Someone really needs to take this woman aside and upbraid her for her classless choice of wardrobe for the Veterans Day memorial this week. She looks like Barack’s paid “escort” instead of his wife here.

Seriously, one gets the uneasy feeling that we’re looking at Barack’s own Vivian Ward (Julia Robert’s character in Pretty Woman) instead of his wife. What’s with the HoBoots, anyway? Is she going to a dance club or attending a memorial service? And the loud turquoise color? It’s like she was trying to get all eyes upon her when she should have been there to honor the troops, not herself!

What a clueless and classless choice of clothes!

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An inscription on a WWII monument in Kohima, India fittingly describes the sacrifices that our soldiers make with their service to our nation. And on this Veterans Day it is also fitting to focus on it. The Inscription says:

“When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.”

What could be a more fitting tribute to the sacrifices made by our fallen loved ones, comrades, and servants? They gave their last full measure so we could enjoy the freedoms we are so fortunate to have today. They gave their lives for our benefit in the truest definition of sacrifice.

This memorial commemorates the Allied dead that faced the Japanese 15th Army upon its invasion of India in March of 1944. The invasion was beaten back by June of the same year through the sacrifice of these Allied troops.

The words are attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875 -1958), an English Classicist who in 1916 added them to a collection of 12 epitaphs to commemorate World War One. Adding the inscription to the Kohima monument was a suggestion by Major John Etty-Leal, the GSO II of the 2nd Division who was a classical scholar in civilian life.

The verse is thought to have been inspired by the Greek lyric poet Simonides of Ceos (556-468 BC) who wrote after the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC: “Go tell the Spartans, thou that passest by, That faithful to their precepts here we lie.”

And now we too can recall this verse etched into a stone in a far away and foreign land as a perfect tribute to our fallen as well as for those who gave service to their fellows by wearing the uniform of our armed forces.

So, thank you all. We appreciate your sacrifice. And happy Veterans Day.

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With that said, here are ten reasons why the Marines are the best. OOH-RAH!

1. Marines have the best uniforms, hands down. And as everyone knows, chicks really dig a guy in uniform.

2. Marines know how to fight. That’s why they’re called America’s 911 force:

In the true spirit of “jointness” I offer the following as “Everything you need to know about differences in service culture. All in good fun, of course.

US Marine Corps Rules for Gunfighting

1. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
2. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
3. Have a plan.
4. Have a back-up plan, because the first one probably won’t work.
5. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
6. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun whose caliber does not start with a “4.”
7. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive.
8. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral & diagonal preferred.)
9. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.
10. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
12. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
13. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating your intention to shoot.

Navy SEAL Rules For Gunfighting

1. Look very cool in sunglasses.
2. Kill every living thing within view.
3. Return quickly to looking cool in latest beach wear.
4. Check hair in mirror.

US Army Ranger Rules For Gunfighting

1. Walk in 50 miles wearing 75 pound pack while starving.
2. Locate individuals requiring killing.
3. Request permission via radio from “Higher” to perform killing.
4. Curse bitterly when mission is aborted.
5. Walk out 50 miles wearing a 75 pound rucksack while starving.

Army Rules for Gunfighting

1. Select a new beret to wear.
2. Sew combat patch on right shoulder.
3. Change the color of beret you decide to wear.

US Air Force Rules For Gunfighting

1. Have a cocktail.
2. Adjust temperature on air-conditioner.
3. See what’s on HBO.
4. Determine “what is a gunfight.”
5. Request more funding from Congress with a “killer” PowerPoint presentation.
6. Wine & dine ‘key’ Congressmen, invite DOD & defense industry executives.
7. Receive funding, set up new command and assemble assets.
8. Declare the assets “strategic” and never deploy them operationally.
9. Tell the Navy to send the Marines.

US Navy Rules For Gunfighting

1. Go to Sea.
2. Drink Coffee.
3. Watch porn.
4. Send the Marines.

KEITH J. PAVLISCHEK
COLONEL, U.S. MARINES

3. Being the smallest of the services forces us to be creative. Marines fight smarter, not harder. Jim Mattis wasn’t kidding when he said the Marine style is a blend of chivalry and ferocity: no better friend, no worse enemy.

4. The Marine Corps Silent Drill Team. Poetry in motion:

5. Tradition: we still celebrate ours. Mess nites, dinings in and out, St. Barbara’s day and the Marine Corps Ball: no one celebrates their rich history with more flair and elan than the Marine Corps. We still dress for dinner, we still pull out cigars and the smoking lamp for the men (and sometimes the ladies!).

We still light candles in memory of fallen comrades and those who have been wounded in the service of this nation. We do not forget. If you’ve ever been invited to a Marine Ball, don’t pass up the opportunity to attend. Those of us who have passed the quarter century mark may roll our eyes a bit, but we still go every year and still tear up when the same old passages are read. What began on November 10, 1775 in Tun Tavern is still remembered in giant ballrooms, decorated hangars, and dingy conference rooms all over this planet. Marines gather as one family to celebrate that which unites and binds us: a love of Corps, country, and above all, each other.

6. Esprit de corps: Which, as you should know, is no cheese-eating surrender monkey Phrench-sounding label, but something each Marine takes to heart on the day he or she finally earns the right to be called “Marine”. Every Marine is a rifleman. To call the average Marine a soldier, troop, sailor, or airman to is risk a speedy and ungentle correction. There are only Marines, an appellation which (unlike soldiers, sailors, or airmen) is always capitalized. Now *that’s* respect.)

7. Toughest mascot. Think about it:

Army: a mule
Air Force: a stinkin’ bird?
Navy: ummm… a goat
Marines: a bulldog. Nuff said.

8. Marine PT. Did the HVES mention that we’re just better-looking?

9. Marine wives. There is an old Spanish saying, “No hay rosas sin espinas.” I think it fits Marine wives well: tough, but tender; beautiful but enduring. On the day my husband finally leaves the Corps, my most precious memories will be of the officer and enlisted wives I have been privileged to work with, laugh with, cry with, and share this wacky thrill ride that is military life.

10. The Navy-Marine Corps team: as much as we love to rib the Navy, we couldn’t do our job without them. On any Marine base, along with green you’ll see Navy khaki. Navy corpsmen go to battle with us and dress our wounds. They are at once healers, life savers, and soldiers as tough and brave as any Marine. Navy chaplains pray with us and bury our dead. They weep with us and help us to try and make sense of the incomprehensible.

And it is Navy ships which carry us to distant shores so we can do what we do best: respond as America’s 9/11 force. They provide devastating firepower on target when we need it. We are proud to be a part of the sea service. But that said….until November 11th…

Beat Navy!

As the smallest service, what we need to do to win is spread the word far and wide. So please, email your favorite bloggers and ask them: “Why aren’t you on the Marine team”?

We’re still looking for a few good bloggers. It’s a good cause.

Spread the word and invite your favorite bloggers to join the Marine team. If you have a blog, sign up. And if you haven’t yet, make sure you donate to the United States Marines team!!!

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

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Luckily, we’re still right on their heels and there’s plenty of time for us to get a resounding lead. And we’ve got a spirited team this year. We’ve got all kinds of fun stuff planned, from our featured Marine heroes to trivia and a USMC demotivator contest. I can’t claim credit for the one above, but this one I can:

Hey, they put a sailor and not a Marine in the Village People for a reason. All I’m sayin’.

I can also claim credit for this one:

Seriously, what else sums up a Marine better?

If you’ve got any good ideas for some good, snarky Marine Corps demotivators, then pass ‘em along. And with that, we move onto Marine Corps trivia! Here are the questions. The answers… will be after the jump!

1. Who was the first Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps?

2. Who is the “Grand Old Man” of the Marine Corps?

3. Who was the first female Marine?

4.Who was the first Commandant of the Marine Corps?

5. Where did the first amphibious assault conducted by the Marine Corps take place?

6. What is the cyclic rate of an M249?

7. What MOS is 0311?

8. What does the slang term “moto” mean?

9. What is a “screaming eagle”?

10. During the War of 1812 and the taking of Washington DC one government building was not burned. Name the building and its location.

11. What Marine Medal of Honor recipient was GI Joe patterned after?

12. The red stripe on the Marine Corps dress blues signifies the blood spilled at a specific battle. Which battle?

So, there you go. Check out the answers after the jump, and if you haven’t yet, please be sure to donate to Project Valour-IT and be sure to donate for the Marine team!

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

Answers:

1. Wilbur Bestwick

2. Archibald Henderson

3. Opha Mae Johnson

4. Samuel Nicholas

5. New Providence Island in the Bahamas, where a British fort and large supplies of munitions were known to be. With Captain Nicholas in command, 234 Marines sailed from Philadelphia in Continental warships. On 3 March 1776, Captain Nicholas led his Marines ashore, took the fort, and captured the powder and arms for Washington’s army.

6. 650 to 850 rounds per minute

7. Infantry Rifleman (Don’t call 911… call 0311!)

8. “Moto” is a commonly used slang term in the Marine Corps, and it means “motivated”. It can also refer to someone who is extremely devoted to the Corps and Marine Corps memorabilia — for example, stores that sell USMC memorabilia are called moto shops by Marines.

9. A high-and-tight haircut.

10. The Marine Corps barracks in 8th and I street. At the time, it was the Commandant’s house.

11. 2nd Lt. Mitchell Paige

12. The Battle of Chapultepec. The victory of this battle is also memorialized in the Marine Corps hymn, in the very opening line: “From the halls of Montezuma… ”

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Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

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October 26th the Project Valour-IT fundraiser kicks off. And while the Marines are the smallest group, we’re the toughest and the most spirited. Here’s the info from the Marine Corps team leader, Cassandra from Villainous Company:

Who does America call when something absolutely, positively must be destroyed overnight?

U.S. Marine Rat

That’s right… America’s 911 Force: the Few. The Loud. The Marine team!

We’re still looking for a few good blogs to help us raise money for Project Valour IT. The competition starts Monday, October 26th and though the Marines are the smallest service, we’re planning to chew through the competition. But to do that, we need your help.

Project Valour IT provides laptops with voice activated software to wounded soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen at Walter Reed and Bethesda. Typically these young men and women spend up to two years recovering and undergoing physical therapy. Their courage, determination, and unfailing esprit de corps are truly inspiring. Most of us, facing the loss of our eyesight, an arm or a leg and repeated surgeries would just crumble up into a ball. Not these guys. They’re warriors:

He knows they’re going to stare. They always stare.

As soon as Pat Murray steps in the elevator, they’ll notice his prosthetic leg and maybe accurately surmise that, yes, he is an Iraq war veteran, and, yes, he got blown up. Then the sadness will sink in, the pity, and they’ll give him that look, which he can sense even if he doesn’t see, and it will be an uncomfortable few floors up.

So as Murray approaches the elevator and the woman thrusts her hand between the closing doors for him, he says, “Careful, you can lose a limb that way.”

“Oooh,” the woman says, noticing Murray’s metal leg. She’s obviously shocked, unsure of what to say or how to act. Murray flashes a smile, lets loose an “it’s okay” chuckle, and suddenly the ride up isn’t nearly so awkward after all.

It’s that type of humor — spontaneous (he once asked his doctor when his leg would grow back), cunning (he tells children who ask about his “robot” leg that he didn’t eat his vegetables) and, at times, gruesome (there are stump jokes that can’t be printed here) — that helped him come to terms with the fact that his right leg is no more.

It was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that Murray, who was a corporal in the Marine Corps, not only learned to walk again, but to laugh. Although doctors and therapists can patch up the physical wounds of war, it is often the humor — soldier to soldier, Marine to Marine, patient to patient — that in the space of a punch line can heal as well as the best medicine.

It’s not unusual for these young men and women to take up bungee jumping, skydiving, or participate in marathons or other extreme sports even after losing a limb. But that long period where they’re confined to their hospital beds can be the worst of all. Project Valour IT provides them with a way to escape the confines of their rooms and keep in touch with buddies, friends and family members. For many wounded vets, it’s a tangible reminder that they’re still part of the world outside Bethesda or Walter Reed: that there is life after being wounded.

Valour IT is one of my favorite military charities. I’ve supported it every year and led the Marine Team to raise over $51,000 in 2006. My co-captain Carrie and I are planning two weeks of fun, jokes, Marine history, culture, heroes and more. Carrie’s son is headed over to Afghanistan and my husband is already over there, so we both have good reason to support the great work Valour IT is doing.

Valour IT is a cause you can support with confidence that your donation will be well spent. Every dollar raised goes directly to wounded vets at the following military medical centers as well as VA treatment centers nationwide:

* Balboa Naval Hospital

* Brooke Army Medical Center

* Madigan Regional Medical Center

* National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda Naval Hospital)

* Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton

* Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital (29 Palms)

* Walter Reed Army Medical Center

So now you have the mission. What we need now is a strong team. Please sign up for the Marine team, and tell all your friends. You can join here and see the great blogs who’ve already proudly donned the title, “Marine team”.

But most of all, remember — we’re planning to have fun. Because although they’re all business, no one rocks the house like the United States Marine Corps:

So please, if you have a blog, sign up. If you don’t, then I hope you’ll be generous and donate to a great cause and help us lead the Marines to a 2009 victory!

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more commentary or follow her on Twitter!

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General Douglas MacArthur famously noted that “old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” Sometimes, though, before they fade away, they get angry. And a case being argued in the Supreme Court Wednesday has veterans seeing red, white, and blue-but mostly red.

Unsurprisingly, the case will go to the court courtesy of an ACLU lawsuit.

The object at the center of the case is a small, unadorned cross sitting in a remote part of the Mojave Desert Preserve in Southeast California. A veterans’ group erected this memorial cross on private land in 1934 to honor the dead of all wars.

Driving by this secluded location today, however, you’ll see a curious-looking plywood box hiding the memorial, the way someone might cover a condemned building. That box is there because one person filed suit, with the help of ACLU attorneys, claiming he was “offended” by the memorial cross. One offended man has somehow trumped the wishes of millions of veterans.

If a federal appeals court has its way, the box and the memorial soon will be gone forever. Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court will review the ruling at the request of the Department of Justice, and in this case, millions of veterans, speaking through The American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, have added their voices in support. In fact, the American Legion Department of California and the Alliance Defense Fund have joined forces and filed a brief in support of the Department of Justice, asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit.

The U.S. Government recently acquired the land on which the memorial sits when the site became part of the Mojave Federal Preserve. After the ACLU lawsuit was filed, Congress worked with veterans to honor their wishes and preserve the monument. It took an act of Congress to rescue the memorial from a federal court decision ordering its destruction. As part of its action, Congress voted to give an acre of land containing the memorial back to the veterans who maintained it for decades, in exchange for five acres deeded to the government. Giving up one acre to get five, and honoring veterans in the process, seemed like a good deal.

But not to the ACLU and its “offended” client.
To them, even this reasonable arrangement was intolerable. They pressed forward with their lawsuit saying the memorial must not be allowed to stand and the land transfer must be overturned; their hostility to a passive symbol of this sort is simply too great.

However, as bad as this case is, veterans know much more is at stake in this case than one memorial in the California desert.

Military memorials commonly use the cross as part of a display to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to defend our nation. While the cross is a religious symbol, the military has also used it as a symbol of courage, sacrifice, and honor. For example, the nation’s second highest military award is the Distinguished Service Cross. Visitors to the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery can see several commemorative crosses, like the Canadian Cross of Sacrifice, a gift from former Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King that was dedicated at Arlington in 1927.

If the Supreme Court does not overturn the appeals court, religious symbols that have graced monuments for many decades may become a thing of the past. Memorials to military veterans, police officers, firefighters, and other heroes will be whitewashed, covered up, or torn out to appease the politically correct agenda of intolerant extremists.

Veterans are being asked to surrender to the thin-skinned sensitivity of an individual who has managed to be offended by a small memorial, literally in the middle of a desert. Is this truly an offense worthy of a lawsuit? Apparently, the fanatical agenda of the ACLU to expunge religious symbols has really come this far, and now the Supreme Court has the opportunity to weigh in.

One person’s offense should not diminish the sacrifice made by America’s heroes and their families. Why would we not wish to allow the men and women who have served and defended this nation to choose how they wish to honor their dead? Even if old soldiers “fade away,” their memory should not.

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“It would be easy to miss among the yucca and Joshua trees of this vast place — a small plywood box, set back from a gentle curve in a lonesome desert road. It looks like nothing so much as a miniature billboard without a message.

But inside the box is a 6 1/2 -foot white cross, built to honor the war dead of World War I. And because its perch on a prominent outcropping of rock is on federal land, it has been judged to be an unconstitutional display of government favoritism of one religion over another.

Whether the Mojave cross is ever unveiled again — or taken down for good — is up to the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Next week, it will get its first major chance to divine the meaning of the First Amendment command that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

If the court reaches the constitutional issues at hand, all sides agree it could provide clarity to the court’s blurry rules on church-and-state separations. It could also carry important implications for the fate of war memorials around the country that feature religious imagery — the Argonne Cross in Arlington National Cemetery, for instance, or the Memorial Peace Cross in Bladensburg.

The Mojave cross’s protectors, which include veterans groups and the federal government, say the symbol is a historic, secular tribute; its original plaque from the 1930s said it was erected to honor “the dead of all wars.” They argue that Congress has taken the steps to distance itself from any appearance of endorsing a religious display.

But the American Civil Liberties Union, Jewish and Muslim veterans, and others say government actions have only deepened the problem. In an effort to avoid the lower courts’ rulings that it must come down, Congress has designated the site the country’s only official national memorial to the dead of World War I, elevating it to an exclusive group of national treasures that includes the Washington Monument and Mount Rushmore.

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Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here

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OK, folks, starting September 8 you’ll only have ten days to pony up a winning bid on ebay for a dinner with Governor Palin. And the starting bid is $25,000. If yours is the winning bid, you and four of your closest friends are invited to dinner with the Guv.

If this meal with Mrs. Palin is not in your price range, perhaps a $7,500 bid for lunch with Karl Rove is closer to your level?

The first annual Ride 2 Recovery ebay charity auction will begin soon with the several dinners to be auctioned off to help recovering military vets.

Ride 2 Recovery is a program where wounded vets are helped to rebuild confidence and strength by hitting the road on bicycles of all sorts. So, this is a worthy cause.

So, look inside that wallet, folks. But, if these two dinner auctions are a tad too high faulting’ for you but you still want to donate to this worthy cause, contact Ride 2 Recovery at R2Rinfo@aol.com or go to the Ride 2 Recovery main page and see the donation tab at the bottom of the webpage.

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I decided that I was not going to be silent anymore. So, I let U.S. Congressman Brian Baird have it. I was one questioner out of 38, that was called at random from an audience that started at 3,000 earlier in the evening. Not expecting to be called on, I quickly scratched what I wanted to say on a borrowed piece of paper and with a pen that I borrowed from someone else in the audience minutes before I spoke. So much for the planned talking points of the right wing conspiracy.

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