The last thing Osama bin Laden saw

"A couple of things to notice:

50 caliber sniper on the right.
Knee, knuckle and forearm protection.
Various plastic/wire ties.
Absolute identity denial to protect their families.
Free choice of footwear.
Fourth from the right has three artillery simulators and CS gas grenades on his belly. He’s the 'shock and awe' guy.

Group Photo of Seal Team Six, . . . . . . .

and you can imagine the look on Bin Laden's face when these guys came through the door?"

Sent to the Tunnel Dweller by Bob Hope, a Marine who was stationed with the Dweller at Marine Barracks; Hawthorne, Nevada back in '58. The photo label does not specify they are from SEAL Team Six- only that they are SEALs. But I think we can say with certainty that those SEALs who said goodbye to OBL were not dressed in sport coats and white buck shoes.

 

American youth and their nation's history; a dialog between bloggers; Update: Betraying Our History

This was an exchange of comments between fellow blogger/ mentor Ron Barbour and the Tunnel Dweller regarding recent TW posts on D-Day . I found Ron's account to be of great interest and wanted you all to see what he wrote about his father. (Link repaired)

Ronbo:

Thanks for posting the excellent article on D-Day!
My dad was in the Navy and there on D-Day as a driver of a landing taking the soldiers into "Bloody Omaha" - a German 88 managed to put a shell into the middle of his boat just after the G.I.s had cleared off. He was blown up in the air and landed in water just feet off the beach and under machine gun fire.
He said by this time he was very P.O.'d at the Germans (who turned out to be Poles, as they found out later) and started shooting back at them with an M-1 from a dead soldier. The ship wrecked sailors joined up with the infantry and attacked the German machine gunners, since it was clear that if they didn't kill them, the Krauts would get them.
Anyhow, long story short, he and his fellow sailors spent several weeks on the beach, (although no combat after the beach was secured) as the wounded had priority on shipping back to England, and the beachmaster needed all the help he could get...for example, putting the wounded on landing crafts and pulling the dead out of the water.
Did you see, "Saving Private Ryan?" The first part of the movie very accurately followed what dad told me years before about his part of D-Day. The thing dad said he would never forget about Omaha was the sound the machine gun bullets striking the landing crafts made, which was portrayed in the movie as well.
They were tough old birds in those days! I think dad should have received a medal for D-Day, but on D-Day at that little piece of hell they were all heroes. My dad passed away in 1989 from a heart attack that took him out in an instant, but I'm sure he wouldn't like the Navy these days - They did away with the traditional "sailor suit!" Can you believe it? The bell bottoms and Dixie cup hat! Dad loved that uniform and that's why he joined the Navy just after Pearl Harbor!!!

Tunnel Dweller:

I read another account of captured Poles defending Omaha Beach who told our guys they were deliberately trying to miss. That didn't seem to be the case here, but German foreign units usually had a German NCO leading them. He might have put a gun to the Poles' heads.
Of course, If you'd captured me there, I'd probably have told you and your buddies that I was trying not to hit you.
Not many of those guys are left now.  Bill

Ronbo: 

The WW II veterans are dying at the rate of hundreds per day.
Speaking of which - Saturday a young 20 something guy here in Seattle, after checking out my grey hair, asked me if I'd been in WW II when I told him I was an Army veteran.
I told him no..."Vietnam War veteran."
"Did we win that one?" he asked.
I said, "When I left, we were."
Cheers, Ronbo

TD:

Great answer. Typical northwest teenager? Hey, dude, let's vote for Obama, he's like, really cool and stuff.

Ronbo:

As a former high school teacher history teacher (1986-89), I can tell you from first hand experience that history is not taught in government schools anymore.

This is the reason about 10% of the population send their kids to private education, opt for home schools and/or Internet education.
I could tell stories about how ignorant my students were of basic historical facts, such as the girl who believed the London Underground was [were] resistance fighters against the German occupation in WW II, or the boy who thought Florida fought on the UNION side in the civil war.
Cheers, Ronbo

TD:

Well educated history students would learn that Lincoln in the civil war was plagued by slave-tolerating Democrats who were anti-war and ready to sell out the Union for peace at any price.
And that Z-Big Brzezinski wanted the US to fire on Israeli planes just as the Vichy French in World War 2 fought the British and Americans for their German masters. There must be something in American food that keeps our people's frontal brain lobes from developing; they will not learn - cannot be made to learn - anything from History.
Semper Fi,
Tunnel Dweller

Meanwhile, airhead celebrities and  journalists self-righteously pontificate against those who defend America, then sleep the sleep of the secure thanks to the sacrifice of people made from so much better stuff than they.

http://www.clker.com/clipart-24318.html

Warriors of Vietnam, please forgive us for the way we either treated you or allowed others to treat you.  I consider the chicken-foot "peace"symbol- now back in style- to be a slap in your face.   TD 

Update: Betraying Our History "A nation has to have a collective memory of the events that shaped it and a collective knowledge of its most important, essential documents. If the statistics about more recent generations passing through our schools are any indication, they do not.

"That is an act of betrayal. I can’t prove that it is deliberate, but it surely does not bode well for a nation so poorly led by its elected representatives since June 6, 1944 that it constitutes an insult to the sacrifices and acts of valor that day represents."  Alan Caruba; Warning Signs blog

This is the perfect companion article to the former.

The Palestinian Move

STRATFOR  "In the end, this is not about the Israelis or the Palestinians. It is about the Palestinian relationship with the Arabs and Israel’s relationship with Europe and the United States. The Israelis want to isolate the Palestinians, and the Palestinians are trying to isolate the Israelis. At the moment, the Palestinians are doing better at this than the Israelis. The argument going on in Israel (and not with the peace movement) is how to respond. Benjamin Netanyahu wants to wait it out. Dagan is saying the risks are too high."

The Palestinian Move is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

Obama's troubled personal relations with foreign leaders

Ed Lasky  "Americans should not be too surprised. After all, he has treated the leaders of several of our closest allies with disdain -- including the former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and, of course, Israeli's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- having him enter the White House through an obscure doorway and later rudely walking out of a meeting with him so he could have dinner with the First Lady. The Dalia Lama was also all but ignored during a visit to the White House.

"Whom does Barack Obama favor of all the world's leaders?"...More:

....

"This is the one foreign leader that Obama "respect[s] and admire[s]": a promoter of anti-Semitism. Perhaps, Barack Obama is missing being in the pews and listening to his inspiration and mentor, Jeremiah Wright."

 None of this means anything to an air-headed electorate that adores the Obamas as the celebrities they have been made to be. As the press reports, Obama is extremely "well-liked" (as has been "The View" and Jerry Springer).

Hey, Dude, like, let's vote for Obama 'cause he's like, really cool and stuff.

Ten Questions for Leon Panetta

Heritage  "Panetta, who is currently director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has already responded to a 79-page set of answers to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee, but his responses largely lacked specifics. He says he expects that “difficult choices will have to be made” on defense spending. “If confirmed, I will work to make disciplined decisions in ways that minimize impacts on our national security.” Given what’s at stake—U.S. national security—more substantive responses are sorely needed."

....

"Given the President’s call for significant cuts to an already under-funded military, it is vitally important for the American people to know where Panetta stands on defense spending before he is confirmed. And it is up to the Senate to make sure those questions are asked."

This has been going around: Rumor: Panetta ordered OBL raid; Reluctant as I am to consider that Obama may have the courage to order an operation such as this (and still suspect he had to have his arm twisted) the source for this report is highly suspect and often proven a liar. True, Obama is known as the "voting present" legislator and his self-absorbed utterances indicate no sign of personal growth. But the report is from someone posting as Ulsterman, whose veracity has been substantially refuted. 

We have a real and serious danger to America in Mr. Obama and the Democrat Party; we must be taken seriously and not let our warnings be dismissed as right-wing kookery.    The Tunnel Dweller.

The Obamanonomy

WPost Fact-Checker shreds Obama auto recovery claims  "Actually, according to The Washington Post's Fact Checker by Glenn Kessler, Obama's claims are "one of the most misleading collections of assertions we have seen in a short presidential speech. Virtually every claim by the president regarding the auto industry needs an asterisk, just like the fine print in that too-good-to-be-true car loan.""

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/lisabenson

 

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/ericallie

 

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/garymccoy



Those who seek to run our lives

American Thinker "Here's a simple thought experiment. Imagine you had a neighbor, a business colleague, or an acquaintance, who was always in your face telling you what car to drive, what food to eat, what healthcare you must have, what you must allow the schools to teach your children, that your teenage daughter could have an abortion at an abortion clinic without consulting you first, that you had no right to own a gun, ad infinitum. Most of us would tell him or her to stuff it, or perhaps use a little more colorful language.
"Now, take that same person and put the title Senator, Congressman, or President in front of their name and millions of Americans accept these losses of personal freedom without a whimper. Even worse, some people worship and idolize politicians."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/chipbok

Hear O Israel

 Nakba Day explained.

 IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz



Skip MacLure  "Well, if you won’t listen to me, maybe you’ll listen to him. No disrespect intended, but it seems that Israel is in for another border invasion, and this one reportedly has between 300 and 500 busloads of Lebanese and Palestinians being moved to the borders… to say nothing of large numbers of others heading in the direction of the borders, as well."....

"Now the Iranians, in the guise of the Muslim Brotherhood, are going to test the IDF to the max. The so-called ‘Nakba Day’ protests were something only an Arab could dream up. Commemorating a battle in which the collective armies of the Arab nations got the horse pucky kicked out of them by a tiny, almost insignificant, country would seem to the western mind to be a waste of time."

Moby Bus by Rich Terrell

http://terrellaftermath.com/

SEIU marches with Southern California Communists in May Day demonstration

Via Beltway Confidential  "This year’s annual May Day March in Downtown Los Angeles was considerably smaller than last year’s demonstration which, because it coincided with the passage of Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law, SB 1070, brought out more than 60,000 people, and only a tiny fraction of the 500,000 people who attended in 2007 when congress was debating immigration reform. The organizers estimated the number of attendees this year to be 10,000 and the police put the number at about 3000. Based on other demonstrations I’ve attended, I’d put my guess at about 4000."

May Day: Victims of Communism Day  "May Day began as a holiday for socialists and labor union activists, not just communists. But over time, the date was taken over by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes and used as a propaganda tool to prop up their regimes. I suggest that we instead use it as a day to commemorate those regimes’ millions of victims. The authoritative Black Book of Communism estimates the total at 80 to 100 million dead, greater than that caused by all other twentieth century tyrannies combined. We appropriately have a Holocaust Memorial Day. It is equally appropriate to commemorate the victims of the twentieth century’s other great totalitarian tyranny. And May Day is the most fitting day to do so. I suggest that May Day be turned into Victims of Communism Day...."  The Volokh Conspiracy

All photos from www.ringospictures.com

When you ponder whether to vote for a Democrat or a Republican in any future election consider: the above crowd, you can be sure, are virtually all Democrat voters. Granted, many would vote Communist if it made political sense, but until it does, the Democrat Party will work for them just fine. If you support the causes glorified by the above demonstrators, then vote for anyone with a 'D' by their name.

Previously unconsidered: Democrats are right...it's not about Sex..Plus comment by Victor Davis Hanson

This is the first post one this subject in the TW and we only go here because of the important point of view it presents; one we've not heretofore seen discussed.
Plus it gives us a chance to use some of the great cartoons we've seen. The Tunnel Dweller.

American Thinker  To Anthony Weiner: "...My question is simply this: How did you know with any "certitude" that you weren't exchanging salacious emails and engaging in phone sex with agents of the Russian Federation, the Peoples' Republic of China or even the Israeli Mossad?"....
"And we all should be abundantly thankful that Andrew Breitbart's  intelligence-gathering organization is apparently more efficient than the many national security agencies who could have blackmailed this clueless clown to force him to vote their way on any number of issues.
"If they haven't already..."

More like this at michaelramirez, such as this, and this. Then there are these: here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and, well, who's counting?

What's important about Weinergate...And what's not  "...So, from a political standpoint, this was an important story. But in the larger context of history and "news," there wasn't much there. Another congressman proving himself a lying weasel is not the basis for the kind of over the top, wall to wall coverage Weiner and his dirty pictures have received.
"All in all, he just isn't worth the attention."

Victor Davis Hanson: The Collapse of a Rotten Edifice  "...the goddess has been particularly busy in destroying the carefully crafted images of Bono, John Edwards, Timothy Geithner, Al Gore, Eliot Spitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Anthony Weiner, and a host of others. What do their tax hypocrisies, sexual indulgences, and aristocratic socialist lifestyles all have in common?"  More...

Palestinian who slaughtered Fogel family has no regrets

American Thinker  "In a chilling statement to reporters, an unrepentant Amjad Awad proclaimed "I don't regret what I did, and I would do it again," adding "I'm proud of what I did and I'll accept any punishment I get, even death, because I did it all for Palestine." "

In a related item, hundreds of Muslims took to the streets in protest against the senseless killing of innocent Israeli families... What?... Wait, um, never mind. I misspoke.

Photo from weaselzippers. Two Palestinian youths from the West Bank

 village of Awarta, arrested in April on suspicion of murdering five members

of the Fogel family in Itamar, were charged with five counts of homicide

 at a military court on Sunday.

Tunnel Dweller did an internet search for "muslims protest killing of Israeli family." The first page yielded just what you saw and the second page had just this one:



A Memo to American Muslims  "I hope that we will now rededicate our lives and our institutions to the search for harmony, peace and tolerance. Let us be prepared to suffer injustice rather than commit injustices. After all it is we who carry the divine burden of Islam and not others. We have to be morally better, more forgiving, more sacrificing than others, if we wish to convince the world about the truth of our message. We cannot even be equal to others in virtue, we must excel.

"It is time for soul searching. How can the message of Muhammad (pbuh) who was sent as mercy to mankind become a source of horror and fear? How can Islam inspire thousands of youth to dedicate their lives to killing others? We are supposed to invite people to Islam not murder them.
"The worst exhibition of Islam happened on our turf. We must take first responsibility to undo the evil it has manifest. This is our mandate, our burden and also our opportunity."
Muqtedar Khan, Ph.D. Director of International Studies, Adrian College, MI. Association of Muslim Social Scientists.
Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.

To which we say amen and thank you, Doctor.