Haditha Drama Ends With Near Exoneration
And you saw all the headlines and broadcasts declaring such, right?
SSgt Frank Wuterich pleaded guilty to one count of "negligent dereliction of duty" on Jan. 23. He will be reduced in rank to a private but serve no jail time.
He had been charged with murder.
Of the seven other Marines indicted charges were, over the years, dismissed against LCpl. Stephen Tatum, LCpl. Justin Sharratt, Capt. Lucas McConnell, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, and Capt. Randy Stone, while Lt. Andrew Grayson was found not guilty on all counts and no misconduct was found by LtCol Jeffrey Chessani.
On Nov. 19, 2005, a 500-pound improvised explosive device destroyed a humvee killing Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas and seriously wounding two others in Haditha, Iraq. Wuterich's squad was ordered to clear out some nearby houses to find the bomb's triggerman and suppress snipers. The Marines threw hand grenades into the buildings before entering. Many of the dead were women and children.
Bad, yes, but as the trails unfolded it became clear the Marines had not acted for vengeance or were in violation of their training.
Wuterich accepted guilt for negligent dereliction of duty because he admitted uttering "shoot first, ask questions later" in the heat of battle.
Compare that to the statement by the late John Murtha (D-Pa12) who ascertained on May 17, 2006 in the comfort and safety of the floor of Congress: "There was no firefight, there was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood".
Murtha's malicious claim authoritatively stated as fact was instrumental in sending eight men -- men who had forwent comfort and risked their lives to keep this country safe -- through a half-decade of hell.
Murtha died in 2010. He has an airport named for him in Johnston, and a statue in a city park.
Kudos to warchronicle.com which provided excellent day-to-day coverage of the Wuterich trail.
The Coalition For Romney
Joining them, however, are erstwhile firebrands such as Ann Coulter and Matt Drudge, whose DrudgeReport this morning, Jan. 26, featured nine wildly anti-Gingrich stories.
What's up with that?
It seem the common denominator for Romney supporters are the never having felt the fear of meeting a payroll filled with people one knows and likes, or wondering how one is going to stay in business with the cost of transportation, energy and supplies exploding.
Or working for someone one knows and likes and sees sweating over what sacrifices to make.
Drudge, by the way, is not simply anti-Newt. He was hard on Rick Perry and Herman Cain as well.
I'd vote for Paris Hilton over Barack Obama, but Willard Mitt Romney is my last choice as the GOP nominee.
Meehan About The Only Hero In ConocoPhillips Tragedy
This has resulted in outrage, and there should be outrage. Not just an employer but a major part of our industrial infrastructure is shutting down.
Where is the attempt to save it?
ConocoPhillips spokesman Rich Johnson explained the reasoning for the closing as being "based on the level of investment required to remain competitive in the U.S. East Coast refining market that has been under severe market pressure for several years.”
He cited product imports, weakness in motor fuel demand and costly regulatory requirements as the cause of this market pressure.
Where were our politicians in demanding relief from these requirements? Congressman Pat Meehan (R-7) is the closest thing we have to a hero on this and even he could have been a lot louder.
Congressmen Bob Brady (D-1) and Chaka Fattah (D-2) have been dead silent on the issue. One of the similarly endangered Sunoco refineries is in Fattah's district and Brady's district includes many of refinery workers.
How about the union leaders? Notice Johnson was not blaming labor costs for the closings? Why do they continue to support politicians who want to regulate away our industry?
Our senators Pat Toomey (R) and Bob Casey (D) haven't been particularly outspoken on providing relief for the refineries and their workers.
And of course there is President Obama. Obama didn't even make the feeblest effort to save them and it would have been likely been all that it would have taken. Does Obama want to destroy our industry? I fear the answer to that.
So outrage is warranted but don't direct it all at the oil company.
Springfield (Delco) To Crack Down On Yard Sales
Whose egregious abuse of residential zoning is causing such action to come about? You know who you are on West Springfield Road and on North Rolling Road.
Looking Out For The Little Guy. Sure.
Rohrer To Hold Town Hall In Newtown
327 N. Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073 in Newtown Township.
For information or to RSVP, please contact Dale Kerns at kerns4office@gmail.com
House Committee OKs Smaller Legislature In Power Grab
The bill, HB 153, would cut the number of representatives in the State House from 203 to 153. It would leave the membership of the state Senate unchanged at 50.
The bill would also mandate that counties, municipalities and wards not be divided in forming a senatorial or representative district which would be about the only bright side of this wealth and power grab.
The argument for the bill is to cut cost since the base pay for a Pennsylvania legislator is $$82,026, and, yes, fewer legislators would mean spending less money. Of course, if saving money was really the motive, maybe they would have first thought of cutting their extremely generous pay and benefits rather than representation.
In fact, I am certain we could get high quality citizen-legislators who would be willing to serve for no material compensation just as we get high quality people willing to serve as volunteers as ambulance drivers, and firefighters and Little League coaches and on church boards and on charities.
In fact, I am certain they would be an improvement.
HB 153 is sponsored by House Speaker Samuel Smith (R-66). Among the co-sponsors is Bill Adolph (R-165) of Delaware County.
The only GOP State Committee members voting nay were Lynda Culver and Jerry Stern. The only Democrat members voting aye were Eugene DePasquale, Florindo Fabrizio and Steve Santarsiero.
Zero From Zero Is Nothing
Switching back I caught snippets about how he is going to raise taxes on companies that ship jobs overseas -- hey, is General Electric included -- and keep trying to pick winners and losers here. I heard him say how he's going to send everyone to community colleges and high-tech and innovation and buzzwords and hey, kids let's put on a show. Or something like that.
I heard him say natural gas is going to supply us for 100 years and that he's going to protect our intellectual property so those threats from Hollywood about his SOPA stance apparently had some affect.
So anyway, Cold Case ended and I saw he was still rambling on about something, well, nothing after I listened to it for a bit, so I came up here and wrote this up.
Addendum, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels provided the GOP response to the President's address and showed that he gets it. Daniels noted that middle class cannot be maintained on government programs financed by ever-increasing borrowing as the President sincerely appears to believe is possible.
He noted that debt causes nations to fall and that there is only a short time to get our house in order.
He said simple arithmetic shows that Social Security and Medicare will soon fail. Rather than asking that the tax rate on the wealthy be increased, he wondered why they continued to receive safety net benefits along with breaks in the tax code.
You think he might see a chance to be the Republican presidential nominee?
Pa. GOP Bosses Want A Senate Candidate Who Voted For Obama, Sestak
To say the Republican presidential primary has become interesting would be a gross understatement. With three different winners in the first three contests—an unprecedented situation—everyone is asking why the frontrunners keep falling and why the GOP base cannot unite behind a leader.
Well, hold on to your seat, because here’s a big question: Would you believe that both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 primary? And after they became disenfranchised by the Republican Party for moving too far Left, they decided to do the only logical thing: become Democrats? And in addition, does it blow your mind that besides voting for the Big O, they took out their frustrations over a too-liberal GOP by financially supporting the most far-left Democrats in the entire Congress?
Seem far-fetched? Well, it is—and it isn’t.
No, of course, Romney and Gingrich didn’t switch parties, vote for Obama or support liberal Democrats. If either had, it would, without question, be lunacy for any element of the Republican Party to endorse them. To many in the GOP, Obama is not just a political adversary but the Devil Incarnate who must be defeated at all costs. So running someone against Obama who had previously supported him would be a surefire recipe for disaster.
In some respects, Jon Huntsman fell victim to this exact situation. Many Republicans refused to trust him after he served as President Obama’s ambassador to China, and his candidacy tanked. Likewise, one of Romney’s biggest obstacles to winning over Republicans stems from his implementation of an Obamacare-type health-care system in Massachusetts, since many feel that he would be unable to effectively run against Obama on that critical issue.
Enter the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.
There are seven candidates vying for the opportunity to take on incumbent Bob Casey. The election is in April, but it’s this Saturday, January 28th, that may well determine the nominee. That’s when the Republican State Committee convenes to decide whom it will endorse—if anyone.
Incomprehensibly, but not surprisingly, certain factions within the GOP leadership are pushing to endorse Montgomery County’s Steve Welch, a candidate who:
A. Became a Democrat because the GOP wasn’t conservative enough.
B. Financially supported (former) Congressman Joe Sestak, one of the most liberal members of Congress.
C. Voted for Barack Obama in 2008.
For those who may think this is also a fairy tale to illustrate a point, think again.
Steve Welch voted for Barack Obama and supported Joe Sestak. So why on earth would the state committee want to endorse Welch, and in doing so become the laughingstock of the nation?
Good question. And since committee members are elected officials, perhaps they should be asked that before Saturday’s vote.
This is just another example of brain-dead GOP leadership choosing laziness over hard work. Since Welch is a millionaire who could self-fund, GOP leaders wouldn’t have to engage in fundraising activities (AKA “doing their job”) nearly as much as they would for other plebian candidates—no matter how much more qualified they may be.
Many GOP faithful want to believe that the majority of the state committee sees a Welch endorsement for what it would be: a political and public relations disaster, one that would seriously erode what credibility Pennsylvania’s Republican Party has left. Such an endorsement would also cement the growing perception—not incorrect, by the way—that the only thing of importance to the GOP hierarchy in choosing a candidate is the size of his wallet. Qualifications? A lot of money. Period. Republican values? Irrelevant.
Brilliant.
******
Given his recent support of leftist Democrats, would Steve Welch make a good Republican senator? Tough to tell, but Pennsylvania’s Republican voters should be the ones making that determination, not party leaders in a smoke-filled backroom who only see dollar signs from a candidate.
Republicans deserve straight answers from Steve, and to this day, they really haven’t received them. Did he vote for Obama to spite his “true” party. Did he truly support him? Or did he do it to stop “Hillarycare,” as was reported? We don’t know. With those significant questions unanswered, and by extension, character and judgment issues swirling around Welch, an endorsement would only serve to muddy the waters and foster an anger among Republicans that hasn’t been seen in Pennsylvania in decades.
Amazing as it now seems, Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater girl, supporting Barry in his presidential election. It took years for her to evolve into the more liberal Hillary that we know today. So perhaps most disconcerting is the speed in which Steve Welch evolved with his party loyalties—and then back again.
If one was disgruntled with the Republicans not being conservative enough, fine. Many felt the same way. But that’s why God made the Independent Party.
If one is truly seeking more conservative values, where is the wisdom and good judgment in switching to a party that, for years, has unabashedly moved further to the Left? And regarding Obama and Sestak, give them credit where it’s due: Both were crystal clear about where they stood on issues. Nationalized health care? Absolutely. Redistribution of wealth through higher taxes? Yep. More government spending is the answer, as a paternalistic government knows best? Without question.
So someone abandoning the Republicans to join the Democrats, and march behind people such as Obama and Sestak, may well indicate that person’s true political leanings. All the more reason for such a candidate to be vetted by ALL Republicans, not just the state committee.
There are some on the right who seem opposed to the endorsement process every time it rolls around. Yet in many instances, it has its rightful place, a key instrument in a political party advancing its vision through whom it deems the best candidate. When candidates are vetted correctly, with the best interest of the party in mind and not the selfish agendas of individual leaders, endorsements can be critically important in winning elections.
But when unprecedented situations arise that scream for an open primary, endorsements should never be forced, as they will virtually always backfire.
Given this situation, it absolutely boggles the mind that Tom Corbett—the Republican governor of Pennsylvania—would not only get involved in a primary, but would choose to endorse someone with Welch’s background, as he did last week.
For the good of its party, the Republican State Committee should do the right thing this weekend by voting for an open primary. If it chooses to self-destruct by endorsing Steve Welch, that laughing you’ll hear will be Bob Casey as he wraps up another six-year term 10 months before the election.
Off The Internet -- Questions From Jesus
If you never had to pray, How would you know that I am a Deliverer?
If you never had a trial, how could you call yourself an overcomer?
If you never felt sadness, How would you know that I am a Comforter?
If you never made a mistake, How would you know that I am a forgiver?
If you knew all, How would you know that I will answer your questions?
If you never were in trouble, How would you know that I will come to your rescue
If you never were broken, Then how would you know that I can make you whole?
If you never had a problem, How would you know that I can solve them?
If you never had any suffering, Then how would you know what I went through?
If you never went through the fire, Then how would you become pure?
If I gave you all things, How would you appreciate them?
If I never corrected you, How would you know that I love you?
If you had all power, Then how would you learn to depend on me?
If your life was perfect, Then what would you need me for?
Love,
Jesus
God our Father, walk through my house and take away all my worries and illnesses and please watch over and heal my family in Jesus name, Amen.
