Memorial Day

A Memorial Day Tribute From Neal

Monday -- May 30, 2005
Today is Memorial Day. This is the day we honor and remember the men and women who have given their lives in service to this country - and to us - in our armed forces. Denigrating our military and those who died seems to be getting popular of late. We have Bill Maher referring to our soldiers as "low hanging fruit." We have Ted Rall telling us that those killed in action deserved just what they got. There's a growing number of people in our country who seem to feel that freedom is just fine ... just fine so long as not one single drop of bloood has to be shed either securing or defending it. Today, then, it is more important than ever to remember that freedom isn't free, and to honor those who sacrificed so that we might enjoy this holiday.

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Oliver North: 'News' from the Home Front

With Memorial Day coming up, Oliver North writes a tribute to our troops. He is currently in Al Anbar province living with our troops on the ground in Iraq.

Fallujah, Iraq - For three weeks, my FOX News team has been immersed in little more than what's been happening around us. Memorial Day isn't, as they say over here, "on our radar screens." The soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines we've been covering and living with in Al Anbar Province have been focused on chasing terrorists, avoiding IEDs and staying alive. They call it "situational awareness" -- being alert to only the friendly and enemy situation in the immediate vicinity -- an absolute necessity for these young Americans in harm's way in this hot, dusty and dangerous place. And because these troops believe that what they are doing is important to their families and their country, it's a good thing they can't see what passes for "news" back in the states......

........Since this is Memorial Day weekend, I'm going to get down on my knees to thank God for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice serving our nation and pray for those who do so today. And I'm going to slip in another prayer -- that those who report "the news" here at home will yet report on some of the successes that these brave Americans have wrought with their blood, sweat and tears. Perhaps you'll join me.

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The Battle for Mosul

This dispatch is from Michael Yon, an independent journalist imbedded with an Army unit fighting in Iraq. He took the photo I wrote about a few weeks ago. This is a masterfully written article about the insurgency in Iraq, the excellent work our troops are doing, and the progress being made as the insurgency continues to fail despite the mainstream media's best efforts to help the enemy.

Here are some excerpts:
In an effort to be culturally sensitive and almost compulsively polite, we've mangled the meanings of words like: "martyr," and "suicide" to such a degree that we're using them to label mass murderers. While American and foreign media collectively increase the suffering of babes through their current fashion of cynicism, others seem to have a case of parents' guilt--unable to give the Iraqi suffering the undivided and ameliorative attention it requires. Instead, reporters rush at any sign of distress to hyper-focus on the negative, and thereby create yet more problems than originally existed. They shovel out body counts masquerading them as reports. A major US magazine recently published an unsubstantiated piece about the desecration of the Islamic Holy Book by US Forces. This story led to riots and many deaths. The magazine has apologized, but it’s too late. The people are dead.
___________________________________________
The only martyrs I know about in Iraq are the fathers and brothers who see a better future coming, and so they act on their beliefs and assemble outside police stations whenever recruitment notices are posted. They line up in ever increasing numbers, knowing that insurgents can also read these notices. The men stand in longer and longer lines, making ever bigger targets. Some volunteer to earn money to earn a living. This, too, is honorable. Others take risks because they believe that a better future is possible only if Iraqi men of principle stand up for their own values, for their country, for their families. Theses are the true martyrs, the true heroes of Iraq and of Islam. I meet these martyrs frequently. They are brave men, worthy of respect.

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The Saga is Complete!

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NOT A GOOD WEEK FOR GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS ....

....... but then, what week IS a good week for turning your child over to the government to be educated?

FROM NEAL BOORTZ

Dacula High School, Gwinnett County, GeorgiaYou heard about this last week on the show, and you saw Larry Nease on CNN this morning. "Doc" Nease is a science teacher at Dacula High School. For the past 10 years or more Doc has had a policy in his classrooms that if you fall asleep or disrupt the class you will get a zero for your class work for that day, or your grade will be cut drastically. Little Wesley, the football player, fell asleep in class. In fact, after an assignment was handed out Wesley the Football Player just put his head down on his desk and went to sleep. He did his assignment that night and handed it in the next day, as was allowed. But he got his zero. Wesley the Football Player's Daddy came to school to complain. Did the principal stand by the teacher? Nope. Did the Gwinnett County School Board stand by the teacher? Nope. Doc Nease was fired. Twenty-three years teaching, and he was fired because he fulfilled a promise he made to his class -- in writing -- that if you fall asleep in class you can get a zero for that day's work. The dictate from the teacher was included in a class syllabus that all students had to sign. I'm told that our football player's parents also signed the syllabus. No matter. You just don't screw with high school football players. Spencer High School, Columbus, GeorgiaYou've heard about this one too. Spencer High School. Columbus, Georgia is a heavy-military area, home to Ft. Benning. Kevin's mother is an Army Sergeant. She's in Iraq. Kevin is in Spencer High School. Kevin's mom calls him on his cell phone ... from Iraq. It's lunch break at the high school, so Kevin goes outside to take the call. One of our wonderful government teachers sees him and demands he hang up. He explains that his mom has called from Iraq. This matters none to the teacher. She demands he hang up and tries to grab the phone. In the tussle the call is disconnected. The teacher starts marching Kevin to the principal's office. His mother calls back. They refuse to allow him to take the call. He gets belligerent. Who the hell wouldn't? He knows his mom is in dangerous territory. She could die that afternoon in an insurgent attack. He wants to talk to her ... they won't allow him to answer the phone. End result? He gets suspended for 10 days. That suspension has now been reduced to three days ... all due to public outrage.Bow High School, Bow, New HampshireIsabel Gottlieb is a great student. She plays in the school band. She is taking advanced placement classes. Things like calculus and biology. She isn't going to be allowed to graduate with her class. Why? Because she didn't take a required PE class. Physical Education. She holds varsity letters in three sports at Bow High School, but she didn't take this particular PE class. She was told that in order to graduate she would have to drop one of her advanced placement classes and replace it with the PE class. She said no. Now she isn't going to get her diploma. There is no PE class offered during summer school, so that means she might not be able to go to college next Fall. Trinity College in Hartford, CT comes to the rescue. She will take her GED test over the summer and Trinity has accepted her for the Fall semester. These kinds of idiocy can only happen at the hands of government. All of these incidents .. and don't we all know that there are so many more .. happened in government schools .. and all within the last week.There are several things that must happen in our nation is going to survive ... and survival is by no means guaranteed. One of those things is that the American people need to come to the realization that it is counterproductive to the cause of freedom and economic liberty to turn out children over to the government to be educated. Year after year the quality of education in this country goes down. These government schools are under the full and complete grip of the largest, most powerful and most feared union in this nation .. The National Education Association. There was a reason why Karl Marx insisted that government control over education was an essential step in bringing about the communist state. Government education is no less necessary to the growth of government power today than it was then.

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Major Mark Bieger cradles a young Iraqi girl wounded by cowardly terrorists during a terrorist attack in Mosul. The girl died despite Maj. Bieger's heroic efforts.

This photo was taken by Michael Yon near Mosul, Iraq after terrorists attacked U.S. forces while children were crowding around waving at the American soldiers. Michael Yon is a freelance journalist embedded with Maj. Bieger's unit. As Mr. Yon states in his blog:

"...the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers."

Maj. Bieger took some soldiers and rushed the child to the hospital, but she did not make it. Once again we can compare and contrast. The dirty terrorist scum that the left, liberal media, and U.N. love to legitimize attacks 20 children. Time and again we have these cowardly terrorists striking at innocent Iraqis thinking that they can stop freedom from taking hold there through fear and death. These terrorists offer no alternatives, no solutions, and no hope for the Iraqi people. They only promise to bring death and destruction and to keep the Iraqi people in the Dark Ages.
In contrast the American soldiers prove everyday why we are the greatest military in the world. With precision, professionalism, and compassion American soldiers bravely fight to defeat the murderous butchers that want to destroy freedom in Iraq and once again enslave the good people. This story is one of many where an American soldier gallantly tries to defend and save the lives of innocent people they do not even know. No military in the history of the world has done so much to preserve the life of innocent people. Often to the detriment of the mission the American military tries so hard to eliminate collateral damage. Never have we seen soldiers trying so hard to save the lives of wounded children. In this case a helicopter gunship that could have been used to destroy the terrorists who committed this act, was diverted to Medevac this young Iraqi girl. Once again it was innocent life trumping the mission priority. We could wipe the enemy out of Iraq in one month if we wanted to. Unfortunately we would kill many innocent people in the process. Therefore we fight using the greatest amount of discretion ever shown by a military force. The result is American soldiers dying instead of thousands of Iraqi children. It is a sacrifice that many Americans have made and many more are willing to make everyday.

Read Michael Yon's blog for a full account of the photo and the story behind it.

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Oliver North

Oliver North writes in his column about the photo I mentioned in the post above. He also discusses the problem of "elitist" colleges banning U.S. military recruiters from their campuses. Fine go ahead and ban them, but pull their Federal funding.

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Well, Here Ya Go

More From Boortz:

Treasury Overflowing
Some good news this morning, or bad news depending on how you look at it. After three years of increased budget deficits (that's the amount the federal government overspends every year,) Washington D.C. has gotten an unexpected gift from the taxpayers. According to the Treasury Department, in the April-June quarter, the federal government will swing from a projected deficit to a surplus, by some $54 billion. So where did the money come from? People paying their income taxes by the April 15th deadline, that's where. The overall yearly deficit is expected to be smaller. So what will Congress do with this unexpected windfall? Spend it, naturally. But the larger point here is twofold. One, the economy is firing on all cylinders, going like gangbusters. We are not in a recession anymore. Despite the left's insistence that there is some sort of economic crisis, there isn't. The economy is on fire, and the money flowing into the U.S. Treasury reflects that. Two, the federal government has plenty of money. We do not need to raise taxes...rather, we should be cutting them. Democrats and Republicans both like to operate under the assumption that spending can never be cut. Wrong. Overspending is the reason why we have a yearly deficit and a national debt, not under taxing. One might think the practical thing to do with this extra $54 billion is to pay down the debt. Watch for some in Congress to propose finding a way to spend it immediately.


Insurgents Going Under
The media in this country has made it a sport to trip all over themselves and report to us whenever something happens with the Islamic terrorists killing our troops in Iraq. Whatever incident, however small, must be reported as front page news. All of this goes to serve their anti-Bush, anti-Military agenda. They also want to make it look like we're losing the war in Iraq, which we clearly are not. Iraq is a nation the size of California, with 26 million people. If there is one "insurgent" (Islamic terrorist) attack, the media makes it sound like Armageddon is at hand. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are beating back the insurgency with relative ease. You may have heard the story the other day about how we just missed Zarqawi's hideout...to the point that we were able to grab his laptop and get everything off of it. But this week brought even better news. The U.S. Military seized a letter from Iraqi insurgents believed to be addressed to none other than Al-Qaeda ringleader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi himself. In that letter, they complained of low morale, saying "Morale is down and there is fatigue among mujahedeen ranks." Poor babies. Sounds like things aren't going too well down at Islamic death headquarters. The letter also complains about Zarqawi abandoning the rest of the insurgents during the Coalition's seige of Fallujah last year. It won't be long before there will be no more insurgency. Once this happens, expect the media and the Democrats to remind us that it could come back at any moment. After all, we know whose side they're on.

Not Just DeLay
The Washington Post is reporting that between January 2001 and December 2004, members of Congress flew on corporate-owned jets at least 360 times. Many of the corporations providing the free air travel are companies with business in front of Congress or the committees that those Congressmen serve on. Again, standard operating procedure. So whose doing it? Tom DeLay is one. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt is another. But next on the list? Well look here...it's none other than the Democratic Leader of the United States Senate, Mr. Harry Reid himself. Looks like Senator Reid took 38 such flights. How about that. The United States Congress is a parliament of whores. To single out Tom DeLay for something that other members do on a regular basis is just the kind of political dishonesty we have come to expect from the liberal establishment.

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For You To Consider

From Neal Boortz:
THERE THEY GO AGAIN
The anti-Bush media template didn't end with his landslide victory over The Poodle in the 2004 presidential election last November. Today there's a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll out that shows a majority of Americans (57 percent) do not believe it was worth going to war in Iraq. See a pattern here in the coverage of all things related to the Bush administration? The mainstream media still has a few prime directives these days, including (but not limited to):
The War in Iraq. All bad news must be brought front and center and must be the top story. If somebody in Baghdad stubs their toe, it must be breaking news. Anything bad is George Bush's fault. All good news must be buried. Anything positive reported happening in Iraq must be followed by the phrase "but questions remain."
The economy. No matter how robust the economy is, all good news must be suppressed. Stories about the trade deficit, number of uninsured in this country, budget deficit and unemployment must be played up. Any good news, or any previously bad news that has been revised to be good will be hidden away on the back page. Oh, and minorities are always hardest hit.
Presidential appointments. Everyone George Bush appoints to anything is to be demonized and portrayed as a radical. Doesn't matter if we're talking about judges or ambassadors. The John Bolton hearings will look like a bike ride compared to the coming storm over Supreme Court nominees. Words and phrases like "radical right, far-right, right-wing and extremist" are to be used as much as possible. To the media, there is no such thing as a left-wing extremist. Just in case you needed a quick rundown of the leftist media handbook, there you go.

Reading Assignments:

MSNBC has a story this morning that "scores" have been killed in Iraq. For those of you indoctrinated in a government school, a score is 20. So 2 1/2 scores of people have died in Iraq. This is all part of the liberal media agenda to play up bad news. "Scores" sounds much worse than "50."

Jennifer Wilbanks is under fire from the Hispanic community. Seems they're none too happy with her phony kidnapping story about a Hispanic taking her captive. She also said she was captured in a blue van. What about all the owners of blue vans being offended?

President Bush doesn't seem to be getting much traction with Social Security reform. Robert Pozen says there's a way out. He calls it a win-win proposition.

Have all rich people gotten to where they are on the backs of the poor? Have they merely been winners in "life's lottery?" Walter Williams says you can be anything you want in America.

The CIA ordered its operatives to capture Osama Bin Laden and kill him. And just how were they supposed to bring back the proof? Naturally, they were told to bring back the severed head in a box of dry ice. I suppose it wouldn't keep too long otherwise in the desert.

One of The Hildabeast's 2000 campaign contributors to the tune of $1.2 million is launching an effort calling her entire election into question. Hillary's bag man has already been indicted...who else is next?

Congressman Bob Barr wants a part of the Patriot Act reigned in.....in particular, the part that allows for what's called a "delayed notification warrant" or the "sneak and peek" provision. Barr wants to change the provision and limit. Constructive criticism of an otherwise decent piece of legislation that deserves to be looked at.

Good news for the Baby Jesus....his stalker has been apprehended. With all those women throwing their bras and panties at him during book signings, there's bound to be a few nutcases
out there.

House Republicans are calling out Nancy Pelosi for her hypocrisy.....she seemed all hot and bothered about Tom DeLay's questionable trips paid by lobbyists...but suddenly doesn't care one bit about similar ethical breaches by Democrats. Should we be surprised? Of course not.

There is a simmering issue out there that could cause real problems for the Republicans in mid-term elections and beyond: their seeming indifference to the problem of illegal aliens. Kenneth Baer reports.

The UN is set to begin its review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Frank Gaffney says the treaty is a joke. Time to send John Bolton up there to crack some heads.

Ever wonder what life is like under The Gargoyle in North Korea? President Bush said at his press conference that there were concentration camps. Christopher Hitchens says not only are there concentration camps, but the whole country is a slave state.

The media is at it again....this time with their biased liberal polling on the issue of the Senate filibuster. The Media Research Center has a full report.

There's a new book out about "South Park Conservatives. Michelle Malkin says she's not one of them. She must not like the show.

Have bloggers, talk radio and cable news killed newspapers? Jonah Goldberg says not necessarily, and argues that newspapers have been in decline since long before the Internet came out.

Morning Sickness: Woman ticketed in Vermont for leading police on a high-speed chase trying to get her burned baby to the hospital.

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"I Punched Saddam in the Mouth"

This is the inspiring story of Samir, the interpreter with the US Special Forces who found Saddam Hussein and pulled him from the rat hole he was hiding in. Visit the link to read the entire article.

It had to have been the most sublime moment of his life. Samir tells how he arrived in Tikrit as an Arabic interpreter for United States Special Forces in late 2003, how he peered into a hidden bunker and heard a voice begging for mercy, how he reached into the darkness and pulled out Saddam Hussein.
"I was so angry," says Samir, who immigrated to St. Louis eleven years ago after fleeing Iraq. "I began cussing at him, calling him a motherfucker, a son-of-a-bitch -- you name it. I told him I was Shiite from the south and was part of the revolution against him in 1991. I said he murdered my uncles and cousins. He imprisoned my father.
"All these years of anger, I couldn't stop. I tried to say the worst things I could. I told him if he were a real man he would have killed himself. I asked him: 'Why are you living in that dirty little hole, you bastard? You are a rat. Your father is a rat.'"
In Arabic, Saddam told Samir to shut up. And when Saddam called him a traitor, an enraged Samir silenced his prisoner with a flurry of quick jabs to the face.
"I punched Saddam in the mouth."

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Trouble Down South

Oliver North writes about the trouble brewing in Latin America. Castro's buddy and self appointed president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez is trying to force his socialist anti-American views on the entire continent. Chavez clearly stole the election in 1998, don't tell Jimmy Carter, and has now outlawed his opposition, restricted free speech and the press, and purchased Russian fighters, helicopter gunships, and 100,000 AK-47's. He is also talking to Iran and China about acquiring more weapons. Combine this, the violent gangs that originate from the region, and our porous southern border and we've got a recipe for disaster.

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More Reading Assignments

Look, I busy so here are more reading assignments from Boortz.

Here is the full transcript of President Bush's press conference last night. For those of you with high-speed Internet, you can watch the entire thing there also.

Goodbye Hasan Akbar.....the Muslim killer that attacked his fellow soldiers in the opening days of the Iraq invasion has been sentenced to death by a military court. The only downside? He'll be taking his dirt nap via lethal injection.

Media Bias Alert: the media is reporting today that Congress has passed a budget cutting Medicaid benefits for the poor. Wrong! The bill cuts only the growth of Medicaid, not the amount of money being spent. Forget bias...this one is an outright lie.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, himself an immigrant, is speaking out in support of The Minutemen Project. He says it's a shame private citizens have to go in there and secure our borders. He's right....it is. The Governator was on TV with the Baby Jesus the other night....here's a transcript.

Believe it or not, there are conservatives that are fighting to take back the environmental movement from the enviro-wackos. Jonah Goldberg has one such example.

This whole business about the filibuster is about more than judges. Larry Kudlow says it comes back to the fact that liberals don't want to admit that George Bush was re-elected and that Republicans control both houses of Congress.

Should John Bolton be disqualified from serving at the United Nations just because he's yelled at people? Clifford May says Teddy Kennedy once yelled at him...perhaps we should kick him out of the Senate? Actually, that's a good idea.

Here's some hypocrisy for you..the AARP, the Gimme Generation's lobbying group whose motto is "Screw The Younger Generation," actually has some of those private accounts they seem to be so opposed to.

The Senate Minority Leader has a bit of a problem. It seems that when he was in the House, Harry Reid sponsored a bill allowing Members of Congress to opt out of Social Security. Once again, what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.

Former NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume is in the soup....he's running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. It seems when he was running the NAACP, he promoted women that put out...to him. Things aren't looking too good for Kweisi's political career.

Conservatives are winning. So says Daniel Henniger. Here's his review of a book called "Southpark Conservatives." It's on my nightstand right now. Sitting there next to my bottle of Absolut Mandarin Orange.

Morning Sickness: 4,000 endangered frogs used in aphrodisiac cocktails rescued from the blender.

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Reading Assignments

Reading Assignments from Neal Boortz.
Liberal talk radio network Air America had a bit of excitement yesterday. One of their talk show hosts had to apologize for a skit about President Bush featuring gunshots. The Secret Service was not amused. Was it a publicity stunt? You bet. Will it work? Probably not.
A diplomat at the center of the oil-for-food investigation has sent Kofi Annan a threatening letter warning him to pay his legal bills or else he'll spill the beans. Sounds like Kofi better pay up...otherwise we'll find out just what he's been up to.
Is John Bolton the right man to represent the United States at the U.N.? Thomas Boyd thinks so, and calls him the right bull for the U.N. china shop.
Republicans don't have to make the choice between endless Democratic filibusters and the "nuclear option" of changing the rules. Dick Morris says there's a third choice, one no one is really talking about.
Right now Washington D.C. is obsessed with either destroying Tom DeLay or defeating John Bolton's nomination to the United Nations. Tony Blankley calls it political attention deficit disorder.
When Bob Dole was the Senate Republican leader, he didn't filibuster Bill Clinton's judicial nominees that he disagreed with, he put them through for an up or down vote. Dole says the Democrats should do the same.
Moveon.org is taking over the Democratic party, as evidenced by their staging of events with prominent Democratic members of Congress. Byron York explains how this has centrist Democrats worried...since Moveon.org's extremist views don't win too many elections.
Social Security reform is dead....at least if you ask CBS News. The Media Research center reports on the liberal media's latest agenda.
Tom Coburn, the newest Senator from Oklahoma, is rattling cages in the Senate, and Robert Novak says they don't like it very much. In fact, the rest of the Senate has retaliated...by bringing ethics charges against him. You won't believe why.
It's exam week at Professor Mike Adams' university...and as usual, he's getting requests for special treatment from his students. Adams has some most interesting responses to the begging.

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