ammo critical to the survival of the U.S. ground unit. In 1966, Crandall flew two more night rescue missions which evacuated 12 wounded from a unit in heavy contact with the enemy. He received the 1966 Aviation and Space Writers Helicopter Heroism Award for this daring rescue.
In addition to his many military awards for gallantry and service, Crandall was the seventh Army inductee in the “Gathering of Eagles,” a U.S. Air Force organization honoring contributors to aviation, and he received the Silver DeFleury Medallion for his contributions in engineering and aviation.

To READ more of the battle, see the video and other things related to this CLICK HERE for Crandall’s site

As a 32-year-old helicopter pilot, he flew through a gantlet of enemy fire, taking ammunition in and wounded Americans out of one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War.
Now, a week after his 74th birthday, Crandall received the nation’s highest military honor Monday in a White House ceremony with President Bush.
“I’m still here,” he said of his 41-year-wait for the Medal of Honor. “Most of these awards are posthumous, so I can’t complain.”
Crandall’s actions in the November 1965 Battle at Ia Drang Valley were depicted in the Hollywood movie “We Were Soldiers,” adapted from the book “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young.”
At the time, Crandall was a major commanding a company of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).
“We had the first airmobile division … the first one to use aircraft as a means of transportation and sustaining combat,” Crandall said. His unit was put together earlier that year to go to Vietnam and “wasn’t as thought out as things are today.”
He didn’t have gunners for his aircraft. That’s why he flew unarmed helicopters into the battlefield.
He didn’t have night vision equipment and other later technology that lessens the danger of flying.
The unit had “minimum resources and almost no administrative people” — thus the lack of help to do the reams of paperwork that had to be sent to Washington for the highest medals, Crandall said.
Generals in-theater could approve nothing higher than the Distinguished Flying Cross, Crandall said in a phone interview from his home near Bremerton, Wash, so he received that award. Through the years, he was able to get that upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross and now to the Medal of Honor.
Crandall was leading a group of 16 helicopters in support of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment — the regiment led by George Armstrong Custer when he met his end at the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, or “Custer’s Last Stand.”
Without Crandall’s actions, the embattled men at Ia Drang would have died in much the same way — “cut off, surrounded by numerically superior forces, overrun and butchered to the last man,” the infantry commander, Lt. Col. Harold Moore, wrote in recommending Crandall for the medal.
Moore, now a retired three-star general, later wrote the book about the battle along with Joseph L. Galloway, a former war correspondent now with McClatchy Newspapers.
“This unit, taking some of the heaviest casualties of the war, out of water and fast running out of ammunition, was engaged in one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam war against a relentlessly attacking, highly motivated, vastly superior force,” said U.S. Army documents supporting Crandall’s medal. The U.S. forces were up against two regiments of North Vietnamese Army infantry, “determined to overrun and annihilate them,” the documents said.
The fighting became so intense that the helicopter landing zone for delivering and resupplying troops was closed, and a unit assigned to medical evacuation duties refused to fly. Crandall volunteered for the mission and with wingman and longtime friend Maj. Ed Freeman made flight after flight over three days to deliver water, ammunition and medical supplies. They are credited with saving more than 70 wounded soldiers by flying them out to safety, and Freeman received the Medal of Honor in July 2001.
Paperwork and other parts of the process delayed Crandall’s medal until now, officials said.
Thinking back to the Vietnam battle, Crandall remembers the first day was “very long … we were in the air for 14 and a half hours.” He also thinks of how impressive and calm the unit on the ground remained, saying Moore and his commanders were “solid as rocks” throughout the fight.
And of course, Crandall says, he’s also proud of his own performance.
“I’m so proud that I didn’t screw it up,” he said.

U.S. Military helicopter evacuates a patient from Enterprise High School after a tornado did severe damage to the school.

ENTERPRISE, Ala. (AP) – Tornadoes ripped through Alabama and killed at least 18 people Thursday, including 15 at a high school where students became pinned under debris when a roof collapsed, state officials said. As night fell, crews dug through piles of rubble beneath portable lights at Enterprise High School, looking for other victims.
“The number could very well increase as the search effort continues through the night,” state emergency management spokeswoman Yasamie Richardson said.
The storm struck about 1:15 p.m., and Richardson said some students were still trapped three hours later. Erin Garcia, a 17-year-old senior, said students had gathered in hallways around 11 a.m. as a precaution. School officials wanted to send them home around 1 p.m., she said, but the weather turned bad and sirens wailed.
Then, she said, the lights went out.
“I was just sitting there praying the whole time,” she said.
After the storm passed, she found the hallway she was in was spared, but a roof and wall collapsed on students in another hallway.
“It was scary. It sounded like a bunch of people trying to beat the wall down. It was complete chaos out in the hallway,” she said.
“People didn’t know where to go. They were trying to lead us out of the building. I kept seeing people with blood on their faces,” Garcia said.
More than 50 people were hospitalized as the violent storm front crossed the state. Two died elsewhere in Enterprise and one in rural Millers Ferry, where a separate storm wrecked mobile homes, Richardson said.
The burst of tornadoes was part of a larger line of thunderstorms and snowstorms that stretched from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. Authorities blamed a tornado for the death of a 7-year-old girl in Missouri, and twisters also were reported in Kansas.
The high school, about 75 miles south of Montgomery, “appears to have been right in the path,” said Paul Duval, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fla., which monitors southeast Alabama.
Martha Rodriguez, a 15-year-old sophomore, said she had left the school about five minutes before the storm hit. When she returned, a hall at the school had collapsed, she said.
“The stadium was destroyed and there were cars tipped over in the parking lot and trees were ripped out. There were trees and wood everywhere. It was just horrible,” she said.
At Millers Ferry, 66 miles west of Montgomery, trailer homes were flipped over and trees downed, said Bernadine Williams in the Wilcox County emergency management office.
Several school systems across Alabama closed or dismissed students early as the storm front approached from the west, extending the length of the state.
“The clouds were so dark that all the lights out here came on,” said Walter Thornton, who works at the airport in Enterprise, 75 miles south of Montgomery.
President Bush, who visited New Orleans on Thursday, was briefed on the tornadoes by senior staff and called Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, White House spokeswoman Dana Perrino said aboard Air Force One.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with officials in both states, she said.
In Caulfield, Mo., resident Rick Jarvis heard the storm ripping through his gas station around dawn. His home next door suffered just minor damage, but the twister, described by witnesses as a fat black column, shredded the business, ripping down its roof and back wall.
“It sounded like a herd of horses tearing up stuff. When I came out, it was done,” said Jarvis, 48.

Wild Thing’s comment……
This is horrifying what has happened. Prayers for these people that have lost loved ones and animals too, this is so very sad.

Christina Aguilera “Candyman” from the WW11 era….GREAT song and dance number, I love this!

First thank you to all of you for your kindness and patience and prayers about my arm injury. I never even would have mentioned about it here at my blog except when I got the flu last week it was just too much to take to add that in to the situation. augh
Well here is why my arm hurts so much since I tripped and fell. The MRI was a bitch it have done, man oh man it hurt to get those images taken.
I have an impingement in my rotator cuff and bursa. They explained the impingement means the
tendons of the rotator cuff and the subacromial bursa are pinched in the narrow space beneath the acromion.
The impingement causes the tendons and bursa to become inflamed and swollen. ( baseball players and other athletes get this a lot or someone like me from an injury)
He said that because it was a traumatic injury it caused the impingement. It doesn’t happen right away when the injury occurs, it develops over time, like mine did since I actually fell last November and eventually the pain just becomes more severe and constant. And it sure as heck has. And now that is also why I have a frozen shoulder and left arm and can’t use it for anything, can’t reach, can’t even pull up a lightweight sheet in bed, can’t hold a phone up, or a soda can… nothing.
But they said they can give me a shot of something called a steroid cortisone injection they inject into the bursa. He said it is a very painful shot to get but once it is given after a few days there should be relief. So now I just wait for my appointment to have this done.
There could always be surgery if this does not work but they want to try this first because most of the time they can help with the shot instead of surgery.
I am taking one of my teddy bears with me when I get the shot. hahaha something to squeeze when the pain is there from the shot. Teddy bears don’t mind helping out like that.
The injection will be given by the Doctor, I just used the image of a nurse for you guys on here to enjoy. giggle
Thanks again
(((Hug)))
Chrissie