Am-I-Dumb.com - Are you dumb?” Those who refuse to support and defend a state have no claim to protection by that state. Killing an anarchist or a pacifist should not be defined as “murder” in a legalistic sense. The offense against the state, if any, should be “Using deadly weapons inside city limits,” or “Creating a traffic hazard,” or “Endangering bystanders,” or other such misdemeanor.”Now, yes, as a basic principal I agree with that. But what happens if the state isn't worth defending anymore? Let me put it this way - I believe that the Constitution of the United States is the greatest founding document in the history of the world, and it's worth defending. However, I don't think that the current government is anywhere CLOSE to actually following said Constitution. And the people currently running things in D.C. aren't worth a squirt of piss in the wind. If I heard that somebody was attacking D.C., I'd be guarding two things - the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Capitol Hill? Meh. Armed terrorists could murder every last bastard in the Capitol Building and I would only weep for a few of them. And my tears would be short lived, because wiping the current Congress from the face of the Earth would only improve this country, not hurt it.
Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that it was there long before they were.
Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall. When that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must have stung quite a bit.
The complaint: “Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 a. m., a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns early bird special? Any response would be appreciated.”
The response: Regarding “A wake-up call from Luke’s jets” (Letters, Thursday): On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a. m., a perfectly timed four-ship flyby of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques. Capt. Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day. At 9 a. m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend.
Based on the letter writer’s recount of the flyby, and because of the jet noise, I’m sure you didn’t hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son’s flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured.
A four-ship Flyby is a display of respect the Air Force pays to those who give their Lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects. The letter writer asks, “Whom do we thank for the morning air show?” The 56th Fighter Wing will call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and Parents of Capt. Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.
-- Lt. Col. Scott Pleus CO 63rd Fighter Squadron Luke AFB
People who buy houses or otherwise live close to airfields or airports and then complain about the noise ought to be put in the stocks and pelted with rotten fruit.
US forces say they have arrested a senior member of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group accused of being behind some of Iraq's deadliest violence.
The man was named as Khaled Mashhadani. He was captured earlier in July in the northern city of Mosul, officials said.
US military officials said he had told interrogators that the group's supposed leader, Omar al-Baghdadi, was a front.
The federal government has proposed raising taxes on premium cigars, the kind Newman’s family has been rolling for decades in Ybor City, by as much as 20,000 percent.
As part of an increase in tobacco taxes designed to pay for children’s health insurance, the nickel-per-cigar tax that has ruled the industry could rise to as much as $10 per cigar.
“I’m not sure in the history of man, since our forefathers founded the country in 1776, that there’s ever been a tax increase of 20,000 percent,” said Newman, who runs the Tampa business founded by grandfather Julius Caesar Newman. “They had the Boston Tea Party for less than this.”
Incidentally, if this tax proves too onerous for cigar smokers, they’ll either start smuggling in cigars (oh joy, more crime), or else they’ll just quit—very few people are addicted to cigars as others are to cigarettes—which means that cigar-making and -selling businesses will have to close, thus putting thousands out of work.
That’s what happened when the Socialists raised the luxury tax on yachts (another “gimme” for the Wealth Envious)—the local shipbuilding industry folded and nearly collapsed—but Congress is incapable of such feats of memory. Indeed, Congress has no memory at all in matters like this, focused as they are on such weighty matters as soaking “the rich”, reelection, and fundraising.
Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, the fiscal crusader who's never met an earmark he likes, questioned Democratic Rep. Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana on the House floor Tuesday about whether the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure actually exists - since, hey, it's getting like a million bucks or something.
Visclosky, who chairs the spending subcommittee responsible for the project, had to admit that, well, he didn't have a clue.
After a lengthy back-and-forth, Flake, complaining that his staff couldn't find a website for the center, asked Visclosky, "Does the center currently exist?"
"At this time, I do not know," the Indiana Democrat replied. "But if it does not exist, the monies could not go to it."
And who could possibly be the sponsor of such an earmark? Yes, you guessed it, the man Republicans love to hate, Pennsylvania Democrat John P. Murtha.Despite the money's uncertain destination, the House rejected Flake's measure to strike the funds, 326-98. And the Visclosky bill also sailed through, 312-112.
"It was stunning," said one GOP aide who attended the meeting. "We couldn't believe he came in."
"We kept looking at each other, amazed he came in," said another Republican aide.
Bush was described as folksy, adamant and mildly profane as he interrupted the meeting between senior White House communications staffers Tony Snow and Ed Gillespie and GOP leaders. His message: the policy on Iraq isn't changing. He is not backing down and no one on Capitol Hill should be confused into thinking he is letting up.
"He was well done."
That's what one woman said Monday after helping her son apprehend an alleged child rapist using her barbecue meat fork.
"I stuck him in his butt!" Linda Rhodes told MyFOXdfw.com, explaining how she and her son John Jennings apprehended the 17-year-old suspect Friday night in Garland, Texas.
There is no question that we will get airline security right someday. My only question is whether, at this point, we will get it right before the next attack. After 9/11, we were given the gift of time and of awareness. I am very concerned we have squandered the gift of time — and there is little left before we are hit again — and we are losing the gift of awareness, as we truly forget what that morning was like. There is no question in my mind, based on everything I hear in my position, that Al Qaeda is actively, aggressively preparing to target the United States again, and that commandeering an airliner is still the easiest, quickest method of possessing a weapon of mass destruction. I am even more concerned that the next attack could be far worse than 9/11, which, while devastating, would pale in comparison to other available targets.The TSA is stuck in a deficient mindset, and it's convinced me that the people in charge are Leftists through and through. They refuse to deal with the people who want to kill us, and instead focus all their attention on the objects that those people would use in their murderous acts. The problem with that approach is that somebody can and will always find a replacement object if you take their first option away. If you focus on objects instead of people, then you get the ridiculous instances where Marine Corps Ace and Medal of Honor awardee Joe Foss had some nitwit trying to take away his MoH because it had sharp points on it.
You have to taste the world. You have to sample it. You have to try it on. You have to see what works for you and what doesn’t. You need to find out what worked in this world and what made things awful, and you can’t do that if awful is disguised as something not awful, or you’re too stuck in who your relatives were to allow yourself to do it.
Then, because we’re not stuck in being who our ancestors were, we take the best that all the world has to offer. We learn from their mistakes. We set aside their backwards ways, with respect and deference, but we set them aside, just the same. We don’t have to do things their way, simply because they did, if there are better ways.
