I raise one finger to them all.
"Memorial Day, Rear Admiral Margaret Kibben told some 200 worshipers in Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, was a time to remind ourselves of the meaning of sacrifice and to put personal struggles and difficulties in perspective. Across the nation, citizens were marking the holiday with somber ceremonies, flag planting at cemeteries, and parades.... Memorial Day — it is not a time to head to the beach, it is not a time to open up those barbecues.”
I got a cookout to go to later, yeah.
This is the best way I can think of to honor them:
Lawmakers take VA to task over delays
‘‘You’ve got an entrenched bureaucracy that exists out there that is not held accountable’’
I see Bernie Sanders was on CNN’s ‘‘State of the Union,’’ Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, was on CBS’s ‘‘Face the Nation,’’ and Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave a pre-recorded interview to ABC’s ‘‘This Week.’’
Glad I no longer watch those shows.
Related:
Obama Abandoned Veterans
Shinseki Takes Point
It's called failure, and it is amazing how the VA scandal began to receded before the celebration of aggression called Memorial Day.
"Obama thanks troops during Afghan visit; Intends to keep some personnel beyond 2014" by Michael D. Shear | New York Times May 26, 2014
WASHINGTON — During a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Sunday, President Obama thanked US troops for their service during a decade of war, saying that their sacrifices had ensured the country would never again be used as a base for terrorist attacks against the United States.
He can guarantee that, huh?
“I thank you as your commander in chief because you inspire me,” Obama told about 3,000 troops in a hangar at Bagram Air Field after landing in the country early Sunday morning. “I’m here to say thank you. And I’m here to say how proud I am of you.”
Got there in time, did he?
The more things change, huh?
Did he visit the torture chamber at Bagram?
The trip was unannounced, and Obama slipped out of the White House secretly Saturday evening ahead of Memorial Day. Country music singer Brad Paisley traveled on Air Force One with Obama to Afghanistan and performed for about an hour before the president spoke.
Think about that. The president of the United States still has to travel by secret to Afghanistan? After 12 years of victory?
Does that ever scream failure!
Obama chose not to meet with Hamid Karzai, the departing president of Afghanistan, and did not travel to Kabul, the country’s capital.
That's wrong; I heard Karzai refused to meet him, was offered a meeting and declined. Was even praised for it as Obummer disrespected and insulted the Afghans!
But hey, what is one more lie or distortion in a paper full of them?
Where did this report come from again?
But he vowed that he would work with whomever wins the presidential runoff election scheduled for June 14: Abdullah Abdullah or Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
White House officials said the trip was intended as a visit with troops, not as an opportunity for the two presidents to meet. They said US officials offered Karzai the opportunity to meet Obama at the Bagram Air Field, but they said they were not surprised that it did not happen.
In other words, it was a photo-op public relations stunt.
In his remarks to the troops, Obama made clear that he still intends to keep a small military force in Afghanistan beyond 2014 despite longstanding resistance to an enduring US presence from Karzai.
Then it isn't really a withdrawal, never mind a final one.
But hey, what is one more lie from the liar-and-thief?
Obama’s comments indicated that he may have ruled out the idea of a complete withdrawal of all US forces when the NATO-led combat mission ends this year.
“Once Afghanistan has sworn in its new president, I’m hopeful we will sign a bilateral security agreement that lets us move forward,” Obama said. “And with that bilateral security agreement, assuming it is signed, we can plan for a limited military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014.”
I'm not so sure after this stunt!
Obama vowed that “we are going to make sure that Afghanistan can never again — ever — be used to launch a terrorist attack against our country.”
There he goes again, invoking that damn myth and lie.
‘‘America’s commitment to the people of Afghanistan will endure,’’ the president said.
Obama got his biggest applause from the troops when he praised them for making sure that “America’s war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end.”
That is what they were applauding, not him.
The crowd also roared with approval when the president said he frequently tells corporate leaders, “If you want somebody who can get the job done, hire a vet.”
After all that stroking he CONSIDERS YOU a TERRORIST when you return home!
Obama did not make any major policy announcements in his remarks to the troops. He is expected to wait until he returns to the United States to offer his latest foreign policy and national security vision, during a speech that he is scheduled to give at the US Military Academy graduation on Wednesday.
Yeah, he is going to issue a war call against Syria.
So when is the invasion?
Can't let Assad win that election he is sure to win.
Obama has said all US combat troops will have left Afghanistan by the end of this year.
Does he even know he is lying now, or does he just not give a damn?
US officials hope to leave a small contingent of forces beyond the 2014 withdrawal deadline for the international security force in Afghanistan, to allow for more training of Afghan forces and continuing counterterrorism operations.
The visit to Afghanistan comes as Obama prepares to draw the second of two wars to an official close, making good on a promise that he made as a candidate to pull the United States out of such conflicts.
Oh, they are "officially" over. Doesn't mean they are. Just means that what this lying government says.
Never mind the WAR in LIBYA or the covert insurgencies in Syria and Ukraine that he owns all himself.
Yeah, Obummer is keeping his promises. Right, NYT.
SIGH!
--more--"
The man has no honor. He allegedly outed a CIA agent on his trip, too.
Here is what has been going on in Afghanistan since I last posted:
"The Taliban unleashed a wave of attacks that killed 21 people around the country, making a show of strength to start the spring fighting season. The annual surge in violence poses a new test for Afghan security forces, who for the first time will face it largely on their own as international combat forces prepare to withdraw. Spring each year brings an escalation in fighting in Afghanistan with the end of snowy winter weather, which hampers movement. This year’s offensive by the Taliban will be an important gauge of how well Afghan government forces face insurgent attacks once foreign forces leave at the end of the year. The Taliban warned last week that they’d launch their annual spring offensive on Monday, and it was no bluff....
Related: A Landslide and Flood of Afghanistan Articles
The insurgents boasted that their spring offensive was well underway and said it proved they could disrupt the upcoming runoff election for president of Afghanistan — something they failed spectacularly to do in the first round, on April 5. In the worst-hit place, in northern Badakhshan province, some Afghan officials complained that the US military failed to rescue them, despite an official plea for help. Officials of the US-led military forces disputed that complaint, but the disagreement highlighted the changed nature of the war....
It added up to one of the worst days for the US-trained Afghan force.
Taliban fighters kidnapped more than two dozen Afghan police officers during an assault in the northeastern corner of the country that also left eight officers dead, officials said. ‘‘The police force, after fighting, had to retreat to a cave. They ran out of ammunition and food, and that is how the Taliban took 27 of them as captives.’’ Because the district is so remote and the weather was bad, it was impossible to provide additional Afghan military or police support....
Gunmen armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked an Indian Consulate in western Afghanistan on Friday, though its diplomatic staff escaped unharmed, police said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, a group called Ansar al-Tawhid that appears to be based in Afghanistan posted a video online May 17 that threatened India, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist websites. Herat lies near Afghanistan’s border with Iran and is considered one of the safer cities in the country....
PFFFT!
See: SITE Institute
Jewish Media Group, SITE, is the first to release another Islamic threat video
And they came up with this, huh?
June 14 runoff between two pro-Western front-runners who both favor signing a long-delayed security pact with Washington."
No fraud in the election, of course.
Related: Afghanistan's Promising Presidential Election
Looks like it is going to be Abdullah.
At least the women are doing better -- when they can avoid US drone and missile strikes, that is.
Can we please have a moment of silence for the spies?
Thank you.
Now play ball!
A different kind of vet:
"Treating the wildlife in our midst; Veterinary caseloads grow as human, animal habitats intersect" by Colin Nickerson | Globe Correspondent May 26, 2014
NORTH GRAFTON — In New England, wildlife populations are expanding with startling rapidity. Many suddenly all-too-common species, from hawks to wild turkeys to bears, are thriving in almost surreal abundance in the faux forests of suburbia and the recovering woodlands of the region....
Cases of poisoning from lead and commercial rodenticide are on an upswing. A recent postmortem study by Murray of 161 hawks and owls found that 86 percent had livers substantially contaminated by anticoagulant rat poison. The pesticide kills by thinning the blood to the point where the tiniest scratch can cause a creature to bleed to death.
Among the suspected casualties: Ruby, the red-tailed hawk whose high-flapping antics long dazzled bird-watchers near Fresh Pond in Cambridge. Ruby’s body was discovered last month near her nesting tree. The suspicion is she ate too many mice that had wriggled outdoors after ingesting rodenticide applied in shops, factories, or homes.
Related: Hawking This Post
Only a generation or two ago, there was little concept of wildlife medicine as a stand-alone specialty, but the burgeoning environmental movement was drawing young veterinarians eager to help animals mauled by civilization....
Jonathan H. Epstein has gently drawn blood and tissue samples from the Asian megabats known as flying foxes and gingerly swabbed the nostrils of Saudi camels as part of his tracking of deadly viruses that can leap from wildlife to humans.
Latest related: Monday MERS Threat
Why do I feel a plan for genocide is being advanced?
The Tufts-trained veterinarian, raised in Sudbury, serves as conservation epidemiologist with the EcoHealth Alliance, a group that researches global disease outbreaks caused by infectious micro-organisms “spilling’’ from wild animals to people, often by way of poultry or pigs....
So what pathogen or virus is being planned for release to cull the increasingly uncontrollable herd?
--more--"
I just heard the dinner bellwether so I'm going to see what flesh is on the menu.
After that it is off to war for this evening.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
I lost the war and was dominated inside. Scored maybe three hoops. Team let first game slip away, blown out other two.
After injury and rehabilitation, snowy owls fly free
Bear strolls into Ludlow before Memorial Day Parade
Obama made a fleeting reference to the scandal involving reports of poor performance by the Department of Veterans Affairs
Then it was on to the platitudes, politics, and public relations photo-op of war worship by liars like him.
White House mistakenly reveals CIA official’s name
That would be something that would concern and interest my paper and its cu$tomers. Isn't that some sort of crime?
Privatization won’t fix the VA
And for those who misinterpret my title as being anti-vetrean, nothing is further from the truth. It was not I who sent them off to war based on damnable lies, nor was it I who lagged on their care after they returned.
"Veterans for Peace honor fallen; Local chapter advocates for an end to fighting" by Zachary T. Sampson | Globe Correspondent May 27, 2014
Heavy with the legacies of fallen soldiers, the carnations dropped swiftly into Boston Harbor.
Each one represented a Massachusetts man or woman who died fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, and their names were spoken aloud over a sound system so no one would forget.
On Monday, the local chapter of Veterans for Peace was honoring the soldiers in the best way its members know how — by advocating for an end to war.
I thought that was important. Wasn't super-sized out of rage, anger, or anything else but love.
On a day when most ceremonies honoring soldiers who perished while fighting for the United States involve drums, parades, and 21-gun salutes, the peace activists’ commemoration was stunningly quiet.
It was, organizers said, just as Memorial Day is supposed to be.
“Memorial Day is not a day to espouse militarism,” said Pat Scanlon, coordinator of the Smedley D. Butler Brigade of the Veterans for Peace. “Memorial Day is a day to remember.”
Tell it to Obummer!
Veterans held white flags bearing the name of the peace organization under the image of a dove. The backs of their shirts said: “War is a racket. A few profit — the many pay.” Speakers read essays and poems about conflict for a crowd of about 50 in Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park.
A group of Iraqis was also there to express solidarity with the Veterans for Peace and to remember the family members and soldiers they lost to the war with America.
That is very touching, and I'm so so sorry for what my nation did to yours (blog editor holding back tears this morning)!
“We’re going through the same situation where we’re grieving the loss of loved ones back in Iraq and here in the US,” said Carlos Arredondo, a member of Veterans for Peace who lost one son to battle and another to suicide in the grief-wracked aftermath that sometimes follows casualties of war.
Oh, NO!!!!
Arredondo gained international prominence as a hero of the Boston Marathon bombing, a race he had attended to hand out flags to soldiers who were running.
Yup, even the PEACE PEOPLE are CONTROLLED OPPOSITION in my WAR PAPER!
Related:
"Since the bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon, when Carlos
Arredondo rushed from the VIP stands to clear barricades and make a
tourniquet from a sweater sleeve that saved Jeff Bauman’s life, the
53-year-old has become the face of Boston Strong, seen by some as an almost mythic embodiment of courage in the face of terror. Already a public figure for more than a decade as the man who set himself ablaze after learning that his son was killed in Iraq and as a ubiquitous antiwar protester, he is now what some of his friends call Boston’s “comforter in chief.” It has become a full-time role, one that has brought celebrity and adoration, accolades, and perks both financial and emotional. Nearly every day since the attacks, Arredondo has been booked with public appearances."
Wow, isn't that really, really strange?
Related:
"The story told by Carlos Arredondo is a complete fabrication. Virtually every aspect of the tale he has told is demonstrably untrue and yet it has been readily accepted and repeated by the mainstream media."
See: The Boston Marathon Bombings: Fully Exposed
Yes, who could ever believe what you are seeing on your TV (from 9/11 to Sandy Hook to chemical weapons use in Syria and even the fireworks) is all staged and scripted fakery?
Now maybe you think I'm a lark of a conspiracy theorist, but I would advise you to look at links again.
Monday’s commemoration honored not only soldiers who died overseas, but also those who returned home suffering from stress disorders and battle wounds.
And can't get the proper and timely care from the VA.
“We cannot truly honor these men and women until we burst the bubble of truth that remains hidden, until we shout the truth and hear the truth that most of these wars are enacted not to protect our freedom and our safety, but to put money into the profits of the military-industrial complex,” said Dan Perkins, a member of Veterans for Peace.
That is what I have been doing here during eight long years of failure.
Poet Faye George recited a piece she wrote after visiting the Civil War museum in Chancellorsville, Va., describing the uniform of a Confederate soldier who died in the battle there and asking, “How many others fed the flowers? Across the woods and hills, white dogwood wears the wounds of May.”
Eric Wasileski, a Gulf War veteran, built off the aphorism: “Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it.”
“We say, ‘The best way to remember the dead is to save the living,’ ” he added. “Honor the dead by ending war, honor the living by making peace.”
Not this government, and not this mouthpiece. Too far gone.
--more--"
