Here’s a couple LTE’s that were in the Daily Local this week.  One credits people for the good things in America, but blames guns (and churches) for the bad.  The other letter whines about the money spent to fight back. Do the leftists ever think about how much 9/11 costs us?  How many billion or trillions of dollars were spent following that sneak attack?  Not just the buildings, and the people, and the lives that were shattered, and the businesses affected, and the airline industry.  Imagine the cost if the terrorists attack us again – with nuclear or biological weapons?  They will look at the cost of fighting back as a bargain. 

The people make this country great

While President Bush is no doubt grateful for Mr. Dan Pourreau’s blind loyalty in the face of all the evidence to the countrary, I beg to differ with Mr. Pourreau’s opinion of what makes our country great. I believe that it is the people of this country, not the “military, the churches and the corporations” that make our country great. The citizens of this country have a duty to be informed and actively participate in their government, not ignore major problems, or in Mr. Pourreau’s case convince themselves that these problems are “manufactured crises.”

Do the majority of Americans really believe that the major corporations in this country, specifically the major oil companies, are creating “wealth and providing products” to us in some vast humanitarian way that demands our undying loyalty to them? What I see are gas prices steadily rising along with the profits of those corporations. This is indeed creating wealth, not for all of us, but for a select few. I’m happy for Mr. Pourreau if he is one of them.

Last, but not least, I don’t believe that Philadelphia police Sgt. Liczbinski was killed by one of those “social programs” to which he refers. If he had been attacked by one of those programs, rather than by an automatic weapon that serves no purpose other than to kill people, specifically police officers, he would be alive today. My sympathies are with Sgt. Liczbinski’s loved ones as they attempt to deal with life without him, and I commend Mayor Nutter for his bravery in attempting a real solution to this problem.

Why are we there?

In response to those who still adhere to the policies of the Iraq War, reasons to do so are by now almost none. That war has gone on for over five years, cost approximately $800 billion at $12 billion each month, and seen 32,000 Americans dead or wounded and half a million to one million Iraqis slain. Whatever possible constructive things might have been brought about are far outweighed by the enormously destructive.

If bin Laden was not in Iraq, why did we go there in the first place? If there were no weapons of mass destruction, missiles, or uranium, why did we not change course? If Saddam was a problem, why after he was executed have we stayed? Was it for oil, influence, or profits, none of which most Americans have seen? Whatever the supposed reasons, was it worth American or Iraqi lives or putting our country into an economic and cultural tailspin?

At first some and now a majority of Americans have opposed the war in Iraq and the administration that began and continued it. The issue has never been supporting the troops — to do otherwise would be inhuman and unthinkable — but looking at the questionable policies that put them in harm’s way.

It may take years to redirect our ship of state, refurbish our nation’s ideals at home and abroad, and remove ourselves from such “foreign entanglements” our founders warned against if we are to remain independent, prosperous, and free.

Air Force Week: Philadelphia May 26 – June 2.   (From their website) Air Force Week is designed to build new relationships in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, expose citizens to the incredible power of the US Air Force and strengthen support for our Airmen serving worldwide in defense of Freedom. 

A couple highlights include an IMAX movie called “Global Power” at the Franklin Institute and the Air Show at McGuire Air Force Base featuring the AIR FORCE THUNDERBIRDS on May 31 and June 1. 

Many Sheepdogs are Air Force Veterans and we salute all our Airmen and encourage people to visit the Air Force Week website and click on the “Events” link for details of what to see and where.

Thanks to everyone who made it out on Saturday – we had a great turnout! Rich was still at Fleet Week (hangin’ with Altas!), so check out Skye’s write-up of the day. NeoCon’s terrific group shot:

Check out the rest of his shots here. You’ll see more like this one:

I also got an update from Doc Raoul on the care packages for Gunny Jenkins. We don’t need any more socks (thanks everyone!) and below is what we have so far:

Pringles (8 cans); Dermatone Cream (2); Chapstick (1); Altoids (2); Jerky (2 large pcs); Socks (4); Body Glide (1); Sunblock (Large) (1); Curry beans (2); Beans and Chicken Franks (4); Pepperage Farm Cookies (2); Candy Button on paper strip (3); Necco Waffers (6); Wall Street Journal article (1); Microwave Hamburger Helper (4).

From Doc:

Box will be available every week at the West Chester rally. One item per person will fill it and don’t need to spend more than $1-$3 each if you want in on this effort. Thanks to all!

Karen Porter, the head of the anti-war protestors (The Chester County “Peace” Movement) threw a temper tantrum over the article about us in the Wall Street Journal. She can’t defend her own message so she continues to divide America and build bad blood with another vicious emotional attack against anyone who disagrees with her. Here’s what she wrote to the 1000 readers of her newsletter, followed by her whiney Letter to the Editor of the WSJ.

“Now Kevin Ferris has made national “celebrities” out of this group. Unreal.
Oh, well, after all the lies and treachery of the past 7 years, I can believe
anything. –Karen. Here’s my response:

Editor:
Kevin Ferris’s column about “the Chester County Victory Movement” was full
of half-truths and non-truths. (Funny how he didn’t publish it in our
hometown paper, where he works. Did he fear the truth coming out?)
First of all, he never bothered to interview those of us in The Chester
County Peace Movement who have been protesting the Iraq War for over five years.
He hangs around the counterprotestor group, kind of a “military groupie”,
but he looks upon us peace vigilers with utter disdain – and he never fails to
let us know that.

Second, he accuses us of aggressive behavior, ignoring that the so-called
“victory” people came to that corner with threatened violence, revving
motorcycle engines, constant pushing and taunting and yelling right up in our faces,
cursing – they had many West Chester’s citizens terrified of them for months.
We would have told Ferris had he bothered to ask.

Third, that group has harrassed me personally every week, putting my name
out all over the fringe right-wing blogs and on obscene signs, yelling my name
constantly, threatening me, yelling my face whenever they have a chance. We
would have told Ferris had he bothered to ask.

Fourth, we have a constant group of Veterans for Peace with us on the corner
every Saturday, but evidently these men (mostly combat veterans) don’t quite
“fit” Ferris’s romantic vision of the “vet.” We would have told Ferris had
he bothered to ask.

Finally, the incident of which Ferris writes – about one of our people
supposedly assaulting one of theirs: This decorated Vietnam combat veteran was
never convicted of assault, Ferris’s fantasy. Additionally, he never hit the
person Ferris wishes he had hit – he knocked an obnoxious camera out of his
face when that person kept shoving it into his face while all the other thugs
were yelling “traitor” in his face repeatedly and nastily. This group set up
this veteran and used it for all the PR value they could, with gullible
Ferris cheering on in his written words. Ferris and the CCVM guy care about how
Vietnam vets are treated? Give me a break. We would have told Ferris had he
bothered to ask.

Kevin Ferris has a political agenda that totally obscures any “truth” on his
part. If he wants to write about his beloved military and veterans, why
isn’t he writing about his own military experience (assuming he has some)?

Here’s something Skye suggests – I have written letter of support to the editor of the WSJ and included links to video’s that refute the baseless allegations by Karen Porter. I encourage all readers to send a note of support for this article to the editor, you can write to them at newseditors@wsj.com or at this LINK.

Feel free to leave your thoughts on this subject in the comment section as well. Thank you very much.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to comment and e-mail since the terrific article in the Wall Street Journal.  It is uplifting and encouraging to hear words of support and thanks.  But in reality, we are just the Sheep – the real Sheepdogs, the ones who are putting their lives on the line and deserve our gratitude and honor, are the US Soldiers.  On this Memorial Day most of us will do just that, we will remember our fallen heroes and we will give them our most solemn thanks.

One of the commenters from the WSJ article, Dan, asked if he could send our photos over to his friends in Iraq.  Not only was I happy to have Dan forward them along, I’ll urge anyone with friends in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, or elsewhere to send them our photos.  We gather every Saturday to honor them – our group photos are intended to let them know that we are here to say Thank You.

In response, Dan sent some awesome pictures of his friends in Iraq.

To these true Sheepdogs I’d like to say – THANK YOU FOR DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING.

Some of Dan’s pictures:

Group of 4 officers from II MHG (Second MEF Headquarters Group) Fallujah, Iraq 2005:

Analyst crew, 1st Radio Bn. Fallujah, Iraq 2007:

Group photo, 1st Radio Bn:

Group photo, 2nd Radio Bn. Fallujah, Iraq 2007:

There’s a video of Marcus Luttrell (former Navy Seal and current “Vet For Freedom” ) speaking at the NRA convention. It’s required viewing, especially now, when the leftists want to pull out of Iraq.

Luttrell talks about how the politicians need to try and figure it out, do all they can to prevent sending troops over there, but once they do, once they take the leash off, then (in his words), “Let me do all I can to annhilate the enemy so that they will never ever want to attack us again, that’s how we do business.”

He talks about how the troops have to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. One time he found traces of IED explosives on a suspect’s car so they torched it. The next day, Al Jazeera sent a news team to cover a group of “protestors” who lied and said the troops burned the car, destroyed a Koran, broke a woman’s arm, and stole $50,000 from the house.

He said the thing that aggravates him the most is the misinformation the American public gets from the media. A doctor told him, “Son you have PTSD” and Luttrell said, “The only PTSD I have is when I turn the TV on and watch those newscasters put out something that’s not right.”

Hat Tip – Skye at Midnight Blue, click HERE to watch the video.

This weekend is Memorial Weekend.   How will you spend it?  Doing anything special?  Please share your story.   I like spending a few days at Fleet Week in New York City, seeing the ships and hanging out with our troops.

Hopefully you will honor those who serve and remember those who have fallen.   I always think about Alan R. Schultz of Levittown, PA.  He was my older sister’s boyfriend who volunteered for the Marines after graduating from Pennsbury High School in 1965.  He was a little guy, about 5’6″, wiry and muscular, wore glasses – and he was the greatest in my 12-year old eyes.  I was a skinny kid who loved sports and he could tell how much I looked up to him, so right before he left for Vietnam, he brought his weights to my house and spent hours with me in the basement, teaching me how to work out with them, and he told me to hang on to them until he came back.  ”Always do these exercises the right way, don’t bend your back – 3 sets of 6, every other day.”    Al was killed 10 months into his tour, in Quang Tri Province, in an ambush, we were told he died instantly.  It was Aug 11, 1967 – and I cried the rest of the summer.  Our family went to his funeral, full military honors, flag draped casket, 21-gun salute, taps, giving the flag to his mom.  I’ll never forget those images and my memories of this American hero.  To this day, whenever I see a Marine – I see Al Schultz.

The Navy is coming to New York City!  It’s called “Fleet Week.”   It’s one of the highlights of my year.
Five beautiful fighting ships and their mighty crews will dock in Manhattan and Staten Island - full of thousands of Sailors and Marines.
All the ships are open for tours, for FREE. They’re fabulous, full of aircraft, tanks, humvees, and other weapons and equipment – there’s demonstrations and displays by the Sailors and Marines who operate them.  You’ll get an up close look at it all.

My favorite ships are the Amphibious Assault Carriers (I served on one) and this year they’ll have the USS Kearsarge, which carries about 2500 Marines and their equipment to hostile shores.
The other ships are: USS The Sullivans, USS Nitze, USS Monterey, USS Leyte Gulf.
They’ve been deployed to the Med and Persian Gulf and the Marines have been in Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s an opportunity to talk to them and hear first-hand what is really going on. In the evening these heroes are out walking around, sightseeing or having a cold one in a tavern… and I’m right there with them, toasting them and hearing their stories.
I encourage all of you to go. Besides the 5 Navy ships, there’s also a Coast Guard ship, and 3 from Canada. It’s a great way to say thanks to our troops and have a great patriotic experience. You’ll be surrounded by America’s best. I guarantee you will have a great time.
Go to the FLEET WEEK 2008 website and check it out. Click on the links of “Ships” and “Schedule of Events”

Karen Porter is urging her followers to attend “Peacemaker Training” at the Unitarian Fellowship this weekend (May 24).   She claims to have attended it “3 times” already – what exactly has she learned?  Is this open to the public?  Could I attend?  What’s the curriculim?  Who are the instructors?

UPDATE: Seems the class provides training in “civil disobedience”.  This is typical of so-called “peace” protestors – they are frustrated activists who only want to cause the police problems with their selfish acts that continue to build bad blood and division in communities.

Note that ’Unitarian Fellowship’ does not call itself a church – here is their “Vision Statement” - 

Here’s Karen’s message to her followers:

Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 08:37:04 EDT

From: Ccpeacemovement@aol.com

Subject: Peace Vigil Next Saturday, May 24: Peacemaker Training 12:30-3:00

Mark your calendars! Immediately following next week’s peace vigil, we hope many of you will attend an important Peacemaker Training session at 12:30 at the Unitarian Fellowship, just down the street from the peace vigil at 501 W. High St. We will all walk down to the church from the vigil. The training will last approximately 2 hours. Bring a brownbag lunch – also, Burger King is on the way; or you can pick up lunch at any of the many eateries close to the vigil. We will eat at 12:30 at the church, then start training at 12:45 or 1:00. Plan to be there until about 3:00 p.m. Following training, we will leave the church’s sanctuary as we found it, so ask all to help clean up (we will carry our lunch trash out with us).

 

This training, you will find, will teach you a lot about how to react/handle conflict situations either in mass marches or at peace vigils or gatherings of any kind. You will learn a new way of thinking – and acting. I have taken this training 3 times (worth repeating!), and several of you have also taken it – and we all agree that it is invaluable!

 

Our trainers have over 30 years of experience in Peacemaker Training – they are wonderful, insightful, inspiring. DON’T MISS IT! Plus a chance to spend some “quality time” with your “peace family.” DO COME!!

 

If you can, please donate to an honorarium for our trainers – we will have a donation box. But don’t let lack of funds keep you away – COME, ANYWAY – IT’S FREE!! (Children also welcome.)

We had a great positive rally today, with the sun shining and hundreds of honks for our support. We have a great message to give, thanks to everyone who showed up! Some highlights:

Good turnout! A few (including me) are out of the picture.

Below, a couple pictures from the closing remarks:

Below, Tom passes the coin to Frank to thank him for showing up every week supporting our cause.

Finally, we had a bunch of new faces today – welcome on board everyone!