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Monday, March 30, 2015

The Bergdahl Trade

Excerpt from Georgia family wants Berghdahl held accountable:
...Soldiers from Georgia, from the National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade, risked their lives searching for Bergdahl when they thought he was an unwilling captive of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Master Sgt. Mark Allen of Loganville was among them; he risked his life during the search and he will never be the same.

He cannot speak for himself now. He is paralyzed and needs constant care because he was shot in the head by an enemy sniper in Afghanistan.

Allen was wounded while he and his fellow Georgia National Guard soldiers were trying to find and rescue Bergdahl soon after he disappeared in 2009....
Read the rest and watch the video HERE.

A little less than a year ago, Marie Harf, Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, dismissed with a brushing back of her hair, a smirk, and the words “I don’t think that that’s the case” the possibility that Bowe Bergdahl's platoon members had important information regarding Bowe Bergdahl:


As of last week, Bowe Bergdahl has been charged with "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty" and, more seriously, "misbehavior before the enemy, endangering the safety of a command, unit or place."  Apparently, the circumstances of Bergdahl's abandoning his post have been known — to some extent, anyway — since 2010.

Did Barack Hussein Obama know of those circumstances? Can't imagine that he did not!  Nevertheless, he bypassed Congress and released five Taliban commanders in a trade for Bowe Bergdahl:


The May 31, 2014, dog-and-pony show at the White House — aka "optics":


And there is also the matter of this Tweet, posted by Bowe Bergdahl's father and later deleted:


Also see Twitter Never Forgets: These 8 Public Figures Are Probably Regretting Cheering Bergdahl’s Release.

106 comments:

  1. Obama's JV team, including the Barf Girl, is looking more and more like a bad SNL skit as his term wears on.

    The real story is what went on behind the scenes between the Army and the White House. Obama has fired a lot of generals, so whoever in the Army stood up and insisted on a court martial for Bergdahl showed some real cojones. If Obama has shown us anything, it is that he will punish his enemies. Just as Netanyahu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Take my word for what you will, but the White House didn't have any play in whether or not Bergdahl was sentenced as he deserved. By UCMJ, it's not within the POTUS' power to direct such an action or a prohibition, barring an executive order or pardon.

      Delete
    2. Charged or sentenced?
      He hasn't been sentenced yet.
      It appears that the Pentagon was surprised by the announced charges.

      Delete
    3. You're correct - sentenced. I suppose I was subliminally prognosticating the outcome.

      Delete
    4. But do you feel that subordinates brought charges that surprised superiors?

      Delete
    5. I'm not sure how you're framing subordinates v. superiors. Nobody I'm aware of was the least bit surprised at the charge. We were only waiting for the psychologists to finish [they are in charge of the reintegration phase of personnel recovery]. The charge of desertion was a foregone conclusion.

      Delete
    6. CI,
      Interesting point from your comment above: that Obama can issue an executive order or a pardon relating to Bergdahl.

      Delete
    7. AOW - I'm no JAG, so don't take that as gospel, but that is likely the only way for a POTUS to intervene. It won't happen.

      Delete
    8. We see Obama, almost weekly, issuing unusual executive orders, causing even some thinking liberals to balk, and so I'm not sure that his intervention didn't happen, or won't. I wish we could be.
      I'm not sure any president's let go as many brass as he has for disagreeing with his platform re military involvement, etc....
      \They needed "Unity in Afghanistan" so McChrystal was fired...and that's even the NYTimes admitting it....

      Delete
    9. CI: I understand the UCMJ and what the proper role of a president is.

      You and I both know general officers are political creatures by necessity; the more stars, the more political they are.

      Administrations lean on, arm twist, incentivize and otherwise interfere with DoD all the time. I wonder if the Obama admin tried to get the Army to make this all go away quickly but were unsuccessful.

      Did Army leadership stand up to the administration? Or perhaps there was just too much press coverage of this, much of it first-hand accounts from Bergdahl's fellow soldiers?

      It's all speculation on my part. This is a rare public defeat for Obama, who welcomed this traitor like a conquering hero.

      Delete
    10. CI, et al:

      Aside from the punitive issues of this, wasn't B.O. somehow involved in the absurd deal that returned Bergdahl ? I'm just asking.

      Delete
    11. JonBerg - The Administration was entirely behind the swap.

      SF - I think that the Administration seriously miscalculated the optics of this swap. The sacrosanct ideal of bringing home an American service member [ala no man left behind] was so tantalizing, that he couldn't bring himself not to get Bergdahl back. Perhaps he ignored or discounted the evidence that Bergdahl deserted, or thought it would be camouflaged behind the flag waving euphoria of bringing home a 'captured' American...I don't know.

      I would have made a deal to get Bergdahl home. Not THIS deal, but a deal....so Bergdahl could stand trial.

      Delete
  2. If only President Obummer feared and hated Muslims and other brutal foreign tyrants as much as he does FOX News and outspoken Conservatives, our foreign policy would right itself in a trice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Did Barack Hussein Obama know of those circumstances? Can't imagine that he did not! Nevertheless, he bypassed Congress and released five Taliban commanders in a trade for Bowe Bergdah"

    If B.O. is culpable he should join Bergdahl in Fort Leavenworth for the duration!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Is Harf posing as the Poster Child for Blonde Jokes?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Replies
    1. Mrs. Grundy,
      The drivers were not wearing hijabs or burkhas, then?

      Delete
    2. o/t - Do you think that your students might enjoy the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story, Young Goodman Brown? Id so, there a new music video that might be used to stimulate an interest...

      Delete
    3. ...and no, I don't know what they were wearing. :(

      Delete
    4. FJ,
      I still don't understand why those two who defied the guard were dressed as women. Makes no sense to me.

      Delete
    5. It was all a mistake... they took the wrong exit. They were a bunch of gay thieves heading from a "party" who had just stolen a car. They didn't want to be "caught", so they didn't stop when ordered.

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Many Americans" meaning the unquantifiable rhetoric you insert to make it appear that you represent a majority view?

      Delete
    2. JMJ. You have no problem with releasing the top 5 AQ operatives in captivity for a deserter?

      Delete
    3. JMJ,
      Please answer Ed's question: You have no problem with releasing the top 5 AQ operatives in captivity for a deserter?

      Delete
    4. Sorry, at first, after the disappearance, they did go searching...afterwards, you're right....as time passed,units were told to do their work and also keep an eye out for Bergdahl and get him back if possible.
      I don't disbelieve anybody in the military because they're military and liberals don't appreciate them.

      Can you ever have discourse without insulting? I'm so heartened that conservatives are so polite and withhold most of their righteous bile toward you.........it's noticeable, this kind of liberal attacking; and it's really getting old.
      Who's 'glorifying the military'?

      You're so lucky to be here in this country...taking all you can from her; meanwhile you support a president who's cutting our protective military back and insulting parents of the dead who didn't get special Rose Garden days and whose kids DIED or were maimed for life.

      Delete
  7. JMJ,
    "It only takes a few minutes of checking any source other than from the right-wing to discover this."

    OK, site the source(s). BTW what do you know of the Military? Which branch did you serve in?

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JMJ,
      Are you calling me a liar?

      Please point out the lie(s) in the body of this blog post.

      ASAP

      Delete
    2. According to liberal male metrosexuals like Jersey and his Latte Leftist confreres, what are the deaths of a few soldiers, unless of course you can throw them in the faces of rightwingers or a Republican president?

      It's an easy attitude to have if you've never served.

      Delete
    3. What's this fixation you folks have with lattes?

      I won't speak for Jersey but last week when I slipped into a Starbucks and had a latte and sweet roll while my car was being serviced was the first time in years I'd been to one. I'm strictly a Dunko's guy.

      I do enjoy the way you stereotype.
      I'm guilty of it to, I admit. I know I'm incorrect believing most fringe right wingers are as dumb as rocks.

      Delete
    4. Duck said: I know I'm incorrect believing most fringe right wingers are as dumb as rocks.

      Did the earth just move?

      Delete
    5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    6. JMJ,
      I've got some news for you.

      1. You don't know me.

      2. I'm not jingoist.

      So, get a clue.

      Fair warning: you're getting on my last nerve.

      Delete
    7. Too late, it got on mine!

      From this time forward, you are no longer "Jersey McJones". To me and whoever wishes to use it, your name is (phonetically) Duk-shan-ee ( asshole).

      You were warned.

      Not that I will waste a lot of time but all of your comments on this post will be deleted and all further posts you make, on this blog, will continue to be removed as I come across them, until you apologise to AOW and the other commanders on this blog or until I am overridden.

      Delete
    8. Warren,
      I am certainly not overriding your decision.

      As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm preoccupied at the moment: Mr. AOW's mother passed away on Saturday evening, and we've got things to tend to here.

      Delete
  9. JMJ,

    With all due respect, are you really as shallow as you would have us to believe?

    ReplyDelete
  10. This post says it all. And what it all boils down to is that men died saving that traitorous POS. And five Taliban commanders have been freed to murder more innocent people.

    That picture of Obama hugging that traitors parents, is sickening.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leticia,
      Those five Taliban commanders are going to return to the battlefield. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn in a few months that they are members of ISIS and showing up on the evil videos which ISIS releases.

      Delete
  11. There has been a military investigation that state lives were NOT lost searching for Berghdhal. Accept what you will.

    Democracy Now! featured the case today and I just don't feel this is as clear cut as some want it to be. Yes he may well have a sentence to serve but isn't it interesting that one of the charges is one that hasn't been used since Revolutionary times? Reminds me of the time Ashcroft wanted to go after Greenpeace and came up with "sailor mongering", a charge that had been used once in our history.

    But let's face it, right? His parents are strange, he's strange. They are clearly hippies who don't follow a prescribed religion and they clearly want to destroy America.
    At least if you listen to the Cheney staffer who was on O'Really.

    He was a prisoner of war. That is not contested and we had a responsibility to try to free him. Five individuals who had been sitting this out for the duration in Gitmo had no intelligence value and hardly represent a serious threat. The middle east grows these guys like dates.

    But he's the Berghdahl's are different so they are traitors.
    You should be ashamed, not the Berghdahls

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Duck,
      You should be ashamed, not the Berghdahls

      You talkin' to me?

      Delete
    2. I'm talking to anyone who will not acknowledge the complexity of this situation and smear his parents for being "traitors".
      Yes, there should be shame for being so easily manipulated.

      I'll say again that he may well have a sentence to serve but a lot of this is plain pandering.

      Delete
    3. Nostradumbass still has a problem admitting the Rosenberg's were traitors. He'd be cold in his grave before he would ever admit Berghdahl is a traitor.

      BTW, Nostradumbass, l read an interesting tidbit you might find interesting. It seems that during WW2 the OSS actively recruited Soviet "sympathizers" and other traitors and sent them off to the Middle East where they could isolate them and keep track of them and it was almost impossible for them to contact their Soviet masters. Of course they told the double agents that they were doing important work.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. Do you give your autographed photo of Joe McCarthy a big smooch before you cock your weapon and check for scary commies and Muslims under the bed before retiring?

      Keep it sane, Warren.

      Delete
    6. Ducky, you will learn a lot more when you stop this constant habit of picking one tiny thing out of an otherwise educational post or comment and rant about it.....
      Warren mentions soviet sympathizers and you go to Joe McCarthy?
      Do you hear yourself?
      Talk about keeping it sane.

      Delete
    7. Z,
      Duck seems to have forgotten that Warren has control of the delete button here at this blog. I do not override Warren's decisions.

      Warren does me a great service in that he mans the delete button when I am unavailable. We take shifts!

      Delete
    8. Did I saw something otherwise?? Not sure what you mean...I know Warren's got the 'keys' to the blog like Mustang's got mine, thank GOODNESS.
      Maybe someone said you shouldn't have deleted someone but it wasn't me.

      Delete
    9. Z,
      It wasn't you who said something about deleted comments. See this comment from Silverfiddle.

      I hasten to add that I took no offense. SF is a friend -- and I know exactly where he's coming from on this topic.

      Delete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The military has reported that no soldiers died due to missions specifically intended to find Bergdahl.
    Yes, soldiers died on patronal unfortunately the deaths are not over in that lousy war but they did not die because of Bergdahl.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Absolutely not. The military, and many in Bergdahl's unit, have said that they had other sorties and were told to look for Bergdahl while away from camp. There is no way that anybody can prove that anybody was not hurt in pursuit of Bergdahl and there are many soldiers who still maintain that.
    I know they're military and that somehow makes them unreliable grandstanders to liberals, but I've never felt that way about them.

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014817676

    http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/08/us/bergdahl-search-soldiers/index.html

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/major-u.s.-newsrooms-downplayed-reports-soldiers-died-while-searching-for-bergdahl/article/2562114

    Believe what you want to believe.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You ask "Did Barack Hussein Obama know of those circumstances?" This http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/032515-745127-us-traded-5-taliban-terrorists-for-one-deserter.htm answers YES!

    How many know that Obama was working with Afghanistan months before Bergdahl went missing to release those 5 Talibs. The Pentagon quashed the deal because of the risk. So Obama was looking for an excuse to do it when a convenient one presented itself. He would have known that the solider had a history of walking off post, had returned a valuable personal effect to his home stateside just before. He was never listed as a POW. These are the facts readily available in a 2009 report. Obama knew full well what he was doing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What risk?

      Five guys who have been sitting in Gitmo while the al-Qaeda leadership had been replaced a couple times over?
      What particular value did they have other than being scary Muslims?

      Delete
    2. The Fact is that according to the code of military justice he was a POW. That status is given regardless of his being officially AWL or not.

      You're wrong.

      Delete
    3. http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/29/politics/bergdahl-swap-prisoner-militant-activity/index.html

      http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/06/03/bergdahl-never-listed-by-pentagon-as-prisoner-of-war/

      Delete
    4. No Ducky, you're wrong.

      Bergdahl was listed initially as a DUSTWUN - Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown. His status was later changed to Missing/Captured.

      He was never declared a Prisoner of War.

      Delete
    5. http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/29/politics/bergdahl-swap-prisoner-militant-activity/index.html

      http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/06/03/bergdahl-never-listed-by-pentagon-as-prisoner-of-war/

      Delete
    6. Z,
      Thank you for providing those links. I've been a bit remiss in participating here because of the recent passing of my mother-in-law. We're trying to settle the family squabble and to help with the some of the details for the obituary.

      Delete
    7. The return of highly capable commanders to the war room and the field ALWAYS poses a risk. You think they're going back to selling ice cream in Jordan?

      Delete
    8. Baysider,
      You think they're going back to selling ice cream in Jordan?

      Hehehe.

      Of course not!

      They see ISIS on the rise, will glom onto "the will of Allah,"
      and will join the fray. I'm sure that their battle skills will be put to use.

      Delete
    9. Come ON, we know without a doubt that at least three are back in in the terror business.....they're so full of hate now, and when SHAME AND PRIDE are all that matter, someone REALLY THINKS they're not involved anymore!? That time healed all wounds?
      Comical

      Delete
    10. Come ON, we know without a doubt that at least three are back in in the terror business.....they're so full of hate now, and when SHAME AND PRIDE are all that matter, someone REALLY THINKS they're not involved anymore!? That time healed all wounds?
      Comical

      Delete
  16. They were on those sorties regardless of Bergdahl's status.

    There is no evidence(and the military has said such) that anyone was killed in action specifically because of Bergdahl.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The soldiers who were there, as the articles say, were told to include looking for Bergdahl.
    I'm delighted at your sudden faith in the Pentagon.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Bergdahl was missing of course they were going to include that.

    Once again , real slow, they were on patrol regardless .

    Why is that difficult to understand or is this trial by Faux Snooze?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Can you stop the insults? Who do you think you are?

    And, let me say this REAL SLOW....because THE MEN WHO WERE THERE (hear it?) say their buddies WERE killed on patrols that involved looking for Bergdahl.

    Please link where there is 100% certitude that nobody died on any of the sorties during which they had to look for Bergdahl, too. Please link where a soldier didn't turn a corner just to check and was killed.

    Please DO watch FOX....it's important that you get information that your insular world will never divulge. It'd be a relief.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The soldiers who were there, as the articles say, were told to include looking for Bergdahl.
    I'm delighted at your sudden faith in the Pentagon.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Here's how I see part of this matter.

    IF Bergdahl walked away -- according to some, toward the enemy with the intention of joining the enemy -- and then became a prisoner, that is NOT THE SAME THING as simple desertion or being captured while doing one's duty, which each member of the military takes an oath to uphold.

    Surely, as Commander in Chief, Obama knew details of Bergdahl's leaving his post in a battle zone. Therefore, it is my position that the ceremony in the Rose Garden was way out of bounds.

    Bergdahl was a PFC. He got automatic promotions while missing -- as is military policy. But to trade five Taliban commanders for a PFC? An unequal trade and a trade that signaled to the enemy a new strategy.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Nostradumbass gets almost everything wrong.

    My point in mentening the Rosenberg's, (who he has defended in the past), and the Soviet sympathizers, (he once claimed friendship with a "CIA" operative that worked in the Middle East during WW2) , the problem being there was no CIA in WW2 but there was an OSS that most assuredly sent Soviet Agents to the Middle East during WW2 to isolate them.

    My real point being that Nostradumbass never met a traitor he couldn't defend. He has a pathological hatred of this country and recognises his fellow travelers.

    Nostradumbass, as far as I'm concerned you're just a tame parrot, yousay what you know but you don't know what you say!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Warren,
      Over the years, I've heard numerous times that Duck denied who flew those planes into buildings on 9/11, Who did he think had done such a thing? Dominionists?

      Delete
    2. *snicker* AOW, I get a particularly perverse pleasure out of the leftwing hysterics over the looming dominionist takeover of the our nation.

      It's even funnier than liberal arts majors whose understanding of science goes no further than consuming science fiction nonetheless shout "SCIENCE!!!" at nonconformists who don't bow down to the UN-Reverend Al Gore Global Warming Orthodoxy.

      Delete
    3. SF,
      I admit to a similar perverse pleasure.

      I was not much interested in politics until 9/11 -- because my mother was so interested in politics. I got over-saturated, I guess. Entering the blogophere has been one steep learning curve for me, I tell ya!

      Delete
  23. I wish you had left stand Jersey's comment about "glorifying the military."

    We vets don't need protection from such stupidities. It is better to allow people to reveal their true feelings.

    Some misguided souls want to believe Jersey McJones is a guy with a good heart who just happens to be a bleeding heart liberal, that he has gone astray.

    It's wrong. He's a performer and he is a doctrinaire leftwing progressive. That is where he comes from. Leftwing progs have a Pavlovian hatred of anyone to their right, and they also loathe the military.

    Soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are props to the leftwing progs, and Jersey routinely used them in his Blogistan standup routines.

    In defense of Jersey, his only crime is being brutally honest. He has never tried to pass himself off as a mushy middler. He is a sharp-edged leftwinger who makes no apologies, and he is to be congratulated for having the courage a vast majority of his confreres lack. If everyone on the left were as honest has Jersey McJones, our debates would become much clearer and coherent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SF,
      A portion of the comment was JMJ's usual vilification of all who are not leftwing.

      JMJ may be honest, but he's tossed one too many personal insults my way. Were he to present an argument instead of spewing Leftist boilerplate to which others' replies and inquiries are ignored by him, he'd be better received at this blog.

      Delete
    2. Furthermore, Warren has issued an ultimatum to JMJ:

      all further posts you make, on this blog, will continue to be removed as I come across them, until you apologise to AOW and the other commanders on this blog

      I will not override that ultimatum. In fact, I approve it! JMJ and I have been engaging elsewhere; to my knowledge, he has not yet responded to my polite inquiries.

      He's gotten on my last nerve and must amend his ways (that is, the way he expresses himself) here at this blog. PERIOD!

      Delete
    3. AOW,

      I hear you, and as always, I support you in your editorial decisions.

      The irony of taking idiotic comments down is that it prevents people from seeing what an idiot the author is, but I understand and respect the actions you've taken. Nobody has an obligation to just stand there and let monkeys sling crap at them.

      Delete
    4. SF, re JMJ, I always hope we'll get a leftwinger as you describe but his nastiness and name calling disqualify for him in my book; it just shuts down any rational discussion immediately.

      Delete
    5. SF,
      Thank you for your understanding.

      Warren and I often let idiotic comments stand as useful demonstratives -- until a certain point arrives. You know how it is; you, too, have run a blog for years.

      Delete
  24. A well done synopsis of this absurd regime. Words fail me as the long march to our great Nation's destruction continues unabated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bunkerville,
      Absurdity rules the day.

      And Orwell was a prophet.

      Delete
  25. We've become a Lewis Carroll Nation.

    Absolutely EVERYONE is BONKERS.

    FJ-Thersites-Mrs. Grundy-Speedy Gonzales-Whomever makes a fine point, albeit obliquely, when he refers to Hawthorne's fantastic, semi-allegorical tale "Young Goodman Brown" –– a dark tale ostensibly about a young man's inadvertent meeting with a Satanic Figure who escorts him to a gathering of his family family, friends and neighbors in the dark of night at a Witches Sabbath deep in the forest.

    Whether this disturbing scene be mere nightmare or grim reality Hawthorne never makes clear. What he DOES emphasize however, is the hideous experience's power to distort young Mr. Brown's PERCEPTION of Reality to such an extent that it ruins his character -- makes him bitter, suspicious, cynical, resentful, -- destroys any capacity he might once have had to experience love, joy, gratitude, generosity, curiosity and even HOPE.

    "Things are seldom what they seem." Everyone has something of a dark side, but it is VITAL to emphasize the need to be determined to see things from a more rounded, three-dimensional perspective.

    The all-too-human tendency to let whatever dark, disagreeable elements or flaws seem apparent in someone's demeanor define that person –– as though that were ALL there was of any significance about him –– does a great disservice to everyone involved.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn! Maybe I should have linked to Hawthorne's, "The May-Pole of Merry Mount" instead! That way we could all enjoy the irony of living the revenge of the inhabitants of Merry Mount upon the Puritans, being FORCED to dance around the May Pole (much as the Homosexual Lobby inflicts upon Conservatives today).

      "Dance Fooles! And put more Spirit into it!"

      Delete
    2. FT,
      We've become a Lewis Carroll Nation.

      Absolutely EVERYONE is BONKERS.


      How long before the animals -- even our pets -- go bonkers?

      Delete
    3. FT,
      The opening sentence of Hawthorne's "The May-Pole of Merry Mount," an excellent choice of literature to make a point significant to the times in which we are living:

      BRIGHT WERE the days at Merry Mount, when the Maypole was the banner staff of that gay colony! They who reared it, should their banner be triumphant, were to pour sunshine over New England's rugged hills, and scatter flower seeds throughout the soil. Jollity and gloom were contending for an empire.

      And the ending:

      And Endicott, the severest Puritan of all who laid the rock foundation of New England, lifted the wreath of roses from the ruin of the Maypole, and threw it, with his own gauntleted hand, over the heads of the Lord and Lady of the May. It was a deed of prophecy. As the moral gloom of the world overpowers all systematic gayety, even so was their home of wild mirth made desolate amid the sad forest. They returned to it no more. But as their flowery garland was wreathed of the brightest roses that had grown there, so, in the tie that united them, were intertwined all the purest and best of their early joys. They went heavenward, supporting each other along the difficult path which it was their lot to tread, and never wasted one regretful thought on the vanities of Merry Mount.

      I also think of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery.

      Delete
  26. AOW, so sorry to hear about your family situation. Truly. Prayers for you, Mr. AOW and your family. Peace, encouragement, support.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Baysider,
      Thank you.

      The family squabble that erupted has been the worst part of all this. Disgusting at a time like this -- especially since the family member having the fit had been to see Mom for over 4 years.

      My mother-in-law had been catatonic for nearly five years -- final stages of Alzheimer's. Hideous situation! Her passing was truly a release for her, I'm sure.

      Delete
  27. http://time.com/2809352/bowe-bergdahl-deserter-army-taliban/

    ReplyDelete
  28. AOW, did Mr. AOW's mother pass away? I don't see your mention anywhere above....
    She's been so bad that I'm hoping this is peace for all of you...and sorry to read about some dissent within the family.
    God bless you all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Z,
      Yes, she passed away on Saturday evening. Her passing was expected, of course. And it was past time for her release.

      Delete
  29. Bergdahl failed the test, even as a POW, Quacky. I suppose you saw the video of him in uniform doing Tae Kwon Do kicks for the Taliban? Yes, he was in BDU's demonstrating his prowess.

    I prefer the Vietnam Vet POW's who "shot the finger" at their captors in more than one propaganda image released. Now they, had kahunas.

    Tammy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tammy,
      From what we know, Bergdahl ran to the enemy as a choice -- at first when he left his post. In my mind, no matter happened afterwards, he does not qualify as a POW.

      Delete
  30. If a GOP POTUS had put on the same kind of Rose Garden show as Obama did with the Bergdahls, would the news media be excoriating that GOP POTUS?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course. The Democratic Party monopolizes accusations that their opponents are arrogant, but it is an act of projection.

      They are the establishment. Half their rhetoric relies on pleas for conformity. Its the 1950s in reverse...

      Delete
    2. And if people had died in Benghazi and a video had been blamed by the GOP?

      And if the IRS had been spying?

      And if Fast and Furious had gone bad as it didn't with Bush but did under Holder?
      And

      And

      And..........
      AOW...is that a trick question you asked!? :-)

      Delete
    3. Z,
      Just pointing out the double standard.

      Delete
    4. FN,
      The Democratic Party monopolizes accusations that their opponents are arrogant, but it is an act of projection.

      That's certainly part of it.

      Delete
    5. AOW...I hope my comment didn't sound like I was challenging you! I'm TOTALLY with you on that...the double standard is ENORMOUS.
      XXX

      Delete
    6. Z,
      No worries. I didn't take your comment(s) as a challenge.

      Delete
  31. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thats OK AoW you can delete my comments too and fib all you want. I enjoy your sweet lies...

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete

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