My Letter to the Times of London:

The article by Tim Reid, published June 1, 2006, " Massacre Marines Blinded by hate"
is slander, pure and simple.
First the photo which ran with the story, was wrongly captioned. Additionally, it was stolen from Newsweek.

If you are left with the impression that the dead bodies on the ground were massacred by our Marines, that is exactly what the Times intends. Note the caption: "Victims in al-Haditha. The US is carrying out two inquiries (AP)."

It is clearly the same location. The same set of dead bodies. The second is a wider shot with three additional bodies in the foreground.

But guess what? The photo, according to this Newsweek caption of the scene, is not of the Nov. 19 incident in Haditha involving our Marines, as the UK Times would have you believe.

Read the caption:

"Insurgents in Haditha executed 19 Shiite fishermen and National Guardsmen in a sports stadium."

Our Marines did not kill these people.

The terrorists did.

Here's more from the Newsweek article from last May--that is, six months before the incident involving our Marines :

For more information please read this article by Michelle Malkin: " UK TIMES SMEARS OUR MARINES (UPDATED WITH RESPONSE)"

Do you always engage in slander?

As for Mr Baker's response:

" I'm sorry you have jumped to the conclusion that this was a deliberate misrepresentation and the result of slanted journalism and sorrier that you have shared that view with your readers without any attempt to verify it."

Does anybody at the Times verify before publishing?

Has a frontpage apology been issued?

Please notify me when the retraction and apology has been issued.

Thank You

Ilario Pantano Speaks Out

An Iraqi doctor, who hates Americans, wrote the autospy reports at Haditha.
I'll wait for the report from those who exhume the bodies, before believing him.

And more importantly, I'll wait for complete investigations/Courts Martials before declaring the Marines guilty. Till then they are innocent.

(dis)Honorable Murtha is guilty of aiding and abetting the enemy by declaring those Marines guilty before the investigation was complete. Murtha has increased the danger to all American troops and Americans, all around the globe.

Consider the letter published in the Washington Post below.

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Mr. Murtha's Rush to Judgment
Sunday, May 28, 2006

A year ago I was charged with two counts of premeditated murder and with other war crimes related to my service in Iraq. My wife and mother sat in a Camp Lejeune courtroom for five days while prosecutors painted me as a monster; then autopsy evidence blew their case out of the water, and the Marine Corps dropped all charges against me.

So I know something about rushing to judgment, which is why I am so disturbed by the remarks of Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) regarding the Haditha incident. Mr. Murtha said, "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

In the United States, we have a civil and military court system that relies on an investigatory and judicial process to make determinations based on evidence. The system is not served by such grand pronouncements of horror and guilt without the accuser even having read the investigative report.

Mr. Murtha's position is particularly suspect when he is quoted by news services as saying that the strain of deployment "has caused them [the Marines] to crack in situations like this." Not only is he certain of the Marines' guilt but he claims to know the cause, which he conveniently attributes to a policy he opposes.

Members of the U.S. military serving in Iraq need more than Mr. Murtha's pseudo-sympathy. They need leaders to stand with them even in the hardest of times. Let the courts decide if these Marines are guilty. They haven't even been charged with a crime yet, so it is premature to presume their guilt -- unless that presumption is tied to a political motive.

ILARIO PANTANO
Jacksonville, N.C.

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Howler

This Klingon Owl only delivers howlers.

Special

My daughter has finished another straight "A" year of High School, all Honors/AP classes. She is in the top 5% of her class.

But this weekend, she and some of friends (who are also Honors students), will be competing in the Special Olympics.

Yes, these Honors students will actually compete with and against the Special Olympians.

The gymnastics portion of the Special Olympics program has Unified Partners. It is like a pairs program, but each performer is scored seperately.

Later, this month my daughter will compete at Rymthmic Gymnastics Nationals. She will try to improve on her third place all-around finish from last year.

But she cherishes her Special "O" Medals more than her individual awards.

Friday Rants

To the USMC, ..... THANK YOU

 

To the US Army, ......THANK YOU

 

To the US Navy, ...(Been there, done that)...THANK YOU

 

To the USAF, ....THANK YOU 

 

To the USCG, ....THANK YOU

 

To the DoJ and FBI, let Jimmy Hoffa rest in peace, but otherwise THANK YOU.

 

To the Moonbats, thanks for laughs.

 

To the Republicans, find your spine.

 

 

 

Marine on edge

Thomas Autry, the former Marine who fought off 5 attackers, needs support.

 

The AJC has details of his life.

 

He shares a one bedroom apartment with his girlfriend and their 18 month old child. He can not afford a car, which is why he was walking home after work.

 

His attackers now have a high priced lawyer.

 

 

 

 

Once a Marine, always a Marine

 

from WSBTV.com

 

ATLANTA -- Five robbers picked the wrong victim in Midtown Atlanta last night and one of them paid with her life.

The unidentified victim fought back; killing one robber and wounding another. Three other suspects are in jail.

The victim was walking home after getting off work as a waiter at Jocks and Jills.

The five suspects pulled up in a car and confronted the victim in the 500 block of Penn Street just before midnight.

The victim began running down the street yelling for help. Residents who heard him called 911. While he was running, the victim pulled a pocket knife from his backpack.

Two of the robbers jumped from the car. When one of the robbers pointed a shotgun at him, the victim kicked it out of his hands.

At that point two of the robbers jumped on the victim. During the struggle he stabbed both of them. One, a female, died of her wounds. A second is in critical condition.

Police arrived on the scene and with a description of the car; they quickly arrested the three other suspects.

The victim, who is a former U.S. Marine, will not be charged since police say he was acting in self defense.

So far police have not released his name.

 

Oooraah!!

 

 

 

 

Home Network fixed

2 days it took to straighten out the ol'home network.

I have a Win98 desktop, a WinXP desktop, 2 WinXP laptops, and the visiting Mac iBook. Since December, we have lived with a network where all 4 Windows computers will swap files. And all but the WinXP desktop would go online. If the Mac is turned on, the whole network crashes.

A few weeks ago, I added a printer to the laptops.
Then Word crashed on the laptops.

With the help of a seasoned computer geek, who just finished 8th grade, we now have all 4 Windows PCs online and working. We can not print directly from the laptops, and all is well as long as we don't turn on "Darth Mac iBook".

Norton was the quilty party stopping the WinXP desktop from going online.

Just don't touch "Darth iBook".