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June 30, 2004

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun (Part 2)

On a sadder note (After having written two good posts on the subject), there is now speculation that Cpl Wassef Ali Hassoun may have in fact tried to desert when he went missing around 21 June. I heard on the radio this morning that Hassoun was deeply troubled after seeing another Marine killed by a mortar round. The radio report went on to say that the Marine Corps had listed him as being on an "Unauthorized Absence" and believed he may have been trying to flee to Lebanon where it is suspected that he has a wife.

According to KIROtv.com...

Marine General Kimmitt said the Marine (Wassef Ali Hassoun) had gone on an "unauthorized absence" around June 21 -- and that officials suspect he may have been heading to Lebanon. The General didn't give more details.

I truly hope that Cpl Hassoun is not a deserter. I hope he did not befriend and seek help from any Iraqis. It could have sealed his fate.

If Hassoun is guilty of desertion it is a black eye for his family and the Marines. However, unlike two Army deserters who are cowering in Canada, Hassoun did in fact deploy and fight for his country.

I will be on pins and needles while we wait for the facts.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:36 PM | Comments (9)

Saddam To Get His

Saddam Hussein, looking thinner after nearly seven months as a U.S. captive, was transferred to Iraqi custody Wednesday, reducing him to a criminal defendant in the land he once ruled and launching the painful process of holding him and his henchmen accountable for their brutal regime.

Check out the New York Post for full details...

My only hope is that Saddam will get what he so richly deserves.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:23 PM | Comments (3)

Coca Cola A Danger To National Security

"Ya Can't Make This Stuff Up!"

Check out Castle Argghhh for his story on "Al-Qaeda" cola.

Apparently this summers "Unexpected Summer" promotion being run by Coca Cola has been deemed a threat to national security.

Worth the read and the laugh!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:19 PM | Comments (3)

Letter From The Marines

From a Marine officer on the Iraqi warfront with Jihadistan...

(This is an open letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, "Islamic
Response," and the rest of the so-called al-Qa'ida "insurgents"
in Iraq and elsewhere. We don't have an e-mail address for these
swine -- though we are closing in on their snail-mail address,
but we are forwarding this letter to Federalist Patriots around the
world in the hope you good people will forward it to as many other
Patriots as possible to rally prayer and support for our fellow
Marine, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun. Should these al-Qa'ida pigs
spill his blood, we want them to rest assured that the contents
of this letter will eventually be nailed to their foreheads. Thank
you for your assistance.)

To al-Qa'ida terrorists in Iraq:

I see that you have captured a U.S. Marine, and that you plan
to cut off his head if your demands are not met. Big mistake.
Before you carry out your threat I suggest you read up on Marine
Corps history. The Japanese tried the same thing on Makin
Island and in a few other places during World War Two, and came
to regret it. Go ahead and read about what then happened to the
mighty Imperial Army on Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They paid
full price for what they did, and you will too.

You look at America and you see a soft target, and to a large
extent you are right. Our country is filled with a lot of spoiled
children who drive BMWs, sip decaf lattes and watch ridiculous
reality TV shows. They are for the most part decent, hard working
citizens, but they are soft. When you cut off Nick Berg's head
those people gasped, and you got the media coverage you sought,
and then those people went back to their lives. This time it
is different. We also have a warrior culture in this country,
and they are called Marines. It is a brotherhood forged in the
fire of many wars, and the bond between us is stronger than
blood. While it is true that this country has produced nitwits
like John Kerry, Michael Moore, Howard Dean and Jane Fonda who
can be easily manipulated by your gruesome tactics, we have
also produced men like Jason Dunham, Brian Chontosh and Joseph
Perez. If you don't recognize those names you should. They are all
Marines who distinguished themselves fighting to liberate Iraq,
and there will be many more just like them coming for you.

Before the current politically correct climate enveloped our
culture one of the recruiting slogans of our band of brothers was
"The Marine Corps Builds Men." You will soon find out just how
true that is. You, on the other hand, are nothing but a bunch of
women. If you were men you would show your faces, and take us on
in a fair fight. Instead, you are cowards who hide behind masks
and decapitate helpless victims. If you truly represented the
interest of the Iraqi people you would not be ambushing those who
come to your country to repair your power plants, or sabotage the
oil pipelines which fuel the Iraqi economy. Your agenda is hate,
plain and simple.

When you raise that sword over your head I want you to remember
one thing. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun is not alone as he kneels
before you. Every Marine who has ever worn the uniform is there
with him, and when you strike him you are striking all of us. If
you think the Marines were tough on you when they were cleaning
out Fallujah a few weeks ago you haven't seen anything yet. If you
want to know what it feels like to have the Wrath of God called
down upon you then go ahead and do it. We are not Turkish truck
drivers, or Pakistani laborers, or independent contractors hoping
to find work in your country. We are the United States Marines,
and we will be coming for you.

They not only need fear Marines, but also every Sailor, Soldier and Airman in country. The US military is a brotherhood these swine will never understand.

SlagleRock Out!

(Circulation of this message is being sponsored by The Federalist
Patriot, the most widely read conservative e-journal on the
Internet. If you have not already joined the ranks of Patriots
receiving The Federalist Patriot, we encourage you to do so.
This highly acclaimed conservative digest of news, policy and
opinion will be delivered FREE by e-mail to your inbox each week.
Simply link to -- The Federalist

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:32 PM | Comments (1)

June 28, 2004

SPC Maupin Presumed Dead

Another sad day for America...

According to Fox News:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi militants killed an American soldier they have held hostage for nearly three months, saying the slaying was because the U.S. government did not change its policy in Iraq, Al-Jazeera television reported Tuesday.

News of the killing of Spc. (Keith) Matt Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, came hours after the United States returned sovereignty in Iraq to an interim government. The report did not say when Maupin was killed.

Spc. Matt Maupin was missing for nearly three months (April 9, 2004). See my earlier post One U.S. Soldier Missing One Held Captive .

Maj. Willie Harris, public affairs spokesman for the Army's 88th Regional Readiness Command, said the videotape is being analyzed by the Department of Defense.

"There is no confirmation at this time, that the tape contains footage of Matt Maupin or any other Army soldier," he said, adding that the Maupin family was briefed "as to the existence of a videotape."

Al-Jazeera said a statement was issued with the video in the name of a group calling itself "The Sharp Sword against the Enemies of God and His Prophet." In the statement, the militants said they killed the soldier because the United States did not change its policies in Iraq and to avenge "martyrs" in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.

Maupin was among nine Americans, seven of them contractors, who disappeared after the April 9 attack.

While we are awaiting confirmation of Spc. Maupin’s passing it is likely safe to assume that he is in fact dead.

These lunatic terrorists have held true to all of their chicken shit attacks, beheadings, and other brutal murders.

Keep the Maupin family in your hearts and thoughts.

Keith Matthew Maupin may have paid the ultimate sacrifice and for this he will forever be a hero.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:33 PM | Comments (9)

Iraq Has Her Sovereignty And Her Freedom

Iraq is a sovereign nation!

Freedom is theirs should they choose to embrace it.

Only fifteen months after the invasion of Iraq began; the Iraqi people have a nation to call their own. While it sounds fantastic to say that Iraq is free and that the Iraqi people will now prosper, they clearly have many hurdles ahead. Look at the US for example, it has taken us over two hundred years to get to where we are today and we still have our fair share of obstacles to overcome.

I truly wish the best for the Iraqi people and the stability of their nation.

The turn over of power occurred two days ahead of schedule. President Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, right, is sworn in Monday by Iraqi Chief Justice Midhat Al-Mahmodi.

Here are several links that are covering or commenting on the turn over of power to the Iraqi government:CNN, Fox News, Emigre With A Digital Clue Bat, and Emperor Misha.

I could go on and on about what I think about the turn over and what I expect from the Iraqi's in the coming months but for now I will simply post the information that the change of power has occurred.

I will be watching and posting in the coming weeks and months.

Good Luck Iraq

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:13 PM | Comments (1)

June 27, 2004

3,000 Hits At The Slaughterhouse

Well, we have hit the 3,000 hits mark here at SlagleRock's Slaughterhouse. The 3,000th hit happened on 26 Jun 04.

It has been about 2.5 months since I started this blog, with the help of Mamamontezz, and I have been averaging more than 1,000 hits per month.

While I wish it were 10,000 hits per month it makes me feel good that so many of you are interested in reading what this Air Force Sergeant has to say.

Keep reading, keep commenting, keep hitting me with the links and I'll keep telling it like I see it.

Thanks all!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:21 PM | Comments (5)

Interview With A Terrorist

Thanks to Emigre With A Digital Cluebat for pointing out this post at FreeRepublic.com.

Follow the links and look into the mind of a Jihadist.

Disturbing to read. Further proof that peace in the Middle East may just be impossible.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:53 PM | Comments (2)

Marine Held Hostage in Iraq

According to APNews, Fox News, and CNN another hostage has been taken in Iraq, this time it is not an innocent civilian but a US MARINE.

Wassef Ali Hassoun, as stated on the photo of his ID card released by his captors has been identified as a US marine. Terrorists claim that they lured him outdoors, after gaining access to a Marine Post in Iraq, and then took him hostage.

Cpl. Hassoun as well as a Pakistani man (Civilian Employee for Halliburton) have both been threatened with their lives. The terrorists claim that both will be beheaded if the US doesn't release all prisoners held in "occupied" prisons such as Abu Ghraib.

I am afraid these men are most likely already dead. As we have seen in every other similar scenario the captives are brutally decapitated while they are bound.

These chicken shit terrorist know that we will not comply with any demands so what reason would they have to wait until the deadline to perform their barbaric, ritualistic, murder.

My only hope with this scenario is now that the captive is one of the Few, the Proud, the Marines the US will put even more pressure on these terrorist cells. I'd like nothing more than for the Marines to learn the location that these men are being held hostage and deal the terrorists slow torturous death. These Jihadists, Ba'ath Party Members or just plain douche bag Islamic Extremists need to feel Uncle Sams wrath.

We should hold nothing back in finding Cpl. Hassoun and any others taken hostage by rogue groups.

Also, I think that it is time to shut down Al Jazeera. This scumbag “news” agency is nothing more than a terrorist puppet. They have posted photos, letters, audio and video of everything from Usama Bin Laden to the beheadings of innocents. They clearly choose to side with terror and should be dealt with as such.

Pray for the Cpl and his family.

Semper Fidelis Corporal!!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:07 PM | Comments (6)

June 26, 2004

In The News (Great Links From A Loyal Reader)

Below in bold you'll find some information and links provided by one of my best readers, Jack.

Keep up the good work.

Jack

Here's some light reading about our "friends" the Saudi's

Moments Before the Execution
Mahmood Ahmad, Arab News staff
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=23428&d=8&m=3&y=2003

A Christian ex-pat Indian national, was arrested by the Muttawa (religious
police) on the streets of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Carey speech on Islam in full
Address given by Lord Carey of Clifton at the Gregorian University, Rome,
on Thursday, March 25 in which he criticised Islamic culture and regimes

Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue and contributed to the death of 15 school girls

Reforms to Suit Saudi Needs
Abdul Wahab Bashir, Arab News

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:29 AM | Comments (1)

U.S. Drops U.N. Bid for War Crime Shield

According to the GigHarbor Portal and Associated Press the US has retracted its resolution to shield US troops from prosecution for war crimes. As many would expect this was prompted by the publicity of the Abu Ghraib scandal.

This is a must read. Click the link and check out the story. One more reason why the US needs to get the hell out of the UN and stop involving them in anything we do.

As I am sure the Oil for Food investigation will show the UN is every bit as corrupt as many have suspected.

I never did understand why you would put so much control in a governing body that doesn't control anything. Every nation votes for what they want and in the end the US foots the bill.

I think the UN is nothing more than a global mafia with aspirations of being crooked global cops. I hope one day that events like this one will prompt the US to say goodbye to the United Nations, retract our money and let the organization crumble.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)

June 25, 2004

An Eye For An Eye

According to Reuters and Alertnet.org Afghani's have had enough...

22 Jun 2004 16:46:13 GMT

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 22 (Reuters) - Afghan soldiers beheaded four Taliban fighters after guerrillas cut off the heads of an Afghan interpreter for U.S.-led forces and an Afghan soldier, a government commander said on Tuesday.

The interpreter and the soldier were beheaded after becoming separated from a patrol of Afghan and U.S.-led foreign troops in the Arghandab district of Zabul province on Monday night, Namatullah Tokhi, commander of the government's 27th division in the province, told Reuters.

He said government troops later captured and killed four Taliban guerrillas in the same way. "They cut of their heads with a knife, so when our forces arrested four Taliban, we cut off their heads too."

Some say the bible references an eye for an eye and others only turn the other cheek. Some would say that this avenging beheading is immoral, an atrocity a horror. They'd even go as far as saying this puts the good guys on the same level as the terrorists. Now I know that you won't ever hear of this type of action from the US, but I say if the people of other nations want to avenge their losses this way I have to say I am all for it.

This type of horrible repercussion may be what it takes to stop the chicken shit actions of a few men (If you can call them that) who cower behind masks.

To the Afghani's I say thank you. Give these terrorist pieces of shit just what they deserve!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:33 PM | Comments (3)

June 24, 2004

This Makes Me Sick

Follow the link to a Korean site that tells of outrage. This is a sad example of a clueless/heartless American having fun at the expense of others. How would he like it if one of his family members were the subject of the video? Unfortunately the Korean link does not provide a link to the site in question. If anyone finds it let me know, I'd like to say a few things to/about the individual who finds the senseless death of this innocent man humerous.

Kim Sun-il gets ILL Just plain sick

This type of humor is not funny at all. It is just plain sick!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:16 PM | Comments (4)

British Marines and Sailors Released to UK Embassy in Tehran

According to CBS.com eight British troops including six Sailors and two Marines have been released to British diplomats.

The troops were said to be in good spirits though relatively scared. It was also said that they were well taken care of according to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Apparently the Iranians are just a little smarter than their neighbors in Iraq.

This is one of those situations that could have easily escalated, but thankfully it did not.

It is sad that the world is so hostile, and that nations cannot treat each other with more respect.

As long as there are extremists there will be wars. As long as there is evil, there will be warriors to fight those wars.

I am glad that the Brits were released and hope that the Iranians never feel froggy enough to engage in true combat with the US.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:08 PM | Comments (2)

June 23, 2004

Chiming In

OK, there have been a few things recently that I haven't touched on.

First, THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WAS RIGHT!! For all the leftists, wake up morons. Have you seen the photos of the training camps in Iraq?

A peaceful nation doesn't torture, rape and murder its citizens. Al Qaeda? Association with 9/11? Doesn't really matter, the world has been rid of one of if not the worst dictator on Earth and possibly one of the worst of all time.

Second, Kim Sun-Il, an innocent man who was in the wrong place. Terrorist shit bags took his life for no reason. They could behead a thousand innocents and in the end all they are going to get is their asses kicked.

I think S. Korea should commit even more troops to Iraq and not hesitate to waste any piece of Iraqi Camel shit they "suspect" of terrorism.

Third, Syria imposes sanctions:

Bwahahahahhahhahha (ROTFL) I almost pissed myself I was laughing so hard when I heard this one.

Finally, the Brit sailors taken by Iran:

If Iran wants to be next, so be it!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:35 PM | Comments (5)

Saudi Government Offers Amnesty To Terrorists

According to Fox News.Com the Crowned Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has offered to remove the death penalty from the table for those people who turn themselves in. He also said that they would only prosecute those people who "hurt" others.

He also stated, "We are opening the door of amnesty ... to everyone who deviated from the path of right and committed a crime in the name of religion, which is in fact a corruption on earth," he said, reading a statement on behalf of his half-brother, King Fahd.

While I do think it is good that they are appearing to be proactive, but what kind of crap is it really? They are going to take away the death penalty? That means that these monsters who took innocent men captive and brutally murdered them.

I say bullshit. The Saudi government shouldn't make any special concessions for these assholes. They should be hunted down like the animals that they are. They need to face the full might of the law.

The Prince also said, the offer was open to anyone who had not yet been "arrested for carrying out terrorist acts," Abdullah added, but "we swear by God that nothing will prevent us from striking with our full might" those who do not surrender themselves.

Striking with their full might? Ha Ha Ha. Had the US not intervened in '91 Saudi Arabia would have been taken by Iraq just as Kuwait was.

I think this is nothing more than political shiftiness by the Saudi royal family.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 03:00 PM | Comments (3)

June 22, 2004

Ann Coulter

"After a terrorist attack by al-Qa'ida that left hundreds of their fellow countrymen dead, Spanish voters immediately voted to give the terrorists what they want -- a socialist government that opposes America's war on terrorism. Al-Qa'ida has changed a government. Until the bombings... the center-right Popular Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had been sailing to victory. But then the al-Qa'ida bombs went off and Spaniards turned out in droves to vote against the government that had been a staunch Bush ally in the war on terrorism. (I guess it's OK for a Spanish socialist to 'politicize' a terrorist attack just to get elected.) In a videotaped message, the al-Qa'ida 'military commander' for Europe claimed credit for the bombings, saying that the terrorist attack was meant to punish Spain for supporting the war in Iraq. The message came as a total shock to liberals who have been furiously insisting that Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with al-Qa'ida. Apparently al-Qa'ida didn't think so. After the Madrid bombings, it looks like liberals and terrorists will have to powwow on whether there was an Iraq /al-Qa'ida link. Two hundred dead Spaniards say there was." --Ann Coulter

Posted by SlagleRock at 02:24 PM | Comments (4)

The Flag Means...

This morning as I was dropping my four year old off at pre-school I stopped to take a look at some of the childrens artwork.

There were about 40 little scribbled pictures of flags. As usual the "teachers" wrote on the bottom what the children said the artwork was depicting.

I soon discovered that the overlying theme was for our upcoming Independence Day. The children were asked, "what does the flag mean to you?"

One child drew a colorful flag and it stated, "this is a rainbow flag."

Another drew one that was red, white and blue, and stated, "the flag means we have airplanes." (Being an Air Force child that is expected)

Then I saw a third, it was red with white stripes and a blue field of stars. While the number of stars and stripes were incorrect it was very clear what it represented. At the bottom of the picture it said, "the flag means we are Americans!" When I discovered that it was my child who drew this flag and said these words I felt a little choked up.

Now the point of this blog...

No, I am not bragging that my 4 year old has better patriotism than John F*ck Face Kerry. And no, I am not bragging that my child drew a better flag than a bunch of 3-5 year olds.

My point is always remember just how impressionable these young minds really are. They pick up everything both good and bad. Just imagine how messed up Michael Moores kids must be!?!?

The flag flies in front of my house and always will. My daughter will always know just how important "Old Glory" really is to our great nation.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:03 AM | Comments (5)

June 21, 2004

Corrupt Saudi Police Aided In The Capture Of Paul Johnson

In a recent AP News release it has been stated that Saudi Police aided in the capture of American Paul Johnson.

According to the article, Kidnappers of American in Saudi Arabia Say Police Assisted Abduction With Uniforms, False Checkpoints Saudi Police sympathetic to Al Qaeda helped the J.E.R.M.s a.k.a -Jihadist Extremist Radical Muslims by providing them with uniforms and real police vehicles.

My first question is this; if this is substantiated will the police that assisted be dealt with? All should be beheaded. The video footage of the cruel and vile event should be plastered all over the Internet so that their families can see it much as it was with the beheading of Nicholas Berg.

We need to step up and do something about this. It is time to fight fire with fire. If the Saudi government can't (more likely won't) deal with these psychopaths we need to provide elite forces to "assist" them.

Many argue that Mr. Johnson did not have to be there, I say that is irrelevant. American while we are hated for nothing more than jealousy should be safe in any country whose government not only allows us to be there, but requests it.

The Saudi people, like most of the Arab countries are extremely backwards. They are hundreds of years behind the western world in all aspects.

I have been deployed to numerous places around the world, from the Middle East, to Asia and Africa. Saudi Arabia is the only place that I truly felt unsafe. I never left my office without my sidearm at a minimum. I made it a point to ensure that all of my troops were armed and traveled in numbers. The Saudis are truly a shady people and I think that their lack of education, coupled with the mindless manipulation of their government through religion, they have come to believe that Americans are evil; the same Americans that kept the Iraqis from taking them next in '91.

This event is just one more example of why we need to cut ties with the Arab world, enforce sanctions on Saudi Arabia and rely on our own natural resources so that we don't have to send Americans into that desolate thankless region of the world that I believe will someday be responsible for the third world war.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:00 AM | Comments (4)

June 20, 2004

Welcome Another Great Blogger

I'd like to introduce you to another great blog site. Take a look at the Bonfire

Also, there will be a permanent link in my gutter soon to follow.

It is a great site and a must read on my list.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:11 PM | Comments (1)

Welcome to the Empire

See below:

Whoops, Almost Forgot

SlagleRock is just the kind of curmudgeonly, no-bullshit blogger that His Imperial Majesty loves, so it should come as no surprise that he is henceforth to be known as LC & IB SlagleRock, Imperial Dept. of Hegemony by Force.

Keep wielding the Imperial ClueBat like that and welcome to the Empire.

Posted by Emperor Darth Misha I at 03:44 PM on 19 June 04

Originally posted on The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Needless to say I am proud to be a member of the Empire! Emperor Misha has a great site and great incite!

Also, I'd like to say thank you to Mamamontezz for the awesome button that is featured as my link to The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Here is a sneak peak:

Obviously you can also find it in my gutter at the top of the page.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:05 PM | Comments (2)

No One Asked Us

Below in bold you will find a letter that was emailed to me by a most trusted friend.

Upon completing a search of the Internet I too discovered that Major Coerr is who he claims to be. I also discovered that this letter has found its way onto numerous websites and several very respectable blogs.

As a man having the same feeling on the events in Iraq, as well as an inside perspective I decided that it needs to be posted here at the Slaughterhouse as well.

No One Asked Us
By Major Stan Coerr, USMCR

George Bush coalesced American support behind invading Iraq, I am told, using two arguments: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and the capability to deliver them, and Iraq was a supporter of Al-Qaeda terrorism, and may have been involved in the attacks of 9/11. Vicious words and gratuitous finger-pointing keep falling back on these points, as people insist that "we" were misled into what started as a dynamic liberation and has become a bloody counterinsurgency. Watching politicians declaim and hearing television experts expound on why we went to war and on their opinions of those running the White House and Defense Department, I have one question.

When is someone going to ask the guys who were there?

What about the opinions of those whose lives were on the line, massed on the Iraq-Kuwait border beginning in February of last year? I don't know how President Bush got the country behind him, because at the time I was living in a hole in the dirt in northern Kuwait. Why have I not heard a word from anyone who actually carried a rifle or flew a plane into bad guy country last year, and who has since had to deal with the ugly aftermath of a violent liberation? What about the guys who had the most to lose...what do they think about all this?

I was there. I am one of those guys who fought the war and helped keep the peace. I am a Major in the Marine Reserves, and during the war I was the senior American attached to the 1 Royal Irish Battle group, a rifle battalion of the British Army. I was commander of five U.S. Marine air/naval gunfire liaison teams, as well as the liaison officer between U.S. Marines and British Army forces. I was activated on January 14, 2003, and 17 days later I and my Marines were standing in Kuwait with all of our gear, ready to go to war.

I majored in Political Science at Duke, and I graduated with a Masters degree in government from the Kennedy School at Harvard. I understand realpolitik, geopolitical jujitsu, economics and the reality of the Arab world. I know the tension between the White House, the UN, Langley and Foggy Bottom. One of my grandfathers was a two-star Navy admiral; my other grandfather was an ambassador. I am not a pushover, blindly following whoever is in charge, and I don't kid myself that I live in a perfect world. But the war made sense then, and the occupation makes sense now.

As dawn broke on March 22, 2003, I became part of one of the largest and fastest land movements in the history of war. I went across the border alongside my brothers in the Royal Irish, following the 5th Marine Regiment from Camp Pendleton as they swept through the Ramaylah oil fields. I was one those guys you saw on TV every night- filthy, hot, exhausted. I think the NRA and their right-to-bear-arms mantra is a joke, but by God I was carrying a loaded rifle, a loaded pistol and a knife on my body at all times My boots rested on sandbags on the floor of my Humvee, there to protect me from the blast of a land mines or IED. I killed many Iraqi soldiers, as they tried to kill me and my Marines. I did it with a radio, directing airstrikes and artillery, in concert with my British artillery officer counterpart, in combat along the Hamar Canal in southern Iraq. I saw, up close, everything the rest of you see in the newspapers: dead bodies, parts of dead bodies, helmets with bullet holes through them, handcuffed POWs sitting in the sand, oil well fires with flames reaching 100 feet into the air and a roar you could hear from over a mile away.

I stood on the bloody sand where Marine Second Lieutenant Therrel Childers was the first American killed on the ground. I pointed a loaded weapon at another man for the first time in my life. I did what I had spent 14 years training to do, and my Marines - your Marines - performed so well it still brings tears to my eyes to think about it. I was proud of what we did then, and I am proud of it now.

Along with the violence, I saw many things that lifted my heart. I saw thousands of Iraqis in cities like Qurnah and Medinah - men, women, children grandparents carrying babies - running into the streets at the sight of us, the first Western army to arrive. I saw them screaming, crying, waving, cheering. They ran from their homes at the sound of our Humvee tires roaring in from the south, bringing bread and tea and cigarettes and photos of their children. They chattered at us in Arabic, and we spoke to them in English, and neither understood the other. The entire time I was in Iraq, I had one impression from the civilians I met: Thank God, finally someone has arrived with bigger men and bigger guns to be, at last, on our side.

Let there be no mistake, those of you who don't believe in this war: the Ba’ath regime were the Nazis of the second half of the 20th century. I saw what the murderous, brutal regime of Saddam Hussein wrought on that country through his party and their Fedayeen henchmen. They raped, murdered, tortured, extorted and terrorized those in that country for 35 years. There are mass graves throughout Iraq only now being discovered. 1st Battalion,
5th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, liberated a prison in Iraq populated entirely by children. The Ba'athists brutalized the weakest among them, and killed the strongest.

I saw in the eyes of the people how a generation of fear reflects in the human soul.

The Ba'ath Party, like the Nazis before them, kept power by spreading out, placing their officials in every city and every village to keep the people under their boot. Everywhere we went we found rifles, ammunition, RPG rounds, mortar shells, rocket launchers, and artillery. When we took over the southern city of Ramaylah, our battalion commander tore down the Ba'ath signs and commandeered the former regime headquarters in town (which, by the way, was 20 feet from the local school.) My commander himself took over the office of the local Ba'ath leader, and in opening the desk of that thug found a set of brass knuckles and a gun. These are the people who are now in prison, and that is where they deserve to be.

The analogy is simple. For years, you have watched the same large, violent man come home every night, and you have listened to his yelling and the crying and the screams of children and the noise of breaking glass, and you have always known that he was beating his wife and his children.. Everyone on the block has known it. You ask, cajole, threaten and beg him to stop, on behalf of the rest of the neighborhood. Nothing works. After listening to it for 13 years, you finally gather up the biggest, meanest guys you can find, you go over to his house, and you kick the door down. You punch him in the face and drag him away. The house is a mess, the family poor and abused...but now there is hope. You did the right thing.

I can speak with authority on the opinions of both British and American infantry in that place and at that time. Let me make this clear: at no time did anyone say or imply to any of us that we were invading Iraq to rid the country of weapons of mass destruction, nor were we there to avenge 9/11. We knew we were there for one reason: to rid the world of a tyrant, and to give Iraq back to Iraqis.

None of us had even heard those arguments for going to war until we returned and we still don't understand the confusion. To us, it was simple. The world needed to be rid of a man who committed mass murder of an entire people, and our country was the only one that could project that much power that far and with that kind of precision. We don't make policy decisions: we carry them out. And none of us had the slightest doubt about how right and good our actions were.

The war was the right thing to do then, and in hindsight it was still the right thing to do. We can't overthrow every murderous tyrant in the world, but when we can, we should. Take it from someone who was there, and who stood to lose everything. We must, and will, stay the course. We owe it to the Iraqis, and to the world.

Stan Coerr is a SuperCobra attack helicopter pilot and Forward Air Controller, and was recently selected for Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. He lives in San Diego.

[Google search verifies Coerr is who he says he is. First saw reference in an El Paso column. His home is San Diego

On more than one occasion while I was deployed in support of OPERATION Iraqi Freedom I heard news reports that were inconsistent with what was going on. I heard so-called intelligence reports that where very off the mark. I heard claims of troop conditions and events that were very askew from the truth.

Like Major Coerr, we didn't think we were there to prevent the construction of WMD, and we weren't there to avenge or seek any type of retribution for the cowardly attack on 9/11.

We were there to stop that bully, that wife-beater, that evil son of a bitch Saddam Hussein.

Hussein is a man on a short list of the world’s most evil dictators. Genghis Kahn, Pol Pat, Mao, Idi Amin, Hitler to name a few. Men who are pure evil. Men who themselves do not deserve to live, let alone to be in a position to force their evils on innocents.

To Major Coerr, I say, HUA. And though I am an Airman and not a Marine I can say I will be Semper Fidelis.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:11 AM | Comments (2)

June 19, 2004

American Apologies

I received this in an email. While I do not know who the author is, I thought it was worth posting.

Author unknown - sentiment shared.

For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this minor event into some modern day My Lai massacre.

I heard some Arabs are asking for an apology. I humbly offer mine here:

I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.).

I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11. I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Arabs.

I am sorry that Arabs have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships. I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth. I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools.

I am sorry that Yasir Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and high jacked the Palestinian "cause". I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians.

I am sorry that the USA has to step in and be the biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA.

I am sorry that our own left wing elite and our media can't understand any of this. I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the "food for oil" money so they could get rich while the common folk suffered.

I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers upon their death. I am sorry that those same bombers are seeking 72 virgins? I can't seem to find one here on Earth.

I am sorry that the homicide bombers think babies are a legitimate target.

I am sorry that our troops died to free more Arabs. I am sorry they stopped the gang rape rooms and the filling of mass graves of dissidents.

I am sorry they show so much restraint when their brothers in arms are killed. I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other group.

I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist state. I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters on Fallujah.

I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient "Holy Site". I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into the World Trade Center that collapsed and severely damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church - one of our Holy Sites.

I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, etc,

I am sorry Michael Moore is American; he could feed a medium sized village in Africa.

I am sorry the French are french?

America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish those responsible because that is what we do. We hang out our dirty laundry for all the world to see. We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so much. We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology.

Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we were like - so what? We lost hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners.

Sure, it was wrong; sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we were trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to wring our hands because a few were humiliated? Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujans.

If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long wait. You have a better chance of finding those 72 virgins.

Author unknown - sentiment shared.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:01 AM | Comments (7)

June 18, 2004

President Bush and Wife Laura

Posted by SlagleRock at 07:26 PM | Comments (0)

American Hostage Paul Johnson Beheaded

Hot from CNN.com

U.S. hostage Johnson apparently beheaded
Islamic Web site posts photos of body of man kidnapped in Saudi Arabia
Friday, June 18, 2004 Posted: 1:58 PM EDT (1758 GMT)

(CNN) -- Three chilling photographs on an Islamist Web site appear to show the beheaded body of American hostage Paul Johnson, who was kidnapped a week ago by Islamic militants connected with al Qaeda.

Abdel Aziz Al-Muqrin, the self-proclaimed military leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, claimed responsibility for Johnson's kidnapping and the death of another American on the same day on behalf of a group called the Al Falluja Squadron.

On Tuesday, he threatened to kill Johnson in 72 hours unless the Saudi government released al Qaeda prisoners and all Westerners left the Arabian Peninsula.

"We gave you the deadline but you did not respect it," a statement on the Web site said. "This is what we promised to do."

A Saudi security source said, "From our end, we cannot confirm this. We have not found a body yet."

Earlier Friday, Al Arabiya as well as CNN had aired an emotional appeal from Johnson's wife.

U.S. and Saudi investigators concluded an intensive meeting Friday, Saudi officials said, as security forces spread all over the kingdom searching for Johnson.

Johnson, 49, a Lockheed Martin Corp. employee, had been kidnapped Saturday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. He helped maintain U.S.-built Apache helicopter gunships for the Saudi military.

Al Falluja Squadron says it has ties to al Qaeda.

The State Department has urged all Americans to leave Saudi Arabia, but Johnson's sister, Donna Mayeux, said in a CNN interview that her brother "always felt safe in Saudi Arabia."

"My brother is an honorable man," she said. "He has always treated people with dignity and respect."

Once again Muslim extremists have lashed out at innocents. Mr Johnson was an innocent and was not a threat to anyone in Suadi Arabia.

My thoughts go out to the family of Mr. Johnson.

Again the thought of turning the Middle East into one solid sheet of glass is becoming more appealing.

We cannot negotiate with savages like these ever.

SlagleRock Out!!

Paul Johnson Jr. and his wife Noom

While Mr. Johnson may not have been a high-ranking government official or a man in the military he is an American and here at the Slaughterhouse my flag flies at half-staff for this American senselessly murdered by Muslim extremists

.

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:07 AM | Comments (2)

Quotes Referring To The Flag (Flag Day Tribute Concluded)

"It was leadership here at home that gave us strong American influence abroad, and the collapse of imperial Communism. Great nations have responsibilities to lead, and we should always be cautious of those who would lower our profile, because they might just wind up lowering our flag." --Ronald Reagan (1994)

"A star for every state, and a State for every star." --Robert C. Winthrop

"I want the people of all the earth to see in the American flag the symbol of a Government which intends no oppression at home and no aggression abroad, which in the spirit of a common brotherhood provides assistance in time of distress." --Calvin Coolidge

Who could say it better than these great men? I know I can't.

This concludes my first ever week long (M-F actually) tribute. I hope everyone found the information provided both educational and motivating. If you are like me you bleed red, white, and blue.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)

June 17, 2004

Air Force Investigator in Case Against Arabic Speaking Airman Faces Own Criminal Charges

A key investigator in an espionage case against a former interpreter at the Guantanamo Bay prison now faces criminal charges himself, including rape, sodomy and fondling girls, the Air Force said Tuesday.

The accused is a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations stationed at Travis AFB, CA.

For the full story see AP News.

In short this individual has brought great shame upon himself and the U.S. Air Force. It shames me deeply that I am writing about such a tragic event, but it pains me even more to think that he is one of our own. While only a fool could believe that just because we (the military) are held to a higher standard that no assholes slip through the cracks.

Technical Sergeant (Special Agent) Palmosina is accused of the worst kind of crime, rape, molestation, and sodomy of minor children.

I will not beat this one to death as it hurts just to write about it. I can only hope that he gets what he deserves. He will most certainly be stripped of all rank, title and position and face a bad conduct discharge. Hopefully many, many, many years of hard labor will accompany his almost certain punishment. We can all hope that he will get what he so richly deserves.

I believe that a lifetime of painful castrations is too kind a punishment for this type of crime, but the legal system will not allow that. We will have to have faith that justice will be served and he will be dealt the strongest blow if convicted.

I bow in sadness at this tragic event and my heart aches as I think of the victims. I have a wonderful little girl and I can’t imagine why or how anyone could ever do such a vile thing to an innocent child.

Like the incidents at Abu Ghraib, the actions of one or a few are not a reflection on the military as a whole. I still believe that we have the greatest military in the world, and while we may have our bad days there is no doubt that Americas finest are called Airman, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:16 PM | Comments (5)

Dirt Bag Deserters Honored at Fundraiser in Candy Ass Canada

Many of you may remember my story about American Deserters back in April of this year.

Today I was watching Fox News and saw a story about a group of Canadians that held a fundraiser to raise money for these douche bags so they can continue to cower in Canada. I am not going to spend much time on this one as I said my piece in the original story, but I do think that the 200 or so people who purportedly attended the fund raiser need to back off and let these cowards pay their own way.

If they were Americans and not panty wastes this wouldn't be an issue and wouldn't even be a blip in the media. I think Hinzman, Huey and any others who have chicken shitted out and run should pop their heads out of their asses, find their manhood and face the music.

For further information about the scumbags check out what Bill O'Reilly had to say about it.

My support goes out only to those with balls enough to follow through with their commitments.

SlagleRock Out!

Oh, by the way I apologize for interrupting my Flag Day tribute by mentioning these wastes of flesh.

Posted by SlagleRock at 02:40 PM | Comments (4)

Guidelines For Display Of The U.S. Flag (Flag Day Continued)

GUIDELINES FOR DISPLAY OF THE U.S. FLAG

Public Law 94-344, known as the Federal Flag Code, contains rules for handling and displaying the U.S. Flag. While the federal code contains no penalties for misusing the flag, states have their own flag codes and may impose penalties. Traditional guidelines call for displaying the flag in public only from sunrise to sunset. However, the flag may be displayed at all times if it's illuminated during darkness. The flag should not be subject to weather damage, so it should not be displayed during rain, snow and wind storms unless it is an all-weather flag.
It should be displayed often, but especially on national and state holidays and special occasions.

The flag should be displayed on or near the main building of public institutions, schools during school days, and polling places on election days.

It should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.

When carried in procession with other flags, the U.S. flag should be either on the marching right (the flag's right) or to the front and center of the flag line. When displayed on a float in a parade, the flag should be hung from a staff or suspended so it falls free. It should not be draped over a vehicle.
When displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, the U.S. flag should be on its own right (left to a person facing the wall) and its staff should be in front of the other flag's staff. In a group of flags displayed from staffs, the U.S. flag should be at the center and the highest point.

When flags of states, cities or organizations are flown on the same staff, the U.S. flag must be at the top (except during church services conducted at sea by Navy chaplains).

When other flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the U.S. flag should be hoisted first and lowered last. It must be on the right of other flags and no other flag should stand higher than it. Flags of other nations should be flown from separate staffs. International custom dictates that flags of different nations be displayed at the same height in peacetime and be approximately the same size. If the flag is suspended outdoors from a rope stretched from a building to a pole, the flag should be hoisted out from the building with the union first. When the flag is displayed other than from a staff, it should be flat or suspended so that it falls free.

When displayed against something, such as a wall, the union should be at the top and to the flag's own right, the observer's left - whether displayed horizontally or vertically.

When displayed over a street or sidewalk, where it can be seen from either side, be sure the union is to the north on an east-west street, and to the east on a north-south street. The same directions apply in a building lobby or corridor with entrances to the east and west or north and south.

When displayed flat against the wall on a speaker's platform, the flag should be above and behind the speaker with the union on the left side as the audience looks at it (again, the flag's right).

When the flag hangs from a staff in a church or public place, it should appear to the audience on the left, the speaker's right. Any other flags displayed should be placed on the opposite side of the speaker.

The flag may cover a casket, but should not cover a statue or monument for unveiling. It should never be draped or drawn back in folds. Draped red, white and blue bunting should be used for decoration, with the blue at the top and red at the bottom. On a casket, the union (blue field) should be at the deceased person's head and heart, over the left shoulder. But the flag should be removed before the casket is lowered into the grave and should never touch the ground.

The flag may be flown at half-staff to honor a newly deceased federal or state government official by order of the president or the governor, respectively.

On Memorial Day, the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon. Whenever the flag is displayed at half-staff, it should be first raised to the top. Lowering from half-staff is preceded by first raising it momentarily to the top.

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:01 AM | Comments (3)

June 16, 2004

Flag Named Old Glory (Flag Day Continued)

Flag Named Old Glory

The name "Old Glory" was first applied to the United States Flag by a young sea captain who lived in Salem, Massachusetts. On his twenty-first birthday, March 17, 1824, Captain William Driver was presented a beautiful flag by his mother and a group of Salem girls. Driver was delighted with the gift. He exclaimed, "I will name her 'Old Glory.'" Then "Old Glory" accompanied the captain on his many voyages.

Captain Driver quit the sea in 1837. He settled in Nashville, Tennessee. On patriotic days he displayed Old Glory proudly from a rope extending from his house to a tree across the street. After Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, Captain Driver hid Old Glory. He sewed the Flag inside a comforter. When the Union soldiers entered Nashville on February 25, 1862, Driver removed Old Glory from its hiding place. He carried the Flag to the Capitol building and raised it above the state capitol.

Shortly before his death, the old sea captain placed a small bundle into the arms of his daughter. He said to her: "Mary Jane, this is my ship's Flag, 'Old Glory.' It has been my constant companion. I love it as a mother loves her child. Cherish it as I have cherished it."

The flag remained as a precious heirloom in the Driver family until 1922. It was then sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, where it can be seen today.

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:01 AM | Comments (3)

June 15, 2004

Betsy Ross Sews First Official Flag (Flag Day Continued)

Betsy Ross Sews First Official Flag

Hopkinson requested compensation from Congress in 1780 for his design, but Congress denied it, saying that others had worked on the project as well. Betsy Ross was commissioned by a congressional committee to sew the first official flag. Some believe she was responsible for changing the stars from being six-pointed to five-pointed, easier to make.

After Vermont and Kentucky became states in the 1790s, Congress approved adding two more stars and two more stripes to the group that represented the original 13 colonies, now states. This was the "Star Spangled Banner" of which Francis Scott Key wrote in 1814. As other states entered the Union, it became obvious that stripes could not be added continually, so in 1818 Congress reestablished the 13-stripe flag and allowed for additional stars for new states.

1818 Law Sets Final Form

The law specified that stripes should be horizontal, alternately red and white, and the union, or canton, should display 20 stars for the states then in the union. But it did not specify color shades or arrangement of the stars, and wide variation persisted. During the Civil War, gold stars were more common than white and the stars sometimes appeared in a circle. In 1912, when the stars numbered 48, standards of design were set which became even more precise when the 49th and 50th stars were added in 1959 and 1960.

The regulated design calls for seven red and six white stripes, with the red stripes at top and bottom. The union of navy blue fills the upper left quarter from the top to the lower edge of the fourth red stripe. The stars have one point up and are in nine horizontal rows. The odd-numbered rows have six stars. The even-numbered rows have five stars, centered diagonally between the stars in the longer rows.

The reason the flag is folded into a triangular shape is to symbolize the shape of the cocked hats worn by soldiers of the American Revolution.
The first time the Stars and Stripes flew in a Flag Day celebration was in Hartford, Conn., in 1861, the first summer of the Civil War. Numerous patriotic groups supported a regular nationwide observance. In the late 1800s, schools held Flag Day programs to contribute to the Americanization of immigrant children, and the observance caught on with individual communities. But it was not until 1916 that the president proclaimed a nationwide observance and not until 1949 that Congress voted for Flag Day to be a permanent holiday. It is not a "legal" holiday, however, except in Pennsylvania.

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:01 AM | Comments (1)

June 14, 2004

Flag Day

How many people do you know that remembered and honored Flag Day?

Below you will find some very interesting information about both Flag Day and the U.S. Flag, "Old Glory". Much of this information was recently published in The Federalist.

As a tribute to our great flag I will be posting something about the flag and the traditions that go with it each day this week. Check back daily to read further tributes to Old Glory and Flag Day.

Let start first with this great quote:

"I want the people of all the earth to see in the American flag the symbol of a Government which intends no oppression at home and no aggression abroad, which in the spirit of a common brotherhood provides assistance in time of distress." --Calvin Coolidge

Flag Day Reflection

On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson announced during his Memorial Day address, that June 14th of each year would be celebrated as Flag Day. "This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation," said President Wilson. "It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation.... Though silent, it speaks to us--speaks to us of the past, of the men and women who went before us, and of the records they wrote upon it."

On Flag Day 2004, I urge all American patriots to display and pay homage to our National Flag.

As I look around me 75% of my neighbors proudly display the US Flag (OF course, I live in military family housing on base). Do yours? If they don't maybe you should share this information about the flag with them and encourage them to do so. --SlagleRock

The United States Flag

The flag of the United States is one of the oldest national standards in the world. No records confirm who designed the original "Stars and Stripes," but historians believe Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, probably modified the unofficial Continental flag into the design we now have. General George Washington raised the Continental Army flag in 1776, a red-and-white striped flag which included the British Union Jack where we now have stars.

Several flag designs with 13 stripes were used in 1776 and 1777, until Congress established the official flag on June 14, 1777 -- now observed as Flag Day. The act stated "That the Flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

George Washington explained it this way: "We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."

The flag was first carried in battle at Brandywine, Pa., in September 1777. It first flew over foreign territory in early 1778, at Nassau, Bahama Islands, where Americans captured a fort from the British.

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:39 PM | Comments (3)

2,000 Hits @ The Slaughterhouse

We are getting there slowly. To my regular readers I say thank you. For all of my new readers, I hope you will become "regulars" and that I provide you many things worth reading.

The Slaughterhouse hit 2,000 visitors at 1800 hours on 14 Jun 04.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:36 PM | Comments (5)

Great Appreciation

Thanks are in order. Today we unveiled a new look at the Slaughterhouse. The new banner is courtesy of Mamamontezz.

I hope if further contributes to the red, white, and blue!

Anyone interested in one of Mammas originals? Check out Mama's Photobucket for some of her original artwork.

Thanks again, Mama, I appreciate it very much.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:31 AM | Comments (4)

"George Bush Has Got It Right"

Don't expect to see or hear any of this in the mainstream media. Once again, this bit from Mamamontezz will be about all you are likely to hear of it.

Mamamontezz wrote:

The Copenhagen Consensus report should be required reading for the eight world leaders gathered this week in Georgia. It's time for the Europeans, especially, to admit that, on the critical question of global welfare, George Bush has got it right.

James Glassman's TechCentralStation post, "What to Do First to Save the World" is something the media will completely ignore, and what a sham shame that is.

Activists, Globalists, self-appointed saviors of the weak and oppressed have either fogotten or never learned that resources are finite, even monitary resources in economies as large as the one we enjoy. It is this denial of limits, coupled with unfettered envy that cripples what should be successful and noble campaigns to better living conditions, eradicate hunger and disease, and abolish the enslavement of humans by each other, by political movements, and by fear.

Ah, but that doesn't fit the agenda. And so rather than abandon the false deities of Greenpeace, Kyoto, and the UN, they allow millions to suffer needless hunger, pain, and ultimately, death.

Thanks to Mamamontezz and TCS for putting this out there.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:01 AM | Comments (2)

June 13, 2004

Welcome to the Blogosphere

Welcome GI Jill in Baghdad, another hard charging American soldier. Colonel Jill Morgenthaler is a US Army Colonel stationed in Iraq. Her site offers an abundance of incite from the source.

Also, I'd like to welcome Arklahomboy to my blogroll. He is an Iraqi freedom veteran and offers an interesting view of the world.

Last but not least I'd like to mention PappaSlagle at I Don't Do Blogs. He is a republican at heart that tends to try and lean to the liberal hard to explain, but could make for some interesting reading. He didn't like the blog scene *boo hiss spit* until his oldest son (that's me) got rolling. Now he shows signs of interest. Good things could come from his site. Welcome Pappa.

Hope you all enjoy the blogosphere and may many links from the Slaughterhouse be yours to enjoy.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:44 AM | Comments (4)

This Needs No Explanation

'Nuff Said!

Thank you Darth Monkeybone at SithMonkey for this great cartoon!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:31 AM | Comments (2)

June 12, 2004

UN inspectors: Saddam shipped out WMD before war and after

Thanks to both Mamamontezz and SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Friday, June 11, 2004

The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.

The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program.

The briefing contained satellite photographs that demonstrated the speed with which Saddam dismantled his missile and WMD sites before and during the war. Council members were shown photographs of a ballistic missile site outside Baghdad in May 2003, and then saw a satellite image of the same location in February 2004, in which facilities had disappeared.

UNMOVIC acting executive chairman Demetrius Perricos told the council on June 9 that "the only controls at the borders are for the weight of the scrap metal, and to check whether there are any explosive or radioactive materials within the scrap," Middle East News line reported.

"It's being exported," Perricos said after the briefing. "It's being traded out. And there is a large variety of scrap metal from very new to very old, and slowly, it seems the country is depleted of metal."

"The removal of these materials from Iraq raises concerns with regard to proliferation risks," Perricos told the council. Perricos also reported that inspectors found Iraqi WMD and missile components shipped abroad that still contained UN inspection tags.

He said the Iraqi facilities were dismantled and sent both to Europe and around the Middle East at the rate of about 1,000 tons of metal a month. Destinations included Jordan, the Netherlands and Turkey.

Tuesday, August 26, 2003 : Report: U.S suspects Iraqi WMD in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley

The Baghdad missile site contained a range of WMD and dual-use components, UN officials said. They included missile components, reactor vessel and fermenters – the latter required for the production of chemical and biological warheads.

"It raises the question of what happened to the dual-use equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for," Ewen Buchanan, Perricos's spokesman, said. "You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products with a fermenter. You can also use it to breed anthrax."

The UNMOVIC report said Iraqi missiles were dismantled and exported to such countries as Jordan, the Netherlands and Turkey. In the Dutch city of Rotterdam, an SA-2 surface-to-air missile, one of at least 12, was discovered in a junkyard, replete with UN tags. In Jordan, UN inspectors found 20 SA-2 engines as well as components for solid-fuel for missiles.

"The problem for us is that we don't know what may have passed through these yards and other yards elsewhere," Buchanan said. "We can't really assess the significance and don't know the full extent of activity that could be going on there or with others of Iraq's neighbors."

UN inspectors have assessed that the SA-2 and the short-range Al Samoud surface-to-surface missile were shipped abroad by agents of the Saddam regime. Buchanan said UNMOVIC plans to inspect other sites, including in Turkey.

In April, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohammed El Baradei said material from Iraqi nuclear facilities were being smuggled out of the country.

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:27 PM | Comments (3)

The Federalist

The Federalist is a concise, highly acclaimed e-journal of anecdotal rebuttal to contemporary political, social and media Leftists.

I thought some of you may be interested.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:06 AM | Comments (3)

Quotes From Ronald Reagan's Children During Burial Service

The Associated Press
Published: Jun 11, 2004

"Ron Reagan adopted me into his family in 1945. I was the chosen one. I was the lucky one. In all these years, he never mentioned that I was adopted either behind my back or in front of me. I was his son, Michael Edward Reagan." - Michael Reagan.

For more great quotes click on Continue reading, "Quotes From Ronald Reagan's Children During His Burial Service" -- SlagleRock

"Nearly at the onset of Alzheimer's disease, my father and I would tell each other we loved each other and gave each other a hug. As the years went by and he could no longer verbalize my name, he recognized me as the man who hugged him. So when I would walk into the house, he would be there in his chair, opening up his arms for that hug." - Michael Reagan.

"Dad, when I go, I will go to heaven, too. And you and I, and my sister Maureen ... we will dance with a heavenly host of angels before the presence of God, we will do it melanoma and Alzheimer's free." - Michael Reagan.

"I know that at his last moment, when he opened his eyes, eyes that had not opened for many, many days, and looked at my mother, he showed us that neither disease nor death can conquer love." - Patti Davis.

"He used to say, 'A gentleman always does the kind thing.' And he was a gentleman in every sense of the word - a gentle man. ... Dad treated everyone with the same unfailing courtesy." - Ron Reagan Jr.

"He is home now. He is free. In his final letter to the American people, dad wrote, 'I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life.' This evening, he has arrived. - Ron Reagan Jr.

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:21 AM | Comments (1)

Great Quote Suitable For This Past Week In America

"It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives." --Samuel Johnson

Posted by SlagleRock at 12:01 AM | Comments (1)

June 11, 2004

Family Eulogies For President Reagan

Text of Ron Reagan Jr.'s Remarks at Father's Burial Service

Published June 11, 2004

Text of remarks by Ron Reagan Jr. at Friday's burial service for former President Reagan, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.:
RON REAGAN JR.: He is home now. He is free. In his final letter to the American people, Dad wrote, "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life." This evening, he has arrived.

History will record his worth as a leader. We here have long since measured his worth as a man. Honest, compassionate, graceful, brave. He was the most plainly decent man you could ever hope to meet.

He used to say, "A gentleman always does the kind thing." And he was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. A gentle man.

Big as he was, he never tried to make anyone feel small. Powerful as he became, he never took advantage of those who were weaker. Strength, he believed, was never more admirable than when it was applied with restraint. Shopkeeper, doorman, king or queen, it made no difference, Dad treated everyone with the same unfailing courtesy. Acknowledging the innate dignity in us all.

The idea that all people are created equal was more than mere words on a page, it was how he lived his life. And he lived a good, long life. The kind of life good men lead. But I guess I'm just telling you things you already know.
Here's something you may not know, a little Ronald Reagan trivia for you, his entire life, Dad had an inordinate fondness for earlobes. Even as a boy, back in Dixon, Ill., hanging out on a street corner with his friends, they knew that if they were standing next to Dutch, sooner or later, he was going to reach over and grab hold of their lobe, give it a workout there. Sitting on his lap watching TV as a kid, same story. He would have hold of my ear lobe. I'm surprised I have any lobes left after all of that.

And you didn't have to be a kid to enjoy that sort of treatment. Serving in the Screen Actors Guild with his great friend William Holden, the actor, best man at his wedding, Bill got used to it. They would be there at the meetings, and Dad would have hold of his earlobe. There they'd be, some tense labor negotiation, two big Hollywood movie stars, hand in earlobe.

He was, as you know, a famously optimistic man. Sometimes such optimism leads you to see the world as you wish it were as opposed to how it really is. At a certain point in his presidency, Dad decided he was going to revive the thumbs-up gesture. So he went all over the country, of course, giving everybody the thumbs up.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) and I found ourselves in the presidential limousine one day returning from some big event. My mother was there and Dad was, of course, thumbs-upping the crowd along the way, and suddenly, looming in the window on his side of the car, was this snarling face. This fellow was reviving an entirely different hand gesture. And hoisted an entirely different digit in our direction. Dad saw this and without missing a beat turned to us and said, "You see? I think it's catching on."

Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. True, after he was shot and nearly killed early in his presidency, he came to believe that God had spared him in order that he might do good. But he accepted that as a responsibility, not a mandate. And there is a profound difference.

Humble as he was, he never would have assumed a free pass to heaven. But in his heart of hearts, I suspect he felt he would be welcome there. And so he is home. He is free.

Those of us who knew him well will have no trouble imagining his paradise. Golden fields will spread beneath a blue dome of a western sky. Live oaks will shadow the rolling hillsides. And someplace, flowing from years long past, a river will wind toward the sea. Across those fields, he will ride a gray mare he calls Nancy D. They will sail over jumps he has built with his own hands. He will, at the river, carry him over the shining stones. He will rest in the shade of the trees.

Our cares are no longer his. We meet him now only in memory. But we will join him soon enough. All of us. When we are home. When we are free.

Text of Michael Reagan's Remarks at Father's Burial Service

The Associated Press
Published: Jun 12, 2004

Good evening. I'm Mike Reagan. You knew my father as governor, as president. But I knew him as dad. I want to tell you a little bit about my dad. A little bit about Cameron and Ashley's grandfather because not a whole lot is ever spoken about that side of Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan adopted me into his family 1945. I was a chosen one. I was the lucky one. And all of his years, he never mentioned that I was adopted either behind my back or in front of me. I was his son, Michael Edward Reagan.

When his families grew to be two families, he didn't walk away from the one to go to the other. But he became a father to both. To Patti and then Ronnie, but always to Maureen, my sister, and myself.

We looked forward to those Saturday mornings when he would pick us up, sitting on the curve on Beverly Glen as his car would turn the corner from Sunset Boulevard and we would get in and ride to his ranch and play games and he would always make sure it ended up a tie.

We would swim and we would ride horses or we'd just watch him cut firewood. We would be in awe of our father. As years went by and I became older and found a woman I would marry, Colleen, he sent me a letter about marriage and how important it was to be faithful to the woman you love with a P.S.: You'll never get in trouble if you say I love you at least once a day, and I'm sure he told Nancy every day "I love you" as I tell Colleen.

He also sent letters to his grandchildren. He wasn't able to be the grandfather that many of you are able to be because of the job that he had. And so he would write letters. He sent one letter to Cameron, said: "Cameron, some guy got $10,000 for my signature. Maybe this letter will help you pay for your college education. He signed it, Grandpa. P.S. Your grandpa is the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. He just signed his sign." Those are the kinds of things my father did.

At the early onset of Alzheimer's disease, my father and I would tell each other we loved each other and we would give each other a hug. As the years went by and he could no longer verbalize my name, he recognized me as the man who hugged him. So when I would walk into the house, he would be there in his chair opening up his arms for that hug, hello, and the hug goodbye. It was a blessing truly brought on by God.

We had wonderful blessings of that nature. Wonderful, wonderful blessings that my father gave to me each and every day of my life.

I was so proud to have the Reagan name and to be Ronald Reagan's son. What a great honor. He gave me a lot of gifts as a child. Gave me a horse. Gave me a car. Gave me a lot of things. But there's a gift he gave me that I think is wonderful for every father to give every son.

Last Saturday, when my father opened his eyes for the last time, and visualized Nancy and gave her such a wonderful, wonderful gift. When he closed his eyes, that's when I realized the gift that he gave to me, the gift that he was going to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He had, back in 1988 on a flight from Washington, D.C. to Point Mugu, told me about his love of God, his love of Christ as his Savior. I didn't know then what it all meant. But I certainly, certainly know now.

I can't think of a better gift for a father to give a son. And I hope to honor my father by giving my son Cameron and my daughter Ashley that very same gift he gave to me.

Knowing where he is this very moment, this very day, that he is in Heaven, and I can only promise my father this. Dad, when I go, I will go to Heaven, too. And you and I and my sister, Maureen, that went before us, we will dance with the heavenly host of angels before the presence of God. We will do it melanoma and Alzheimer's free. Thank you for letting me share my father, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Text of Remarks by Patti Davis at Father's Burial Service

The Associated Press
Published: Jun 12, 2004

Many years ago, my father decided to write down his reflections about death, specifically his own, and how he would want people to feel about it. He chose to write down the first verse of an Alfred Lord Tennyson poem, "Crossing The Bar," and then he decided to add a couple lines of his own. I don't think Tennyson will mind. In fact, they've probably already discussed it by now.

Tennyson wrote: "Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea." My father added: "We have God's promise that I have gone on to a better world, where there is no pain or sorrow. Bring comfort to those who may mourn my going."

My father never feared death, he never saw it as an ending. When I was a child, he took me out into a field at our ranch after one of the Malibu fires had swept through. I was very small and the field looked huge and lifeless, but he bent down and showed me how tiny new green shoots were peeking up out of the ashes just weeks after the fire had come through. "You see," he said, "new life always comes out of death. It looks like nothing could ever grow in this field again, but things do."

He was the one who generously offered funeral services for my goldfish on the morning of its demise. We went out into the garden and we dug a tiny grave with a teaspoon and he took two twigs and lashed them together with twine and formed a cross as a marker for the grave. And then he gave a beautiful eulogy.
He told me that my fish was swimming in the clear blue waters in heaven and he would never tire and he would never get hungry and he would never be in any danger and he could swim as far and wide as he wanted and he never had to stop, because the river went on forever. He was free.

When we went back inside and I looked at my remaining goldfish in their aquarium with their pink plastic castle and their colored rocks, I suggested that perhaps we should kill the others so they could also go to that clear blue river and be free.

He then took more time out of his morning - I'm sure he actually did have other things to do that day - and patiently explained to me that in God's time, the other fish would go there, as well. In God's time, we would all be taken home. And even though it sometimes seemed a mystery, we were just asked to trust that God's time was right and wise.

I don't know why Alzheimer's was allowed to steal so much of my father - sorry -Before releasing him into the arms of death, but I know that at his last moment, when he opened his eyes, eyes that had not opened for many, many days and looked at my mother, he showed us that neither disease nor death can conquer love.

He may have in his lifetime come across a small book called "Peace of Mind," by Joshua Loth Lieberman. If he did, I think he would have been struck by these lines: "Then for each one of us, the moment comes when the great nurse, death, takes man, the child, by the hand and quietly says, 'It's time to go home, night is coming. It is your bedtime, child of Earth.' "

Posted by SlagleRock at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)

A Nation Wept...

... As Lady Liberty Bowed Her Head And Uncle Sam Stood Vigil Over A Saddened Nation.

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:35 PM | Comments (1)

Remarks by President Bush in Eulogy for Ronald Wilson Reagan

The National Cathedral
Washington, D.C.

THE PRESIDENT: Mrs. Reagan, Patti, Michael, and Ron; members of the Reagan family; distinguished guests, including our Presidents and First Ladies; Reverend Danforth; fellow citizens:

We lost Ronald Reagan only days ago, but we have missed him for a long time. We have missed his kindly presence, that reassuring voice, and the happy ending we had wished for him. It has been ten years since he said his own farewell; yet it is still very sad and hard to let him go. Ronald Reagan belongs to the ages now, but we preferred it when he belonged to us.

In a life of good fortune, he valued above all the gracious gift of his wife, Nancy. During his career, Ronald Reagan passed through a thousand crowded places; but there was only one person, he said, who could make him lonely by just leaving the room.

America honors you, Nancy, for the loyalty and love you gave this man on a wonderful journey, and to that journey's end. Today, our whole nation grieves with you and your family.

When the sun sets tonight off the coast of California, and we lay to rest our 40th President, a great American story will close. The second son of Nell and Jack Reagan first knew the world as a place of open plains, quiet streets, gas-lit rooms, and carriages drawn by horse. If you could go back to the Dixon, Illinois of 1922, you'd find a boy of 11 reading adventure stories at the public library, or running with his brother, Neil, along Rock River, and coming home to a little house on Hennepin Avenue. That town was the kind of place you remember where you prayed side by side with your neighbors, and if things were going wrong for them, you prayed for them, and knew they'd pray for you if things went wrong for you.

The Reagan family would see its share of hardship, struggle and uncertainty. And out of that circumstance came a young man of steadiness, calm, and a cheerful confidence that life would bring good things. The qualities all of us have seen in Ronald Reagan were first spotted 70 and 80 years ago. As a lifeguard in Lowell Park, he was the protector keeping an eye out for trouble. As a sports announcer on the radio, he was the friendly voice that made you see the game as he did. As an actor, he was the handsome, all-American, good guy, which, in his case, required knowing his lines -- and being himself.

Along the way, certain convictions were formed and fixed in the man. Ronald Reagan believed that everything happened for a reason, and that we should strive to know and do the will of God. He believed that the gentleman always does the kindest thing. He believed that people were basically good, and had the right to be free. He believed that bigotry and prejudice were the worst things a person could be guilty of. He believed in the Golden Rule and in the power of prayer. He believed that America was not just a place in the world, but the hope of the world.

And he believed in taking a break now and then, because, as he said, there's nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.

Ronald Reagan spent decades in the film industry and in politics, fields known, on occasion, to change a man. But not this man. From Dixon to Des Moines, to Hollywood to Sacramento, to Washington, D.C., all who met him remembered the same sincere, honest, upright fellow. Ronald Reagan's deepest beliefs never had much to do with fashion or convenience. His convictions were always politely stated, affably argued, and as firm and straight as the columns of this cathedral.

There came a point in Ronald Reagan's film career when people started seeing a future beyond the movies. The actor, Robert Cummings, recalled one occasion. "I was sitting around the set with all these people and we were listening to Ronnie, quite absorbed. I said, 'Ron, have you ever considered someday becoming President?' He said, 'President of what?' 'President of the United States,' I said. And he said, 'What's the matter, don't you like my acting either?'" (Laughter.)

The clarity and intensity of Ronald Reagan's convictions led to speaking engagements around the country, and a new following he did not seek or expect. He often began his speeches by saying, "I'm going to talk about controversial things." And then he spoke of communist rulers as slavemasters, of a government in Washington that had far overstepped its proper limits, of a time for choosing that was drawing near. In the space of a few years, he took ideas and principles that were mainly found in journals and books, and turned them into a broad, hopeful movement ready to govern.

As soon as Ronald Reagan became California's governor, observers saw a star in the West -- tanned, well-tailored, in command, and on his way. In the 1960s, his friend, Bill Buckley, wrote, "Reagan is indisputably a part of America, and he may become a part of American history."

Ronald Reagan's moment arrived in 1980. He came out ahead of some very good men, including one from Plains, and one from Houston. What followed was one of the decisive decades of the century, as the convictions that shaped the President began to shape the times.

He came to office with great hopes for America, and more than hopes -- like the President he had revered and once saw in person, Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan matched an optimistic temperament with bold, persistent action. President Reagan was optimistic about the great promise of economic reform, and he acted to restore the reward and spirit of enterprise. He was optimistic that a strong America could advance the peace, and he acted to build the strength that mission required. He was optimistic that liberty would thrive wherever it was planted, and he acted to defend liberty wherever it was threatened.

And Ronald Reagan believed in the power of truth in the conduct of world affairs. When he saw evil camped across the horizon, he called that evil by its name. There were no doubters in the prisons and gulags, where dissidents spread the news, tapping to each other in code what the American President had dared to say. There were no doubters in the shipyards and churches and secret labor meetings, where brave men and women began to hear the creaking and rumbling of a collapsing empire. And there were no doubters among those who swung hammers at the hated wall as the first and hardest blow had been struck by President Ronald Reagan.

The ideology he opposed throughout his political life insisted that history was moved by impersonal ties and unalterable fates. Ronald Reagan believed instead in the courage and triumph of free men. And we believe it, all the more, because we saw that courage in him.

As he showed what a President should be, he also showed us what a man should be. Ronald Reagan carried himself, even in the most powerful office, with a decency and attention to small kindnesses that also defined a good life. He was a courtly, gentle and considerate man, never known to slight or embarrass others. Many people across the country cherish letters he wrote in his own hand
-- to family members on important occasions; to old friends dealing with sickness and loss; to strangers with questions about his days in Hollywood. A boy once wrote to him requesting federal assistance to help clean up his bedroom. (Laughter.)

The President replied that, "unfortunately, funds are dangerously low."
(Laughter.) He continued, "I'm sure your mother was fully justified in proclaiming your room a disaster. Therefore, you are in an excellent position to launch another volunteer program in our nation. Congratulations."
(Laughter.)

Sure, our 40th President wore his title lightly, and it fit like a white Stetson. In the end, through his belief in our country and his love for our country, he became an enduring symbol of our country. We think of his steady stride, that tilt of a head and snap of a salute, the big-screen smile, and the glint in his Irish eyes when a story came to mind.

We think of a man advancing in years with the sweetness and sincerity of a Scout saying the Pledge. We think of that grave expression that sometimes came over his face, the seriousness of a man angered by injustice -- and frightened by nothing. We know, as he always said, that America's best days are ahead of us, but with Ronald Reagan's passing, some very fine days are behind us, and that is worth our tears.

Americans saw death approach Ronald Reagan twice, in a moment of violence, and then in the years of departing light. He met both with courage and grace. In these trials, he showed how a man so enchanted by life can be at peace with life's end.

And where does that strength come from? Where is that courage learned? It is the faith of a boy who read the Bible with his mom. It is the faith of a man lying in an operating room, who prayed for the one who shot him before he prayed for himself. It is the faith of a man with a fearful illness, who waited on the Lord to call him home.

Now, death has done all that death can do. And as Ronald Wilson Reagan goes his way, we are left with the joyful hope he shared. In his last years, he saw through a glass darkly. Now he sees his Savior face to face.

And we look to that fine day when we will see him again, all weariness gone, clear of mind, strong and sure, and smiling again, and the sorrow of his parting gone forever.

May God bless Ronald Reagan, and the country he loved.

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:17 PM | Comments (3)

June 10, 2004

Comments on the Loss of President Reagan by Mr. Racicot (Chairman of the Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign)

Below you will find comments from the chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign regarding the loss of president Reagan as received in the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign email newletter.

Dear SlagleRock,

America has lost one of its greatest leaders. President Reagan's optimism and vision restored America's spirit and helped to spread freedom and democracy.

On behalf of President Bush's campaign I would like to offer our sincerest condolences to Nancy Reagan and the Reagan family. Our nation mourns with you.

In this time of mourning, I encourage you to go to www.GeorgeWBush.com to read some of President Reagan's greatest speeches.

Sincerely,

Marc Racicot
Chairman,
Bush-Cheney '04

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:24 PM | Comments (1)

Funeral Rites And Other Burial Traditions

While looking at my Uncles Blog I saw something of interest:

Funeral Rites
John Cole at Balloon Juice has an interesting post up with information on some of the traditions followed in a military funeral.

Really interesting on how some of our traditions came about.

In this time when we have lost a great American President and a fine musician I too thought many may be interested in where some of our burial traditions come from. Take a look and find such things as the 21-gun salute, the rider less horse and why we drape Old Glory over caskets.

-Interesting facts in history

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:00 PM | Comments (1)

Ray Charles Dies At The Age Of 73

Singer Ray Charles has passed on. As many have said or will say, I was touched each time I heard Mr. Charles Rendition of America The Beautiful. He was a great singer and his music transcended many generations and barriers. He will be missed. American's listened to his music from the 40's to today and it will continue to be played for generations to come.

R.I.P. Mr. Charles

SlagleRock Out! (*Sheds a Tear*)

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:49 PM | Comments (2)

June 09, 2004

Publick Skoolz

Ironically enough I was talking to my supervisor about the sad state of our schools today. Then when I got home I noticed several posts about the same subject.

Recently I moved from California where it was painfully obvious that Governor Schwarzenegger has a hard road ahead of him with public schools. First it was Ebonics, then a failure to teach the whole story about slavery.

Schools appear to be taking the desire to be politically correct so far, and fear of offending someone that they are altering history. Not altering in the sense of fabricating, but altering in the sense of failing to teach the whole truth.

Take a look at the following links for some appalling stories and comments about this sad state of affairs:

Emperor Misha at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, and Joanne at joannejacobs.com

Support our kids and if your school system is pulling any of this Bullshit, stand up and address it! Our kids are this nations future.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 06:25 PM | Comments (2)

Paying Tribute To A Legend

(06-08) 16:47 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

Ronald Reagan's enthusiastic supporters say the late president deserves a place on the nation's currency, even if it means a lesser or disappearing role for Franklin D. Roosevelt, Alexander Hamilton or Andrew Jackson.

Getting their hero's face on the dime may be easier than other goals, such as seeing it etched on Mount Rushmore, but that idea still will be resisted by Democrats defending their own icon, FDR.

Honoring the late president with new coins or paper money is only one of several ideas being advanced by Reagan admirers: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has suggested legislation to rename the Pentagon the Ronald Reagan National Defense Building.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., a speechwriter in the Reagan White House, plans to introduce a bill to put Reagan on the $20 bill, replacing another venerable Democrat, Andrew Jackson.

That would join a previous proposal, by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., to provide for dimes bearing the likeness of Reagan.

The office of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would pursue an idea he has pushed for several years, placing Reagan on the $10 bill now bearing the visage of Hamilton, the first Treasury secretary.

Chris Butler of the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, which has the goal of seeing a Reagan commemoration in every American county, said its top legislative priority is the $10 bill. He noted that money can be changed administratively without congressional action, and suggested that Reagan dimes could join, rather than replace, FDR dimes.

The Treasury secretary can change the design of coins, usually after consulting Congress, but spokeswoman Anne Womack Kolton said, "We believe it is premature at this point to discuss any possible changes to the currency."

Replacing FDR would not happen without a battle. Last November, on the same day Souder introduced his Reagan dime bill "in honor of his work in restoring American greatness and bringing freedom to captive nations around the world," Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., proposed a resolution affirming support of the FDR dime. More than half the House Democrats joined him as co-sponsors.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Tuesday a decision on a $10 Reagan note should be left to historians, adding that "the best tribute we could pay to him" would be fully funding research into Alzheimer's, the disease that afflicted Reagan the last decade of his life.

Reagan's wife Nancy has also voiced opposition to the new dime. Souder last December praised the "humble nature" of Mrs. Reagan's comments but said he would continue to promote his bill, which has the support of GOP leaders, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Butler, whose group is a wing of the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, pointed out that coins bearing the likeness of FDR, John F. Kennedy and Lincoln all appeared within a year of their deaths. The Roosevelt dime came out in 1946, in part commemorating his support for the March of Dimes campaign to fight polio.

Besides paper and metal, Reagan advocates have long pushed to see their champion honored more widely in stone. Butler said there are now some 54 highways, schools, post offices and other memorials to Reagan around the country, but that still pales in comparison with the more than 600 for Kennedy and more than 800 for Martin Luther King.

Up to now, the biggest victories have been the renaming of Washington's National Airport after the 40th president and the opening in Washington of the Ronald Reagan Building, the second largest government office building after the Pentagon. Last year the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was commissioned.

Still in the works is the idea of a monument to Reagan on the National Mall in Washington, deterred by a law -- signed by Reagan -- that bars new monuments until a person has been dead 25 years.

Similarly, it is the U.S. Postal Service's practice to honor a president on the first anniversary of his death. There's a 10-year waiting period before other deceased personages can get a stamp.

Then there is Mount Rushmore.

It will take a long time to study the geophysical and artistic feasibility of that project, Butler said. But "is he great enough to be on Mount Rushmore? Yes."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Net:
Ronald Reagan Legacy Project: www.reaganlegacy.org/

Articles very similar to this have appeared in numerous papers and internet pages.

Whether it is on the dime or some other monument, there is no doubt that this fallen American icon deserves federal recognition.

If you are interested in supporting the effort to immortalize the late President Ronald Reagan visit Reaganlegacy.org

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 03:42 PM | Comments (3)

June 07, 2004

A Texas Soldier's Letter to Senator John Kerry

The letter below in bold was originally posted on FrontPageMag.com. I also found it posted on Collected Thoughts and Drink This. Since bloggers and blog readers operate in different circles I decided that I too would post the letter here at the Slaughterhouse.

Below you will find a letter from a soldier in Texas.

A Texas Soldier's Letter to Senator John Kerry

By Michael Connelly
FrontPageMagazine.com | June 4, 2004

Dear Senator Kerry,

Since it has become clear that you will probably be the Democratic nominee for President, I have spent a great deal of time researching your war record and your record as a professional politician. The reason is simple, you aspire to be the Commander in Chief who would lead my sons and their fellow soldiers in time of war. I simply wanted to know if you possess the necessary qualifications to be trusted in that regard.

You see, I belong to a family of proud U.S. veterans. I was a Captain in the Army Reserve, my father was a decorated Lieutenant in World War II; and I have four sons who have either served, or are currently serving in the military.

The oldest is an Army Lieutenant still on active duty in Afghanistan, after already being honored for his service in Iraq.

The youngest is an E-4 with the military police. His National Guard unit just finished their second tour of active duty, including six months in Guantanamo Bay. My two other sons have served in the national guard and the Navy.

In looking at your record I found myself comparing it not only to that of my father and my sons, but to the people they served with. My father served with the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion in Europe. They landed on Utah Beach and fought for 317 straight days, including the Cherbourg Peninsula, Aachen, the Hurtgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge.

You earned a Silver Star in Vietnam for chasing down and finishing off a wounded and retreating enemy soldier. (A violation of the Geneva Convention)

My father won a Bronze Star for single handedly charging and knocking out a German machine gun nest that had his men pinned down.

You received three purple hearts for what appears to be three minor scratches. In fact, you only missed a combined total of two days of duty for these wounds.

The men of my father's unit, the 87th, had to be admonished by their commanding officer because it had been brought to his attention that some men were covering up wounds and refusing medical attention for fear of being evacuated and permanently separated from their organization...

It was also a common occurrence for seriously wounded soldiers to go AWOL from hospitals in order to rejoin their units.

You, however, used your three purple hearts to leave Vietnam early.

My oldest boy came home from Iraq with numerous commendations and then proceeded to volunteer to go to Afghanistan, and from there back to Iraq again. My sons and father have never had anything but the highest regard and respect for their fellow soldiers.

Yet, you came home to publicly charge your fellow fighting men with being war criminals and to urge their defeat by the enemy. You even wrote a book that had a cover which mocked the heroism of the U.S. Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima.

Our current crop of soldiers has a philosophy that no one gets left behind; and they have practiced that from Somalia to the battlefields of the Middle East.

Yet, as chairman of a Senate committee looking into allegations that many of your fellow servicemen had been left behind as prisoners in Vietnam, you chose to defend the brutal Vietnamese regime.

You even went so far as to refer to the families of the POWs and MIAs as Professional malcontents, conspiracy mongers, con artists, and dime-store Rambos.

As a Senator you voted against the 1991 Gulf War, and have repeatedly voted against funds to supply our troops with the best equipment, and against money to improve our intelligence capability.

I find this particularly ironic since as a Presidential candidate you are highly critical of our pre-war intelligence in Iraq. However, you did vote to authorize the President to go to war, but have since proceeded to do everything you can to undermine the efforts of our government and our troops to win. Is this what our fighting men and women can expect of you if you are their Commander in Chief? Will you gladly send them to war, only to then aid the enemy byundermining the morale of our troops and cutting off the weapons they need to win?

Our country is at war Senator, and as has been the case in every war since the American Revolution, a member of my family is serving their country during the war. Now you want me to trust you to lead my sons in this fight.

Sorry, Senator, but when I compare your record to those who have fought and died for this nation, and are currently fighting and dying, the answer is not just no, but Hell No!

Sincerely,

Michael Connelly
February 14, 2004
Dallas, Texas

Of course Mr. Connelly has researched and found what so many of us already know. John "Waffles" Kerry is unfit to serve as commander in chief.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:35 PM | Comments (5)

June 06, 2004

The Sixtieth Anniversary of D-Day

Today is a momentous day in world history. Today marks the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

On June 6th, 1944, over 150,000 men landed by sea and air in Normandy to liberate France and all of Europe from Nazi oppression. Operation Overlord was to be the most massive military assault in history. It planned for the invasion of the 50-mile stretch of coast to be completed in fewer than 24 hours.

The valiant efforts of "the greatest generation" were fruitful. Ultimately the Nazi's were defeated and Europe was liberated.

Now, 60 years later, only roughly one fourth of veterans who fought for this nation in the Second World War are still alive.

Every morning I start my duty day at the base gym, 0600 sharp. Every morning I see men and women from all walks of life that have chosen a life of service. There is one man who stands out in the crowd. Each morning there is an elderly gentleman on the treadmill beside me. Now at 88 years young he doesn't run nearly as fast as I do, but he is there nonetheless. He walks at a very respectable pace for a man his age for 45 minutes each morning 5 days a week. It is almost hard to imagine this gentleman as a battle hardened Veteran of Operation Overlord.

Over the last few months I have started talking to him in passing. First our exchanges were limited to a hello and then a little more. I noticed that each morning when he arrives at the gym he proudly wears a hat that has WWII veteran across the front.

Friday I asked him how he felt about the upcoming 60th anniversary of D-Day. Before he could say a word his eyes filled with tears. He told me that he was the only one left. He was the only member of his unit that was still alive. I acknowledged that must be tough and I too felt a little choked up. We spoke at great length about the days leading to "the big jump" and how scared he was and how he knew he "was going to die in some unknown village in France." He told me about how as he was falling to the earth all he thought about was his fiancée back home. They had plans to take over his father’s farm in Idaho and raise a large family.

Out of pure respect I didn't ask many questions. I let him tell what he felt he needed to share.

He is a remarkable man. He was once a twenty eight year old Sergeant in the Airborne who was hard as nails, now he is a frail old man. However, despite the years, there is more strength in the belly of this great soldier than in any ten of today’s youth.

The respect that I have for him and his generation is unwavering. They are a shining example of America's finest. If it weren't for men like him, German would most likely be the national language of France and many other European nations.

I was late to work last Friday (although my boss didn't mind when I told him why). I lost track of the time while listening to his stories; most of which I choose to keep for myself.

I have a profound respect for his generation and consider it an honor to run alongside this true American Hero.

To the greatest generation my sincerest thanks.

SlagleRock Out!

For all who are interested, check out BLACKFIVE for a list of great bloggers who have posted tributes to D-Day on this most momentous of days.

Posted by SlagleRock at 04:37 PM | Comments (2)

June 05, 2004

One For The Gipper

The 40th President of the United States has passed on. Ronald Wilson Reagan died today at the age of 93. President Reagan (born Feb.6, 1911 died June 5, 2004) suffered from Alzheimer’s and was fighting pneumonia. The Gipper passed on at 1:09 p.m. (PST) in his home in California.

I was just five and a half years old when Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States. I don’t remember the elections, I don’t remember him taking the oath of office and in fact I have few memories of seeing him speak on television. I was just fourteen when Reagan left the oval office. Like most teenagers I didn’t have much interest in politics. Most of what I know about Ronald Reagan has been learned more than experienced. .

As a member of the military I have come to appreciate all that Ronald Reagan stood for. He is responsible for most of the great equipment and training that we have in today’s military. While many leftists bitched that the Reagan administration was spending too much money his administration was further solidifying America's position as the premier military and nation on Earth.

During the Clinton era it was all too common to hear the "old timers" say that things were much better when Reagan was president.

I have grown to learn that President Reagan is solely responsible for most of our state of the art equipment in today's military. The military under Reagan was reshaped and revitalized. We owe a great debt to this great man.

Reagan’s efforts as President of the United States helped lead to the collapse of communism in its most deadly form; the fall of the Soviet Union is just one of the many fruitful results of the Reagan era. Reagan once challenged Mikhail Gorbachev, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” The Berlin wall did fall, as did the iron curtain. Communism while still realism in some countries is no more in the once all-powerful former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Ronald Reagan was a man of insight. And while not everyone may have agreed with his views or his party’s politics he was a great President and truly is a national treasure.

Rest in peace Mr. President

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 05:38 PM | Comments (3)

June 02, 2004

Memorial Day Tributes Galore

Memorial Day tributes abound. Search the web and you will find hordes of tributes to the fallen heroes who safeguard this great land.

At TacJammer, Russ posted a good compilation of links to great Memorial Day tributes, poems and general praise for the troops in this great nation.

Also, Mamamontezz posted a compelling poem with accompanying photos. Check it out and tell Mama what you think.

SlagleRock Out

Posted by SlagleRock at 10:00 PM | Comments (1)

Army Finds Tillman Death Likely Result Of Friendly Fire

Recent news reports have stated that Pat Tillman’s death was likely the result of friendly fire.

"While there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation indicated that Cpl. Tillman probably died of friendly fire while his unit was in combat with enemy forces," Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger Jr., of the Army's Special Operations Command, said at a news conference at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

"The results of this investigation in no way diminish the bravery and sacrifice of Cpl. Tillman," Kensinger said. "Cpl. Tillman was shot and killed while responding to enemy fire without regard to his personal safety."

Fratricide is a reality of war. It is a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless. No military no matter how well trained or equipped could execute life and death operations without the possibility of fratricide.

Fratricide, self defense or behind the lines operations. How Pat Tillman was killed will never change the fact that he was a true American hero.

As we all know he walked away from a multi-million dollar NFL career to serve this great nation, and serve he did. Pat Tillman paid the ultimate sacrifice for all of the things he cherished. I hope Cpl. Tillman will always be remembered as the hero he is.

Posted by SlagleRock at 08:14 PM | Comments (2)

June 01, 2004

Would The Real John Kerry Please Stand Down?

Below in bold you will find an article that was posted on Newsmax.com

Kerry 'Flips Off' Vietnam Vet

Former Congressman John Leboutillier reports on a Memorial Day confrontation between Sen. John Kerry and a fellow Vietnam veteran:

Democratic senator - and certain presidential nominee - John F. Kerry gave the middle finger to a Vietnam veteran at the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial Day morning, NewsMax.com has learned.

Ted Sampley, a former Green Beret who served two full tours in Vietnam, spotted Kerry and his Secret Service detail at about 9:00 a.m. Monday morning at the Wall. Sampley walked up to Kerry, extended his hand and said, "Senator, I am Ted Sampley, the head of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, and I am here to escort you away from the Wall because you do not belong here."

At that point a Secret Service officer told Sampley to back away from Kerry. Sampley moved about 6 feet away and opened his jacket to reveal a HANOI JOHN T-shirt.

Kerry then began talking to a group of schoolchildren. Sampley then showed the T-shirt to the children and said, "Kerry does not belong at the Wall because he betrayed the brave soldiers who fought in Vietnam."

Just then Kerry - in front of the school children, other visitors and Secret Service agents - brazenly 'flashed the bird' at Sampley and then yelled out to everyone, "Sampley is a felon!"

Kerry was referring to an incident 12 years ago when Sampley confronted Sen. John McCain's chief aide, Mark Salter, in a Senate stairwell after McCain repeatedly offended POW families at a Senate POW hearing. Sampley, whose father-in-law at that time was MIA in Laos, followed Salter into the stairwell and, when they emerged, Salter had a bloody lip and a broken nose.

Sampley's group, Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, has garnered huge national attention and has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post and on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country." Tens of thousands of Vietnam vets have registered their opposition to Kerry through Sampley's group.

Clearly Sampley has gotten under Kerry's skin once again.

Does John Kerry even know who he is? He wants us all to believe he is qualified to serve as Commander in Chief of the worlds premier military yet he "flashed the bird" at a Veteran at the memorial? I mean honestly, he flipped off a Vietnam Veteran at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the most sacred of military holidays, Memorial Day.

Is this the kind of man you want leading the US military. What kind of morale, and devotion to duty can be expected of troops that will be forced to obey the orders of a man who desicrated the most sacred day in military recognition.

I used to think the problem with Kerry was that even he didn't know what he stands for. As time passes, I start to think that the problem is he knows exactly what he stands for and he is afraid the American people might get a glimpse of what he is truly about.

Spread the word!! Everyone deserves to know of events like this. Clearly this man is ill-equiped to be President.

Waffles must not get elected!!!

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at 09:24 PM | Comments (7)