I was on the freeway on my way to court yesterday about 15 minutes before the motorcade.

I saw all the firefighters on the overpasses. One had a huge flag flying from the top of a ladder truck.

It was pretty amazing.

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=40012

Click on the video link

I wish it had been this way during the Vietnam war.

Thanks GARD, this puts it all in prespective.  Nice tribute to a hero.

http://www.k9hero.com/

I would like to see more web pages like this one....

Gee, I would rather think about life, happiness, freedom from bullying, than the loss of a great pet.

  Another 7 dead from the DOD today, awaiting confirmation on Iraq casualties. com   

I feel sorry for the National Guard guys that joined up to pay for college, train 1 weekend a month & Help with hurricanes, but find themselves in the midst of a counter insurgency, guerilla war & Terrible Occupation.

Patriotism has nothing to do with waving a flag.     Or supporting this disaster in Iraq, which is destroying us economically & militarily.  The War Pimps are getting what they deserve...the $5, $6, $7 a gallon gas, a severe Recession that may lead to a Depression,  & a war with No end.

Most people- namely because we get NO news - don't realize that GWB's surge consisted on handing out DUFFLE BAGS full of loot --to the various tribes to bribe them into NOT fighting or attacking American forces. Think about it -- we've been handing out Millions of dollars to the very same people who planted bombs - that have left 4000 US dead - tens of thousands wounded.

I wonder how the couple in Brattleboro, VT whose only child Kyle was blown up by these forces feels about their tax dollars now being paid to their kid's killers to not fight?  I have a feeling that all thise dough is running out. We only hear of the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds when, in fact, there are approximately 28 different tribes to whom the people are loyal to.

2 more killed from NH - 1 kid was on his 4th trip over there - they just keep sending them until they DIE. The other one from Littleton was blown up - gosh, because the Humvee he was driving STILL HAD NO ARMOUR. If he'd have been in a presidential convoy cruising Tuscon he'd sure as hell have been protected. These kids die and you couldn't speak to anyone on the street who knows or cares! Oh, our Governor remarked that the kid from Littleton DIED PROTECTING OUR FREEDOM - can you believe this bullshit?

He died and police chief Jose Pequeno (32) with 3 kids from Sugar Hill, NH (nobody here even knows about him) will NEVER be normal or probably ever come home. His Humvee had no armor - just a few son-of-a-bitching sandbags on the floor.

$3 trillion to secure these OIL FIELDS for the international oil barons & Israel - and we have to hear this hogwash about
'Protecting our freedom" from a land & people with No navy - no airforce - no infrastructure - and millions dispossessed - or dying with NO medical care-that Never attacked us!   Sandbags and WWII equipment!   Jose had his head blown up - has plastic skull pieces, can't walk, can only grunt - has a permanent feeding tube - and we're paying those who blew him up!!

But then when a president and his cohorts LIE - (read PNAC) - about  war - when the plan was always to Occupy - & grab those oil fields (bigger than Saudi Arabia) - you'll have those whose land has been invaded fighting till the death. Ha - latest word is, these supposed Iraqi forces are deserting with their American weapons and joining the various tribal factions.

Basra - this is where 80% of the oil is - and ports are located.  They are NOT going to turn these fields over to EXXON - BP, etc - they'll blow them all up 1st. The worst and most fearful thing is - we have approx 180k cntractors &140k military there. When you have corporate HOGS running a war - you are going to have CHAOS. Now we have tribes fighting tribes for control - and our military stuck in the middle of this mess. IF and I fully expect it - they start a war with Iran - God help them all. Russia and China will not stand idly by - there is only ONE supply route from Kuwait - the airport in Baghdad where many of our forces are gathered - is 15 miles from the Green Zone (only one road) -- which is now under attack. There is no exit - it won' t be like Vietn

I understand the flag, but I think this is more paying respect and honoring this man and his family than patriotism.  This country was patriotic for a few moments recently.  Everyone was very patriotic after 9/11.  I have never seen the US more connected and patriotic.  Bush used this and a few slides to convince us that there was a need to go to war.  I think at that point the US public was still a bit patriotic and believed it was a good cause.   I think, like a loveless marraige, everyone is going about their business until the kids(Bush) graduate. 

I know some of you are from Canada.  I used to go there quite a bit when I was younger.  If any of you have ever been there, you will know what I am talking about.  They put the maple leaf on every single thing.  I am talking about everything!  Every product that you buy, will have a maple leaf on it.  Even your fries, cup, burger wrapper and bag from McDonalds has a maple leaf on it.  I'm not 100% sure, but instead of quilts, their toilet paper has maple leafs on them. 

We saw a huge influx of people waving the flag after 9/11.  Hell, gas stations couldn't stock enough stickers and magnets for cars.  I think this has all changed.  We need to get back to being proud of ourselves and our country.  We need leadership that is willing to lead this country.  I'm not talking about leading us into reccession either. 

Please, get out and vote!  I am officially announcing my candidacy for president in '08.  Check the "other" box and write me in.

Sorry to help jack your thread.  I thought it was SoCal and NoCal? 

US gave $300m arms contract to 22-year-old with criminal record

Goldenberg in Washington

• The Guardian,
• Friday March 28 2008

The Pentagon entrusted a 22-year-old previously arrested for domestic violence and having a forged driving licence to be the main supplier of ammunition to US & Afghan forces at the height of the battle against the Taliban, it was reported yesterday.

AEY, essentially a 1-man operation based in an unmarked office in Miami Beach, Florida, was awarded a contract worth $300 million to supply the US & Afghan army & police in January last year. But as the New York Times reported in a lengthy investigation, AEY's president, Efraim Diversoli, 22, (Israeli-US Dual Citizen), supplied stock that was 40 years old and rotting packing material.

"Much of the ammunition comes from the ageing stockpiles of the old communist bloc, including stockpiles that the state department and Nato have determined to be unreliable and obsolete, and have spent millions of dollars to have destroyed," the paper said.  The report on AEY was the latest instance of private firms securing lucrative defence contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan under the Bush administration's policy of privatising growing aspects of the military.

"Operations like this pop up like mushrooms after the rain," said Milton Bearden, a former CIA official who in the 1980s was in charge of arming Afghan rebel groups fighting the former Soviet Union. The army suspended AEY from future contracts during the course of the investigation - although it continues to fill existing orders. The New York Times said Diversoli was unaware of the action, although he was to be notified yesterday.

Until then, however, Diversoli appears to have had a lucrative run. He told the newspaper his firm had won contracts worth at least $200m each year since 2004. AEY also supplied weapons to US agencies, and rifles to Iraqi forces.

In 2006, AEY was among 10 firms bidding on a contract to supply 52 kinds of ammunition for the Afghan security forces. But while his business was taking off, Diversoli was accused of violent behaviour involving two girlfriends and the parking attendant at his apartment building. In December 2006, Diversoli was charged with battery after beating up the parking attendant, according to the newspaper. Police recovered a forged driving licence from Diversoli's flat which led to a separate charge. He entered a programme for first time offenders to avoid trial.

AEY's contract was approved weeks later in January 2007, and Diversoli began scouring the globe for suppliers. Diversoli turned to Albania, which had large weapons dumps. However, the New York Times reported that the firm ended up paying for Kalashnikov rounds that were so obsolete that the US and Nato funded programmes to see them safely destroyed.

AEY also purchased 9 million cartridges from a Czech citizen who had been linked to illegal arms trafficking to Congo.

At first, the Pentagon defended its contractor. "AEY's proposal represented the best value to the government," the Army Sustainment Command wrote to the New York Times. Henry Waxman, the member of congress from California who heads the committee on government oversight, said yesterday he would conduct hearings into the contract next month."

-Glad to know that Waxman is on this case.  I can smell some p

Dont feel sorry for us Ugly...most of us knew what we were getting into.  You'd have to be sort of...well...stupid...not to.

~Cate

Ceph...National Guard MEANS National. N A T I O N A L.  That means inside the border.

Fighting a guerrilla War & an Occupation, a counter insurgency, is not what these kids that I know, signed up for. 1 weekend a month. Hurricane, tornado, flooding natural disasters is what they most commonly assisted in. And 3,4, and going on 5 tours for some.  Beyond insane.

VA treatment a joke.  Hell, many US vehicles operating STILL dont have armour.  And the patriots keep waving their flags & attach their made in Taiwan "Support the troops" ribbon to the bumper. Stupid is as stupid does. Meanwhile, the Border remains OPEN, is being invaded, Jobs being lost & More blood will be shed.

In case you havent figured, Im beyond furious.  Steaming & I shout it to high heaven. Nothing wil lchange until there are enough that say no more. No more wars for the Bankers. Globalists, Elitists & Israel. No more.