Lung
Health Update: Home from the hospital
Thursday, fairly weak and exhausted. of course. Lots of Chaos here after losing
two weeks. Better Friday, went to rehab. The terrific Physical Therapist who
works with me, Jim Carlson, said, "Why are you here? You just got out of
the hospital." "I'm here because I'm out of the hospital."
"Don't you take a day off?" "Well, the Marines taught me that
the mission comes before taking time off." Since my mission is getting
well enough to survive the next few months....
Did 12 minutes at 1.5 MPH on the treadmill, 5 sets each on
the chest press and leg press machines. Wouldn't impress my DIs, but try it
panting for air. Sats stayed in 95-97% range on 5 lpm of O2. FEV numbers are
still in the 25% to 30% of normal range.
Still waiting to hear from Scotland Alliance
Brought a BiPAP home. Britnye's little dog Caramel nuzzled
into the bag through a 5 inch unzipped place and chewed one of the straps in
half. Stapled it together to get through the night and replaced it today after
rehab, as hey want me to use it all night and as much as possible during the
day to hold the airway open in hopes it will strengthen.
While I was on the ventilator, Bonnie bought three dresses
(depressed, I guess) on line. I told her not to spend the insurance money until
she had it. She laughed.
And to all those who responded with prayers when Bonnie
reported my condition was Deteriorating--they worked! I'm still here.
Trying to drag up a few items to post on the blog, to keep
my stipend from the Koch Brothers coming in, but not time for all e-mail and
news feeds yet. Sorry. ~Bob
"Freeing the Next Five bin Ladens"
News
Mister President,
Just Two Questions. By Andy Weddington
http://acoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/2014/06/mister-president-just-two-questions.html
http://acoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/2014/06/mister-president-just-two-questions.html
Excerpt: 1. Mr. President, I'll be brief and to the point.
Defending your controversial decision to swap five high-level Taliban
terrorists imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay - considered amongst the most dangerous men
in the world committed to killing Americans - for Sergeant Bowe
Bergdahl, over the past several days you've said America does not leave her
uniformed personnel behind. That is indeed the American way. Now,
with that sacred warrior ethos in mind, please explain why you
abandoned Americans in "uniform" - serving our country in Benghazi - fighting
for their lives?
Why Team Obama Was
Blindsided by the Bergdahl Backlash: The president and Ms. Rice seem to think
that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class. By Ralph
Peters
Excerpt: Congratulations, Mr. President! And identical
congrats to your sorcerer’s apprentice, National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
By trying to sell him as an American hero, you’ve turned a deserter already
despised by soldiers in the know into quite possibly the most-hated individual
soldier in the history of our military. I have never witnessed such outrage
from our troops. Exhibit A: Ms. Rice. In one of the most tone-deaf statements
in White House history (we’re making a lot of history here), the
national-security adviser, on a Sunday talk show, described Bergdahl
as having served “with honor and distinction.” (Col Peters does a very nice job
on this. --Del. I dunno--I hate Bradley/Chelsea Manning a lot too. ~Bob)
Excerpt: "The future is too good to waste on
lies," Bowe wrote. "And life is way too short to care for the
damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that
are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be american. The
horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all
revolting." ... Bowe concluded his e-mail with what, in another context,
might read as a suicide note. "I am sorry for everything," he wrote.
"The horror that is america
is disgusting." ... Unofficially, however, his status within the
military is sharply contested. According to officials familiar with the
internal debate, there are those in both Congress and the Pentagon who view
Bowe as a deserter, and perhaps even a traitor. (Maybe Obama needs to get a
subscription to Rolling Stone? If he'd read this story from two years ago, he'd at least know that
Bergdahl's case was like Norwegian weather in September: a lot of gray. In
fairness, I don't want the president of the United States wasting his time reading
that rag. But in the old days,someone in the White House would have read
up on the guy. A pro would have said, "Hey, let's type Bowe Bergdahl into
the Google machine and hit the 'I'm feeling lucky' button!" If they'd done
that, they would have at least known not to say Bergdahl was captured on the
"battlefield" and that he had served "with honor and
distinction." --Jonah Goldberg)
Tweet from David Burge @IowaHawk
"What kind of scum would slander this fine brave
patriotic US
soldier!" "His platoon mates." "And you actually believe
those baby killers?"
‘I’m Just a Soul
Whose Intentions Are Good’: Obama, Bergdahl and Moral Narcissism. By Roger
L Simon
Excerpt: In 1979, Christopher Lasch published The Culture of Narcissism warning of the
normalizing of pathological narcissism in our society. Considering
events since then, he was evidently on to something. Now, some 35 years later
in the Obama era, with the Bergdahl incident only the latest in a parade of
endless scandals, we have arrived at a full blown era of what has lately been
called Moral Narcissism. Moral Narcissism is an evocative term for
the almost schizophrenic divide between intentions and results now common in
our culture. It doesn’t matter how anything turns out as long as your
intentions are good. And, just as importantly, the only determinant of those
intentions, the only one who defines them, is you. (I think that Roger Simon
has really hit this one on the head. It all makes such perfect sense now. -Del )
Obama: 'No Apologies.'
From The Patriot Post
Forcefully defending his five-Taliban-for-one-deserter
swap, Barack Obama insisted it was ... for the children. "As
commander in chief of the United States Armed Forces, I am responsible for
those kids," he said condescendingly of our trained warriors. He
downplayed the outrage -- primarily among U.S.
military personnel -- as a controversy "whipped up in Washington ." Furthermore, he said,
"I make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young
man to his parents, and that the American people understand that this is
somebody's child. We don't condition whether or not we make the effort to try
to get them back." What about the six (or more) "children" who
were killed looking for this pathetic deserter? And what about a commander in
chief who doesn't infantilize our soldiers? 9well, let his "kids"
serrve with troops like Bergdahl. Or serve at all. ~Bob
Threat to Bergdahl
led to US action, officials (NOW) say
Excerpt: The Obama administration told senators it didn't
notify Congress about the pending swap of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban
officials because of intelligence the Taliban might kill him if the deal was
made public. That fear — not just the stated concerns that Bergdahl's health
might be failing — drove the administration to quickly make the deal to rescue
him, bypassing the law that lawmakers be notified when detainees are released
from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, congressional and administration
officials said Thursday. (Many folks closely following this story immediately
dismissed that explanation as bullcrap. Why would the Taliban kill their best
bargaining chip? Why would they want absolute silence about a deal that they
were going to use for propaganda purposes? -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt http://www.nationalreview.com/newsletters)
Newest spin:
Maybe Bergdahl’s platoon was full of ‘psychopaths’ and he reacted like any sane
person would. By Doug Powers
Excerpt: I think I’ve finally figured out how the Obama
administration operates. They wait to see what Susan Rice says on Sunday shows,
and then try to fashion reality around her claims. This past Sunday Rice said
that Bowe Bergdahl served “with honor
and distinction.”
Former Veterans Affairs official Brandon Friedman, now with
HUD’s public affairs office — make it so:
Afghans say Taliban
prisoners freed by U.S.
Excerpt: The men had been held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba Afghanistan ,
according to the U.S.
military. (Can't be true--Obama PROMISED...
~Bob)
EXCLUSIVE: Bergdahl
declared jihad in captivity, secret documents show. By James Rosen
Excerpt: U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl at one point during
his captivity converted to Islam, fraternized openly with his captors and
declared himself a "mujahid," or warrior for Islam, according to
secret documents prepared on the basis of a purported eyewitness account and
obtained by Fox News. (I'd rate this, "Unverified--but needing
investigation. ~Bob)
Family of Soldier
Slain in Bowe Bergdahl Search Blasts Prisoner Swap
Excerpt: The deal that got Bowe
Bergdahl released in exchange for five high-rankingTaliban
detainees doesn't sit right with the family of an Army lieutenant
killed in an ambush while searching for the missing sergeant. "He was
killed while looking for this deserter," said Andy Andrews, father of 2nd
Lt. Darryn Andrews, who died in eastern Afghanistan in September 2009. "If
this guy [Bergdahl] had not gone off post, our son would not have been
killed."
Taliban Rising. By Arnold
Excerpt: Taliban leaders are expressing jubilation
over the trade, hailing it as a major recognition of their status and boon to
their cause. The Taliban is seeking to solidify legitimacy as a political force
in Afghanistan in the face
of the imminent U.S.
drawdown, after which less than 10,000 soldiers will remain in the country.
With the Bergdahl exchange, the Taliban has achieved a major propaganda
victory that will further aid its ascendancy in the country — on top of
the benefit the return of several of its top operatives will offer as a
consequence of the deal.
Remember When Jay
Carney Said This About Releasing Bergdahl?
Read more at http://dailysurge.com/2014/06/remember-jay-carney-said-releasing-bergdahl/#TuL24s0VpMCvIyGy.99
Read more at http://dailysurge.com/2014/06/remember-jay-carney-said-releasing-bergdahl/#TuL24s0VpMCvIyGy.99
Excerpt: But there he is back in June of 2013, insisting
that no decision or negotiation to release terrorist detainees from Guantanamo
Bay in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl’s release would occur without having the
express consent of the United States Congress. “We would not make any decisions
about transfer of any detainees without consulting with Congress and without
doing so in accordance with U.S.
law,” asserted Jay almost exactly one year ago.
The Bergdahl Mess
Keeps Growing. By Del.
At this point, with multiple inputs from the men who served
alongside him, there's no doubt that Bowe Bergdahl had grown utterly disgusted
with being in the Army in Afghanistan, no longer had any kind of classic
patriotism, had planned to walk out during that night, and did so, fully
conscious of what he was doing. The legal definition of desertion requires some
technicalities which have not been met, but in terms of how I and most veterans
think of it, that was desertion, a desertion made doubly bad by not just
walking out, but leaving an assigned guard post in the night. Which meant
putting everyone else in the base in real danger. What else was on his mind,
did he mean to live among the Afghans, not get taken prisoner by the Taliban
somehow? We have no way of knowing right now, but to think he could walk out
there into the villages and not get picked up by the Taliban would be way, way
beyond silly. And it doesn't matter if 2 Americans died because of him, or 2
dozen, there is no question a lot of effort was put into looking for him, and
men died during some of those exercises. That is on him, no matter what he
thought he was doing by leaving. Now the White House claims other vets are
"swiftboating" him? Actually, since all the Swifties ever did back in
2004 was tell the truth about what they personally knew and experienced, you
could say yes, these vets today are doing the same thing. Just telling the
truth of what they saw, knew, and felt. This is just panicky defensive reaction
to finding themselves in a totally unexpected situation where what they have
done is not seen by so many as an occasion for rejoicing as if a hero had been
rescued from durance vile. Even in a discussion among comparatively liberal
people on NPR this morning the final consensus about this mess was that some
people in the Obama Administration had not "really checked into all the
important details of the situation". For Susan Rice to come out and say
that Bergdahl served with "honor and distinction" is utter defensive
hogwash, there was no honor in his service and no distinction that anyone has
been able to describe. For his father to recite the opening verses of the
chapters of the Quran in the Rose Garden is the act of at least a deep
sympathizer with the Taliban, and not something that shows any respect for the
American people. But Mr. Obama got a great photo op with his arms around both
the parents. The Administration is now really in the grip of a dilemma. Either
they let the military justice system go ahead and court martial the guy for
what he did, and at least bounce him out with a BCD, or they don't allow the system
to proceed as normal and somehow send the guy home as a hero with back pay and
an Honorable Discharge. Neither one of these makes them look too good, in fact,
they are bound to come off as having been really stupid in this whole thing.
Plus they gave away five of the baddest of the bad for the guy, and they can
rationalize all they want that they didn't negotiate with terrorists, but in
reality, we all know they really did. And so does everyone else in the world,
including all those other terrorists. Which puts every US soldier and
citizen in more danger. Great, just great. And this has just started. Stand by
for more developments day by day. And let's not let this have anyone forget
about the VA and Benghazi .
--Del
Fellow Soldiers Continue to Detail Bergdahl's Betrayal and
Desertion. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: As the Obama administration continues to staunchly
defend the decision to bring Bowe Bergdahl home as a hero, many of his fellow
soldiers and parents of soldiers who were killed looking for him are continuing
to speak out about how he deserted them on the battlefield, a move they
consider a major betrayal. Watch some of their statements below.
Prisoner swap blows
up on White House
Excerpt: The Obama administration has apologized for
bypassing Congress before it released senior Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay
The expression of regret was a major shift for the White
House, which had previously offered a defiant defense on why it could not
adhere to the notification provisions of a 2013 law. (old news--I think
they have flipped back to "he's a hero" mode. ~Bob
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's
father tweeted pro-Taliban comments directed at terrorist website while son was
a prisoner in Afghanistan
Excerpt: One of the tweets has been removed from the Twitter
account that appeared to belong to Bob Bergdahl, whose son vanished in 2009
while serving in Afghanistan .
Soldiers from his platoon called him a deserter who recklessly endangered
Americans and disrupted counter-insurgency operations. At least six soldiers
were reportedly killed in the aftermath of his disappearance.
A Five-Sided Kennel
of Cowardice. By Russ Vaughn
Excerpt: If our Pentagon weren’t
currently occupied by the perfumed princes of political correctness, we might
be seeing some courageous generals and admirals falling on their swords and
exposing this failure of leadership instead of enabling it. Those ambitious
cowards should ponder the reality that neither “I was only doing my duty” nor
“I was only following orders” is a viable defense. It is this failure of
courage by our military leaders that has allowed this dilettante president and
his inexpert staff to make one unwise military decision after another, with a
compounding effect of weakening and endangering America ’s forces around the world. (Here
is a little different slant on the Bergdahl affair. This piece from the
American Thinker is not only informative, it is also entertaining. Russ Vaughn,
who is a retired army guy (paratrooper, I think,) spreads the blame to the top
military leadership. I have long believed that the military has become far
too politicized, and our top ranks are filled with PC toad careerists,
willingly doing the bidding of corrupt, incompetent politicians. Vaughn makes
the case eloquently. I think this piece adds an important component to the
Bergdahl dialog and is worth sharing. --Bill)
Religion of Peace News
Muslim murdered
‘westernised’ ex-wife in Stirling (Scotland
Excerpt: A MAN has been found guilty of burning his
“westernised” ex-wife to death, after setting fire to her following a bitter
divorce. Ahdeih Khayatzadeh, 46, suffered 95 per cent burns in the attack by
Ahmad Yazdanparast at the Venus Hair & Beauty salon in the centre of Stirling last October. The two-week trial at the High
Court in Edinburgh
heard that 61-year-old Yazdanparast used petrol to set fire to the
mother-of-three. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Jihadist Groups'
Threat To U.S.
Excerpt: The threat to the U.S. from global jihadist groups
has escalated in the past three years, with the number of groups increasing by
more than 50% and the estimated number of militants doubling, according to a
report to be released on Thursday. (Hard to know if we should blame Bush, the
Koch Brothers or Global Warming. Certainly not Obama--he just learned about it
in the newspapers. ~Bob)
Other Political News and Comment
Over 1,000 Days in
Iranian Prison for U.S.
Excerpt: A US
citizen’s first ever visit to see his aging grandparents and relatives quickly
turned into his arrest and death sentence by the Islamic court of Iran.
31-year-old Amir Mirzae Hekmati, who was 28 at the time of the trip, had
traveled to Iran to
celebrate with his extended family in Tehran .
A Jailed Marine and a
Silent Radical-in-Chief — on The Glazov Gang
Excerpt: The Gang gathered to discuss “A Jailed Marine
and a Silent Commander-in-Chief,” analyzing why Obama hasn’t made a
statement that Andrew Tahmooressi could be his son.
Using Consumption to
Measure Inequality
Excerpt: While standard inequality measurements look at
income and earnings, consumption is critical to getting an accurate picture of
inequality, explains Bruce Meyer, professor at the University of Chicago
The Smoking Gun in
the VA Scandal? "Gaming the System" 2010 VA Memo EXPOSED
Excerpt: According to a Department of Veterans Affairs
"Memorandum" dated April 26, 2010. The Department of Veterans Affairs
was very aware of the "cooking of the books" dating back to 2008.
This memo was sent to "Network Director (10N1-23) from "Deputy Under
Secretary for Health Operations and Management (10N). Signed by, William
Schoenhard FACHE. Karen Morris, MSW Associate Director, as well as Michael
Davies, MD, Director VHA Systems Redesign are also listed in this memo as
contacts for any questions regarding this memo. (I deal with the VA here 3-5
times a week, even when I'm not in. I hate to see the hard-working and caring
providers tarred with the same brush as the administrators who lied to get
bonuses. ~Bob)
“Ooh-rah!” U. S.
Marine Veteran With Carry Permit Drops Armed Robber
Excerpt: The Marine was eating at a restaurant next door
when he saw two men pull up to the Game Stop wearing hoodies and bandanas. He
yelled for someone to dial 911, and then he grabbed his concealed weapon out of his
truck. According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, that’s when one of
the suspects pointed a gun at him. One of the suspects was fatally shot.
Excerpt: There are still huge technical problems yet to be
resolved with Obamacare.
For example, the vast majority of people who gained private
coverage through Obamacare are being subsidized through the law's system of
health insurance tax credits. But about a million of those subsidies are wrong,
either too high or too low—it's unclear how many fall on which side—according
to The Washington Post.
Petty Annoyances. By Walter E. Williams
Excerpt: Most who read my columns think that I'm only
annoyed by politicians, growing government and Americans who have little
respect or love for liberty and our Constitution. There are other things that
annoy me.
What Makes a Country
Successful? Small Government, Economic Freedom
Excerpt: A look at per-capita incomes, economic growth, job
creation and life expectancy indicates that small, not big, government works
best, contends Richard W. Rahn, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and
chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth. The four richest and
diverse economies in the world are Singapore ,
Switzerland , the United States and Hong Kong .
This was not the case 50 years ago, when Singapore
and Hong Kong were poor and had few natural
resources. Today, however, their citizens have high standards of living and
life expectancy (Singapore
is ranked third, while Hong Kong ranks fourth
for longevity). How did they become so successful? Of 159 ranked countries,
Hong Kong ranked first and Singapore
took the number two spot for economic freedom. Their government spending as a
percent of GDP is also low -- less than 20 percent.
The 97 Percent Myth
Excerpt: Global warming advocates routinely toss out the
statistic that 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is real and
man-made. Where did that figure come from? Joseph Bast, president of the
Heartland Institute, and Roy Spencer, principal research scientist for the University of Alabama
in Huntsville ,
explain the history behind the misleading number. In short, there is no basis
for the claim that 97 percent of scientists believe that man-made climate
change is a dangerous problem. In 2004, Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard science
historian, examined 928 abstracts of scientific journal articles, finding that
three-quarters of them believed that humans were responsible for most of the
observed warming of the last half-century. However, Oreskes did not analyze
articles by prominent scientists -- such as Richard Lindzen and John Christy --
who question the "consensus" view. Additionally, a recent study in
Nature magazine confirms that academic abstracts often contain claims that are
not proven in the studies themselves. A 2009 article by University of Illinois
The Myth of the
Climate Change '97%': What is the origin of the false belief—constantly
repeated—that almost all scientists agree about global warming? By Joseph
Bast And Roy Spencer
Excerpt: Where did Mr. Kerry get the 97% figure? Perhaps
from his boss, President Obama, who tweeted on May 16 that "Ninety-seven
percent of scientists agree: #climate change is real, man-made and dangerous."
Or maybe from NASA, which posted (in more measured language) on its website,
"Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming
trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities."
Yet the assertion that 97% of scientists believe that
climate change is a man-made, urgent problem is a fiction. The so-called
consensus comes from a handful of surveys and abstract-counting exercises that
have been contradicted by more reliable research. (What is going on is NOT
science, it's now a political/emotional cause that ignores real science and is
trying to roll over everyone by the classic method of shouting the lie loud
enough and long enough and it becomes the truth. --Del )
The Ambassador and
the Post Office. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Toward the end of the 20th century, India began to loosen up some of its jungle of
rules and regulations that were strangling India 's businesses. Though India is still
a long way from a free market, just the relaxing of some of its economic
restrictions was enough to promote a higher rate of growth and a substantial
reduction in poverty. They even allowed a Japanese car maker to build cars in India . This
resulted in a car called the Maruti, which quickly shot to the top as the most
popular car in India .
Even more remarkable, it led to some improvements in the Ambassador. A British
newspaper said that the Ambassador now had "perceptible
acceleration."
Nailing Slime: New Smyrna Beach
Excerpt: To locate a suspect, the deputies began
Operation: Sticky Fingers. Deputies then had students put a wallet with $141
(two $50 bills, two $20 bills and one $1 bill). Each bill was photocopied and
then coated with the UV powder and then placed in the wallet.... The lights
were turned off in the hallway leading from the locker room and students -- two
at a time -- had their hands checked. None of the students had the UV powder on
their hands. Once all the students were cleared, deputies then shined the light
on the hands of Barnes. The fluorescent yellow-green powder was visible on both
hands, according to the report. Barnes admitted to deputies and school
officials that he took one of the $50 bills from the wallet and put it in one
of the filing cabinets in the coaches' office. Barnes also admitted to several
other thefts
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