Sunday, July 21, 2013
Remembering Sean Flynn
Via comment by Chickenmom on Re-post: The (Vietnam) War and I [Excellent, new........
This is the most comprehensive piece on this subject that I have seen so far. Meticulous and don't miss the follow-up article at the bottom Clearing the Air for Missing Photojournalist Sean Flynn's Family - Tim King Salem-News.com
The son of the actor Errol Flynn was a combat photojournalist in Vietnam who believed getting the truth was worth a high price.
Most people who remember the album "Combat Rock" by The Clash might remember a song called Sean Flynn, but they probably don't know exactly who the early punkers were talking about.
The son of Hollywood movie actor Errol Flynn, he could have lived his life a thousand different ways.
Sean Flynn had a semi-successful acting career and all
the money, looks, fame and fortune that any man of his day could have
wanted, but instead he spent years covering the war in Vietnam.
During that time period, war photographers were a rare
and important type of person, and their lives were imperiled as a result
of their chosen profession. A risk that war reporters continue to face
today.
I have always been captivated by the story of Sean
Flynn and totally impressed with the things he was willing to do. In
fact, I thought of him often while covering the war in Afghanistan in
2006 and 2007. He and fellow photojournalist Dana Stone were captured by
Communist forces in 1970 and nobody who knew them ever saw the two
Americans again.
The story isn't that simple though; research reveals
that Sean Flynn and Dana Stone probably survived a year in captivity in
Cambodia before finally being killed.
It is not likely that anyone will ever verify what
happened, but one friend of Sean Flynn's, a photojournalist named Tim
Page, may have a more clear idea of what took place. After the war, Page
was portrayed in the movie Apocalypse Now as a somewhat frazzled
international war photographer, a memorable character. In reality, Page
took it upon himself to investigate the disappearance of Flynn and
Stone, and his findings are some of the best information on the subject.
Another friend of Sean Flynn's who survived the Vietnam
War was John Steinbeck IV, the son of the famous California author of
Cannery Row, East of Eden, the Grapes of Wrath, and many other American
classics. Unfortunately, John Steinbeck IV unexpectedly died during
routine surgery in 1991. Nobody in his family was ready for that.
More @ Salem-News
NC Senate passes 'Sharia law' bill
Just a signature from the governor and we are good to go.
The state Senate on Friday passed a bill that would keep courts from recognizing Sharia law.
The Senate had already approved the measure when it was attached to a controversial measure that would impose stricter regulations on abortion providers in the state. But the foreign law provision wasn’t sufficiently critiqued because abortion overwhelmed the floor debate, said Sen. Floyd McKissick, a Democrat from Durham.
Now called House Bill 522, the provision’s contents haven’t changed. It reminds judges that the U.S. and N.C. constitutions are the law of the land and no foreign law can supersede them. Sometimes international laws are used in court as evidence before a judge, or in written opinions. But this bill would stop judges from considering foreign law when it violates a citizen’s constitutional rights.
More @ N&O
Obamacare Could Push 1 Million Americans From 'Work to Welfare'
Of course, that was planned, if not worst.
Researchers have concluded that Obamacare may drive nearly one million Americans out of the workforce to take advantage of government-provided health benefits.
The findings, which were released this month, are higher than previous estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which projected that as many as 800,000 people may leave their jobs once Obamacare takes effect.
“The CBO may be potentially underestimating the employment loss and it should think more carefully about that,” said Craig Garthwaite, an assistant professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, in an exclusive interview with Newsmax on Thursday.
House Speaker John Boehner, who has been a vociferous critic of the president’s signature healthcare law touted the study findings in a tweet this week: “Study: #ObamaCare could push nearly 1 million Americans from work to welfare.”
The findings, which were released this month, are higher than previous estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which projected that as many as 800,000 people may leave their jobs once Obamacare takes effect.
“The CBO may be potentially underestimating the employment loss and it should think more carefully about that,” said Craig Garthwaite, an assistant professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, in an exclusive interview with Newsmax on Thursday.
House Speaker John Boehner, who has been a vociferous critic of the president’s signature healthcare law touted the study findings in a tweet this week: “Study: #ObamaCare could push nearly 1 million Americans from work to welfare.”
More @ Money News
Re-post: The (Vietnam) War and I [Excellent, new info and pictures]
This is what we saw when we finally reached the newsmen. John Cantwell, bloated in the heat and covered with flies, had been shot 17 times. The guy in the back of the jeep was actually sitting up straight, hands held high in in surrender.
Sean Flynn (left) and Dana Stone, less than two hours before they were captured. Sean and Dana were having bantering mock-argument in front of other newsmen about what they should do. "Flynn just wants me to go up there and get caught," Dana said. "After two years in Vietnam I'm not about to get zapped here."
*******************************************
Covers many of the journalists in Vietnam including those killed and captured, women and men
Ouch! ‘Senate global warming hearing backfires on Democrats’ — Boxer’s Own Experts Contradict Obama!
‘Skeptics & Roger Pielke Jr. totally dismantled warmism (scientifically, economically, rhetorically)
During yesterday’s Environment and Public Works hearings, Sen. David Vitter asked a panel of experts, including experts selected by Boxer, “Can any witnesses say they agree with Obama’s statement that warming has accelerated during the past 10 years?” For several seconds, nobody said a word. Sitting just a few rows behind the expert witnesses, I thought I might have heard a few crickets chirping, but I couldn’t tell for sure.
We’ll give Obama the benefit of the doubt and count the crickets in the “maybe” camp. After several seconds of deafening silence, global warming activist Heidi Cullen, who formerly served as a meteorologist for the Weather Channel, attempted to change the subject. Cullen said our focus should be on longer time periods rather than the 10-year period mentioned by Obama. When pressed, however, she contradicted Obama’s central assertion and said warming has slowed, not accelerated.
Several minutes later, Sen. Jeff Sessions returned to the topic and sought additional clarity. Sessions recited Obama’s quote claiming accelerating global warming during the past 10 years and asked, “Do any of you support that quote?” Again, a prolonged and deafening silence ensued. Neither Cullen nor any of the other experts on the panel spoke a word, not even in an attempt to change the subject.
More @ Climate Depot
NY food stamp recipients are shipping welfare-funded groceries to relatives in Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Haiti
Via Conservative Byte
Food stamps are paying for trans-Atlantic takeout — with New Yorkers using taxpayer-funded benefits to ship food to relatives in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Welfare recipients are buying groceries with their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and packing them in giant barrels for the trip overseas, The Post found.
The practice is so common that hundreds of 45- to 55-gallon cardboard and plastic barrels line the walls of supermarkets in almost every Caribbean corner of the city.
The feds say the moveable feasts go against the intent of the $86 billion welfare program for impoverished Americans.
A spokeswoman for the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and
Nutrition Service said welfare benefits are reserved for households that
buy and prepare food together. She said states should intervene if
people are caught shipping nonperishables abroad.
Food stamps are paying for trans-Atlantic takeout — with New Yorkers using taxpayer-funded benefits to ship food to relatives in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Welfare recipients are buying groceries with their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and packing them in giant barrels for the trip overseas, The Post found.
The practice is so common that hundreds of 45- to 55-gallon cardboard and plastic barrels line the walls of supermarkets in almost every Caribbean corner of the city.
The feds say the moveable feasts go against the intent of the $86 billion welfare program for impoverished Americans.
More @ New York Post
McCain: Obama's Trayvon Comments 'Very Impressive'
Two peas in a pod
************************
Idiot
On Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on CNN’s State of the Union, where he called President Obama’s Friday comments on Trayvon Martin and race “very impressive.” He said, “I think we should continue to make progress,” but added that “we still have a long way to go,” even as he declined to “second guess” the verdict in the George Zimmerman case.
More @ Breitbart
"Resegregation by sex"
I was in a gymnasium the other day, the sort in which you find perhaps twenty exercise machines lined up, each dedicated to toning but not really strengthening a part of the body. Although the place was empty except for me, a recorded female voice said over and over, “Change stations!” followed at intervals by something like, “All right! Ready, by the numbers…One! Two!....” etc. It annoyed me. I weary of constant instruction.
It caused me to reflect on the differences between the attitudes of men and women to gymnasiums, in which I have spent considerable time over the years. Women want aerobics and a very light workout, preferably as a social hour with someone calling cadence. I thought of that horror recommended by a (female) grade-school teacher to replace competitive sports, “a cooperative group activity led by a caring adult.”
By contrast, men do not go to gyms to have a group bonding experience, but to lift serious weight in reflective solitude. They seek strength, not tone, and do not want to listen to chirpy orders. In short, the sexes do not belong in the same establishments.
This led me to think of the National Press Club in Washington, of which I was a member many years ago. It was then for men only--a masculine place, there being over the bar a Maja Nude oil painting of a voluptuous woman. Men could hoist a brew, enjoy male company, and tell war stories.
More @ Fred On Everything
"I am a black male.........
Via WiscoDave
........who grew up in the inner city of Atlanta and no one ever followed me in a mall. I don’t recall any doors clicking when I crossed the street. And I never had anyone clutching their handbag when I got on an elevator. I guess having two awesome parents who taught me to be a respectful young man paid dividends.”
– Allen West
........who grew up in the inner city of Atlanta and no one ever followed me in a mall. I don’t recall any doors clicking when I crossed the street. And I never had anyone clutching their handbag when I got on an elevator. I guess having two awesome parents who taught me to be a respectful young man paid dividends.”
– Allen West
Farming Despite Marauding Yankees
Via Bernhard
“When
it was evident in 1865 that Sherman would march on Goldsborough, I
thought that he would lead his army northward from that town. It seemed
best therefore to
buy a farm in Wake [county] so as to have something to fall back on if
the Edgecombe [county] places should be devastated. It was a mistake but
not a costly one.
Sherman
came to Raleigh instead of marching north from Goldsborough but my
place was eighteen miles from Raleigh and too much out of the way to be
ravaged.
My mules and corn and fodder were taken but there was no wanton destruction.
After
peace was declared, I told the Negroes that they might cultivate the
crops already planted and we would leave it to the agent in charge of
the Freedman’s Bureau to
divide the crops. I further agreed that I would at my expense
transport them and their household property back to Edgecombe.
This
satisfied them but when the Government
officer (called by them the Bureau) made his award, he placed an undue
estimate on the share to which the land was entitled. He gave me double
what was usual and I at once reduced this allowance to one-third of the corn and one-fourth of the cotton.
I
told my Negroes early in the war that if the North succeeded, freedom
would be brought to them. They would gain nothing by running off, on
the contrary would incur
danger and trouble. I doubt whether this was needed as other slaves
than mine continued quietly at work. But it is a remarkable evidence of
their docility and of
their previous kind treatment that when the cotton factory at Rocky
Mount was burned by Northern cavalry from New Bern, they loaded the
wagons with meat
under
supervision of my overseer, Mr. Norris, hauled the load three or four
miles into the piney woods, and remained quiet while the Federals passed
by.
Not
one showed a disposition to join the soldiers. After the war at least
half of my hands continued to work as freely hired or as tenants.
Some
thought that it looked more like freedom to leave “Old Marster” and
work for somebody else but nearly all continued on the Tar River farms.”
(Memories of an Old time Tarheel, Kemp Plummer Battle, UNC Press, 1945, pp. 129-130)
American Sovereignty and Its Enemies
Via Timothy
The George Zimmerman saga came to an end last weekend when a jury of six Florida women found the neighborhood-watch captain not guilty in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. But even before the 15-month legal process had begun last year, the United Nations' top human-rights official had rendered a guilty verdict—against Mr. Zimmerman and the entire U.S. judicial system.
"Justice must be done for the victim," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay at an April 2012 press conference. "It's not just this individual case. It calls into question the delivery of justice in all situations like this. . . . I will be awaiting an investigation and prosecution and trial and of course reparations for the victims concerned."
Americans who ran across her statement may have dismissed Ms. Pillay as another U.N. busybody pestering the world's leading democracy. But former Sen. Jon Kyl thinks there is something more pernicious at work: Such comments express the desire, and growing power, of a global progressive elite to pierce the shield of U.S. sovereignty and influence the outcomes of the country's domestic debates.
Proponents call this movement "legal transnationalism," and as Mr. Kyl writes in a recent Foreign Affairs magazine article (co-authored with Douglas Feith and John Fonte of the Hudson Institute), "the idea that a U.N. official can sit in judgment of the U.S." is one of its main innovations.
Transnationalists want to rewrite the laws of war, do away with the death penalty, restrict gun rights and much more—all without having to win popular majorities or heed American constitutional limits. And these advocates are making major strides under an Obama administration that is itself a hotbed of transnational legal thinking.
The George Zimmerman saga came to an end last weekend when a jury of six Florida women found the neighborhood-watch captain not guilty in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. But even before the 15-month legal process had begun last year, the United Nations' top human-rights official had rendered a guilty verdict—against Mr. Zimmerman and the entire U.S. judicial system.
"Justice must be done for the victim," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay at an April 2012 press conference. "It's not just this individual case. It calls into question the delivery of justice in all situations like this. . . . I will be awaiting an investigation and prosecution and trial and of course reparations for the victims concerned."
Americans who ran across her statement may have dismissed Ms. Pillay as another U.N. busybody pestering the world's leading democracy. But former Sen. Jon Kyl thinks there is something more pernicious at work: Such comments express the desire, and growing power, of a global progressive elite to pierce the shield of U.S. sovereignty and influence the outcomes of the country's domestic debates.
Proponents call this movement "legal transnationalism," and as Mr. Kyl writes in a recent Foreign Affairs magazine article (co-authored with Douglas Feith and John Fonte of the Hudson Institute), "the idea that a U.N. official can sit in judgment of the U.S." is one of its main innovations.
Transnationalists want to rewrite the laws of war, do away with the death penalty, restrict gun rights and much more—all without having to win popular majorities or heed American constitutional limits. And these advocates are making major strides under an Obama administration that is itself a hotbed of transnational legal thinking.
More WSJ
Judge Challenges White House Claims on Authority in Drone Killings
“How broadly are you asserting the right of the United States to target an American citizen? Where is the limit to this?”
She provided her own answer: “The limit is the courthouse door.”
“No, no, no,” she said. “The executive is not an effective check on the executive.”
**********************************
Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the United States District Court here was
hearing the government’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by relatives
of three Americans killed in two drone strikes in Yemen in 2011: Anwar
al-Awlaki, the radical cleric who had joined Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula; Mr. Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who had no
involvement in terrorism; and Samir Khan, a 30-year-old North Carolina
man who had become a propagandist for the same Qaeda branch.
Judge Collyer said she was “troubled” by the government’s assertion that
it could kill American citizens it designated as dangerous, with no
role for courts to review the decision.
More @ NYT
Idaho militia revealed: Photo essay shows intense training and bonding of heavily armed group
Via avordvet
Armed to the teeth and dressed in camouflage uniforms, they train like they're soon to head for the front lines.
The small, reclusive group that believes in defending the Constitution by force if necessary allows a photographer into its midst for its third annual gathering.
Armed to the teeth and dressed in camouflage uniforms, they train like they're soon to head for the front lines.
But these are warriors of the homeland, a grassroots armed militia
protecting the Constitution and defending against tyranny, they say.
Formed in 2009 after President Obama
was inaugurated, the Light Foot Militia prepares to help in the event
of emergency, a supplementary armed force in time of anarchy. The group
is highly paranoid of government suppression of freedom.
More @ NY Daily News
Was Ron Paul Right? His prediction on the DHS 11 years ago
Via WiscoDave
Ron Paul wrote this scathing assessment and prediction about the newly created DHS eleven years ago. He was outraged by the $3 billion price tag. The DHS 2014 budget is $60 billion. Were his warnings about the American people being spied on by our government accurate? Are you safer today than you were in 2002? Do you have more or less liberty and freedom than you had in 2002? Was it worth it?
Congress spent just a few short hours last week voting to create the biggest new federal bureaucracy since World War II, not that the media or even most members of Congress paid much attention to the process. Yet our most basic freedoms as Americans – privacy in our homes, persons, and possessions; confidentiality in our financial and medical affairs; openness in our conversations, telephone, and internet use; unfettered travel; indeed the basic freedom not to be monitored as we go through our daily lives – have been dramatically changed. The last time Congress attempted a similarly ambitious reorganization of the government was with the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947. Back then, congressional hearings on the matter lasted two years before President Truman finally signed legislation. Even after this lengthy deliberation, however, organizational problems with the new department lasted more than 40 years! What do we expect from a huge bureaucracy conceived virtually overnight, by a Congress that didn’t even read the bill that creates it? Surely more deliberation was appropriate before establishing a giant new federal agency with 170,000 employees!
& he could have been President.
Ron Paul wrote this scathing assessment and prediction about the newly created DHS eleven years ago. He was outraged by the $3 billion price tag. The DHS 2014 budget is $60 billion. Were his warnings about the American people being spied on by our government accurate? Are you safer today than you were in 2002? Do you have more or less liberty and freedom than you had in 2002? Was it worth it?
The Homeland Security Monstrosity
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) November 19, 2002
Congress spent just a few short hours last week voting to create the biggest new federal bureaucracy since World War II, not that the media or even most members of Congress paid much attention to the process. Yet our most basic freedoms as Americans – privacy in our homes, persons, and possessions; confidentiality in our financial and medical affairs; openness in our conversations, telephone, and internet use; unfettered travel; indeed the basic freedom not to be monitored as we go through our daily lives – have been dramatically changed. The last time Congress attempted a similarly ambitious reorganization of the government was with the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947. Back then, congressional hearings on the matter lasted two years before President Truman finally signed legislation. Even after this lengthy deliberation, however, organizational problems with the new department lasted more than 40 years! What do we expect from a huge bureaucracy conceived virtually overnight, by a Congress that didn’t even read the bill that creates it? Surely more deliberation was appropriate before establishing a giant new federal agency with 170,000 employees!
Via Zero Hedge
President Obama: Beyond Parody
Via DailyTimewaster
The One's press conference today was so disgusting, so absurd, so outrageous that it proves almost impossible to discuss. He has shown himself, again, as an extreme leftist, hater of America, and a narcissist. He is beyond parody. Had a right-wing novelist or screenwriter created such a President, the novel would never have been published, nor the film made. In end, almost no matter what the topic of discussion, it all comes back to Obama. Trayvon Martin not only could have been his son, now Trayvon Martin could have been the young President Obama--except that George Zimmerman has a racial composition closer to President Obama's than did Trayvon Martin.
This performance is not that of a President but rather of a race-baiting, demagogic agitator. His description of race relations in the United States is a hallucinogenic version of reality, the product of his deeply ingrained leftist fanaticism. He cannot remember that he no longer works as a rabble-rousing community organizer out to blackmail a landlord or a small business in Chicago with the threat of demonstrations and street violence. He is supposed to be the President of all Americans, including, yes, horrors, white people, yes white people just like his mother and, especially, his grandparents who raised him when his black father bolted back to Kenya and to his other family.
The One's press conference today was so disgusting, so absurd, so outrageous that it proves almost impossible to discuss. He has shown himself, again, as an extreme leftist, hater of America, and a narcissist. He is beyond parody. Had a right-wing novelist or screenwriter created such a President, the novel would never have been published, nor the film made. In end, almost no matter what the topic of discussion, it all comes back to Obama. Trayvon Martin not only could have been his son, now Trayvon Martin could have been the young President Obama--except that George Zimmerman has a racial composition closer to President Obama's than did Trayvon Martin.
This performance is not that of a President but rather of a race-baiting, demagogic agitator. His description of race relations in the United States is a hallucinogenic version of reality, the product of his deeply ingrained leftist fanaticism. He cannot remember that he no longer works as a rabble-rousing community organizer out to blackmail a landlord or a small business in Chicago with the threat of demonstrations and street violence. He is supposed to be the President of all Americans, including, yes, horrors, white people, yes white people just like his mother and, especially, his grandparents who raised him when his black father bolted back to Kenya and to his other family.
More @ The DiploMad
My Orders
Via Arctic Pilgrim
Then if I bleed, or fail,
Or strongly win, what matters it?
God only doth prevail.
The servant craveth naught
Except to serve with might.
I was not told to win or lose,–
My orders are to fight.
My orders are to fight;
Then if I bleed, or fail,
Or strongly win, what matters it?
God only doth prevail.
The servant craveth naught
Except to serve with might.
I was not told to win or lose,–
My orders are to fight.
~Ethelwyn Wetherald
COMMON CORE: 3 X 4 = 11 is OK as long as you can explain your reasoning
Champion News has video up that will have you sitting in disbelief. The video shows a “common core” shill explaining a core philosophy of the radical education platform. The individual appears to be saying students will no longer be required to get math equations right. Instead, the focus will be on the student explaining how they got to their incorrect answer.
I kid you not.
More @ Liberty News