Spank That Donkey

(Thirty Three Year old Youth?)  What?  The American MSM forgot to tell you about the latest attempt of 'troubled french youths', as they attempt to use violence to sway the fwench not to vote for Sarkozy in the upcoming election?

Check out this Times Link... an excerpt:

French police are bracing themselves for fresh outbreaks of violence after hundreds of youths rioted over the arrest of an illegal immigrant at a main railway station in Paris.

The rioters fought running battles with police in and around Gare Du Nord for five hours, set light to rubbish bins and smashed nearby shop windows. Witnesses described groups of holiday-makers cowering in fear on the platforms after stepping off trains from London, Brussels and Amsterdam.

The violence was reminiscent of the riots that flared in Paris’s poor suburbs in 2005 when Nicholas Sarkozy, now a presidential candidate, was Interior Minister. François Baroin, who succeeded Mr Sarkozy this week, said that the rioters used “urban guerrilla” tactics. A total of 13 people were arrested.

Well now, well now is this guy a 'troubled youth", at age 33?

The violence erupted on Tuesday, during the evening rush hour, after ticket inspectors stopped a 33-year-old man for jumping over a barrier at Gare du Nord Métro station. The man — described by Mr Baroin as an illegal immigrant with 22 convictions — allegedly headbutted one of the inspectors.

Police said that they were surrounded by youths as they went to arrest the man. Nine officers and inspectors were hurt in the fighting, which lasted until about 1am.

Can there be any doubt that....

 The Scott Sayre challenge to Senator Emmett Hanger in VA's 24th Senate District race is really picking up steam.  Latest evidence of Grass Roots support is the eight bloggers already on board the new Bloggers 4 Sayre blog!  That would be eight Valley/SWAC bloggers signed up since Noon, the day before yesterday!

As of this time I am only aware of one pro - tax increase blogger (they call themselves Fiscal Conservatives), blogging in support of Emmett.  I guess we can expect a full court press from Dem bloggers in support of Emmett, since he voted for Gov. Mark Warner's $1.5 Billion dollar tax increase in 04', and with Gov, Kaine's tax increase plan plus more in SB708 crafted by the now retiring Senator Chichester. 

As far as can be seen the Hanger campaign is three weeks late on the sign campaign as the Sayre Team has been blitzing since the Maple Sugar Festival.  Rumor has it Hanger bought a lot of signs for his failed LG run in 05', so the signs are probably just sitting some where in storage.

 The official line on why Sen. Hanger did not get on the ballot for the 05' LG race was that his son got 'caught in traffic', and reached the door just minutes after the filing dead line.  The filing period is about three weeks long to get the signatures in and the eventual winner LG Bill Bolling had his in four or five days after the first day to get them in.  The only time I saw a Hanger petition come around was one SWAC Breakfast... i.e we weren't working it.

The reason I mention this is that grass roots support is key to winning primaries.  I was a volunteer for Bolling along with virtually the entire Augusta County Grass Roots Network.  We got over 500 names on petitions, and had them to the Bolling & McDonnell campaigns a week ahead of time...   When it came to the sign campaign, we only got about 10 or 12 4x8's that I remember, and only a few McDonnell's, but they were up as soon as they came in.

The Augusta sign machine is humming along for Sayre, and of course 'Signs don't Vote', but for a challenger, name recognition is the name of the game...  The best part of this is we are not having to beg for signs like during the "W", Kilgore and Allen Campaigns.. We got tons of them, and people coming out of the wood work to give us locations!

 Well, this doesn't look to good for the Virgil Goode Bashers....  The Wall Street Journal has this article "Shariah in Minnesota?"  Here's a good excerpt:

Troubling incidents began several years ago, when taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport--about three-quarters of whom are Muslim--started refusing to transport passengers carrying alcohol. One woman, returning from France with wine, was turned away by five cabs in succession. Refusals of service now number about 100 a month, and heated altercations have erupted.

Can you believe that?  We are supposed to just respect a bunch of Imams Praying Loudly  in the airline ticket lines and airports, as all normal passengers do; but God forbid us disembarking a plane with a bottle of wine, and hoping to pay someone for a ride to the hotel.  We have to respect 'their' religious beliefs there also.  Next they will refuse to give rides to women who refuse to wear veils....  Think that's ludicrous?  Well what about the bottle of wine?

The WSJ continues with what really is going on:

The events here suggest a larger strategy: By piggy-backing on our civil rights laws, Islamist activists aim to equate airport security with racial bigotry and to move slowly toward a two-tier legal system. Intimidation is a crucial tool. The "flying imams" lawsuit ups the ante by indicating that passengers who alerted airport authorities will be included as defendants. Activists are also perfecting their skills at manipulating the media. After a "pray-in" at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., one credulous MSNBC anchor likened the flying imams to civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Rep. Virgil Goode had the 'Guts' to speak out against unfettered Muslim immigration into the United States because he realizes that it will only lead to the mess in Europe, that is becoming Eurabia!  Our only hope is that the democratic-republic form of government we are helping to create in Iraq will bring moderation to their political system, and help neutralize the Imams power of the Muslim people. 

H/T I'm Not Emeril

 Freedom is Not Free!

(Click to Enlarge) Ladies and Gentlemen of the blogosphere. One of our featured speakers at our Gathering Eagles, in front of the Augusta County Court House was Rhonda Winfield. She is the mother of Lcpl Jason Redifer, who gave his life in defense of our Liberties chose to include in her speech this letter that she wrote to Cindy Sheehan... It is a must read, please pass it, and the link to her book, (which is in the book) "When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home" to fellow Conservatives.... I think you may agree this is a  message that needs to be delivered during this time of  debate over the War in Iraq, and on Terrorism. I think you will agree.

And if you do, please feel free to copy the text,the photo and link to her book to include as a post on your blog!

Dear Cindy,

I am Rhonda Winfield, mother of LCPL Jason C. Redifer, USMC, who bravely and proudly gave his life for this country on January 31, 2005. I am still very much in the raw stages of my grief and have been extremely affected by the message you are sending out to our fellow Americans, as well as the rest of the world. I have watched ,day by day ,as you have continued to camp outside of our President’s home in Crawford, Texas. I have listened to you explain to the media that you are the moral voice of America because yours is one of a mother who has lost a child. You present yourself as the true voice of those who have paid the most significant price of war and indicated that you are the spokeswoman for the broken souls of all grieving mothers. You were not, however, the recipient of the next of kin notice delivered to my household and while we perhaps share many emotions at this time, you do not speak for me.

While I defend a democratic system that allows our citizens to freely speak our minds, question our leaders when we disagree with their representation and hold those same individuals accountable for the decisions they make, I feel you have crossed the line. The final moment of tolerance came when you participated in erecting a display of crosses bearing the names of each felled service member whose lives have been given in Iraq to pay the price for such a freedom. You exercise the rights which they have purchased for you, only to disrespect and degrade what they held high enough to die for and what you value so little as to exploit. While casualty numbers are facts, you have crossed a moral boundary in using the name of my son, as well as many others to promote an agenda that he would be no part of. It is more than enough that his life was given to continue your ability to do just that very thing, if as an American you saw fit to do so. Must you further the pain of that fact for our family by soliciting his sacrifice for your purpose. He believed in nothing you stand for and it saddens my heart beyond words to know that he is, in death, being used as a pawn to empower your message.

My son was only 19 years old but knew what a precious gift freedom was and valued it enough to lay his young life down for that very thing. He volunteered for his duty knowing that there is always a human cost of war. He also was wise enough to understand that there would ultimately be a far greater human cost to avoiding this war. Let me remind you that Americans were attacked on our soil. Innocent countrymen whose only crimes were going about their daily lives were murdered that September morning and the evil forces that orchestrated and supported those horrific events, as well as the others that yet await us, must not be allowed to prevail. Jason knew that these terrorists must be engaged on their soil before we were forced to defend ourselves against them again on our own. He valiantly served to keep this from the doorsteps of our children.

We may not agree on the reasons that we are engaged in Iraq but we are there fighting nonetheless. Anti-American sentiment cannot be perpetuated by insisting on the rapid withdrawl of our troops. The message that would be sent to the entire globe would have ramifications of a magnitude too severe for us to even comprehend as we sit here in our free, comfortable homes pontificating the current state of things. American troops have a job to finish there and they must remain until they do.

Cindy, I have spent many hours with the survivors of the incident that took my son, as well as many other brave young men whom I’ve met while visiting Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I have watched the tears roll down their faces as they have watched the coverage of events that they have lived depicted in the media. My son’s unit fought for six months in the “triangle of death”, just south of Bagdad. Nine days before they were to return home, and on the final patrol of their mission, they were killed by an IED. The only two survivors of this brutal attack were not even aware of the details for weeks. They awakened after many surgeries and difficult medical procedures to be informed that they were the only survivors. They were obviously unable to even attend the funerals of the three men that had become such an important part of their lives. They remain hospitalized to this day. They will not only struggle with their physical disabilities but the emotional demons that will haunt them for the rest of their days. They do not understand why their lives were spared when their brothers were taken. They know only one thing for certain. They know this is not something that can ever be allowed to come to our streets. Please don’t cheapen that degree of sacrifice, patriotism and selflessness by insinuating to America that you speak for us.

Without dispute, our sons were part of the price paid for our freedom to speak our minds. We both honor them by exercising those rights. Let’s make sure we further honor them by speaking a message they would be proud of. We don’t have to agree to be right in doing so. We all want our nation’s children removed safely from harm’s way. Let us unite in encouraging America to pray for a speedy victory, not a rapid withdrawl. Let us together remind our country that we are the Land of the Free, Because of the Brave and let us strive to remember that we are “one nation, under God”. Freedom is never free. As it is said, “For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.” Jason and Casey know.

I am sincerely,

Rhonda L Winfield

See these SWAC GIRL posts on the Rally, here, here, and here, and more here!