Theodore's World

From the Las Vegas Review Journal………….
Senator arranged for grant now involved in indictment of pastors

WASHINGTON — The money that led to the indictment this week of two Las Vegas pastors and the wife of one of them came from federal grants arranged by Sen. Harry Reid in September 2001, a Reid spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Moving to distance Reid from a possible scandal, aide Tessa Hafen said the senator sought the money on behalf of a nonprofit social services agency and not for the churches or persons who have been accused of mishandling the money.
“The money was administered by the Department of Justice, and it went to the agency in Nevada (Alliance Collegiums Association of Nevada),” Hafen said.
The Rev. Willie Davis, the longtime pastor of Second Baptist Church, and his wife, Emma, were indicted Tuesday on fraud charges with an associate minister, the Rev. McTheron Jones.
They are accused of spending $330,000 from federal grants on themselves although the money was intended for halfway houses for prison inmates in Southern Nevada.
The indictment identifies Willie Davis as president of the Alliance Collegiums Association of Nevada board of directors.
In late 2002, Emma Davis became executive director, and Jones was assistant director.
According to the indictment, a grant of $423,000 was approved for the alliance in September 2002.
The indictment charges the defendants of using the grant money to benefit themselves.
A Reid relationship with the Second Baptist Church surfaced in 1997, when the senator donated $250 to the church where Davis was and still is pastor.
The money came from John Huang, who was convicted of making illegal contributions to the 1996 re-election campaign of President Clinton.

hmmmm isn’t this MONEY laundrying?
At about the same time, Reid donated another $250 from Huang to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Las Vegas.
Reid said he made the contributions to the churches instead of returning the money to Huang because he did not think Huang deserved it.
Hafen said Reid has not made contributions to Davis or his church since 1997.
Reid has attended services at the Second Baptist Church “about three or four times” since 1997, Hafen said.
“He says hello to the pastor (Davis) when he goes to the church, but apart from that, the only other time he has seen him was in May when he met with about 30 or 40 ministers to organize a faith-based summit,” Hafen said.

Update from the Las Vegas Review Journal…. I am not going to post untruth’s abut keep it factual at all times..………..
CORRECTION ON 09/30/05 — A story in Thursday’s paper incorrectly said that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., had not contributed money to the Second Baptist Church in Las Vegas since 1997. Reid gave the church $100 in December 1999, $500 in November 2002, $200 in September 2002 and $500 in February of this year from his campaign and political funds, as allowed by Senate rules. The story also mischaracterized the actions of a Reid staff member who discussed a federal grant that was tied to an indictment of church officials this week. Spokeswoman Tessa Hafen gave information about the grants in response to questions.

Wild Thing’s comment……
When Harry Reid goes to churches he does not contribute his own money. He contributes John Huang’s money.
Most folks I know contribute their OWN money. In some cases 10% of their income as the Bible asks. I guess the Dems just do everything different. Naw ya think? haha
Now let’s see it kind of breaks down like this………..
Republican money fraud=bad
Democrat money fraud=good
How to be a good A Democrat for Dummies 101 shall we say. sheesh!
And let me just for fun point this part out again. haha
The money came from John Huang, who was convicted of making illegal contributions to the 1996 re-election campaign of President Clinton.
Oh this is just to good to be true .. LOL!!

Taken from National Military Family Association Please look further down in this post at “Continued” for the entire writing or go to the link to read the entire statement.

The fact that my husband is on military deployment in Iraq does not make me unfortunate…….. there is a misconception that having my husband away on a military deployment makes me unfortunate. Please do not consider me unfortunate! Consider, just for a moment, that I might be incredibly blessed.
……….I’m on a journey that is unveiling a beautiful level of self-confidence. I believe that I am at a time in my life where God has my full attention to teach me what he feels I need to learn.
My circumstances may be demanding from time to time, yet I have never fallen from grace into a forgotten, subpar state of being. I, most definitely, am not unfortunate.

Wild Thing’s comments…………
There are wives and there are a-hem wives, and there are mothers and then there are breeders. Cindy Sheehan is a breeder. She shows no respect for her son. And I would bet she did not show him respect when he was alive.
This is so wonderful what this Military wife wrote. A woman like this stands along side her husband and knows he is making a difference in this world. He is a part of history, and she in being supportive makes the hardship of sacrifice a little bit easier for her husband. Cindy Sheehan will never understand that. She USES our Military to get her 15 minutes of fame. She uses her son’s service and death to draw attention to herself. Cindy is aiding the enemy with each breath she takes and every word she utters. What a difference in these two women.

(more…)

Vice President Dick Cheney uses a cane during a tour of the Harley Davidson plant in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, Jan. 6, 2006. Jim Ziemer, right, CEO of Harley Davidson and Karl Eberle, middle, vice president and general manager host the tour.

Vice President Dick Cheney gets a round of applause after addressing troops at a rally at Fort Leavenworth Friday, Jan. 6, 2006, in Leavenworth, Kan.

“I’m using a cane today, and it’s driving the press nuts. (Laughter.) They keep asking my staff what happened to the Vice President, is it serious? And so I said, no, Secretary Rumsfeld bit me in the ankle. (Laughter.) Not to worry. (Laughter.) But don’t tell him I said that. (Laughter.) “

Wild Thing’s comment……..
I love Cheney’s sense of humor. And also President Bush’s sense of humor. With all the stress aimed at them and then to hear them joke like this makes my day. In a way it is like a little slap to the Dems. hahahaha

Vietnam veteran, General Wagner, stepped up to the microphone and confronted Democrat Reps. Jim Moran and John Murtha at a town hall meeting in Arlington, Va., earlier this week.

General Wagner….click image to see the video and then applaud and cheer for this man!

I visit Walter Reed [Army Hospital] and talk to the young soldiers with their legs blown off. I know you do, too. I can’t find one in a dozen that don’t believe that they are fighting for a noble cause and are fighting to go back. And I think it’s a disgrace when members of our Congress –just as they did in 1975 when they sold out the south Vietnamese–are selling out our soldiers today in Iraq!

Wild Thing’s comment……….
General Wagner has served this country and it makes me furious that years later he still has to stand up to the left, to the traitors to America and defend our Troops and our Nation. He deserves better then that, he deserves to have an America that supports our troops, that supports the War against terrorists and the war to bring Freedom to others. He deserves to be applauded NOT applause going to Moronic Moran as you have seen in the video. He deserves for every person in that audience to stand up and cheer HIM, and thank him and welcome him home. I have zero tolerance for the left and have no intention of weakening in any way about how I feel about them. Thank you General Wagner, and Welcome Home!

* Michelle Malkin
* Mudville Gazette has the full transcript.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Sunday it was preparing to remove U.N. seals at some nuclear research and development sites, despite strong Western opposition to its decision to resume atomic research halted over two years ago.
It would be the second time in five months that Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is peaceful, removed some seals put in place by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
European Union and U.S. officials have said the move, which follows Iran’s resumption of uranium processing at its Isfahan plant in August, will jeopardize efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s atomic ambitions and could accelerate calls for its case to be sent to the U.N. Security Council.
“We will remove the seals and we have announced that we are ready to start research from tomorrow,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference.
“It depends on the IAEA to announce its readiness as this will take place under the agency’s supervision,” he added.
A resumption of atomic research and development would mean that all of Iran’s nuclear programme, much of which was put on hold as part of negotiations with the EU that started in late 2003, was active once again apart from the actual enrichment of uranium at its unfinished Natanz facility.
Uranium enrichment is the most sensitive part of the nuclear fuel cycle since it can be used to produce bomb-grade material as well as nuclear reactor fuel.
Iran has not publicly disclosed what activities it plans to resume on Monday. Diplomats and analysts say atomic research and development could involve some laboratory tests of uranium enrichment and the assembly of enrichment centrifuges.

Write up HERE
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Karen Bradley, 202-669-3927; or Christine Yorty, 703-447-6726
News Advisory:
WHO:
— David Swanson, moderator, co-founder, After Downing Street
— Allan J. Lichtman, history professor, American University
— Lila Rajiva, author of Abu Ghraib and the Media, The Language of Empire
— Cliff Kindy, Christian Peacemaker Teams
— Kevin Zeese, peace activist, Democracy Rising
— D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (invited)
WHAT: Out of Iraq Town Meeting
WHEN: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 7
WHERE: Washington, D.C. Town Hall, Busboys and Poets, 14th and V Streets N.W., Washington, D.C.
WHY: To educate Americans about the need to end the U.S Occupation of Iraq.
Grassroots activists will hold “Out of Iraq Town Meetings” in more than 100 locations across America on Saturday, Jan. 7. Several will feature members of Congress, including Bobby Scott, Diane Watson, Jim McDermott, Adam Smith, Bob Filner, Martin Sabo, Jim Moran, Marty Meehan, and John Murtha.
Others will include candidates, elected officials, and leaders of the peace movement, including Gold Star Families for Peace founder Cindy Sheehan, and Constitutional Law Expert John Bonifaz. The events will focus on ending the war, however many will address Congressman John Conyers’ resolutions to censure and investigate President Bush and Vice President Cheney and to create a select committee on impeachment.
PDA Director Tim Carpenter said: “Progressive Democrats of America is proud to be working with grassroots organizations across the country to mobilize and organize a broad-based coalition to call for an end to the Occupation of Iraq and demand action from Congress to investigate the lies of the Bush administration and their conduct regarding the Iraq War.”
National Sponsors: Backbone Campaign, Progressive Democrats of America, After Downing Street, Democracy Cell Project, Cities for Peace, MilitaryFreeZone, Operation Ceasefire, Montgomery County Progressive Alliance, United for Peace and Justice, U.S. Tour of Duty, Hip Hop Caucus, Democracy Rising, World Can’t Wait, Global Exchange, WakeUpLaughing.com, Gold Star Families for Peace, Peace Majority Report, Bring Them Home Campaign, United Progressives for Democracy, 20 20 Vision, Peace Action, America in Solidarity, CODE PINK and others.

from Eyewitness News

NEW HAVEN (AP) — The largest troop deployment from Connecticut is scheduled for this weekend as 500 Connecticut National Guardsmen head out.
On Saturday, they will be bused to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where they will spend three to five weeks in training. From there, they will be deployed to help rebuild Afghanistan.
The 500 soldiers and members of their families were given a send-off last night at Yale University’s Payne-Whitney Gymnasium.
The Connecticut National Guard says it’s represents the largest deployment of Connecticut guardsmen since the start of the war on terrorism in 2001.
The 500 troops come from 135 of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities. No Connecticut National Guardsmen are currently in Afghanistan, but 46 are serving in Iraq.

Wild Thing’s comment…………..
God Bless each and every one of them and keep them safe.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) denounced President Bush’s most recent statements on the War on Terrorism by saying the White House lacks “a real plan for success.”
Pelosi, commenting via press release on Bush’s Tuesday speech at the Pentagon, said “candor was not one of President Bush’s New Year’s resolutions.”
The Calif. Democrat claims Bush diverted attention and resources from the war on terrorism to wage “his war of choice in Iraq,” which Pelosi said, “removed the focus from Afghanistan and the real war on terror.”
“Bush has allowed the Taliban and their al Qaeda (sic) allies to continue to attack our troops,” Pelosi said. “President Bush also failed to admit that a lack of post-war planning in Iraq has allowed the insurgents to remain a threat nearly three years after the invasion.”
As previously reported by NewsMax, Pelosi recently backed the proposal by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) for a swift redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq over six months, but other party leaders did not endorse it and House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) publicly opposed her.
Pelosi opposed the war, arguing that Saddam Hussein posed no imminent threat to the United States.

Jack Murtha says ” Don’t Join the Military“

Democratic Party “defense hawk” Rep. John Murtha is racheting up his criticism of the war in Iraq, by urging young men and women not to join the military – a position apparently shared by his close congressional ally, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Asked during an interview broadcast Monday night if he would “join the military today,” the decorated Vietnam combat veteran told “ABC’s Nightline” – “No.”
Murtha kept his answers brief, allowing “Nightline” interviewer John Donovan to spin his comments.
“I think you’re saying the average guy out there who’s considering recruitment is justified in saying ‘I don’t want to serve’,” Donovan offered. “Exactly right,” Murtha shot back.
Murtha’s position is apparently shared by San Francisco Democrat Pelosi, whose constituents voted last November to have the city ban military recruiters from public high schools.
Pelosi defended the vote a few days later, explaining to Fox News host Neil Cavuto: “What the city of San Francisco was talking about was honesty and recruitment in terms of what these young people are promised and what they are told in that recruiting and that there should be some daylight shed on that.”
After Murtha caused a stir later the same month with his call for an “immediate redeployment” of U.S. troops out of Iraq, Newsweek reported that he and Pelosi had stage managed the entire episode:
“Pelosi was anxious to open a second axis of attack on Iraq – and was aware of [Murtha’s] growing antagonism toward the war,” the magazine’s Howard Fineman revealed.
“The two met and agreed that he would make his case in private to the party conference. After that, on his own, he would introduce a resolution calling for withdrawal of troops from Iraq ‘at the earliest practicable date.'” The scheme, Fineman said, called for “Pelosi and the other liberals [to] keep their distance, while their own Marine charged up the Hill.”
By December, however, Pelosi could no longer contain her enthusiasm for Murtha’s anti-war offensive, announcing in a press release:
“We should follow the lead of Congressman John Murtha, who has put forth a plan to make American safer, to make our military stronger and to make Iraq more stable.”
Wild Thing’s comment……..
If Chesty were around good ole Chesty would have bitch-slapped him! Murtha is an embarrassment to the Corps. He is one case where “Once a Marine, always a Marine” does NOT apply.
The Democrats have positioned themselves as the anti-war party and the anti-military party. They have put themselves in the risky position of having to pray for defeat and disaster if they are going to win. But hey they will never win again! Hear me Dems that send me emails of hate and no I will still be selective in allowing your posts to appear you freakazoids!
Murtha is obviously suffering from ASS — Acute Schumer Syndrome — fascination with being in front of a television camera and hearing himself pontificate. The vile thing about it is that what he says can be heard around the world. GRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
Please click on Photo below of some of our troops to see video titled…..”Our Heroes”……….

Toby Harnden in Ramadi
(Filed: 01/01/2006)
Gazing through the telescopic sight of his M24 rifle, Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland, leader of Shadow sniper team, fixed his eye on the Iraqi insurgent who had just killed an American soldier.
His quarry stood nonchalantly in the fourth-floor bay window of a hospital in battle-torn Ramadi, still clasping a long-barrelled Kalashnikov. Instinctively allowing for wind speed and bullet drop, Shadow’s commander aimed 12 feet high.
A single shot hit the Iraqi in the chest and killed him instantly. It had been fired from a range of 1,250 metres, well beyond the capacity of the powerful Leupold sight, accurate to 1,000 metres.
“I believe it is the longest confirmed kill in Iraq with a 7.62mm rifle,” said Staff Sgt Gilliland, 28, who hunted squirrels in Double Springs, Alabama from the age of five before progressing to deer – and then people.
“He was visible only from the waist up. It was a one in a million shot. I could probably shoot a whole box of ammunition and never hit him again.”
Later that day, Staff Sgt Gilliland found out that the dead soldier was Staff Sgt Jason Benford, 30, a good friend.
The insurgent was one of between 55 and 65 he estimates that he has shot dead in less than five months, putting him within striking distance of sniper legends such as Carlos Hathcock, who recorded 93 confirmed kills in Vietnam. One of his men, Specialist Aaron Arnold, 22, of Medway, Ohio, has chalked up a similar tally.
“It was elating, but only afterwards,” said Staff Sgt Gilliland, recalling the September 27 shot. “At the time, there was no high-fiving. You’ve got troops under fire, taking casualties and you’re not thinking about anything other than finding a target and putting it down. Every shot is for the betterment of our cause.”
All told, the 10-strong Shadow sniper team, attached to Task Force 2/69, has killed just under 200 in the same period and emerged as the US Army’s secret weapon in Ramadi against the threat of the hidden Improvised Explosive Device (IED) or roadside bomb – the insurgency’s deadliest tactic.
Above the spot from which Staff Sgt Gilliland took his record shot, in a room at the top of a bombed-out observation post which is code-named Hotel and known jokingly to soldiers as the Ramadi Inn, are daubed “Kill Them All” and “Kill Like you Mean it”.
On another wall are scrawled the words of Senator John McCain: “America is great not because of what she has done for herself but because of what she has done for others.”
The juxtaposition of macho slogans and noble political rhetoric encapsulates the dirty, dangerous and often callous job the sniper has to carry out as an integral part of a campaign ultimately being waged to help the Iraqi people.
With masterful understatement, Lt Col Robert Roggeman, the Task Force 2/69 commander, conceded: “The romantic in me is disappointed with the reception we’ve received in Ramadi,” a town of 400,000 on the banks of the Euphrates where graffiti boasts, with more than a degree of accuracy: “This is the graveyard of the Americans”.
“We’re the outsiders, the infidels,” he said. “Every time somebody goes out that main gate he might not come back. It’s still a running gun battle.”
Highly effective though they are, he worries about the burden his snipers have to bear. “It’s a very God-like role. They have the power of life and death that, if not held in check, can run out of control. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
“Every shot has to be measured against the Rules of Engagement [ROE], positive identification and proportionality.”
Staff Sgt Gilliland explains that his Shadow team operates at the “borderlines” of the ROE, making snap judgements about whether a figure in the crosshairs is an insurgent or not.
“Hunters give their animals respect,” he said, spitting out a mouthful of chewing tobacco. “If you have no respect for what you do you’re not going to be very good or you’re going to make a mistake. We try to give the benefit of the doubt.
“You’ve got to live with it. It’s on your conscience. It’s something you’ve got to carry away with you. And if you shoot somebody just walking down the street, then that’s probably going to haunt you.”
Although killing with a single shot carries an enormous cachet within the sniper world, their most successful engagements have involved the shooting a up to 10 members of a single IED team.
“The one-shot-one-kill thing is one of beauty but killing all the bad dudes is even more attractive,” said Staff Sgt Gilliland, whose motto is “Move fast, shoot straight and leave the rest to the counsellors in 10 years” and signs off his e-mails with “silent souls make.308 holes”.
Whether Shadow team’s work will ultimately make a difference in Iraq is open to question. No matter how many insurgents they shoot, there seems no shortage of recruits to plant bombs.
Col John Gronski, the overall United States commander in Ramadi, said there could not be a military solution. “You could spend years putting snipers out and killing IED emplacers and at the political level it would make no difference.”
As they prepare to leave Iraq, however, Staff Sgt Gilliland and his men hope that they have bought a little more time for the country’s politicians to fix peace and stability in their sights.
Hat Tip to:
Emigre With A Digital Cluebat

Wild Thing comment…………….
Those that have known me for awhile know that I am a big fan of our Military snipers. There is something about the lying in wait for just the right moment. The having to be totally still and not move so you don’t give away your location and not to let on that you even exist no matter what the elements are coming down on you. Whether is it ugliness of bad weather, where every breeze, every leaf nearby means something, and the bugs, the snakes you name it, to not be able to move..……well I can only imagine how difficult that must be. To be totally one with your weapon and know the zone of the ultimate and complete concentration.
To make that one perfect shot, that takes out the enemy in one swift blow. The feeling of knowing what that shot means to so many and how your steady aim is counted on by your brothers fighting with you, and your country back at home. Understanding with every breath you take the cost of life and the price of death.
The traits of a good sniper being able to be totally physically still for long periods of time, even when the body may begin to cramp up, and the need to have excellent camouflage techniques. By his actions to be able to save countless lives. Thank you Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland!

The Silent Soldier
By G.A.Codling
A soldier crawls along a forest floor
A match grade barrel to do his chore
Blending with the woodland scene
He leaves no trace of where he’s been
A single task occupies his mind
To the outside world he is blind
One single task, one single goal
Only his mission occupies his soul
He moves into the open grass
The enemy patrol makes a searching pass
although they look, they can not see
the man moving out from a distant tree
One hour, two , three then four
He only moves a few feet more
Zero hour is getting near
He knows his target will soon appear
A single man he has been sent to kill
and on his hands this man’s blood will spill
The moment is now, the target’s in site
Taking up the first pressure the shoot feels right
One ounce more on the trigger sear
The bullet races away like a high speed spear
It races throw the air with a thunderous crack
There’s a fountain of blood as it exits the man’s back
The silence is deafening theirs not a single sound
as the shooter removes the case of the single spent round
His task now done he fades back in to the wood
His only trace is a body wear a man once stood.