1463rd Transportation Company Returns

From The Grand Rapids Press:

WYOMING -- Tears of joy and relief flowed at the Grand Valley Armory Monday night as friends and family greeted 128 returning Army National Guard soldiers from the 1463rd Transportation Company, back from a year-long deployment in Iraq.

...

Eastbound traffic was blocked in front of the armory for a couple hours prior to the soldiers' 9 p.m. arrival. An enormous American flag was hoisted over the entrance by fire engines from the Grandville and Wyoming departments.

The 1463rd is based out of Wyoming and Sturgis. They departed Michigan in June 2008 for eight weeks of training at Fort Bliss, Texas. They arrived in Iraq in August 2008.

In Iraq, the soldiers were stationed at Camp Bucca, where they were responsible for the oversight of Iraqi detainees. The Army estimates they processed approximately 10,000 detainees throughout the deployment.

A comment posted from a different story:

BikerEdge wrote:
What they failed to report is the escort that these hero's received. In front of their three busses were 26 motorcycles ridden by the Patriot Guard Riders, 14 cars driven by Patriot Guard members, several Corvettes from a Corvette club, several police vehicles which led the escort and blocked the intersections so the procession could proceed without interruption. Along the route people were seen waving, applauding, thanking, and waving the flag for the returning troups. It was a happy day for the entire community filled with gratitude and pride.

Thank you all for your service and thank God you're all home safe!

Read It & Weep

Read full text of Obama's speech HERE

Life

From MSNBC.com:

Differing positions of Obama, Bush on abortion
New president has said he opposes any attempts to restrict abortion access

President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, differ sharply on abortion and other reproductive-health issues. Here are some of their views:

Obama's position, from the official White House Web site:

"President Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority in his Administration. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.

"President Obama was an original co-sponsor of legislation to expand access to contraception, health information, and preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. Introduced in January 2007, the Prevention First Act will increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims."

Bush's view, from a proclamation last week declaring National Sanctity of Human Life Day:

"All human life is a gift from our Creator that is sacred, unique, and worthy of protection. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, our country recognizes that each person, including every person waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world. We also underscore our dedication to heeding this message of conscience by speaking up for the weak and voiceless among us.

"The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent. My Administration has been committed to building a culture of life by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing Federal funding for abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence, and funding crisis pregnancy programs. In 2002, I was honored to sign into law the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which extends legal protection to children who survive an abortion attempt. I signed legislation in 2003 to ban the cruel practice of partial-birth abortion, and that law represents our commitment to building a culture of life in America...

"The sanctity of life is written in the hearts of all men and women. On this day and throughout the year, we aspire to build a society in which every child is welcome in life and protected in law..."

Times, they are a'changing.

Bush/Marines v Obama/Marines

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

How Government Created Economic Turmoil

PETER WALLISON: THE ROOTS OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

Dubya, Jedi Knight

About Nationalized Health Care

From the CATO Institute

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (IL) has proposed an ambitious plan to restructure America’s health care sector. Rather than engage in a detailed critique of Obama’s health care plan, many critics prefer to label it “socialized medicine.” Is that a fair description of the Obama plan and similar plans? Over the past year, prominent media outlets and respectable think tanks have investigated that question and come to a unanimous answer: no. Those investigations leave much to be desired.

Indeed, they are little more than attempts to convince the public that policies generally considered socialist really aren’t. A reasonable definition of socialized medicine is possible. Socialized medicine exists to the extent that government controls medical resources and socializes the costs. Notice that under this definition, it is irrelevant whether we describe medical resources (e.g., hospitals, employees) as “public” or “private.”

What matters—what determines real as opposed to nominal ownership—is who controls the
resources. By that definition, America’s health sector is already more than half socialized, and Obama’s health care plan would socialize medicine even further.

Reasonable people can disagree over whether Obama’s health plan would be good or bad.
But to suggest that it is not a step toward socialized medicine is absurd.

Read the whole thing. It's very enlightening.

Also see: Blocking Obama's Health Plan is Key to the GOP's Survival

American War Mother

American War Mothers

In 1917 Army Captain Robert L. Queissner of the 5th Ohio Infantry designed and patented a simple flag to reflect the World War I service of two sons. The appeal of this flag quickly caught on, and on September 24, 1917, an Ohio congressman read into the Congressional Record:

"The mayor of Cleveland, the Chamber of Commerce and the governor of Ohio have adopted this service flag. The world should know of those who give so much for liberty. The dearest thing in all the world to a father and mother -- their children."

Three days later the American War Mothers organized in Indiana, and that organization quickly grew in other states. It was a close-knit group, composed of women with one thing in common...a child at risk because of their choice to answer their Nation's call to military service. Throughout the war, these mothers displayed a flag with a blue star in their window, denoting the service of a son or daughter. These mothers also sought other ways to serve the military community, whether by direct services to men and women in military service, or by promoting important causes to the war, such as the National Government's call for food conservation.

When World War I began claiming the lives of many of these young Americans, a new flag developed. When a son was killed in action a GOLD star was sewn over the blue one, completely covering it. In May 1918 the Women's Committee of National Defenses suggested to President Woodrow Wilson that those mothers who had lost a family member in the war should wear a black band on their upper-left arm, adorned with a gold star. In a letter affirming his support for this proposal, President Wilson referred to these women as "Gold Star Mothers". It was the beginning a a new tradition of patriotic support for those who serve our Nation in uniform.

They also serve who watch and wait!

By 1924 the American War Mothers organization had 23,000 members and an official magazine: The American War Mothers Magazine. On February 24, 1925 the U.S. Congress granted the American War Mothers a national charter. The first National President of AWM was Alice French. (The charter was later amended in 1942, and again in 1953, during the periods of World War II and the Korean War.) The following year, Armistice Day 1926, the American War Mothers saw their flag raised for the first time over the Capitol.

In the years that followed the War Mothers Flag continued to be flown every Armistice Day, usually for three hours. In 1970 the original woolen flag was replaced with the new, synthetic fabric flag we use today. Along the way the practice was changed to keep the flag flying beneath the National Colors until sundown.

I look at my Blue Star Service Flag every single day and swell with pride and dread because it represents two of the things I love and regard with great pride; my Country and my son. I dread the time I still have to watch and wait, worrying every day about... well everything.

Respect to you on Veteran's Day, PFC.

To all our Veterans I say thank you.

An Affront to Freedom of Speech

h/t: XisDshizL

Flashback! Tim Russert Asks "The Question"

Bush Shuns, Obama is Keen

I realize that if I commented every time media bias reared its ugly head, I'd never sleep. This one, however, really bugged me. A lot.

Before the election, Obama told others that he favors declaring that carbon dioxide emissions are endangering human welfare, following an EPA task force recommendation last December that Bush and his aides shunned in order to protect the utility and auto industries.

Robert Sussman, who was the EPA's deputy administrator during the Clinton administration and is now overseeing EPA transition planning for Obama, wrote a paper last spring strongly recommending such a finding. Others in the campaign have depicted it as an issue on which Obama is keen to show that politics must not interfere with scientific advice.

Protecting the utility and auto industries is made to sound like a bad thing with the use of the word "shunned". They were so unreasonable THEY JUST SHUNNED IT! Meanwhile the ever more educated and intellectual *cough* Obama is keen. Keen about sounding non-political even.

What media bias?

Obama's Attack Ad on Himself

What the.

There are no words.

Wounded Warriors

New Service Announced for Wounded Warriors, Families and Caregivers

DoD announced today that the Military OneSource service has established a Wounded Warrior Resource Center telephone number and e-mail address for service members and their families, if they have concerns or other difficulties during their recovery process.

Service members and their family members can now call (800) 342-9647 or e-mail wwrc@militaryonesource.com 24/7 to request support. Assistance provided by the resource center will not replace the specialized wounded warrior programs established by each of the military services, but it will offer another avenue of assistance for military facilities, health care services, and/or benefits information.

"The department is committed to aggressively addressing the needs of our service members and their families," said Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates.

Specially trained consultants will ensure consistent, quality customer-centric support. The consultants will identify the appropriate "warm hand-off" to either a military service or federal agency with authority to resolve the matter. The resource center consultant will maintain communication with the caller until the issue or concern is resolved.

"The term 'wounded warrior' encompasses the entire population of wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans," said Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Michael L. Dominguez.

The Wounded Warrior Resource Center meets the requirements of Section 1616 of the "National Defense Authorization Act Fiscal Year 2008" for a centralized number and ensures wounded families and caregivers have a number to call at any time.

If you're looking for a way to help our soldiers, this is a good one.

Bankrupt Coal

Media Matters offers a recent audio interview Obama did with the SF Chronicle. Text partially below.

Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.

If Obama is elected POTUS, the trail of carnage will be deep and wide.

Audio at link.

UPDATE!
Coal official calls Obama comments 'unbelievable'