Medal of Honor recipients convene in Louisville
By Chris Kenning - The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
Posted : Monday Sep 26, 2011 7:15:12 EDT
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The moment came for Wilburn Ross in 1944, when he spent five desperate hours in France using a machine gun to single-handedly repel waves of attacks by elite German mountain troops.
And this week, they will be here for the 2011 Congressional Medal of Honor Society Convention, a rare gathering held for the first time in the city for many of the nation’s bravest soldiers. It comes as the nation marks the 150th anniversary of the award.
“It’s good for me and all the guys to get together,” said Ross, a former Kentucky coal miner who lives in Washington state.
Starting Wednesday, more than 50 Medal of Honor recipients and their families will be here for five days of school visits, receptions, a public “walk of heroes” and an awards dinner.
It’s a chance to foster what Littrell said is a strong brotherhood among those who have received an award that carries lasting acclaim but also a heavy burden that often includes haunting memories and survivor’s guilt.
“None of us feel we deserve the medal,” said Littrell, who lives in Florida. “We had a job to do.”
According to the military, Medals of Honor “are awarded sparingly and are bestowed only to the bravest of the brave.” More than 3,465 medals have been awarded since it was first authorized in 1861.
In all, 56 medals are accredited to Kentucky, but just five recipients are still living, including Jenkins, of Quality, Ky., who declined to be interviewed.
According to his citation, Jenkins earned his medal for attacking an enemy bunker and then dragging several wounded men to safety amid fierce gunfire, even after a comrade had lost his life trying to rescue the same man who lay a few meters from the enemy.
Here are the stories of the other four:
Dakota Meyer
The convention comes two weeks after President Barack Obama presented the award to Kentucky’s most recent recipient, Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer, ushering in a wave of national news coverage and appearances on television shows, sporting events and parades.
“It’s been crazy. I’ve been going constantly,” said Meyer, 23. “It’s tough. Everybody wants to know about the worst day of your life.”
In 2006, when Dakota was a 17-year-old senior, one of his mentors, instructor Tana Rattliff, said she spotted him at a Subway talking to a military recruiter. With no idea of what he wanted to study in college, she decided it might help him find direction, despite the dangers.
“I really don’t want you to go to war,” she recalled telling Meyer, but she agreed with him that it could be a “ wise decision.”
By 2009, Meyer, then a corporal, had already completed a tour in Iraq and was serving with the Marines in Ganjgal Valley of Afghanistan, according to military officials. On Sept. 8, he and a handful of other Marines were accompanying an Afghan army unit for a pre-dawn meeting with Ganjgal village elders.
Meyer stayed at an observation area while other U.S. and Afghan troops went to the village. But as dawn lit the sky, the patrol was ambushed by more than 50 enemy fighters firing rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns from the slopes above, according to his citation.
As calls for U.S. artillery or air support went unheeded, Meyer jumped into a Humvee, driven by another Marine, and drove into the kill zone to rescue the men.
With Meyer firing a vehicle-mounted machine gun, they made repeated trips into the area, pulling out wounded Afghan soldiers as bullets and rockets peppered their vehicle, leaving Meyer wounded in an arm.
He said he has recently started a scholarship program in his name for the children of wounded veterans. Much like his heroics, he downplays his role in it.
“I just felt like it was what I needed to do,” he said.
Gary Littrell
Littrell, now 67, said a commander, anticipating the survivor’s guilt and overwhelming honors that would follow his Medal of Honor, once told him that it can almost feel as hard to wear the medal as it was to earn it.
But earning it still ranks as the most intense four days of his life for Littrell.
In 1970, Sgt. Littrell was one of four Army soldiers advising a South Vietnamese ranger unit. At 24, he was considered the unit’s “old man.” In early April that year, he was marching through the choking jungle of South Vietnam’s Kontum Province to back up a special forces group, he recalled.
On the way, they camped on a hilltop. But they only had one foxhole dug when Littrell heard the mortars started flying.
“I heard mortar rounds leave the tube. Thump. Thump. Thump. I said, ‘Oh, my God,’ “ Littrell said, remembering the sounds that signified that they’d stumbled onto an enemy force, which he later learned numbered about 5,500.
Pinned down and surrounded — and with all his U.S. colleagues dead or wounded — Littrell and the South Vietnamese endured four days and nights of shelling. Littrell kept the group from being overrun by calling in air strikes on a battered radio.
According to his citation, Littrell “exhibited near superhuman endurance as he single-handedly bolstered the besieged battalion.”
On the fourth day, the North Vietnamese troops were beaten back by airstrikes far enough to allow Littrell and 41 wounded to escape.
Ernie West
Ernie West was drafted to fight in Korea at 19.
In 1952, then-Pvt. West and his unit were near Sateri, Korea. Trenches and sandbagged bunkers dotted the area. West was spending his nights going on patrols and trying to sleep in freezing temperatures,. he said.
One cold October night, West and seven others on the patrol had just begun climbing a hill in the dark forest when he stopped to remark on the eerie quiet.
Suddenly, they saw grenades rolling downhill toward his unit. When they exploded, several of the men were seriously wounded, including West.
“I got blowed up in the air 6 or 8 foot,” he said. “And I lost an eye and had shrapnel all up my back.”
West raced downhill for cover but saw several wounded men on the hill, including his commander. Despite his injuries, and the bullets flying and grenades exploding, he went back up and carried his commander to safety as he fired at three attackers.
West retrieved two more comrades from the hill, killing a handful of enemy soldiers in the process.
“We all made a pact — we don’t leave nobody. That’s just the way it was,” he said.
Wilburn Ross
Two hundred miles south of Wurtland, Wilburn Ross grew up in Sterns, deep in the Appalachian Mountains. He began working the coal mines when he turned 18.
When World War II began, he went to weld ships in Norfolk, Va. That’s when he got what he called “an invitation from the Department of Defense” — a draft notice for the Army.
By October 1944, after nearly 500 days of fighting, he was in St. Jacques, France. His company had lost 55 of 88 men in an attack on a full-strength company of elite German troops. Then the Germans began counter-attacking.
With gunfire striking the ground all around him, Ross used his light machine gun to repel the attack, nearly single-handedly holding off six more German attacks, according to the U.S. military.
Ignoring an order to withdraw and bolstered by the arrival of more ammunition just as the enemy was about to swarm over him, he killed 40 Germans and wounded 10 in their final attack, heading off what would have been a decisive breakthrough, according to military accounts. He stayed at his post all that night and the next day.
Ross said he received his medal at the stadium in Nuremberg where Hitler had held massive Nazi rallies.
Today, he said he is the last one living who was involved in that 1944 battle.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
$700,000 salary????
Angel Food Ministries shutting down, cites economy
ATLANTA — Angel Food Ministries - which had sites at Saturn Church in Fort Wayne and the St. Andrew EPC, in Auburn - is going out of business after 17 years of providing discounted groceries to needy families across the country, citing the economic downturn affecting many customers.
The multi-million dollar food nonprofit said it was ceasing operations immediately, according to a statement provided to The Associated Press.
Angel Food was started in 1994 by pastors Joe and Linda Wingo with 34 families in Monroe, Ga. At its height, the organization grew through a network of churches to feed more than 500,000 families a month in 45 states. The organization ran into trouble in 2009 when the FBI searched its offices. The Wingos and one of their sons were on staff.
Joe Wingo’s reported salary in 2009 was more than $694,000.
ATLANTA — Angel Food Ministries - which had sites at Saturn Church in Fort Wayne and the St. Andrew EPC, in Auburn - is going out of business after 17 years of providing discounted groceries to needy families across the country, citing the economic downturn affecting many customers.
The multi-million dollar food nonprofit said it was ceasing operations immediately, according to a statement provided to The Associated Press.
Angel Food was started in 1994 by pastors Joe and Linda Wingo with 34 families in Monroe, Ga. At its height, the organization grew through a network of churches to feed more than 500,000 families a month in 45 states. The organization ran into trouble in 2009 when the FBI searched its offices. The Wingos and one of their sons were on staff.
Joe Wingo’s reported salary in 2009 was more than $694,000.
25 GREAT TRUTHS
GREAT TRUTHS
1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress.
-- John Adams
2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-- Mark Twain
3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself.
-- Mark Twain
4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-- Winston Churchill
5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-- George Bernard Shaw
6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-- G. Gordon Liddy
7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-- Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801-1850)
11. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-- Ronald Reagan (1986)
12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-- Will Rogers
13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-- P.J. O'Rourke
14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-- Voltaire (1764)
15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-- Pericles (430 B.C.)
16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-- Mark Twain (1866)
17. Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-- Anonymous
18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
-- Ronald Reagan
19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-- Winston Churchill
20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-- Mark Twain
21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
22. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress.
-- Mark Twain
23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)
24. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-- Thomas Jefferson
25. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
-- Aesop
FIVE BEST SENTENCES
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for...another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation!
Can you think of a reason for not sharing this?
Neither could I......
1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress.
-- John Adams
2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-- Mark Twain
3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself.
-- Mark Twain
4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-- Winston Churchill
5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-- George Bernard Shaw
6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-- G. Gordon Liddy
7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-- Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801-1850)
11. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-- Ronald Reagan (1986)
12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-- Will Rogers
13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-- P.J. O'Rourke
14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-- Voltaire (1764)
15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-- Pericles (430 B.C.)
16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-- Mark Twain (1866)
17. Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-- Anonymous
18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
-- Ronald Reagan
19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-- Winston Churchill
20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-- Mark Twain
21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
22. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress.
-- Mark Twain
23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)
24. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-- Thomas Jefferson
25. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
-- Aesop
FIVE BEST SENTENCES
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for...another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation!
Can you think of a reason for not sharing this?
Neither could I......
Americans can't pay
The folks who are getting the free stuff, don't like the folks who are paying for the free stuff, Because the folks who are paying for the free stuff,
Can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff,
And,
The folks who are paying for the free stuff,
Want the free stuff to stop.
and the the folks who are getting the free stuff,
Want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!
Now... The people who are forcing the people who Pay for the free stuff,
Have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff,
That the people who are PAYING for the free stuff,
Are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.
So... the people who are GETTING the free stuff,
Have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff,
By the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff,
And giving them the free stuff in the first place.
We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are
Now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff.
Now understand this. All great democracies have committed financial suicide
somewhere between 200 and 250 years after being founded. The reason?
The voters figured out they could vote themselves money from the treasury by electing people who promised to give them money from the treasury in exchange for electing them.
The United States officially became a Republic in 1776, 231 years ago. The number of people now getting free stuff outnumbers the people paying for the free stuff. We have one chance to change that
in 2012. Failure to change that spells the end of the United States as we know it.
ELECTION 2012 IS COMING
IS THIS BIBLICAL???
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!
Obama: Gone!
Borders: Closed!
Language: English only
Culture: Constitution, and the Bill of Rights!
Drug Free: Mandatory Drug Screening before Welfare!
NO freebies to: Non-Citizens!
Can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff,
And,
The folks who are paying for the free stuff,
Want the free stuff to stop.
and the the folks who are getting the free stuff,
Want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!
Now... The people who are forcing the people who Pay for the free stuff,
Have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff,
That the people who are PAYING for the free stuff,
Are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.
So... the people who are GETTING the free stuff,
Have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff,
By the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff,
And giving them the free stuff in the first place.
We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are
Now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff.
Now understand this. All great democracies have committed financial suicide
somewhere between 200 and 250 years after being founded. The reason?
The voters figured out they could vote themselves money from the treasury by electing people who promised to give them money from the treasury in exchange for electing them.
The United States officially became a Republic in 1776, 231 years ago. The number of people now getting free stuff outnumbers the people paying for the free stuff. We have one chance to change that
in 2012. Failure to change that spells the end of the United States as we know it.
ELECTION 2012 IS COMING
IS THIS BIBLICAL???
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!
Obama: Gone!
Borders: Closed!
Language: English only
Culture: Constitution, and the Bill of Rights!
Drug Free: Mandatory Drug Screening before Welfare!
NO freebies to: Non-Citizens!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
"How can we recognize the voice of God?"
Question: "How can we recognize the voice of God?"
Answer: This question has been asked by countless people throughout the ages. Samuel heard the voice of God, but did not recognize it until he was instructed by Eli (1 Samuel 3:1-10). Gideon had a physical revelation from God, and he still doubted what he had heard to the point of asking for a sign, not once, but three times (Judges 6:17-22, 36-40). When we are listening for God's voice, how can we know that He is the one speaking? First of all, we have something that Gideon and Samuel did not. We have the complete Bible, the inspired Word of God, to read, study, and meditate on. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). When we have a question about a certain topic or decision in our lives, we should see what the Bible has to say about it. God will never lead us or direct us contrary to what He has taught or promised in His Word (Titus 1:2).
Second, to hear God's voice we must recognize it. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Those who hear God’s voice are those who belong to Him—those who have been saved by His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. These are the sheep who hear and recognize His voice, because they know Him as their Shepherd and they know His voice. If we are to recognize God's voice, we must belong to Him.
Third, we hear His voice when we spend time in prayer, Bible study, and quiet contemplation of His Word. The more time we spend intimately with God and His Word, the easier it is to recognize His voice and His leading in our lives. Employees at a bank are trained to recognize counterfeits by studying genuine money so closely that it is easy to spot a fake. We should be so familiar with God’s Word that when God does speak to us or lead us, it is clear that it is God. God speaks to us so that we may understand truth. While God can speak audibly to people, He speaks primarily through His Word, and sometimes through the Holy Spirit to our consciences, through circumstances, and through other people. By applying what we hear to the truth of Scripture, we can learn to recognize His voice.
Recommended Resource: Hearing God's Voice by Henry & Richard Blackaby.
Answer: This question has been asked by countless people throughout the ages. Samuel heard the voice of God, but did not recognize it until he was instructed by Eli (1 Samuel 3:1-10). Gideon had a physical revelation from God, and he still doubted what he had heard to the point of asking for a sign, not once, but three times (Judges 6:17-22, 36-40). When we are listening for God's voice, how can we know that He is the one speaking? First of all, we have something that Gideon and Samuel did not. We have the complete Bible, the inspired Word of God, to read, study, and meditate on. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). When we have a question about a certain topic or decision in our lives, we should see what the Bible has to say about it. God will never lead us or direct us contrary to what He has taught or promised in His Word (Titus 1:2).
Second, to hear God's voice we must recognize it. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Those who hear God’s voice are those who belong to Him—those who have been saved by His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. These are the sheep who hear and recognize His voice, because they know Him as their Shepherd and they know His voice. If we are to recognize God's voice, we must belong to Him.
Third, we hear His voice when we spend time in prayer, Bible study, and quiet contemplation of His Word. The more time we spend intimately with God and His Word, the easier it is to recognize His voice and His leading in our lives. Employees at a bank are trained to recognize counterfeits by studying genuine money so closely that it is easy to spot a fake. We should be so familiar with God’s Word that when God does speak to us or lead us, it is clear that it is God. God speaks to us so that we may understand truth. While God can speak audibly to people, He speaks primarily through His Word, and sometimes through the Holy Spirit to our consciences, through circumstances, and through other people. By applying what we hear to the truth of Scripture, we can learn to recognize His voice.
Recommended Resource: Hearing God's Voice by Henry & Richard Blackaby.
Hanoi Jane and Obama
For those of you too young to remember Hanoi Jane is a bad person and did some terrible things during the Vietnam war. Things that cannot be forgiven!
For those who served and/or died. . .
NEVER FORGIVE A TRAITOR. SHE REALLY WAS A TRAITOR!
and now OBAMA wants to honor her......!!!!
In Memory of LT. C. Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton
IF YOU NEVER FORWARDED ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE FORWARD THIS SO THAT EVERYONE WILL KNOW!!!!!!
She really is a traitor.
A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA
This is for all the kids born in the 70's and after who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear.
Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the '100 Women of the Century.'
BY BARBRA WALTERS WRITES:
Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam
The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat.
In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the 'Hanoi Hilton.'
Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American 'Peace Activist' the 'lenient and humane treatment' he'd received.
He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward
on to the camp Commandant 's feet, which sent that officer berserk.
In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.
>From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the 'Hanoi Hilton,', the first three of which his family only knew he was 'missing in action.' His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a 'peace delegation' visit.
They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand.
When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: 'Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?' and 'Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?' Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.
She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper.
Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.
I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.
I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs)
We were Jane Fonda's 'war criminals....'
When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her.
I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received ... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as 'humane and lenient.'
Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.
These firsthand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of '100 Years of Great Women.' Lest we forget...' 100 Years of Great Women' should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.
There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer and
she needs to know that we will never forget. RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt, USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron, Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343
PLEASE HELP BY SENDING THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SEE THIS MAYBE HER STATUS WILL CHANGE
For those who served and/or died. . .
NEVER FORGIVE A TRAITOR. SHE REALLY WAS A TRAITOR!
and now OBAMA wants to honor her......!!!!
In Memory of LT. C. Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton
IF YOU NEVER FORWARDED ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE FORWARD THIS SO THAT EVERYONE WILL KNOW!!!!!!
She really is a traitor.
A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA
This is for all the kids born in the 70's and after who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear.
Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the '100 Women of the Century.'
BY BARBRA WALTERS WRITES:
Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam
The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat.
In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the 'Hanoi Hilton.'
Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American 'Peace Activist' the 'lenient and humane treatment' he'd received.
He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward
on to the camp Commandant 's feet, which sent that officer berserk.
In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.
>From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the 'Hanoi Hilton,', the first three of which his family only knew he was 'missing in action.' His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a 'peace delegation' visit.
They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand.
When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: 'Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?' and 'Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?' Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.
She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper.
Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.
I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.
I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs)
We were Jane Fonda's 'war criminals....'
When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her.
I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received ... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as 'humane and lenient.'
Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.
These firsthand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of '100 Years of Great Women.' Lest we forget...' 100 Years of Great Women' should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.
There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer and
she needs to know that we will never forget. RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt, USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron, Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343
PLEASE HELP BY SENDING THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SEE THIS MAYBE HER STATUS WILL CHANGE
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
HR45 - Don't panic -Ain't gonna happen -GUNS
The Vast Majority of Bills Go Nowhere
August 25, 2009 - by Donny Shaw
Every once in a while we get an email from someone concerned about some obscure bill they have found on OpenCongress that they think poses a direct threat to their freedoms and liberties. Common examples include H.R.45, a bill to establish a nation-wide firearms licensing system, and H.J.Res.5, a bill to repeal presidential term limits. They cite these bills as evidence that Congress is trying to take away their guns, or that Congress is trying to make Obama king for life.
But this kind of analysis is based on a misunderstanding of what bills in Congress are. Each of the 535 members of Congress can propose any kind of bill they want. They don’t need consent or support from anyone – they just drop a piece of legislation in a box, called “the hopper,” and congressional workers assign it an official bill number and file it away with all the others bills. The only test a proposal has to pass before becoming a bill in Congress is the judgment of the individual member of Congress who introduced it.
The vast majority of bills are essentially dead upon arrival. In any given two-year session of Congress, ten-thousand or more bills are introduced. But only about 4 percent of them become law. Take away bills that do things like naming post offices and designating days of the year as commemorative holidays and it’s probably more like one percent.
Sunlight Labs has done an analysis of what happened to all the bills that were introduced in the previous session of Congress (110th session). Of the 11,056 bills that were introduced, 9,904, were referred to a committee by default, never saw any action, and died there.
So, why do people introduce bills that have no chance of becoming law? Maybe they are addressing concerns that are unique to their district. For example, a draconian gun-control law probably makes more sense in inner-city Chicago than it does in rural New Hampshire. Or perhaps they just trying to put new ideas out into the public discourse. Or perhaps they want to take a radical stance on an issue as a purely political tactic, to show their constituents that they are “serious” about something. Nobody is going to introduce a bill they don’t believe in, but they might introduce a bill that nobody but them will get behind.
It’s hard to know sometimes what is a viable bill that might be considered, and what is a bill that will just die in committee. Here are a few metrics you can use to make a guess:
1) Co-sponsors – if the bill has zero co-sponsors, it probably isn’t viable. If it does have co-sponsors, especially if the list includes members of the leadership and committee chairmen, it probably has a chance of seeing some action. Bipartisanship in co-sponsor lists is a good sign that a bill is viable, especially if the bill is introduced by the minority party.
2) Actions – Bills go through dozens of “actions” before they become law. If the only actions you see for a bill are referrals to committees, for example on H.R. 45, it’s a sign that it’s probably not going anywhere. But if you see any other kinds of actions, like “forwarded by subcommittee to full committee by voice vote,” “hearings scheduled,” or “committee consideration and mark-up session held,” then the bill is starting to move and has a chance becoming law.
3) News and blogs – this is tricky, but can be useful. On OpenCongress you can see which bills are getting the most buzz in the news media and on the blogs. Now, it’s true that bills can get talked about a lot even if Congress isn’t actually considering them, but taken together with the metrics above, this can be helpful. For example, the bill H.R. 1207, to increase transparency of the Federal Reserve, doesn’t have much in the way of actions, but it has an impressive co-sponsor list and a ton of buzz in the blogs. This means there is grass roots energy around this bill which, coupled with the co-sponsors list, indicates that it could possibly see some movement.
With OpenCongress, you can track any bill with a free “My OpenCongress” account (register of log-in). On any bill page (like this one, for example) click “Track With MyOC” in the right-hand sidebar, and the bill will be added to your page of tracked items. Then you can subscribe by RSS or email to get an alert as soon as there is a new action, comment, blog post, or news article. See my page of tracked items to get a sense of how it works.
August 25, 2009 - by Donny Shaw
Every once in a while we get an email from someone concerned about some obscure bill they have found on OpenCongress that they think poses a direct threat to their freedoms and liberties. Common examples include H.R.45, a bill to establish a nation-wide firearms licensing system, and H.J.Res.5, a bill to repeal presidential term limits. They cite these bills as evidence that Congress is trying to take away their guns, or that Congress is trying to make Obama king for life.
But this kind of analysis is based on a misunderstanding of what bills in Congress are. Each of the 535 members of Congress can propose any kind of bill they want. They don’t need consent or support from anyone – they just drop a piece of legislation in a box, called “the hopper,” and congressional workers assign it an official bill number and file it away with all the others bills. The only test a proposal has to pass before becoming a bill in Congress is the judgment of the individual member of Congress who introduced it.
The vast majority of bills are essentially dead upon arrival. In any given two-year session of Congress, ten-thousand or more bills are introduced. But only about 4 percent of them become law. Take away bills that do things like naming post offices and designating days of the year as commemorative holidays and it’s probably more like one percent.
Sunlight Labs has done an analysis of what happened to all the bills that were introduced in the previous session of Congress (110th session). Of the 11,056 bills that were introduced, 9,904, were referred to a committee by default, never saw any action, and died there.
So, why do people introduce bills that have no chance of becoming law? Maybe they are addressing concerns that are unique to their district. For example, a draconian gun-control law probably makes more sense in inner-city Chicago than it does in rural New Hampshire. Or perhaps they just trying to put new ideas out into the public discourse. Or perhaps they want to take a radical stance on an issue as a purely political tactic, to show their constituents that they are “serious” about something. Nobody is going to introduce a bill they don’t believe in, but they might introduce a bill that nobody but them will get behind.
It’s hard to know sometimes what is a viable bill that might be considered, and what is a bill that will just die in committee. Here are a few metrics you can use to make a guess:
1) Co-sponsors – if the bill has zero co-sponsors, it probably isn’t viable. If it does have co-sponsors, especially if the list includes members of the leadership and committee chairmen, it probably has a chance of seeing some action. Bipartisanship in co-sponsor lists is a good sign that a bill is viable, especially if the bill is introduced by the minority party.
2) Actions – Bills go through dozens of “actions” before they become law. If the only actions you see for a bill are referrals to committees, for example on H.R. 45, it’s a sign that it’s probably not going anywhere. But if you see any other kinds of actions, like “forwarded by subcommittee to full committee by voice vote,” “hearings scheduled,” or “committee consideration and mark-up session held,” then the bill is starting to move and has a chance becoming law.
3) News and blogs – this is tricky, but can be useful. On OpenCongress you can see which bills are getting the most buzz in the news media and on the blogs. Now, it’s true that bills can get talked about a lot even if Congress isn’t actually considering them, but taken together with the metrics above, this can be helpful. For example, the bill H.R. 1207, to increase transparency of the Federal Reserve, doesn’t have much in the way of actions, but it has an impressive co-sponsor list and a ton of buzz in the blogs. This means there is grass roots energy around this bill which, coupled with the co-sponsors list, indicates that it could possibly see some movement.
With OpenCongress, you can track any bill with a free “My OpenCongress” account (register of log-in). On any bill page (like this one, for example) click “Track With MyOC” in the right-hand sidebar, and the bill will be added to your page of tracked items. Then you can subscribe by RSS or email to get an alert as soon as there is a new action, comment, blog post, or news article. See my page of tracked items to get a sense of how it works.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)