A MUST READ

 
 A BABE WITH BRAINS!

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

President Bush showed up in Iraq to have Thanksgiving dinner with some of the frontline troops. I'm sure all of you have seen the video clips by now, but if not - get in front of a TV or pull them down online because they are definitely worth seeing. They will make your chest swell.

A LOT went on to keep this trip a secret. Laura Bush only found out a day ahead of time and his parents <George and Barbara > didn't even find out until they showed up at the Texas ranch for Thanksgiving dinner and he wasn't there! It wasn't reported on until after President Bush had taken off leaving Baghdad.

The event had been set up with Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and Paul Bremer, the chief civilian administrator. When the President arrived, the soldiers were still thinking those two would be the speakers. General Sanchez went to the podium and said, "God bless you for all of your sacrifices," and then hurriedly introduced Ambassador Bremer. Bremer said he had Thanksgiving greetings from the President, like he was going to read a prepared statement. But then he looked toward stage left and said, "Let's see if we've got anyone more senior here."

Then President Bush came out and the room erupted before he even reached the stage! Soldiers were standing on chairs and tables to bark, hoot, yell and "Hoo-ah!" their approval. The President then plunged into the crowd to meet with the soldiers. He served food and worked the entire length of the long building.

When asked about the security, General Sanchez said he found out about the visit 72 hours before and arranged for the extra security by telling the troops: "Because we're expecting some kind of threat." No one knew the President was coming.  The plane wasn't even flying under its normal code, so none of the air traffic controllers even knew that the plane they were communicating with was Air Force One! Awesome!

Anyway, I thought you might find it interesting to read just how it went down. Special thanks to Matt Drudge for the inside skinny!!! Here are the personal notes of one of the reporters who was allowed on the trip. Read it all, it's pretty cool!

How it went down....

4:40 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. This<news> pooler was standing on the lawn in front of the Crawford filing center, talking on his cell phone, when Steve Atkiss, 26, Deputy Director of Presidential Advance, beckoned for him to climb into his mammoth white rented Dodge pickup. He drove the pooler a few blocks to a concealed parking lot and told him to step out, that someone wanted to talk to him. Communications Director Dan Bartlett was there, along with Deputy Press Secretary Claire Buchan. Bartlett smiled mischievously at the surprise meeting. "I have news," he said. "The President is going to Baghdad." He said this writer would be the newspaper pooler, and said we would be stopping in Washington to refuel and pick up a few other journalists. He said the staff had only discussed the trip on secure lines and that they hoped no word of it would get out until the President was on the ground or even had left. Like most other members of the pool, this writer was forbidden to tell his employer or family what was up. The pooler climbed back in the truck and Atkiss said that at 5:30 Texas time, he was to be in the parking lot of the Baylor field where we play softball.

6:30 p.m. Eastern - Arriving at the parking lot, several of the photogs still thought it was an elaborate practical joke. 6:45 p.m. Eastern -- A Bloomberg reporter, four still photographers, the pooler and White House photographer Tina Hager piled into Atkiss's truck and a photographer's car and pulled around to the back of the Marriott Residence Inn, where they went to look for one other photog who had been unreachable, and luckily was located in time. He had been asleep, behind two closed doors, so he hadn't heard when Atkiss came knocking earlier. The photog's cell phone was in his car, but he was wakened by his pager, about the time Atkiss beat on the door again. The photog, gently accusing Atkiss of an elaborate joke and naming the photographer he thought was behind it, had five minutes to get ready. The two-vehicle motorcade from the softball field was joined by a white Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Blake Gottesman, the President's per sonal aide, with Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin riding shotgun and Dan Bartlett in the back seat. Everything around the White House has a huge infrastructure, but these three vehicles were what it could be at its most stripped down. With no security, Atkiss led the way to TSTC Airport in Waco, enduring rush-hour traffic, an experience rare in the bubble.

7:15 p.m. Eastern - The press boarded Air Force One through the customary rear stairs. It was odd to be on the plane with little White House staff around and fewer Air Force One staff. The window shades were all pulled down. Mr. Hagin came back to greet us and asked us to take the batteries out of our cell phones, so the movement could not be tracked, and asked us not to turn them on in D.C. Some of the reporters had been told separately that they would be handed new phones when they hit the ground in Baghdad. A photographer said to one of his colleagues, "Do you believe it NOW?"

7:35 p.m. Eastern - Steve Atkiss told us that Baghdad time was nine hours ahead of Central time, 8 hours ahead of Eastern time, and that we would be returning to Waco around 5 a.m. Texas time on Friday. The journalists kibitzed about whether any President had flown out of the country unannounced, since perhaps FDR going to Yalta. Attendants passed out mini-pillows that said USAF on them, with the Presidential seal in blue on the white case, along with head sets and plastic-wrapped, navy-blue blankets that said "Air Force One" in embroidered script.

7:51 p.m. Eastern - In a very unusual move, a flight attendant closed the front door of the press cabin and the door to the Secret Service cabin, so we could not see the arrival of the President or the agents. We didn't know if he was coming by Suburban or Black Hawk or white top or what. 8:22 p.m. - Still blacked out from the rest of the plane, we heard Air Force One's engines rev. We heard gear being piled against the door of the Secret Service cabin.

8:25 p.m.- Air Force One was rolling.

8:27 p.m. - Air Force One was airborne. Journalists peeked out the shades and saw that the plane had on none of the running lights that are customarily visible, including the red or green ones on the wings. The movie "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" had begun playing in the press cabin. 8:45 p.m. The plane seemed to be going unusually fast, and please note below that the average speed was given to us as 665 mph. The door opened to the Secret Service cabin. The attendants began taking food trays up to the front of the plane, and asked the journalists if they wanted to eat. The trays had liners that said, "Welcome Aboard Air Force One." The tray contained a little glass pepper shaker and matching salt shaker; a crimson cloth napkin with a paper napkin ring with the Presidential seal in gold; a butter pat in a Land O Lakes wrapper; a china plate with two pieces of fried chicken, a scoop of potato salad, a small corn cob; a roll; a china plate with apple pie; and a glass, embossed with the Presidential seal, of lemonade. It is often noted that Air Force One is one of the few planes where you get a real knife. The beverage napkins are white with a light-blue Presidential seal and the words, with quotes around them on the napkin, "Aboard the Presidential Aircraf t." The movie "Open Range" played in the Secret Service cabin.

9:15 p.m. -- In a customary gesture on Air Force One flights, an attendant passed the press cabin one copy of a card, printed in-flight, detailing the trip. On one side of the white card, in blue, is the Presidential seal and the words "Welcome Aboard Air Force One." On the other side, in black, it said: "November 26, 2003. Our Destination Is: Andrews AFB, MD. Expected Arrival Time Is: 10:35 p.m. Time Change On This Leg: Lose 1 Hour. Flight Altitude Will Be: 29,000 Feet. Our Speed Will Average: 665 MPH. We Will Fly Over: Texarkana, TX Charleston, WV. DESTINATION WEATHER FORECAST Conditions: Cloudy. Current Temperature: 42 Degrees."

9:21 p.m. -- Richard Keil of Bloomberg News leaned across the aisle, shoved aside his I-Pod headset and grinned as he said: "The President of the United States is AWOL, and we're with him. The ultimate road trip."

10:08 p.m. - We could feel ourselves starting to descend. We were told that at Andrews, we would be switching to the other Air Force One, which was fueled and catered and ready to go.

10:31 p.m. - Touched down.

10:35 p.m. - Stopped taxiing. The front door of the press cabin was closed, perhaps so we could not see some of the gear or personnel descending. Shortly thereafter, we stepped off the plane and were inside the super-secret Air Force One hangar at Andrews, with the other Air Force One at an angle abreast of the one we had flown in on. The floor is painted white, and the superstructure, which has girders that give it an industrial, hangarry look, is off-white. Red tape marked lines on the floor and a bright blue, low-slung tug was hooked to the plane. Air Force One rugs were at the bottom of the stairs.

10:45 p.m. -- We walked the short distance between the planes in the noisy, brilliantly lit hangar and saw the President walking up the stairs that descend out of the belly of Air Force One, followed by Secretary Card, Dr. Rice and other aides. Some of the staff was in jeans. The President, wearing a work coat and baseball cap, paused at the top of the stairs when he spotted the reporters. The sound in the hangar was so loud that he couldn't be heard, but he held his thumb and pinkie apart, and raised them to his ear, in the symbol of someone using a phone, and mouthed, "No calls, got it?'' He emphasized the point by crossing his arms back and forth in front of him. He made the "cut" sign to his throat and mouthed again, No calls.'' The President's manner was that of a stern father reprimanding his children, but in good humor.

10:50 p.m. -- When the seven journalists from the first flight walked into the cabin, they saw the six who were joining in Washington. Everyone was surprised by the cast of characters. We all had gotten a slightly different version of who was to be along. When the plane took off, 13 of the 14 seats in the press cabin were filled: writers from The Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg, plus the newspaper pooler; photographers from AP, Reuters, AFP, Time and Newsweek; and a correspondent, producer and two-person crew from Fox.

[Flackback: The journalists who boarded in Washington had been told at various times, going back to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, when Terence Hunt of the AP was told by a top White House official. Jim Angle, the Fox correspondent, found out around 11 a.m. Wednesday. Those journalists were told to meet at 8:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express across from the main gate of Andrews Air Force Base. They were picked up in a black, unmarked van like those used to ferry the pool to Camp David. The van left about 8:40 p.m. and they went through the main gate and were driven to the hangar. Before they went into the hangar, they received a security sweep and relinquished control of their personal belongings. They put their cell phones, pagers and other small electronic devices in brown, clasp envelopes. Bags, cameras, etc. were held in the belly of the plane until after wheels-up. They walked up the back steps as usual, getting on a little after 9 p.m. A senior administration official said: The t rip had been in the works about 10 days. Secretary Rumsfeld knew about a week ago. Vice President Cheney, Secretary Powell and the First Lady know now. Dr. Rice told Mr. Hadley today. There was no official motorcade as the President was driven from the ranch. Some members of the detail think he is still at the ranch, according to this official.]

10:55 p.m. -- Dan Bartlett stopped back with a few details. "Nobody on the ground knows, but a handful of people," he said. An event was already planned with Ambassador Bremer and General Sanchez, and so that's what most people there thought they would be attending or covering. Some local reporters would be covering the Bremer-Sanchez event, but the staff was not sure how many. The President will speak to about 600 troops and eat a Thanksgiving meal with some of them. Bartlett said "they're going to great lengths" to keep the arrival a secret. He said it would be "a quick landing, a dark landing," and said the plane will not be lit up like it typically is. "The phones are down, the comms are down," he said, meaning that some of Air Force One's phones and communications equipment had been turned off to try to preserve the stealth mission. Sources said General Abizaid hoped to keep the trip secret until after the President had taken off to return. Steve Atkiss told the journali sts that he didn't want to alarm them, but they would be fitted for "ballistic vests."

11 p.m. - The engines fired. 11:02 p.m. The plane rolled.

11:06 p.m. - Takeoff. The digital clock under the television in the press cabin said WASHINGTON PM 11:06, LOCAL PM 11:06, DESTINATION AM 7:06." The ride right after takeoff was rough, choppy. On Air Force One, little magazine racks are stocked with current issues with "Air Force One" bindings around them. In addition to the usuals like Time and Newsweek, the offerings include Bassmaster. By 11:19 p.m. - The President was asleep.

11:30 Secretary Card, wearing sweat clothes and running shoes, poked his head into the press cabin, where everyone was jabbering. "Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!" he kidded. Asked about the number of flying hours, he said, "You'll have plenty of time to sleep."

12:01 a.m. Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving. A flight attendant offered cake. There were few takers. The movie "Open Range" was playing as some journalists dozed or prepared to.

12:05 a.m. - The Secret Service press agent came by with press passes to be worn on a neck chain. The agent asked the journalists to take off their old passes because officials would be checking extra carefully today.

12:15 a.m. - Lights darkened in press cabin. The Service cabin was also dark.

7:55 a.m. - After Bartlett briefing above, breakfast served. cheese omelet, two Texas-sized sausages, little cup of oats, plain yogurt, blueberry muffin and orange juice.

8:28 a.m. - Reporters try on camouflage, Velcro-front "ballistic vests." Keil, adjusting his, asked: "Anyone have a tailor?" Much of the staff changed into camouflage tops and bottoms, for security and to blend in and not spoil the pictures.

9:09 a.m. Washington time (5:09 p.m. Destination) Cabin lights are turned out and all the shades remain down.
9:22 a.m. Washington time. We were told eight minutes out and could feel the descent. Shut down laptops. Cabin is dark except for blue3 light of clocks and light from agents' cabin. About half the journalists were already wearing their vests, which are Point Blank Body Armor.

9:31 a.m. Washington time (5:32 p.m. local) Touched down in swift abrupt landing, but not the emergency spiral that had been prepared for. Press walked down dark stairs onto Tarmac.

10:50 a.m. I had taken off my body armor to type, then saw a soldier I wanted to interview. I came back and my vest is gone. The laptop is still there. 11:56 a.m. Washington time - We re-boarded on a dark stretch of runway. A soldier or agent with a huge gun stood at the foot of the stairs as press ID’s were checked.

11:59 a.m. - Dan Bartlett stuck his head into the press cabin and said he believes the secret held. He said we would be allowed to file when we got above 10,000 feet.

Noon Eastern - 8 p.m. local - Rolling -- "Short taxi!" the attendant says. 12:03 p.m. Eastern - Airborne. No one needed their vests. Shortly after takeoff, the bulletin could be heard on CNN on Channel 7 on the Air Force One audio system.

The President plans to speak to the pool onboard and I'll file Pool Report #2 on that. The staff says we are expected to stop and refuel at Andrews and land at TSTC in Waco on Friday at 5 a.m. Texas time, 6 a.m. Eastern time. Thanks to White House staff I hopefully will have access to a phone line later.

Pretty freaking cool, huh?!!!

17, NOV, 2003

No big rant from me today. I found this parody and thought I would share it with you. It's actually pretty sad as to how on point this thing is. What is really sad is that we will look back 40 or so years from now and ROLL our eyes at the way the press has reported on this war. The only difference is it won't be a parody - it will be a matter of history. They did this sort of reporting on The Cold War and it was just as absurd and they were just as wrong. The mainstream press has become such a joke! Their numbers are going down like Madonna in an NBA locker room and they refuse to acknowledge why.  For some insane reason, they seem to think doing more of what is driving the American people away will some how bring them back!! Brain dead liberals. Gotta love 'em!     

Normandy, France - June 6, 1944

Pandemonium, shock and sheer terror predominate today’s events in Europe.

In an as yet unfolding apparent fiasco, Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight David Eisenhower’s troops got a rude awakening this morning at Omaha Beach here in Normandy.

Due to insufficient planning and lack of a workable entrance strategy soldiers of the 1st and 29th Infantry as well as Army Rangers are now bogged down and sustaining heavy casualties inflicted on them by dug-in insurgent positions located 170 feet above them on cliffs overlooking the beaches which now resemble blood soaked killing fields at the time of this mid-morning filing.

Bodies, parts of bodies and blood are the order of the day here, the screams of the dying and the stillness of the dead mingle in testament to this terrible event.

Morale can only be described as extremely poor - in some companies all the officers have been either killed or incapacitated, leaving only poorly trained privates to fend for themselves.

Things appear to be going so poorly that Lt. General Omar Bradley has been rumored to be considering breaking off the attack entirely. As we go to press embattled U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s spokesman has not made himself available for comment at all, fueling fires that something has gone disastrously awry.

The government at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is in a distinct lock-down mode and the Vice President’s location is presently and officially undisclosed.

Whether the second in command should have gone into hiding during such a crisis will have to be answered at some future time, but many agree it does not send a good signal.

Miles behind the beaches and adding to the chaos, U.S. Naval gunships have inflicted many friendly fire casualties, as huge high explosive projectiles rain death and destruction on unsuspecting Allied positions. The lack of training of Naval gunners has been called into question numerous times before and today’s demonstration seems to underlie those concerns.

At Utah Beach the situation is also grim, elements of the 82nd and 101st Airborne seemed to be in disarray as they missed their primary drop zones behind the area believed to comprise the militant’s front lines. Errant paratroopers have been hung up in trees, breaking arms and legs, rendering themselves easy targets for those defending this territory.

On the beach front itself the landing area was missed, catapulting US forces nearly 2,000 yards South of the intended coordinates, thus placing them that much farther away from the German insurgents and unable to direct covering fire or materially add to the operation.

Casualties at day’s end are nothing short of horrific; at least 8,000 and possibly as many as 9,000 were wounded in the haphazardly coordinated attack, which seems to have no unifying purpose or intent. Of this number at least 3,000 have been estimated as having been killed, making June 6th by far, the worst single day of the war which has dragged on now - with no exit strategy in sight - as the American economy still struggles to recover from Herbert Hoover’s depression and its 25% unemployment.

Military spending has skyrocketed the national debt into uncharted regions, lending another cause for concern. When and if the current hostilities finally end it may take generations for the huge debt to be repaid.

On the planning end of things, experts wonder privately if enough troops were committed to the initial offensive and whether at least another 100,000 troops should have been added to the force structure before such an audacious undertaking. Communication problems also have made their presence felt making that an area for further investigation by the appropriate governmental committees.

On the home front, questions and concern have been voiced. A telephone poll has shown dwindling support for the wheel-chair bound Commander In Chief, which might indicate a further erosion of support for his now three year-old global war.

Of course the President’s precarious health has always been a question. He has just recently recovered from pneumonia and speculation persists whether or not he has sufficient stamina to properly sustain the war effort. This remains a topic of furious discussion among those questioning his competency.

Today’s costly and chaotic landing compounds the President’s already large credibility problem.

More darkly, this phase of the war, commencing less than six months before the next general election, gives some the impression that Roosevelt may be using this offensive simply as a means to secure re-election in the fall.

Underlining the less than effective Allied attack, German casualties - most of them innocent and hapless conscripts - seem not to be as severe as would be imagined. A German minister who requested anonymity stated categorically that “the aggressors were being driven back into the sea amidst heavy casualties, the German people seek no wider war.”

"The news couldn't be better," Adolph Hitler said when he was first informed of the D-Day assault earlier this afternoon. "As long as they were in Britain we couldn't get at them. Now we have them where we can destroy them."

German minister Goebbels had been told of the Allied airborne landings at 0400 hours.

"Thank God, at last," he said. "This is the final round."

10, NOV, 2003

Payrolls Surge for Third Straight Rise

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American employers hired more than double the workers expected in October, pushing the jobless rate to its lowest since April and reinforcing hopes the labor market is catching up with the broader recovery. October's surge in employment -- a jump of 126,000 in the number of workers on payrolls.....the October number was the largest rise since January, far outstripping analyst expectations for a 58,000 gain.

At least one person is telling the truth! This economy is BOOMING! But, you'll never hear that from the liberals in the press. They will ride the "jobless" angle as long as they can - and sick as it is, they actually hope to talk it back down.  Jobs are ALWAYS the lagging factor in the economy. ALWAYS!  They are the last thing to come back , just as they are the last thing to GO! A businessman doesn't lay everyone off just because he has a few slow months -- in the same vein he doesn't go on a hiring binge just because he's had a few good months.  

People would know that if they didn't get their economic education from public schools.

"Unfortunately we are still a long way from a robust jobs recovery," said Pete Stark, a representative who is the senior Democrat on the congressional Joint Economic Committee.

This is what you are hearing from ALL <other than Zell Miller> Democrats.  If I hear one more  Democrat blame one more woe on "this economy" I'm going to wretch!  They will bring up the "bad" economy every chance they get and the liberal media will never call them on it, so millions of people walk around thinking we are one fry guy loosing his job away from going back to the Great Depression! The economy is not bad, it is coming back huge - yet they let them say it over and over again. Nah -no bias there.

They let Clinton rave about the "worst economy in 50 years".   ummmm.... HELLO!!!!!!  Can I give you one word??  JIMMY FREAKING CARTER!!!! That wasn't 50 years ago!  That guy hit the triple crown!!! Double digit inflation! Double digit interest rates! Double digit unemployment! We had a "misery index" under that guy, for crying out loud!!  Yet... the media ignores that. They overlook the Carter administration like it was something the family caught  2 drunk cousins doing in the back of a pickup truck!  Everybody knows it happened but it is something that is never to be mentioned!  

 Let me ask you one thing..... Why was the prosperity of Reagan <the 80's> bad and  greedy, but the prosperity of Clinton <the 90's> was a great thing? {admit it.. we all know the 90's were just an extension of President  Reagan}  Let's see.... America does good under a Republican - BAD! America does good under a Democrat - GOOD!

 COULD THE PRESS BE MORE BLATANTLY BIASED??? WHAP!

2, NOV, 2003

CBS to cancel 'The Reagans'?
Plans for controversial miniseries changing amid boycott backlash

CBS might cancel its controversial miniseries "The Reagans" amid fierce criticism of its portrayal of former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, according to a report in Daily Variety, the entertainment industry paper. Variety said the TV movie's director, Robert Allan Ackerman, has quit because of many last-minute edits and alterations demanded by CBS executives.
Actress and activist Barbra Streisand, whose husband James Brolin plays President Reagan in the movie, responded...... that she had a hand in its anti-Reagan slant.

There is a shocker! B.S. From B.S.! Here is that freaks response!

"This is what the Right Wing does ..... they spread vicious lies and attacks and scream and yell until they get their way."

This is so typical of the left! Here is how it is...  they were going to present a flat out lying SMEAR on President Reagan and they got called on it. So what do they do? They turn around and yell "liar" at the people who pointed out their lies!! Duh, WHAP!! In their minds pointing out a lie is actually worse than the lie itself.  I wonder how it feels to have no soul. Trust me... they SO wanted to air this and paint President Reagan in a bad light. They live in such a shell - such disconnect-  that they actually thought they could get it by the American people. They thought they would have no problem rewriting history. They are so ignorant that it is a shock to them that they couldn't do it!!!  Insane! Watch the press on this!!

The "right wing" didn't cause this - Americans did! Actually.... to be honest..... the words "did you hear?" caused this!! Spin it any way you want, but that is the bottom line! Simply put, "did you hear?" created the backlash. They leaked what they were going to do - thinking people would rally - and they got creamed by "did you hear?"

It's so simple! We all stood up when we heard "did you hear what so and so is saying about so and so."  THAT IS IT! That is how simple it is. 

Our collective ears turned when we heard the fib. We knew it was a lie...we said so... the liar ran.  bye bye CBS!!!  Aren't we great!

The man can't speak for himself but we and his reputation can.

It's been over 20 years and they still haven't accepted the fact that they - with all their power and rhetoric- couldn't stop America from embracing President Reagan..

I really wanted this show to air so I could go through it. I still hope it does, but it looks like it won't. Damn!

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