We Honor Their Sacrifice

Today is the day our nation has set aside to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice. We honor the men and women who died to keep this nation safe and free.

As you go about your day remember what it is really all about and say a prayer for the families of those who left us way too soon so that we might be free to enjoy not just this day but every day.

Remember

Keep those who still serve in your prayers until they are all safely home. Pray we do not have to honor them on a future Memorial Day.

Thanks to Mr. Heller who gave me permission to use his cartoon back in 2009.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

Don’t Forget Them When They Come Home

Many of our veterans will have hardship when they return from doing what our country asked of them. Unfortunately, many veterans don’t know where to go for information. The Department of Veteran’s Affairs has set up Make the Connection:

Make The Connection is an organization connecting veterans and their friends and family members with information, resources and solutions to issues affecting their health, well-being and everyday lives.

If you are a veteran, know veterans or have veterans in your family please visit, or have them visit, Make the Connection.

God bless the brave mean and women and let us hold firm to our commitment to them and the VA is leading the way.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

John McCain Had His Chance For Honor

During John McCain’s concession speech he made the statement that he was solely responsible for the loss. This was an honorable statement and showed the character expected of a leader. Leaders accept responsibility for failure and the phrase used by McCain gave the appearance of a true leader. This was in direct contrast with Barack Obama who never accepted responsibility for any of the things that took place during his campaign. Every time there was a problem Obama stated that [fill in name here] was not the same person he knew just before throwing that person under the bus.

The problem with McCain’s statement is that he failed to back up his words. After the loss a lot of blame was placed on Sarah Palin. People who were supposedly aligned with the campaign started telling stories of a diva Palin who could not, or refused, to be coached. The stories started fast and furious and they laid the blame for the loss at her feet.

John McCain was interviewed on the Tonight Show and he was asked about the stories. He could have put them to bed but gave a wishy washy answer that did nothing to dispel the stories about Palin. John McCain had the chance to live up to what he said in his concession speech by saying that the blame for the loss was his alone but he did not say that. Instead, he took the easy way out and failed to show true leadership. The straight talk express seems to have have lost the straight and resorted to just talk. And we all know that talk is cheap.

Let’s be clear here. Sarah Palin injected much needed life into the McCain campaign. John McCain is a RINO and he needed a true conservative to bring the base back home. Without Palin McCain would have lost by a much greater margin. I voted for McCain because he was, in my opinion, the better candidate of the two and he has a record on which we could make a judgment as opposed to Obama who has a paper thin resume. McCain was not my first (or second or third) choice but he was a better choice than Obama. Regardless, he is still a RINO who reaches across the aisle to make deals with the devils on the left. John McCain lost because he is not a conservative and even the true conservative Palin could not save him.

Conservatives win when they run but the base recognizes a RINO when it sees one and McCain is a RINO.

Others:
Michelle Malkin

Big Dog

Honoring Our Nation's Veterans

Soldier

On this day we honor the brave men and women who have served this country with honor and dignity. May God watch over them and keep them safe.

The men and women of the armed forces confront our enemies day in and day out to ensure the battle is fought on their turf and not ours. They also have to confront those in our country who protest them and their service. They keep their heads up and their minds focused on their mission and that mission is the defense of this nation.

When you pray, thank God we have men and women willing to sacrifice everything so that others, most of whom they have never met, can sleep in peace at night.

“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.”
—John Adams, letter to Benjamin Rush, April 18, 1808

Feel free to trackback with your Veteran’s Day Posts.

Big Dog

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To DC or Not To DC, That Is The Question

John McCain suspended his campaign activities in order to return to DC and do the job we are paying him to do. The nation faces a financial crisis right now and the politicians are having trouble coming up with a plan to stop the bleeding in our economy and financial markets. Harry Reid specifically requested that McCain come back to Washington though he changed his mind when he found out Barack Obama was not happy about it. There was no doubt McCain would return because he puts the country first. The question was, would Obama return.

Barack Obama answered that when he said that he had a cell phone and if he was needed they could call. I guess since votes of “present” don’t count, he was not needed. This situation calls for leadership and this is why Harry Reid called for McCain:

“We need, now, the Republicans to start producing some votes for us. We need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands and what we should do.”

Harry Reid is the Leader of the Senate but he said that he needed McCain to tell them “what we should do.” As Ed Morrissey pointed out, Reid did not say that he needed Obama to tell them what they should do. When Harry Reid needed a leader he bypassed Obama and called for McCain.

The Obama campaign and its surrogates are saying that this is a political stunt by McCain. Reid called for him and he responded but after he did Reid changed his mind so the question is, who is playing politics?

I heard Obamabots throughout the day saying that a deal was nearly reached before McCain got there and then McCain messed it up. The reality is, both chambers had not agreed on a bill. The Senate had a plan but the House had not agreed to it. They were not close to a deal because there are many points of contention with the bill. One in particular is this:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

It appears to me as if the Democrats, the majority party, don’t want to make decisions because they are potentially political disasters that could come back to haunt them in the election. They are trying to pin this on Republicans by making them take the decisions and support the bill. Republicans are refusing to give in on a bad bill.

Obama said that a president should be able to multi-task so there is no need to go to DC when they can be involved by phone. Maybe if Senator Obama spent more time doing his job he would know that a Senator has to be physically present to vote (otherwise he could not vote present). Besides, if Obama wants us to believe he can fix the economy, what better way to show us?

Obama is more interested in debating than working on a crisis in this country. I wonder if 9/11 had happened during a campaign like this, would Obama’s actions be the same as they are now? I would say that they would. Hours after McCain announced his return to DC, Obama’s campaign sent out an email that said the American people only have 40 days left to decide so it is important for the debate to go off as planned. It closes with this:

“This is an important time, and we have to keep this campaign focused on the crucial issues.”

What is a more important issue, addressing the financial problem or debating? Why must the debate go off as planned when Obama refused 10 other debates? Why is it more important to keep the campaign focused on critical issues rather than keeping the Senator focused on the critical issues like say, a financial meltdown? By making this statement Obama has shown that his campaign comes first and the country second. Maybe we would not question his commitment or patriotism if his actions were more like a committed patriot and less egocentric.

Barack Obama only cares about winning. He has spent half of his political life campaigning for another office. This is particularly true with regard to this campaign since he has spent more time on the road pandering for votes than he has working in the Senate (143 days on the job).

Is it too much to ask that he take time away from the campaign trail to do the job that we are paying him to do?

No worries Barry. The Senate leader knows who to call for real leadership and America now knows who puts the country first.

Big Dog