Bush Greets Returning Soldiers

Where the heck was I when this happened earlier this month?!?  I first learned of this from an e-mail I got today from a friend.  [Thanks, R!]  So, I checked it out and found the following article (emphasis added):

George and Laura Bush surprise returning troops

Posted: August 12th, 2010 04:37 PM ET

From CNN Political Coverage Manager Steve Brusk

Former President George W. Bush surprised soldiers returning home mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on Thursday.

 

(CNN) - Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush surprised 145 troops returning home from war Wednesday, greeting them at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The service members, most returning for a two-week break, arrived on a charter flight expecting to be met by the Dallas-based Welcome Home A Hero organization.

But waiting with the crowd at the international arrivals section were the smiling former president and first lady. "We didn't tell them at all what was going on," said the leader of the welcoming group, Lt. Col. Patrick McAfee. "It was shock and awe when they walked in the double doors."

Most of the returning service members are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A spokesman for Bush, David Sherzer, said they were "honored" to take part in the welcome.

"President Bush often says that he doesn't miss much about being the President, but he does miss being the Commander in Chief of an incredible group of men and women", he said.


"It was a remarkable, incredible feeling for them, seeing the former commander in chief taking time to greet them," McAfee said.

Bush handed each of the service members his commander-in-chief coin and posed for pictures for everyone. Photos from the event showed the surprise on the faces of many of the troops.

"For the first time in my life, I was star struck," McAfee said. "He obviously still loves the military."

The Bushes joined with more than 30 youth football players through the Slant 45 organization to take part in the ceremony. The group is part of the Super Bowl community program in advance of the 2011 Super Bowl at Arlington, Texas.

"It was just a great lift of our spirits" for the welcoming committee, McAfee said. The group welcomes troops home whenever their flights return, no matter the hour. "We sometimes have people in pajamas and robes in the middle of the night."

Bush always cared deeply for the troops.  Remember that first surprise visit to Iraq at Thanksgiving?    Obama could hardly give McChrystal the time of day when McC took over operations in Afghanistan and was still waiting to see if he would get the 30,000 - 40,000 additional troops he requested

Another class act: I recall how he and Laura met with the victims and families who were devastated by the shootings at Fort Hood.  They were at the base hospital THAT DAY.  Obama, Dear Leader, showed up ... what? ... almost a week later? ...  turning the tragedy into a big PR fiasco ... turning it into being about him, Der Narcissist.

Below are some additional pictures that were included from the e-mail.

James Cameron Tucks Tail from Global Warming Debate

After a lot of bragging that he would whip global warming "deniers" in a debate, when it came down to actually stepping up to the plate, Cameron took his balls and went home.

Check this out from Not Evil Just Wrong:

James Cameron—King of Hypocrites
 
Last March James Cameron sounded defiant.

The Avatar director was determined to expose journalists, such as myself, who thought it was important to ask questions about climate change orthodoxy and the radical "solutions" being proposed.

Cameron said was itching to debate the issue and show skeptical journalists and scientists that they were wrong.

“I want to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out with those boneheads," he said in an interview.

Well, a few weeks ago Mr. Cameron seemed to honor his word.

His representatives contacted myself and two other well known skeptics, Marc Morano of the Climate Depot website and Andrew Breitbart, the new media entrepreneur.

Mr. Cameron was attending the AREDAY environmental conference in Aspen Colorado 19-22 August. He wanted the conference to end with a debate on climate change. Cameron would be flanked with two scientists. It would be 90 minutes long. It would be streamed live on the internet.

They hoped the debate would attract a lot of media coverage.

"We are delighted to have Fox News, Newsmax, The Washington Times and anyone else you'd like. The more the better," one of James Cameron's organizers said in an email.

It looked like James Cameron really was a man of his word who would get to take on the skeptics  he felt were so endangering humanity.

Everyone on our side agreed with their conditions. The debate was even listed on the AREDAY agenda.

But then as the debate approached James Cameron's side started changing the rules.

They wanted to change their team. We agreed.

They wanted to change the format to less of a debate—to "a roundtable". We agreed.

Then they wanted to ban our cameras from the debate. We could have access to their footage. We agreed.

Bizarrely, for a brief while, the worlds most successful film maker suggested that no cameras should be allowed-that sound only should be recorded. We agreed

Then finally James Cameron, who so publicly announced that he "wanted to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out," decided to ban the media from the shoot out.

He even wanted to ban the public. The debate/roundtable would only be open to those who attended the conference.

No media would be allowed and there would be no streaming on the internet.  No one would be allowed to record it in any way.

We all agreed to that.

And then, yesterday, just one day before the debate, his representatives sent an   email that Mr. "shoot it out " Cameron no longer wanted to take part. The debate was cancelled.

James Cameron's behavior raises some very important questions.

Does he genuinely believe in man made climate change?  If he believes it is a danger to humanity surely he should be debating the issue every chance he gets ?

Or is it just a pose?

The man who called for an open and public debate at "high noon" suddenly doesn't want his policies open to serious scrutiny.

I was looking forward to debating with the film maker. I was looking forward to finding out where we agreed and disagreed and finding a way forward that would help the poorest people in the developing and developed world.

But that is not going to happen because somewhere along the way James Cameron, a great film maker, has moved from King of the World to being King of the Hypocrites.

McRage Over McNuggets

Those poor folks at McDonald's ... or anyone who works the drive-through at a fast-food restaurant ... or works fast-food in general, for that matter!

McNugget rage caught on tape at McDonald's

A Toledo woman accused of getting violent after McDonald's wouldn't serve her Chicken McNuggets has been indicted by a grand jury. 

Melody's friend Brenda is a piece of work, too.  Don't be distracted by her "Property of Avon" t-shirt when she pretty much gives Melody at least three excuses for her psycho behavior.

I guess you can pretty much justify damn near anything, eh?

Barack Obama Elementary Opens in Maryland

I've been a bit MIA lately due to getting back into the swing of another school year.  But, I couldn't let this story pass without sharing.   Enjoy!

Barack Obama Elementary Opens in Maryland

By Megan McGrath

NBC -- The first school in the Washington D.C. area named after the current president opens Monday morning as the school year begins in Prince George's County. 

Barack Obama Elementary School opens its doors in Upper Marlboro, Md., for the first time Monday. The school is being touted as being an environmentally friendly "green" school. There have been other schools named after President Obama in the country, but this will be a first in his own backyard in the D.C. region. 

That's just one of several new initiatives for Prince George's Public Schools this year. The District also will open an all-male charter school in Upper Marlboro. Called Possibility Prep, the new school will emphasize math, science and engineering. Officials hope that the all-male environment will do away with many distractions and allow students to focus on their studies. 

School officials are hopeful that this year's opening will be free of the scheduling problems that plagued the first day of school last year. Last fall, thousands of students were late to class because of a computer glitch that made a mess of class schedules. 

School superintendent William Hite said the problems have been fixed and students who enrolled by August 9 will have their schedules Monday.

[Let's just hope Obama's cabinet didn't iron out the scheduling problems.]

Hottest Toy of 2010 -- The Obama Talking Bullshitter Doll

[Thanks, T!]

The hottest toy in 2010!!!   And just in time for pre-ordering for the holidays!

High School Football Team Runs Nighttime Practices for Muslim Players

[Thanks, B, for the tip!!!]

Dearborn, Michigan has a large Muslim population.  So large, in fact, that it is impacting sports in one of its public high schools.  It is now Ramadan, and Fordson High School is making special accommodations for its Muslim players in order for them to be able to attend practice.  Here's the scoop from ESPN (emphasis added):

Mich. school practices 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

DEARBORN, Mich. -- A Michigan high school football team is holding preseason practices in the middle of the night to help its Muslim players practice both faith and football.

The predominantly Muslim squad from Dearborn says the nocturnal regimen is a way for players to eat and drink while observing the holy month of daytime fasting known as Ramadan that started last week.

The August heat also played a factor in Fordson High coach Fouad Zaban's proposal to reverse the clock for a week of two-a-day practices.

AP Photo/Paul Sancya  It was nearly 1 a.m. when Kamel Farajthrows of the Fordson High School junior varsity team delivered a pass during practice last week.

Cutting practice wasn't an option at football-crazy Fordson, which is coming off a one-loss season and has won four state titles and three runner-up seasons since it was established in 1928.

But nobody wanted to lessen the significance of Ramadan in the Detroit suburb widely known as the capital of Arab-America.

The moonlight practice is tailored for Adnan Restum and fellow Muslim teammates.

Illuminated by the night lights on the football field, Restum recently joined a scrum of teammates at the end-zone water fountain, taking a break from a grueling preseason football workout to guzzle a drink.

In just a few hours, he wouldn't be able to take a sip. But the 17-year-old defensive tackle could rehydrate guilt-free during the 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. practice, and succumb to tempting boxes full of granola bars and chocolate milk, too.

"It feels really great," said Restum, who has been fasting since he was about 10. "If we're doing it during the day, we wouldn't have water and it would be really hot and everything."

Zaban proposed the late practices after realizing the rotating Ramadan would fall squarely during the start of a two-a-day practice schedule that launches football season.

Zaban, 40, a Muslim and former Fordson player, knows the high stakes. When Ramadan falls during football season, the players practice during daylight hours. But with August's heat and doubled practice schedule, concerns grew about players' health, particularly the high risk of heat stroke.

"We know how hot it's been this summer -- it's not safe," Zaban said.

Working it out meant getting the approval of school and district administrators and the blessings of players, parents and police. Then, there were the residents in the surrounding neighborhood, who would hear more noise and see the illuminated field. So he sent letters explaining the decision.

Zaban is unaware of such schedule switches elsewhere, though other teams at the school and in the district have moved practices earlier or later in the day. It's been more than three decades since Ramadan last fell during football preseason and Fordson's Muslim population was far smaller then -- and, he notes, there were no field lights.

Zaban said the goal has been to let players break the fast at sundown and go to the mosque, and get players out in time for a meal and morning prayer before sunrise. The field is near bustling bakeries, cafes and restaurants catering to late-night customers.

But first, there are drills.

"Keep running! Heads up!" Zaban yelled while leading a passing drill. And, when a receiver flubbed a one-handed catch, the coach barked, "Hey, two hands!" The result was 20 push-ups.

Zaban said whether players fast is a personal choice and never an issue raised by him or his staff. Still, he says, it shouldn't be an excuse for poor performance for the roughly 95 percent who do.

He ended the session before 4 a.m. with a message to the huddled, padded masses to "drink lots of water," "get a good meal in," and "man up."

Defensive tackle William Powell, one of the team's few non-Muslims, initially thought the coach was "out of his mind," but he's come around. In fact, he's even fasted.

"I'm around 'em, so I've tried a couple times but it's hard," the 17-year-old said.

For Rami Fakih, a wide receiver and defensive back, the nocturnal regimen has taken some adjustment but for different reasons. The brother of recently crowned Miss USA Rima Fakih said he had to think twice before hitting the fountain.

"Oh yeah," he said. "Then I remembered, you know. I looked up. There's no sun. I can drink. I can eat."

With that, he walked off the field and into the darkness with plans to grab a quick bite with friends at a local bakery.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

It is an interesting quandry.  As someone who has coached, I can see the reasons for changing the team's practice sessions.  I remember the occasional Muslim player who had to have restricted practice due to fasting.  Heat is challenging in itself, but when you add in a player who is not drinking or eating during the day, you are flirting with disaster.  Additionally, there are also the state requirements of athletes completing so many days of pre-season training before being allowed to play in games.  So, with Fordson having a large number of its players being Muslim, I imagine the school would have to forfeit games due to too many atheletes not having met that requirement.

I do think it's important to note from the article that this is the first time that Ramadan has fallen during pre-season.  So, maybe making some special concessions now at a very rare occurence is not out of line.

Constitutionally, it is appropriate as well, since there is no "proselytizing" during the school day.  Plus, since the coach himself is Muslim, as opposed to a non-Muslim being forced to run nighttime practices, there really should be no employment issues. However, I do have a question to which I can find no answer in the article: Are ALL practices now at night, forcing ALL athletes to attend, or are there still daytime practice sessions for non-Muslim athletes who do not wish to train late at night?   I can see where, if all practices are now at night, there could be some trouble for the school should non-Muslim students complain.  What about non-Muslim coaches?  Must they run nighttime practices?  I can see where things could get a bit messy constitutionally if certain athletes or coaches were forced to train at night if they were not Muslim.

I do, however, feel sorry for the nearby residents!  They are more than gracious to concede to having the practices held while trying to sleep.

Sherrod and "Pigford v. Glickman": The Obama Connection

This is very interesting ... it is, indeed, remarkable how quickly the Sherrod story quieted down after fomenting a whole lotta hate.  Be sure to click on the link within the article to Pajamas Media's article about the case Pigford v. Glickman -- it has a lot of good demographics.  (Emphasis added ... Tip from Bob Parks of Black & Right):

Did Andrew Breitbart Lay A Trap For Sherrod’s Fraud… Unbelievable!

August 7, 2010

Andrew Breitbart is a media genius. 

He proved it originally with his brilliant handling of the ACORN ‘hooker’ scandal which he skillfully manipulated so that the corrupt media was forced, against its will, to broadcast corruption in one of Obama’s most powerful political support groups. But Breitbart’s handing of that affair is nothing compared to his brilliant manipulation of the Shirley Sherrod ‘white farmer’ scandal.

It all began last Monday, July 22, 2010. As the country watched in horror, Breitbart released a snippet of a tape on his “Big Government” site which showed an obscure black female official of the Dept. of Agriculture laughing to a roomful of NAACP members about how she’d discriminated against a destitute white farmer and refused to give him the financial aid he desperately needed. As she smirked to the room, she’d sent him instead to a white lawyer – ‘one of his own kind’ – for help. The black woman was Shirley Sherrod – and almost immediately she became the center of a firestorm of controversy which exploded throughout the country. Within a day of the release of that infamous tape, the head of the Dept. of Agriculture, spurred on by Obama, demanded – and received – Sherrod’s resignation. Breitbart had won.

But then seemingly Breitbart’s actions began to explode in his face. As Sherrod screamed in protest, FOX News released the entire text of her speech last March to the NAACP. And there on tape Sherrod was shown supposedly repenting of her racism against a white farmer and instead championing his fight to win funds to keep his farm afloat. Within hours of that entire tape being revealed, the entire world turned against Andrew Breitbart. Conservatives throughout the country were enraged that he’d endangered their reputations by releasing a ‘doctored’ tape. Breitbart, they thundered, had dealt a fatal blow to the conservative media. I confess that I also was horrified at what I saw as the clumsiness and stupidity of Breitbart in ‘doctoring’ a tape to make a supposedly innocent woman look guilty. But now I discover I have been as guilty of haste to judgment of Breitbart as the Dept. of Agriculture was of Ms. Sherrod.

Only now am I realizing the real purpose for Breitbart’s release of that tape snippet. It was to allow him to cunningly trick the media into exposing one of the most shocking examples of corruption in the federal government – a little known legal case called “Pigford v. Glickman”.

http://pajamasmedia.com/zombie/2010/07/27/pigford-v-glickman-86000-claims-from-39697-total-farmers/?singlepage=true

“In 1997, 400 African-American farmers sued the United States Department of Agriculture, alleging that they had been unfairly denied USDA loans due to racial discrimination during the period 1983 to 1997.” The case was entitled “Pigford v. Glickman” and in 1999, the black farmers won their case. The government agreed to pay each of them as much as $50,000 to settle their claims.

But then on February 23 of this year, something shocking happened in relation to that original judgment. In total silence, the USDA agreed to release more funds to “Pigford”. The amount was a staggering $1.25 billion. This was because the original number of plaintiffs – 400 black farmers – had now swollen in a class action suit to include a total of 86,000 black farmers throughout America.

There was only one teensy problem. The United States of America doesn’t have 86,000 black farmers. According to accurate and totally verified census data, the total number of black farmers throughout America is only 39,697. Oops.

Well, gosh – how on earth did 39,697 explode into 86,000 claims? And how did $50,000 explode into $1.25 billion? Well, folks, you’ll just have to ask the woman who not only spearheaded this case because of her position in 1997 at the “Rural Development Leadership Network” but whose family received the highest single payout (approximately $13 million) from that action – Shirley Sherrod. Oops again.

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/110/024/Is_There_More_to_Sherrods_Dismissal.html

Yes, folks. It appears that Ms. Sherrod had just unwittingly exposed herself as the perpetrator of one of the biggest fraud claims in the United States – a fraud enabled solely because she screamed racism at the government and cowed them into submission. And it gets even more interesting. Ms. Sherrod has also exposed the person who aided and abetted her in this race fraud. As it turns out, the original judgment of “Pigford v. Glickman” in 1999 only applied to a total of 16,000 black farmers. But in 2008, a junior Senator got a law passed to reopen the case and allow more black farmers to sue for funds. The Senator was Barack Obama.

Because this law was passed in dead silence and because the woman responsible for spearheading it was an obscure USDA official, American taxpayers did not realize that they had just been forced in the midst of a worldwide depression to pay out more than $1.25 billion to settle a race claim.

But Breitbart knew. And last Monday, July 22, 2010, he cleverly laid a trap which Sherrod – and Obama – stumbled headfirst into which has now resulted in the entire world discovering the existence of this corrupt financial judgment. Yes, folks – Breitbart is a genius.

As for Ms. Sherrod? Well, she’s discovered too late that her cry of ‘racism’ to the media which was intended to throw the spotlight on Breitbart has instead thrown that spotlight on herself – and her corruption. Sherrod has vanished from public view. Her ‘pigs’, it seems, have come home to roost. Oink!

Robert W. Fortner

I Want Your Money: Movie to Blast Obama and His Henchmen

Coming this Fall ... I Want Your Money ...



From the movie's website:

Two versions of the American dream now stand in sharp contrast. One views the money you earned as yours and best allocated by you. It champions the traditional American dream, which has played out millions of times through generations of Americans, of improving one’s lot in life and the entrepreneurial spirit of daring to dream and to build big. The other believes that the federal government, using taxpayers’ money, should play a major role in leveling out the nation’s wealth to guarantee outcomes to all, regardless of effort. How America chooses between these two views of the role of government, at this crucial juncture, will have everything to do with the future we and our children and our children’s children will enjoy.

President Barack Obama clearly believes in the larger government view. In his Inaugural Address, he said, “Now there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest our system cannot tolerate big plans…The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works—whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.” With a federal deficit of nearly one and a half trillion dollars for 2009 and deficit projections of not less than a half a trillion dollars over the next ten years, the question of whether government is too big or too small is very relevant, even vital to the future of the nation.

Join filmmaker Ray Griggs in this documentary film I Want Your Money as he contrasts the two paths the United States can take using the words and actions of Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan. The film uses interviews from well-known public figures, experts, movie clips, dramatic portrayals, music, graphics and even comedic animation to tell the story in the plainest terms of the choice between the Obama and the Reagan views of the role of the federal government in our society. It also examines how these big government programs have been tried in the past at great moral and financial cost to the nation. California is offered as a case-in-point in understanding what economic challenges might face the nation, if we choose the larger government path. Finally, I Want Your Money is a call to action for those who care about the future of the United States.

Black Conservatives of the Tea Party Address Racism Concerns

Two reporters engage in a heated exchange with black conservative leaders at a press conference at the National Press Club on August 4, 2010 challenging the NAACP on its charges of racism within the tea party.