Scoop’s Views

The late General Douglas MacArthur was once quoted as saying, “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.” That’s a concept that many today have forgotten, often in lieu of protesting or other self-serving goals, such as passing on military service, attending law school, and later in life, seeking office of President of the United States.

As many around the country prepare for today for a long weekend, it seems a lot of people have forgotten what this particular holiday weekend is centered around Memorial Day. It’s a traditional day of remembrance of those military men and women who selflessly laid down their lives in order that those of us, here at home, may continuing living in freedom, mostly peacefully, and without a dictatorship or junta as the controlling party of the nation.

Tags: Abrams, adrenaline, Afghanistan, Air Force, airmen, Army, artillery, BBQ, Blackhawk Down, blessings, blood, Bosnia, C-Rations, chow line, Coast Guard, commitment, country, desert, dictatorship, Douglas MacArthur, Drug War, duty, enemy, fathers, fear, flags, freedom is not free, freedoms, gourmet meal, Grenada, gunshot, hero, heroes, holiday weekend, holidays, honor, hot dogs, Hummer, HumVee, IEDs, Iran, Iraq, Korea, law school, machine guns, Marine, Marine Corps, Marines, Memorial Day, men, Middle East, Military, military service, Mogadishu, mortars, mothers, motorcade, MRE, Navy, pain, Panama, Philadelphia, preservation, president, protests, reflection, remembrance, rifles, sailors, Saudi Arabia, self-serving goals, soldiers, Somalia, steak and potatoes, sweat, terrorists, tombstones, troops, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, ultimate price, uncertainty, uniformed services, uniforms, United States, US Navy, VFW, Vietnam, vigilant, War on Terror, Women, World War II, WWII

An unidentified Marine sniper, formerly stationed in Iraq, has been pulled out of the country and sent back to the United States. Why? Because he allegedly used a Quran as a target early this month during some target practice at a shooting range at the Radhwaniya police station, located on Baghdad’s western outskirts, according to reports.

Did the U.S. Marine do this? Under U.S. law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), a case must first be made, and then his innocence or guilt is determined, not hang him first and then figure out later if he actually did anything wrong. Oh, wait! Muslims are offended by this offense, so, by all means, let’s hang him now and later figure out his guilt or innocence.

Tags: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, armed forces, Article 6, Bagdad, Baghdad, billions of dollars, bulldozers, Christians, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, Constitution, criminal act, deep concern, food, George W. Bush, Gordon Johndroe, guilt, guilty, Holy Bible, homes, inner-city, innocence, Iraq, Iraqi Islamic Party, Iraqi Prime Minister, Islam, Jews, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, Marine sniper, Muslims, National Security Council, Nuri al-Maliki, police officers, police station, Quran, Radhwaniya, radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, reprimand, Saddam Hussein, schools, Section 3, severest of punishments, shot Quran, shot-up Quran, sniper training, spokesman, Talmud, target practice, U.S. law, U.S. Marines, U.S.-Mexico border, UCMJ, Uniform Code of Military Justice, video teleconference

Imagine someone you know going into a coma tomorrow. With the November 2008 Presidential election several months off, they’d have no idea the outcome when they wake from the coma, if ever.

Trying to remain eternally optimistic, though, let’s suppose that person wakes from the coma in 2015, about seven years from now. Can you imagine what a different world it could be?

Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Campaigns, Christians, churches, devil, economy, evil, gasoline prices, health care, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Michelle Obama, Muslims, national health care plan, president, religions, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, terrorism, videos, wars, White House

Last night’s glaring ending to the six-week Pennsylvania primary election was proof enough that Sen. Barack Hussein Obama never cared about Pennsylvania; intended his inflammatory comments as many around the country interpreted them; and just “wants to get on with the game” of the election.

Tags: American troops, Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Obama, coward, deal breaker, Ed Rendell, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Indiana, inevitable defeat, Iraq, Michael Nutter, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Primary election, Philadelphia, Sadr City, true colors

Obama is spending money left-and-right in his attempts to woo the voters in Pennsylvania. He’s running commercials that are seemingly accurate, but some of the truths — the realities — at the fringes of the ad are in question. Did the pharmaceutical industry really put wording in legislation that Medicare cannot negotiate for lower prices with manufacturers of medications? No.

It was politicians, just like Barack Obama — a senator — put together the wording, and later, after being approved by a committee, was sent to the Senate and House, for approval. If the wording bothered Sen. Barack Obama, why did the senator from Illinois not make a motion to change or delete the wording? It’s a common practice, as is another common practice of adding bills that alter other legislation onto popular bills being brought for vote. Barack Obama has had time to change the Medicare language about price negotiations he’s ranting about.

Tags: Barack Obama, campaign, care, Catholic church, China, church-goers, commenorative postage stamp, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, compassion, family histories, fishing, George W. Bush, hunting, Iraq, job creation, jobs, landfills, Military, National Academy of Sciences, PATRIOT Act, Percy Lavon Julian, Philadelphia, racist attitudes, rifles, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, scared, shotguns, shredder, small towns, Sudanese, tactics, volunteers, Women

While listening to the the Senate hearings last week on the conflict in Iraq, I became sick to my stomach by the way the politicians were demanding clear cut answers, but also by comments that were made.

Tags: Bagdad, Baghdad, Bath, bombings, combat, deaths, Delta Force, families, homefront, IEDs, insurgents, Iraq, Kirkuk, Life, Malaki, Marines, SEALs, shootings, soliders, Special Forces, suicide attacks, suicide bombers, Sunnis, Tikrit, tour of duty, troops, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy, United States

McCain scored a point with me when he said that no emergency bailout should be made to the people who obtained these mortgages. His opponents, though, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have made comments in the recent past that some kind of “help” ought be made available to the people with these mortgages. My question to Clinton and Obama would be: “Why? Are you looking at rewarding bad and irresponsible behavior?”

Tags: airborne, allies, bad loans, bad mortgages, balloon payments, Barack Obama, Bear Stearns, Bill Clinton, candidates, Clinton, Colin Powell, combat veterans, doom and gloom, election 2008, emergency bailout, equity, financial institutions, foreign countries, George W. Bush, Green Berets, health care crisis, Henry Shelton, Hillary, Hillary Clinton, History, Hugh Shelton, impending disaster, Iraq, John McCain, Joint Chiefs of Staff, lending crisis, low interest rates, McCain, money, mortgage crisis, mortgage qualification, Obama, opponents, Peter Pace, positions, presidential campaign, respect, Secretary of State, solutions, Special Forces, special operations, speeches, Straight Talk, U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, White House

In moving the clocks ahead one hour, we are effectively losing an hour of sleep. Without proper preparation for the time change, people end up sleepy. In honor of sleepy people, as well as a tribute to our men and women in uniform, here’s a great video.

Tags: Afghanistan, airborne, Army, bivouacs, combat, honors, infantry, Iran, Iraq, light infantry, maneuvers, Sleep, sleep anywhere, sleepiness, sleepy, soldiering, soldiers, tributes, U.S. Army

Back on August 1, 2007, I found a site that offered “predictions” for this year, and because I like to see how badly these prophets-of-fear fall on their face, I often toss them into my database, tag them, and set a reminder to check on this late.

Tags: Britain, British government, collapse, England, frustrations, Iraq, predictions, Wales