Naming of Navy ships returns to tradition - Washington Times

Naming of Navy ships returns to tradition - Washington Times

Mabus is an idiot. How the hell he's survived as Navy Secretary this long is a mystery.

Note the last paragraphs:

He named a San Diego-class amphibious docking ship, one used principally by Marines, after the late Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat. The previous nine ships in that class had been named after U.S. cities, a park and a county. The naming angered members of the Marine community, who noted that Mr. Murtha had declared that Marines killed civilians “in cold blood” in the Iraqi village of Haditha in 2005. At the time, the Marines involved in the raid had not been put on trial. Only one Marine was convicted - on a charge of dereliction of duty.The Navy noted Mr. Murtha’s service as a Marine in Vietnam and his support in the House to fund the armed forces.

Until that point, the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships had been named for famous explorers or people who made significant contributions to the armed forces. Chavez served briefly in the Navy after World War II. A biographer wrote that he considered it the worst time of his life. Critics said there were better choices if the Navy wanted to honor a Hispanic.

“The one that got the most attention from people who couldn’t really quite figure out whether that was the appropriate thing to do or even related much to the military was the Cesar Chavez and the Jack Murtha,” Mr. Blunt told reporters. “People in the Chavez case could not figure out the linkage.”

Last week, Mr. Mabus named a littoral combat ship after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Democrat.

Until the Giffords naming, all Freedom- and Independence-class littoral combat ships had been named after U.S. cities.

I'm Slowly Finding All The Stuff

Well After A 1 Minute Search of My Hard Drives

I found these. These are from the Saturday night event at the Cambria County COnvention HAll in Johnstown PA. You will note my ever present 7/11 coffee cup, and the hat I'm sure.





You don't think that boy is smitten do you? Naw!!!

The "John Murtha Navy Shipyard??"

Whats next? The Rahm Emanuel School of Ballet and Exotic Dance? (Not that that wouldn't work, you understand.)

“Friendly Fire”
BY CHRIS FREIND, For The Bulletin
Monday, March 08, 2010

Reports have surfaced that Pennsylvania Democrats are in favor of naming the iconic Philadelphia Navy Shipyard after the recently-deceased Congressman Jack Murtha.

I have just one question for those who favor of such a preposterous idea --- such as Congressman Bob Brady: “Hi. I’m Earth. Have we met?”

On what planet are these people living?

Yes, naming the venerable shipyard ---one that played a decisive role in the Allies’ victory in World War II --- after a man who flagrantly disregarded that old document called The Constitution for his own political benefit seems like a swell idea.

A Vietnam veteran, Murtha knew firsthand how difficult fighting could be on both the battlefield and homefront. One would think a war as controversial as Vietnam, in which soldiers became targets of venomous slurs and unfair accusations by the public and elected officials, would have taught Big Jack the lessons of patience, humility and honor.

One would be wrong.

Murtha was one of the leading critics of the Iraq War, advocating a complete withdrawal. Fine.

We should have no problem with that, as America is still (nominally) a free country, and Murtha is entitled to his opinion.But he inexcusably crossed the line when he accused U.S. Marines of war crimes, referring to them as “murderers” engaged in “cold blooded” killing after an incident in the Iraqi town of Haditha.

Making the sin mortal was that Jack didn’t care about due process, completely ignoring the “innocent until proven guilty” tenet we hold so sacred in this country. Last time I checked, you don’t give up your rights as an American when you put on a military uniform. In fact, you deserve those protections more than ever.

In addition to accusing those Marines of such a heinous crime, Murtha also stated that the military was complicit in the murder, stating, “There has to have been a cover-up. … There's no question about it.”

During a national television interview, Murtha stated that he would, “not excuse murder and that what's happened.” This, of course, was well before the investigation was completed, let alone the courts-martial that exonerated them.

Well Jack, I’ve got news for you and your still-living morally-corrupt cronies:We are not going to let the stellar reputation of the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard be disgraced with your nefarious name.

More important, we aren’t going to excuse you for your unforgivable behavior, which hopefully hasn’t caused an American soldier to die because he hesitated about defending himself in the face of brutal enemy fire.

If that be the case, you’d better run to God for protection from the Marines you might meet in Heaven --- assuming you ever get there.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist and investigative reporter whose work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe." Freind also serves as a weekly guest commentator on a Philadelphia-area talk radio show, WCHE, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances. He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

DCExaminer Editorial Highlights

TODAY'S WASHINGTON EXAMINER EDITORIAL SECTION HIGHLIGHTS

CPAC: Conservatives must avoid complacency
Examiner Editorial
"Conservatives also better not be deluded into thinking Obama and the Democrats won't do whatever they can, fair or foul, to win the coming campaign."

Attack in Little Rock 'like other killings we have'?
Diana West, Examiner Columnist
"I'm not the only one confounded by the prosecutor's inexplicable and highly disturbing decision to follow a see-no-Islam strategy. Muhammad himself recently wrote to the judge claiming he was encountering legal obstacles to changing his plea to guilty."

Another Massachusetts Miracle rising in Hoosier land?
Ken Tomlinson, OpEd Contributor
"All this is a stunning development for the young farmer and businessman who only four years ago was the youngest member of the Indiana legislature. In Washington power circles former Sen. Dan Coats has been all but anointed the GOP nominee for the Bayh seat."

Obama's new envoy to Islam
Mark Durie, OpEd Contributor
"At his most recent post as White House Deputy Associate Counsel, Hussain helped draft Obama s New Beginning address to the Muslim world in Cairo. That speech mentioned human rights, but it emphasized dialogue rather than defending individual liberties."
WORTH A READ, TOO

Want to know how to really astroturf a movement?
Mark Tapscott on Beltway Confidential

John Murtha forgot Semper Fi
Tom Stone, OpEd Contributor

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast-Murtha-End of an Error

Chris Stirewalt - The end of the era of Congressional dinosaurs
Even the staunchest earmark foe had to feel a twinge with the passing of John Murtha. Not just because the congressman's family is pained by the sudden loss of an imposing figure, but because it was another paragraph in the final chapter of an era in American politics. The era of the dinosaurs is ending and the new epoch will be one of great upheaval.

Julie Mason - Biden's new role: Cheerleading, not policy
The Obama administration's avuncular No. 2 has evolved -- after a sometimes bumpy first year -- into a classic guy-behind-the-guy. He stays busy but rarely makes news, and he's a trusted presidential confidant -- but not exactly in the inner circle.

Michael Barone - Democrats in worst shape in the last 50 years
The metrics are pretty clear: Barack Obama got the highest percentage of the vote for a Democratic candidate for president since 1964 and now he has plunged his party into its weakest position in the polls since that time.

Byron York - Poll: Republicans gain on Obama, public welcomes GOP power to block
All in all, the poll shows the public growing increasingly confident in the GOP's ability to handle critical issues. The public would not have approved of a Republican check on Obama's power several months ago, when trust in the GOP was at an astonishingly low level. Now, with trust increasing, they want to see the GOP exercise more influence. In that sense, when Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown pledged to be the 41st Republican senator -- that is, to be the lawmaker who could help block some Obama initiatives -- he was speaking for the country as well as his state.

Susan Ferrechio - Once thought extinct, New England Republicans re-emerge
When a poll made the startling claim that Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., "may be facing his most difficult re-election campaign in 16 years," the news came as a shock to residents in the Ocean State, where Kennedy has been easily re-elected since taking office in 1995. The poll, conducted by WPRI-12, found that 31 percent of those interviewed would "consider another candidate" and 28 percent would "vote to replace" Kennedy. Only 35 percent said they would vote to give Kennedy a ninth term.

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast-Mutha-EX Marine

My compatriots at Mudville Gazette have a companion piece. I will echo Greyhawks sentiment:
"Mutha was never convicted."

Byron York - GOP winning war over Miranda rights for terrorists
On Capitol Hill, there's a war being fought over the War on Terror, and so far, Republicans are winning. Or at least they're winning the Battle of Miranda.
GOP lawmakers believe they are having some success in the effort to stiffen the spine of the Obama administration as it makes policy for dealing with captured terrorist suspects in the future. Even as the administration defends its decision to grant accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the right to remain silent, the president himself is hinting that things might be done differently in the future.

Julie Mason - Obama vows to focus on jobs, but keeps talking about health care
President Obama's surprise plans for a bipartisan summit on health care eclipsed his stated priority to pass a jobs bill, sending a mixed message about the administration's objectives.
The last-ditch effort to save his unpopular signature issue also received a cold reception from Republicans, who said their best idea for health care reform is to scrap it .

Michael Barone - The Murtha district
Presumably there will be a special election in Pennsylvania 12 to replace Murtha on May 18, which is primary day. This is the only district in the nation that voted for John Kerry in 2004 and John McCain in 2008. You might want to explain that as an affinity for Vietnam veterans. The better explanation is that it is part of the Jacksonian belt that starts in southwest Pennsylvania and extends along the Appalachians and southwestward to Tennessee and Texas an area where Barack Obama ran very poorly in both the primaries and the general election in 2008. In any case, it voted only narrowly (51%-49%) for Kerry and favored McCain over Obama by an even narrower margin (49%-49%, a margin of 873 votes).

David Freddoso - Rep. Steve Cohen, D, already chasing Murtha's ambulance
In a television interview this afternoon, Democratic Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen pronounced judgment on the doctors who were operating on Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., when he died. Cohen, a government attorney before he began his political career, was asked about tort reform in health care when he brought up Murtha's death:
"As we speak today, Rep. John Murtha died. And he was my friend, and he served this country for many years...He died because, when he went in for gall bladder surgery, his intestine was perforated. And that shouldn't have happened. It was, from what I understand, malpractice."

Susan Ferrechio - Republicans leery of Obama's bipartisan play
President Obama's plan to revive his stalled health care initiatives through a bipartisan summit got a skeptical reception from Republicans, who say they will be "reluctant" to participate if the plan is only meant to tweak the massive Democratic proposal already in play.
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EX-Marine dies.

Jack Murtha has died.

I don't think this one will be guarding the gates of Heaven.

Another WTF!!! Moment

Some rights you are born with. You have to earn the others.

Brought to you by our favorite porkbelly, John (in cold blood) Murtha.

Prosecuting suspected terrorists like petty thieves or drug dealers is fraught with peril. The Democrats have learned nothing from the failed law enforcement strategies of the feckless Clinton era. Confiscated Al Qaeda training manuals have revealed that recruits are instructed in how to manipulate the Western legal system if they are captured. As I’ve noted before, affording accused Al Qaeda operatives the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial threatens to compromise classified information necessary to prosecute future terrorist trials. Other rights guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment — the right to subpoena witnesses and compel them to testify, the right to an attorney — can interfere with interrogations of captured suspected Al Qaeda agents. And while the lives of those directly involved in say, a mob trial, might be endangered, the entire nation may be at risk when we allow suspected members of a terrorist network to engage in the discovery process and in privileged communications with attorney-abettors.
Who will be accountable when these prosecutions run amok? When convicted jihadis wreak bloody havoc from behind bars? And when Gitmo recidivists wage war anew once released? John Murtha doesn’t give a damn. Do you?

Another Marine is found to be innocent

Case Dropped against Lance Cpl. Stephan Tatum. Semper Fi!

The Marine Corps is dropping all charges against the Lance Cpl Stephan Tatum who was accused of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment and aggravated assault in the Haditha case. So far, four of the eight Marines charged have been cleared. Michelle Malkin has more info and, of course, links to everyone with info....

Anybody seen that lowlife Murtha?