From the Halls to the Shores

"We are the defenders of democracy, the upholders of the Constitution," said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink. "If it weren't for people like the people in Berkeley, standing up for what they believe, we'd be living under Hitler."

MEDEA,
YOU ARE NOT WORTHY TO INHERIT THAT WHICH WAS PROTECTED FOR YOU BY MEN LIKE RAY JACOBS.

MAY HE REST IN PEACE.

Maternity wards are being forced to turn away expectant mothers because they cannot cope with soaring demand from immigrants.

One hospital even had to shut its maternity ward for two months because its staff were needed elsewhere to deliver babies from foreign-born mothers.

An investigation has found the cost of providing maternity services for immigrants has more than doubled in only a decade to £350million a year.

So, henceforth, any terrorism perpetrated by persons of an Islamic persuasion will be designated "anti-Islamic activity." Britain's Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, unveiled the new brand name in a speech a few days ago. "There is nothing Islamic about the wish to terrorize, nothing Islamic about plotting murder, pain and grief," she told her audience. "Indeed, if anything, these actions are anti-Islamic."

Well, yes, one sort of sees what she means. Killing thousands of people in Manhattan skyscrapers in the name of Islam does, among a certain narrow-minded type of person, give Islam a bad name, and thus could be said to be "anti-Islamic" — in the same way that the Luftwaffe raining down death and destruction on Londoners during the Blitz was an "anti-German activity." But I don't recall even Neville Chamberlain explaining, as if to a five-year old, that there is nothing German about the wish to terrorize and invade, and that this is entirely at odds with the core German values of sitting around eating huge sausages in beer gardens while wearing lederhosen.

Jerome Bartens was diagnosed as deaf in his right ear when he was just two and has struggled at school ever since. But Jerome, now 11, was suddenly able to hear clearly again as he played with friends in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. He said he heard a popping sound, then found the tip of a cotton wool bud in his ear. His family believe Jerome must have put the bud in his ear as a toddler and the centimetre-long cotton tip came off the plastic stem.

Sure enough, Grodner walks in and two cops take him out and cuff him.

Though he might not be in the courtroom, [Sgt] McNulty might derive some comfort from the fact that the presiding judge is a former Marine. Circuit Court Judge William O’Malley was a lance corporal in the early 1960s and is known around the Chicago Courthouse for wearing a Marine Corps pin on his lapel and celebrating the Corps’ birthday each November.

The Chaplain: Anybody here from Ohio?
Soldiers: Hawkeye Lake, sir. Cincinnati, sir. Mayfield Heights, sir. Tippecanoe City, sir.
The Chaplain: I'm from Chillicothe. Any of you men Lutherans?
Soldiers: Here, sir. Here, sir. I am, sir. My wife is, sir. (laughter)
The Chaplain: So am I. But these services aren't just for Lutherans any more than they're just for men from Ohio. I merely happened to be in your area. In other areas there are other chaplains of various denominations and religions. All of us Holy Joes are switch hitters. Earlier this month in Holland I held Hanukkah services for some of the men of the Jewish faith. How'd I do Levenstein?
Levenstein: Not bad for a beginner, sir!

The Chaplain: Well, now it's nearly Christmas. And here we are in beautiful Bastogne enjoying the winter sports. And the sixty-four dollar question is: Was this trip necessary? I'll try to answer that. But my sermons, like everything else in the Army depend on the situation and the terrain, so I assure you this is gonna be a quicky.

Was this trip necessary? Well, let's look at the facts. Nobody wanted this war but the Nazis. A great many people tried to deal with them - and a lot of them are dead. Millions have died, for no other reason except that the Nazis wanted them dead. So in the final showdown, there was nothing left to do except fight. There's a great lesson in this. And those of us who've learned it the hard way aren't going to forget it.

We must never again let any force dedicated to a super race, or a super idea, or a super anything become strong enough to impose itself upon a free world. We must be smart enough and tough enough in the beginning to put out the fire before it starts spreading.

So, my answer to the sixty-four dollar question is: yes, this trip was necessary. As the years go by, a lot of people are gonna forget. But you won't. And don't ever let anybody tell you you were a sucker to fight in the war against fascism. And now, Jerry permitting, let us pray...