Theodore's World

This week’s Blogburst was written by Heidi of Euphoric Reality blog.

***A podcast of this week’s Blogburst is now available.***
By Heidi at Euphoric Reality
There are only a few hours left to have some impact on the case of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who are being sentenced tomorrow for attempting to apprehend a drug smuggler who was fleeing across the border illegally. The charges against the Border Patrol agents were serious bodily injury; assault with a deadly weapon; discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence; and a civil rights violation. Compean and Ramos also were convicted of four counts and two counts, respectively, of obstruction of justice for not reporting that their weapons had been fired. The Texas jury acquitted both men of assault with intent to commit murder, but found them guilty on all other charges. The recommended sentencing is 20 years in prison.
You can read the entire account of the case in this Daily Bulletin article written by Sara Carter, but there are a few things you need to know up front:

“It is a violation of Border Patrol regulations to go after someone who is fleeing,” she said. “The Border Patrol pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of someone.”

According to the memo, Aldrete-Davila told investigators the agents shot him in the buttocks when he was trying to enter the country illegally from Mexico. But according to Aldrete-Davila’s later testimony and that of the agents, he was shot after trying to evade the agents upon his re-entry into Mexico.
The memo never was disclosed to the jury.

As a Border Patrol agent, Ramos has been involved in the capture of nearly 100 drug smugglers and the seizure of untold thousands of pounds of narcotics. He also was nominated for Border Patrol Agent of the Year in March 2005, though the nomination was withdrawn after details of the Aldrete-Davila incident came out.
Ramos also had drug interdiction training from the Drug Enforcement Agency and qualified as a Task Force Officer with the Border Patrol. But Ramos’ training in narcotics — as well as the numerous credentials he had received for taking Border Patrol field training classes — was not admissible during the trial, he said.

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, just addressed the Congressional hearings here in Houston on August 16th, where this case was of great concern among all the law enforcement officials.

He said the Border Patrol’s official pursuit policy handcuffs agents in the field. He also sees the prosecution of Ramos and Compean as part of a larger effort by the federal government.
“The pursuit policy has negatively affected the Border Patrol’s mission as well as public safety. Part of that mission is to stop terrorists and drug smugglers,” Bonner said. “They could be smuggling Osama bin Laden, drugs, illegal aliens, or it could have been just some drunk teenager out on a joyride. You don’t know until you stop them.”
“The administration is trying to intimidate front-line agents from doing their job,” he added. “If they can’t do it administratively, they’ll do it with trumped-up criminal charges.
“Moreover, the specter of improprieties in the prosecution of this case raises serious concerns that demand an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation.”

The El Paso Sheriff’s Department has met with the Ramos family to discuss continued threats against them from people they believe to be associated with Aldrete-Davila. The sheriff’s department also has increased patrols around the family’s home.
The only other organization that has responded to the Ramoses thus far, Monica Ramos said, is the Chino-based nonprofit group Friends of the Border Patrol, chaired by Andy Ramirez.
“This is the greatest miscarriage of justice I have ever seen,” Ramirez said. “This drug smuggler has fully contributed to the destruction of two brave agents and their families and has sent a very loud message to the other Border Patrol agents: If you confront a smuggler, this is what will happen to you.”

This case has been virtually ignored by the press, which is why the American public only found out about it after the conviction of the two BP agents. But now that we know, we must take action. If, as TJ Bonner has said, this case is a dirty attempt by our government to intimidate law enforcement officers into leaving the borders wide open and unguarded, then the American people must speak out immediately.
You can do so by signing a petition that will be delivered to the President – but you must do so TODAY, it’s the last day. The men will be sentenced tomorrow.
The goal is to collect 100,000 signatures asking President Bush to pardon these two men. So far, 97,589 people have signed the petition and there is no doubt in my mind that Guard the Borders readers can fill in the remaining numbers needed. The petition, to which you may add your own comment reads as follows:

To: President George W. Bush,
As a citizen of the United States I am outraged to learn that two U.S. Border Agents are facing twenty-year prison terms for doing their jobs– pursuing illegal aliens who cross our border, and I’m calling on you to officially pardon them for their actions.
I am even more outraged to learn that this illegal alien (who was attempting to smuggle about 800 pounds of marijuana into our country), was tracked down by a Department of Homeland Security Investigator and granted immunity for his testimony against these two agents!
This is a terrible injustice, and I urge you to use your considerable authority and power to pardon these two agents and right this obvious wrong!

In addition to rallying your friends and family to take action with you, I would also ask that you call the White House Comments line, and leave a message on behalf of these agents. White House Comments line: 202-456-6213
Please do not hesitate to take this small action on behalf of men whose lives have been destroyed by a drug smuggler and corrupt government agents and prosecutors. It’s the very least we can do for them – I wish there was more.
What if this was you? What will happen to these two men? What will be the fallout from such a miscarriage of justice?

“My husband is a good man, a loving father, and his devotion to his country and his job is undeniable,” Monica Ramos said. “Prosecutors treated the drug smuggler like an innocent victim, refusing to allow testimony that would have helped my husband. The smuggler was given immunity. My husband is facing a life in prison.
“It’s so frightening, it doesn’t seem real.”
COUNTING THE DAYS
About a week ago, feeling little hope, Joe Loya, Monica Ramos’ father, took the family on what will be Ignacio Ramos’ last fishing trip with his sons before he is sentenced.
“What kind of justice is this?” Loya asked. “What kind of nation do we live in when the word of a smuggler means more than the word of a just man?”
Monica Ramos says her hardest day is yet to come — the day the authorities take her husband away.
“We just guard (our children’s) hearts right now,” Monica Ramos said. “I think about the last time he’ll hug them as children, and maybe not get the chance to hug them again until they are grown men.”
The sons are between 6 and 13 years old.
Ignacio Ramos was, if anything, even more emotional.
“Less than a month left with my family,” he said, his voice choking, as though the air had been pulled from his lungs. “My sons,” he whispered. Then silence.
It took several minutes for Ramos to summon more words. “All I think about at night is the day I have to leave my family. I can’t sleep. I’ve always been with them.”
Then he talked about the memories he would never have, “their first dates, high school graduation, sports,” and the tears falling from his eyes were mirrored only by those of his wife, who took his hand into hers.

Families destroyed. A drug smuggler on the loose to threaten the lives of others and on the scam for $5 million dollars. And a government who won’t do anything about either – unless we force it to.
The only ones left who can help are the American people themselves. That means you.

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It is syndicated by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration in our country, join the Blogburst! Send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Soldiers seize weapons, munitions
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD —

Soldiers from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, detained two suspected terrorists and seized a large weapons cache in a warehouse during a search of Nur and Ghazalyia Friday in support of Operation Together Forward.
The weapons and munitions seized included more than 580 mortar rounds, about 39,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition, more than 100 rocket-propelled grenades, more than 270 rockets, two landmines, a shape charge, a crater charge, 11 fragmentation grenades, several machine guns, ammunition drums, 5,000 feet of detonation cord, mortar tubes and bipods, land mines, more than 50 rocket motors and various other bomb-making materials and ordnance.
Five hundred buildings were searched during the operation.
Operations have taken place in Doura, Shula, Ghazaliyah and Ameriyah from Aug. 7-16. During this time, Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and MND-B Soldiers have cleared more than 23,000 buildings, 21 mosques, detained 54 suspected terrorists, seized 326 weapons, registered 341 weapons, found 10 weapons and munitions caches and removed 900 tons of trash.

Fun quiz to take….HERE

Wild Thing’s comment….
I love tests that a person just has to answer their gut feeling and not a lot of math. hahahahaha I hate math!

And this…………………

From
the heart of Major General,
USMC (Ret) Richard Cooke

I often mention in my posts a little
Mexican restaurant that I frequent here in San Diego that goes by the name of
Las Quatro Milpas, which serves the best authentic Mexican food in San Diego. I
mention it today, because of what has changed when I stand in that long line in
the heat down on Logan Avenue waiting for those 5 dear Mexican women to serve
the hundreds of us who show up before I melt in the hot sun.

The line outside of Quatro Milpas is a
place to meet new friends, reunite with people you have not seen in weeks or
months, but happen to get that same desire for that Chorizo at the same time you
did, so that every time you show up again, you can restart your friendship as if
it never stopped. Everyone has a story about how long they have been coming to
Quatro Milpas or how they discovered it, or how long was the longest line they
have stood in waiting to get to their food.

Cease-fire, my ass!

To every person who believes that you
can reason with these animals, I must ask you where your mind went.
It is the weakness of the free-world’s
NON-response that has allowed the terrorist threat to grow into a movement that
threatens our very existence. When a U.S. soldier can be dragged through the
streets of Somalia and our response is to LEAVE, when 280 Marines can be bombed
in their sleep and our response is to LEAVE, when after terrorists kill Spanish
civilians on a train, and their nation’s response is to elect capitulating
socialists who order the immediate retreat of their soldiers from Iraq, and so
on, and so on, what are the terrorists to think, but that the free world has
become a pussy?

The fact that a majority of Americans think this nation needs AN EXCUSE for
going after terrorism after 911 scares the hell out of me.
It suggests that we as
a nation will eventually fail to produce the men and women who every day, stand
between freedom and tyranny.
Yesterday, San Diego had its Gay Pride
Parade. Oh, the joy.. It was billed as the largest ‘celebration’ in the cities
history. THIS city.  (The City I grew up in
during WWII! md) The very city where sailors
came home to after fighting in Midway. The city that trains half of this nations
Marines, hosts the USS Ronald Reagan, the USS Nimitz, the former Fightertown
USA…our largest celebration is for the GAY…PRIDE..PARADE. Ponder that with
me, will you?

We are at war.

I want Israel to continue, even escalate their attacks on Lebanon. I want them
to ignore the media, ignore the pundits, and ignore even the weak among them who
want to find a peaceful way out of this current conflict.

History
teaches us that until a bully is beaten, the bully keeps coming.

The free world paid for our freedom in
blood, and if blood is what it will take to keep it, then lets just have at it
now, shall we?

Let Iran and Syria attempt to aid Hezbollah. Let Israel attack them. Let it
escalate until we are forced to fight at Israel’s side. Then, can we for the
last time, just kick some ass until it is over? Every generation must pay this
price, as long as there are those who seek to force us to follow a dictatorial
ideology. Radical Islam says, "Agree or die." In response, we should
stop asking them, if there is a middle ground to be reached. We should be
saying, "Fine, but it is YOU that will die."

Israel, I see you fighting not just for your freedoms, but also
for the world’s. I trust that if you continue, the free world will be forced to
side with you, even if it means that a few of us die in the process. The time is
now. It is time for THIS generation to prove itself worthy of those that came
before us. It is time for us to say NO MORE to the terrorist threat, to find
them and kill them. 
Do not stop fighting, Israel.
Make  the free world help you put an end to this
madness. In doing so, you might help us find the courage and moral convictions
that made us free to begin with, so that one day, little Jewish children, and
old lovers of Mexican food in America  can
go about our daily lives with the freedom that others died to give us.

I am adding this comment from

John
5 (VN 69-70)
John
is also a Retired Police Officer of 30 years
15 of those years on a Swat Team

My
comment is: do we as a united Republic have what it takes? I am truly worried
that we don’t. Because as a people of ONE country/nation we are not united,
and as he says we have it to good.  Many can not fathom what could happen.

I sometimes wonder if it is just me that
feels this way. I have shed blood for this Country on more that one occasion and
I hate to see this happening here, the divided country, the arrogance of those
that think “it will never happen here”. It means that my friends that I lost
and that what I have done is for nothing. Sometimes that’s just the way I
feel. The new breed does not care what the earlier generations have done, it’s
all for knout.

So
many relatives on both side of my family have given their all for this country.
Almost every war except Korea. One was one of the first Sheriff’s of the NW
Territory. So I have deep loyalty to the Republic, and become upset with those
that don’t.

Thank you John and thank you Major General Cooke and thank you to all Veterans and our troops today.

Jack H. everyone at Theodore’s World wishes you the best birthday! And many, many more. Thank you for serving our country and all you have done to help make this the land of the free.
Thank you for your kindness and friendship, comments and input to this blog and to my life.

Wild Thing and the Theodore’s World commandos

Jenin: 3 Hamas members killed while making bombs
Palestinian sources say three Hamas members killed after setting off explosives belt accidentally
Three Hamas members were killed by an explosion which took place Friday in the village of Dir Abu Daif, in the Jenin area. Palestinian sources say that the blast apparently took place because of a ‘work accident’ which took place while preparing explosives.
The AP news agencies reported that three Hamas members were brought to hospital, with the body of one in two parts. Palestinian security sources say he was likely a Hamas member who accidentally set off an explosives belt he was wearing.

A Lebanese woman watches her husband count U.S dollar bills they received from a Hizbollah member, at a school in Bourj el-Barajneh, a southern suburb in Beirut, August 19, 2006. Hizbollah handed out bundles of cash on Friday to people whose homes were wrecked by Israeli bombing, consolidating the Iranian-backed group’s support among Lebanon’s Shi’ites and embarrassing the Beirut government. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (LEBANON) Email Photo Print Photo

This is just a little from the article, it makes me too ill to put the whole idiotic thing here, sorry…………….

A Path To Lasting Peace
The writer is the Secretary of State

Looking ahead, our most pressing challenge is to help the hundreds of thousands of displaced people within Lebanon to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. This reconstruction effort will be led by the government of Lebanon, but it will demand the generosity of the entire world.

For our part, the United States is helping to lead relief efforts for the people of Lebanon, and we will fully support them as they rebuild their country. As a first step, we have increased our immediate humanitarian assistance to $50 million. To secure the gains of peace, the Lebanese people must emerge from this conflict with more opportunities and greater prosperity.

Wild Thing’s comment……
WRONGO Condi!
This is NOT good imo, but I have nothing to say about it so bye bye tax dollars to the Hezbollah! What the hell else did they think would happen? That the Hezbollah would say, ah no we don’t want the money, give it to the Israeli’s or to those living in Lebanon that are the few and far between non Hezbollah.
Let’s see, we give money to the Hezbollah while they are burning OUR Flag, saying they want us dead along with all the Jews in Israel. Sure that makes a whole lot of sense to me. NOT!
And another thing…..grrrrrr, you know the tons of photos a person sees or can see online of Muslim women, weeping, gnashing or is it knashing their teeth, whatever, with their few rotten teeth they have for the camera’s, the faces they make of such pretend grief at the loss of a loved one that was killed in the war instead of as a suicide bomber that would have made them rejoice?????!!!! Well the wailing and gnashing stops when the bucks show up don’t they. The next freakin thing we will hear out of the vile mouths is they “ want to go to Disneyland” God help us!
Since Russia has armed Iran and Syria then in turn they armed the Hezbollah and Hamas which issued orders to take IDF hostages and trigger the war. Let the damn Russians pick up the entire tab.

Israeli commando dies in Lebanon raid

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Hezbollah fighters battled Israeli commandos who landed near the militants’ stronghold deep inside Lebanon early Saturday, killing one soldier, in the first large-scale violation of the U.N.-brokered cease-fire between the sides.
Hezbollah said its guerrillas foiled the raid after a gunbattle, and the Israeli army said one officer was killed and two soldiers were wounded, one seriously.
Witnesses said Israeli missiles destroyed a bridge during the raid — the first major violation of the U.N.-imposed cease-fire that took effect Monday following 34 days of fighting.
The Israeli army said the special forces operation aimed “to prevent and interfere with terror activity against Israel, especially the smuggling of arms from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah.” It said the commando team completed its mission.
The army said such operations would be carried out until “an effective monitoring unit” of Lebanese or multinational troops was in place to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its arsenal.
Hezbollah TV and Lebanese security officials said Israeli helicopters dropped off a commando team outside the village of Boudai west of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release information to the media, said the Israelis apparently were seeking a guerrilla target in a nearby school but had no other details. The officials also reported heavy overflights of Israeli jets.
Such a bold operation risked scuttling the fragile cease-fire and suggested Israel was going after a major target near Baalbek — perhaps to rescue two Israeli soldiers snatched by Hezbollah on July 12, or to try to capture a senior guerrilla official to trade for the soldiers.
Hezbollah has said it wants to exchange the two soldiers for Arab prisoners, but the U.N. cease-fire resolution demands Hezbollah unconditionally release the soldiers.
Local media said Sheik Mohammed Yazbeck, a senior Hezbollah official in the Bekaa and a member of the Shura council of the group, may have been the target. Yazbeck is a native of Boudai.
Israeli troops have killed several guerrillas who Israel said threatened its troops in south Lebanon since the cease-fire, and warplanes have flown over the country. But the cease-fire allows military action in self-defense, and the commando raid was by far the most serious incident since Monday.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said Lebanese authorities found blood at the scene of the raid, indicating Israeli casualties. Salloukh, speaking to reporters after meeting with U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen in Beirut, said he informed the U.N. team of the Israeli action in Baalbek and said the U.N. team would raise the issue with Israeli authorities.
“If Israel continues its violations, it is the responsibility of the (U.N.) Security Council to take action and ask Israel to stop these violations,” he said.
A provincial government official, Bekaa Valley Gov. Antoine Suleiman, confirmed the Israeli troop landing. He told the privately owned Voice of Lebanon radio station that the landing party brought with it two vehicles that were later withdrawn after clashes.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the Israeli commando force landed before dawn and was driving into Boudai when it was intercepted by guerrillas who forced it to retreat under the cover of warplanes, which staged mock raids.
Hezbollah officials on the scene said overflights from Israeli jet fighters drowned the clatter of helicopters as they flew into the foothills of the central Lebanese mountains, dropping commandos and two vehicles they used to drive into the village when the Hezbollah fighters intercepted them in a field.
The commandos identified themselves as the Lebanese army, but the guerrillas grew suspicious and gunfire erupted, the officials said.
Israeli helicopters fired missiles as the commandos withdrew and flew out of the area an hour later, they said.
Witnesses saw bandages and syringes at the site. The also saw a destroyed bridge about 500 yards from the area where the landing took place, after missiles were fired by Israeli aircraft.
Overflights were reported Friday night in the same area.
Israel said late Friday its warplanes have not attacked Lebanon since the cease-fire took effect.
Baalbek is the birthplace of the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah. The area in the eastern Bekaa Valley, 60 miles north of the Israeli border, is a major guerrilla stronghold.
The U.N. Security Council cease-fire resolution calls for an immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations.
In letters to Lebanese and Israeli leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned the two countries against occupying additional territory and told them to refrain from responding to any attacks “except where clearly required in immediate self-defense.”
Annan also told Israel and Lebanon that once the cessation of hostilities took effect there must be no firing from the ground, sea or air into the other side’s territory or at its forces.

Wild Thing’s comment………………
“Such a bold operation risked scuttling the fragile cease-fire and suggested Israel was going after a major target near Baalbek”
Give me a break! Blaming Israel for this and making it sound like they were the ones to break the so called ceasefire is a lie. The Hezbollah never disarmed.
Israel gave up Gaza and South Lebanon and got rockets and Jihad in return.
Insane greed, jealousy and hate, destruction and death in the name of Allah, because the Jews in their little nation are productive and intelligent. Instead of contributing to the world, the Hezbollah and Hamas seek to destroy it.
We need to keep remembering this…..the Ceasefire was broken the minute the Hezbollah said they would not disarm and they never did, but we knew they wouldn’t. The Hezbollah broke the cease fire within hours firing into Israel. Of course the article below does not say that, more typical BS agenda of the terrorist hugging Media.
The Hamaz, Hezbollah and Iran threaten Israel with destruction every week. This has stripped all pretensions from the Arab/Palestinian agenda. The Muslim goal is to destroy Israel. Not to get back “occupied lands” and then be content and make peace.
Hudna is integral to Jihad. Islam believes in permanent Jihad until the whole world is Muslim. There are such things as honest treaties and honest cease fires. This is never the case with Islam because Jihad is eternal, so the Muslim is commanded.

“Hudna has a distinct meaning to Islamic fundamentalists, well-versed in their history: The prophet Mohammad struck a legendary, ten-year hudna with the Quraysh tribe that controlled Mecca in the seventh century. Over the following two years, Mohammad rearmed and took advantage of a minor Quraysh infraction to break the hudna and launch the full conquest of Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.
In essence, this is religious license to renege on ones word, and to regroup, rearm, and reorganize to attack when ones enemy is lulled into thinking that one will be honest and fulfill ones side of a truce. This is tactic has been used over and over in Islam’s history, and is used to great effect today by Yasser Arafat, Hamas, al-Aqsa, and other Islamic terrorists all over the world. Recent examples include Fallujah and Najaf. What Westerners need to do is to read Islamic scripture and learn that in Islam there is no concept of permanent submission to any other power than Allah. Treaties mean nothing. Beware the hudna.”….from Clarity and Resolve

What the media doesn’t show you: Military personnel and their families protesting the protesters.

N. Korean Authorities Urge Civilians to Evacuate Near Site of Possible Nuke Test
Reports from Seoul Korea, (daily newspaper Joongang Ilbo in Seoul) via the Japanese Jiji press agency, that South Korean intelligence has intercepted radio messages/communications in North Korea, which were aired last month, to civilians in the Kilju County, Northern Hamgyeong Province area of northeastern D.P.R.K., to evacuate.
PDF file Map of area

“By late April 2005 there were reports that North Koreans were constructing a reviewing stand and filling in a tunnel, both signs that an underground nuclear test was imminent. Tunnels for underground nuclear tests are different from regular mines, since they have to be plugged up to contain the blast. Satellite imagery reportedly indicated the North Koreans were “stemming” the tunnel, taking material back into the shaft to plug it up. Satellite imagery indicated that North Korea was shipping concrete and grouting to the site, possibly to plug the tunnel. Although there were signs of continued activity near tunnels in the Kilju area, there was disagreement among intelligence agencies as to whether the recent activity indicated an impending nuclear test.
Other reports indicated that the satellite imagery showed the North Koreans had dug and refilled a significant hole at the suspected test site. The hole was said to have been dug in a manner consistent with preparations for an underground nuclear test, but there was no conclusive indication as to whether the North Koreans had deposited a weapon inside. These reports indicate that the shaft is a vertical shaft, rather than a horizontal tunnel. Imagery also detected frequent truck movement bringing cranes and other equipment. The presence of cranes is consistent with a vertical shaft, but not a horizontal tunnel.
Imagery was also reported to show recent construction of an elaborate reviewing stand for visiting dignitaries a few kilometers from the suspected test site. The reviewing stand was considered a significant indicator of a possible nuclear test. American intelligence had overlooked the reviewing stand built prior to the 1998 Taepodong-1 missile launch. The North Koreans had visitors from other countries invited to watch the launch.
The source in the South Korean government said “our interpretation is that following North Korea’s underground nuclear blast test, they wish to head off any escape of radiation that would be a threat to the nearby civilian population and are evacuating as such.”

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Since when did North Korea care about the welfare of its citizens? I would not be surprised if there were a technical delegation of Iranian nuclear scientists and purchasing agents staying in one of the major Pyongyang Hotels at this very time, or maybe in a DPRK government guest house.
Could a North Korean nuke test be Ahmadinejad’s August 22nd announcement? Just wondering.
Here is our MOAB test off of Florida……….VIDEO