Movie Stars of World War II; How Hollywood joined the war and fought for freedom

World of Images  "Hollywood stars of the 1940s that put careers on hold to fight for freedom. Movie stars of World War II earned more than 300 medals and awards that honor their valor. U.S. awards and medals include Silver Stars, Distinguish Service Crosses, Air Medals, Bronze Stars, Presidential Unit Citations, Purple Hearts, and a Congressional Medal of Honor. "

One example from many:  Walter Brennan (1894-1974)

[The Long, Long Trail (1929); Sergeant York (1941); Smoke in the Wind (1975)]. In many ways the most successful and familiar character actor of American sound films and the only actor to date to win three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan attended college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying engineering. While in school he became interested in acting and performed in school plays. Brennan enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 22 to serve in World War I. He served in an artillery unit and although he got through the war without being wounded, his exposure to poison gas ruined his vocal chords, leaving him with the high-pitched voice texture that made him a natural for old man roles while still in his thirties. He was too old to serve in World War II.

How about this one about Mel Brooks:

Mel Brooks (1926- ) [Comedian, actor, producer and director, i.e, Blazing Saddles (1974)] served in the U.S. Army in WW II as a combat engineer and took part in the Battle of the Bulge. His main job was to deactivate land mines.
 

Of course you realize that Books, being Jewish, would have likely been murdered outright if he was captured by the Nazis.

Many more are listed here.  Hat tip to Paul Van Alstine.

Amazing video of Vietnam POW's 40th anniversary dinner

Honoring the special night they were welcomed back by President Richard Nixon. No, this dinner was not hosted by the administration but by the Richard Nixon Library.

 

Not attending either dinner was Obama friend and colleague, Bill Ayres, former Vietnam protestor

" Ayers went on to accuse Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who spent five years in a POW camp, of murdering civilians in the war, lament the deaths of two fellow Weather Underground members – skipping over the fact that they blew themselves up while trying to make bombs – and painted his actions as a heroic bid to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam."

 

Ayres called a "Vietnam-era radical".   ... "Ayers was not simply protesting "against" the Vietnam War. Firstly, he wasn't against war in principle, he was agitating for the victory of the communist forces in Vietnam." ...
(Emphasis in the original.)

Hat tip to Val Brose; Santa Maria, CA 

Forced unionization wrong for caregivers

OC Register  "Pamela Harris is a self-employed in-home caregiver. The Illinois resident’s one and only patient is her severely disabled son, Josh, who has Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, a rare genetic condition, and spends most of his waking hours in a wheelchair.

"Ms. Harris is the lead plaintiff in a case heard Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court; she’s challenging a 2009 executive order by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn mandating that the state’s in-home caregivers be union members. A decision from the high court is expected by June.

"Because the Land of Lincoln uses the federal Medicaid program to help pay for in-home care for patients, it provided Gov. Quinn a dubious pretext to categorize caregivers as state employees. That didn’t really register with Ms. Harris until a representative of the Service Employees International Union showed up at her front door." ...

How far have race relations been set back in the past five years?

The following is a transcript of remarks made by President Obama to the White House press corps on Friday 19 July 2013:

America is not a post-racial society. The president expresses some wise thoughts, but the words of his supporters in the press and in Congress are the antithesis of these stated opinions.

Chris Matthews demagogues the issue

This is the consistent meme of Matthews and MSNBC   "The first string of videos in this series is from a single segment toward the back end of August 16th’s Hard Ball, and they are not easy to watch.  In these videos, Chris Matthews spends every breath he has trying to portray the Tea Party as racist.  "You might wanna put a pillow on your desk for these."

Wake up Black America  "Tyrone" asks, "Will a GOP win in November mean the return of "Jim Crow"?"
 "Now you may be asking who would say something so incredible insane and stupid. I'll let you all figure it out."

EPA Decree Shrinks Size of Wyoming by a Million Acres

Can anyone stop the Obama Administration and it's agencies?

CNS News   "Why is the EPA altering state boundaries in Wyoming - and reversing over 100 years of established law?  Well, apparently the city of Riverton now falls under the jurisdiction of the Wind River Indian Reservation.  "This, obviously, isn't sitting well with the governor's office - which is urging the EPA to reconsider its ruling and respect the rule of law.
Reacting to the decision to reduce the size of Wyoming by about a million acres, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead warned of the dangers to all Americans of this type of unilateral land redistribution by the EPA:" ...
Via Lucianne.

 

The debate on income inequality

 

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, in the Huffington Post! Beware the increased minimum wage  "Raise the minimum wage and combat poverty! That sounds like a great idea, but... not so fast. As it turns out, increasing the minimum wage actually hurts the working poor, is a windfall for affluent families, and raises the barriers facing the unemployed. There is growing evidence that increasing the minimum wage hampers employment for low-skilled workers who need the most help and experience."

 

WaPo; Economists agree: Raising the minimum wage reduces poverty
"One funny part of watching journalists cover the minimum wage debate is that they often have to try and referee cutting-edge econometric debates. Some studies, notably those lead by UMass Amherst economist Arin Dube, argue that there are no adverse employment effects from small increases in the minimum wage. Other studies, notably those lead by University of California Irvine economist David Neumark, argue there is an adverse effect. Whatever can we conclude?"

Not this economist: Thomas Sowell weighs in on the subject: Facing Minimum-Wage Truth   "It is surely no coincidence that, when the federal minimum-wage law remained unchanged for twelve years while inflation rendered the law meaningless, the black teenage unemployment rate — even during the recession year of 1949 — was literally a fraction of what it has been throughout later years when the minimum-wage rate was raised repeatedly to keep up with inflation.

"When words trump facts, you can believe anything. And the liberal groupthink taught in our schools and colleges is the path of least resistance."

McDonnell, Christie Wonder Why Obama Gets Away with It

Big Government  "Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, now facing 14 felony counts on corruption charges, offered up what may be called the "Obama defense" in his response: "If it were applied as the law of the land, then nearly every elected official, from President Obama on down, would have to be charged for providing tangible benefit to donors," he said. It won't fly with a judge, and makes no moral difference. But as an observation, he has a point."
....

....We are reminded today by testimony in the government's lawsuit against Standard and Poor's that the White House does the same thing all the time--in this case, apparently retaliating for a ratings downgrade.

Do not forget Obama's vindictive shutdown of national parks.

 

Alan Caruba: Obama's State of the Union Speech Will Be All Lies

Warning Signs

 

"On January 28, the President of the United States will stand before a joint session of Congress and lie to them and to all Americans.

"The mainstream media will treat it as a serious presentation and make no mention of the lies.

"Following the State of the Union speech (SOTU) there will be a formal response by a Republican spokesman. It will be very polite and not likely to strongly expose the lies and oppose the President. 

"The “low information” Americans will take Barack Obama at his word. " ...

http://thecontributor.com/five-timely-state-union-cartoons

 

The Obamacare Protest Song

Eagle Rising  "The Obamacare legislation has millions of people all over America confused, upset, angry, sad and riding on a rollercoaster of negative emotions. Just this past weekend we learned that Obamacare enrollment has been even worse than we originally feared and a net of more than 3 MILLION people have actually LOST their health insurance coverage. Wasn’t Obamacare supposed to get more people covered – not less?

"Some Americans are so upset that they are even discovering new talents. Like this man who just learned that he has a knack for writing catchy music and lyrics! Check out his Obamacare Healthcare Protest song – and then share it around. Let’s make it go viral!"

The Obamacare legislation has millions of people all over America confused, upset, angry, sad and riding on a rollercoaster of negative emotions. Just this past weekend we learned that Obamacare enrollment has been even worse than we originally feared and a net of more than 3 MILLION people have actually LOST their health insurance coverage. Wasn’t Obamacare supposed to get more people covered – not less?
Some Americans are so upset that they are even discovering new talents. Like this man who just learned that he has a knack for writing catchy music and lyrics! Check out his Obamacare Healthcare Protest song – and then share it around. Let’s make it go viral!

Read more at http://eaglerising.com/3895/new-viral-hit-obamacare-protest-song/#bWCAHx79dErc3mZF.99

 

 Hat tip to Jade Spier; Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC

The Keystone Kop-out Kontinues

Canada to Obama: ‘Make Up Your Mind on Keystone, Lightbringer’
.... "Canada bluntly told the United States on Thursday to settle the fate of TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, saying the drawn-out process on whether to approve the northern leg of the project was taking too long.

 

"The hard-line comments by Foreign Minister John Baird were the clearest sign yet that Canada’s Conservative government has lost patience over what it sees as U.S. foot-dragging.
....
“ 'The time for Keystone is now. I’ll go further – the time for a decision on Keystone is now, even if it’s not the right one. We can’t continue in this state of limbo,” Baird said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Although the State Department is responsible for ruling whether the pipeline meets the national interest, President Barack Obama has made clear he will make the final decision."
....
"Oh, it also makes sense, another big negative for this clown-car administration.
The whole world was supposed to love us if Obama was elected president and he has somehow managed to piss off Canada.

"Three more years."

 

The Clockwork Conservative: The Oil Will Flow Somewhere   "But here is the crux of our dilemma.  The oil will flow somewhere.  Canada is not about to let their developing oil reserves sit idle for anyone.  With the Keystone XL expansion on hold for now, they have already started taking steps to find other customers and China is first in line.  To get the oil where the Chinese can get to it, Canada is laying out plans to expand one existing pipeline and add another one."

Wendy Davis

 

Wendy Davis, Fibber   ... "Well, most outlets have treated her admitted fabrications as news, although some have been noticeably generous in their framing of the issue. “Wendy Davis tells a fuller version of her rags-to-riches story,” CBS News tweeted on Monday. CNN observed that Davis’s life story is now “more complicated” than the “compelling narrative” she had originally presented. MSNBC was quick to cast the story from an anti-GOP angle: “Right pounces on news that Wendy Davis embellished life story,” a familiar position from which to launch the inevitable follow-up: “Will Republicans overreach?” ...

According to MSNBC, the real reason conservatives “pounced” on the story is that they loathe Davis for “making life choices they disagree with — including the decision, as a mother, to prioritize her career.” And adding to the charge of sexism, MSNBC adds, “It’s hard to imagine those choices generating criticism were Wendy Davis a man.”

Mostyn Law Firm donates $1 million to help Wendy Davis in Texas governor's race   Do not hope for tort reform from Ms. Davis. In fact, I fear for Texas' favorable legal climate.

Wendy Davis’ ex-husband: “They’ve asked me not to talk to reporters”  "Wendy Davis, the progressive movement’s Texas darling because of her pro-late term abortion filibuster, is withering under revelations that much of her narrative of struggle and financial hardship is misleading at best, fabricated at worst.
"The wagons are being circled around her with claims of a War on Women and sexism … all because the truth has come out via an interview with her husband by the Dallas Morning News, and other investigation." 

"I think she had a midlife crisis. She wanted to be around a younger crowd," Jeff said, referring additional questions to Wendy.

H/T to Weasel Zippers

These Words from Obama Are Frightening -- and Revealing

The Foundry  "It’s less than comforting to hear the President make light of terrorist threats.
"In a recent interview with The New Yorker, President Obama referred to today’s al-Qaeda fighters as the “jayvee” team.
“ 'The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” he said.
"This shows that the Administration’s wishful thinking about al-Qaeda isn’t over. Obama and his fellow officials seem to think if you say something enough times, it will become true.
"Before Benghazi, they claimed al-Qaeda was defeated and on the run. Four dead Americans later, this was proven false." ...