A National Story Hits Close To Home Via Our Veterans Park

We have a neighbor who served her country with honor and distinction.

Really.

Not the White House’s post-modern/Orwellian understanding of “honor and distinction,” she really served our country. (See Bowe Bergdahl’s fellow unit members react to Jay Carney saying Bowe served with “honor and distinction [second video].) At any rate, she was at a park in our valley designated to honor our local veterans to check in on her own brick, and she saw this:

Being the curious sort of gal she is… she had to see it was. This is who:

Can you believe it? I checked, Bowe has no connection to our Valley… and people who pushed for the brick really had no idea of all the circumstances surrounding Bowe’s predicament, but here is a conservative blogger from our valley pushing for the brick to be added to our City of Santa Clarita Veterans Historical Plaza… here is the post on the matter he entitled, “Let’s Get a Brick for Bowe Bergdahl

For a long time, I have followed the story of Bowe Bergdahl. He is an American soldier from Idaho who was captured by the enemy in Afghanistan. To my knowledge he is the only POW from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I would like to lead an effort to purchase a brick at the Veteran Historical Plaza in Newhall to bring his plight to the attention of our community and keep his name public in an appropriate manner. To my way of thinking, this commemoration is more meaningful if it is supported by a few individuals who share this belief than by one individual. Therefore , I am inviting four other patriots in joing me to purchase a brick for Bowe Bergdahl to be placed in Veterans Historical Plaza prior to Memorial Day, 2012…..

Again, I doubt Mr. Petzold had any idea about the entirety of the circumstances that led to Bowe being in Taliban hands… but I have a feeling that that brick will be removed. If not, I will lead a movement to have it removed.

Funny how things hit home. We have a large veteran community in town, and I guarantee most of them are scoffing at the “honor and distinction” twist the current Admin is salting this story with. We are blessed as well to have one of the most pro-military reps in Congress from our district, Howard “Buck” McKeon, who, will be involved with this case intimately.

Well all this doesn’t affect the liberal elites in their cozy homes… it only bothers those nameless/faceless people far-far away: Survivors of Afghan Village Massacre Fume Over Obama’s Prisoner Swap. It isn’t like they are destroying wine cellars:

Who cares about them? It’s not like this action will put the Taliban back on their feet from their heels?  

Taliban strikes close on Obama’s heels

The Taliban struck back less than two hours after President Barack Obama left Afghanistan on Wednesday, targeting a foreigners’ housing compound with a suicide car bomb and militants disguised as women in an assault that killed at least seven people.

It was the second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks and highlighted the Taliban’s continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital even when security had been tightened for Mr. Obama’s visit and Wednesday’s anniversary of the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan….

(The Hindu)

 (US Defense Department)

….Coalition and Afghan forces have reversed the Taliban’s momentum and will continue to build on that success, a senior Pentagon spokesman said today.

“The Taliban’s momentum has not only been thwarted, it’s been thrust back,” Navy Capt. John Kirby told reporters. “We believe they are in a much weaker position.”

[….]

“The Taliban [are] in a much weaker position as we head into this spring than they were as little as a year ago,” Kirby said.

[….]

“It was over by the next morning,” he said. Another attempted attack in the hours after Obama’s visit to Afghanistan last week was “completely ineffective,” he added.

U.S. officials believe the Taliban are on their heels. “It is much more difficult for them to move around, to resource, to plan and execute,” Kirby said, though he added it’s too early to count the Taliban out.

“They are still a resilient, determined enemy,” he said. “We understand that. But we really do believe that we have wrested the momentum from the Taliban.”


Mike Rogers thinks different:

Susan Rice the White Houses `Fall-Guy`? ~ President Still Holds To This False Narrative

This narrative all but collapsing have caused some to wonder if the White House used Susan Rice as a fall-girl. Her responses over last weekend were likened to “borderline ignorance,” and the President — as of yesterday — is holding to this false narrative. Gateway Pundit comments on this dilemma:

Sorry, Barack… Only a useful idiot would think the violent mobs storming embassies was a “natural” reaction to an offensive video.

The Daily Caller reported:

President Barack Obama said he thinks Muslim protests against Western criticism of Islam are “natural.”

“The natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests,” Obama said during an hour-long town-hall interview on the Spanish-language Univision channel.

Obama did not use the interview to champion the right of Americans to speak freely amid criticism and threats from Islamic advocates.

He did briefly mention free-speech, saying that democracy also includes “looking out for minority rights… respecting freedom of speech… [and] treating women fairly.”

Our Representative, Buck McKeon (the 25th district), gives his own 2-cents on the matter, and nails it:

HotAir also points out the waste of taxpayer monies in trying to dissuade these protests.Something that will not happen… that is… the dissuasion of violence in Islam:

….What you’re about to see is, essentially, an official statement of patriotic disapproval, not from the Defense Department but from State. They’re spending $70,000 to air this on Pakistani television in the naive hope that the lunatics who were throwing rocks at the embassy in Islamabad this morning and who are planning massive — and state-sanctioned — “protests” tomorrow might be placated. It’s a hostage video, with American diplomats in Pakistan and American soldiers in Afghanistan as the hostages. And, as always when the government strains to show respect for Islam, there’s nothing genuinely respectful about it. The thought of Hillary cutting a video like this for the Israeli market in response to some U.S. citizen’s anti-semitic propaganda because she “respects” Judaism is unimaginable. The motive here is fear, not respect. And bizarrely, the embassy seems proud enough of it that it’s willing to advertise this clip on its own Facebook page….

…read more…

Pat Condell also points out the bottom line, in his patented way: