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Wednesday Open Trackbacks: 12-13-2006

Here's your open trackbacks post for today, Wednesday December 13, 2006. You know how this works, if you've written something you'd like to share, you can link it to this post and request a trackback by pinging the trackback URL.

For even better exposure, use the linkfest chooser at the blogger's oasis to choose the posts you'd like to hook up with.

As always you're welcome to link to this post and ping for a trackback. Just remember to follow the trackback policy.

Wednesday Hero

Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Travis L. Youngblood 26 years old from Surrency, Georgia Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) July 21, 2005

Elmer "Mo" Youngblood wasn't sure why his sailor son wanted to leave relatively safe duty aboard a ship to be a combat medic in Iraq.

"For some reason or another, he wanted to be a corpsman," Youngblood said of his son, Petty Officer 3rd Class Travis Levy Youngblood.

He was a medic with a Marine unit in the Iraqi town of Hit when he was hit by an IED.

"I was tickled to death with him being in the Navy," Elmer Youngblood, a former Navy man, said from his home in Surrency, in southeast Georgia. "I wasn’t too happy when he basically volunteered to go over there, but it was his choice."

Travis Youngblood grew up mostly in Virginia. He attended Appling County High School after his father moved there in the 1990s. Surrency is listed as his hometown on his Navy enlistment papers and he and his father enjoyed fishing and hunting together there.

His wife, Laura, also served in the Navy. She left the service and lives in Long Beach, N.Y.

The couple has a four-year-old, now five, son, Hunter Youngblood, and Laura Youngblood was pregnant with the couple's second child at the time of his death.

These brave men and women have given their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by clicking here.

Pot, Kettle, Black

Democrat hypocrisy knows no bounds. From the Washington Times:

Democratic campaign operatives pushed newspapers to write about then-Rep. Mark Foley's e-mails to teenage pages in the hope that a scandal would emerge before the midterm elections, according to a House ethics report.

The findings were bolstered when an aide to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Illinois Democrat, said the congressman also knew about the e-mails, which were dubbed "inappropriate" by the ethics panel. Mr. Emanuel, who was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) when Mr. Foley's sex scandal broke in late September, had denied knowledge of the Florida Republican's e-mails.

So it turns out that he lied. That's not very surprising is it?

On Oct. 8, Mr. Emanuel was put on the spot during his appearance on ABC's "This Week."

"Did you or your staff know anything about these e-mails or instant messages before they came out?" host George Stephanopoulos asked. Mr. Emanuel interrupted with "No."

Well, we know now that that was an outright lie don't we?

Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican, called the news "stunning," and accused Mr. Emanuel of letting a "predator roam free" for "cold, calculated political advantage."

Isn't that what the Democrats accused Speaker Hastert of? Republican's aren't blameless in this incident, that's certain, but now it turns out that the Democrat's calls for Hastert's head were just another instance of the pot calling the kettle black.

According to ethics panel testimony by the page's father, a staffer for Mr. Alexander told the family they did not have to speak with reporters who had been calling. The father also told the ethics panel that the staffer warned them that "Democrats would like to use something like this" for political gain.

Of course, that's exactly what they did, to wondrous effect. Of course this whole sordid tale is about who knew, and when what a Republican Representative said and wrote to a congressional page, that it turns out was of legal age in Washington D.C.

And, ultimately, that's all that ever took place between Mr. Foley and the page. Meanwhile, when Gerry Studds died, the Democrats and the media couldn't praise him highly enough.

The Democrats rode a wave of indignation over the hyprocrisy of Mr. Foley into power, all the while exhibiting even grander hypocrisy. Let's not forget that Gerry Studds actually had sexual relations with his page.

Previous Posts:

• No Violations in Foley Case
• Scandals Alone Could Cost Republicans Their House Majority
• Who "deserves" to have control of congress?

Linked at Sister Toldjah.

Tawana Lite - Mike Nifong's Prosecutorial Misconduct

Maggie over at The Bullwinkle Blog has a new hero, Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-NC). Here's the text of Rep. Jone's press release dated today...

Washington, D.C. – In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Third District Representative Walter B. Jones (R-NC) requested an inquiry into Durham County, North Carolina District Attorney Mike Nifong’s prosecution of three Duke University student athletes accused of an alleged sexual attack on a woman at a party earlier this year. Specifically, Rep. Jones asked the Attorney General to review Mr. Nifong’s conduct to determine if it constitutes prosecutorial misconduct and has denied the students their civil rights as U.S. citizens under federal law.

“Over the past several months, many of my constituents and a growing number of mainstream media outlets have raised serious questions about the accuser’s allegations and Mr. Nifong’s prosecution,” Jones wrote. Jones highlighted two particular issues which have been brought to his attention:

“First, Mr. Nifong directed the Durham Police Department to knowingly violate suspect identification procedures for police personnel in North Carolina,” Jones continued. “These procedures require that during any suspect identification process, a suspect’s photo must be shown with those of non-suspects. Mr. Nifong not only directed that this not be done, he also directed the police to tell the accuser that she would only view photos of Duke lacrosse athletes who were at the party. By doing so, Mr. Nifong ensured that the accuser could not make a mistake no matter who she identified because she would inevitably identify Duke athletes.”

“Second, throughout the investigation Mr. Nifong repeatedly made prejudicial statements to the media. His statements clearly violate the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct which prohibit a prosecutor in a criminal case from making extrajudicial statements that ‘heighten public condemnation of the accused’ or, if disseminated via public communication, have the ‘substantial likelihood’ of prejudicing the proceeding,” Jones wrote. “Mr. Nifong’s statements ranged from labeling the Duke players “hooligans” to falsely stating that they refused to cooperate with his investigation. Mr. Nifong also continually proclaimed his personal opinion that a sexual attack had occurred and that he believed the accuser. Furthermore, what is perhaps most concerning is Mr. Nifong’s public admission and representation in court that he’s never had the accuser tell him what she alleges occurred that night; Mr. Nifong has stated it was unnecessary to hear her version.”

“Mr. Attorney General, many of my constituents have expressed concern to me that the facts outlined in this letter are indicative of prosecutorial misconduct. I urge you to look into these matters to ensure that Mr. Nifong’s actions have not illegally denied the accused of their civil rights as American citizens,” Jones concluded. “After all, if the American people cannot trust those who they’ve empowered to pursue justice fairly, then hope for this democracy is lost.”

I've said it before. I think that Mr. Nifong pumped up this story to win re-election as the Durham County DA. Why else delay prosecution until the spring, long after the elections are over and (hopefully) everyone has forgotten this?

There have been countless stories that point out contradictory evidence in this case. Many of them question the credibility of the accuser. The accuser that Mr. Nifong won't even bother to interview.

Previous Posts on this:

• Remember Tawana Brawley?

Trackposted to Rightwing Guy, third world county, The Random Yak, Adam's Blog, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, Planck's Constant, Renaissance Blogger, Jo's Cafe, and Right Wing Nation, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Military Justice is served... Sort of

The Associated Press, via the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports on a plea deal in the case of a woman who went AWOL because of sexual harassment.

The Army has reached a deal with a military policewoman from Oregon who walked away from her post and refused to return to Iraq because she said she was sexually harassed by other officers.

Army Spc. Suzanne Swift, 22, of Eugene, had been scheduled for a special court-martial next month for missing movement and being absent without leave.

In a deal reached Dec. 7, Swift agreed to plead guilty to the charges, Fort Lewis officials said Monday. Under the agreement, Swift avoids the possibility of a federal conviction on her record and will remain eligible for an honorable discharge once she completes her five years' service.

...

The maximum punishment is less severe than the 12 months confinement and bad-conduct discharge Swift faced if convicted in a special court-martial, said Greg Gagne, Swift's attorney.

Her maximum punishment now is a reduction in rank, to private, forfeiture of two-thirds salary for one month and 30 days confinement.

"There's no punitive discharge available, so she can" continue her military career, Gagne said.

Swift also would be reassigned to a new post, with an opportunity for a new job, he said.

...

The Army substantiated Swift's allegation against a soldier at Fort Lewis.

That soldier later left the Army after receiving a written reprimand from his battalion commander and being reassigned to another unit.

It seems Spc. Swift had good reason for going AWOL. She is guilty, and she should receive punishment, but I believe that there were definitely mitigating circumstances.

On the other hand, a "written reprimand" for sexual harassment seems a bit of a slap on the wrist. The Fort Lewis soldier that harassed Spc. Swift should have faced a special court-martial as well.

So, justice is served, at least in part.

The ISG suggests negotiating with this madman?

The Associated Press via the Seattle Post Intelligencer gives us a story on the ambitions of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's hard-line president said Tuesday that Israel will one day be "wiped out" as the Soviet Union was, drawing applause from participants in a conference casting doubt on the Holocaust.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments were likely to further fuel the outcry prompted by the two-day gathering, which has gathered some of Europe's and the United States' best-known Holocaust deniers.

I've personally known people that were witnesses to the Holocaust. The Nazis even made film of their activities and kept meticulous records. Newsreels of the day showed grim details in movie theaters across the nation. To deny the Holocaust is to deny reality. In this case though, it simply serves as a first step in this madman's plan to re-enact it in modern times. 

"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom," Ahmadinejad said during Tuesday's meeting in his offices, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Humanity will achieve freedom on the day when all dictators and thugs have achieved oneness with the six feet of soil above their slowly rotting corpses. This includes the terrorist nutjob that is currently leading Iran.

He called for elections among "Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner."

News flash. The population of Palestine has an "elected" government already. This is the man the Iraq Study Group wants us to negotiate with?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn't care about truth, and neither do the participants in his "academic conference". This is simply another example of this terrorist madman's efforts to justify the destruction of Israel.

It's a continuation of the struggle between Jacob and Esau and their descendants that has lasted for thousands of years. It's not going to end anytime soon. That is, unless a certain foot sets down on the Mount of Olives.

Then there will be a true accounting of the Holocaust.

McDermott pleased with rebuke

Rep. Jim McDermott was rebuked by the House ethics committee on Monday. It's about time. The Seattle Times reports on the unethical former ranking ethics committee member... 

WASHINGTON — In an end-of-year effort to wipe longstanding cases off its agenda, the House ethics committee on Monday rebuked U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott for leaking an illegally taped phone call between Republican congressmen a decade ago.

The committee's carefully worded report said that McDermott, D-Seattle, did not violate congressional rules of conduct, which state that a member must behave "in a manner which shall reflect creditably on the House of Representatives."

However, the 25-page report said McDermott's actions were "inconsistent with the spirit of the applicable rules and represented a failure on his part to meet his obligations" as the ranking member of the ethics committee at the time.

"Representative McDermott's secretive disclosures to the news media ... risked undermining the ethics process," the report said.

In a statement, McDermott said, "I am pleased with the conclusion" of the panel. A spokesman for ethics committee chairman Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, didn't return telephone calls seeking comment.

Of course he's pleased. It was only a rebuke. We're still waiting to see whether he'll have to pay the penalty for his unethical actions of nine years ago. So far he's been ordered to pay $700,000 for damages and legal costs.

The case has gone up and down the judicial food chain and it's back in court. The legal costs continue to rise.

Isn't it funny how Democrats don't seem to mind the illegal taping of telephone conversations when the conversations are between their political rivals, but those same Democrats are all up in arms about the wiretapping of terrorists calling from overseas...

Cross Posted at NWBloggers.com

The Trees are Back!

The trees are going back up at Sea-Tac.

Port of Seattle

Release: Immediate

Date: December 11, 2006

TREES GOING BACK UP AT SEA-TAC AIRPORT

Port of Seattle staff will be reinstalling holiday trees later today at Sea-Tac Airport, after having removed them late last week under threat of a federal lawsuit to be filed by the Central Organization for Jewish Education Lubavitch. Port officials received word from Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky late this afternoon that his organization will not file a lawsuit at this time over the placement of a menorah at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Given that, the holiday trees will be replaced as quickly as possible.

"This has been an unfortunate situation for all of us in Seattle," said Port of Seattle Commission President Pat Davis. "The rabbi never asked us to remove the trees; it was the Port's decision based on what we knew at the time. We very much appreciate the rabbi's willingness to work with us as we move forward."

A key element in moving forward will be to work with the rabbi and other members of the community to develop a plan for next year's holiday decorations at the airport.

"There's been such an outcry from the public – from people of all faiths – who believe that the trees should be reinstalled," Davis said, "I'm very thankful that we can return the trees and get back to running our airport during this very busy holiday season."

From the Seattle Times - via LSU at NWBloggers.com

The trees are back.

Previous posts

• Merry Rebellion at Sea-Tac
• The Sea-Tac Christmas Tree kerfuffle...
• Rabbi shocked at results of Christmas Tree lawsuit.
• What does a tree have to do with religion?

Linked at The Bullwinkle Blog, Woman Honor Thyself, Basil's Blog.

Merry Rebellion at Sea-Tac

Christmas trees are back at Sea-Tac. The big trees that the Port of Seattle took down aren't back, but airline workers put up their own trees at their ticketing counters. MSNBC reports:

SEATAC, Wash. - Airline workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport took the holidays into their own hands Monday, decorating ticketing counters with miniature Christmas trees after officials decided to remove all of the trees from the main terminal's public spaces.

The airport's director, Mark Reis, didn't mind the merry rebellion one bit.

"The passengers and the meeters and greeters are all happy about it," he said. "They provide a festive spirit."

...

The airlines lease space for ticket counters from the airport, and can display trees there if they want, he added.

Taking trees into their own hands
Stefania Cottriel and other customer-service agents with Frontier Airlines took advantage of that Monday morning, pooling their money to buy four 1-foot-tall Christmas trees. Atop a Delta counter, workers put up a tree several feet tall.

Hooray for ordinary people!

Maybe next year the Port of Seattle will have a menorah. After this mess, it's the least they can do.

Previous posts

• The Sea-Tac Christmas Tree kerfuffle...
• Rabbi shocked at results of Christmas Tree lawsuit.
• What does a tree have to do with religion?

Linked at Woman Honor Thyself.