“You know what man? I am going to literally — if she gets elected president, I am going to hang out on the grassy knoll all the time, just loaded and ready — because you know what? It’s for my country. It’s for my country. If I got to sacrifice myself, it’s for my country.”

This was in response to Palin’s comments on Paul Revere (which of course have been proved to be accurate, not that you’ll hear that in the mainstream media). And as you can hear in the video, the audience’s response was to laugh. Apparently, joking about assassination is A-OK as long as it’s someone like Sarah Palin. Yet somehow, it’s the right that supposedly needs lessons in civility. I guess we just don’t understand that it’s perfectly acceptable to murder someone for their political beliefs, so long as the murderer is a liberal and the victim is a conservative. No wonder these morons idolize people like Che Guevara.

Of course, this will be waved off as an overreaction by the too-sensitive right. But is it? Palin’s parents have said that they have to sleep with guns because of the death threats they receive. The FBI arrested a man who had sent photocopies of a receipt for a gun he had bought and of a one-way ticket to Alaska to the Heaths. A gun-toting Palin stalker was arrested 50 miles from her home. Sarah Palin has said herself that she receives death threats on a regular basis. Were Sarah Palin a Democrat, then these incidents would be all over the media. Titus’ remarks would be denounced as fueling violent rhetoric against an innocent woman just trying to serve her country. But, alas, Palin has an (R) next to her name instead of a (D). So death threats and stalkers are brushed under the rug, and assassination is comedy.

So much for civility in politics.

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I shopped at Hallmark quite a bit while Matt was deployed. When I found out we were having a boy, I wanted to send him a themed care package with a ton of “Its A Boy!” stuff to surprise him. Hallmark was where I got a lot of those things.

Had I known they would be so willing to disrespect the troops and their families, I would never have spent a cent there.

Monday was Memorial Day. Maxine — and thus Hallmark — chose to commemorate the holiday by running the following comic on Maxine’s official Facebook page:

This insulted and offended multiple military family members, including a Gold Star wife. They decided to express their feelings about the cartoon, and were summarily attacked, insulted, and degraded by the commenters there. After a good amount of time, Hallmark finally issued a weak apology. But it was far from over. Maxine’s fans continued to berate the family members, myself included, who had the gall to express our opinion: that we found the cartoon offensive. Yes, I know, most of America does indeed see Memorial Day as just another day off of work. That doesn’t mean any of us like it, or that we want a cartoon character furthering that sentiment. And this is where it got interesting.

The moderator for the Maxine page got to work. No, whoever it was did not delete the rude, insulting, vile comments directed towards military families. Instead, they were deleting our comments. Comments calling us “inbred hicks” and “retards” were allowed to stand. We were told that we didn’t support the military, that we were complainers and whiners just pretending to be offended, we were told to shut up and go away. We were insulted and attacked for merely expressing an opinion. And Hallmark didn’t delete a single of their comments. (Susan Katz Keating has just a few examples.) This action made it clear: their words said one thing but their actions said another, and that was that Hallmark does NOT support our troops and the military.

Now, this wouldn’t have been as big of a controversy as it has turned into if it wasn’t for this. Imagine being a Gold Star wife and having people insult you for merely saying that you were offended — and that Hallmark decided to side with them. Hallmark could have chosen to delete the comments attacking her and other military family members, but instead, they sided with them and allowed the abuse to continue. Here’s an example of the type of comment that Hallmark endorses:

“Yet I find it very disturbing that closed minded Inbred Hicks have nothing better to do than to trash a Cartoon Figure its a waste of Energy, really people get a grip on reality . Maybe the Bible Belt Inbred’s need to do something for their country than sit behind a computer & complain get a life seriously.”

That is simply inexcusable in my book. They censored dissenting comments while allowing insulting personal attacks on military families to continue. I can’t see how a company that supports the military would ever let that happen. Susan points out how the situation got worse and worse, and how Hallmark has even visited her website — but still has done nothing.

Stalwart troop supporter Carrie Costantini jumped into the discussion and tried to educate the Maxine fans on why the cartoon was offensive. Carrie even gave a tutorial on what Memorial Day actually is, and what it means to people who have lost a loved one in combat. The Maxine fans hooted ever louder. Their responses showed them to be people who care very deeply about when their new Keepsake Ornament catalogs will arrive, but not at all about telling a Gold Star mother to “get a life.”

Despite the fact that “Maxine” frequently responds to people who leave comments on the page, Hallmark allowed the dialog to continue unmonitored. The Maxine Brigade grew increasingly snide, belittling, and hostile. Anyone who objected to the cartoon was cast as a whiner, or stupid, and worthy of extreme mockery.

This extended “Hallmark Moment” continued much of the day.

I posted a couple neutral questions, myself, asking Hallmark to respond to the complaints. “Maxine” remained silent. I posted again. Still nothing. Finally, I questioned whether Hallmark would have been willing to use a different holiday in place of Memorial Day in the cartoon. What if, for example, the Maxine character joked about Martin Luther King Day. Within minutes, Hallmark removed my questions. Then they surfed into the blog and read a couple posts.

Are we all overreacting? I’d imagine that people without skin in the game might say yes. But as a Marine wife, this is insulting to me. I refuse to shop at Hallmark from now on and hope that everyone who reads this does the same. I sent Hallmark the following message expressing my displeasure — I have yet to receive a response. I encourage everyone reading this to also send a message of their own. I sincerely hope that word gets out about this and that Hallmark comes around.

Our troops and their families have sacrificed too much to be disrespected this way.

To Whom It May Concern:

Sincerely,
Casandra Chesser

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I hear Marines often quip that they are at war, and America is at the mall. And every Memorial Day, I’m reminded that in large part, it’s true. Memorial Day is supposed to be a solem, somber day. It’s supposed to be a day to honor and remember the sacrifices of our fallen heroes, the men and women who gave their last full measure of devotion to their country in the name of freedom.

Instead, it’s become just a holiday that gives us a day off of work. It’s a day for BBQing, for beer; a day to go to the beach or to the pool. Maybe there will be a parade with some veterans or servicemembers. But remembering the fallen? Honoring their sacrifice? For far too many Americans, it simply doesn’t happen.

I remember Matt’s last deployment to Iraq. He had called me when two of his buddies had been killed; I believe it was the first time anyone he had known had been killed. I couldn’t see him, but I could picture him. He was yelling into the phone, practically incomprehensible with grief and rage. He repeated, over and over again, that he wanted to find the [expletives] who did this and [expletive] kill them. On the other end of the line, I felt completely helpless. My heart was breaking for him, and I didn’t know what to do or say. There are no words comforting enough for that kind of situation.

Two months ago, he returned home from Afghanistan, and we lost more Marines. Not too long after my husband had left last August, I got a phone call from one of our friends. Her husband is Matt’s best friend, and is with 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines. He had deployed about a month before Matt did. She was crying into the phone, and for one sinking moment, I thought her husband had died. Instead, she was passing on some bad news: a mutual friend, Sergeant Jesse Balthaser, had been killed in Afghanistan. His girlfriend was pregnant with their child.

I would have to pass the news on to Matt when he called home next. I was sick with the thought of it; he called that same day and I almost immediately started crying — probably not the best way to break the news, but I hated what I had to tell him. He was upset, but took it well and spent most of the phone call reminiscing about Balthaser and telling me about him. Balthaser had wanted to join the Marines in high school, so much so that his parents had to sign paperwork to let him enlist while he was still in high school. This was his third deployment. He stepped on a roadside bomb, which killed him instantly. Matt told me about his sense of humor and how he played guitar. He told me that he liked being the center of attention and always made people laugh. He said that whenever you were around him, you couldn’t help but be in a good mood. He lifted everyone around him up.

I didn’t know what to think about the fact that he took the news so much better than before. But eventually, as a Marine, you start to adjust. And Matt’s unit, 1st Battalion 8th Marines, didn’t escape their share of casualties. Considering they were deployed to Helmand Province, a major hot zone, it wasn’t surprising. But it didn’t make it any better.

The first was Lance Corporal Joshua Ose.

He was killed by small arms fire while on patrol in Afghanistan. He had only been there for about two weeks. Like Balthaser, he enlisted while still in high school. His parents described him as an adventurer, an outdoorsman who loved to hunt with his dad and was always taking risks — like jumping off of a bridge in his hometown into a river swollen by recent rainfall. He was a gun enthusiast, and would play paintball on a local farm with his friends. He played for two days before he left. His family has a history of military service going all the way back to the Civil War, and Josh felt strongly that serving his country was something he needed to go. He believed in the Marine Corps and he believed in the mission in Afghanistan.

Next, we lost Hospital Corpsman Edwin Gonzalez.

He died after a roadside bomb exploded during combat operations. Doc Gonzo, a newlywed, was nicknamed Superman and had a huge “S” tattooed on his chest. His friends gave him the nickname after he was in two car accidents, and both times came out without a scratch. He served with his high school’s JROTC. His friends plan on meeting the sixth of every month to remember him (his birthday was February 6th), and to honor his life — not his death. He became a corpsman with the dream of eventually becoming a doctor.

We then lost Lance Corporal Raymon Johnson.

Lance Corporal Johnson died after he stepped on an IED. Being a Marine was his dream. His family did everything they could to convince him not to enlist — even taking him to Walter Reed to see the wounded soldiers there — but he could not be dissuaded. His twin brother, Ramon (a soldier in the Army), described him as someone that always lit up the room whenever he came home. One of his friends named her new son after him. Marines with 1/8 saw him as someone they could trust and open up to, someone who would look out for them. He was described as motivated and an inspiration to the Marines around him.

Next to fall was Staff Sergeant Javier Ortiz-Rivera.

Staff Sergeant Ortiz was married with three children. His wife said that he was dedicated to his Marines and was proud of them. He had started a Bible study in Afghanistan and said that he was blessed to be deployed with the men he was serving with. He was a devout Catholic and had been an altar server. He had talked of serving his country since he was a child. One of his friends reported that he had proclaimed that Jesus Christ died on the cross for his salvation; he would die for his country to keep his family safe.

Staff Sergeant Stacy Green was the next to give his life.

Staff Sergeant Green had been serving in the Marine Corps for ten years. This was his fourth deployment. In high school, he played football and helped lead the team to win their state championship game. He was the life of the party, someone who was outspoken and always made everyone around him laugh. His brother said that he loved being a Marine, and that it changed his life. He was described as someone with courage and character. He was engaged to be married.

Finally, we lost Lance Corporal Jose Hernandez.

Lance Corporal Hernandez loved being a Marine. He followed his younger brother into the Corps after graduating high school. He died after stepping on a land mine. His childhood dream was to join the Marine Corps. He had a way of making people laugh, even when they were sad, angry, or scared. He had a big heart, and was someone who knew what he wanted in life and went for it. He wanted to serve his country. Hernandez would have turned 20 the week after he died.

These are just seven of the countless servicemembers who have given their lives for their country. These are just our fallen. Today, I hope that you’ll see their names, look at their faces, and read what is just a small fraction of the lives they led. So often, we turn the fallen into nothing more than a man in a uniform who became a hero. We need to remember not just the sacrifices they made, but the lives they lived and the people they were. Take the time to remember the 6 men we lost from 1/8, to remember Balthaser, and everyone who gave their lives so that we could be free.

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What’s the newest trend in feminism today? SlutWalks are all the rage, where women dress like sluts and proudly embrace their sluthood. This will apparently have the double effect of fighting back against blaming the victim for being raped, as well as being empowering for women — because being a slut in modern feminism is supposedly empowering. Of course, all that these SlutWalks are really doing is proving that the death knell for femisogynists is continuing to ring.

Pseudo-feminists advocating for sluthood is nothing new. Instead of being looked down upon, sleeping around is considered to be embracing sexuality. It’s healthy, empowering, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a misogynistic anti-feminist prude (and probably a right-winger to boot!) So the comment made by a Toronto policeman that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized” naturally meant that femisogynists should revel in sluthood! And while the Toronto cop’s comment may have been what kicked the event off, fighting back against victim-blaming is nowhere near the only goal of these SlutWalks. Unsurprisingly, organizers want women to be proud of their sexuality and to reclaim the word slut.

Historically, the term ‘slut’ has carried a predominantly negative connotation. Aimed at those who are sexually promiscuous, be it for work or pleasure, it has primarily been women who have suffered under the burden of this label. And whether dished out as a serious indictment of one’s character or merely as a flippant insult, the intent behind the word is always to wound, so we’re taking it back. “Slut” is being re-appropriated.

We are tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result.

Ah, yes, the ever-present threat of slut-shaming. Why can’t more people be supportive of sleeping around with a different random guy every night? Clearly, if more people were supportive of being a slut, there would be less rape. Or something.

So far, there have been SlutWalks in Toronto, Dallas, London, Ottawa, and Boston. There are many, many more planned, all around the world, in cities like Montreal, Orlando, Tucson, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Philadelphia. This is all to the liking of many noted femisogynist leaders. Jaclyn Friedman appeared at the Boston SlutWalk as a featured speaker. Feministing has multiple posts glowing with approval of the SlutWalk. Jill Filipovic said she was with the walkers in spirit. And Amanda Marcotte offers up the most common defense of the SlutWalks: it’s, like, supposed to be funny, you humorless prudes:

I’ve been broadly supportive of this, because it brings together two of my favorite things in the world, feminism and humor.

… Of course, since Slutwalk is built around humor, it baffles the humorless. And so defenders of Slutwalk have entered into this maddening space that is the equivalent of trying to explain a joke to the humorless, and if you’ve ever tried to do that, believe me, it may be the biggest waste of time on the planet.

Oh, I get it! Debasement of women as humor! Hilarious! And it’s progress, too. It’s just what the original feminist leaders envisioned when they were fighting for equality: the right for women to be called sluts and be proud.

In reality, there is nothing feminist about being a slut. While fighting back against the vile act of blaming the victim for being raped is certainly admirable, acting as if sluthood is something to be proud of is ludicrous. There’s nothing empowering about sleeping around or being called a slut, any more than an African-American being called the n-word could be called empowering.

And while the emotional consequences of sluthood could be debated — many women end up feeling used and depressed while others don’t — the potential for physical harm can’t be debated. Consider the facts. 1 in 5 women have herpes, and the rates of most STDs have climbed since 1997. For young girls, it’s even worse — 1 in 4 teenage girls currently have an STD. Teenage girls who have sex are also more likely to be suicidal or depressed. Clearly, being a slut is not something to be encouraged — if for no other reason than to safeguard one’s own health. But that matters not to the femisogynists — in their minds, men sleep around freely, so women should, too.

Holding SlutWalks is not empowering, and there’s nothing feminist about being a slut or being proud to be called one. The modern feminist movement keeps getting more and more out of touch. The goal now is to take a term used to dehumanize and debase women and turn it into a badge of pride, so that women can embrace their sluthood? This isn’t empowerment or liberating or feminist. It’s ridiculous and an embarrassment. If femisogynists want to know why they are becoming more and more irrelevant, these SlutWalks are a shining example.

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The Pentagon is considering allowing the families of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to visit them, an unprecedented step to ease the isolation of inmates who in some cases have been held at the U.S. facility for close to a decade, according to congressional aides.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which monitors conditions at the military prison in Cuba and facilitates videoconferences between detainees and their families, has been in serious discussions with the Pentagon about a visitation program, the aides said.

Some Republicans, after hearing about the talks, appeared to balk at such access to the Guantanamo Bay naval station. In an early version of the annual legislation to authorize the activities of the Defense Department, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (Calif.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, inserted language that would ban family visits, which have never occurred at the prison.

But the latest version of the bill states only that Defense Department funding appropriated for fiscal 2012 may not be used “to permit any person who is a family member of an individual detained at Guantanamo to visit the individual.”

That would not rule out a visitation program underwritten by the Red Cross.

“My efforts are aimed at protecting U.S. personnel at Guantanamo and sensitive national security information from being compromised,” McKeon said Wednesday. “Allowing family members to visit detainees at Guantanamo Bay would create major security concerns for our nation.”

Gee, you think?

Now, I’m not in the military, and I’m certainly no expert on military intelligence or national security. But I can’t see any reason whatsoever that we would need to listen to the Red Cross on matters of national security, which is exactly what any policies concerning Gitmo are. One of the major benefits of Gitmo is that it is an isolated location. The prisoners there are dangerous men, terrorists and enemies of the United States. Allowing family members to come visit would be a huge risk and would absolutely create national security concerns. I’m flabbergasted that the Pentagon is even considering this.

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American leftists have never really cared much for things like national security, anti-terrorist initiatives, and the United States military. Too much manly posturing scares them, for one thing. Protecting things like freedom, capitalism, and traditional Judeo-Christian values disgusts them. It’s why they always side with Palestine over Israel, for example. And it’s why they’re so anxious to get the United States to lose the War on Terror–and blatantly ignored a possible terrorist attack this week.

The news that a Yemeni passenger attempted to storm the cockpit of an American Airlines flight, while screaming “Allahu Akbar!”, should have been breaking news. Instead, it drew surprisingly little media attention. Even authorities seem to be rather lackadaisical about the potential terrorist attack, claiming that they don’t know what his motive was — despite the fact that we just killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and the man who planned the 9-11 atrocity which just so happened to also involve hijacking airplanes.

Prior to 9-11, most of the Western world did not take jihad against the West seriously. There were many, many warning signs along the way, but they were ignored. After that fateful September day, it couldn’t be ignored any longer, and since 9-11, Al Qaeda and Muslim extremists have continued to try to attack the United States, as well as multiple European countries. The jihad wages on, while most of the country looks the other way. Leftists pretended to care about national security and stopping terrorist attacks for a little while after the horror of 9-11, but that facade quickly grew too difficult to keep up for them. They then proceeded to do everything they could to get us to lose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last week, when the news broke that we finally caught and killed Osama bin Laden, leftists pretended to be jubilant. Though deep down many of them mourned, they were mostly excited that they now had another reason to claim we no longer need to fight the War on Terror.

That paper-thin meme should have been blown apart Sunday. But of course, leftists live by their own warped logic.
Browse around the left-leaning blogs and you’ll be lucky if it even gets a mention. Over at the Huffington Post, they edited out the eyewitness account of the man screaming “Allahu Akbar!” as he tried to storm the cockpit. The writers at Wonkette declared that the entire event was not at all a threat, that it’s completely normal, and the fact that conservatives are taking the incident seriously is racism, or something.

The conservative Internet has uncovered UNMISTAKABLE EVIDENCE that The Muslims of America are planning to set aside their Sharia checklist for a moment to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden. On Sunday, some guy from Vallejo, California on a flight from Chicago to San Francisco went nuts, screaming and pounding on the cockpit door, according to the Associated Press. This is something that happens on airplanes! People do weird things! Flying is freaky for a lot of people! In the same article, the AP notes another guy on another flight Sunday tried to open the plane door of the aircraft he was on. But that second guy isn’t of Arab descent, so the MUSLIM WATCHERS are only freaking out about the first one.

Yes, because someone trying to break into the cockpit of a plane, screaming “God is Great” is Arabic, is a totally normal occurrence during American travel.

Authorities have yet to say this is terrorism, because it’s pretty obviously not. But the people who really understand Muslims, bigots who have never studied Islam, know the truth: this was a DRY RUN by the Muslims, who will soon be inside every plane in the country, KNOCKING ON A DOOR. Scary! Don’t knock so hard, Muslims! You will kill all us white people with your door knocking!

While it may be the easier route to pretend that terrorists have stopped attacking the United States, the simple truth is that they haven’t. 9-11 was less than ten years ago. And while there have been multiple attacks on Europe since then, and attempted attacks on the United States — most recently, the Christmas Day Bomber, the attempted bombing of a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, and the Fort Hood massacre — it’s so much easier to treat everything as a big joke, or to smear vigilance as racism. The truth is that this very easily could have been a legitimate terrorist attack or a dry run to practice for one in the future. But if you’re a leftist, why take news like this seriously? If the evil conservatives are, then clearly leftists need to either ignore or deride the issue, no matter how important or relevant.

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The question is, on what planet has Obama gone above and beyond to enforce immigration laws? Let’s do a quick rundown on just how bad things actually are when it comes to illegal immigration. There are millions of illegals flowing over the border freely. The fastest growing gang in the United States is MS-13, an extremely dangerous Central American gang that, here in the US, is made up almost entirely of illegals. Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of the United States. An American rancher was murdered by illegals in cold blood. Certain parts of Arizona are so dangerous that the government has put up signs warning Americans not to go there. We have ICE catching illegals and then releasing them again. We’ve got pregnant illegals coming here and giving birth to anchor babies who get American citizenship simply because their mother broke our laws and gave birth to them here.

And what has Obama done? Well, the border fence isn’t anywhere near completed (approximately 36 out of 700 miles, actually). He wants to give illegals not only amnesty for breaking our laws, but he also wants to give them several million American jobs. And the one state that actually is doing something to stem the flow of illegal immigration, Arizona, is being sued by the federal government to stop it. Is this his warped idea of going above and beyond?

If it is, then I’d sure hate to see what it looks like when he doesn’t give a shit about enforcing immigration laws.

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It’s being reported that, as retaliation for being kept in the dark about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the Pakistani government has decided to out the CIA station chief stationed there.

Oh, and the best part? This is the second time they’ve done so.

Amid bitter, recriminatory exchanges between the United States and Pakistan over the Osama bin Laden extermination, planned bilateral visits of President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington DC and a return trip of President Barack Obama to Islamabad are both in jeopardy. Ties between the two sides are expected to slide further following Pakistan’s “outing” of the CIA station chief in Islamabad on Saturday.

In a sign of how bad ties are between the two countries, Pakistani media on Saturday once again publicly named the CIA station chief in Islamabad, a breach of both protocol and trust, that is bound to enrage Washington.

… The latest breach indicates that a section of the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment is determined to run the CIA out of the country fearing that the ISI’s links with terror groups and its sheltering of terrorist leaders will be exposed.

The CIA is refusing to pull the operative, stating that his name was spelled incorrectly, was likely a cover name anyways, and without a photograph, his cover isn’t really blown yet. So how will Pakistan respond? Are they going to simply publish a photograph of him now, too?

First, we find Osama bin Laden hiding in Pakistan, in a city containing their version of West Point. After the raid, they threatened retaliation. Now, they’re leaking the name of our CIA station chief there. Someone remind me again why we’re considering them an ally of ours — and more importantly, why we’re sending them billions of dollars.

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