I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound. No
one is really talking about it either, because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can't let the numbers pass by because it says
something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7
million..
If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action,
the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.
Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get
$833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for
each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a
screeching halt.
Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185
million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers.. (Actually, soldiers are put in harms way by politicians
and commanding officers.)
We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma
City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.
You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over
50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad.
Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to
nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing.
Make sense?
However, our own US Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you don't know
that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system. If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an
E-7, they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who
placed them in harm's way receives a pension of $15,000 per month.
I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now
fighting.
"When do we finally do something about this?"
By Rush Limbaugh:
Saturday, February 26, 2011
A Veteran who understands the enemy we face
President Obama this week once again called Islam "a great religion" which has been "distorted" by a small number of "extremists" to justify committing acts of violence against the West.
But the Qur'an (or Koran) itself, the holy book of Islam, contains over 100 verses calling for violence against Christians and Jews. To give just one example, Sura 9:5 says, "Slay the idolaters wherever you find them."
During a panel discussion sponsored by the Hudson Institute last January, retired Army Lt. Colonel Allen West, who did combat duty in Iraq, responded to a Marine who asked the question, how do you answer people who say that terrorists are following a "warped" version of Islam?
The panel consisted of a number of former military personnel, who fumbled around trying to answer the question. Col. West finally stepped forward answered the question directly and truthfully. Listen to the words of a former military man who understands the nature of the enemy we face:
Notice again Col. West's straightforward assessment: "This is not a perversion. They are doing exactly what this book (i.e., the Qur'an) says."
Col. West, by the way, was elected last week to Congress, to represent Florida's 22nd congressional district. He will be the first African-American Republican congressman to represent Florida since 1870.
If you would like to add your signature to our "thank you" letter to Col. West for speaking frankly about the nature of the enemy we face, you can do so here. Don't forget to give a special "thank you" on this Veteran's Day to every member of the military you encounter.
If you'd like to see the full, unedited video of the exchange, which includes the Marine's question and shows the discomfort felt by every other member of this panel in responding to the question, click here.
.
But the Qur'an (or Koran) itself, the holy book of Islam, contains over 100 verses calling for violence against Christians and Jews. To give just one example, Sura 9:5 says, "Slay the idolaters wherever you find them."
During a panel discussion sponsored by the Hudson Institute last January, retired Army Lt. Colonel Allen West, who did combat duty in Iraq, responded to a Marine who asked the question, how do you answer people who say that terrorists are following a "warped" version of Islam?
The panel consisted of a number of former military personnel, who fumbled around trying to answer the question. Col. West finally stepped forward answered the question directly and truthfully. Listen to the words of a former military man who understands the nature of the enemy we face:
Notice again Col. West's straightforward assessment: "This is not a perversion. They are doing exactly what this book (i.e., the Qur'an) says."
Col. West, by the way, was elected last week to Congress, to represent Florida's 22nd congressional district. He will be the first African-American Republican congressman to represent Florida since 1870.
If you would like to add your signature to our "thank you" letter to Col. West for speaking frankly about the nature of the enemy we face, you can do so here. Don't forget to give a special "thank you" on this Veteran's Day to every member of the military you encounter.
If you'd like to see the full, unedited video of the exchange, which includes the Marine's question and shows the discomfort felt by every other member of this panel in responding to the question, click here.
.
Ethanol Facts
Published: Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 12:18 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 12:18 a.m.
I would like to add some facts to the continuing ethanol discussions.
A gallon of ethanol only contains about 65 percent of the energy of a gallon of gasoline.
It cannot be pumped in pipelines because of its corrosive nature, it must trucked from the distiller and blended at a local facility. Blenders receive a $0.51 per gallon credit from the government.
The wholesale price for ethanol in Florida is $2.174 per gallon, but the 10 percent ethanol in your tank will cost you $3.17 per gallon. You can expect to take about a 3 percent or more hit on your mileage.
E85 pricing is more outrageous. Pricing at a Central Florida station is $3.17 per gallon for regular gasoline (with 10 percent ethanol) and $2.74 per gallon for E85 (85 percent ethanol). To be equivalent on an energy basis it should sell for about $2.31 per gallon. Also, if your car burns E85, expect a large drop in mileage.
Finally, without a subsidy (your tax dollars), no one would ever produce ethanol from corn or other grasses, all of which require substantial amounts of nitrogen for reasonable production. The nitrogen generally is derived from ammonia produced from natural gas. I doubt anyone can really claim that to be renewable. There are not enough arable acres in the U.S. to support corn ethanol without affecting food prices.
JOHN H. SURBER
Chemical Engineer (retired)
Lakeland
Last Modified: Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 12:18 a.m.
I would like to add some facts to the continuing ethanol discussions.
A gallon of ethanol only contains about 65 percent of the energy of a gallon of gasoline.
It cannot be pumped in pipelines because of its corrosive nature, it must trucked from the distiller and blended at a local facility. Blenders receive a $0.51 per gallon credit from the government.
The wholesale price for ethanol in Florida is $2.174 per gallon, but the 10 percent ethanol in your tank will cost you $3.17 per gallon. You can expect to take about a 3 percent or more hit on your mileage.
E85 pricing is more outrageous. Pricing at a Central Florida station is $3.17 per gallon for regular gasoline (with 10 percent ethanol) and $2.74 per gallon for E85 (85 percent ethanol). To be equivalent on an energy basis it should sell for about $2.31 per gallon. Also, if your car burns E85, expect a large drop in mileage.
Finally, without a subsidy (your tax dollars), no one would ever produce ethanol from corn or other grasses, all of which require substantial amounts of nitrogen for reasonable production. The nitrogen generally is derived from ammonia produced from natural gas. I doubt anyone can really claim that to be renewable. There are not enough arable acres in the U.S. to support corn ethanol without affecting food prices.
JOHN H. SURBER
Chemical Engineer (retired)
Lakeland
Obama and the National Day of Prayer
In 1952 President Truman established one day a year as a "National Day of Prayer."
In 1988 President Reagan designated the First Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer.
In June 2007(then) Presidential Candidate Barack Obama declared that the USA "Was no longer a
Christian nation."
Las year President Obama canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White
House under the ruse Of "not wanting to offend anyone"
BUT... on September 25, 2009 from 4 AM until 7 PM, a National Day of Prayer FOR THE MUSLIM RELIGION was Held on Capitol Hill, Beside the White House. There were over 50,000 Muslims
in D.C. that day.
HE PRAYED WITH THE MUSLIMS! I guess it Doesn't matter if "Christians" Are offended by this event - We obviouslyDon't count as "anyone" Anymore. The direction this country is headed should strike fear in the heart of every Christian, especially knowing that the Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot be converted, they should be annihilated. This is not a Rumor - Go to the website To confirm this info: http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/
In 1988 President Reagan designated the First Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer.
In June 2007(then) Presidential Candidate Barack Obama declared that the USA "Was no longer a
Christian nation."
Las year President Obama canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White
House under the ruse Of "not wanting to offend anyone"
BUT... on September 25, 2009 from 4 AM until 7 PM, a National Day of Prayer FOR THE MUSLIM RELIGION was Held on Capitol Hill, Beside the White House. There were over 50,000 Muslims
in D.C. that day.
HE PRAYED WITH THE MUSLIMS! I guess it Doesn't matter if "Christians" Are offended by this event - We obviouslyDon't count as "anyone" Anymore. The direction this country is headed should strike fear in the heart of every Christian, especially knowing that the Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot be converted, they should be annihilated. This is not a Rumor - Go to the website To confirm this info: http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Anti-Christian drumbeat loud before Egypt attack
CAIRO (AP) — In the weeks before the New Year's Day suicide bombing of an Egyptian church, al-Qaida-linked websites carried a how-to manual on "destroying the cross," complete with videos on how to build a bomb and the locations of churches to target — including the one that was attacked.
They may have found a receptive audience in Alexandria, where increasingly radicalized Islamic hard-liners have been holding weekly anti-Christian demonstrations, filled with venomous slogans against the minority community.
The blast, which struck Saturday as worshippers were leaving midnight Mass at the Mediterranean city's Saints Church, killed 21 people.
President Hosni Mubarak has accused foreign groups of being behind the attack, which has sparked a wave of angry protests by Christians in Egypt.
But on the ground, investigators are searching in a different direction — scrutinizing homegrown hard-liners, known as Salafis, and the possibility they were inspired by al-Qaida.
Only two or three days before Saturday's bombing, police arrested several Salafis spreading fliers in Alexandria calling for violence against Christians, a security official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
According to authorities, the strong belief among investigators is that local extremists who knew the area and the nature of their target were behind the blast. The Egyptian weekly Al-Youm Al-Saba said police were examining photos of the Salafis' weekly protests for suspects.
In the weeks before the attack, al-Qaida militants on the Web spewing calls for "jihad," or holy war, on Egypt's Christians laid out everything anyone would need to carry out a bombing.
One widely circulated posting includes a so-called "Jihadi Encyclopedia for the Destruction of the Cross," with a series of 10 videos describing how to build a bomb.
In the videos, an unidentified militant in a white lab coat and a black mask is shown listing the ingredients to make TNT and mixing up the chemicals in beakers.
The site lists Coptic Christian churches in Egypt, along with phone numbers and addresses — including Alexandria's Saints Church. "Blow up the churches while they are celebrating Christmas or any other time when the churches are packed," it says.
Security officials say they were aware of the online "how-to manual" before the church bombing and are examining any links between it and the material posted on Islamic websites.
One main Salafi group, the Salafi Movement in Alexandria, issued a statement condemning the bombing, saying its preachings "reject such practices."
The ultra-conservative Salafi ideology has been gaining followers throughout Egypt in recent years, preaching a return to the ways of early Muslims. It calls for strict segregation of the sexes and rejection of any religious "innovations," such as permitting boys and girls to attend school together or collecting interest on bank loans.
The movement has spread across class lines, among wealthy businessmen, the middle class and urban poor. Men grow long beards and shave off mustaches, to imitate the Prophet Muhammad. Women wear the black niqab robes and veil, which envelop the entire body and face, showing only the eyes.
In many ways, it resembles the doctrine of al-Qaida, with one major difference — while it advocates jihad against "foreign occupiers" in Iraq or Afghanistan, it rejects holy war inside Egypt, at least for now.
But many observers warn that some members are growing more radicalized and have begun to advocate jihad within the country, providing fertile ground for al-Qaida influence.
They cite the group's unprecedentedly fierce campaign against Egypt's Coptic Christian Church.
It was sparked by the case of two Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam to get divorces from their husbands, since the church bans divorce. The Salafis accuse church officials of forcing the women to renounce Islam and return to Christianity, a claim the church denies.
At weekly protests attended by hundreds outside mosques in Alexandria and Cairo, Salafis have accused the church of holding the women against their will. Vowing vengeance and denouncing Coptic Pope Shenouda III as an "infidel," the protesters accused Copts of trying to "Christianize" Egypt's Muslims and stockpiling weapons in churches and monasteries.
In September, one Salafi cleric, Ahmed Farid, wept as he told worshippers at an Alexandria mosque that Muslims were being "humiliated" by Christians, chiding them for "giving up jihad."
At a Salafi protest in Cairo in October, some raised the flag of al-Qaida in Iraq — a black banner emblazoned with the phrase "there is no god but God and Muhammad is God's prophet."
Two days later, al-Qaida in Iraq attacked a church in Baghdad in a siege that left 68 Christians dead, the worst attack ever against Iraq's Christian minority. The group issued a statement vowing a campaign against Christians unless the two women in Egypt were freed, and several other attacks on the community in Baghdad have followed.
Since then, calls on al-Qaida-linked websites for attacks on Egypt's Christians have grown to a fever pitch.
A statement posted with the videos decries the failure of Muslims to act to free the two women.
"Will we keep on dreaming and dreaming, or is it time to wake up to the echoing boom and the flying torn limbs that will please the faithful and scare the infidels?" the statement reads. "Of course, it is better to act as a group, but that must not be an impediment between you and action. ... Move forward on your own."
The threats raise the question of why security officials did not do more to protect churches. On New Year's, Saints Church had only three or four policemen outside and cars had easy access to the street.
Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's nearly 80 million people, accuse the government of ignoring threats against them and doing nothing about growing anti-Christian sentiment.
Experts say the government has tacitly allowed the growth of Salafism because it is not anti-government and does not get involved in Egypt's politics, as opposed to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which is the regime's main political rival.
"The Egyptian regime is harvesting the sour fruits for letting this extremist thought to grow and recruit thousands of young Egyptians," said Rifaat Sayyed Ahmed, an expert on Islamic groups.
They may have found a receptive audience in Alexandria, where increasingly radicalized Islamic hard-liners have been holding weekly anti-Christian demonstrations, filled with venomous slogans against the minority community.
The blast, which struck Saturday as worshippers were leaving midnight Mass at the Mediterranean city's Saints Church, killed 21 people.
President Hosni Mubarak has accused foreign groups of being behind the attack, which has sparked a wave of angry protests by Christians in Egypt.
But on the ground, investigators are searching in a different direction — scrutinizing homegrown hard-liners, known as Salafis, and the possibility they were inspired by al-Qaida.
Only two or three days before Saturday's bombing, police arrested several Salafis spreading fliers in Alexandria calling for violence against Christians, a security official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
According to authorities, the strong belief among investigators is that local extremists who knew the area and the nature of their target were behind the blast. The Egyptian weekly Al-Youm Al-Saba said police were examining photos of the Salafis' weekly protests for suspects.
In the weeks before the attack, al-Qaida militants on the Web spewing calls for "jihad," or holy war, on Egypt's Christians laid out everything anyone would need to carry out a bombing.
One widely circulated posting includes a so-called "Jihadi Encyclopedia for the Destruction of the Cross," with a series of 10 videos describing how to build a bomb.
In the videos, an unidentified militant in a white lab coat and a black mask is shown listing the ingredients to make TNT and mixing up the chemicals in beakers.
The site lists Coptic Christian churches in Egypt, along with phone numbers and addresses — including Alexandria's Saints Church. "Blow up the churches while they are celebrating Christmas or any other time when the churches are packed," it says.
Security officials say they were aware of the online "how-to manual" before the church bombing and are examining any links between it and the material posted on Islamic websites.
One main Salafi group, the Salafi Movement in Alexandria, issued a statement condemning the bombing, saying its preachings "reject such practices."
The ultra-conservative Salafi ideology has been gaining followers throughout Egypt in recent years, preaching a return to the ways of early Muslims. It calls for strict segregation of the sexes and rejection of any religious "innovations," such as permitting boys and girls to attend school together or collecting interest on bank loans.
The movement has spread across class lines, among wealthy businessmen, the middle class and urban poor. Men grow long beards and shave off mustaches, to imitate the Prophet Muhammad. Women wear the black niqab robes and veil, which envelop the entire body and face, showing only the eyes.
In many ways, it resembles the doctrine of al-Qaida, with one major difference — while it advocates jihad against "foreign occupiers" in Iraq or Afghanistan, it rejects holy war inside Egypt, at least for now.
But many observers warn that some members are growing more radicalized and have begun to advocate jihad within the country, providing fertile ground for al-Qaida influence.
They cite the group's unprecedentedly fierce campaign against Egypt's Coptic Christian Church.
It was sparked by the case of two Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam to get divorces from their husbands, since the church bans divorce. The Salafis accuse church officials of forcing the women to renounce Islam and return to Christianity, a claim the church denies.
At weekly protests attended by hundreds outside mosques in Alexandria and Cairo, Salafis have accused the church of holding the women against their will. Vowing vengeance and denouncing Coptic Pope Shenouda III as an "infidel," the protesters accused Copts of trying to "Christianize" Egypt's Muslims and stockpiling weapons in churches and monasteries.
In September, one Salafi cleric, Ahmed Farid, wept as he told worshippers at an Alexandria mosque that Muslims were being "humiliated" by Christians, chiding them for "giving up jihad."
At a Salafi protest in Cairo in October, some raised the flag of al-Qaida in Iraq — a black banner emblazoned with the phrase "there is no god but God and Muhammad is God's prophet."
Two days later, al-Qaida in Iraq attacked a church in Baghdad in a siege that left 68 Christians dead, the worst attack ever against Iraq's Christian minority. The group issued a statement vowing a campaign against Christians unless the two women in Egypt were freed, and several other attacks on the community in Baghdad have followed.
Since then, calls on al-Qaida-linked websites for attacks on Egypt's Christians have grown to a fever pitch.
A statement posted with the videos decries the failure of Muslims to act to free the two women.
"Will we keep on dreaming and dreaming, or is it time to wake up to the echoing boom and the flying torn limbs that will please the faithful and scare the infidels?" the statement reads. "Of course, it is better to act as a group, but that must not be an impediment between you and action. ... Move forward on your own."
The threats raise the question of why security officials did not do more to protect churches. On New Year's, Saints Church had only three or four policemen outside and cars had easy access to the street.
Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's nearly 80 million people, accuse the government of ignoring threats against them and doing nothing about growing anti-Christian sentiment.
Experts say the government has tacitly allowed the growth of Salafism because it is not anti-government and does not get involved in Egypt's politics, as opposed to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which is the regime's main political rival.
"The Egyptian regime is harvesting the sour fruits for letting this extremist thought to grow and recruit thousands of young Egyptians," said Rifaat Sayyed Ahmed, an expert on Islamic groups.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Navy officer to be relieved of command over lewd video
NORFOLK, Va. - A high-ranking Navy officer who produced and showed raunchy videos to the crew of an aircraft carrier three or four years ago is expected to be relieved of his command of the ship, defense officials said Tuesday.
A senior defense official said the announcement on Capt. Owen Honors of the USS Enterprise was expected Tuesday afternoon. The officials said the Navy has chosen a commander to replace Honors on the nuclear-powered ship that is currently stationed in Norfolk and scheduled to deploy to the Middle East this month.
The officials revealed the plans for Honors only on the grounds of anonymity because no official announcement has yet been made.
No phone listing was immediately available for Honors and he did not respond to e-mails.
The offending video shown in 2007 became public this weekend, proving an embarrassment to the Pentagon.
The offending video shown in 2007 became public this weekend, proving an embarrassment to the Pentagon.
The videos released by a newspaper in this Navy port city feature Honors using gay slurs, pantomiming masturbation and staging suggestive shower scenes. They were played on the shipwide television system during weekly movie night when Honors was executive officer, or second in command, of the Enterprise. Honors has since become commander of the ship.
Over the weekend, the Navy at first downplayed the videos as "humorous skits," then called them "not acceptable" and said they were under investigation.
The videos' existence was not news to Navy higher-ups. In a statement to the Virginian-Pilot on Friday, the Navy said its leadership had put a stop to videos with "inappropriate content" on the Enterprise about four years ago.
Michael Corgan, a career Navy officer who now teaches at Boston University, said before the news that Honors would be relieved that he was guilty not only of an error in judgment but of failing to recognize a changing Navy culture.
"Standards shift, of course, and trimming your sails is something you have to do if you're going to command people in the Navy," Corgan said. "This guy showed poor judgment."
Michael Corgan, a career Navy officer who now teaches at Boston University, said before the news that Honors would be relieved that he was guilty not only of an error in judgment but of failing to recognize a changing Navy culture.
"Standards shift, of course, and trimming your sails is something you have to do if you're going to command people in the Navy," Corgan said. "This guy showed poor judgment."
The military has undergone a cultural shift in recent decades away from the loutish, frat-boy behavior that was exposed by the Tailhook scandal in 1991. It is now working to accommodate gays in its ranks with Congress' repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Also, the Navy is opening its all-male submarine force to women this year.
Corgan said the repeal of don't ask, don't tell probably had nothing to do with the furor now: "What he did would have been dumb 30, 40 years ago."
Some sailors who served on the Enterprise have taken to Facebook to defend Honors and his video skits for providing a much-needed morale boost during long deployments at sea.
They portrayed Honors as a man who genuinely cared about his sailors and helped them blow off steam with corny and occasionally outrageous videos he concocted every week during six-month tours of duty in the Middle East at the height of the Iraq War. Maintaining morale is typically part of the XO's job.
"He was a caring professional and, yes, he has a sense of humor, but you need that on a boat," said Misty Davis, who served on the Enterprise from 2006 to 2010. The offending video was shown in 2007, and was a compilation of previous videos he had shown, she and others said.
"It's no worse than anything you'd see on Saturday Night Live' or The Family Guy,'" Davis said Monday. "I used to watch all of them. They were freaking hilarious."
Courtesey AZCentral.com
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Valentine's Day banned!!
TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) -- Iran on Sunday announced that it has banned all items relating to Valentine's Day as the annual commemoration of love and affection has become increasingly popular in the Islamic country, state-run media reported.
The Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) said all forms of promoting Valentine's Day had been banned, citing a memo from a union. It said the ban included items relating to the day such as posters, brochures, advertising cards, boxes with heart symbols and red roses.
"Information concerning any activities on this day was banned," ILNA said, adding that authorities would take legal action against outlets which ignore the ban.
Valentine's Day is extremely popular in Western countries and the day's popularity has been growing in Iran, frustrating Iranian authorities who seek to prevent any and all Western influence.
The Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) said all forms of promoting Valentine's Day had been banned, citing a memo from a union. It said the ban included items relating to the day such as posters, brochures, advertising cards, boxes with heart symbols and red roses.
"Information concerning any activities on this day was banned," ILNA said, adding that authorities would take legal action against outlets which ignore the ban.
Valentine's Day is extremely popular in Western countries and the day's popularity has been growing in Iran, frustrating Iranian authorities who seek to prevent any and all Western influence.
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