December's Illusion

You want the real version people? This is what really happened in great detail from a 1955 boat school (US Naval Academy) graduate who is now with the JCS (Joint Chief of Staff) office. I received the following from my husband, former jarhead & USNA grad, who is affiliated with a network of US Naval Academy Alumni…

My response to the following is that all I have to say is GO NAVY! Continue to Protect and Make America Proud!

(This was received from a very high-placed Navy source in the Office of the JCS. His name is redacted at his request. I will leave it to the Class powers-that-be to determine to which “forum” this should be placed. I am certain all of our classmates will find this extremely informative and proud of our NAVY troops asea….as I am. This story needs to be heard! )
Subject: Re: Real story of Obama and the hostage[#]

Your “Real” story is not exactly the way I heard it, and probably has a few political twists thrown in to stir the pot. Rather than me trying to correct it, I’ll just tell you what I found out from my contacts at NSWC Norfolk and at SOCOM Tampa.

First though, let me orient you to familiarize you with the “terrain.”

In Africa from Djibouti at the southern end of the Red Sea eastward through the Gulf of Aden to round CapeGuardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa (also known as “The Horn of Africa”) is about a 600 nm transit before you stand out into the Indian Ocean. That transit is comparable in distance to that from the mouth of theMississippi at New Orleans to the tip of Florida at Key West– except that 600 nm over there is infested with Somalia pirates.

Ships turning southward at the Horn of Africa transit the SLOC (Sea Lane of Commerce) along the east coast of Somalia because of the prevailing southerly currents there. It’s about 1,500 nm on to Mombassa, which is just south of the equator in Kenya. Comparably, that’s about the transit distance from Portland Maine down the east coast of the US to Miami, Florida. In other words, the ocean area being patrolled by our naval forces off the coast of Somalia is comparable to that in the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River east to Miami then up the eastern seaboard to Maine.

Second, let me globally orient you. From our Naval Operating Base in Norfolk, VA, east across the Atlantic to North Africa, thence across the Med to Suez in Egypt, thence southward down the Red Sea to Djibouti at the Gulf of Aden, thence eastward to round Cape Guardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa, and thence southerly some 300 miles down the east cost of Somali out into the high seas of the Indian Ocean to the position of MV ALABAMA is a little more than 7,000 nm, and plus-nine time-zones ahead of EST.

Hold that thought, in that, a C-17 transport averaging a little better than 400 kts (SOG) takes the best part of 18 hours to make that trip. In the evening darkness late Thursday night, a team of Navy SEALs from NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Norfolk parachuted from such a C-17 into the black waters (no refraction of light) of the Indian Ocean– close-aboard to our 40,000 ton amphibious assault ship, USS BOXER (LHD 4), the flagship of our ESG (Expeditionary Strike Group) in the AOR (Area Of Responsibility, the Gulf of Aden). They not only parachuted in with all of their “equipment,” they had their own inflatable boats, RHIB’s (Rigid Hull, Inflatable Boats) with them for over-water transport. They went into BOXER’s landing dock, debarked, and staged for the rescue– Thursday night.

And, let me comment on time-late: In that the SEAL’s quick response– departing ready-alert in less than 4 hours from Norfolk– supposedly surprised POTUS’s (President of the United States) staff, whereas President Obama was miffed not to get his “cops” there before the Navy. He reportedly questioned his staff, “Will ‘my’ FBI people get there before the Navy does?” It took the FBI almost 12 hours to put together a team and get them packed-up– for an “at sea” rescue. The FBI was trying to tell him that they are not practiced to do this– Navy SEALs are. But, BHO wanted the FBI there “to help,” that is, carry out the Attorney General’s (his) orders to negotiate the release of Captain Phillips peacefully– because apparently he doesn’t trust GW’s military to carry out his “political guidance.”

The flight of the FBI’s passenger jet took a little less than 14 hours at 500-some knots to get to Djibouti. BOXER’S helos picked them up and transported them out to the ship. The Navy SEALs were already there, staged, and ready to act by the time POTUS’s FBI arrived on board later that evening. Notably, the first request by the OSC (On Scene Commander) that early Friday morning to take them out and save Captain Phillips was denied, to wit: “No, wait until ‘my’ FBI people get there.”

Third, please consider a candid assessment of ability that finds that the FBI snipers had never practiced shooting from a rolling, pitching, yawing, surging, swaying, heaving platform– and, target– such as a ship and a lifeboat on the high seas. Navies have been doing since Admiral Nelson who had trained “Marines” to shoot muskets from the ship’s rigging– ironically, he was killed at sea in HMS VICTORY at the Battle of Trafalgar by a French Marine rifleman that shot him from the rigging of the French ship that they were grappling alongside.

Notably, when I was first training at USNA in 1955, the Navy was doing it with a SATU, Small Arms Training Unit, based at our Little Creek amphib base. Now, Navy SEAL’s, in particular SEAL Team SIX (The “DevGru”) based at NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) at Little Creek do that training now, and hone their skills professionally– daily. Shooting small arms from a ship is more of an accomplished “Art Form” than it is a practiced skill. When you are “in the bubble” and “in tune” with the harmonic motion you find, through practice, that you are “able to put three .308 slugs inside the head of a quarter at 100 meters, in day or night– or, behind a camouflaged net or a thin enclosure, such as a superstructure bulkhead. Yes, we have the monocular scopes that can “see” heat– and, draw a bead on it. SEALs are absolutely expert at it– with the movie clips to prove it.

Okay, now try to imagine patrolling among the boats fishing everyday out on the Grand Banks off our New England coast, and then responding to a distress call from down around the waters between Florida and theBahamas. Three points for you to consider here: (1) Time-Distance-Speed relationships for ships on the high seas, for instance, at a 25-knot SOA (Speed Of Advance) it takes 24 hours to make good 600 nm– BAINBRIDGE did. (2) Fishermen work on the high seas, and (3) The best place to hide as a “fisherman” pirate is among other fishermen

Early Wednesday morning, 4/8/2009, MV ALABAMA is at sea in the IO about 300 miles off the (east) coast of Somalia en route to Mombassa, Kenya. Pirates in small boat start harassing her, and threatening her with weapons. MV ALABAMA’s captain sent out the distress call by radio, and ordered his Engineer to shut down the engines as well as the ship-service electrical generators– in our lingo, “Go dark and cold.” He informed his crew by radio what was happening, and ordered them to go to an out-of-the-way compartment and lock themselves in it– from the inside. He would stay in the pilot house to “negotiate” with the pirates.

The pirates boarded, captured the Captain, and ordered him to start the engines. He said he would order his Engineer to do so, and he called down to Engine Control on the internal communication system, but got no answer. The lead pirate ordered two of his four men to go down and find him and get the engines started.

Inside a ship without any lights is like the definition of dark. The advantage goes to the people who work and live there. They jumped the two pirates in a dark passageway. Both pirates lost their weapons, but one managed to scramble and get away. The other they tied up, put tape over his mouth and a knife at his throat.

Other members of the crew opened the drain cocks on the pirates boat and cast it adrift. It foundered and sunk. The scrambling pirate made it back to the pilot house and told of his demise. The pirates took the Captain at gun point, and told him to launch one of his rescue boats (not a life boat, per se). As he was lowering the boat for them, the crew appeared with the other pirate to negotiate a trade. The crew let their hostage go to soon, and the pirates kept the captain. But, he purposefully had lowered the boat so it would jam.

With the rescue boat jammed, the pirates jumped over to a lifeboat and released it as the captain jumped in the water. They fired at him, made him stop, and grabbed him out of the water. Now, as night falls in the vastness of the Indian Ocean, we have the classic “Mexican” standoff, to wit: A life-boat that is just that, a life-boat adrift without any means of propulsion except oars and paddles; and, a huge (by comparison) Motor Vessel Container Ship adrift with a crew that is not going to leave their captain behind. The pirates are enclosed under its shelter-covering, holding the captain as their hostage. The crew is hunkered down in their ship waiting for the “posse” to arrive.

After receiving MV ALABAMA’S distress call, USS BAINBRIDGE (DDG 96) was dispatched by the ESG commander to respond to ALABAMA’s distress call. At best sustainable speed, she arrived on scene the day after– that is, in the dark of that early Thursday morning. As BAINBRIDGE quietly and slowly, at darkened-ship without any lights to give her away, arrived on scene, please consider a recorded interview with the Chief Engineer of MV ALABAMA describing BAINBRIDGE’s arrival. He said it was something else “… to see the Navy slide in there like a greyhound!” He then said as she slipped in closer he could see the “Stars and Stripes” flying from her masthead. He got choked up saying it was the “…proudest moment of my life.”

Phew! Let that sink in.

Earlier in the day, one of the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Patrol Aircraft, a fixed wing P-3C, flew over to recon the scene. They dropped a buoy with a radio to the pirates so that the Navy’s interpreter could talk with the pirates. When BAINBRIDGE arrived, the pirates thought the radio to be a beaconing device, and threw it overboard. They wanted a satellite telephone so that they could call home for help. Remember now, they are fishermen, not “Rocket Scientists,” in that, they don’t know that we can intercept the phone transmission also.

MV ALABAMA provided them with a satellite phone. They called home back to “somebody” in Eyl, Somalia (so that we now know where you live) to come out and get them. The “somebody” in Eyl said they would be out right away with other hostages, like 54 of them from other countries, and that they would be coming out in two of their pirated ships. Right– and, the tooth fairy will let you have sex with her. Yeah, in paradise. The “somebody” in Eyl just chalked up four more expendables as overhead for “the cost of operation.” Next page.

Anyway, ESG will continue to “watch” Eyl for any ships standing out.

The Navy SEAL team, SEAL TEAM SIX, from NSWC briefed the OSC (Commander Castellano, CO BAINBRIDGE) on how they could rescue the captain from the life boat with swimmers– “Combat Swimmers,” per se. That plan was denied by POTUS because it put the captain in danger– and, involved killing the pirates.

The FBI negotiators arrived on scene, and talked the pirates into sending their wounded man over for treatment Saturday morning. Later that afternoon, the SEAL’s sent over their RHIB with food and water to recon the life boat but the pirates shot at it. They could have taken them out then (from being fired upon) but were denied again being told that the captain was not in “imminent danger.” The FBI negotiators calmed the situation by informing the pirates of threatening weather as they could see storm clouds closing from the horizon, and offered to tow the life boat. The pirates agreed, and BAINBRIDGE took them under tow in their wake at 30 meters– exactly 30 meters, which is exactly the distance the SEALs practice their shooting skills.

With the lifeboat under tow, riding comfortably bow-down on BAINBRIDGE’s wake-wave (“rooster tail”), had a 17-second period of harmonic motion, and at the end of every half-period (8.5 seconds) was steady on. The light-enhanced (infra-red heat) monocular scopes on the SEAL’s .308 caliber Mark 11 Mod 0 H&K suppressor-fitted sniper rifles easily imaged their target very clearly. Pirates in a life boat at 30-meters could be compared to fish in a barrel. All that was necessary was to take out the plexiglass window so that it would not deflect the trajectory of the high velocity .308 round. So, a sniper (one of four) with a wad-cutter round (a flaxen sabot) would take out the window a split second before the kill-shot– no change in sight-picture, just the window blowing out, clean.

Now, here’s the part BHO’s “whiz kids” knew as well as the Navy hierarchy, including CO BAINBRIDGE and CO SEAL TEAM SIX. It’s the law in Article 19 of Appendix L in the “Convention of the High Seas” that the Commanding Officer of a US Ship on the high seas is obligated to respond to distress signals from any flagged ship (US or otherwise), and protect the life and property thereof when deemed to be in IMMINENT DANGER. So, in the final analysis, it would be Captain Castellano call as to “Imminent Danger,” and that he alone was obligated (duty bound) to act accordingly.

Got the picture?

After medically attending to the wounded pirated, and feeding him, come first light (from the east) on Easter Sunday morning and the pirates saw they were being towed further out to sea (instead of westward toward land), the wounded pirate demanded to be returned to the lifeboat. There would BE NO more negotiations– and, the four Navy SEAL snipers “in the bubble” went “Unlock.” The pirate holding Captain Philips raised the gun to his head, and IMMINENT DANGER was so observed and noted in the Log as CO BAINBRIDGE gave the classic order: WEAPONS RELEASED! I can hear the echo in my earpiece now, “On my count (from 8.5 seconds), 3, 2, 1, !” POP, BANG! Out went the window, followed by three simultaneous shots. The scoreboard flashed: “GAME OVER, GAME OVER– NAVY 3, PIRATES 0!”

I hope you found the above informative as best I know it– and, please excuse me in that after more than 50 years the Navy is still in me. I submit that AMERICA is going to make a comeback, and more than likely it’ll be on the back of our cherished youth serving with honor in Our military. So, let’s

Look Up, Get Up– and, Never Give Up!

God Bless Our Troops, and
GOD SAVE AMERICA!

Because whatever I could write or say will pale in comparison, if you missed his speech. I give you President Obama’s Inaugural address:

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our healthcare is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise healthcare’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job, which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world … that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive … that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

This is a follow up post to yesterday’s post via an email I received from one of the people I sent the editorial to and my response:

I also saw this article and found it interesting.  As you probably already know, I’m a one issue voter, and it’s about Roe vs. Wade.  I don’t believe abortion is the answer for everyone, but I think it incredibly demeaning and dangerous when a bunch of old mencan decide what a woman can do with her body.  I believe it is up to the mother and the father, with the doctor’s help, to make that decision.  I believe women should make their own decisions.  I believe women are smart enough to do that.
 
I also read in the paper today of a young girl in Somalia, 13 years old, who was stoned to death because she was raped.  That’s right, she was raped, and yet she was the one killed.  That’s what can happen when women have no rights.

My Response:

As a woman, I can completely understand your position, and agree that men should not tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her body. I would also like to point out in all fairness that it isn’t just men that are anti-abortionist, it isn’t just republicans, and not all democrats are against pro-life either. I also believe that this decision should not have anything to do with the government, it should be left up to the individuals involved, their situation and their moral convictions, but I too refuse not to interject them into my choice and my decision, because I am smart enough to do that.

I think what happened to this 13 year old girl is a complete and utter tragedy, one that truly is unreal beyond all belief that something like this is tolerated in our society today…but wait, it’s not. Because had this have happened here in our society, that girls family would have probably been the one stoning the person(s) who raped her, and then of course they would have been prosecuted for this offense to the full extent of the laws in our country.

My point is;  this happened in Somalia, not in the United States. For this reason alone I am filled with the comfort and conviction to vote with a clear conscious and strong affirmation. When we believe in the rights that we believe in for every person, who is going to protect that right when we pull out of a war that although truthfully shouldn’t have been handled the way it had in the beginning, but in given the choice of pulling more of our troops out now, who is going to protect that girl then when there is no one left there to protect her, who is going to protect us when the wars begin in our own land? You can’t say that wouldn’t happen, because we already know it has.

I can’t begin to just think about the one reason not to vote for one thing I believe in, when there are a million more reasons to vote for those million other things that I believe in just as strongly.

Before you make your choice as to who you think should be the next President of our country, I would like you to read an editorial that I read Sunday morning from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.  Mr. Stephens makes the undisputable facts pretty clear about one candidates policies and the long and short term consequences of those policies.

Ultimately, as Americans – you can vote for whoever you like – but when you do, make sure you are doing so with all the facts in mind. I am writing this because I know some of you have differences of opinions on who you are voting for and while I don’t think that it is my right to publicly inform anyone of your decisions – I leave that up to you. But as for me – my decision was pretty solid a long time ago – this only reinforced my beliefs and made me feel more comfortable with my decision, not only for me and for everyone else in this country, but for the future of this land and way of life that we hold so dear.

No matter how you vote, I hope that when you vote on Tuesday that you can feel the same way, not just for you, not just for our country, but for our future as well.

The taxing facts
By Warren Stephens

I am the co-finance chair for Arkansas for the McCain Campaign and an ardent free-market capitalist. I believe social issues are best left to individuals, and while I have strong beliefs about them, I will not interject them into my choice of a candidate. Economics and taxes, on the other hand, are NOT subject to interpretation. Supply and demand curves are real, and they work. This column is an attempt to put facts in front of you, particularly as they relate to taxes and the “fairness” of our tax code.

Sen. Barack Obama is proposing a tax increase for small businesses and the top 5 percent of tax-paying Americans. He says he will give 95 percent of Americans a tax cut; he and Sen. Joe Biden say it is fair and the “patriotic duty” of the top 5 percent to pay more. Full disclosure — I am in the top 5 percent, and probably the top 1 percent. The facts, as to who pays taxes, paint a different picture. The tables below really say it all:

TOP 1 PERCENT SHARE OF TOTAL

        Income     Taxes paid
1990 14%          25%
2000 21%          37%
2005 21%          39%

TOP 5 PERCENT SHARE OF TOTAL

         Income       Taxes paid
1990 27%            44%
2000 35%            56%
2005 36%            60%

Source: Treasury Department, October 2007

These statistics are from the U.S. Treasury Department, and they reveal a startling and seldom talked about fact. The top 1 percent of wage earners in this country pay 39 percent of the income taxes, while the top 5 percent pay 60 percent. That’s right, 60 percent of all income taxes are paid by the same people on whom Sens. Obama and Biden want to raise taxes. What is more, the percentage paid by this group has increased since the so-called Bush tax cuts. This is a real inconvenient truth for the Obama campaign.

In 2006, the lower 50 percent of wage earners had 12.5 percent of the income and paid 3 percent of federal income taxes. The 2006 statistics also reveal that the top 5 percent of U.S. taxpayers paid $616 billion in federal income taxes, which was more than the remaining 95 percent of taxpayers’ total of $408.1 billion.

Our system could hardly be more weighted to having the wealthy pay more, yet that is what Obama proposes. I will reluctantly accept (for now) that in our society, the top wage earners will pay more (in percentage terms) in taxes, but if Obama wants to raise taxes, he should say so.

As the Wall Street Journal has been saying, you cannot give a tax cut to people who do not pay taxes. Obama’s plan is a redistribution of income from those who pay taxes to those who do not. It is nothing more than the granddaddy of all welfare plans, and voters need to know it.

I am not afraid of Obama becoming president because he is a bad person. Rather, I am concerned about his policies and their effect on our economy in the short and long term. Higher tax rates will discourage investment and capital formation, and that is not good for anyone.

Warren Stephens is president and CEO of Stephens Inc., one of the largest investment companies off Wall Street, and an owner of Stephens Media, which publishes newspapers in nine states.

http://www.twincities.com/opinion/ci_10873979?nclick_check=1

For the past year there have been cars that occasionally park on our side of the street between the hours of 2 am and 6pm. That’s the only time they are allowed to park there because of a city ordinance that is past outdated. Some of the neighbors have tried to get it removed – we all signed the petition, well some of us anyway.

When there aren’t cars parked on this side of the street, they’re stopped, on the wrong side of the road, some just slow down to a crawl, but most pull over facing the wrong way in traffic to stare at the only Carnival in Roseville that is on display 24/7/365.

I’ve refrained from writing about this before out of pity for the people who own it. But this spring, I was informed that the Police had told them to clean it up or clear it out. Okay, they may have planted some shade grass to grow in the barren spots of dirt around the house, and cleared out a few years worth of dead foliage, but damned if they didn’t add to it.

What once was a flower border that separated our properties is now a line of old rocking horses tied together with wire, not only does she have rocking horses in this make believe fence of theirs, but she has more bowling balls on stands then the local bowling alley. Okay, I exaggerated on that one, but when my brother came up from Nebraska last year, informed me on one of his trips that they have 14 gazing balls out there – I had to disagree with him. He was stunned beyond belief when I told him they were bowling balls on pedestals. They mix in real well with all the damn pink flamingos and plastic flowers she has shoved in pots and in the ground. These are all nicely wired and chained to the ground, lest some teenager decides to make havoc with her rocking horse cemetery.

This spring while I had the Shoppe Boutique, I had the pleasant & amusing opportunity to meet three young ladies who had only happened to the boutique because they had slowed down to see the carnival next door. I guess I should be thankful for that.

The girls were quite amusing in their speculations as to why anyone would do that to their front yard. The people that own it think that all the people that stop to stare at it are their fans…I guess they don’t talk to their “fans” much because everyone one I have ever had come to my house, people I know, and people I don’t know, are all appalled at the “carnival” next door. One gal informed me that the only reason horses all cluster together like that is out of fear – she wondered what they were afraid of. I can only think that it has to be rust.

They have two or three trees in their yard, and around every tree is a make believe carousal, with old horses dismantled long ago from its rocking frame, following closely behind by another retired rocking horse. On each of those rocking horses sits some old doll, dressed up in little kid’s clothes. They may look good from the street people, but up close they are quite frightening – the hair is gone or thinning from some of the dolls heads, blank stares out of glass eyes that you know have seen way too much, missing eyes & limbs…it’s like they stepped right out of some ghastly horror flick.

This year they took new plastic strips in red and white and tied them around some unseen wire to form the tops of the carousal, bringing even more attention to the atrocity that I live next to.

But of course if the front of the house isn’t enough to make you stop and scratch your head – come by my place sometime and take a gander at what I have to see every day from my backyard. If I mentioned that the front is some form of pet cemetery for retired, dismantled rocking horses, their backyard is what they dug up after it had been buried too long out front, it’s like a freakish outside laboratory for dead, dismantled & dismembered carnival parts.

Poor Woody off from Toy Story has to live his life out surrounded by a million other Woody’s along the other side of their house. Some sit on old miniature horses, other just lie in the dirt, or on old toy chairs that are slowly deteriorating into the ground becoming its own morbid form of a toy cemetery.

The whole thing is rather spooky, really. While the outside of their house looks like this, I sure would hate to see what the inside looks like. I don’t even want to imagine it, it makes me shudder. And to think, all this from the same people who had the gall to ask someone who helped move us in this house how many people were moving in here because “We” sure had enough stuff. Now that’s calling the kettle black.

So, if you are ever in Roseville…don’t miss out on your chance to see the Cemetery, er, I mean uh, Carousal Carnival on Dionne Street. Its on display 24/7/365.

Stop Islamisation

If you are NOT Muslim you need to see this.  It is a film by a Netherland film maker.  He is currently in hiding. 

If you think that Muslims are here to live a good life here you are sadly mistaken.  Watch this film.  There are scenes that I needed to turn away from.  But if you can watch the entire film. It will raise your awareness of what the Muslim people are up to. If you think you can trust them, again, you are sadly mistaken.

Watch the clip