Bruins Goalie Tim Thomas shows courage and takes a hit from the media

I was able to listen to the media outlets pile on Boston Bruins Goalie Tim Thomas yesterday for not attending the White House visit with the Bruins yesterday. The media were in full dump mode as I heard radio, print and TV reporters all say that what he did was wrong.

To the pundits and the media, I say you are wrong.

Tim Thomas was exercising his right to protest the issues that are wrong with Washington, DC and especially the light weight in the White House. " Protest is Patriotic " was the mantra we heard from the lefty looney libs for 8 years when President Bush was in the White House. The level of venom they directed against anyone and every one in power they didn't like was unbelievable.

Now, because the Bruins Goalie has issue with the way our Government is mis-managed, suddenly protesting is wrong? He should give up his moral and ethical indignation and make nice-nice with those who are driving our country into a ditch ?

I support Tim Thomas. If you feel that attending a White House Photo-op is something you don't want to do, then you are well within your rights not to attend.

If this was done when there was another President in place, I would feel the same as the day we condemn civil protest, we are on a slippery slope. Tim Thomas made a polite and mature protest. He didn't camp out on the White House lawn, or demand payment from the government. He declined an invititation. It is up each individual person to decide on whether to go, not the media.

Courage is taking a difficult stand when all around you are pressuring you to give in. Thanks Tim for making and taking the tough stand.

We stand with you.

Sorry OWS, they've been busy protecting your freedom

To the OWS crowd, the media and their political allies - While OWS has been causing trouble for the citizens of our cities, having no impact on the 1% they protest, driving up overtime costs on our taxpayers and making a general health hazard/crime issues for all, others were busy providing all with FREEDOM.

Of course, that isn't as "trendy" as camping out in the city and protesting. After all, who wants to be reminded that while OWS whines about the need for others to pay their bills, our military pays for their freedom each and every day.

Remember that while we sit home safe, others risk all to provide that freedom. They are the true 1% as they represent the BEST our country has to offer.

Technology sees what is unseen......Thermal Images show "Occupy" camp is mainly empty overnight

Police in London used a thermal imaging camera and found that at night, 90% of the tents in the "Occupy" camp set up outside London's St. Paul's Cathedral were empty.

That means that the protesters who vowed to stay until things were fixed mainly go home for the evening and "occupy" at home. This is not unusual as many like to protest but a much smaller number will give up their comfort for long stretches, especially in the colder temps that have become the norm this time of year.

I would be interested in seeing what a similar survey of the other "occupy" camps like NYC & Boston showed....likely we would see very similar results.


The thermal images that prove 90% of tents in St Paul's protest camp are left empty overnight - 'The time has come for the protesters to leave,' says the Bishop of London

By Tom Kelly and Damien Gayle - UK MAIL
26th October 2011

These are the damning images that prove the anti-capitalist protest that has closed St Paul’s Cathedral is all but deserted at night.

Footage from a thermal imaging camera taken late at night reveals just a fraction of the makeshift camp was occupied.

An independent thermal imaging company, commissioned by the Daily Mail, captured these pictures after similar footage from a police helicopter found only one in ten tents were occupied after dark.

In these shots, taken late on Monday night, the presence of body heat from humans is represented by yellow and red inside the tents.

The tents that are coloured purple indicate they are colder and thus empty. The buildings behind are also yellow and red because of the higher temperatures inside.

The images suggest the vast majority of the demonstrators who gather around the cathedral to denounce capitalism during the day go home or to a hotel to stay warm at night.

But despite being an almost entirely part time protest, the activists last week forced St Paul’s to shut for the first time since the Blitz, and the cathedral appears unlikely to reopen for months

The Bishop of London this morning also stepped into the row over the occupation, saying it is 'time for the protesters to leave'.

Richard Chartres, the third most senior cleric in the Church of England, said in a statement: 'This demonstration has undoubtedly raised a number of very important questions.

'The St Paul's Institute has itself focused on the issue of executive pay and I am involved in ongoing discussions with City leaders about improving shareholder influence on excessive remuneration.

'Nevertheless, the time has come for the protesters to leave, before the camp's presence threatens to eclipse entirely the issues that it was set up to address.

Brits deal with Free Speech issue like here in USA - Offensive Muslim Extremists act out in a similar manner to Westboro Baptist idiots....

The Tyranny of the Minority is in full effect both here & abroad. We have the thick skulled idiots of the Westboro Baptist Church spewing their filth at soldier's funerals, and the Brits have Muslim extremists degrading a Remembrance Day Memorial by burning poppies to offend those in attendance.

The significant difference is the Westboro Baptists aren't looking to institute a religious law into our society. The fools over in England are trying to institute Sharia law as they want to control all of England....The idiot involved in the case in England says so directly, " We want Sharia law in this country"

This is the type of threat that needs to be addressed head on....I find this type of protest offensive but it is the price we pay for Freedom of Speech. I am not thrilled with this perversion of the law but understand why it has to be allowed.

On the other hand, the " Tyranny of the Minority" is something that can be and should be stamped out. This stupid fool who mocks the War Dead and preaches overthrow of the British Government should be expelled back to his native country. His actions are defiant and his mocking of the authority should be handled with a charge of contempt of the courts...His attitude will only incite others to act out and while protest is allowed by free speech, inciting violence and civil unrest is not.

The English people need to rise up against these fools and show that they are behind their soldiers and against the vile filth that this idiot puts forward. He'll get his just punishment one day along with the stupid fools from the Westboro Baptist Church. These people are the dregs of society...bottom feeding scumbags and will always be regarded as such.


£50 insult to Britain's war dead: Veteran's fury as poppy burner enjoying a life on benefits gets paltry fine and mocks soldiers
By Emily Andrews - UK Mail

Last updated at 7:56 AM on 8th March 2011

Despite saying he would pay more for a parking fine, Choudhury said he would not pay up

As a British citizen, Emdadur Choudhury enjoys benefits including a free council flat and almost £800 a month state handouts.

Yesterday he laughed at justice as he was handed a paltry £50 fine for setting light to poppies on Remembrance Day and yelling ‘British soldiers burn in hell’.

After hearing his penalty, which outraged war veterans, the 26-year-old father of two declared: ‘I don’t have any respect for British soldiers, and if they lose a limb or two in Afghanistan then they deserve it. You expect me to feel sorry for them? Of course I don’t.’

Emdadur Choudhury, who didn't bother to attend the hearing yesterday, claimed the charge levelled against him was 'ridiculous'

Choudhury, from Bethnal Green, East London, was found guilty of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour by District Judge Howard Riddle, following a one-day trial last month.

The maximum fine possible was £1,000, plus legal costs, and Judge Riddle said he had no doubt Choudhury had set out to shock and offend. Yet he fined him only £50, plus a £15 victim surcharge.

Although Choudhury sneered that he would have been fined more than £50 for a parking offence, he is refusing to pay. However the bill will be picked up by his ‘good friend’ Anjem Choudary, the notorious firebrand preacher.

Choudhury could also have been charged under Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which is racially or religiously aggravated public order offence. This offence also carries a maximum sentence of six months, but the level of fine can reach £2,500.

The defendant could also have faced charges of an incitement or racial hatred under the Public Order Act.

This offence relates to deliberately provoking hatred of a racial group. Among the offences listed as arrestable are making inflammatory public speeches and inciting inflammatory rumours about an individual or an ethnic group.

Choudhury, whose parents are Bangladeshi immigrants who came to Britain for a better life, was a leading member of a demonstration by the so-called Muslims Against Crusaders on November 11
.
During the two-minute silence he was caught on camera unfurling several large plastic poppies and dousing them in petrol before setting them alight.

The protesters, who had gathered near the Royal Albert Hall close to the finish of a charity walk to commemorate service personnel, also repeatedly yelled ‘Burn British soldiers, burn in hell’.

Choudhury and his co-accused Mohammed Haque, 30, who was cleared of the same charge for lack of evidence, could not even be bothered to attend Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court for the verdict.

The court heard that Choudhury works part time as a satellite engineer and earns £480 a month. He also receives a monthly total of £792 in state benefits, comprising £240 working tax credit; £432 child tax credit and £120 a month child benefit.

Judge Riddle said: ‘Shocking and offending people is sometimes a necessary part of effective protest. Here, an obvious consequence of this process was to show disrespect for dead soldiers.

‘The two-minute chanting, when others were observing a silence, followed by a burning of the symbol of remembrance, was a calculated and deliberate insult to the dead and those who mourn or remember them. If the memory of dead soldiers is publicly insulted at a time and place where there is likely to be gathered people who have expressly attended to honour those soldiers, then the threat to public order is obvious.

‘Here it is hard to imagine that a public order disturbance was not intended.’

Choudary was caught on camera unfurling several large plastic poppies on the ground before burning them at the end of the two-minute silence to honour the war dead

Later, in a park near his home, a defiant Choudhury said: ‘The poppy disgusts me – it’s not to do with World War One or World War Two veterans, it’s all about raising money for soldiers injured in the wars now.

‘I’m not being disrespectful for burning it, I’m being honourable. It’s all about shock and awe, to get these soldiers out of Muslim lands.’

Asked if he would do it again, he replied laughing: ‘You’ll have to find out next time, won’t you? The only reason I even got a fine is cos it’s politically motivated. I would have got a bigger fine for a parking ticket than this.

District Judge Howard Riddle made the decision to impose the fine on Choudhury, something that left Shaun Rusling and fellow veterans 'disgusted'

‘It’s my freedom of speech and I’m exercising that. I’m being persecuted for it. This fine, I will wear it as a badge on my shoulder. I did it for Allah. I did it to raise awareness that these so-called soldiers are the criminals. They are the ones who should be tried for war crimes.’

Sinisterly he promised that he had ‘2,000 youths who will follow me and do whatever I tell them – you don’t want another Afghanistan here do you? We want Sharia law in this country, and Inshallah [God willing] we will get it’.

Shaun Rusling, of the National Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, said: ‘I think the British people would be disgusted with the sentence handed out.

Remembrance Day is very special for those in the Armed Forces, when we remember those who have lost their lives for freedom and fighting for their country.

Mohammad Haque (left) and Emdadur Choudhury (right) pictured yesterday. Choudhury was convicted of a public order offence after he burned a poppy on Armistice Day and fined £50. Fellow defendant Haque was found not guilty of the same offence

‘It is a personal insult to all of them. I am personally insulted, any veteran would be personally insulted by them burning a poppy. I don’t think it is an acceptable sentence at all.’

A spokesman for the Royal British Legion said: ‘The poppy is the symbol of sacrifice and valour. It offers everyone an opportunity to reflect on the human cost of conflicts past and present.

‘The two-minute silence is a time for such reflection, and not for political protests or public disorder. We are confident that this is understood and supported by most people.

SO WHY WAS HE JUST CHARGED WITH A PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCE?

Emdadur Choudhury was charged with an offence under Section 5 of Public Order Act 1986. Under the act, a person is guilty of an offence if they use either, threatening abusive or insulting words, disorderly behaviour, or display any writing, sign or visible representation that he threatening or insulting.

The maximum sentence for this offence is six months, while the highest fine imposable by a court is £1,000. The judge could also have imposed a community sentence such as unpaid work. However because the defendant is understood to have no prior criminal convictions, the judge would not have considered a custodial sentence.

In the real world, unlike for Wisconsin Teachers & Legislators, people who lie about missing work get a pink slip....

Thoughtful analysis on the Wisconsin issue....

It comes down to this - Agree or disagree, teachers skipping school and legislators leaving the state to avoid doing their jobs is ethically wrong. If you want to debate an issue, do so in the legislature. If you want to protest, do so on your own time, not when you should be teaching in the schools or doing your state job. Any private employee who acted this way would likely be fired and/or replaced. But because they work for the state/municipal system, they are allowed to acted insubordinate to the taxpayers.

Teachers & Legislators, get back to the work you are being paid for and stop the acting out. It is embarrassing that these "public employees" are not taking care of their customers, only themselves....and it has been going on for far too long.

An “Assault on Unions?” It’s About Time
By Susan Brown February 22nd, 2011

Thuggish, “community organizing” politics showed up in Wisconsin after Commander-in-Chief, President Obama, deployed his Organizing for America (OFA) troops to inject protestors into the Wisconsin budget debate Obama describes as an “assault on unions.” Obama is a smart man, so why would he choose to federalize a state issue and define Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to reduce the state’s deficit, preserve jobs and prevent dramatic pay cuts as an “assault?”

After all, Gov. Walker simply asked union members to chip in a moderate percentage of their above average salary to contribute to their very generous and above the average pension and healthcare plans. The proposed increase could be partially recouped by another part of the proposal to make union participation and dues – optional – saving teachers upwards of $1100 annually.

Rather than intelligently considering the facts and having an intelligent debate, those charged with the honor of teaching our children responded like high school freshmen by calling in “sick” and closing down the Madison school system to join in a protest instigated by political arm of the Grande Community Organizer himself – President Obama. In the real world, where the parents of the Wisconsin public school system children live, people who lie about missing work only to show up on their bosses doorstep to protest get a pink slip, not a pat on the back.

In the meantime, Wisconsin Democrat legislators revealed their lack of intestinal fortitude when they left the state. They bailed to prevent the three-fifths quorum requirement necessary for continuance of Walker’s proposed legislation.

The sad part about all this is the “to hell with the children” attitude displayed by the Wisconsin educators, union members and the Obama administration. The children are the ones who pay the price for this ridiculously mindless political power stunt.

It really boils down to money and power. Former American Federation of Teachers president, the late Albert Shanker, said it best when he said, “When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.”

Recently, Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell reiterated the same self-serving attitude when she said, “This is not about protecting our pay and our benefits. It is about protecting our right to collectively bargain.”

Walker’s proposal would effectively make union membership optional, and as such, would slowly act as a way to dissolve some of the power teachers unions have collected for themselves over the years. No longer would taxpayer money be funneled directly into union boss pockets – leading to less political clout and less manipulation of the American electoral process.

America needs to be about the business of creating jobs. The traditional need for unions has long since passed and the longer they linger the more unions will be like a cancer on the workers in this country and the businesses they support.

The Bush administration understood that danger and demanded accountability by forcing unions to be more transparent by itemizing expenditures on an LM-2 report form. This accountability led to the indictment of 1004 union officials and the conviction of a little over 900 – for crimes including fraud, embezzlement of members’ dues and $93 million in court-ordered restitutions leading to the resignation of some of Service Employees International Union top employees.

Any level of transparency the Bush administration achieved was reversed when, in 2009, the Purveyor of Transparency himself rescinded the Bush LM-2 form rules and ostensibly padded union fat cat wallets.

This move away from transparency served to peel back layers of hope and change to reveal a very union-friendly core. And federalizing the Wisconsin budget debate made Obama look like a national union boss rather than an American president.

You say Governor Walker’s proposed legislation is an “assault on unions,” Mr. President? Many Americans say, “It’s about time.”

—–

©2011 Susan Stamper Brown. Susan is a motivational speaker and military advocate and can be reached at susan@susanstamperbrown.com her website www.susanstamperbrown.com

SPIN CYCLE

I am really, really, really, really sick of the Media putting our country on SPIN CYCLE.

Sarah Palin hit the nail on the head in her key address to the protest in Nevada:

" When we talk about fighting for our country, let’s clear the air right now about what it is that we’re talking about,” Palin told the crowd in the rally’s keynote address. “We’re not inciting violence. Don’t get sucked into the lame-stream media’s lies about … Americans standing up for freedom as inciting violence. Violence isn’t the answer. It’s a bunch of bunk that the media is trying to feed you.”

While Sarah won't be attending any MENSA meetings anytime soon, the DEMS and their lefty allies were the ones spouting " Protest is Patriotic" for the last 8 years.....funny how their tune has changed.....Bastards.

Leave my freedom alone.....I paid for it in full in service to our country.

Saw a T-shirt that summed it up....It showed a soldier standing in a hot LZ and it said " I know I'm going to Heaven because I have already been to Hell."