Tag: Opinion

Does Bank of America have a problem with the American flag and our war dead?

It sure seems that way to me.

First of all a very big tip of the hat to John Sykes on twitter for bringing this story to my attention.

The Video:

The Story: (H/T Captain’s Journal)

Via Greenville Online:

Only the faint sound of lightly marching feet could be heard as hundreds stood silent on the Greenville-Spartanburg International tarmac Wednesday while fully adorned Marines carried Lance Cpl. Chris Fowlkes’ flag-draped coffin.

The solemn arrival began an afternoon-long procession that ultimately wound through the streets of the 20-year-old Marine’s hometown of Gaffney, where businesses shut down and mourners lined the streets.

The homecoming came six days after the former Gaffney High School football player died in a military hospital in Germany from injuries sustained a week earlier in an explosion in the Helman province of Afghanistan.

Well-wishers waved flags, saluted and shed tears as an army of police cars escorted Fowlkes’ family along the 40-mile stretch from the airport to the town.

Among them were those who knew Fowlkes and remembered his life fondly.

Dan Phillips, a family friend who waited for the escort outside the Blakely Funeral Home in Gaffney where Fowlkes’ body will remain until a memorial service today and burial on Saturday, said that Fowlkes had spoken with his grandmother not long before he was killed.

She had talked with her grandson over the phone, Phillips said, and asked him if he missed being home as school was getting started again.

“He told her, ‘No, I’m right where I want to be,’” Phillips said. “That’s a very powerful statement.”

Indeed it is a powerful statement, many of our finest, bravest and best young men are going and fighting in a war; so that the rest of us can be safe from terrorists, who want to harm this Nation and our people in it. You would think that everyone in this Nation would be proud of something like that, and would want to honor their bravery and sacrifice. Well, it seems that some, in the interest of political correctness, want to dishonor our war dead.

That “some” is Bank of America.

The Story via The Palmetto Scoop:

A South Carolina Bank of America branch is drawing criticism Thursday after an employee reportedly ordered the removal of American flags placed to honor a fallen Marine over fears that people would be offended.

The Palmetto Scoop received one eyewitness email claiming that the branch manager at Bank of America’s Gaffney branch at 1602 West Floyd Baker Blvd. “told a citizen who was preparing the route for a U.S. Marine killed in action in Afghanistan by placing small American flags along the roadway that the flags might upset some of her customers.”

Said the outraged tipster, “[The branch manager] took them down and made the citizen go in to get them if she didn’t want them thrown away.”

The flags were part of the funeral procession of Lance Corporal Christopher Fowlkes, 20, who died last week after an explosion in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

WSPA-TV has also received similar tips about the “flag flap.”

A teller at the branch confirmed to TPS that the branch manager had been there around the time of the incident but had left for the day.

Bank of America released a statement apologizing for the incident and celled it a misunderstanding.

“We want to ensure the community knows how deeply proud we are of the men and women who have sacrificed so much in service to our country,” the statement said. “The bank does fly the American Flag at our locations throughout the country and flags were displayed in front of our banking center in Gaffney the evening prior to our dedicated Marine returning home.”

___________

UPDATE: WCBD in Charleston reports that Bank of America said the incident was a “miscommunication in corporate policy.” That raises the question, which policy would require employees to remove American flags that are part of a funeral procession for a fallen Marine?

Mis-communication my hind leg. Someone in that damned bank was some sort of hippy liberal and was offended by the very damned site of Patriotism.

Herschel Smith over at Captain’s Journal weighs in:

So should BofA rename their corporation to bank of Russia?  Is it Bank of America, or is it not?  With whose offense were they worried?  Really.  Who, exactly, would have come into the bank and demanded that an American flag be removed for a Marine who perished in Afghanistan?  And why would Bank of AMERICA have cared?

What corporate policy was in effect?  Was this a branch-specific issue, or is there a corporate policy that forbids the displaying of American flags for the fear of causing offense?  Who was responsible for removing the flags?  Has corporate policy been changed?  If so, why was the policy in effect?  If not, what is the justification for the policy?  Will Bank of AMERICA issue a formal apology to the Fowlkes family first and then to AMERICA?

There are many unanswered questions concerning this ugly incident.  I feel that it’s necessary for a BofA official to formally comment on this article to enlighten my readers.

Indeed, I would like Bank of America to enlighten the rest of the Conservative Blogosphere as well. I would like to also see this Branch Manager terminated as well. A simply apology is NOT enough this man needs to be fired from his Job. He disrespected the war dead; there is no excuse, he must go, now.

Here is the contact information for Bank of America Corporate Office:

Bank of America Corporate Center
100 North Tryon Street
Charlotte, North Carolina 28255
Tel: 1.800.432.1000

REMEMBER: Be Civil, No Threats or anything stupid like that! Simply ask to speak to someone in charge; and ask them if they believe that ordering people to remove American Flags respecting the Nation’s War dead is acceptable corporate policy and if not, why they would continue employ someone who would feel that way; and why they would allow this to happen. You could also kindly suggest that if this person was not terminated that you would take your business and money elsewhere.

Your Daily Morning Right Wing Hate-Filled Rant Post

I am sorry; but it is crap like this right here, that sends me into a damned rage.

Reading that morally degenerate and sin-depraved Faux Conservative; other wise known around these parts, as that peanut butter pumping, Hershey Highway loving,  idiot fag Sully. Says the following that crap-hole of a Blog of his:

It my have been, in Barney Frank’s opinion, “useless,” but for me and Aaron and my friends, it was a beautiful and empowering time. So many young people, so many old and dear friends, so many faces I haven’t seen in so long, so many straight people, and kids and families and trannies and a good, good happy vibe. Then the message that was louder and clearer than any march I’ve been to since 1987. Just equality. Not tolerance. Not protection. Nothing special. Just equality as human beings and citizens – in all things large and small.

More to the point, this was not a plea for it; it was a statement of it. We are equal. We always have been. The prison of inferiority is in our own psyches as well as in others’ fears. But I sense now, for the first time, a critical mass of self-respect among my LGBT brothers and sisters. It was there before; but now it’s everywhere, especially the young, who seem to have found the courage of their own desires and the knowledge of their own love.

via The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.

Ugh. Gag. Puke. Is he freaking serious?

Let us review shall we? From the Bible. You know? That thing that is the basis for our Judeo-Christian Beliefs; that was the basis for this Nation’s founding? Now, before I got any further. Let me state clearly, that I do not believe in a Christian Theocracy for a Government; there are those that do and I highly disagree with them. Anyhow, quoting:

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.  (Leviticus 18:22 KJV)

I mean, the Lord God thought so little of it, that basically he put homosexual lifestyle or as it known amongst Christians as the Sodomite lifestyle; in the same category as Bestiality!

Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. (Leviticus 18:23 KJV)

What was the punishment in Old Testement Biblical times for Homosexuality?

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.  (Leviticus 20:13 KJV)

You say, “Oh, that was old Testament.” Things are different now. Oh Really? Hmmmm…

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 KJV)

The Amplified Bible sets it right out:

Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality, Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.  – 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – Amplified Bible

I humbly submit this to you; that when the founding fathers of this Country, drafted the documents that basically became known as the Constitution of America; they did NOT have in mind the freedom that this morally depraved man has in mind, at all.  That is NOT hate; that my friends is fact and Biblical straight from the very Word of the Almighty God. Not the watered down stupid nonsense of the Evangelical Christian and Roman Catholic Churches.

Further more; why hasn’t this morally depraved buffoon been thrown out of our Country?  That is what I, and many others want to know.

The President and the White House just lost half of their base

I saw this and my jaw dropped. Just how arrogant is this President Administration? 

This Arrogant:

Unbelievable. Surprise

Needless to say; The Liberal Bloggers are pissed! You can check out the roundup here. Here’s an entry from a well-known Conservative Gay Blogger. Again, Wow…. Just —- Wow.

Georgia Racist Bar Owner Redux

As you all well know; I pointed out yesterday that the Georgia Bar owner had ties to the White Nationalist movement. Which prompted some idiot, who either reads mine or Robert Stacy McCain‘s blog to try and defend the ignorant douche Nozzle. Which resulted me in giving the idiot the once over here on the blog.

In process of pointing out that this idiot was, in fact, White Nationalist, I gave R.S. McCain a gentle poke in the ribs; to basically inform him that he forgot to use Google. Well, being the Southern Gentleman that he is, he responded:

My friend at Political Byline discovered that, according to Stormfront (which ought to know), Patrick Lanzo has made his restaurant available for “white pride” events organized by, inter alia, the late J.B. Stoner.

OK, so if this is true, it clearly puts Lanzo on the far side of a clearly defined line between any sort of mere “political incorrectness” and outright hatemongering.

Paleo Pat’s research is appreciated; however, I disagree with his characterization that my own previous discussion of Lanzo’s restaurant as “spinning” for Lanzo. As I clearly said, “To explain is not to defend.” Obviously, I erred in failing to research Lanzo before endeavoring to explain him, which makes me guilty of carelessness, and I appreciate Paleo Pat clarifying the nature of Lanzo’s operation.

What J.B. Stoner promoted ought to be called by its right name: Evil. Did Lanzo know what he was getting himself into when he hosted Stoner’s events? I don’t know. But he either needs to reconsider his actions or else admit that he’s on the other side of that line.

I’ll except that explanation. I realize that Stacy is a busy man with a wife and what… 36 kids? So, this will suffice. I was kind of using a well-known tag line that is used by the left, when someone tries to explain something. You know, “Oh, he’s just spinning!” Did I also mention that I like to play mind games with people? 😉 😛 😀 It is a perverse joy of mine; and it is so easy too, with the sheep that we have running around these days. (Anyone who has read the book, knows of what I speak.)

The real funny part about this is; that I made the LGF’ers get all excited for about a second and then suddenly deflated their balloon just as quick. It seems ol’ Klingore Trout linked here; using Google Cache and then realized a few seconds later, that I was not on his side. That alone, made writing that blog posting and the subsequent piece from the mailbag worth every minute of my time writing it. I really do love doing the “Mental Joust” with intellectual midgets; it is quite the fun sport.  Anyhow,  This prompted Charles Johnson to call me, “the new hero of the right“.  While I am most humbled by his compliment; I hardly call myself a hero. Of course, when one jousts with those who foolishly believe that the Government is the solution to all of the world’s and by proxy. the Nation’s problems; one can only expect so much. Of course, I humbly submit that if one gave Mr. Johnson a blow up doll, a ball of yarn, and a yo-yo; that he would become so disoriented that his cranial matter would self-combust.  But I digress.

In other news:

She got married.

Whew. Someone’s gonna have hootin’ nanny of a good time in Ireland!  My Prediction; she comes back Pregnant…..with twins. 😮 😛

Georgia Oyster bar owner not telling the truth about being a racist

I would normally come to the defense of this guy’s right to freedom of speech.

But, with the awesome power of Google. I have made a discovery.

Mr. Oyster Bar owner in Georgia, who put out the sign, saying that Obama was going to “Nigger Rig” the Healthcare system; is flatly lying about not being a racist.

…and how do I know this?  The wonderful power of google….

Lookie what I found by simply doing a search of the place in question:

ATTN: ALL KLANSMEN – NO MATTER WHICH GROUP YOU BELONG TO.
——————————————————————
On the 4th of July weekend in Paulding County, Ga. We are planning on having the “Georgia White Pride Picnic/ Rally”. It will be held on the property of the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar and Museum (Pat Lanzo’s restaraunt).
Pat has allowed people to have rallies and what not at his plave for the past 21 years. JB Stoner and Mr Spivey used to have them there.
All Klansmen are invited. Other White Nationalists are too, but we need a Klan group who would be willing to do a cross-lighting for us.
——————————————————————-

Please PM if you are interested in helping or have any suggestions/ideas.

Where did I find this? None other than Stormfront.org. I linked to it via Google cache, in case the message disappears.

I mean, it is one thing to be a racist; but it is another to flatly lie about it, to a black woman no less, with a Klansman mannequin in your bar. I mean, Seriously? Good Lord. 🙄

The point I am making here is this; free speech is a good thing. Hate is not, neither is flatly lying about not being a racist.

Update: Not Surprisingly, Stacy McCain spins for the guy. Nuance.

Others: : Another Black Conservative, Gawker, American Power, Alas, a blog, Confederate Yankee, Raw Story and Wonkette

Jack Hunter makes a good point

But! Listen carefully to what is said here. When he makes a inference to the “Identity Politics” of the right and Neo-Conservatism; he is essentially referring to the Jewish Republicans, that have basically controlled that Party for years. Which is basically nuanced Antisemitism.

Jack Hunter has a good reputation for being quite the Anti-Military; for this, I ended up stopping posting his videos on a regular basis here.

Not to mention he praises Ron Paul, who is infamous for his Racist and Anti Semite Newsletters.

But just as well, He does make some very good points. Here is his video.

In case anyone has forgotten

This is the real cost of war.

LittleSoldierGirlPaigeinFormation

NBC in Philly has the whole story

White House is screwing the War in Afghanistan to hell

Not a big surprise, considering the President’s middle name; I mean after all, The President does not even want the words “War on Terror” used anymore.

This comes via the AP:

President Barack Obama is prepared to accept some Taliban involvement in Afghanistan‘s political future and appears inclined to send only as many more U.S. troops as needed to keep al-Qaida at bay, a senior administration official said Thursday.

The sharpened focus by Obama’s team on fighting al-Qaida above all other goals, while downgrading the emphasis on the Taliban, comes in the midst of an intensely debated administration review of the increasingly unpopular eight-year-old war.

Though aides stress that the president’s final decision on any changes is still at least two weeks away, the emerging thinking suggests that he would be very unlikely to favor a large military increase of the kind being advocated by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

McChrystal’s troop request is said to include a range of options, from adding as few as 10,000 combat troops to — the general’s strong preference — as many as 40,000.

Obama’s developing strategy on the Taliban will “not tolerate their return to power,” the senior official said in an interview with The Associated Press. But the U.S. would fight only to keep the Taliban from retaking control of Afghanistan’s central government — something it is now far from being capable of — and from giving renewed sanctuary in Afghanistan to al-Qaida, the official said.

[….]

There now are no more than 100 al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Instead, the U.S. fight in Afghanistan is against the Taliban, now increasingly being defined by the Obama team as distinct from al-Qaida. While still dangerous, the Taliban is seen as an indigenous movement with almost entirely local and territorial aims, less of a threat to the U.S. than the terrorist network.

Obama’s team believes some elements in the Taliban are aligned with al-Qaida, with its transnational reach and aims of attacking the West, but probably not the majority and mostly for tactical rather than ideological reasons, the official said.

“They’re not the same type of group,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “It’s certainly not backed up by any of the intelligence.”

That leaves the primary aim in Afghanistan to deny al-Qaida any ability to regroup there as it did when the Taliban was in power before the 2001 invasion that ousted them. And this points to a smaller military increase in Afghanistan and a bigger focus on surgical strikes against terrorists in Pakistan and elsewhere — essentially the approach being advocated by Biden as an alternative to the McChrystal recommendation for a fuller counterinsurgency effort inside Afghanistan.

Biden has argued for keeping the American force there around the 68,000 already authorized, including the 21,000 extra troops Obama ordered earlier this year, but significantly increasing the use of unmanned Predator drones and special forces that have been successful in Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere.

[….]

Clinton has not tipped her hand as to how she is leaning in the sessions, according to aides. While she is broadly supportive of building up troop levels — although not necessarily in the numbers favored by McChrystal — she also believes the military cannot be the only focus, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to detail her views.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, long wary of a large troop presence in Afghanistan, appears to have grown more comfortable with the prospect of a moderate, middle-path increase.

Many lawmakers from Obama’s own Democratic Party do not want to see additional U.S. troops sent to Afghanistan. According to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, public support for the war has dropped to 40 percent from 44 percent in July.

Republicans, meanwhile, are urging Obama to heed the military commanders’ calls soon or risk failure. “Unnecessary delay could undermine our opportunity for success,” House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said Thursday.

So, while President Obama and Hillary Clinton are playing political chess and trying not to offend one another; our troops are dying on the battlefield. Terrific.

AllahPundit over at HotAir.com, who was in New York during the 9/11 attacks; is quite livid:

They’re looking for any way they can to avoid giving McChrystal the troops he says he needs to secure the country, so they’ve come up with a way out. If the people we’ve been fighting for eight years aren’t the enemy, then the country no longer needs to be secured from them, does it?

[…]

In other words, rather than eat crap by forthrightly admitting he’s prepared to abandon huge swaths of the country to Islamist fascists rather than invest another 40,000 troops, he’s going to create an artificial distinction between the Taliban and Al Qaeda to let him save face by claiming he’s focused on “the real enemy.” Much like how he was focused during the campaign on “the good war” in Afghanistan rather than “the bad war” in Iraq. I wonder how long it’ll be before he decides that not everyone who’s in Al Qaeda is an enemy either — or, better yet, that AQ’s been “substantially defeated” or something, which has been the unstated thrust of all those WH-leaked pieces in the press lately about how weak Bin Laden’s gang has become. Why, I’ll bet in a year or so we’ll be told that they’re so weak that we can start pulling out of Afghanistan altogether. Things sure have improved over there since Bush was president, huh?

I would not want to be in the United States Military right now for no amount of money in the world. Not with that idiot buffoon running the Military. The man has zero, and I do mean ZERO clue how to fight a war. I feel for our boys over there right now; because, quite frankly, they are trapped. Just like in Vietnam.

The real sick and sad part is; that the Republican and the Democrats both are taking this whole, “Whatever you decide to do boss! We’ll support you, all the way!” attitude; because none of them have the damn guts to stand up and tell this jack assed idiot to either damn lead or resign and let someone else lead for him. That is what makes me so damned angry.

Update: Video: (H/T to reader Stephanie)

As Stephanie said, this is going to be tough one. But he does need to stand up and lead and quit putting it off.

Others: Atlas Shrugs,  The Long War Journal, Flopping Aces, Stop The ACLU, theblogprof, War in Context and Pajamas Media

The Obama Administration cannot handle real press

The is just too damned rich; Ol’ Big ears and his Administration cannot handle Roger Alies and Co. over at Fox News.

Via the Obama Magazine AKA Time:

There was never a single moment when White House staff decided the major media outlets were falling down on the job. There were instead several such moments.

For press secretary Robert Gibbs, the realization came in early September, when the New York Times ran a front-page story about the bubbling parental outrage over President Obama’s plan to address schoolchildren — even though the benign contents of the speech were not yet public. “You had to be like, ‘Wait a minute,'” says Gibbs. “This thing has become a three-ring circus.” (See who’s who in Barack Obama’s White House.)

For deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer, the more hyperbolic attacks on health-care reform this summer, which were often covered as a “controversy,” flipped an internal switch. “When you are having a debate about whether or not you want to kill people’s grandmother,” he explains, “the normal rules of engagement don’t apply.”

And for his boss, Anita Dunn, the aha moment came when the Washington Post ran a second op-ed from a Republican politician decrying the “32” alleged czars appointed by the Obama Administration. Nine of those so-called czars, it turned out, were subject to Senate confirmation, making them decidedly unlike the Russian monarchs. “The idea — that the Washington Post didn’t even question it,” Dunn says, still marveling at the decision.

All the criticism, both fair and misleading, took a toll, regularly knocking the White House off message. So a new White House strategy has emerged: rather than just giving reporters ammunition to “fact-check” Obama’s many critics, the White House decided it would become a player, issuing biting attacks on those pundits, politicians and outlets that make what the White House believes to be misleading or simply false claims, like the assertion that health-care reform would establish new “sex clinics” in schools. Obama, fresh from his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, cheered on the effort, telling his aides he wanted to “call ’em out.”

The take-no-prisoners turn has come as a surprise to some in the press, considering the largely favorable coverage that candidate Obama received last fall and given the President’s vows to lower the rhetorical temperature in Washington and not pay attention to cable hyperbole. Instead, the White House blog now issues regular denunciations of the Administration’s critics, including a recent post that announced “Fox lies” and suggested that the cable network was unpatriotic for criticizing Obama’s 2016 Olympics effort.

White House officials offer no apologies. “The best analogy is probably baseball,” says Gibbs. “The only way to get somebody to stop crowding the plate is to throw a fastball at them. They move.”

There is a whole bunch of stuff to say here; much of which I have written before. It is quite obvious to anyone who has been following this President and his White House staff since day one; and has not been drinking the damn Kool-Aid, knows that this President Administration, much like the last one, is still running in campaign mode. I believe it was not until the very bitter end, that Bush realized that he was doing wrong and stopped the campaign mode, this is why Karl Rove and Donald Rumsfield were tossed overboard.

Just as well, this President is making the same mistakes as the last one. The difference is this; it took George W. Bush six years for his poll ratings to plummet and it has taken this President six months. That my friends, is the astounding fact.

The glaring fact of this Administration is that they seem to have this glaring sense of entitlement. It seems that they are caught up in this whole mentality of, “This is a black President and you must treat him special!” The problem with is, that may work in the city of Chicago; but just does not cut it in American or more specifically beltway politics.  Does this Presidential Administration actually believe that Sean Hannity is just not going to say anything at all about President Obama socialist agenda?

The way I see it, Fox News has been extremely fair to the President, they have given him all of the benefit of the doubt. But they have not went into the tank for the President, at all. Something that I am extremely grateful for. As a result of this; Fox News’s rating have soared over every other networks; and I know why. It is because the American people, like me, do not want apologists for the Administration; we want hard factual news and critical reporting. If the President is screwing up, I want to know about it. If what the President is doing is not good for the Country, the American people have a right to know.

What the American people do not need; is someone like that sniveling four-eyed punk Robert Gibbs dictating to them, what they can and cannot report. Personally, I think Robert Gates is a asshole; and he is not doing much for the White House and President Obama’s image, he needs to be replaced. But I do not see that coming, unless Gibbs makes a major blunder.

Others: JustOneMinute, NewsBusters.org, Townhall.com,  RedState, Riehl World View, Left Coast Rebel, Jules Crittenden, , Hot Air, Pajamas Media, JammieWearingFool,Gateway Pundit and TVNewser

The White House of Unoriginality

Via Malkin:

matisse4

Pathetic. Of course, I have never known African-Americans to ever do anything original at all. I mean, look at rap music; How unoriginal can you get? Talking over music, made by other people. They very fact that they even call that  tripe music, is an insult to musicians like myself.

Others: Althouse, Ruby Slippers,