DISTINCTION, VALOR & CHARACTER

A recent news article I read told the story of how in March 2006, a group of soldiers (from the 101st Airborne Division) with their faces concealed and wearing black long underwear, descended upon a farmhouse some 20 miles south of Baghdad. Once inside they gang-raped a teenage girl, shot her in the head, then killed her younger sister and their parents as well. The soldiers then tried to burn the bodies by setting fire to the house. One of the soldiers was recently convicted of the crime and could face the death penalty for his actions.

Unfortunately, many reading this same news account will wrongly assume that this is a common occurrence during warfare. Nothing could be further from the truth!

As a United States Army Chaplain, I served in Iraq from 2006 through 2007 during the time of extreme IED (Improvised Explosive Device) activity throughout the Al Anbar region. Enemy activity was at its zenith. There were over 160 attacks, per month, on U.S. soldiers.

One night, I was approached by my executive officer and was asked if I would fIy, by helicopter, to one of the Army outposts near the Syrian border to minster to a unit which had just lost two of their men in a firefight with the enemy.

Early the next morning I boarded a Navy Sea Stallion chopper and arrived at the outpost. I was greeted by the commanding officer and was given the details of the horrific battle that occurred the day before.

I was asked to minister to four men who survived the encounter. These men were no strangers to warfare. They had been in Iraq before and the sights, smells, and sounds of battle were commonplace.

All of the men were deeply grieving the loss of their friends and questioning why they had survived while their friends had died. In particular, the platoon sergeant of this unit, was having a most difficult time processing the death of these two soldiers. I came to discover that one of the slain soldiers was a very close personal friend of this platoon sergeant.

I also learned that, once the firefight had ended, he was part of the team that had captured the aforementioned insurgents who had inflicted the mortal wounds upon their friends.

The platoon sergeant told me: “Chaplain, I had those two guys on the ground and my weapon was pointed at the back of their heads. For just a moment, I saw the face of my friend and the faces of the wife and children he left behind. Part of me wanted to pull the trigger and end the miserable existence of these two bastards and yet another part of me knew that such actions were wrong.”

After listening to him relate the awful events of that day, I told him that he had done the right thing and that his honor was still intact. This soldier could hold his head high knowing that he had acted morally.

This is not an isolated incident. Our combat forces face these kinds of moral dilemmas daily. I can attest to you the truth that the vast majority of our servicemen make the right choices and perform their duties with distinction, valor, and character.

I am so very proud to serve with troops like these.

This Blog Post provided by: Chaplain (MAJ) Daniel Petsch

Why Republicans Lose Elections

The following guest article was contributed today by my good friend and "Great" American, Fernando Nieves. There will be more on Nieves in the coming weeks, as I am planning a feature story on his incredible journey from being born and raised in Venezuela through his quest to become an American Citizen (legally) and achieving the American Dream!

I agree with my friend Jimmy Lewis, regarding his previous article on Sarah Palin ( http://rougerevival.blogspot.com/2008/11/sarah-palin-go-ahead-make-her-day.html ). Governor Palin does not deserve this at all, ("They used this woman … and then when they were finished, they threw her under the bus".) and that’s part of what has been wrong with the Republican Party, which has control the US government for the last 8 years in the white house and 10 out of the last 10 years in the congress.

It occurs to me that republicans ought to perform a serious soul search, analyze their own performance with objectivity, before blaming the “liberal media”, the democrats, and yes Sarah Palin. Here is what I have noticed: These people are not protecting the interest this great nation; on the contrary, they only protect their own interest and the interest of the good ol' boy network and big business.

Quite frankly the Republican Party needed a kick in the ass like this so they can get back to true conservative values (small government and FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY), something that they left behind during GWB administration. An example of this behavior is GWB tax cuts. The Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution has analyzed these two tax-cut measures and they found the following:

· Some 54 percent of the tax cuts from these two measures will go to households with incomes of more than $1 million a year, the top 0.2 percent of households, Another 43 percent of the tax-cut benefits will go to the 3.5 percent of households with incomes between $200,000 and $1 million. Thus, 97 percent of the tax cuts from these two provisions will go to the 3.7 percent of households with incomes over $200,000.
· That leaves only 3 percent of the tax-cut benefits for the 96 percent of U.S. households with incomes below $200,000. That 3 percent of the tax cuts will go almost entirely to households in the $100,000-$200,000 range. Essentially none of the benefits will flow to families with incomes under $100,000 (see table below).
· High-income households already are receiving extremely large tax cuts without these two new tax-cut measures. According to the Tax Policy Center, households with incomes of more than $1 million are receiving tax cuts that average $103,000 this year, and will receive tax cuts averaging $108,000 in 2010, from the other income-tax cuts included in the 2001 and 2003 tax-cut laws. (The Tax Policy Center estimates that when the effects of repeal of the estate tax are taken into account, those in this very high income group will receive tax cuts averaging $133,000 in 2010 from tax cuts other than the two measures discussed here.) The Tax Policy Center’s analysis shows that adding in the two tax-cut provisions slated to start taking effect in 2006 will bring the total tax cut for people with incomes over $1 million to $152,000, on average, in 2010. (These figures are in 2010 dollars.)

Note: Republicans in congress are calling to make the tax cut permanent.

Now, I do know that nobody wants to pay taxes, but to cut taxes and increased size of government and expending like the GWB administration have done was immoral and irresponsible, and it makes the argument of “liberals are going to tax you to death” hard to defend, because at the end of the day, it does not take a rocket scientist to understand basic economics.

The next government(s), it will take years, will need to pay the debt, which the Bush Administration incurred in order to fund the same tax cuts I just illustrated above, which benefited only 3.7% of the American households. You all know who they are, and unfortunately I am not one of them, as I have seeing my income, savings and retirement funds diminishing like most Americans since the Bush Administration took office. At least I feel lucky, I am healthy, have a wonderful wife and both of us have jobs, and I know that there are far too many Americans unemployed that have lost everything and the worst is yet to come. I pray for them.

Back to fixing the mess GWB policies have helped create, the new government will also need to pay for national security (the military, security at the border, etc), and to pay for other services such as rebuilding the nation infrastructure and yes bail out all these corporations which in my book constitute as corporate socialism. Also, repair the reputations of America in the international community, let us not forget the rest of the scandals, the justice department (Alberto Gonzalez), the you “doing a heck of Job Brownie” (FEMA during Katrina), throwing under the bus a CIA secret agent, only because her husband uncovered the truth that Sadam really did not have a nuclear program, nor was trying to hide WMDs, “water boarding is not torture”, etc. These cumulative abuses of power have created the monster we now called President elect Barak Obama.

As an independent conservative, that’s what I consider myself now, I found myself at odds, trying to defend the un-defendable, thus I consider myself as a former republican, and for that reason I decided not to vote. By the way, I can also say proudly that I can never force myself to vote for a democrat, thus my reason to be upset with the current republicans; as they almost made me do the unthinkable, vote for a liberal.

Finally, all politics aside, I also happen to disagree with the selection of Gov Sarah Palin as a VP candidate, even tough I believe that she has accomplished a lot, and done well for herself. However, having said all of that I believe the Republican Party selected the wrong candidates period. Both candidates! I believe that both McCain not Palin were president material by any stretch of the imagination, and once again that demonstrated to me that the Republican Party was out of touch with the American people, and the reason they have to use a crazy dude from Toledo Ohio, a mythical character no less (Joe the Plumber) as it turned out, that wasn’t his name nor his true profession, as it was a way to prove to the American people that they really were the party for the middle class … that’s how much out of touch there are.

Once again putting politics first before the well being of the country, and by doing so they deserved what they got; a huge defeat in the election.

But as my friend Jimmy Lewis, always says:

“Keep The Faith,”

Fernando

Lincoln's Words Need To Be Heard Again & Again

The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling demonstration than in the Gettysburg Address. President Abraham Lincoln was asked to memorialize the gruesome battle. Instead he gave the whole nation "a new birth of freedom" in the space of a mere 272 words. His entire life and previous training and his deep political experience went into this, his revolutionary masterpiece.

It was 145 years (seven score and five years) ago this very day when Lincoln delivered, what is considered to be, the most famous speech in the history of the United States of America. It was delivered at the dedication of the Soldier's National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated the Confederates in this decisive battle.

In the summer of 1863 that small southern Pennsylvania town changed forever. Of the more than 2,000 land engagements of the Civil War, Gettysburg ranks supreme. On July 1- 3, 1863, more men actually fought and died than in any other battle before or since on American soil.

As this country braces itself to engage in a much different, but ever as important kind of battle, we once again find ourselves being tested on whether this nation can survive, and overcome, a power hungry and aggressive faction of government, with Divine Providence.

And so … to President Elect Obama, to Speaker of the House Pelosi, and to Senate Majority Leader Reid … let Lincoln’s words be heard, by you, and then by one and all, throughout this land:

“ That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain and that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. And that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."