Congratulations Welshman
Conservative folks in South Carolina and everywhere, really, will enjoy reading the Columbia Conservative Political Examiner, now that The Welshman, of The Liberty Sphere, is writing articles.
Congratulations on the new enterprise!
Getting It Right for the USS Cole
It is slightly embarrassing that I wrongly placed a photo of the Limburg oil tanker bombing in the Never Forget Tribute instead of images of the USS Cole. The mistake was an honest one, since the image I lifted from the internet was labeled “cole.jpg.” It turns out that the Limburg was also bombed in October of 2000, probably by the same al-Qaeda terrorists that carried out the Cole attacks. One thing stands out is that neither the Clinton nor Bush administrations did much to avenge these acts of terror, just as the Obama administration is likely not to do in the future.
Image right: damage to the port side of the USS Cole – Click on thumbnail to enlarge.
After doing some research (which should have been done the first time), I located these two actual images of the USS Cole. I modified the Tribute again, this time with the correct images.
The image above shows the 40-by-60 feet hole blown in the side of the USS Cole. The blast hit the ship’s Galley, where crew were lining up for chow. The image to the left shows the USNS Catawba towing the Cole to be transported back to the United States.
Image left: Catawba towing the USS Cole – Click on thumbnail to enlarge.
Thanks go to Gary Swenchonis, Sr., who provided me with feedback on the Tribute. Gary is the father of Fireman Gary Swenchonis, Jr., who perished in the attack on the USS Cole. Gary has a couple of anti-terrorism websites set up:
Bear in the Morning Sunlight
Our dog, Bear, posed in the morning sunlight and I took this picture. One of our Second Amendment Bloggers, Welshman at The Liberty Sphere, thinks this is a very pretty dog. We think so, too.
Click on the image for a closer look at Bear.
Obama Judge Drops USS Cole Terror Charges
A Pentagon judge dropped charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, an al-Qaida suspect held at Guantanamo and accused of masterminding the USS Cole bombing. Obama holds meeting with victims’ relatives after the fact, but not all relatives were in attendance.
Al-Nashiri and the other defendants are not about to be turned loose. The cases against them were dismissed without prejudice, which means new charges can be brought against them. And they are still enemy combatants. Obama has declared his intention to remove them from Guantanamo by January, but he has not pledged to free them. Releasing these terrorists would endanger American security.
All of this legal and political maneuvering is very distressing to the families of the sailors killed on the USS Cole. They have been struggling to get justice for over eight years now and are worried that the people of our Nation are forgetting what happened.
One of those families is that of Gary G. Swenchonis, Jr. Gary’s father, Gary, Sr. wrote why he chose not to accept President Obama’s invitation to meet with him:
It is because of the Obama Administration’s latest move toward surrendering to terrorism, that I now include a panel in the Never Forget Tribute to commemorate the Cole attack. Check it out in the sidebar.
We are very proud that Mr. Swenchonis, Sr. includes our tribute on his Blogspot page. We are also proud that the tribute is seen on hundreds of sites and will soon have passed the 50 million hits mark.
We must NEVER FORGET.
Asian Lilies
These were in the supermarket flower concession on Friday. They just had to follow me home . . .
Click on the image to enlarge.
Warthog Recoil Spring
Last weekend while inspecting and cleaning up my little Para Ordinance Warthog .45ACP compact pistol, I discovered cracks in the recoil cap and a broken ferule on the recoil spring assembly, itself. In last week’s range report, Bob said:
This was the day for misfeeds, I guess. The Para, which had been working mostly flawlessly the last several outings, suddenly had numerous misfeeds. Nothing serious and a little lube fixed it for the most part. It happened using the same ammo and under all the same conditions as before.
After making the discovery of the defective parts, it was no wonder it acted weird. It’s a good thing that I found the cracks and broken ferule before the gun catastrophically failed.
We will be ordering the replacement parts on Monday. We will be calling our friend in Para Public Relations to discuss the best way to restore my favorite pistol to full functionality.
Click on the images above for a closer look at light shining through the cracks in the spring cap and the broken ferule.