The Gray Dog

On this Fourth Of July, a day in which we celebrate the birth of this great nation, we must also remember the brave men and women who made this day possible. To everyone who has and are currently serving in the United States Military I say Thank You. What you do day in and day out are what make this country great and me proud to live here. The sacrifices you’ve made for people whom you will never meet face to face will never be forgotten.These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.

On a day when President Bush was otherwise busy gazing into Putin’s eyes still searching for a soul, he delivered a commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence with the same boldness and passion as a kiss from your sister. “I respect the jury’s verdict,” Mr. Bush said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.” Wow George! How about the entire persecution prosecution being excessive?

The president had an opportunity to take bold action and give Libby the full pardon he deserved. Instead, Bush gave the very least he could, to a patriot who has given total dedication and loyalty to the president and his administration. In an article from March 8, 2007 at FrontPage.com, Ann Coulter wrote, “Criminal prosecution is a surrogate for political warfare, but in this war, Republicans are gutless appeasers. Bush has got to pardon Libby.”

In this case, not only does the President appear to be a gutless appeaser, I would have to amend that to stupid gutless appeaser. With approval ratings below freezing, Bush still appears to be afraid of losing some political capital that has been squandered and disbursed long ago. Even if there were a dime’s worth of this mystery capital left, did the President believe the Democrats would be any less excessive in their criticism of his commutation of sentence than they might have been over a full pardon? I don’t think so. John Conyers, Harry Reid and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wasted no time in vilifying the president’s decision to thwart their persecution of Libby. I’m sure the piling on will continue today. So, if you know you’re going to be pummeled, why not fire your best shot? Why this half-hearted effort?

Perhaps Bush is just weary from being such an easy punching bag for the Democrats for six and a half years. He looks as tired and worn down as his old man did near the end of just one term. I fear the president is punch drunk, and as such, is no longer capable of coherent thought. I know I am weary of this president. I have an answer to this problem in my next post; till then.

This is just for a little fun.  It starts slow, but ends with a flurry. 

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This year, as the death throes of the Shamnesty Bill still rattle, I would like for everyone to simply consider a phrase that has become as trite as “thank you for your service.”  It’s a phrase I had come to detest until I considered it in a more appropriate context.  Like Rurik’s brilliant recasting of hyphenated citizenship which allowed us to proudly proclaim ourselves Proud Veteran-Americans, I now lay claim on behalf of all Veteran-Americans, that phrase which is rightfully ours:

‘Nuff Said!

Staff Sgt. Darrell R. Griffin Jr. 36 years old from Alhambra, California 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division March 21, 2007 “He was a really patriotic young man”, said Darrell Griffin Sr. “He said that the people there really needed us and he felt it was the right place to be. He wished we didn’t have to have wars, but since that’s the way mankind is, he felt he was contributing an important part to his country”. SSgt. Griffin lost his life in Balad, Iraq when his unit came under fire as it was returning to base after conducting security operations in the Iraqi capital. The eldest son of six children, SSgt. Griffin worked as an EMT before joining the California Army National Guard in 1999. He enlisted in the Army two years later, and in July 2001, was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, in Ft. Lewis, Washington. He served with that unit in Iraq from October 2004 to September 2005. On his second tour of duty, SSgt. Griffin had been awarded the Bronze Star for valor in 2005 when he was credited with saving the lives of three U.S. and two Iraqi Army soldiers injured during battle in Tal Afar. He had also received the Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Combat Infantry Badge, Expert Infantry Badge, Parachute Badge, and the Meritorious Unit Citation. “Griff was the type of man you want to have by your side in a fight,” Maj. Brent Clemmer, his former company commander, wrote from Iraq. “He was the type of squad leader every young soldier wants to have”. “Darrell was my husband, my Soldier, my gift from God who was also the love of my life and always will be.” Said his wife, Diana. “He was also ‘a Soldier’s Soldier of Strength and Honor’ whose commitment to duty, honor and loyalty will be forever remembered by all who know and love him. The news of his death saddens us deeply and we ask for your prayers in our time of grief. Please also continue to keep our Soldiers in your prayersThese brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.

I’m hardly a prude or a saint.  Nor am I depraved or deviant.  I’m neither black and white, nor a single shade of gray.  Like most of us I am a complex amalgamation of colors and hues, sometimes ferocious, often benign. I have a public face that I often cover with a private mask. I am a lot of things to many people but never quite the same one thing to all. 

Now days I am more sober and serious than in my youth, yet I still preserve a hint of mischief and roguishness that finds its way to the surface when the occasion calls for it.  I can be cold and aloof when appropriate or I can be a big teddy bear and shed a tear without shame. 

Like most of us, I think I do a pretty good job of matching up the correct version of The Gray Dog, with the right “time” and the appropriate “place.”  You know what I mean?  It’s so simple that most of us can figure out that there is a proper time and place for almost everything by the time we enter Kindergarten.  We pick, we choose, we discriminate.  But occasionally we find those among us less adaptive, possessing overwhelmingly deficient personalities; single faceted aberrations who defy any semblance of subtlety. Uni-threaded characters, once the sole province of dime store novels, now living, breathing and existing in the same universe as we mere mortals.

Now, usually, this is the section in my articles where I say, “But, I digress…”  But tonight, I sense this may be the right time and appropriate place to alter the usual scenario a wee bit and say, “Please, allow me to digress.”

In early February of this year, many of my friends, both at OWD and Veteran-American Voices, were energized beyond anything yet witnessed in the few short months I had been affiliated with them.  There was a buzz in the air.  No, a screech!  No, screech doesn’t quite do it.  It was the sound of liberated flight, emerging from a vacuous swampland formed from decades of decayed spirit and tormented souls. It was the sound of freedom; joyous and uninhibited.  It was the right time, the right place and a righteous act for this eagle to soar.  The emergent noises from its beak, the rustling wind beneath its wings, were the sounds which stirred the long dormant emotions of a generation of silenced warriors.   It was a sound that awakened the eagles within us.  It was the sound that would lead us to a place where eagles gathered.  

The outpouring of emotion leading to, and culminating at GOE I, on March 17, 2007 will forever be catalogued as one of my life’s most cherished moments.  Like memories of my first bike, my first puppy or my first kiss, it is a moment that left its imprint forever burnished in my memory. 
And like all cherished memories, it should have had the opportunity to age gracefully, and improve like a fine wine.  Unfortunately, those responsible for the public image of GOE, through the public BLOG and Forum, have distorted that image into something sadly grotesque.  The emphasis has switched from being a serious medium to attract and inform veterans and the public at large about our mission, to a MySpace.com for veterans, complete with Date Nights, Chat Rooms, and fundraising; for what?

No, much of the unrest at GOE has nothing to do with technology or choice of hardware/software platforms.  It has to do with content, character and how we are viewed by the rest of the world.  I for one have not liked the image that has been projected for months. In spite of that,  I would have been content, like so many others I know, to simply fade away from GOE quietly because I wanted to hold on to that cherished moment, that event that so many of us characterized as historic, pivotal and decades in the making.  That feeling evaporated today when I read this self description of a GOE leader in the GOE forum “And, I can shotgun a beer.  I also yell and scream during sports events on TV, while still being able to pull off high heels and short dresses.  And my legs are 2/3 of my height.” 

Is this a righteous action at the right time and the appropriate place? NOT!  This is not how I want to be perceived by friend or foe. This is not how I would have liked to remember GOE.

GOE leadership, like it or not, needs to learn that there are things appropriate for personal BLOG sites that have no place in a serious site that purports to reflect the views of thousands of veterans. What gets said at ER is of no concern to me. Everything you put into print at GOE is carefully scrutinized by those that would love to use it to their advantage.  Current content controllers at the BLOG are providing a wealth of material for all who would work toward GOE’s demise.  Each time a foul phrase is turned, we are stuck with it.  Each time someone adds fuel to the flames you ignite i.e., “Does the winner have to supply their own condoms,” the rest of us are placed in the position of having to defend the indefensible.  The truth is that you could have 90% legitimate material posted on this site and it will mean absolutely nothing, because it will be the 10% trash that sticks in most people’s minds.  This site shouldn’t be about this.

I know there will many who stand up to defend you.  They are the same ones bidding for dates.  I hold no personal animus toward anyone at GOE.  I’m just miserably disappointed that the site has become more focused on the personalities that purport to lead, rather than the true spirit which first brought us together.    

No, I and many others are not leaving GOE.  GOE has left us.  We have been usurped, ignored and disenfranchised.  It leaves most of us that share these concerns, feeling as if this most wonderful opportunity has been lost, and the memory of this historic and pivotal event forever stained.   I really don’t want to go to sleep tonight.  I fear that in my dreams, my first bike has a flat, the dog has distemper and my mind’s picture of that sweet young girl who shared a first kiss with a nervous thirteen year old boy, is now the mug shot of a hooker hauled in during a Friday Night roundup.  Eagles UP!

The Gray Dog’s Note: The following is inspired by a flurry of links I found in my email today, courtesy of Rurik, and today’s post, “I Guess Our Only Leaders Now Are In Uniform,” at one of my favorite BLOGS, Seaspook’s Rants.

I am not pretentious enough to believe I am an authority on all matters military. I certainly have no expertise or specific knowledge which would allow me to formulate judgments about our top command structure as it pertains to such characteristics as leadership, strategic thinking or performance. I can only offer my less than expert opinions based upon anecdotal reporting and my less than perfect ability to gauge character based upon observing someone on a television screen. Having never let personal limitations prevent me from opining in the past, I am loathe to begin now, so here goes:

FIRE ROBERT GATES NOW!!

How in the hell can we expect this man to prosecute a global war on terror if he doesn’t have the stomach to mix it up with Carl Levin. Of course I’m referring to Gate’s feckless decision to withdraw Peter Pace’s re-nomination for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs last week because Sen. Levin, D-MI, threatened that the confirmation process for Pace would be contentious. What an absolute crock. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Gates asked Levin for his pick to replace Pace.

Like I said up front, I don’t really possess the background to judge Gates, but I sure have lived long enough to recognize a coward when I see one. This is but one more chicken shit act committed by this Charlie Brown administration and perpetrated upon the American public.

Speaking of Pace’s replacement, Adm. Mike Mullen, I offer this simple passage from a recent article written by Elaine Donnelly for the National Review:

At a June 2006 “Total Force Diversity Day” luncheon at the Patuxent River Naval Air Systems Command, Adm. Mullen promoted “diversity” as what he called a “strategic imperative” at all levels of the Navy. After his speech, CNO Mullen was asked what role qualifications play in increasing diversity. According to a base newspaper report, Mullen responded, “I think I have seen a stunning number of examples where we thought more qualified was really more qualified, where it wasn’t. So I don’t want to get stuck on an absolute definition of more qualified.”

WTF? How did anyone who could say that, achieve the rank of Admiral in the U.S. Navy? The idea that Gates solicited Levin’s opinion seems more than just conjecture now. Remarks such as that can only assure his nomination before the liberal Senate committee. Along with other “liberal” attitudes which include consideration of women serving on submarines, Donnelly concludes, “With a war going on and his legacy on the line, President Bush will not be well served by a chief military advisor who assigns higher priority to “diversity” and social engineering than he does to the needs of the military.”

Personally, I believe the act of replacing Pace with Mullen appears more an effort by Bush and Gates to mitigate political casualties at home rather than any concern for real casualties suffered on battlefields. I have long ago given up all hope that any competent voice remains in this administration. Gate’s joins fellow gutless wonder Alberto Gonzales, immigration amnesty shills Michael Chertoff and Tony Snow (a great personal disappointment to me) and sock puppet Condoleezza Rice, to form a collection of beltway bumblers that make the Marx Brothers appear serious, sober and sophisticated.

As General Pace prepares to leave his post, he explained why he wouldn’t voluntarily retire; thereby forcing Gate’s to publicly explain why he (Pace) would not be re-nominated:

“One thing that was discussed was whether or not I should just voluntarily retire and take the issue off the table. I said I could not do that for one very fundamental reason and that is that PFC Pace in Baghdad should not think – ever – that his chairman, whoever that person is, could have stayed in the battle and voluntarily walked off the battlefield. That is unacceptable as a leadership thing in my mind.”

With nineteen months left for this administration, Bush and company seem ready to walk off the political battlefield, seemingly content to assume a submissive position and willing to take it up any orifice the Democrats choose to probe.

In stark contrast, Peter Pace explains how he plans to go out:

“The other piece for me personally was that some 40 years ago I left some guys on the battlefield in Vietnam who lost their lives following 2nd Lt. Pace. And I promised myself then that I will serve this country until I was no longer needed — that it’s not my decision. I need to be told that I’m done. I’ve been told I’m done. I will run through the finish line on 1 October, and when I run through the finish line I will have met the mission I set for myself.”

Once again I’m no expert, but it’s just one dog’s opinion that General Peter Pace is one hell of a fine Marine and an even finer American.

Lance Cpl. Hatak Yuka Keyu M. Yearby 21 years old from Overbrook, Oklahoma 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force May 14, 2006 Hatak Yuka Keyu Martin Yearby was remembered in funeral services as a small town boy who balanced his Choctaw tribal heritage and his military life. He did traditional American Indian dances with grace, compassion, discipline and free spirit — “the way he lived his life,” the Rev. Timm Emmons said Monday. “He had a desire to be in the military since he was a young boy. And he believed in what he was doing. He was a warrior, and he was a hero and he finished the course.” Yearby was killed by a roadside bomb, along with fellow Lance Cpl. Jose S. MarinDominguez Jr., in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, two months after he arrived in that country. Friends and family, fellow American Indians, teachers and classmates filed past his open casket for an hour after the funeral while a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard stood at attention. About 1,000 people attended a funeral service meant to celebrate the life of the 21-year-old newlywed from Overbrook in southern Oklahoma’s Love County. Those who spoke in the packed Marietta High School auditorium talked of how he loved to hunt, but never came back with anything. He played tricks, won dancing awards at powwows and appeared on a recruiting magazine for Upward Bound because of a headdress he made from a T-shirt. Nine of his friends stood on stage to remember Yearby. Jake Barber spoke for them, pausing several times to regain his composure. “Many great words describe Hatak. The only real word you need to say is ‘brother’. He will always be known to us as the ace of spades, the most important card in the deck. He touched us so dearly that words cannot explain,”.These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.

I know I haven’t contributed as prolifically in the past few months to the BLOGS I am a member of, as is my normal wont to do. Not only was I suffering from a serious case of the mopes (otherwise known in the Gray Dog household as the “poor me(s)”,) but I also fell victim to a severe bout of writer’s block, a malady for which I’m sure more than a few visitors to any of these otherwise respectable sites would like to be revisited upon me soon.

Yeah, I know, I haven’t exactly been a beacon of optimism and positive thinking since returning to the saddle in the past week or two. No, instead I’ve been whining and taking a lot of pot shots at Bush. (BTW, y’all ought to give it a try. I’ve found that thumpin’ ole ‘W’ is easier than swatting a watermelon with an ironing board. No wonder the Dhimmiwits have been piling on for so long.) But, I digress.

The point I’m trying to get around to is that I feel for and empathize with zero ponsdorf in his latest missive, “Death By a Thousand Cuts: or Just Vote Democratic,” where he takes the position that we could and should hurry the inevitable demise of the U.S. by voting for Democrats next year. What is the aim of his strategy? According to the author, it is to accelerate the rebirth of our country which will follow yet another inevitable demise of the Democrat’s grand experiment with socialism. Sounds good, heh? Well, that depends on a few factors. I know both zero and I have been around long enough to have grown pretty cranky and restless with all of the congress critters and presidential wannabes. We certainly have felt misled and let down by many of our Republican leaders. And, not that we’re quite ready to become fodder for the worms just yet, I think we both believe that we could ride out the initial upheaval created by such a sharp political left turn, and rely upon our wits to outsmart the Dhimmiwits and survive our remaining years with relative comfort. But that is the problem. We’ve both lived reasonably productive lives, but no matter how many years we have left, I feel quite certain that neither of us would be around to catch the full brunt of and pay the price for such a radical plan.

Certainly I am not firm enough in my convictions nor do I have a secure belief in my ability to accurately foretell the downfall of two different economic incarnations of the United States and have them occur within a predictably defined and acceptable duration. Furthermore, I am not anticipating the coming of a latter day John Galt to lead all good Objectivist Conservatives to a hidden idyllic valley in the Rockies before Atlas crumbles. Yes, I said I feel for and empathize with zero. But, this time, I can’t agree with him.

I can’t conceive of participating in an election in which I would become a willing accomplice in condemning my children and their children to a lifetime of socialistic folly. It may happen anyway, but not with my signature on the surrender papers. I couldn’t look my sons in their eyes and say “my vote for Obama was really for your own good. Trust me.” I couldn’t look at a newly “redeployed” soldier and tell him, “I simply didn’t want to fight the system any more, so Hillary is your new Commander in Chief, deal with it!” I couldn’t live with the shame I would feel if I was confronted by a Gold Star Mother and asked to explain my vote. What would I tell her? “I’m sorry, but you son or daughter just didn’t belong in either of President Edward’s Americas.” No, I’m just not ready to lie down and have Dr. Kevorkian administer last rights to the U.S. just yet.

It’s entirely possible that the Democrats will capture the White House and strengthen their congressional majorities next year. Yet, I would rather stand with my children and all other like minded patriots and friends (of which zero most certainly is,) and show my defiance to the very end. I could be wrong, but I think zero will be there standing with us. I sure hope so anyway.

Post Script: With the recent inauguration of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as President of France, perhaps Alec Baldwin might supply me with a few real estate tips.