NBC: No "Thank You" for the Troops - Updated and Bumped

It's truly sad that this story has to appear on Pearl Harbor Day:

WASHINGTON — NBC has nixed holiday advertisements meant to thank troops for serving overseas in opposition to the inclusion of a non-profit's Web address.

The ads, paid for by the non-profit Freedom's Watch, are a simple thank you, the group says, with people shown paying gratitude to members of the military and the final frame showing the group's Web address, www.freedomswatch.org.

Click here and here to view the ads that NBC won't air.

NBC is refusing to air the ads as long as the address is included, according to an e-mail exchange between NBC and the group, which Freedom's Watch provided to FOX News.

"Per my previous email, the www.freedomswatch.org website will have to be redacted from the commercials for approval. This comes from Alan Wurtzel and Rick Cotton," according to one of the notes.

Wurtzel is president of research at NBC. Rick Cotton is general counsel for NBC Universal.

Well, I don't have any NBC censors here, so I will say it:

To all our vets, past and present, Democrat or Republican or Third-Party, Christian or Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist, atheist or Other... THANK YOU.

Update and BUMP: NBC blinks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — NBC reversed course Saturday and decided to air a conservative group's television ad thanking U.S. troops.

The ad, by the group Freedom's Watch, asks viewers to remember the troops during the holiday season. NBC had refused to air the ad because it guides viewers to the Freedom's Watch Web site, which NBC said was too political.

But in a statement issued Saturday evening, NBC said:

"We have reviewed and changed our ad standards guidelines and made the decision that our policy will apply to content only and not to a referenced Web site. Based on these amended standards the Freedom's Watch ad will begin to run as early as Sunday."

NBC' head of standards and practices, Alan Wurtzel, notified Freedom's Watch's media consultant Saturday by e-mail, writing: "This will confirm that the Freedom's Watch spot is approved for air."

Freedom's Watch President Bradley A. Blakeman welcomed the decision. "We're actually very happy that NBC has agreed to change its position because it will only help the troops be properly thanked," he said.

Score one for the good guys.

Five Still Serve

Not much I can add to this:

PEARL HARBOR — They are the ironmen of their generation, living through Dec. 7, 1941, and the World War that followed, and defying the pitfalls of age and health into their 80s and 90s.

The five Pearl Harbor survivors who regularly volunteer at the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center here, talking and joking with tourists and signing autographs, may have lost a step or two, but not their wit.

"He's the old man right here," Alfred Rodrigues, 87, said while cocking his head toward Herb Weatherwax. "How old are you, Dad?"

Weatherwax, sitting at the same table, stated that he's 90.

"It's been 90 beautiful years. Beautiful," Weatherwax said. That excludes some dark times, though, such as witnessing the destruction of Pearl Harbor and Wheeler Army Airfield.

When a 55-year-old woman from New Jersey swoops over, plants a kiss on Rodrigues' cheek and says "Thank you" and starts to walk away, Weatherwax chimes in, "Hey, come back!" widening his ever-present smile.

That's how it goes when the aging survivors are holding court. They are a dwindling resource whose presence has become that much more precious as their ranks have thinned.

-snip-

The five regular volunteers come from both Navy and Army ranks. According to a National Park Service brochure:

•Robert Kinzler was in the 25th Infantry Division. During the attack, his company was ordered to take up a position at Roosevelt High School, and Kinzler saw the Pearl Harbor destruction.

•Weatherwax, who was born in Honolulu in 1917, received the instruction to report to his duty station at Schofield Barracks that morning.

•Sterling Cale, a Navy corpsman on Dec. 7, 1941, was in charge of the burial party removing bodies from the Arizona.

•Everett Hyland was serving aboard the USS Pennsylvania, which was in dry dock No. 1 on that morning, and was seriously wounded when a Japanese bomb exploded near his battle station.

•Rodrigues, who was born in Kapaa, Kauai, was at Bishop's Point at Pearl Harbor. He was issued a .30-caliber rifle and started shooting at the Japanese planes that passed overhead.

God bless all those who serve, and have served.

How Democrats Support the Troops, Part II

Ahh, the good old Party of the Donkey... they whose patriotism we dare not question... they who support the troops while slandering their leaders (both civilian and military leaders)... they're at it again:

Providing veterans' benefits to Filipino service members is only half of the issue.

Perhaps more egregious is how the Democrats offset the cost of the new benefits. Because of House PAYGO rules, any new entitlement spending (such as the Filipino Veterans Equity Act) must be funded by either a corresponding cut in existing spending or matching revenue gains.

In this case, the Democrats on the Veterans Committee voted to save nearly $1 billion by eliminating a $2,200 special monthly payment to veterans who are less than 100 percent disabled, but 60 percent or greater disabled.

Yep, there ya go... they support the Filipino veterans--who never appeared in US uniform, by the way, being soldiers of the Philippines--by cutting benefits to disabled veterans who did wear the stars and stripes, and did so bravely and heroically.

That's our MoveOn-dominated party on the left for ya, folks.

How the (British) Left Supports the Troops

And you thought it was just an American thing:

Injured soldiers who lost their limbs fighting for their country have been driven from a swimming pool training session by jeering members of the public.

The men, injured during tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, were taking part in a rehabilitation session at a leisure centre, when two women demanded they be removed from the pool. They claimed that the soldiers "hadn't paid" and might scare the children.

The incident has sparked widespread condemnation. Adml Lord Boyce, a former head of the Armed Forces, said last night the women should be "named and shamed".

"These people are beneath contempt and everything should be done to get their names and publish them in the press," he said. "It is contemptible that people who have given up their limbs for their country should be so abused when they are trying to get fit again."

It comes after calls for the public to do more to welcome home troops back from tours of duty and to recognise the bravery of those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The unpleasant scenes broke out at Leatherhead Leisure Centre in Surrey when the wounded veterans, who are at Headley Court Military Hospital, had to use the 25-metre public pool because the hydro-pool at the defence rehabilitation centre is not big enough for swimming.

Seems like this neighborhood is the British version of Berkley:

There was uproar earlier this year after residents objected to planning permission to convert a home into a six-suite hostel for injured soldiers' families to stay in. The local council later approved the building work.

I guess moonbats live everywhere these days.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

Ya Done Good

Okay, I am a bit late, but the Project Valour-IT Veterans Day Fundraiser is over. The following note appears on the website:

Thank you to all for your amazing efforts in helping us to raise more than $200,000 during our 3rd Annual Veteran's Day fundraiser. No words can express our gratitude. Thank you!

So to all those who donated, whether through this humble blog or others, all I gotta say is, Ya Done Good!

However, even though the Veteran's Day fundraising push is over, the need goes on. If you didn't donate before, or want to donate again, you can do so through this page.

Project Valour-IT

There's a new widget on the sidebar for donations to Project Valour-IT. This program purchases voice-activated laptops for severely injured service members... a very worthwhile effort, I think.

In honor of my late father, a Navy veteran, I've joined the "Navy" team, but all donations go into a single fund for members of any branch, so don't worry about that--the teams are just for a friendly competition.

Please donate what you can.

UPDATE and BUMP: For more on what Project Valour-IT does, see this excellent article from National Review Online.

How Democrats Support the Troops

Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) today on the floor of the House:

“I yield myself two minutes. Madam speaker, I, first of all, I’m just amazed that they can't figure out -- the Republicans are worried that they can't pay for insuring an additional 10 million children. They sure don't care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where are you going to get that money? Are you going to tell us lies like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war? You don't have money to fund the war on children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if he can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement.”

Do I need comment further?

Anyway, several GOP Congressmen have responded... visit the link in the title to read some of their comments.

Oakland Locks Out Our Troops

Commenter Mark emailed me this, submitting it for the blog as it was too long for the comments. I reprint it here with but one minor editorial change (in capitalization of one word). The rest is as he wrote it -CCG

Oakland is part of the San Francisco bay area. San Francisco is where many of the 60’s and 70’s peace-nick ‘hippie’ radicals gathered once they ‘found their way’. Flowers replaced rifles. Drugs replaced discipline. “Freedom” meant being free to do anything they wished. “Make peace, not war” became their religion. And God was no longer welcome in the city by the bay. Apparently, Oakland followed suit and there is no distinguishing between the two now.

I read the story about a plane load of soldiers and marines posted at http://christianconservativegeek.blogspot.com/ on September 30^th shortly after it was up. I was incensed by the actions of the Oakland International Airport authorities. Incensed to the point of blind, white-hot rage. I bit my tongue and tried to contain the anger. I posted a quick comment to the story expressing that anger and the fact that I would not write more until I could get it under control. Then I thought.

Imagine you are a member of the US military and have been at war for about a year. You return via a chartered airliner to US soil and a US airport on your route refuses to let you into the terminal due to what can only be assumed to be (drum roll, please) ‘security issues’. Apparently, TSA has not screened you. Yes, you, a soldier who has been fighting a war. All you may want to do is buy a Coke, stretch your legs, or maybe even make a quick call home. And the airport will not let you inside the terminal.

Another day, another time and these young souls would have been spit upon. They would have been called ‘baby killer’ and ‘murderer’.

Excuse me, but I thought the Viet Nam anti-troop mentality was done. I thought calling soldiers, sailors, air-men, and marines “baby killer” was out of vogue. I thought freezing military personnel out of society was decided to be ‘beyond the pale’. I thought the citizenry of the US had finally put to rest this ‘hate the troops mentality’ of the 60’s and 70’s peace movement. I thought ‘We the People’ had decided it was noble and generous for a young man or woman to take the oath to serve in this country’s military. I thought…“Oh”, I said to myself with dawning realization.

We had.

It’s back.

This is the way cancer works.

We have a choice. Succumb to the disease or fight it. I know which side I’ve chosen, how about you?

Supporting the Troops, Oakland Style

Full disclosure: I have not independently researched the validity of this email yet. Like Scott Thomas Beauchamp, this could turn out to be a lot of nothing.

However, with that said, it certainly seems par for the course for Oakland, which is right across the bay from ultra-left San Francisco, and if it's less well-known, it's certainly not that much less left-leaning.

On September 27th 204 Marines and soldiers who were returning from Iraq were not allowed into the passenger terminal at Oakland International Airport. Instead they had to deplane about 400 yards away from the terminal where the extra baggage trailers were located.

This was the last scheduled stop for fuel and food prior to flying to Hawaii where both were based. The trip started in Kuwait on September 26th with a rigorous search of checked and carry on baggage by US Customs. All baggage was x-rayed with a "backscatter" machine AND each bag was completely emptied and hand searched. After being searched, checked bags were marked and immediately placed in a secure container.

Carry on bags were then x rayed again to ensure no contraband items were taken on the plane. While waiting for the bus to the airport, all personnel were in quarantined in a fenced area and were not allowed to leave.

The first stop for fuel/food and crew change was in Leipzig Germany. Troops exited the aircraft and took a bus to a reception area in the terminal, where there was a convenience store, phones, Internet and restrooms. As we excited the bus we were given a re-boarding pass. Three troops remained on the plane with the rifles and pistols. There was no ammunition on the plane and the bolts of the rifles had been removed. After about 2 hours troops re-boarded the plane and flew to JFK in NY.

At JFK the procedure was similar to Germany, 3 troops stayed on the plane to guard weapons while the rest deplaned. At the gate we were each given a re-boarding pass and spent about 1.5 hours in the terminal, at which time we re-boarded and flew to Oakland.

As we came in for the final approach to Oakland a Lieutenant who served in Afghanistan with the same unit in 2006 mentioned how when they landed in Oakland they were not allowed in the terminal. He said, "they made us get out by the FED EX building and we had to sit out there for 3 hours". He also indicated he was almost arrested by the TSA for getting belligerent about them not letting the Marines into the terminal.

Well the same thing happened again. This time we did not park by the FED EX building, instead we were offloaded near the grass that separates the active runway from the taxi ramp, about 400 yards from the terminal. When we inquired why they wouldn't allow us in the airport they gave us some lame excuse that we hadn't been screened by TSA. While true, the screening which we did have was much more thorough than any TSA search and was done by US Customs.

Additionally, JFK didn't seem to have a problem with our entering their terminal, nor did security in Germany.

It felt like being spit on. Every Marine and soldier felt the message loud and clear, "YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN OAKLAND!"

(Name and unit removed - see update below.)

Given that this purports to be written by a chaplain, and both a full name and unit are given, I am inclined to trust its veracity until and unless credible evidence to the contrary is uncovered.

So, this is how they support the troops in Oakland.

UPDATE: A person claiming to be the brother of the chaplain who wrote the above email has written me, asking that I remove the author's name and unit. My initial reaction was to leave it in pending confirmation, which I left to National Review, where I originally found the email, citing their vastly superior ability to verify the person's identity. However, upon reconsideration, I am removing them at this time.

UPDATE II: Upon emailing with Michael Ledeen, who posted the original story, I have received confirmation--to my personal satisfaction, at least--of the brother's identity.

Also, in speaking to friends who are from the San Francisco area, I've not found any who found the idea of Oakland not permitting soldiers in the airport terminal outlandish. Of course, most of my friends are conservative, like me, so that may not be worth much, but I offer it for what it's worth. As one friend pointed out, Oakland is not that far from Berkley, and most people know how far left Berkley is.

UPDATE III (and bump): I have decided I owe Michael Ledeen a steak. He just pointed me to Michelle Malkin, who has completely confirmed the above story, even to receiving a response from the Port of Oakland, which runs the airport. Of course, as could be expected, they are trying to blame the charter airline and the Armed Forces, but it was still their final decision on how to treat our troops, and that speaks volumes.

Also worth noting is that while Oakland blames the Armed Forces for not receiving "clear communication" from the airline, there was apparently no such problem at JFK in New York. There are three possible explanations that I can see:

1. The airline did communicate clearly with all airports along the planned route of the flight. This would be the most logical, as it can be assumed that the people doing the communicating are experienced at this sort of thing and know what is necessary.
2. The airline did not communicate clearly with all airports along the flight route. As noted above, this is not very likely, as it can probably be safely assumed that the airline knows what it is doing.
3. The airline communicated clearly with JFK but not Oakland. This is even less likely than #2 above. If they communicate clearly with one airport, why not all of them?

Of the three, I am sure that the Oakland people prefer #2 or #3. However, the most likely is still #1, which points to a problem at Oakland... either the Oakland airport staff did not properly handle the information from the airline--which I deem as unlikely as the airline not properly communicating; these are all professionals, after all--or they're desperately trying to cover their posteriors.

My money is on the latter, personally.

Wanna Support the Troops?

Here's a great way that you can brighten the day of an Armed Forces member stationed in harm's way (not necessarily in Iraq or Afghanistan, but still in danger) in three easy steps.

1. Go to one of the websites below.
2. Follow the instructions.
3. Wait for reply)*.

Here's the websites... and thanks to Mazeguy Smilies, we even have flags for the services.

AnySoldier.com (Army)
AnyMarine.com (Marines)
AnySailor.com (Navy)
AnyAirman.com (Air Force)
AnyCoastGuard.com (Coast Guard)

The neatest thing about this service is that the service member who receives your letter will pass it to a fellow service member who hasn't been receiving much--or any--mail.

So, your letters and packages will go to the people who really need a lift. That's a heck of a good system, I think.

So what are you waiting for? Get writing!

* Please note, replies are not guaranteed. These people have other things on their mind... like keeping their skin in one piece, all internal organs where they should be, and all extremities attached.

Why the Left Doesn't Support the Boy Scouts

It's because of things like this:

A Scottsdale boy who raised 13,000 comfort goods for the Marines is praying that his efforts will come full circle.

Nick Balbona, 14, started the prolific donations drive in May in an effort to become an Eagle Scout - the highest rank in the Boy Scouting program.

Every Eagle Scout hopeful must spearhead a service project that shows leadership and ambition, Balbona said.

After documenting his hard work, Balbona plans to send his reports off to Boy Scout officials, who will decide if he is worthy to move up in rank.

"I'm pretty confident," Balbona said.

"People have been so generous."

Whatever the outcome, one thing is for sure - his efforts weren't in vain.

During his final count, Balbona marked off 3,898 pens and pencils, 584 bars of soap, 858 granola bars, 203 tubes of toothpaste and hundreds of other goodies.

Yep, we can't have young men really supporting the troops, can we?