From the Blog of Wild Bill, http://godgunsfreespeech.blogspot.com

This is a letter that was written by a wife of a Vietnam Veteran about Ann Margret, Richard, (my husband), never really talked a lot about his time in Viet Nam other than he had been shot by a sniper. However, he had a rather grainy, 8 x 10 black & white photo he had taken at a USO show of Ann Margaret with Bob Hope in the background that was one of his treasures.A few years ago, Ann Margaret was doing a book signing at a local bookstore. Richard wanted to see if he could get her to sign the treasured photo so he arrived at the bookstore at 12 o'clock for the 7:30 signing. When I got there after work, the line went all the way around the bookstore, circled the parking lot, and disappeared behind a parking garage.Before her appearance, bookstore employees announced that she would sign only her book and no memorabilia would be permitted. Richard was disappointed, but wanted to show her the photo and let her know how much those shows meant to lonely GI's so far from home.Ann Margaret came out looking as beautiful as ever and, as 2nd in line, it was soon Richard's turn. He presented the book for her signature and then took out the photo. When he did, there were many shouts from the employees that she would not sign it. Richard said, "I understand. I just wanted her to see it".She took one look at the photo, tears welled up in her eyes and she said, "This is one of my gentlemen from Viet Nam and I most certainly will sign his photo. I know what these men did for their country and I always have time for "my gentlemen". With that, she pulled Richard across the table and planted a big kiss on him.She then made quite a to do about the bravery of the young men she met over the years, how much she admired them, and how much she appreciated them. There weren't too many dry eyes among those close enough to hear. She then posed for pictures and acted as if he was the only one there.Later at dinner, Richard was very quiet. When I asked if he'd like to talk about it, my big strong husband broke down in tears. "That's the first time anyone ever thanked me for my time in the Army", he said.Richard, like many others, came home to people who spit on him and shouted ugly things at him. That night was a turning point for him. He walked a little straighter and, for the first time in years, was proud to have been a Vet.I'll never forget Ann Margaret for her graciousness and how much that small act of kindness meant to my husband. I now make it a point to say Thank You to every person I come across who served in our Armed Forces.Freedom does not come cheap and I am grateful for all those who have served their country.Even today she is remembered fondly by those who served in Vietnam and who were lucky enough to be in the audience for one of her shows. In interviews with the press, she has spoken about former G.I.s who have stepped forward to thank her for taking the time to do her part back then. It's not too much of a stretch to think she would in turn be thanking them.Its a shame how our Troops are treated by Hollywood now, very few celebrities go into Combat zones to entertain the troops and show their appreciation for the sacrifice our military men and women make for us.A few celebrities do go to Iraq and Afghanistan and should be recognized for their Patriotism,to name a few and I mean few:Gary Sinise, Kid Rock,Toby Kieth,Wayne Newton,Bradley Cooper,and Don Shula.I know that there are more Celebrity Patriots that have gone to see the troops, but I cant remember them all,but I am glad their is still a small part of the entertainment industry that gives of themselves and cares about our Nations Military."In God We Trust"
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Objection! Best Evidence Rule.

(This latest article, which follows, regarding Long-legged, Mackdaddy's birth certificate is disappointing. It begs the question; WHY CAN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NOT GET TO SEE THE BEST EVIDENCE OF OBAMA'S BIRTH!? This is an easy one...how about a little transparency? Apply the "Best Evidence" rule. Show us his birth certificate. Show us his school records. Show us how he got to Pakistan during a travel ban and how he got into Columbia.

Folks, I am sad to think that the reason we cannot see the records "checked" by Hawaiian officials may well be that they do not exist. This is an issue that will not die. This coverup borders on treason and some of us are getting damned sick of it!)

"IN GOD WE TRUST"

By JAYMES SONG, Associated Press Writer Jaymes Song, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jul 28, 1:54 am ET

HONOLULU – State officials in Hawaii on Monday said they have once again checked and confirmed that President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen, and therefore meets a key constitutional requirement for being president.
They hoped to stem a recent surge in the number of inquiries about Obama's birthplace.
"I ... have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen," Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said in a brief statement. "I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago."
So-called "birthers" — who claim Obama is ineligible to be president because, they argue, he was actually born outside the United States — have grown more vocal recently on blogs and television news shows.

Fukino issued a similar press release Oct. 31, but was prompted to speak out again because of the renewed attention on Obama's beginnings. Hawaii's Health Department has been flooded in recent weeks with questions from individuals and several national TV news networks asking for proof that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.

"They just keep asking over and over and over again," Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said.

The Constitution states that a person must be a "natural-born citizen" to be eligible for the presidency. Birthers contend that Obama's birth certificate is a fake, and many say he was actually born in Kenya, his father's homeland. They've challenged his citizenship in court.
One widely circulated YouTube clip of a town hall meeting showed a Republican congressman getting booed for saying Obama is a citizen. Talk show host Rush Limbaugh and CNN's Lou Dobbs have also raised the issue, and 10 Republican members of Congress co-sponsored a bill that would require future presidential candidates to provide a copy of their original birth certificate.

However, it appears Congress has moved on and has accepted Obama's island birthplace. The U.S. House on Monday unanimously approved a resolution recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hawaii becoming the 50th state. A clause was included that reads: "Whereas the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961."
State law bars the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible inerest.

However, Obama's birth certificate along with birth notices from the two Honolulu newspapers were brought forward even before he took office. But that's done nothing to shake the belief by many Obama critics that the president was born abroad.

Rush was right. Biden, the gift that keeps on giving!

By LYNN BERRY, Associated Press Writer Lynn Berry, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 52 mins ago

MOSCOW – An interview U.S. Vice President Joe Biden gave to an American newspaper was front-page news Monday in Moscow, where his characterization of Russia as a weakened nation hit a raw nerve.

Biden said Russia's economic difficulties are likely to make the Kremlin more willing to cooperate with the United States on a range of national security issues.

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090727/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_us

Right on, Brother Doug!

Doug Casey on Judging Justices
(Interviewed by Louis James, International Speculator)

L: Doug, you wrote in an email that you’ve been shaking your head over the latest antics of Supreme Court nomination and appointment. Care to tell us why?

Doug: Well, the whole thing is a pointless circus. The whole uproar over the “wise Latina” remark is irrelevant, and all the hours of intense scrutiny people are devoting to examining the alleged thoughts of Sotomayor are a waste of time. It serves absolutely no useful purpose whatsoever.

L: None whatsoever? Wouldn’t it matter if a justice got in who might be more harmful than another to the economy or civil liberties?

Doug: No, not at all. The kind of justice who might do some good could never make it through our highly politicized appointment process, so it’s a choice between Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber. It just doesn’t matter. But, for what it’s worth, Soto mayor seems to have all the wrong instincts. Besides, the Supreme Court has drifted so far from what it’s supposed to do that the court itself doesn’t matter.

The Supreme Court has a very simple mission; it’s supposed to safeguard the Constitution. The U.S. Constitution and its first ten amendments (the Bill of Rights) were adopted and ratified simultaneously. Though imperfect, it’s actually a pretty clear and easy-to-understand document.

All a Supreme Court justice should have to do is read the Constitution to see if the law in question is constitutional, in other words, falls within the authority spelled out in the Constitution. It’s that simple, and it doesn’t take a lawyer – in fact, a lawyer’s training, with all its emphasis on precedent and interpretation, is the exact opposite of what you want in a Supreme Court justice.

So the weight of precedent and so-called law that has built up over the years is basically junk. Most decisions reflect not what the Constitution says, or even what’s equitable, but the political views of the judges – who are all political appointees.

The vast majority of the Supreme Court’s precedent should be scrapped. They should start from scratch, and with a copy of the Constitution in hand, and strike down any law that the Constitution does not specifically authorize. Article One, Section 8, makes it absolutely clear that any powers not given to the government in the Constitution are reserved to the states and to the people. Amendments 9 and 10 of the Bill of Rights reinforce that. But they’re completely disregarded, like everything else in that document, which was made to shield the individual against the state.

L: That would eliminate most of the federal government – the SEC, the FDA, HEW, HUD, DOA, DOT, IRS, BATF, FBI, CIA, and who knows how many other agencies – leaving little besides the military and the post office.

lawyerBob sez; SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN, TO ME!

(Thanks to Brother Higgins for emailing this one.)

The Story That Just Won't Die

(Go to bottom of blog to turn down music)

Well, Good old Chris Matthews... Me thinks he protests too much. Leave it to him to hold up the COLB and call it a birth certificate! We need an answer, not shucking and jiving!

The boy wonder seems to be getting a little testy on the birth issue, but at least he's talking about it. A couple of comments;

1. Do we have to wonder why BHO waved off the challenge to McCain's eligibility? I think not.

2. Now, in addition to being right-wing extremists, apparently those of us who believe in the Constitution and honoring its provisions are, "whackos."

3. This story simply will not die. Good.

4. Because of the consequences that would result, government cannot tell the truth on the legitimacy issue. Damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

There is an old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." We are there!

"In God We Trust."

MSM attack on USAF

From F-16.net

Recently an article in the Washington Post made a big splash against the F-22 using deception, gross misstatements and innuendo. It was a big hit. Many gobbled up the nonsense wholesale. What was wrong with it? While it made some good points—the defense establishment rarely has a handle on figuring out big dollar programs—it went over the top by stating some things that just were not true.For instance, it portrays the F-22 as a maintenance pig. The Post stated that maintenance on the F-22 was getting more expensive and troublesome with time when in fact the opposite is true.

What the Post really missed is that maintenance USAF wide is having challenges and not just one specific airframe. In the past several years with shortages of funds for just about everything, even simple to maintain F-16s have lost up to 10 percent of their mission capable (MC) rates. If one is going to only criticize one USAF airframe they are missing the big picture. Almost all USAF airframes have gone down in MC rates and not just due to age. Just a few years ago the B-1 bomber was taking huge criticism for only being able to deliver 51 percent MC rate. The fact of the matter was that the pauper USAF was only funding 49 percent of the aircraft systems required maintenance plan to keep it healthy. Dedicated maintenance personnel squeezed out an additional 2 percent through just plain hard work.

Looking at recent history of the F-22 shows a different story than that painted by the Post. Around the 2005-6, the F-22 upgrade schedule was on track. This effort was thrown into disarray when the needs of the Afghanistan and Iraq war—at over $10-13 billion per month— pulled scheduled funds from the F-22 program. The F-22 reached initial operating capability (IOC) in 2005. In the years 2006-2008, maintenance metrics from real live USAF squadrons came in. This is where real life at the squadron level validates (or disproves) the optimistic planning from previous years of aircraft development. What was shown is that the aircraft was spending a lot of time at the unit level in the low observable (L.O.) maintenance hanger. Consider that the aircraft was designed to be maintenance friendly where only 5 percent of maintenance actions required refurbishment of the low observable components on the F-22. In the end it wasn’t any kind of disaster but a learning curve. It took a while for airmen and NCO’s —the enlisted maintenance force that makes or breaks a flying unit—to get maintenance experience on this new kind of aircraft That process includes everything from training, keeping methods that work, throwing out ones that don’t and filtering all of that into a reliable form of tribal knowledge.

Fast forward to where in one deployment, an F-22 unit put up all of their scheduled missions (350 sorties) for a stunning 100 percent MC rate. This means that the F-22 community has risen to the challenge and put up MC rates that match or exceed current “legacy” aircraft in deployments.

Of course none of this was mentioned in the Washington Post article. More? Maintenance Supers (the lead maintenance NCO in a unit) will tell you a lot of things that are hassle-free with the jet. For example the Pratt and Whitney F-119 motors don’t require a lot of extra work. Still More? The F-22 community has won sustainment awards for its maintenance processes. Of interest is that the methods of logistics and sustainment used in the program are a baseline for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. While the F-35 has a long way to go to prove itself, it is designed so that only 1-2 percent of maintenance processes require L.O. refurbishment.

No matter. When the F-22 is out of production, guess what the yellow journalism crowd will pick on next?

US financial market bailout tab hits $4.7 trillion

THESE PEOPLE MUST BE STOPPED-LB



By JIM KUHNHENN,
Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn,
– 25 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The federal government has devoted $4.7 trillion to help the financial sector through its crisis, a level of assistance equal to about one-third of the overall U.S. economy, a watchdog report said Monday.

Under the worst of circumstances, the report said, the government's maximum exposure could total nearly $24 trillion, or $80,000 for every American.

Read More, if you can keep your lunch down! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_meltdown_oversight

(We need to stop feeding that creature we call the Federal Government! This is getting downright frightening!)