that I shoulda checked Snopes for the veracity of the missive attributed to General Hawley; Snopes has this:
General Hawley said of the words now mistakenly attributed to him:
There is a piece zooming around the internet that attributes some pretty forceful statements to me, Dick Hawley - one time fighter pilot, General, thoughtful consultant, neophyte strategist, master of the artful compromise. The words did not flow from my pen, but if the e-mails mean anything, those words are now indelibly linked to my name. So do me a favor - if you receive this, please send it on to the same people to whom you forwarded the one that I did not write. It's not that I don't share many, if not most, of the sentiments attributed to me, but the piece is just not my style.
Here's what I would have said if I'd been asked to comment on those five important issues.
1) Goodness, Evil and Relativity: There are some really good people in this world. They volunteer to help those who need it, and ask nothing in return. There are also some really bad people in this world. They exploit those who need help, or who have less wit or "charisma", and motivate them to join in committing unspeakable acts of cruelty against people they don't even know. Then there are the rest of us. Average people who try each day to do no harm, to provide for their families, to do an occasional act of kindness. The evil that was perpetrated against our land on 9/11 was the product of Mullahs who see our prosperity and power as a threat to their control over the uneducated Muslim masses on whose shoulders they ride through life. And so they preach hate. They are evil.
2) Violence begets violence: It's true. Violence does beget violence. But sometimes there is no alternative but to confront those who would perpetrate evil acts against us. This is one of those times. We are blessed to have courageous men and women willing to put their lives on the line to track down and annihilate those who have been so imbued with evil as to be beyond redemption. But violence is not a strategy. It is a necessary and fully justified reaction to an unimaginable threat. But it is not a strategy. If we are to win this war, we must defeat the Mullahs. And to defeat the Mullahs, we must find ways to separate them from their uneducated flocks. We cannot kill all those who have been taught to hate us, nor should we wish to. Far better to change their minds than to change their state of being.
3) The intelligence community let us down: Well, maybe just a little. Lots of senior and not so senior intelligence people became just as enamored of high tech gadgets as their political masters. The protests over our evisceration of the human intelligence component of the agency were not very loud or forceful. Keeping spies on the ground is a high risk and often dirty business, and it wasn't just liberal politicians who didn't have much stomach for it.
4) Poverty is the breeding ground for terrorists: No, it isn't; but religious extremism is. The Mullahs fear our wealth and power because it shows that a secular society with democratic institutions and a free market economy can do a better job of taking care of its peoples' needs, both spiritual and physical, than the oppressive Islamic regimes that they aspire to lead. The Mullahs are the problem, not poverty, but poverty does make it easier for the Mullahs to spread their evil - as do governments that tolerate and even reinforce their hateful message.
5) Profiling: We are at war here! We are not talking about traffic stops. If we were at war with Iceland, I would expect those charged with our defense to pay very close attention to any Icelander who ventured near our shores. In this war I expect them to pay very close attention to Muslims with ties to the places that spew hatred against us. Random checks when there are no such obvious targets available are a good way to keep the evil ones guessing, but let's not make small children and grandmothers take their shoes off while we watch far more likely candidates walk aboard unchecked.
6) Resolutions:
a. Never forget that what happened on September the 11th of 2001 was an act of war.
b. Never sit silently by while someone tries to justify what happened on that day as an understandable reaction to U.S. policies in the Middle East or elsewhere.
c. Fly our nation's flag proudly - it represents this world's greatest hope to move beyond the pain and suffering that inflict so many across the globe.
Richard E. Hawley
General, USAF, Retired
Former Commander, Air Combat Command
Notwithstanding that General Hawley didn't write the original I posted, after reading this, I can safely say that I would proudly follow him into battle ............................. ;-)
Monday, January 28, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
From "my" LtCol ...................................... My kind of GENERAL
From General Hawley....he no longer has to be politically
correct..........................
So much for "politically correct" nonsense.... if this offends you,
get a grip on reality!!
For those who don't know General Hawley, he's a newly retired USAF
4-Star general. He commanded the USAF Air Combat Command [our front- line
fighters and bombers]. The Command headquarters is at Langley AFB, VA.
General Hawley is now retired and no longer required to be politically
correct. His short speech is very much to the point.
The following are excerpts:"
"Since the attack [9-11], I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of
such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them
too.
Here they are:
1. "We're not good, they're not evil, and everything is relative."
"Listen carefully: We're good, they're evil, and nothing is relative. Say it
with me now and free yourselves. You see, folks, saying "We're good" doesn't
mean, "We're perfect." Okay? The only perfect being is the bearded guy on
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The plain fact is that our country has,
with all our mistakes and blunders, always been and always will be the
greatest beacon of freedom, charity, opportunity, and affection in history.
If you need proof, open all the borders on Earth and see what happens.
2 "Violence only leads to more violence."
"This one is so stupid you usually have to be the president of an Ivy
League university to say it. Here's the truth, which you know in your heads
and hearts already: Ineffective, unfocused violence leads to more violence.
Limp, panicky, half-measures lead to more violence. However, complete, fully
thought-through, professional, well-executed violence never leads to more
violence because, you see, afterwards, the other guys are all dead. That's
right, dead. Not "on trial," not reeducated," not "nurtured back into the
bosom of love." Dead-D-E-A-D
Well, you get the idea.
3 "The CIA and the rest of our intelligence community have failed
us."
"For 25 years we have chained our spies like dogs to a stake in the
ground, and now that the house has been robbed, we yell at them for not
protecting us. Starting in the late seventies, under Carter appointee
Stansfield Turner, the giant brains who get these giant ideas decided that
the best way to gather international intelligence was to use spy satellites.
"After all, (they reasoned,) you can see a license plate from 200 miles
away." This is very helpful if you've been attacked by a license plate.
Unfortunately, we were attacked by humans. Finding humans is not possible
with satellites. You have to use other humans.
When we bought all our satellites, we fired all our humans, and here's
the really stupid part. It takes years, decades to infiltrate new humans
into the worst places of the world. You can't just have a guy who looks like
Gary Busey in a Spring Break '93 sweatshirt plop himself down in a coffee
shop in Kabul and say "Hiya, boys. Gee, I sure would like to meet that bin
Laden fella. "Well, you can, but all you'd be doing is giving the bad guys a
story they'll be telling for years.
4 "These people are poor and helpless, and that's why they're angry at
us." Uh-huh, and Jeffrey Dahmer's frozen head collection was just a despera
te cry for help. The terrorists and their backers are richer than Elton John
and, ironically, a good deal less annoying. The poor helpless people, you
see, are the villagers they tortured and murdered to stay in power. Mohammed
Atta, one of the evil scumbags who steered those planes into the killing
grounds is the son of a Cairo surgeon. But you knew this, too. In the
sixties and seventies, all the pinheads marching against the war were
upper-middle-class college kids who grabbed any cause they could think of to
get out of their final papers and spend more time drinking. It's the same
today.
5 "Any profiling is racial profiling." Who's killing us here, the
Norwegians? Just days after the attack, the New York Times had an article
saying dozens of extended members of the gaz illionaire bin Laden family
living in America were afraid of reprisals and left in a huff, never to
return to studying at Harvard and using too much Drakkar. I'm crushed.
Please come back. Let's all stop singing "We Are the World" for a
minute and think practically. I don't want to be sitting on the floor in the
back of a plane four seconds away from hitting Mt. Rushmore and turn,
grinning, to the guy next to me to say, "Well, at least we didn't offend
them."
SO HERE'S what I resolve for the New Year: Never to forget our
murdered brothers and sisters. Never to let the relativists get away with
their immoral thinking. After all, no matter what your daughter's political
science professor says, we didn't start this. Have you seen that bumper
sticker that says, "No More Hiroshima's"? I wish I had one that says, "No
More Pearl Harbors."
correct..........................
So much for "politically correct" nonsense.... if this offends you,
get a grip on reality!!
For those who don't know General Hawley, he's a newly retired USAF
4-Star general. He commanded the USAF Air Combat Command [our front- line
fighters and bombers]. The Command headquarters is at Langley AFB, VA.
General Hawley is now retired and no longer required to be politically
correct. His short speech is very much to the point.
The following are excerpts:"
"Since the attack [9-11], I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of
such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them
too.
Here they are:
1. "We're not good, they're not evil, and everything is relative."
"Listen carefully: We're good, they're evil, and nothing is relative. Say it
with me now and free yourselves. You see, folks, saying "We're good" doesn't
mean, "We're perfect." Okay? The only perfect being is the bearded guy on
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The plain fact is that our country has,
with all our mistakes and blunders, always been and always will be the
greatest beacon of freedom, charity, opportunity, and affection in history.
If you need proof, open all the borders on Earth and see what happens.
2 "Violence only leads to more violence."
"This one is so stupid you usually have to be the president of an Ivy
League university to say it. Here's the truth, which you know in your heads
and hearts already: Ineffective, unfocused violence leads to more violence.
Limp, panicky, half-measures lead to more violence. However, complete, fully
thought-through, professional, well-executed violence never leads to more
violence because, you see, afterwards, the other guys are all dead. That's
right, dead. Not "on trial," not reeducated," not "nurtured back into the
bosom of love." Dead-D-E-A-D
Well, you get the idea.
3 "The CIA and the rest of our intelligence community have failed
us."
"For 25 years we have chained our spies like dogs to a stake in the
ground, and now that the house has been robbed, we yell at them for not
protecting us. Starting in the late seventies, under Carter appointee
Stansfield Turner, the giant brains who get these giant ideas decided that
the best way to gather international intelligence was to use spy satellites.
"After all, (they reasoned,) you can see a license plate from 200 miles
away." This is very helpful if you've been attacked by a license plate.
Unfortunately, we were attacked by humans. Finding humans is not possible
with satellites. You have to use other humans.
When we bought all our satellites, we fired all our humans, and here's
the really stupid part. It takes years, decades to infiltrate new humans
into the worst places of the world. You can't just have a guy who looks like
Gary Busey in a Spring Break '93 sweatshirt plop himself down in a coffee
shop in Kabul and say "Hiya, boys. Gee, I sure would like to meet that bin
Laden fella. "Well, you can, but all you'd be doing is giving the bad guys a
story they'll be telling for years.
4 "These people are poor and helpless, and that's why they're angry at
us." Uh-huh, and Jeffrey Dahmer's frozen head collection was just a despera
te cry for help. The terrorists and their backers are richer than Elton John
and, ironically, a good deal less annoying. The poor helpless people, you
see, are the villagers they tortured and murdered to stay in power. Mohammed
Atta, one of the evil scumbags who steered those planes into the killing
grounds is the son of a Cairo surgeon. But you knew this, too. In the
sixties and seventies, all the pinheads marching against the war were
upper-middle-class college kids who grabbed any cause they could think of to
get out of their final papers and spend more time drinking. It's the same
today.
5 "Any profiling is racial profiling." Who's killing us here, the
Norwegians? Just days after the attack, the New York Times had an article
saying dozens of extended members of the gaz illionaire bin Laden family
living in America were afraid of reprisals and left in a huff, never to
return to studying at Harvard and using too much Drakkar. I'm crushed.
Please come back. Let's all stop singing "We Are the World" for a
minute and think practically. I don't want to be sitting on the floor in the
back of a plane four seconds away from hitting Mt. Rushmore and turn,
grinning, to the guy next to me to say, "Well, at least we didn't offend
them."
SO HERE'S what I resolve for the New Year: Never to forget our
murdered brothers and sisters. Never to let the relativists get away with
their immoral thinking. After all, no matter what your daughter's political
science professor says, we didn't start this. Have you seen that bumper
sticker that says, "No More Hiroshima's"? I wish I had one that says, "No
More Pearl Harbors."
Sunday, January 20, 2008
'Specially to Lainy, MK & SpeakerTweaker .......................................................
Thank you for your comments - Ja. is doing VERY well in her new class - now if her Mom can only get the school's speech therapist to work with Ja. - right now, she's "under observation/consultation" - the thing is, just as with kids with hearing loss, the earlier the intervention, the better the result.
What I posted earlier is just ONE example - I'm afraid I'm gonna have to buckle down and start attending town council meetings, to raise the issue of illegals & anchor/jackpot children here - one of the problems is that we're only ~ 30 miles outside Houston, where Mayor Witless and the carpetbagger police chief LIE about the sanctuary status the city imposes on all public service issues. Also, I've been invited to get involved in the school system - I haven't, because I do not now, nor ever DID, have a child in this school system. {D. was 22 when we moved here.}
I'm all for our kids learning languages other than English {though I believe they should all be well on their way to mastery of the English language before getting into any other language - in today's world, English is the language of choice in many fields} - with no indication that 'globalism' is going away any time soon, it can only HELP to have a grasp of another language. That being said, I question the "Spanish" that's being taught here - too often, it is classical Spanish {one could fare very well in Spain} - if the majority of people one must interact with come from Mexico or Central America, wouldn't it be better to at least offer "Mexican Spanish"?
What I posted earlier is just ONE example - I'm afraid I'm gonna have to buckle down and start attending town council meetings, to raise the issue of illegals & anchor/jackpot children here - one of the problems is that we're only ~ 30 miles outside Houston, where Mayor Witless and the carpetbagger police chief LIE about the sanctuary status the city imposes on all public service issues. Also, I've been invited to get involved in the school system - I haven't, because I do not now, nor ever DID, have a child in this school system. {D. was 22 when we moved here.}
I'm all for our kids learning languages other than English {though I believe they should all be well on their way to mastery of the English language before getting into any other language - in today's world, English is the language of choice in many fields} - with no indication that 'globalism' is going away any time soon, it can only HELP to have a grasp of another language. That being said, I question the "Spanish" that's being taught here - too often, it is classical Spanish {one could fare very well in Spain} - if the majority of people one must interact with come from Mexico or Central America, wouldn't it be better to at least offer "Mexican Spanish"?
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
As y'all may have noticed ...............................................
I don't like to see animals go hungry - if you're so inclined, please go to The Animal Rescue Site & click on the purple button - it's a matter of "clicks equalling food" ............................. St. Francis of Assisi thanks you! ;-)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Friends of ours have 3 children -
J. the son, C. the elder daughter, and Ja. the younger daughter. All 3 kids have had to overcome quite a bit - J. has been on ADHD meds since pre-K (he's now junior high); C. is learning disabled, bi-polar, with neuro thrown in, now in middle school; Ja. WAS OK 'til her sperm donor decided she was a sex toy - as a result, her language development is about the level of a 3-4 year old - she's 7.
School opened in August, as it usually does here, and Ja. toddled off to second grade - only, she's the ONLY Anglo in her class, and the teacher is teaching IN SPANISH. Poor little Ja. would come home, be asked by her Mom if she's making friends, having fun - Ja. would tearfully tell her, "Mom, I can't understand them when they're talking, and I can't understand the teacher." Her mother immediately went to the school and demanded Ja.'s transfer to another class; this was refused. For the entire first week, Mom went to school with her demands - finally, that Friday, arrangements were made to transfer Ja.
THIS is a major example of the rubber meeting the road on illegal immigration - OUR children are being sacrificed in the name of the almighty gods called 'multiculturalism' and 'diversity'.
School opened in August, as it usually does here, and Ja. toddled off to second grade - only, she's the ONLY Anglo in her class, and the teacher is teaching IN SPANISH. Poor little Ja. would come home, be asked by her Mom if she's making friends, having fun - Ja. would tearfully tell her, "Mom, I can't understand them when they're talking, and I can't understand the teacher." Her mother immediately went to the school and demanded Ja.'s transfer to another class; this was refused. For the entire first week, Mom went to school with her demands - finally, that Friday, arrangements were made to transfer Ja.
THIS is a major example of the rubber meeting the road on illegal immigration - OUR children are being sacrificed in the name of the almighty gods called 'multiculturalism' and 'diversity'.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
From "my" Lt Col ................................................
whether it's 'urban legend' or not, it's well-worth reading - here's my reasoning - many criminals CAN READ - and something like this would give them ideas ............................
NEW FORM OF KIDNAPPING
Please take a minute to read this. This is very scary and could happen to
any of us.. Seems like every nice thing people do for one another can be
perverted.
A new twist on kidnapping from a very smart survivor:
About a month ago there was a woman standing by the mall entrance passing
out flyers to all the women going in. The woman had written the flyer
herself to tell about an experience she had, so that she might warn other
women.
The previous day, this woman had finished shopping, went out to her car and
discovered that she had a flat.
She got the jack out of the trunk and began to change the flat. A nice man
dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase walked up to her and
said, 'I noticed you're changing a flat tire. Would you like me to take
care of it for you?'
The woman was grateful for his offer and accepted his help. They chatted
amiably while the man changed the flat, and then put the flat tire and the
jack in the trunk, shut it and dusted his hands off.
The woman thanked him profusely, and as she was about to get in her car, the
man told her that he left his car around on the other side of the mall, and
asked if she would mind giving him a lift to his car.
She was a little surprised and she asked him why his car was on other side.
He explained that he had seen an old friend in the mall that he hadn't seen
for some time and they had a bite to eat, visited for a while, and he got
turned around in the mall and left through the wrong exit, and now he was
running late.
The woman hated to tell him 'no' because he had just rescued her from
having to change her flat tire all by herself, but she! felt un easy. (Trust
that gut feeling!)
Then she remembered seeing the man put his briefcase in her trunk before
shutting it and before he asked her for a ride to his car.
She told him that she'd be happy to drive him around to his car, But she
just remembered one last thing she needed to buy. (Smart woman!!)
She said she would only be a few minutes; he could sit down in her car and
wait for her; she would be as quick as she could be.
She hurried into the mall, and told a security guard what had happened, the
guard came out to her car with her, but the
man had left. They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took
it down to the police station.
The police opened it (ostensibly to look for ID so they could return it to
the man). What they found was rope, duct tape, and knives. When the police
checked her 'flat' tire, there was nothing wrong with it; the air had simply
been let out. It was obvious what the man's intention was, and obvious that
he had carefully thought it out in advance. The woman was blessed to have
escaped harm. (Amen, thank you, God!)
How much worse it would have been if she had children with her and had them
wait in the car while the man fixed the tire, or if she had a baby strapped
into a car seat? Or if she'd gone against her judgment and given him a
lift?
I'd like you to forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life.
A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. I was going to send this
to the ladies only; but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters,
daughters, etc.., you may want to pass it on to them, as well.
Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that The world
we live in has a lot of crazies in it. Better to be safe than sorry.
NEW FORM OF KIDNAPPING
Please take a minute to read this. This is very scary and could happen to
any of us.. Seems like every nice thing people do for one another can be
perverted.
A new twist on kidnapping from a very smart survivor:
About a month ago there was a woman standing by the mall entrance passing
out flyers to all the women going in. The woman had written the flyer
herself to tell about an experience she had, so that she might warn other
women.
The previous day, this woman had finished shopping, went out to her car and
discovered that she had a flat.
She got the jack out of the trunk and began to change the flat. A nice man
dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase walked up to her and
said, 'I noticed you're changing a flat tire. Would you like me to take
care of it for you?'
The woman was grateful for his offer and accepted his help. They chatted
amiably while the man changed the flat, and then put the flat tire and the
jack in the trunk, shut it and dusted his hands off.
The woman thanked him profusely, and as she was about to get in her car, the
man told her that he left his car around on the other side of the mall, and
asked if she would mind giving him a lift to his car.
She was a little surprised and she asked him why his car was on other side.
He explained that he had seen an old friend in the mall that he hadn't seen
for some time and they had a bite to eat, visited for a while, and he got
turned around in the mall and left through the wrong exit, and now he was
running late.
The woman hated to tell him 'no' because he had just rescued her from
having to change her flat tire all by herself, but she! felt un easy. (Trust
that gut feeling!)
Then she remembered seeing the man put his briefcase in her trunk before
shutting it and before he asked her for a ride to his car.
She told him that she'd be happy to drive him around to his car, But she
just remembered one last thing she needed to buy. (Smart woman!!)
She said she would only be a few minutes; he could sit down in her car and
wait for her; she would be as quick as she could be.
She hurried into the mall, and told a security guard what had happened, the
guard came out to her car with her, but the
man had left. They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took
it down to the police station.
The police opened it (ostensibly to look for ID so they could return it to
the man). What they found was rope, duct tape, and knives. When the police
checked her 'flat' tire, there was nothing wrong with it; the air had simply
been let out. It was obvious what the man's intention was, and obvious that
he had carefully thought it out in advance. The woman was blessed to have
escaped harm. (Amen, thank you, God!)
How much worse it would have been if she had children with her and had them
wait in the car while the man fixed the tire, or if she had a baby strapped
into a car seat? Or if she'd gone against her judgment and given him a
lift?
I'd like you to forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life.
A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. I was going to send this
to the ladies only; but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters,
daughters, etc.., you may want to pass it on to them, as well.
Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that The world
we live in has a lot of crazies in it. Better to be safe than sorry.
OK, SportsFans, here's the deal ..................................................
it appears our 'Cousins' are preparing to pillory one of their citizens for his exercise of free speech ............................. Wolf Howling gives a pretty good a rundown of what Lionheart is facing, for blogging his opinions about 'the religion of peace' ........................... now, I'm not a big advocate of telling other countries how to run their governments - BUT - our Constitution was the result of taking the best of the U.K.'s "Common Law", which had a few (SARCASM) of it's origins in the Magna Carta - and while WE struggle with folks who would completely re-write the Constitution, if not do away with it completely, we, at this point, still have most of our freedoms ............................ Lionheart is publishing the truth - unlike our 'stolen valor' types, who now are claiming their lies are covered by the First Amendment .............................. if this makes you as angry as it makes me, here's contact info for the British Embassy .........................
Public Affairs Team
The British Embassy
Washington D.C.
3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington D.C. 20008-3600
Public Affairs Team
The British Embassy
Washington D.C.
3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington D.C. 20008-3600
Saturday, January 5, 2008
One of the harridans of the Beltway is blaming
bloggers {WTF, Over?} for journalism's more recent debacles .......................... per Helen Thomas, "bad journalism" is all the fault of bloggers, as "we" don't have 'ethical standards' ............................... ye-eah, here's the thing - among the bloggers I "know", I will take y'all's word over Helen Thomas and the rest of the MSM any day of the week - "we" haven't had the incidences of faked stories, photoshopping, forgeries, etc., making the rounds unchallenged ........................... she can kiss my original EGA tattoo ..............................
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