The Late, Great Americans

By Simon Pedenko

When we grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, parental guidance consisted of a handful of well-understood and simple admonishments. For example, if we found ourselves confronted by a bully or were victims of insults, we were told to “turn the other cheek.” Often, our dads would wisely supersede that counsel with “Stand up to bullies, because that’s what they understand.” When we successfully stood up to the bully our action was followed by silent pride and a sense of accomplishment. We stood taller.

“Stand up to bullies” had merit then, and still does now. But the bullies we face today are no longer on the schoolyard. They are national leaders, gathering weapons of mass destruction to intimidate their neighbors. When America stands up to these bullies, defends the weak and the oppressed, we are criticized, condemned and constrained by the “international community.” If we use force to confront those bullies, it is described as “continuing the cycle of violence” or “inciting terrorists.”

Many Americans no longer want to deal with bullies. Instead, they glorify the gutless. Backbone, once a trademark compliment showered on men, women and young adults who stood up for what was right, is no longer a badge of honor.

Today, politicians bray like asses do and the semi-literate sheep bleat approval as they blindly follow those who would strip clean the refuge of our sacrosanct Constitution. Within the Preamble, there is one sentence: “To provide for the common defense.” Today, our nation no longer seems to have the fortitude or will to confront implacable enemies – or to provide for that common defense.

Similarly, we have been systematically stripped of spines inside our own borders by gangs. If we stand up to these homegrown and alien thugs, the ACLU comes galloping to their defense faster than you can say “victim’s rights.”

Islamic Extremists have taken a giant step beyond traditional guerilla warfare, pushing their belligerency to a gross level by using civilians, not as a base of support, but as human shields. Coupled with terrorists’ willingness to blow themselves up for pie in the sky (so to speak), Americans have allowed themselves to be castrated by political correctness, unable to stand up to bullies as we once did with heads held high. Will these fanatics be forgiven by liberals when Americans are similarly used on our own soil? Political correctness has robbed us of our right to defend ourselves, to live with honor, and even the right to laugh at ourselves. And to make sure we comply, the Thought Police are on the lookout, ready to enforce the new rules.

It is painfully clear we have become an effete political force, unable to wipe emboldened smiles off the faces of illegal immigrants, domestic gangs, or international terrorists. The enemy hammers away with blind and fatal ambition to destroy us from within our ranks while the Left continues to hamstring our Commander-in-Chief’s efforts to crush the enemy’s forward momentum. Prevailing against terrorism becomes near impossible when terrorist’s rights are held higher that those of Americans. The focus of these malcontents must be aimed away from their personal likes and dislikes and aimed at the fanatical bullies who want nothing more than to murder all men, women and children who do not share their views, and their god.

Hatred can and will destroy this country from the outside unless it is stamped out first within our borders. The hatred which is aimed at our President, and which is preached by our countrymen against our country and its citizens cannot be tolerated if we are to survive as a nation. We must once again stand tall.

Ask liberals how they think we should win the war against terrorism, and their answer is either “sit down and negotiate (with those whom there is no negotiating),” or worse, no answer at all.
In this desperate period of our history, another adage of long ago needs to be resurrected NOW. Stand up to those bullies by “Fighting fire with fire,” the same fire that still burns within the hearts of real Americans who used to defend our freedom at all costs.

Unless we come together now to defend America, there soon may be no America to defend.

WELCOME HOME, BOYS

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 805-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

Missing World War II Airmen Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) today announced three airmen missing in action from World War II have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors. They are 2nd Lt. David J. Nelson, Chicago, Ill.; Tech. Sgt. Henry F. Kortebein, Maspeth, N.Y.; and Tech. Sgt. Blake A. Treece Jr., Marshall, Ark., all U.S. Army Air Forces. These men are to be buried along with group remains of their aircrew at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men in their hometowns on behalf of the Secretary of the Army to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors.

On August 8, 1944, Nelson, Kortebein and Treece departed an allied air base in England in their B-17G Flying Fortress with six other crewmen aboard. Their mission was to bomb enemy targets near Caen, France. The aircraft was seen to explode and crash after being struck by enemy flak near the village of Lonlay l'Abbaye, south of Caen. The other six members of the crew were 1st Lt. Jack R. Thompson; 2nd Lts. Charles Bacigalupa and Charles Sherrill; and Sgts. Richard R. Collins, Gerald F. Gillies and Warren D. Godsey. The hometowns of these six are not available.

German forces and French villagers living near the crash site recovered some of the remains of the crew and buried them nearby. Advancing U.S. forces found additional remains. Six of the nine crewmen ultimately were identified, but Nelson, Kortebein and Treece remained unaccounted for.

In August 2002, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) operating in Luxembourg was informed that a local French aircraft wreckage hunting group (Association Normande du Souvenir Aerien 39/45) had located a crash site near Lonlay l'Abbaye. The JPAC team surveyed the site, excavated it in July 2004 and recovered human remains, personal effects and crew-related materials from amid the wreckage. Also found were six unexploded 250-pound bombs.

Later that year, a French explosive ordnance disposal team turned over a bone fragment to the U. S. Defense Attache in Paris. It was found by French technicians working to secure the site where the bombs had been found.

Among other forensic identification tools, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains of the three, matching DNA sequences from maternal relatives.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/or call (703) 699-1169.

THANK YOU, MEN. JOB WELL DONE.

MAINSTREAM TV ONCE AGAIN FAUXS ITS PAS

The report of a tragic plane crash in Lexington, Kentucky, early Sunday morning was on the news wires most of the day. I prayed for the souls of the passengers and the pilot who perished, and for their families. (Only one person survived, identified later as the co-pilot, who was pulled from the wreckage moments before the entire aircraft burst into flames.)

Last night, I began watching the 58th Emmy Awards Show last night, mostly for the glitter and twitter of the celebrities. I'd heard Conan O'Brien would be the host and so I expected some fun moments, since I consider him to be a funny man...usually. Unfortunately, the opening sequence hit me like a trainload of chipped ice.

In view of the loss of lives in that plane crash earlier Sunday, I believe the network and the producers of the Emmys could have--should have--exercised restraint and respect, or at least common sense, and scrapped the plane crash parody at the opening of the show and gone straight to the awards ceremony. But then, the heel of my hand went upside my forehead, reminding me, "Duh! This is mainstream media!"

I always think there is little that could surprise me anymore at this stage in my life. The MSM proves me wrong every day. Their blatant unbalanced reporting, such as, most recently, their coverage and broadcasts of the battle between Israel and Hezbollah. As far as I could determine, only approximately 5% of the reporting showed Israeli casualties. The other 95% of reporting showed Lebanese civilians and some Hezbollah fighters, or persons posing as Hezbollah fighters.

Last night, the MSM seemingly took a quantum leap into utter disregard. I'm certain no one at that network truly understands the meaning of "plain decency."

On the basis of what I see and hear on a daily basis, it is clear that the mainstream media suffer from an extremely limited range of human emotions. I say "human emotions" because (correct me if I'm wrong), as far as I can tell it is humans who are in charge of the major broadcast networks. Only these humans lack compassion and empathy. They push the outside of the envelope too far too many times, and last night, in my opinion, they went straight over the edge.