Passenger in WheelChair Delays NYC Bus: Mean Woman Passenger Gets Schooled by Funny Nice Guy Passenger

It seems a passenger in a wheel chair delayed a New York City bus. A female passenger is angry because she is going to be late. Listen to the guy, also a passenger, explain why the bus is late, and give her several suggestions of what she can do about it. Hilarious. This is so New York.

Funny Nice Guy NYC Bus Passenger

Here’s a small snippet of flavor: (Obvious Language Alert)

You know what it is? You upset because you got a bulls**t a$$ job, and you late to your bulls**t a$$ job. You can’t buy a car, so you got a bulls**t a$$ job…Ask your boss for a raise, by a car. You won’t have to ride the f**king bus.

  Bus Passenger Schools Angry Female Passenger (video) Posted originally by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Virginia Primary June 10th: The Amazing Adventures of Cantor and Gutierrez

The Virginia Primary is June 10th. Here's how "reaching across the aisle" in 2014 works with Virginia as a springboard, as we head into the November elections. The scene was set sometime ago, behind closed doors somewhere on Capitol Hill or in a private club in the D.C. area. I can't give you an exact date of a hatched plot, but I can point you to one public outing in late July 2013 at a Queens, New York Jewish Center. Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) jointly appeared with Democrats in support of what most of us understand is amnesty. One of the three Democrats attending was Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL). Gutierrez is the among the most ardent supporters of open borders, amnesty, a path to citizenship that ends in amnesty -- if illegals become U.S. citizens or have permanent residency and voting rights, Gutierrez is for it, and he is not insisting that borders be secured first. Yesterday, Gutierrez, from Illinois, rode into Richmond and stood on the Virginia State Capitol's steps and decried Eric Cantor as an "obstacle" in the way of securing amnesty or a 'path to citizenship.' If you've been paying attention, you are rolling your eyes right now.

Queens Jewish Center: Rep. Eric Cantor (third from left), 
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (center back row), 
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (far right)

Important to this story: Cantor has a conservative challenger -- perhaps the first ever that Cantor has to worry about. Dr. Dave Brat is a professor of economics at Randolph Macon College. Brat does not want Cantor-styled immigration reform. He wants borders secured first, then we talk about what comes next. Rather than debate the issues, Cantor believes he has the political capital to dishonestly trash his opponent.

So Gutierrez rode into Richmond.

Cantor's and Gutierrez' clever brilliant, subliminal move yesterday should backfire if details are reported. Let's go back to 2013. Here's a quote from the three-day get-together at the Jewish Center:

Indeed, it was an interesting three days last year, when Cantor and Gutierrez toured together as part of a group intending to promote “comprehensive immigration reform.” At the time, Cantor said of his current foe Gutierrez: 

"Luis [Gutierrez], the leadership you’re providing through thick and thin right now as we try and navigate these very tough political times in choppy waters. My hat is off to you. I’m very grateful." ~ Eric Cantor

Cantor and Gutierrez have the same goal -- their agreed goal of 'comprehensive immigration reform.' Gutierrez and Democrats need Eric Cantor and his powerful position as House Majority leader in Congress; what better way than to convince GOPers to keep him there by positioning Cantor as a foe-to-be-feared by Democrats, against the holy grail of bringing 12+ million people "out of the shadows."

In response to Gutierrez yesterday, Eric Cantor took the low road and stood up for "the kids:"

“I’ve always been for the kids that never committed any illegal act in entering this country because they were brought here … by their parents unbeknownst to them,” Cantor said in an interview Saturday. ~ Eric Cantor, May 28, 2014

The problem is, as written in the Senate legislation which pro-amnesty Republicans are mimicking, with the kids come masses of relatives already here and still in foreign countries, and felons need not be concerned.

Cantor has led the push in the House for a "comprehensive immigration bill," without securing borders first. He wants it passed by the end of summer 2014 and has said it is "doable."

Cantor has refused to debate challenger, Brat. The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) has dissolved into corruption -- Cantor-paid corruption, with the new head of the RPV, Shaun Kenney, on Cantor's payroll. Yet, at the Republican Party of Virginia 7th District Convention this month, Cantor's 7th district strong-man, Linwood Cobb III was ousted as chairman, and replaced with "Tea Party favorite," Fred Gruber.

Dr. David Brat

Brat has won support from some big-name conservatives and has tapped into discontent across Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. On Wednesday, Brat planned to travel to Washington to meet with leading conservative agitators, a sign that his effort is starting to be taken seriously at the national level. Source: Washington Post May 2014 

In late March, Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) joined with Democrats at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Florida "to collaborate with a group dedicated to defeating conservatives in Congress." The event:

..."was organized by a group that has "received money from left leaning unions, George Soros backed-organization, and a major Democrat contributor." 

Cantor's top consultant, Ray Allen, reportedly said he will "bankrupt the RPV," if necessary to put Cantor's people in charge:

Sources tell PJ Media that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s long-time top consultant, Ray Allen, has “angrily” stated to multiple individuals that he intends to bankrupt the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV), to install his own people throughout all levels of RPV’s State Central Committee, and to rebuild the RPV with money from Eric Cantor’s donors. 

Ray Allen is considered the “brain trust” of Eric Cantor’s Young Guns, which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and has hired staff with the intention of retaking control of the RPV at all levels. (Eric Cantor and Ray Allen lost control of the RPV in 2012, when Tea Party/conservative candidates won seats at all levels of the party, taking majority control from Cantor allies.)  Source: David Steinberg, PJ Media

Cantor needs help in his home district, where he was recently boo'd and heckled numerous times at the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) District 7 Convention for telling serious, now debunked Cantor-originated, untruths about Dave Brat's conservative creds:

They booed Cantor, cheered for Brat and even ousted Cantor’s right-hand man as 7th District Republican Committee chairman in favor of one of their own [Fred Gruber]. More at The Blaze

So Democrat Gutierrez came to save the day for his pro-amnesty cohort (likely snickering while doing it -- thought you wouldn't notice). It reminds me of a cunning twist on Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) convincing Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) to join the Gang of 8 pro-amnesty groupies. Didn't work out so well for Rubio.

Cantor sent out thousands of high-quality fliers stating a dishonest position. Gutierrez helped push the dishonesty that Cantor is an "obstacle." Repeating a third time: Gutierrez needs Cantor in Congress.

If you believe describing Cantor's  'pathway to citizenship' as "amnesty," is going a tad too far, then think of it as a "pathway to citizenship" with provisions that you will not like, that you will regret, your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will regret, long after you are gone. Think of it as a horrible joke on you and yours. 

From Cantor, January 10, 2014: During a House floor exchange with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on Friday morning, Cantor said:

“immigration reform could be an economic boon to this country,”...

particularly voicing support for a measure that would likely grant legal status for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. Source, January 10, 2014

From Cantor's February 2013 "Major Policy" Speech, Making Life Work:

We must balance respect for the rule of law and respect for those waiting to enter this country legally, with care for people and families, most of whom just want to make a better life, and contribute to America. Source: Eric Cantor's Majority Leader website 

Defeating Eric Cantor's return to Congress is a huge step toward defeating amnesty. Defeating Eric Cantor's return to Congress is a huge step toward securing our borders before we do anything about laying a pathway for illegals. Learn more about Dave Brat here, see Dave Brat on the Issues here. The Virginia primary is almost here. Give consideration to your vote. One way or the other, you have the opportunity to change history.

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

El Paso: Mexican Drug Cartels Plant Messages on Billboards: Accept Bribes or Die

I was recently on a conference call with Texas ranchers Dr. Mike and Linda Vickers. Dr. Vickers made the short comment that I-10 is now controlled by drug cartels. It made such an impact on me that I called my Texas friends who are readying to travel I-10 to Palm Desert, California. She acknowledge that in recent past trips they have noticed strange people walking the highway, and a presence of border patrol that they had not noticed before, especially on the long stretch of I-10 through Texas. Today, Dr. Vicker's assessment has been confirmed. Mannequins were found hanging from two billboards that were not "paid-for" advertising. The message: 'accept bribes or die.'

Translation: Accept Bribes or Die

Pull-Out Quote:

Local station KHOU reports that one of the signs reads 'Plata o Plombo' which translates to 'silver or lead', a threat used commonly against police officers effectively warning that if they do not accept the cartel's bribes then they will be shot.

The first vandalized billboard off I-10 had Plata o Plomo in large black letters which translates into silver or lead. It is usually a warning targeting police or government officials in Mexico. The warning: work with a cartel and take a bribe or get a bullet. 

The first vandalized billboard off I-10 had Plata o Plomo in large black letters which translates into silver or lead. It is usually a warning targeting police or government officials in Mexico. The warning: work with a cartel and take a bribe or get a bullet.

The hanging mannequin was dressed in a suit and tie.

“This symbol has historically been used by Mexican drug cartels to threaten or intimidate Mexican citizens, business owners and government officials; however, we have never experienced this in El Paso,” said police in a statement released to media.

“Maybe the problems in Juarez are coming over here,” said Javier Padilla, an El Paso resident.

“Oh, that’s horrible,” said Maria Ramos, his wife looking at a photograph of a stuffed hanging mannequin.

Two of her relatives were murdered across the border in Ciudad Juarez in 2009. Real bodies have been found hanging from overpasses in that Mexican city. Source: KHOU - Houston, Texas

The second mannequin sent a different message, 'turn in a drug lord for a monetary reward, and you will die.' Note this mannequin is dressed in jeans.

For more from the Vickers conference call (truly startling stuff) see here and here, and visit the organization they founded, the Texas Border Volunteers for more information on what's happening on your southern border.

Please remember Marine Andrew Tahmooressi in your prayers. The 25-year-old has been held in a Mexican jail for two months after taking a wrong turn and landing across the Mexico border. Pray for his swift release.

View the video here.

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

BDS: An Analysis by SPME

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com





Scholars for Peace in the Middle East has written a good analysis of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement against Israel on college campuses. It includes their recent and troubling tactics, which often resemble Brown Shirt methods of intimidation.

http://spme.org/boycotts-divestments-sanctions-bds/spme-bds-monitor-bds-activists-use-radically-new-approaches-including-nazi-imagery/17671/?utm_source=wysija&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bdsmonitor-10-BDS_campaigns_evolve

Non-Registered Voters Gathered Signatures for John Conyers: Disqualified From Ballot Until Liberal Judge Stepped-In

Remember the 2012 presidential elections when Republican presidential candidates Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich failed to receive the required 10,000 signatures for a ballot placement in the important state of Virginia? They did not end up on the ballot, but Democrats in Michigan have better fortunes. Congressman John Conyers, running for yet another opportunity to screw the American people through his congressional privilege, allowed non-registered voters to circulate petitions gathering names for his run, and -- the petitions failed to get the required 1,000 VALID signatures. After the INVALID names were removed, Conyers had only about 400 presumed VALID names. The petitions were still circulated by unqualified persons. The Michigan Secretary of State said Conyers' name would not be on the ballot and cited the state's "purity of the ballot access process," but a Detroit federal judge cited Conyers' "good intentions." Guess who won.

"The Michigan Election Law is designed to protect the purity of the ballot access process," the Secretary of State's review said. "The laws governing this activity place affirmative duties on petition circulators. As evidenced over the past two election cycles, when campaigns fail to comply with the law by executing basic principles of petition circulation, they create their own 'ballot access crisis' when their failures are discovered by or brought to the attention of election officials. In this instance, consultant Steve Hood freely admitted that he failed to ensure that the petition circulators he hired to work on Conyers' campaign were registered to vote."

"The Michigan Election Law is designed to protect the purity of the ballot access process," the Secretary of State's review said. "The laws governing this activity place affirmative duties on petition circulators. As evidenced over the past two election cycles, when campaigns fail to comply with the law by executing basic principles of petition circulation, they create their own 'ballot access crisis' when their failures are discovered by or brought to the attention of election officials. In this instance, consultant Steve Hood freely admitted that he failed to ensure that the petition circulators he hired to work on Conyers' campaign were registered to vote."Despite the state's legal findings on the very same day that state election authorities determined that Conyers did not belong on the ballot, the Obama-appointed federal judge reversed that decision and insisted he be placed there anyway. 

And Conners' "good faith intentions:"

There's evidence that the failure to comply with the law was a "result of good-faith mistakes that (circulators) believed they were in compliance with the statute," the judge said. Source: Fox News

A little more detail:

After Conyers’s primary opponent, Reverend Horace Sheffield, challenged the congressman’s ballot petition, election officials discovered that a large number of his campaign’s signatures had been collected by volunteers who weren’t registered Michigan voters, as the law required. Source: National Review Online 

Sheffield is a Democrat. He was allegedly arrested and charged with "misdemeanor violence."

Another example:

In 2012, Michigan Republican representative Thad McCotter was kept off of the ballot because of invalid signatures. McCotter initially pursued a write-in campaign, before eventually dropping the effort and resigning from Congress.

Conyers said he trying not to "smile openly."

Find Cartoonist Mike Thompson's Facebook page here, and at Detroit Free Press here.

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook 

Military Spouse Creates Art With Cake Batter and Icing

I found a pic of this incredible cake from Janet's Cakes, on Facebook. Janet Brown is an Army military spouse. She and her hubby have been moving around the world for 19 years. For now, she is not taking orders as they are moving to Korea, and yes, she gets to go. I'm not sure where she is located, but her banner shows Pennsylvania, Maryland and DC. Here are just a few of Janet's masterpieces. Visit here, and look for the many other cake categories besides military.

 U.S. Army

 U.S. Air Force

 U.S. Navy

U.S. Marines

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Scabies Comes to America Via Illegal Alien Invaders and Shares Them With Border Patrol Agents

As Barack Obama stands at West Point to deliver a commencement speech billed as a major foreign policy speech, his domestic policy brings the highly contagious scabies to the United States and directly to our Border Agents who then go home to their wives and children. Ten to 15 percent of invading illegal aliens in at least one area of Texas, the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), at the McAllen station, have scabies. We haven't a clue about a mess of other undesirable and possible diseases. Some video reports I have listened to say agents haven't yet reported being infected, but as you'll see below, a border spokesman says some agents have been infected, and that scabies are spreading "throughout the valley."

I'm guessing our entire border length has scabies to some degree. Agents DO NOT screen illegals for diseases. There are FAR TOO MANY TOO SCREEN. A Texas border spokesman says they are catching and processing an average of 1,000 illegals, and really, we must start calling this what it is, an invasion -- so, it's 1,000 alien illegal invaders, per day, around the clock. When illegals enter our jails and detention facilities, they are not screened for diseases. The system is overwhelmed.

Scabies are mites, parasites. They burrow under your skin and you become a host. They are itchy. They are contagious. When a Border Agent goes home and unknowingly passes this infection to his/her children, the children pass it on in their classrooms.

"A lot of people [are] coming in with the disease, and it seems to be spreading, not just within the McAllen station, but throughout the Valley and to some of our agents," Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, told the local media outlet. ... 

Sharp increases in illegal immigration into the U.S. this year has caused processing facilities to become overcrowded--authorities simply do not have time to screen every apprehended illegal immigrant for diseases. 

RGV Border Patrol spokesman Daniel Tirado told Breitbart Texas that his sector is overwhelmed with the number of illegal immigrants that currently need to be processed. "We're catching an average of 1,000 per day and our agents are processing them around the clock. Processing takes between one to two hours per individual--it varies case by case," he said.

According to the Associated Press, the RGV sector has arrested more than 130,000 people for immigration violations since October 1--this marks a 67 percent increase from last year. Source: Breitbart 

Scabies infections in people with already compromised immune systems can cause major problems.

Merck Manuel:

The hallmark of scabies is intense itching, which is usually worse at night. The burrows of the mites are often visible as very thin lines up to a ½ inch (about 1 centimeter) long, sometimes with a tiny bump—the mite—at one end. Sometimes, only tiny bumps are seen, many of which are scratched open because of the itching. The bumps can be anywhere on the body, including the breasts and penis. The bumps do not appear on the face in adults. The bumps first appear on the webs between the fingers, wrists, inner elbows, underarms, along the belt line, or buttocks. Over time, the burrows may become difficult to see because they are obscured by inflammation induced by scratching. People in warm climates develop small red bumps with few burrows. 

In blacks and other people with dark skin, scabies can cause solid raised areas. In infants, the palms, soles, face, and scalp may be affected, especially behind the ears. In older people, scabies can cause intense itching but very mild skin symptoms, which makes it a challenge for doctors to diagnose. 

People with a weakened immune system (caused by human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] infection, blood cancer, or chronic use of corticosteroids or other drugs that suppress the immune system), people with severe physical disabilities or intellectual disability, and Australian Aborigines may develop severe infestations, which cause large areas of thickened, crusted skin (particularly on the palms and soles in adults and on the scalp in children) that do not itch. 

God only knows what diseases have been brought to this country by illegals from around the world. Remember Somalis and their tuberculosis, that became our tuberculosis?

How can any state take care of 1,000 apprehended illegals, every day? This is insanity.

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Thank You!

Memorial Day: Families, The Generations of the Fallen, The Wounded, The Forever Changed

Many American families have or had a grandfather or grandmother who served in World War II or the Korean War (maybe even WWI), a father or mother who served in Vietnam, and a son or daughter who served in the Gulf War, Iraq and/or the Afghanistan Wars. Thinking about these contiguous generations standing on fields of battle -- knowing the stories of the fallen, their loved ones, their friends, first hand -- not a passed-down piece of history, but a lived-experience, too close to the heart, too laden with nightmares, never mind the physical and mental wounds -- is incomprehensible, I think, if you haven't experienced it yourself.

Think of the WWII or Korean War Vet who sent his child to the horror of Vietnam. Think of the Vietnam Vet who sent his child to Iraq or Afghanistan. How do you bear such burdens and stay sane, how do you go on with your life?

Just by chance I came across a 2008 Memorial Day speech given by Army Sgt. Raymond Hubbard (now retired, "known as Hubdrizzle, downrange," serving with the 126th Field Artillery, Wisconsin National Guard). In his speech, Sgt. Hubbard remembers the fallen close to him.

Both of Sgt. Hubbard's grandfathers fought in WWII, his father and uncle fought there. Raymond was hit with a "large self-propelled rocket" in Iraq. He lost his leg and suffered a stroke from the loss of blood, but he came home.

Sgt. Raymond Hubbard 2008

"The blast was about 25 feet away from me," he told The Week in a telephone interview this week. It happened while he was on guard duty. 

He and his fellow soldiers built a makeshift shelter, insulated it with Styrofoam and installed an air conditioner to ward off the intense heat. Were it not for that shelter, Hubbard wouldn't be here today. 

"When the blast occurred it took down three of the walls of the guard shack and the one wall that would've killed me stayed up, so that was good," he said understatedly.
"Captain Clutter--the man that saved my life--was the doc that I worked with. My carotid artery was split and that was pumping out a lot of blood. He came over in a matter of seconds stuck his hand in there and stopped the bleeding." 

A nearby mobile triage truck saw the explosion and was there within minutes, he said. "I was awake for most of it, but I had my eyes closed. The captain said they couldn't even feel my pulse and the only way he knew I was alive was keeping me talking asking, 'Are you OK?' and me saying, 'Yea, I'm OK.' over and over." 

Hubbard lost his left leg below the knee, his right elbow was shattered and shrapnel damaged his carotid artery, left shoulder, stomach and both legs. Source: The Week Extra

Somewhere along the way, Raymond was diagnosed with PTSD, and eventually received a service dog named Dace; Dace, who quietly nudged him if he raised his voice to his two small sons; Dace, who would wake him in the night when he began screaming. Dace would find Raymond's meds when he wasn't capable of doing it for himself; Dace steadied him when he was walking with his prosthesis, and helped him become more like the person he "was before the war."

In the speech (transcript below and video) he remembers those from his state of Wisconsin who fell, and he remembers his father who made it home alive from Vietnam, but died inside when the system didn't care, the people didn't care. Most of Sgt. Hubbard's life has been of memories of wars and the aftermath.

(My apologies if I have misspelled a name or misunderstood a word, but I believe almost all of the following transcript is accurate - please note that when Sgt. Hubbard gives numbers of those killed in combat as of 2008, I cannot confirm them.)

To be honest, when George Bowman, my fellow patriot, bestowed this honor on me, it took all my will to not back down. Honoring the fallen is something so personal that I didn't think I could share my own grief, but if I was the first person asked, then it was my duty to not let this fall on someone's else's already heavy heart.

There have been 1.6 million soldiers that have served in the combat theater in the Middle East since 2001; that is .5 percent of the current U.S. population. If you compare that with the two percent of the population that served in Vietnam, or the 12 percent that fought in World War II, this seems to be a minor incident.

As of March 17th, 2008 there have been over 4,000 United States fatalities from Operation Iraqi Freedom, with approximately 74 of them officially declared Wisconsin sons and daughters.

Now, I stand up here and throw out these numbers, and you my friends, my neighbors either react with a sorrowful sigh or a de-sensitized disdain, and if you did so react, it's not your fault. 

It's hard to feel grief, compassion, anger for over a five-year period of time. It's hard to feel anything at all when numbers are flashed across the screen or spoken from a podium. Numbers are not faces. Numbers are not people. Numbers are not names of loved ones.

Names of my comrades can fall from my lips like tears from my own eyes. Staff Sgt Todd Olson, Cpl Ken Cross, Specialist Shaun Novak, Staff Sgt Steven Martin, Pvt. Isaiah Hunt, Major Chris Splinter, Capt. Jonathan Kurth and Specialist Justin Linden -- these are all Wisconsin sons and daughters.  

I'm sure more than a few of you know of Justin. Justin played baseball for the Clinton Cougars. Justin graduated from Clinton in 1999. Justin moved to Oregon where he met his future wife Sarah. Justin and Sarah were married on February 28th, 2004, just before Justin was deployed to Iraq. On June 4th, 2004, Specialist Justin Linden was killed when his convoy was attacked by Improvised Explosive Devices and rocket-propelled grenades. 

I have never seen so much loss, and so much pride, fill a man than it does with Wayne Linden, Justin's father. Everytime he thinks about his son, you see the loss and the pride in immeasurable amounts.  

I too felt the loss of a soldier. Losing a soldier has affected my life in ways that I still yet have to fully understand. This soldier was not my son, no, God willing, never that, and it was not during combat with an enemy. The soldier was my father by my birth, and my brother through our service to our country.

While Dan Hubbard was attending Elkhorn High School, his cousin and friend since childhood, Michael Stotlet was engaging democracies in Vietnam. On November 1st, 1966, my father's cousin was killed by small arms fire. Pvt 1st Class Michael Stotlet's name can be found on Panel 12-E, Line 8 of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. My cousin was the third Walworth County resident to die in Vietnam, and the first of Elkhorn's sons. 

My father could not cope with his friend's demise. He tried to attend college, but I believe my father could not shake the feeling of, 'if only I was there,' 'if only I could so something.' 

My father, Dan Hubbard, enlisted in 1969 and was quickly sent into the war zone. The things he saw there, I shall not repeat for you this morning. Atrocities and inhumanities were wide spread. My father saw combat, some of which I cannot attest, and when he came home, he was physically and mentally disabled. 

Now my father has had an entirely different war thrust upon him, upon his return home -- a war for recognition and compassion, a war fought for, and against, the country which he so loved. He was denied a purple heart, he was denied his dignity, he was denied a clean conscience. 

By the time I turned 14, my father had given up his battles. On February 11, 1992, Dan Hubbard, my father died, nameless, faceless, another statistic of the Vietnam era -- another number, he was buried on February 14th, 1992, Valentine's day, with his friend's Purple Heart pinned on his chest. 

I, Brendan Dan Hubbard, ask you, my friends, my neighbors to accept my apologies. I cry for your pardon, I beg you for forgiveness, for I have forgotten the face of my father. 

When I was 14 and I had taken up smoking, I had forgotten the face of my father. When I was 16 and started to drink heavily, I had forgotten the face of my father. When I was 17 and had dropped out of high school, I had forgotten the face of my father. 

During my graduation from Basic Training at the age of 24, I felt a hand clasp my shoulder. I looked up into my father's proud eyes and wept quietly in formation. 

Prior to my deployment challenge, I chose a picture of my father while he was in service to his country in Vietnam. I attached it to my bunk so that he could always watch over me during my tour. 

On July 4th, 2006, our nation's Independence Day, when a large self-propelled rocket detonated meters away from me, I saw my father's face again, fighting to keep me alive. 

My friends, my neighbors, only through our perseverance, never forgetting, will we get through the difficult times ahead. Only through our humility and never forgetting, will we make them who have served feel our gratitude. Only through our unity and never forgetting, will we honor the fallen. 

My name is Sgt. Raymond Hubbard, and I will never forget the face of my brothers. Thank you. 

 End Transcript

Sgt. Raymond Hubbard, Memorial Day Speech in Wisconsin, 2008 (video)

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Rep. Jackie Wolarski Calls Out Harry Reid: A Dozen VA Reform Bills Gathering Dust on Harry Reid's Desk

Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) interviewed with Larry O'Connor, WMAL radio in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, May 21st. Get this: she serves on the House Veteran's Affairs committee and says over the last 18 months, the House has passed dozens of reform bills for the VA, some bi-partisan, none of which have made it to the floor of the Senate -- meaning Harry Reid killed them, didn't give Senators the opportunity to even consider them. Can we say anything other than Harry Reid may have killed those 40 or more veterans who were not treated, and may kill more as diseases have advanced during this time? There is only one reason not to bring legislation to the floor after it is passed and received from the House, and that is to keep the intent of the bill from happening -- in this case, improving the VA. Video of the interview below.

Rep. Jackie Wolarski

O’CONNOR: Are your colleagues in the House doing something about this decades-old problem so we can get something done for the vets?

REP WALORSKI: In the past 18 months, since I’ve been a member of Congress, we’ve passed, on the House floor, at least 12 reform VA bills. Mandating the VA to fix different things, mandating the VA to report different things, mandating them to fix their website, bipartisan bills that went to the Senate, and they are DOA on the Senate side.

Dead on arrival, Walorski said, "Harry Reid has not moved one of these bills."

May 22, 2014, Barack Obama (read more):

“You’ll hear if you watch the nightly news or you read the newspapers that, well, there’s gridlock, Congress is broken, approval ratings for Congress are terrible.  And there’s a tendency to say, a plague on both your houses.  But the truth of the matter is that the problem in Congress is very specific.  We have a group of folks in the Republican Party who have taken over who are so ideologically rigid, who are so committed to an economic theory that says if folks at the top do very well then everybody else is somehow going to do well; who deny the science of climate change; who don’t think making investments in early childhood education makes sense; who have repeatedly blocked raising a minimum wage so if you work full-time in this country you’re not living in poverty; who scoff at the notion that we might have a problem with women not getting paid for doing the same work that men are doing. ~ Barack Obama

Not a word about Veterans.

November 2013 (7 months ago) Barack Obama:

“Obstruction,” “abuse,” “harmful” — Obama used them all to describe what Republicans in the Senate have been doing by filibustering his nominees. But his takeaway was even simpler: it’s just wrong.

“It’s not what our Founders envisioned,” he said. “A deliberate and determined effort to obstruct everything, no matter what the merits, just to refight the results of an election is not normal.” ~ Barack Obama 

Remember, there's only one reason for not bringing a bill the House has passed to the Senate floor for consideration. In this administration, the motive is largely treason. The Democrat caucus has waged war against the America people -- the little people, and has consistently given aid and comfort to those who have killed and maimed our military. It's not difficult to understand.

H/T Weasel Zippers
Radio Host Larry O'Connor interview with Rep. Jackie Walorski on Veterans Affairs (video) Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook