This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here …but you can see it from here

A friend wishing to remain anonymous emailed me this, and it is pretty damn cool.

William McGurn in the pages of the Wall Street Journal writes this morning that President Obama is finally admitting that President Bush was right about a lot of stuff related to the war against terrorists. But like Arthur Fonzerelli he can’t quite get the words out that Obama has been wrong;

“I think that the most important thing for the public to understand,” he told Ms. Couric, “is we’re not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11.” Mr. Obama went on to add that “190 folks”—folks presumably just like the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks—had been tried and convicted in civilian court during Mr. Bush’s tenure.

Leave aside, for just a moment, the substance. Far more arresting is that Mr. Obama now defends himself by invoking a man he has spent the past year blaming for al Qaeda’s growth. You know—all those Niebuhrian speeches about how America had gone “off course,” “shown arrogance and been dismissive,” and “made decisions based on fear rather than foresight,” thus handing al Qaeda a valuable recruiting tool.

Funny how that works, huh? All of that talk about “critical thinking” and dissent being patriotic doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell when it’s all put into practice. “Critical thinking” means putting your thumb in your ass and looking pleased with yourself.

By the way, that DeMotivator at the top of this post is mysteriously sitting on a billboard in Minnesota.

The local news station, which will remain nameless, since they don’t want to mention us, discovered that the reason Michael McManus is wearing a bandage on his pointy noggin is because he had a panic attack when the feds came to arrest his pathetic ass;

His attorney says McManus’ head was bandaged today because he had suffered a panic attack, but gave no more information. If he is convicted on charges of stolen valor, McManus could be sentenced to up to a year in federal prison.

In related news, one of our diligent readers wrote that she commented on nearly every Old Media website which mentioned McManus and she chastised the Old Media outlets for not crediting the milblogs for the take down. She claims that every one of her comments were removed. As TSO said, he spoonfed that reporter for weeks until he finally summoned the testicular fortitude to knock on big, bad McManus’ door.

You’re welcome, fuckstick. Advice for the next time you come to the milblogs for help; pound sand, stickboy. Practice writing obituaries and police blotters.

Yes, John Murtha is finally gone, but I wouldn’t hold out much hope for putting a conservative in his seat. Currently, I live in the viewing area of one Johnstown, PA television station. They ran a loooonnnngggg bio of Murtha last night, and it failed to mention even once, the investigations into his suspect dealings, ABSCAM, his disresectof the troops, or his ties to the antiwar movement. They just went on and on about all of the jobs he brought to his district.

You can watch a short version of the broadcast at this link, but it doesn’t cover all of the lip-smacking goodness of last night’s broadcast.

I predict that the Johnstown denizens will saddle us with another patronage-purchasing, tax and spend crook.

In other Murtha news, his gall bladder surgery was botched at Bethesda NAVAL Hospital. I had my gall bladder removed a few years back by military doctors at Walter Reed and I’m still walking around.

I’m just sayin’….

Fox announces John Murtha is dead at 77 years old. Links to be added as available.

Wikipedia marks death.

Fox reports Murtha’s death.

Blast from the past;

John Murtha, Hero of the War Protesters;

Gruff, jowly John Murtha wouldn’t seem to be a Code Pink kinda guy, what with his appetite for pork and his pro-gun, antiabortion Marine hero bona fides.

But there the congressman was, in a Rayburn House Office Building hallway, gallantly protecting some war protesters from the group who had been tossed out of a hearing room and threatened with arrest.

“He said ‘I know these people,’ he gave me his hand and said we wouldn’t be arrested,” said Medea Benjamin, a San Francisco human rights activist who was doing her earnest best Tuesday to end the war when her lobbying methods provoked the displeasure of the U.S. Capitol Police. Code Pink ladies on one side; uniforms on the other. In the middle, the impressive bulk of 74-year-old Murtha. He called the sergeant at arms and didn’t leave until he was assured the women would be released, Benjamin said.

Code Pink Praises Murtha, Picketed Military Hospital

Code Pink’s co-founder, Gael Murphy, and its coordinator for the Washington, D.C., area, Allison Yorra, met with Murtha earlier this month “to thank him for his courageous stand on Iraq.

“We presented him with our pink badge of courage and pink flowers sent by CODEPINK members nationwide,” a statement on the group’s website indicates. “Rep Murtha was very appreciative of these gestures as he has been receiving many responses to his public denouncement of the war.”

Photographs on the Code Pink website show Murtha holding the pink flowers and standing arm-in-arm with Murphy and Yorra. There is no mention of the meeting with Code Pink or the award presented to Murtha on his congressional website.

John Murtha press conference;

Now, two days after I made my statement, on November 19th, we had an incident in Haditha in Anbar province, where a Marine was killed with an IED. Time magazine reported it, and it’s kind of a puzzling report, because they’re investigating it right now. Let me tell you what the consequences of this have been.

It’s much worse than reported in Time magazine. There was no fire fight. 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. And that’s what the report is going to tell.

John Murtha in an interview with Chris Matthews;

MATTHEWS: Mr. Murtha, let me ask you about this accusation that you have come out with today, that U.S. service people fighting in Iraq killed civilians in cold blood. What evidence do you have on that now?

MURTHA: Well, “Time Magazine” …

MATTHEWS: Was this melee? I mean, was this a case of — when you say cold blood, Congressman, a lot of people think you’re basically saying you have got some civilians sitting in a room or out in a field and they’re executed just on purpose…

MURTHA: That’s exactly what happened.

John Murtha in an interview with Wolf Blitzer;

BLITZER: There’s an investigation of what happened at Haditha. …you’ve suggested this week that there in effect was a massacre. …

MURTHA: Well there was. There’s no question about it…

BLITZER: The Marines say they’re still investigating. They don’t know what happened yet. The pentagon says the same thing. How do you know what happened?

MURTHA: Wolf, you read the “Time” magazine articles. There are pictures, there are photos. You don’t have to talk to the military about the proof.

Article from Washington Post referring to the arrest of four Marines;

Attention to the case increased earlier this year when Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) alleged after briefings from military officials that the Marines had killed civilians “in cold blood.”

This will come out in sections.  I have not been authorized to release it, but the email attached claimed it had already been “filed.”

MCMANUS was previously convicted in U.S. Federal Court in California in 2002, arising out of federal criminal charges originating in Louisiana, for impersonating a U.S. “Air Marshal” and also impersonating a U.S. Army Major, both in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 912, He received a sentence of two years probation, which was later revoked for violations. At the time of his offense relating to those criminal charges, MCMANUS had been wearing an unauthorized U.S. Army Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) of the unearned rank of Major (and with fraudulent U.S. Army identification papers naming him as an Army Captain) with attached unearned patches, insignia, and awards, on board a commercial aircraft in New Orleans and also falsely represented himself to the flight crew as a current member of the U.S. military and an “Air Marshal”, and where he attempted to gain access to the plane’s cockpit. Due to the suspicious nature of his uniform and his suspicious claims to the flight crew, he was not permitted by the flight crew to remain on the flight. He was later arrested in California and convicted of these charges there.

Official U.S. military records, which include MCMANUS’ form DD-214, indicate MCMANUS entered on Active Duty with the United States Army on November 11, 1984 and separated on March 31, 1987. During this period, MCMANUS attained the rank of Private First Class and a pay grade of E-1. The form DD-214 further indicates MCMANUS was awarded or authorized to wear only the following awards: an Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Expert Marksmanship Badge - Rifle; and Marksman Marksmanship Badge - Pistol. MCMANUS’ type of separation is Defined on the DD-214 as “Discharge” and the character of service is defined as “Under Honorable Conditions”, which is not the same as an “Honorable Discharge”.

HERE IS THE BEST PART (after jump):
Read the rest of this entry »

That is him being led to Federal Court this morning.

I thought the ABC video the other day was rather poor, to be frank. I talked to the reporter REPEATEDLY on this issue, and he refused to move on it until the FBI arrested him because he couldn’t determine it was actually him.

Um, really dude? After I gave you the address, the social security number etc, and you went to the house and a dude wearing a generals star and a CIA hat that somehow managed to match the rank and designation the guy was wearing in the photo…..the keen powers of observation couldn’t deduce it was the same guy until he was arrested. Anyway, what was also buried in the entire thing was the political element. For instance, seek in vain in that video to see how this guy used his service to oppose DADT. There is a reference to the Mayor, but it is fleeting and she disavows knowledge of this clown.

Well, today ABC dug a little deeper, in a well written article by Gene Apodaca:

We have learned Michael Patrick McManus met Councilmember Sue Lovell at a political function a few years ago. She says he was, in fact, wearing the uniform that is now in question. While she says the conversation was brief, a short time later, he did end up with a job at city hall.

“This, in my opinion, is someone who wants to be a hero, wants to be thought of as a hero and they don’t deserve it,” said John Breiden with the American Legion.

And one day after his arrest, we’re learning McManus may have carried out his alleged charade inside Houston City Hall.

“He said that he wanted to come and work for city hall,” said Councilmember Lovell. “We said please send your resume and he did.”

In fact, Lovell was the Vice Mayor pro tem of Houston.

Back on January 19th, almost 3 weeks ago, I covered McManus’ claims of employment. In that post I noted:

CLAIM: MPMC worked as a part of a Personal Security Detail for a US Congressperson from the State of Texas from May 2007-Sep 2007.

FACTS: Working this angle now, there is no way he was PSD for a Republican so, I have someone working on getting me names and phone numbers of Dem Congresspeople from Texas. If I had to guess who he would work for if this were true…. Sheila Jackson Lee. He says “Member of the US Congress” and not “Congressman”. May be nothing, but I will have names and numbers shortly for some enterprising reader to make some calls to see if he ever served for the Member.

Later, Texas Gun Geek* found the proof I was looking for on a wink.com profile which is still up and claims:

Michael Tenzin Chophak McManusliving in Houston, Texas Area
Purdue University • Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee • Personal Security Detail / Bodyguard

Work
Personal Security Detail / Bodyguard at Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
Jun 2007 - Present
School
Purdue University , BS in Psychology with Minor in Linguistics

That page in turn links to MPMC’s LinkedIn page that has been taken down. I saved EVERYTHING of this guy on line, so if any enterprising reporters *cough * Apodaca * cough * want to keep searching, you should start with Sheila Jackson Lee’s office, at 202-225-3816.

Usually I wouldn’t resort to the media, but they have better local sources, and I bet if we keep digging we can find this gent tied to more Politicians and causes; all of which are tainted by this affair.

* Visit the Gun Geek and show him some traffic-love!

So the conversation about the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act continues among the chattering classes. The Associated Press does it’s best to muddy the waters by asking nimrods like Jonathan Turley;

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School who is not involved in the two cases, said the Stolen Valor Act raises serious constitutional questions because it in effect bans bragging or exaggerating about yourself.

“Half the pickup lines in bars across the country could be criminalized under that concept,” he said.

Yes, that’s a real and certain danger to our culture isn’t it? It’d be a crying-ass shame if douche-bags weren’t able to lie to babes in bars. Or if Turley wasn’t able to lie to GWU co-eds.

Dozens of people have been arrested under the law at a time when veterans coming home from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being embraced as heroes.

Many of the cases involve men who simply got caught living a lie without profiting from it.

That’s kind of why the law was written - because laws against fraud for monetary profit already exist. And there is a profit involved in the lies, whether or not it’s tangible. Strandlof lied because he wanted to be a big deal, and the politicians who used him at their events and in their ads profited from his false message. Just like our Michael McManus profited by having CNN believe his message that the Army booted a Lieutenant Colonel after twenty-years of service because he’s gay - regardless of whether it was a monetary profit or a political profit it was still a profit.

Manny Alvarez tried to profit with his lie in the form of an elected office. Even if the profit is merely adulation from peers, it’s still a profit from fraud. Those who’ve used the uniform for cheaper airfares, or even free drinks at a bar, still profit from others’ heroism and sacrifice.

And if you can’t get some strange without sticking to the truth about yourself, build a porn collection and stay at home, doofus.

Doug Sterner, a friend of this blog, quotes George Washington;

Sterner noted that Washington created the Purple Heart, the nation’s first military decoration, and wrote: “Should any who are not entitled to these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished.”

I can’t leave the subject without quoting TSO’s man-crush, Peter Lemon, an honest-to-God hero;

Army veteran Pete Lemon of Colorado Springs, who received the Medal of Honor for turning back an enemy assault and rescuing wounded comrades in Vietnam while injured himself, supports the law, saying that pretending to have a medal can bring undeserved rewards.

“It gives you the power to entice somebody into marriage,” he said. “It could give you the power to be able to join an organization, get special treatment with regards to getting tickets to a football game, getting license plates, getting preferential treatment in a job situation.”

Remember how well the Ron Paul Blimp worked when it propelled Ron Paul into the Oval Office in 2008? Me neither. But that doesn’t deter the Paulians from launching a campaign to litter our skies with a “Peace Blimp“;

Imagine…a “Peace Blimp”- defiantly displaying a message of peace across the skies of the nation, unable to be dismissed, ignored or brushed aside. Rallies for peace greet the blimp in every city it visits. Politicians, celebrities, movie stars, athletes, war veterans and peace activists make the call to bring our troops home by boarding the blimp for a ride. Crowds flock to the events and are educated about the war. With each stop along the tour the momentum for peace grows from a dull roar into an undeniable fervor until the seemingly endless wars come to an end.

Now, let’s make this a reality.

Please join us this March 20th for the largest online monetary war protest in history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $10 each (minimum), creating a one day total of millions to fly the Peace Blimp until we the people force our government to end this war.

Do you know that Pizza Hut has a $10 special? I doubt the pudgy, basement dwellers across America will allow a large stuffed-crust slip through their fingers that easily.

From an interview with a Paulian in a Canadian blog;

Trevor Lyman, a Ron Paul supporter who is responsible for the Peace Blimp effort, responds to a few of my questions. Here are the questions, as well as his responses:

P. M. Jaworski: What do you hope to accomplish with The Peace Blimp?

Trevor Lyman: I hope to help reignite peace protests here in the States. The majority of the American people have wanted this war to end for over four years now.

PJ: Why should money be spent on a blimp, rather than on other ways to persuade legislators to end the war?

TL: There were massive protests against the war in the States around the time of the 2006 elections. The media barely covered them. The blimp is something that cannot be ignored and the money we will raise for it shows there is real support. The media only pays attention to candidates who raise the most money and so I believe this will be mostly the same.

Yeah, the blimp didn’t work for Ron Paul and it won’t work for abandonment of our security policy. But you numbnuts keep throwing your allowance money at these fools’ errands.

Those of you who know me know that I am a borderline fanatic about sports. I mean all kinds of sports; everything from NCCA football to MLB Baseball to Australian dick wrestling. Suffice it to say that I love sports.

There is not a bigger single sporting event in the United States than the Super Bowl and I feel compelled to offer my insights. Hopefully I won’t get beat up as bad as I did with my 2010 Senate election predictions.

Last I checked the Colts were favored by 5 ½. That’s significant because it’s less than one touchdown. Given Super Bowl history a one TD swing from the kickoff line is hardly an upset worth noting.

The biggest point spread upsets were back in the day when odds makers still couldn’t manage a spoonful of respect for teams from the JV AFL. In SB IV the KC Chiefs were laying 12 points against the vaunted Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota’s Purple People Eaters however laid a massive egg and went into halftime down 16-0. While the Vikings didn’t do a very good job eating people in the first half, Hank Stramm’s Chiefs did a masterful job of eating the clock in the second half.

The result was a 23-7 victory for the Chiefs and a whopping 28 point swing from the line.

Of course the most famous upset was SB III when Namath and the Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7. The Colts entered that game with an advantage in the spread by 18 points and even 20 points on some Vegas lines. The Jet victor translated to a 27 point swing from the kickoff line.

So how does the underdog pull off an upset in the biggest game of the year? The answer to that is fairly simple if you look at the games where it happened.

In SB IV the heavily favored Vikings turned the ball over five times; (3 interceptions and 2 fumbles) while the Chiefs turned it over only once. The other key to that game was being able to sustain a drive and thus keep the Vikings offense on the bench. The Chiefs converted on 7 of 15 third downs and stymied the Vikings to 3 of 9.

The exact same thing happened in SB III. The Colts quarterback tandem of Morrall and Unitas threw four interceptions and the Colts lost a fumble. The Jets turned it over only once. The Colts also struggled mightily on third down going just 4 of 12 while Namath and the Jets had far more success converting on 8 of 18.

Having said all that, is there a person on the planet that believes that with two weeks to prepare Peyton Manning and the Colts are going to turn the ball over five times? Or that the Saints barely above average defense will hold the Colts to 30% on third down?
Just look at the Saints last game against the Vikings. In spite of enjoying four turnovers from the Vikings, the Saints still gave up 31 first downs and 475 total yards!
It’s not just the defense that should be worrying Saints fans. Simply put, Peyton Manning is on fire in the postseason compared to Drew Brees.

Against a slightly above average Minnesota defense and a below average Cardinal defense Brees has thrown for 444 yards. Meanwhile Manning has thrown for 623 yards in the post season and he did it against the top two defenses in the AFC.

I realize that anything can happen but based on an honest analysis the Saints are probably toast. In fact, if the Saints fall behind early and try to get cute it could easily turn into a blowout.

My prediction: Colts 45 Saints 20

Regular readers remember Marc Hall, the “Stop-Loss rapper” and new IVAW member, who complained in his rap song that he was scheduled to deploy to Iraq after his date for leaving the Army. The Army charges that Hall communicated a threat in the song by referring to all of his leadership as targets that would hit the floor when he locked and loaded a thirty round magazine on them. Of course, he sent the CD to the Pentagon in the weeks following Major Nidal Hasan’s attack on scores of soldiers at Fort Hood.

It seems the Army is preparing to deploy Hall to Iraq and the Leftists are angry.

Today, Fort Stewart, Georgia officials confirmed that the Army will attempt to separate Spc Marc A Hall from both his civilian legal team and his established military defender Capt. Anthony Schiavetti by sending him to Iraq “within a few days” to face court martial.

The Army declared that, “The jurisdiction transfer ensures a full and fair trial for both Spc. Hall and the United States.” Nothing could be farther from the truth, at least for Spc. Hall.

“It is our belief that the Army would violate its own regulations by deploying Marc and it would certainly violate his right to due process by making it far more difficult to get witnesses. It appears the Army doesn’t believe it can get a conviction in a fair and public trial. We will do whatever we can to insure he remain in the United States,” explains attorney David Gespass of Birmingham, Alabama.

Of course, the Army can send his military lawyer to Iraq with Hall, so they’re really not separating him from his defense team. But the really hilarious part is Veterans Today with their penchant for hyperbole, asks “what is happening to our military justice system;

Yes, we’re going to start throwing our troops in Guantanamo, Hanafin, you mega drama queen. Are you guys still taking hallucinogens after all these years. I’d love to hear your theories about the JFK assassination some time.

My guess is that most of the witnesses on both sides in the Hall case are deployed to Iraq and it makes more sense to move him there than to send an entire unit back from the war. But I have an email in to his commander to get the real skinny on the reason. Maybe they’re going to tie him to the grill of an MRAP on a clearing operation. I’ll check with Gordon Duff on that.