Remembering Louis Nacke, United Flight 93

On 9/11, we were attacked by a group of cowardly, Muslim terrorists. Most were from Saudi Arabia, though you don’t really hear that much any more. As Americans, we will not- we cannot – forget those who were lost on that day. Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six lives were forfeit to some radicalized ideology of which we knew nothing about. I was honored to be able to participate in this most endearing day of remembrance.

Louis was aboard United Flight 93, which went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It went down there, and not it’s potential target (Washington, DC) because men like him tried to take back the aircraft. I would like to introduce you to a man of great strength and character, who most of us will never know, but none of us will ever forget. Rest in peace, Lou. We have the watch.

Even as a boy, Lou Nacke had a need to know. He’d ferret out each year’s Christmas gifts, unwrapping them to see what was in store, rewrapping them and then informing his three siblings so they could ask their parents for substitutions before Christmas.

He also had a need to be the typical big brother, swerving the family snowmobile to throw his siblings off and helping his sister see how long she could hold her breath by holding her head under water. He also gave her a pair of diamond earrings.

As an adult, Nacke was 5 feet 9 inches and 195 pounds, with a weightlifter’s gait and an endearing charm. He knew a little bit about everything and wasn’t shy about letting people know.

Nacke graduated from a Philadelphia high school in 1977, after attending several different schools while his family moved from Virginia to Scranton to Monroeville to Olean, N.Y. and finally to Philadelphia for his father’s job with A&P.

While living in Monroeville, Nacke ran through a glass door and required 100 stitches. Years later, remembering that incident, he got a Superman tattoo on his left shoulder.

His years in Western Pennsylvania made him a loyal Pittsburgh sports fan, revering the local teams so much that when he bought memorabilia, such as a Roberto Clemente jersey, he would frame it.

He worked a series of shipping and receiving jobs with various chains. While at Kmart as an assistant manager, he met his wife, Amy, who was doing temp work at the store.

In 1997, Nacke was hired at Kay-Bee Toys, supervising 400 employees at an 800,000-square-foot distribution center in Clinton, N.J. He commuted an hour to work each way so that his wife could live close to her family.

In fact, since their wedding on Sept. 16, 2000, the couple had lived with her parents while building their own home nearby.

Nacke and Robert Weisberg, his father-in-law, were also good friends, smoking cigars together and enjoying wines Nacke bought over the Internet.

On Sept. 16, Amy celebrated her one-year wedding anniversary with her family at Nacke’s favorite restaurant. They toasted him with a California Cabernet he’d bought.

“We said, ‘We’re going to miss you like hell and you’re probably mad as hell that we opened this wine,’ ” Weisberg said.

Distribution manager, Kay-Bee Toys, 42, New Hope, Bucks County
Wife, Amy; sons, Joseph Nicholas, 18, Louis Paul II, 14
He was on his way to Sacramento for business

Investigators give special credit to five passengers: Todd Beamer, 32, Mark Bingham, 31, Tom Burnett, 38, Jeremy Glick, 31, and Lou Nacke, 42. “Those passengers on this jet were absolute heroes, and their actions during this flight were heroic,” declared FBI Director Robert Mueller during a visit to the crash scene.

The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?

Cut Spending, Just Not Mine

UPDATE: Speaking of mooching freeloaders who don’t want their money cut off. Check out the recent email received by Michelle Malkin.

I have no problem with people receiving benefits from the various federal programs. In fact, I get a monthly check from Uncle Sam as payment for my 20 years of military service. On top of that, I have a pretty decent medical program.

(For those who think it is FREE though, you are sadly mistaken. While it may be relatively inexpensive, I DO have to pay my family and myself. I have to find a doctor willing to take Tricare and I have a co-pay for each visit. Yes, I could save money by driving to a VA hospital, but…. well, no thanks.)

However, there is an argument that can be made that too much of a good thing is not quite as good as it originally seemed. If you continue to do something for people, how long before they stop even trying to do for themselves?

My liberal friends argue that not enough is done. There are poor people who are still not making it. To them, I ask, how much is enough? Have we not been having this War on Poverty since the 1960’s? What has it accomplished? Have we not poured BILLIONS into the Education system? What do we have to show for it? A lower standard of education that the rest of the world.

And the signs are now appearing that people are, in fact, content to live off of the public provisions. A recent poll shows that of those queried, 23% receive some sort of continued public financing. Now that may not sound like much, but extrapolating the numbers out to a national level, that means some 69 million folks fall into that group.

Of that, SIXTY-THREE (63) percent said that they were not willing to have any of their benefits cut if it meant helping to cut down the deficit including 33% who said NOT WILLING AT ALL. That means roughly 15 million folks would not allow a single penny to be taken back. Yet here we are, buried in a mountain of debt.

In a similar report (sorry I don’t have that link), job makers in the Detroit area actually had people asking them to hold the job open for them for a couple of weeks so that the UNEMPLOYED WORKER could finish his or her last few weeks of unemployment money. (And this, after having the benefits extended for over 99 weeks!!) What the hell??

If you cannot see the forest for the trees, then I don’t know what else to tell you. Ben Franklin had it more than right when he said that the best thing to do for a poor man is to make him uncomfortable in his poverty.

A helping hand up, yes. Continued hand outs, no more.

The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?

Coming Soon

Ok, I have taken enough time off. If you are still following my blog (why?) I will be coming back with regular posts soon. Thanks for hanging in!

The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?

Remembering D-Day

I have spent the day trying to think of what to add to the plethora of postings regarding the 66th anniversary of D-Day, the day that Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy and began to reclaim Europe from the Axis powers. It is difficult to imagine just what went on there, but here is my small attempt:

Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord were the code names for the assault. It began with a landing of 24,000 airborne troops, followed by the amphibious landing of Allied troops at 6:30 AM. Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable were diversionary assaults designed to draw German forces away from the main landing.

There were roughly 5,000 ships involved with the assault and 160,000 boots hit the ground on various beeches: Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword and Utah.

Allied order of battle
The order of battle for the landings was approximately as follows, east to west:

British Second Army
*6th Airborne Division (United Kingdom) was delivered by parachute and military glider to the east of the River Orne to protect the left flank. The division contained 7,900 men, including one Canadian battalion.

Sword Beach
* British 1st Special Service Brigade comprising No. 3 Commando, No. 4 Commando, No. 6 Commando and 45 Commando British Commandos landed at Ouistreham in ”Queen Red” sector (leftmost). No.4 Commando were augmented by 1 and 8 Troop (both French) of No. 10 (Inter Allied) Commando.
* I Corps (United Kingdom), 3rd Infantry Division (United Kingdom) and the 27th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom) from Ouistreham to Lion-sur-Mer.
* 41 Commando (part of 4th Special Service Brigade) landed on the far West of Sword Beach.

Juno Beach
* 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade and 48 Commando from Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Calvados to Courseulles-sur-Mer.
* 46 Commando (part of 4th Special Service Brigade) at ”Juno” to scale the cliffs on the left side of the Orne River estuary and destroy a battery. (Battery fire proved negligible so No.46 were kept off-shore as a floating reserve and landed on D+1).

Gold Beach
* XXX Corps (United Kingdom), 50th Infantry Division (United Kingdom) and 8th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom), consisting of 25,000 from Courseulles to Arromanches.
* 47 Commando (part of 4th Special Service Brigade) on the West flank of Gold beach.

* 79th Armoured Division operated specialist armour (“Hobart’s Funnies”) for mine-clearing, recovery and assault tasks. These were distributed around the Anglo-Canadian beaches.

Overall, the 2nd Army contingent consisted of 83,115 troops (61,715 of them British). The nominally British air and naval support units included a large number of crew from Allied nations, including several RAF squadrons manned almost exclusively by foreign air-crew.

U.S. First Army
Omaha Beach
* V Corps (United States), U.S. 1st Infantry Division and U.S. 29th Infantry Division making up 34,250 troops from Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to Vierville-sur-Mer.
* 2nd and 5th United States Army Rangers Battalions at Pointe du Hoc (The 5th BN and A, B, C Co 2nd BN diverted to Omaha).

Utah Beach
* VII Corps (United States), U.S. 4th Infantry Division and the 359th Regimental Combat Team of the U.S. 90th Infantry Division comprising 23,250 men landing, around Pouppeville and La Madeleine.

* 101st Airborne Division (United States) by parachute around Vierville to support Utah Beach landings.
* 82nd Airborne Division (United States) by parachute around Sainte-Mère-Église, protecting the right flank. They had originally been tasked with dropping further west, in the middle part of the Cotentin Peninsula, allowing the sea-landing forces to their east easier access across the peninsula, and preventing the Germans from reinforcing the north part of the peninsula. The plans were later changed to move them much closer to the beachhead, as at the last minute the 91st Infantry Division (Germany) was determined to be in the area.

In total, the First Army contingent totalled approximately 73,000 men, including 15,600 from the airborne divisions.

And last, but not at all least, Ronald Regan’s speech at the 40th anniversary of the invasion.

You Are An Idiot If You Believe The Founders Were Deists

The fact is, our Founding Fathers were deeply religious. While some were more devout than others, I get chaffed when people try to tell me that with little exception the most noteworthy men were merely deists. For those who do not know what this means, see here.

If you believe in this revisionist crap, you are an idiot. Everything the Founders said or did was related to the Glory of God in some way. Christian references abound in their words. The books you read nowadays are hardly what the Founders wrote or said themselves. They are the words of some misguided (or malicious) interpretation of their words. In order to truly know how our forefathers felt, you must read their own words. There can be no filter in the form of hearsay by any intermediary.

Case in point is George Washington’s Sacred Fire. Inside you will read the words of the man himself. Then, and only then, you can judge for yourself whether or not the historians are right about them. I, for one, think them completely off-track. Below id just a tiny excerpt of what Washington has to say IN HIS OWN WORDS:

While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.” (General Orders, Valley Forge, May 2, 1778)

You can read what the author has to say here (be warned, if you are liberal, clicking this link may cause blood to shoot from your eyes.)

The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?

Conservative And Talented

Where Are The Cries Of Astroturf Now?

Protestors crowded themselves into various banking buildings in NYC today, crying out against the evil Wall Street greed and questionable lending practices of banks. They want the Financial District to do something about all of the lost jobs and the fact that people are losing their homes. To their credit, aside from being a bit boisterous and having to be escorted out by police, I have not heard any talk of unruly or violent behavior.

I would, however, suggest that if the protestors want to go after those responsible, they carry the march down to the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. After all, the laws ALLOWING banks to act as they did, in fact encouraging it, were approved by many of the very same officials now berating the likes of Goldman Sachs.

One thing I would like to note is the following from the AP:

Thousands of workers and union members were expected at the rally, organized by the AFL-CIO and an association of community groups.

Just where are the cries of Astroturf from Nancy Pelosi and her ilk? The Tea Party movement, started by normal citizens who are fed up with the growing government intrusion is not legitimate, but groups that are obviously and admittedly organized and bussed in by Big Union are? I hardly think that is the case. Had this been a Tea Party event, I have no doubt all of the violence and ‘police escorting’ would make national headlines and be the topic of conversation for days.

The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?

The Other Unsecured Border

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin piggybacks on my post

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said that the law passed in Arizona this past week was a violation of human rights.

Whose rights, exactly, are being violated? Not mine. Not yours. Not the guy down the street. Maybe he meant one of the thousands of illegal immigrants who cross our border every year? In that case, too bad. They have no rights here, other than the right to life. If they want the rest, they need to get into line.

Back in 2006, Calderon said

he planned to strengthen security at his country’s southern border with Guatemala, which is used by thousands of immigrants seeking to reach the United States each year. Calderon said he planned to increase the police presence at the border with the hope that it could become the ‘door to development rather than the door to crime,’ in a speech at the border town of Tuxta Chico.

He said

the new force would include federal and state police as well as immigration agents, who would also combat corrupt border officials that were allowing undocumented immigrants across the border.

Perhaps El Presidente is worried that all of those Guatemalan immigrants would displace the hard-working Mexicans crossing over to the US? Explain to me, again, how it is alright for Mexico to clamp down on their border with police and troops, but we cannot enact laws to protect our people and land? In fact, we ENCOURAGE Mexico to block their border. We help FOOT THE BILL to deport people, because it costs a measly $22 dollars to send them home from Mexico, but around $1700 from the States.

Come on libs, tell me how I and my Arizona comrades have it wrong?

The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?

The Great Flip Flop

Charlie Crist has shown just why he could never be elected by Conservatives. He was all for the Florida Education bill until union pressures came. Now he is trying to link it to the healthcare bill in an effort to garner support. He supported the stimulus. He says he would have voted for the health care fiasco. he calls himself a conservative at heart.

Huh?

I didn’t get a chance to blog it before he vetoed, but the second phase is coming. Charlie Crist will drop his run as a Republican and will now run as an independent- in a COMPLETE flip from what he promised during his debate with candidate Marco Rubio.

Watch and see. He has until the end of April.

The man has ZERO integrity or honor.

The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?

We Are All Moving To Mexico

Once again, my dad comes through with a GREAT email. Not sure where he is getting them, but I hope it never stops!

Dear Mr. President:

I’m planning to move to Mexico for my health, and I would like to ask you to assist me.

I’m planning to simply walk across the border from the U.S. into Mexico, and I’ll need your help to make a few arrangements.

I plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws.  I’m sure they handle those things the same way you do here. So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Calderon, that I’m on my way down?

Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:

1. Free medical care.
2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need, whether I use them or not.
3. Please print all Mexican government forms in English.
4. I want my grandkids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking (bi-lingual) teachers.
5. Tell their schools they need to include classes on American culture and history.
6. I want my grandkids to see the American flag on one of the flag poles at their school.
7. Please plan to feed my grandkids at school for both breakfast and lunch.
8. I will need a local Mexican driver’s license so I can get easy access to government services and be able to vote.
9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but, I don’t plan to purchase car insurance, and I probably won’t make any special effort to learn local traffic laws.
10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from their president to leave me alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at least one English-speaking officer.
11. I plan to fly the US Flag from my house top, put US. Flag decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any complaints or negative comments from the  locals.
12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, or have any labor or tax laws enforced on any business I may start.
13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be extremely nice and never say a critical things about me or my family, or about the strain we might place on their economy.
14. I want to receive free food stamps.
15. Naturally, I’ll expect free rent subsidies.
16. I’ll need Income tax credits so although I don’t pay Mexican Taxes, I’ll receive money from the government.
17. Please arrange it so that the Mexican Gov’t pays $4,500 to help me buy a new car.
18. Oh yes, I almost forgot, please enroll me free into the Mexican Social Security program so that I’ll get a monthly income in retirement.

I know this is an easy request because you already do all these things for all his people who come to the US from Mexico. I am sure that President Calderon won’t mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.

Thank you so much for your kind help.

You’re the man!

The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?