BOATLIFT: Boats of 9/11 (I Believe in America Part 2)

*cross-posted from Assoluta Tranquillita*

I am calling this post "I Believe in America - part 2" (Part 1 is here)





This video is probably one of the most important you will ever watch. It shows America - and her sons and daughters - at her best.


In his telling of the events of 9/11 a couple of months back, Jack Delaney told of how he found some of his injured staff:

'[...] they were all at the water's edge. I went there and found them, and about 10 of them were hurt. I shuttled several of them on a boat to the New Jersey side of the harbor, then returned back to the rubble, ..." (here)

Now he has forwarded this video to me, and it tells the story of amazing Americans:

"..the thing that was the best was, everybody was helping everybody..."

On 9/11, for the first time in over a century, boats - usually an afterthought - were the only way out of Manhatten.

"[...]A radio call went out: 'All available boats,' and within 15 to 20 minutes, there were boats all across the horizon: ferries, party boats, private boats, came together just that fast...hundreds of boats converged..."

"[...]...Out of nowhere, people were coming: Please don't leave us here. We need help..."

"[...]It was not a question for any of us of 'how many are you allowed to take on your boat? It became 'how many can you get on?' We went back and forth all day long..."

"[...]Average people all stepped up....

"[...]I never want to say: 'I should have'..."

As my long time readers know, I resist the label "average" when talking about Americans. No such person in the Americans I know and love.


As one boat owner says: It was morally the right thing to do.."


That, right there, is why I believe - I will ALWAYS believe - in America.


"RoadToResilience"

Video- San Francisco Police Vs Occupiers

By Susan Duclos

Video below via LiveLeak:




H/T Odysseus @ Twitter.

Iraq News Links: Troops Coming Home- Say Thank You

By Susan Duclos

Many different takes on the announcement that all American troops would leave Iraq by the end of the year, so going to provide you with different headlines to read and determine for yourselves if this is good news, a rebuff, a negotiation failure or a boost to Iran.

Whether one agrees with this or doesn't, our military men and women that have sacrificed so much, deserve our gratitude.

New York Times with "Despite Difficult Talks, U.S. and Iraq Had Expected Some American Troops to Stay."

Josh Rogin @ Foreign Policy with "How the Obama administration bungled the Iraq withdrawal negotiations."

Ewen MacAskill @ Guardian with "Iraq rejects US request to maintain bases after troop withdrawal."

Spencer Ackerman @ Danger Room with "The Iraq War Ain't Over, No Matter What Obama Says."

Ben Feller @ ABCNEWS with "Iraq War Over, US Troops Coming Home, Obama Says."

Frederick/Kimberly Kagan @ Weekly Standard with "Retreating With Our Heads Held High."

Patrick Brennan @ NRO's The Corner with "U.S. to Leave Iraq by Year’s End, Despite Suggestions Otherwise."

No matter what the news means, what political ramifications will be felt, what this will or won't do for our International standing and reputation, one this is sure.

Our troops, Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, those that died, those that were injured and those coming home as well as their families, have served our country and should be thanked for that service.

Although words can not adequately express our gratitude, they should be said anyway....... so, Thank you.


(H/T Memeorandum for the headlines in this post)

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#OWS News Report: Polish Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Lech Walesa, Won't Be Joining Occupiers

By Susan Duclos

In February of 2010, Walesa attended a campaign event in Chicago for GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski, where he is quoted:

WALESA (via translator): The United States is only one superpower.

Today they lead the world.

Nobody has doubts about it. Militarily.

They also lead economically but they're getting weak.

But they don't lead morally and politically anymore.

The world has no leadership. The United States was always the last resort and hope for all other nations. There was the hope, whenever something was going wrong, one could count on the United States.

Today, we lost that hope.

When the news hit that 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lech Walesa from Poland, was going to be joining and standing with the Wall Street Occupiers, something didn't sound right. Although I have been writing about the movement as it digresses from a protest that had potential to out of control howlers that defecate in doorways, I backed away from reporting on it here until more news came out or until he actually stood up with the Occupiers.

Something that appears won't be happening after all, once Walesa was informed of a few facts.

Initially he stated in an AP interview that he supported the movement, via WSJ:

Poland's former President Lech Walesa says he supports the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York that protests corporate greed.

The Nobel Peace laureate told The Associated Press that he is planning either a visit or a letter to the protesters.

"I am weighing now how and when to best support them, without doing any harm," Walesa said Thursday.

The liberal left was thrilled, breathless as shown by examples provided by Legal Insurrection from The Hill, Huffington Post and Esquire, but then interested parties decided to make sure Mr. Walesa was informed of who and what the Occupier movement truly was.

Adam Andrzejewski explains in a piece titled "Lech Walesa Not Attending #OccupyWallStreet in New York After Discovering Hard-Left Organizers."

We suspected that the European news media had filtered out accurate information about the genesis of Occupy Wall Street (OWS).

When Walesa’s comments hit the AP wire last week, my team immediately reached out to our Polish contacts. We made the point that the political themes of Occupy Wall Street may have started out with some of the principles that we share, but OWS themes were rapidly being morphed into anti-freedom and anti-liberty messages. At the core is the want for a big, powerful central government to dominate the lives of individual citizens.

Using biggovernment.com plus other news sources, rapidly we painted an accurate picture of the groups training, leading, and organizing the “movement.” The movement is organized by anarchists, Code Pink, the American Communist movement, jihadists, anti-Israel, socialist, and anti- free enterprise interests. OWS folks are politically to the left of President Barack Obama.

At the Lech Walesa Institute Foundation in Warsaw, they were thankful to receive this information.

Based on our discussion and intervention, President Walesa is not going to get involved with the OWS. He is not comfortable with the “organizations” behind the movement. It was not a difficult discussion.

As his intent to join, stand up with and support the Occupiers was expressed in an interview, so should his backing away from doing so now that he knows more about them.

One would hope he would give some type of official confirmation of his change of mind.

[Update] I have sent an email out asking for confirmation and will update this if a response is sent.

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Occupier News: NY Occupiers Defecate In Doorways, Oakland Evacuating Them

By Susan Duclos

Updates on wall Street Occupiers from one end of the country to the other. Oakland Occupiers have been ordered to vacate Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall.

Via the Oakland City website, 1 page PDF, the "Notice to Vacate Frank Ogawa Plaza" has been posted, dated October 20, 2011:

The City of Oakland is committed to facilitating peaceful forms of expression and free speech rights, and protecting personal safety and property.

From the outset of the demonstration on October 10, the City of Oakland has maintained its commitment to facilitating the peaceful expression of First Amendment rights, balanced with the City’s equal commitment to protecting and maintaining public safety, public health, and crowd control. While demonstrators have a right to peaceful expression, the City has a responsibility to ensure a public health and safety plan during such events.

During the past 10 days, City officials have provided written documentation—handed out in person and posted on the City’s web site—outlining specific public health, safety, and crowd control issues to be addressed by demonstrators.

We believe that after 10 days, the City can no longer uphold public health and safety. In recent days, camp conditions and occupants’ behavior have significantly deteriorated, and it is no longer manageable to maintain a public health and safety plan. These conditions, which have not been sufficiently addressed, include:

• Fire hazards: cooking with open flame, improper storage and disposal of propane tanks, storage of grease, inadequate fire extinguishers, density of tents and flammable materials, smoking in tents, piles of hay and wood

• Safety hazards: increasing frequency of violence, assaults, threats and intimidation

• Denial of access: to emergency personnel to treat injured persons and to police to patrol the Plaza

• Sanitation hazards: public urination and defecation, litter, improper food preparation and storage practices

• Health hazards: existing rodent problem has been exacerbated and is endangering public health.
County vector control is unable to implement measures to control the rat population under current conditions

• Physical damage: graffiti, vandalism and other damage to Plaza infrastructure and the historic tree

• Disruption of the Plaza for public use: some events for groups who have complied with City
regulations have been reprogrammed or relocated

As a result of these serious conditions, the Administration has determined that facilitating this expression of speech is no longer viable, nor in the interest of public health and safety. Peaceful daytime assembly will continue to be allowed between 6 am and 10 pm daily. No tents or overnight camping permitted.

Oakland is doing what New York was too corrupt to do after Zuccotti Park owners were threatened by elected officials after requesting help, again, to evacuate their privately owned Park for maintenance, cleanup and repairs.

More here, with video, on how out of control Occupiers in Oakland have been, violence, threats, etc...

Across the country in New York, hundreds of angry Manhattan residents attended a Community Board meeting last night to complain of issues stemming from the NY Occupiers and hygiene, garbage, noise and respectfulness, not to mention the defecating on doordteps and in doorways of retail shops!.

Via The Politico:

“They are defecating on our doorsteps,” said Catherine Hughes, who lives one block from Zuccotti Park, according to the New York Post. “A lot of people are very frustrated. A lot of people are concerned about the safety of our kids.”

Particularly annoying, suggested several community members at the meeting, was the repetitive drumming late into the night.

“The occupiers are not our neighbors, our neighbors do not beat on drums when they’re sleeping, our neighbors do not verbally attack on the way to work… Our neighbors do not break into buildings or defecate on our street,” another speaker said, according to FOX 5 news.

[...]

The meeting resulted in a resolution with three major points, including calls for limiting the use of drums and air horns to two hours a day, during the midday; making arrangements for bathrooms to eliminate urination and defecation in the doorways of retail shops and residential buildings; and the removal of police barricades that block access to homes and building.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is warning the New York Occupiers of a crackdown (will believe it when I see it), via another The Politico piece:

Bloomberg — who described the demonstrators as mostly peaceful and said they “generally” obey the law — warned that the city is going to start enforcing laws requiring demonstrators to acquire permits for marches and large gatherings.

“We will start enforcing that more,” Bloomberg told listeners, according to the NY Post.

Bloomberg did not further elaborate on what type of enforcement will come into play or when the process will begin. He said, however, that the takeover of Zuccotti Park will have to be resolved eventually in order to restore the space to everyone and not just those supporting Occupy Wall Street.

So, from Bloomberg's own statement, Occupiers have been violating the permit laws and his office has not previously been enforcing those very same laws.

Isn't there a law about defecating and/or urinating in public?

Why yes, there is!!!

§153.09 Throwing or dropping offensive matter into streets, public places, rivers and other places prohibited.
No person shall throw or put any blood, swill, brine, offensive animal matter, noxious liquid, dead animals, offal, putrid or stinking vegetable or animal matter or other filthy matter of any kind, and no person shall allow any such matter to run or fall into any street, public place, sewer, receiving basin or river, any standing or running water or into any other waters of the City as defined in §145.01.

I am so glad Obama incited this class war movement and that he and Democrats have embraced them so lovingly and blessed them.



Related Occupier antics from WuA

Video- Wall Street Occupier Epic Meltdown

Denver Cracks Down On Occupiers Like New York Was Too Corrupt To Do

Zuccotti Park Owners Threatened By Elected Officials Into Postponing Cleanup Of Occupied Park

Contact Info For Bloomberg: Occupiers Plan To Fight Cleanup and Zuccotti Park Rules

Occupier Wants College Tuition Paid: Embedded Notice To NYPD About Cleanup

What Has Obama Done? Occupier Urges Violence In Occupy LA Protest

Occupy Threat Center Finds Significant Increase In Violent Rhetoric, Boston Cracks Down On Occupiers

Occupier Defecates On Police Car

Pushback Against Occupiers: 'We Are 53% Group

1%'ers to Occupiers: 'I Paid For Everything I Own'

Dems Embrace The Occupiers As They Spiral Out Of Control

TEXT- 'Time To Kill' Email Sent To NY Assembly Members: 'It's time to tax the millionaires!'

Obama's Class Warfare Rhetoric Led To The Death Threats Against The Wealthy?

Occupy Wall Street Vs Tea Party Protests: Biggest Difference, Tea Party Protesters Don't Break The Law


(Cartoon by Glenn McCoy via Townhall)

Minor grammatical changes made to this post.

Republicans Believe Obama Key To Winning Senate Majority In 2012

By Susan Duclos

The Politico has a three-page piece out explaining how Obama is a "drag on Senate Democrats." Republicans believe that Obama, himself, is key to winning the Senate majority. (Page 2)

Yet Senate Republicans believe that Obama remains the key to winning the majority. They mention Obama early and often in fundaising pitches and TV ads, and when a Democratic incumbent or challenger skips an Obama visit to their state — as both Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine did recently — Republicans make sure to portray the president as toxic for Democrats.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that if Obama’s approval numbers stay low, in-cycle Senate Democrats will keep their distance from Obama and his policies.

With the latest polling by Gallup showing Obama job performance approval at a new low for his 11th quarter and that those low numbers are "weak from a historical perspective," Republicans might just be on the track in their perceptions.

Implications

President Obama's most recent quarter in office was his worst to date, and these lower levels of public support could put his re-election chances in peril unless things start to improve in the next few months. Currently, voters say they are more likely to vote for "the Republican candidate" than for Obama for president in 2012, though Obama has generally looked stronger when matched against actual Republican candidates like Mitt Romney or Rick Perry.

Americans' satisfaction with the direction of the country remains at historically low levels, and Americans clearly identify the economy and unemployment as the most important problems facing the United States. Thus, a second Obama term likely hinges on whether there are signs of economic progress in the coming months.

Via the same Politico article linked above, Democrats are betting the farm on Obama's reelection chances getting better once a Republican nominee has been chosen.

“Things will get better for Obama when there is a [GOP] nominee,” said another Democratic insider. “He will be able to show a stark contrast on a bunch of issues, like Social Security, Medicare, infrastructure [spending], jobs [and] taxes. It won’t just be a referendum on Obama, and that will help a lot of Democrats.”

I disagree with this point and find absolutely no predictive value in head to head match up polls yet and I do not believe there will be any predictive value until one Republican candidate is nominated and the party supporters, conservative Independents and/or Independents that have turned against Obama, have one specific GOP candidate to unite behind.

Sure, there will be supporters of other candidates that will refuse to unite behind a candidate they originally were not supportive of but the majority of conservatives will coalesce in support of the eventual nominee in order to remove Barack Obama from the White House in the 2012 presidential election.

I said the other day and I will repeat it here, any GOP nominee will have Obama's own record, now that he has one, to beat him over the head with.

Obama will have to defend his own statement that after 3 years he will own the economy and if it is not better he would be a one term president. (Youtube video of Obama saying it)

Obama will have to defend passing the trillion dollar Obamacare with no Republican support and against the majority of Americans who were opposed to the bill as a whole.

Obama will have to defend the 20 tax increases associated with Obamacare, many of which do not go into effect until after the 2012 election.

Obama will have to defend a $787 plus billion stimulus package that resulted in unemployment being 9 percent or higher during most of his term if not all of it. (The US Unemployment Rate - 1948 to 2010)

Obama will have to defend committing troops to Libya and now Uganda without congressional authority.

Obama will have to defend his massive bailouts. Obama will have to defend his historically high 2011 deficit.

Obama will have to defend the Fast and Furious scandal and the Solyndra scandal.

That is just a portion of Obama's own record and any GOP nominee will be able to exploit each of those weaknesses.

Each of these points can also be used against Senate Democrats when linking them relentlessly to Obama in the 2012 Senate elections.

There are 23 Democratic Senate seats in play and only 10 Republican seats.

Democrats now hold the majority in the Senate with 51 seats, Republicans hold 47 and there are two Independents who generally caucus with Democrats.

The chances of Republicans taking control of the Senate are very good given the high disapproval of Barack Obama and the enthusiasm gap between Republican supporters and Democratic supporters, favoring Republicans with two-thirds of all registered Republicans saying they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting next year, compared to less than half of all Democrats. Added to that Rasmussen finds, in their generic congressional ballot that "The GOP holds a three-point advantage over Democrats for the week ending Sunday, October 16. "

The farther Barack Obama falls in the polls, the heavier of a drag he becomes on vulnerable Senate Democrats, which is perhaps the reason they are attempting to distance themselves from him.

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This Is Why Space Settlement Is Important

It's the end of civilization.. or so some would have us believe. If they don't get their wish, they intend to take it.. by force. Humanity going into space isn't about leaving them behind, but wouldn't it be nice?

With my most humble apologies to Jeff Greason.

As a follow up I posted this over at kuro5hin.