August 14- Navajo Code Talkers Day

Navajo Code Talker Joe Morris Sr in 2007 photo

Twenty nine years ago yesterday, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation that August 14 be known as Navajo Code Talkers Day. This was among the first official acts of recognition since the program was declassified in 1968.

"Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate August 14, 1982, as National Navaho Code Talkers Day, a day dedicated to all members of the Navaho Nation and to all Native Americans who gave of their special talents and their lives so that others might live. I ask the American people to join me in this tribute, and I call upon Federal, State and local officials to commemorate this day with appropriate activities."

[Sorry I'm a day behind with this, by the way- NANESB!]



At the outbreak of WWII, it was believed that there were no more than 30 non-Navajo people in the world familiar with the language- none of them Japanese.



Sensing an opportunity to confound Japanese eavesdroppers, in 1942 Marine Corps brass began gathering and training Navajo recruits to create and communicate a code in their native Navajo tongue. Throughout the war, Imperial Japanese military cryptographers were never able to decipher the Navajo's code. However, after the war, the program remained secret and the departing Navajo recruits were sworn to secrecy until the Code Talker project was declassified in 1968.



The Code Talkers participated in nearly every Marine assault in the pacific theater between 1942 and 1945. To this day, the Navajo Code Talkers proved to be the most effective known means of encrypted communication in modern warfare.



On Sunday, July 17th Code Talker Joe Morris Sr passed away at age 85 from complications due to a stroke at the VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, CA.



Morris had just turned 17 and was working in an Arizona mine when he was drafted in 1943. He credited a Navajo medicine man that also worked in the mine with keeping him safe throughout the war, saying that the shaman prayed a day and a half for his safety. After the war, Morris married and settled in Dagget, CA where he had a civilian job with a Marine supply center until he retired in 1984.



Joe Morris Sr is survived by his wife of 61 years, two sons, a daughter, three brothers and three grandchildren.

Not Another New England Sports Blog! Wishes You a Happy Memorial Day Weekend

(Steve Breen- San Diego Union-Tribune)

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everybody a good and safe Memorial Day weekend from Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Some of the more astute observers of this blog might recognize the above image as the same one I had up for Memorial Day weekend last year. Although I'll cop to being a fairly lazy individual, it wasn't laziness that prompted me to post the same image for a 2nd year in a row. I thought it was a well done piece by editorial cartoonist Steve Breen of the San Diego Union-Tribune and I figured I'd like to share it with some of the newer visitors to this blog who may not have had a chance to see it before.

If you're a veteran such as myself or just a big supporter of the troops in general, I thought I'd leave you with a couple of links to some veterans and supports organizations for your perusal.

Wounded Warrior Project

Operation Homefront

Home Base Program

Semper Fi Fund

SUDS- Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba

Project Healing Waters

Last Living American WWI Veteran Passes Away at 110

(Martinsburg Journal News.net)

Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving American World War I Veteran, passed away at his Charles Town, WV farmhouse on Monday at the age of 110.

Buckles was 16 when he enlisted, lying about his age to an Army recruiter in Oklahoma in 1917 and worked as an ambulance driver until the armistice. After the war, he was assigned to a POW escort company that was tasked with repatriating prisoners with their home country.

At the outbreak of WWII, Buckles was working as a civilian with a shipping company in the Philippines when he was captured as a prisoner of war and spent three years at the Los Banos POW camp on the island of Luzon. Interestingly, last week marked the 66th anniversary of the US Raid on Los Banos.

After the war, Buckles married and moved to a farm in West Virginia. He continued to work on the farm until he turned 106. Buckles also served as honorary chairman of the National WWI Memorial foundation.

Rest in Peace and thank you for your service, Mr. Buckles.

The Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

While I'd like to think that my Army service wasn't that long ago, it predated the advent of the Stryker APC, pixelated BDUs or widespread implementation of the berets as part of the uniform (they were previously only issued to airborne and special ops units). In other words, it might as well have been a lifetime ago.

For those of you wishing to show your support beyond the occasional words of encouragement, I highly reccomend getting involved with groups like anysoldier or Soldier's Angels where you can 'adopt' a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine....or even a whole platoon for that matter.

For those of you who have served or are presently serving, you have my sincerest thanks and I hope that you are able to enjoy this day with your loved ones.

Quick Reminder About the Return of Applebees Veteran's Day Promotion

A promotion of note for veterans and active duty members of the US Military.

Just like 2009, the casual-dining restaurant chain Applebee's is offering a free entree to all Veterans and active-duty military. I took advantage last year and had one of their pasta dishes, which was pretty good with fairly generous portions [I actually had to pay for the beer, but who am I to complain about that? NANESB!].

Odds are, Applebee's and their parent company DinEquity are taking a bath on this, but I imagine that is offset by a fair amount of good publicity.

Bon Appetit!

48 Hours Later- A Look Into Some of 2010's Election Results

Looks like the much anticipated GOP 'wave' on Tuesday night petered out somewhere West of the Rockies, but boy did it really do a number on its way there.

As far as the US Senate was concerned, not all of the 'Tea Party' candidates were competitive as advertised with Delaware's Christine O'Donnell and Nevada's Sharron Angle losing by bigger-than-anticipated margins and Alaska's Joe Miller facing a strong write-in challenge from incumbent Lisa Murkowski.

With that said, there were significant gains in Senate races elsewhere for Tea Party-backed candidates. Florida Republican Marco Rubio won about 50% of the vote in a three way race against Republican-turned-'Independent' Charlie Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek while opthamologist Rand Paul won the Senate seat in Kentucky.

Republican Mark Kirk won the US Senate seat formerly held by President Obama and will be sworn in by the end of the month. To the north, 3-term incumbent Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold lost to Republican challenger Ron Johnson in Wisconsin.

The GOP picked up senate seats in Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Indiana and Arkansas while retaining Senate seats in 17 states (with Washington state and Alaska still being counted).

For the House of Representatives, the GOP is looking at a pickup of a bare minimum of 60 seats, with another 10 districts from shore of Lake Ontario to Washington state's San Juan Islands and California's Central Valley to be counted.

The Vets for Freedom PAC did fairly well with the House Candidates they backed for their Operation 10 in 10, with something like a 60% success rate for their original slate of candidates and an 80% success rate for their revised slate. Although Ilario Pantano (NC-7) and Sean Bielat (MA-4) fell short in their campaigns, the remaining 10 in 10 Candidates had a good Tuesday.

Lt. Col Allen West got 54.3% of the vote against incumbent Democrat Ron Klein in Florida's 22nd Congressional district.

In Columbus, OH, Lt. Col Steve Stivers beat incumbent Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy by a 54%-40% margin for Ohio's 15th District.

Over in Illinois 11th Congressional district, Air Force Captain Adam Kinzinger handily beat incumbent Democrat Debbie Halvorson with 57% of the vote.

In Staten Island NY, US Marine Corporal and former FBI agent Michael Grimm beat out incumbent Michael McMahon by a 51%-47% margin while further up the Hudson, retired Army Col. Chris Gibson beat incumbent Democrat Scott Murphy by an 11 point margin in NY-20.

Over in Little Rock, AR, Army Major Tom Griffin won the seat that was being vacated in Arkansas 2nd Congressional district by retiring Dem Vic Snyder. Griffith beat his Democrat challenger by a nearly 20 point margin.

Closer to Washington DC (and Annapolis), former Navy Commander Andy Harris defeated incumbent Frank Kratovil with nearly 55% of the vote in Maryland's 1st District.

And rounding out the VFF's slate of candidates who will be sworn in come January is Col. Joe Heck, who won a tight race in Nevada's 3rd District against incumbent Diana Titus Tuesday night while all eyes were on the Reid/Angle Senate race.

In the upper Midwest, a couple of long-time Democrat Congressmen now find themselves able to relate to at least 10% of the American population in that they now find themselves out of a job. Perhaps most shocking was Jim Oberstar in Minnesota's 8th district, who had been in office since 1974. Republican Chip Cravaack managed to erode Oberstar's early lead and win the northern Minnesota district by a 2% margin. Reportedly this will be the first time Minnesota's Iron Range has sent a Republican to Congress since 1947.

In North Dakota's at-large district, Early Pomeroy had held that office since 1993. However, he lost by almost 10 points to GOP challenger and state legislator Rick Berg.

Meanwhile, Michigan's Bart Stupak and Wisconsin's David Obey each announced earlier this year that it was much easier to retire than to defend their votes for 0bamacare or cap & trade in this upcoming election cycle. Ashland County, WI District Attorney (and logroller) Sean Duffy wins Obey's open seat in WI-7 while Iron Mountain, MI surgeon and political novice Dan Benishek won his party's August primary by a margin of 15 (not 15%- 15 actual votes) and would go on to win just over 50% of the vote in a crowded 6-way race for Michigan's 1st district, edging his closest challenger by 11 points.

In upstate New York, it was looking as though incumbent Dan Maffei was on his way to a tight win of NY-25 when the Lonely Conservative reported that GOP challenger Ann-Marie Buerkle won Wayne County by a whopping 63%- a significant enough margin to put her up ahead of Maffei by a few hundred votes. There remains anywhere between 8,000 and 11,000 absentee ballots to be counted, with some of the military mail-in ballots not due back until later on this month, so it will be nail-biter time until then.

The GOP enjoyed similar sweeping gains in governor's mansions through the nation, including some Tea Party-backed candidates like Nikki Haley. I can tell you right now that after a cursory Google search, Haley's win is just as big news over in Punjab as it is in the Palmetto State. Haley is South Carolina's first female governor and actually the nation's second governor of Indian background after Louisiana's Bobby Jindal.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not a big fan of quotas and 'lets count the minorities' headcount standards that the Mainstream Media and lefty pundits love applying to the conservatives, but the GOP and Tea Party acquitted itself well with a fairly diverse range of black, Hispanic, Asian and female candidates for a supposedly bigoted, embittered and unelectable fringe party of violent extremists.

And I actually made passing mention of this when I was updating the story of John Kriesel, but the GOP is also on track for record gains in state legislatures across the country just in time for the post-census redistricting. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this, both Legislative bodies in North Carolina and Alabama have flipped to the GOP for the first time since Reconstruction. State Legislatures in Maine, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Minnesota Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Montana, and Colorado have also gone to the Republicans.

Losses this staggering on pretty much every level were hard to ignore, but apparently President Obama attempted so far to spin the 'shellacking'- as he put it- as Americans misunderstanding his agenda or impatience for his policies to take effect rather than an outright rejection of them. White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs, taking a break from portraying a PC in those 'I'm a Mac, And I'm a PC' commercials, said that Tuesday's election was a sign that American's wanted 'both parties to work together'.....with a straight face, apparently.

Ummm...no, Bobby. Given this Administration's legislative priorities that have passed and what else is in the pipeline (Cap & Trade, Card Check, another 'stimulus'), gridlock would be a godsend.

That's what I voted for, at least.

From the Sandbox to the State House- 4 Years in the Life of SSG John Kriesel

There are a bunch of election results for me to try and get caught up on, but after glancing at this New York Times article about gains the Republican party made in state legislatures across the country, I was reminded of something Philly blogger Wyatt Earp fist brought this to my attention nearly 10 months ago.

With that in mind, I thought I'd check the election results in Minnesota to see how John Kriesel had done. As it turns out, he's now the Representative-elect for Minnesota State House Seat 57A.

St. Paul, Minn. -- It was just 10 hours after John Kriesel had learned he won Minnesota House Seat 57A; he stood in front of a barrage of cameras and reporters in room 125 of the State Capitol.

"Well, compromise is what keeps me from having to sleep on the couch every night," the newly elected Republican from Cottage Grove said when asked about the state's budget. And that was the beginning of his political career.

"Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, he makes us a better body," House Minority leader Kurt Zellers of Maple Grove remarked.

"I'm banged up, I'm sore, and I'm tired. It's been a long campaign," he said a few hours later, finally sitting in his living room. "Just where my life is now compared to where it was 4 years ago, you know, I can't hardly believe it," Kriesel said.

4 years ago, Staff Sgt. Kriesel was on routine patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. "We drove over a 200-pound improvised explosive device and it killed my two best friends and I lost both of my legs in the blast," he recalled.

John Kriesel woke up in a hospital bed in Washington D.C. 8 days later. It was then he realized his two friends did not survive the blast. He vowed to live his life in their honor; he was determined to walk again and return to Minnesota. He never forgot the conversations he had with his friends while serving in Fallujah; they often talked about politics.

"I think they would be proud, we talked a lot over there about stuff like this," he said.

Kriesel campaigned hard in Cottage Grove, South St. Paul, and the surrounding communities. He just about wore out the Segway he used to get door to door. The day after the election, he was waiting on a doctor to fit him for a new socket for his leg; he wore that out too, while on the campaign trail.

Bruised, battered, and still running on adrenaline, John Kriesel left his Cottage Grove home at 7 p.m. Wednesday night, for a book signing in St. Paul. He was working on 3 hours sleep and ready to sign 2nd addition copies of his book, that hit stores in July.

A former soldier and soon to be lawmaker; still making strides to honor the men he served with. "I won't take this lightly, it means a great deal to me," Kriesel said about his new position at the State Capitol.

[Hat tip- Support Your Local Gunfighter; KARE]

Bill For Illegal Immigrants' Medical Care Costs Bay State $35 Million

Gov. Deval Patrick's office- acting under orders from the Massachusetts Secretary of State- released figures showing that an estimated 52,000 illegal immigrants in the MassHealth Limited system cost the commonwealth $33.8 million in taxpayer funded in-patient care and another $1.9 million in emergency care [no word if this included coverage for Obama's Aunt Zeituni- NANESB!].

For some reason, Patrick doesn't want to talk about it.

The Patrick administration, which supplied the figures last week, refused to make state health insurance officials available to discuss them.

But critics were quick to blast the huge medical bill being footed by hard-pressed, law-abiding taxpayers.

“Incorporating illegal immigrants into any type of government-sponsored health care is legitimizing their presence here,’’ said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, which favors stricter immigration policies. “It’s a kind of piecemeal amnesty.’’

Keep in mind this is the same Deval Patrick who initially vetoed $500,000 to keep the outpatient clinic at the Soldier's Home in Holyoke open not even a year ago. It wasn't until after veterans and Soldier's Home staff protested the closure that Patrick did an about-face just days before the January special US Senate election between Scott Brown and Martha Coakley.

[Hat tip- Spitfire Murphy]

WTF, VFW!? Update: VFW to Dissolve PAC

At this point, all I can say is "about damn time". Habitually endorsing incumbents is not unheard-of by certain PACs. Endorsing incumbents that have showed nothing but disdain and contempt for the group you supposedly represent throughout their entire careers shows a staggering laziness and disconnect that cannot be reconciled.

From Blackfive:

I have reviewed the Political Action Committee (PAC) Board of Directors’ response
to our request to rescind this year’ s Congressional endorsements. I disagree with their assessment.

It is now evident to most of the VFW leadership, both National and especially the
departments, that the VFW has been subjected to extreme negative publicity throughout the nation, and the recent endorsement decisions have, in fact, harmed the VFW’ s reputation and future ability to fulfill our mission.

I cannot let this erosion of public support for our great organization continue. The
apparent lack of the committee to address these concerns will lead to a proposal by me, as Commander-in-Chief, to amend the by-laws at the 112th National Convention for the purpose of dissolving the PAC. Meanwhile, under the authority granted to me as Commander-in-Chief in section 619 of the VFW National By-Laws and under section 620 of the Manual of Procedure, I am withdrawing all PAC appointments effective October 15, 2010.

Accordingly, I’ m asking the council for a vote of “ no confidence” in the VFW PAC as
indicated on the enclosed ballot.

To: National Council of Administration
From: Richard L. Eubank, Commander-in-Chief
Date: October 14, 2010

Also from Blackfive comes word that the VFW Ladies Auxiliary withdrew funding from the PAC effective last week.

Better late than never, but one has to wonder how it got to this point in the first place.

[Hat Tip: Blackfive, Spin Strangeness & Charm]

Members to VFW- WTF? Veterans Of Foreign Wars PAC Endorses Liberal, Anti-Military Incumbents Over Actual Veterans

Something's rotten at the Veterans of Foreign Wars and their political action committee, and the rank and file VFW membership doesn't like it one bit.

I probably should've noticed something was amiss when the West Hartford, CT chapter of the VFW allowed truth-impaired douchebag Dick Blumenthal to stage his photo-op press conference and non-apology apology from their lodge back in May.

Now, the VFW is in trouble over endorsements their PAC has made for the 2010 midterms, including Barbara Boxer, Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi and Alan Grayson. Despite the uproar from membership, the PAC has refused to rescind their endorsements, citing some ambiguous criteria that skews heavily towards incumbents. Even after it was revealed that Boxer and Waxman used their positions to aid a radical leftist anti-war group to travel to Fallujah, Iraq (by way of Jordan) so they could deliver money and aid to families of insurgents. I mean, besides Speaker Pelosi using the military as her own personal Chauffeur for her and her family, we have Sen. Boxer who voted against funding for body armour and treatment of brain trauma for American soldiers back in 2007, much to Joe Biden's chagrin. So....again, I'd be really interested in knowing what the PAC's endorsement criteria is- because so far, it seems to be apple pie gee-aren't-our-GI's-swell-now-vote-for-me platitudes from leftist hacks specifically trotted out in the weeks before the election.

Although the VFW leadership was critical of 0bamacare's adverse effects on already-existing healthcare services for veterans and active-duty military personnel, the VFW PAC not only endorsed a number of candidates that voted in favor of 0bamacare [feel free to cross-reference the VFW-PAC's list of endorsed candidates with THE LIST- NANESB!] but liberal Democrat incumbents who are running against military veterans.

For instance, out of the 10 candidates on the revised Vets For Freedom PAC Operation 10 in 10, the VFW's PAC endorses 8 of their opponents and declines any endorsement in two other races- the open seat in Arkansas' 2nd district and the race between House Financial Services Chair Barney Frank and Marine Reservist Sean Bielat. There are post 9/11 veterans in California, Michigan and Arizona who's opponents are endorsed by the VFW's PAC as well.

This doesn't just apply to Republican candidates, either. The VFW's PAC also declined to endorse Democrat Matt Zeller, who served in Afghanistan and is running for the currently vacant seat in New York's 29th district.

Now, all this raises the rather obvious question. What's the point of having a PAC if it goes directly against the wishes of their membership? Will the VFW allow itself to be done in by its own PAC?

Quebec Women's Group: Canadian Soldiers 'Cannon Fodder'

Isn't that something? Apparently they don't have their own Cindy Sheehan up there, so anti-war and anti-military groups have to make up their own.

MONTREAL— A feminist coalition in Quebec has come under fire for placing on YouTube an anti-war video that compares military recruits to “cannon fodder.”

It shows an actress playing the part of a grieving mother. As she fills a military-issue bag with her children’s personal belongings, including a rifle, she explains that her eldest son has died in Afghanistan and, as she places a red, flowery bra in the bag, that her youngest daughter has just been recruited in school.

“People say, ‘Make love not war,’” the actress begins. “But you should say, ‘Make love for war,’ because you need a lot of children to make an army.”

“If I’d known that in giving birth I was going to supply cannon fodder,” she continues, “I might not have had kids.”

When challenged by real-life mothers of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, the Quebec-based group was initially defiant before issuing a tepid non-apology apology and editing the video.

“I can understand why some women and mothers of military officers felt hurt but it was never and still not our intention to question them or the role of their children,” Conradi said. “What we’re trying to do is make the government responsive to a critique.”

There are different perspectives that need to be heard, Conradi reasoned. “What we’re saying is that the army is using our children. We’re not saying that women shouldn’t have had those children.”

For Céline Lizotte, these words strike at the heart of what it means to be a mother, and particularly the mother of a soldier.

Lizotte’s son, Corporal Jonathan Couturier, died in September, 2009 after his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the Panjwaii district near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was 23.

“It’s a huge lack of respect, an insult,” Lizotte said in an interview. “I don’t consider my son as cannon fodder. What were they looking to get across with this video? It has nothing to do with feminists.”

Lizotte, who is demanding the video be removed from the web, said you can’t criticize the government by “going after someone’s grief.”

No mother can know what her child will grow up to be, she added. “It’s the career my son chose and it’s the career I respect.”

This story was actually brought to my attention on another news outlet's website, but the sheer, willful idiocy and malice directed at some of these military mothers in the comments section was staggering....starting with a basic reading comprehension problem (many commenters in favor of the group failed to realize the woman in the video was an actress) and followed up with a selective application of Freedom of Expression- i.e. the Quebecois women's group was within their rights to make the video, but the military families had no business objecting to it.