War Journal - March 21, 1945

3/21/1945
Friday
#32 - This sqdn. made two missions today both to same area as mission yesterday. I went on the afternoon mission to the town of Stadtlohn - little west of Munster. Almost all the ships in this group were shot pretty bad but no one was hurt. Something big must be up in that area as there were so many planes in that area it was hard to make a bomb run. Even the RAF was in with us. Every town (large or small) east of the Rhine was a smoking inferno. We were all dropping fire bombs. I saw our bombs destroy an entire town - smoke was visual for many miles.

Deem and Cram, Part 2

In follow-up, the following issues are part of the debate over government takeover of our healthcare system:

1. They plan on voting on the "rules" bill with amendments to the Senate version of healthcare on Sunday. As of today, depending on who you listen to, it is a toss-up as to whether or not QP has the votes needed. It is clear that she will not bring this to a vote on the floor if she is not convinced it will pass. BO has postponed his next Asian trip in order to be here to help fight fellow cRats and beat them into submission. QP has also scheduled another vote for Sunday on something that is meaningless. This appears to be so she can call a vote Sunday, for something, if she is still not ready for the big showdown. There are several cRats who claim to be undecided. Are you kidding me! How can anyone, after 14 months of the debate and battle over this issue, still have no idea how they feel? If it is true that they are not yet sure, then it is due to one of two things: either they should not be in that job as they do not have a shred of leadership ability within them; or, they are holding out to see what they can get from BO and QP before committing.

2. If this vote passes, BO will sign into law the Senate version of Healthcare. If and when that happens, we will begin to see new taxes. The bill includes several avenues of raising revenue to help cover the costs. Some of these include additional taxes on capital gains, increased medicare payroll taxes, taxes or fines on companies that are not providing the level of health insurance the government mandates, etc. There will also be the requirement for states to add more people to their Medicaid plans. The government will further dictate to insurance companies what they must cover and who that have to cover.

3. Today, the House voted on a measure sponsored by iCans that would block the Slaughter Solution from being used for this bill. It was defeated 222-203.

4. The Senate version of the bill includes Federal funding for abortions. In includes provisions for the Federal takeover of the student loan program (with the exception of one bank in North Dakota who has an exemption and can still offer these loans due to part of the buyout of ND's Representative). It appears that my own Representative got something, also. Rep. Kirkpatrick appears to have secured some funds for rural Arizona. These are coming in FEMA, disaster emergency funds. The money is in response to a storm we had in our area two months ago.

5. The powers of the IRS are being expanded with this bill. They will be in charge of watching us on a monthly basis to make sure we do not cancel our health insurance. If we do, we will be fined. Oh, and by the way, most everyone is predicting our health premiums to increase, not get lower.

6. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a preliminary estimate of the effect this bill would have on our deficit during the next ten years. They are claiming that during the next decade, passing healthcare would reduce the deficit by around $150 billion. They estimate that the cost of the program for the next decade will be around $950 billion. If these figures were accurate (they will not be even for no other reason than they do not include all the amendments the House is currently adding with all the cost needed to buy all the votes of the cRats), it would mean that the government raised, through this bill, $1.1 trillion. They are telling us that $500 billion will come from reducing Medicare benefits. The rest will come from taxes and penalties on the rest of us. So, $600 billion will need to be raised over the next ten years ($50 billion each year) by these methods. That amounts to over $1,800 for each person in our country. This is in addition to what we already pay in taxes and the amount they will take from the Medicare system.

The only way the Congress could get the CBO to issue an estimate that would indicate the deficit would decrease over ten years, if this passes, was to begin the portions of the bill that generate revenue immediately but postpone the portions that include any benefits for four years. So, if you do the math, they are estimating the annual cost of the plan to be around $160 billion each year ($950 billion divided by six years of benefits).

The CBO went on the estimate that during the second decade of this plan, there would be a further deficit reduction of approximately $1.2 trillion. Sorry, but the numbers do not add up to anything like that. If they are raising $50 billion each year from us and another $42 billion saved by reduced Medicare benefits paid, which equals $92 billion in revenue annually; and the cost of running the program is $160 billion annually; that does not add up to a deficit reduction, no matter how many years you multiply it by. Instead, it supports an additional deficit of $640 billion. To get from an additional deficit of $640 billion to a reduced deficit of $1.2 trillion means they will have to raise an additional $1,840 billion dollars from us. That amounts to another $5,500 per person in the country.

I don't know about you, but from my viewpoint, after three decades of this plan, it will start adding up to real money!

Welcome to the USSA!

War Journal - March 20, 1945

03-1945, Lts. Cowart, Grant, Borst; Sgts. Edwards, Pappas, Foil - made on the day of Grant's last mission.

B-26 Nose Art - Lil Murf

3/20/1945
Thursday
#31 - Bombed an amno. Refilling plant North of the Rhur. We were window ships on the mission and bombed a small town on the way out. Couldn't see the results. There was considerable flak in this area as they even shot at the window ships. We brought back two holes.

Deem and Cram

There is a good reason that the general public views politicians as being corrupt. Right now, we are witnessing a level of corruption in Washington that, in my opinion, makes Watergate pale by comparison.

The cRats have grown these nasty, sharp, little teeth and are eating any other cRats that try to jump from the sinking ship they are steering. They do this through threats, intimidation, bribes, kick-backs, pledges, promise of financial support, etc. If you are a cRat in D.C. right now, you better tow the Queen Pelosi (QP) line or she will cut your worthless little throat with her infected claws. Need I go on, or are you getting the picture?

The radical Left has long sought an opportunity to nationalize America's health care industry. This is put forth under the umbrella of "good intentions" and "care for the poor and uninsured". They have demonized the very industry they desire to dominate. With the dumbing-down of the public education system over the past few decades, the Left now caters to those who appear to lack any level of common sense or the ability to critically analyze/think for themselves.

They tried in the 1990's to accomplish this sacred goal with HillaryCare. That attempt fell flat on her face. Now, with the perfect storm scenario, with radical cRats in firm control of the White House and both houses of Congress, the holy grail has raised it's ugly head (no, I do not mean Hillary), again. If you listen to the hype and intensity coming from the Left, concerning the takeover of our health care system, you will soon realize that BO has staked his legacy on the passage of this bill. The level of importance could not be higher on the Left or Right. This leads back to the corruption currently taking place. The cRats are reaching into the dark, back corners, under the dirty rags left in the hull of the moldy and putrid damp ship in order to find some way to cram this bill down our throats.

There is absolutely nothing they are not willing to do to make this happen! Besides the bribery, threats, etc.; Hairy Reed is planning on using "reconciliation" to get what he wants in the Senate. That word sounds harmless and somewhat official, but what it means is that he is breaking the Senate rules to cheat on the voting for Obamacare. The Senate is required to pass bills by a 60% majority. Reed does not have that many who will support this process so he plans to use a process that is only intended for use in the reconciling of financial budget items. Reconciliation bills only require a 50% vote to pass.

The House, under the dictatorship of QP, is even being more blatant in the trashing of the Constitution and House rules. She plans to use the "Slaughter Solution" to get the Senate version of the healthcare bill on to the President for his signing, which will put all of us under this new law. QP is planning a vote, probably this Sunday, on a "rules bill". Since she is having trouble even lining up cRats for a yes vote sufficient for a simple majority, she is being devious with the rules bill. What this rules bill will include is a list of amendments that the House wants added to the Senate bill that was passed. But, it also contains the statement that falls under the "deem and pass" provisions. "Deem and pass" takes two issues and combines them into one vote. One issue is voted upon and the second is considered (deemed) to be passed by a majority vote on the first.

QP is taking the bill that represents the largest public takeover of any portion of the private sector (health care represents 16% of our gross national product - GNP) and attaching it to a vote on some rules. It is treating the unconstitutional, major bill for healthcare as a minor issue that is not worthy of it's own vote. She will have the House vote on rules and then deem the Senate version of the bill to be passed by the House. That way, the Representatives can go home for Easter break and claim that they did not vote for the healthcare bill, they only voted on some rules and minor amendments to the Senate bill.

Once Obamacare is deemed passed by the House, the Senate version of the bill will be sent to BO and he will sign it into law. The Senate will then have to take up the amendments passed in the rules bill and consider whether they will pass the changes to their bill. Chances are that they will not. So, all the amendments added by QP in order to buy cRat votes for the rules bill will not become a part of the new law. In other words, QP is willing to do anything and promise everything to her puppets on the Left to get them to vote "yes". It does not matter how much she promises them, they will probably not get it.

The Constitution requires that any bill must be passed by both houses of Congress before it goes to the President. We will be getting healthcare without the House ever voting to pass the bill.

So, you may ask, what is so wrong with the healthcare bill? Wake up and smell the roses! You just may be a victim of public education (see above). This bill is not about covering the uninsured. It is not about reducing costs. It is not about lowering premiums. It is not about any solution to the ills currently in the health care industry and it will not fix any problems that exist. It will not lower premiums or improve care, in fact, we are being told that for many, premiums will increase. Care will be rationed by a government worker. Medicare will receive a half trillion dollars less in funding. We will be taxed and charged penalties. The quality of care will decrease and the wait for care will increase.

So, what is this all about? It is all about control! The Left wants to increase government control over each of our individual lives. This is the reason for the whole process and is also the reason why the particulars of the final bill are not as important as just getting it passed and signed into law. Once they have their law, they will begin amending it to get it fine-tuned into what they really wanted in the first place.

Folks, we are being governed by an element that is full of corruption and with bad intentions. If this passes, our country will never be the same again. That is not an over-statement!

Remember, they were at war with us but we were not at war with them. The Right slept and tried to reach-across-the-aisle in a series of attempts to "get along" and gain approval from the dominant bully in the room. Well, it did not work and now we find ourselves right smack in the middle of the battle.

War Jourrnal - March 18, 1945

B-26 Nose Art - Just Take Us Home Again Kathleen

Je Reviens - I'll Return

3/18/1945
Tuesday
#30 - Silver cluster mission today - Bombed in support of Patton's Army in the Saar Valley today. We were to totally destroy the town of Bad Durkheim - due west of Mannheim. Two wings & two groups went in on the same target. Clouds cover obscured details. - Had a mid-air collision over the field this morning. One plane exploded and blew two others together in formation killing about twenty men.

War Journal - March 17, 1945

B-26 Nose Art - Ice Cold Katy

Hank's Yanks

3/17/1945
Monday
#29 - Bombed the Dillenburg bridge again today. Half the group went here and the balance went down South to hit a barracks area. It was a visual mission. Made three runs but results weren't too good. We received very little flak but the ones down south were shot all to pieces. They had several wounded and crash landed a couple of ships.

War Journal - March 15, 1945

Flak-Bait at Beauvais, France in March of 1945. This plane now hangs in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. It became the B-26 with the most missions flown in WWII. It was at the same base in France where dad was stationed and he believes he flew one mission on this plane with most of it's crew.

Pappy's Pram - This was Dad's plane and is believed to be the B-26 with the second most missions in WWII. This photo is at Beauvais, France; at the base where they were stationed. Having the second most missions does not get you into the Smithsonian, but instead, this plane was destroyed at the end of the war, just like most of the B-26s in Europe.

3/15/1945
Saturday
Mission #28 - Flying constantly these days. Pathfinder is trying to develop a new technique for bombing so six of us were sent out today on an experimental mission. We bombed just behind the Remagen bridge head. We were only a small flight with no escort but managed to come back without being attacked. They always pick this sqdn. for pioneering every new development in bombing. That is a compliment to our record but also pretty dangerous.

War Journal - March 14, 1945

Trying out the AA guns at our base.

El Lobo Loco - This is the ship we flew across the Atlantic.

3/14/1945
Friday
Mission #27 - Dropped bombs on a small town & railroad junction furnishing supplies to the Remagen bridge head area. Good results. There wasn't much flak but it was very accurate. The ship on our right wing was shot up pretty bad with one man wounded and the one on our left wing was shot down. The ship spun in - Pappas saw three men get out but only one chute open. It was a new crew on their 2nd mission (Lt. Logue). We are flying deputy lead regular now. The Lord is protecting us because we received no holes. It was getting pretty close and I heard the plane explode when it was hit.

War Journal - March 12, 1945

B-26 Nose art - Gasparilla IV

An 88mm shell went thru this tail without exploding. Pehr was in the tail at the time.

3/12/1945
Wednesday
Mission #25 - Dropped 250's on town of Frondenburg just north of Iserlohn. No flak. In the afternoon made a run on the town of Frankenborg (#26) due west of Kaln about 75 miles. Carried a front line infantry man along with us just for the ride. No flak - both missions PFF.

The Slaughterhouse

The cRats have sunk to a new low and that is hard to do with all they have tried lately!

One way or another, they intend to impose some form of healthcare control on all of us. It does not matter to them that a large majority of the public (their bosses) do not want any form of what they are selling, they are going to give it to us anyway.

Queen Pelosi does not appear to be able to round up enough cRats to vote to pass the Senate version of Obamacare. This is in spite of the cRats controlling Congress by about 40 votes. If the House members insist on making changes to what the Senate passed, it would have to go back to the Senate for another vote. The last time, it passed with the slimmest of margins and they do not want to have to take it back there for another vote. There are enough cRats in the House that do not want to vote for this mess that QP cannot round up votes for passage.

So, along comes Louise Slaughter, House Rules Chairwoman (D-obviously), with her brilliant idea. The transparent cRats have been holding numerous meetings behind closed doors - even closed to many cRats - and this is the latest idea they are floating. The SlaughterHouse committee would bring a rule for a floor vote that would basically state that with passage of this rule change, the Senate version of the healthcare bill would be "deemed" to have been passed by the House. This ploy would make it possible for cRat House members who are afraid to vote for healthcare (due to we the people back home), be able to pass healthcare without having to claim they voted for it. They could claim that all they did was pass a rule but they never voted to pass healthcare.

There is just one small problem - the Constitution! This idea would Slaughter the Constitution, again - something they do not seem to be bothered by, in the least bit. The Constitution requires that all bills be passed by both houses of Congress before being sent to the President for signing into law. This new rule idea would bypass the House ever reconsidering this bill or passing it with a vote.

Time Spent Waiting

What are you waiting for?


If you are not waiting, right now, you have been recently. We all seem to find ourselves waiting for something much of the time. So, what are you waiting for, right now?

In a poem by Horace is the latin phrase, "Carpe diem", which means, "Seize the day". There is a Rabbinic phrase, "And if not now, when?"

Some would add the negative connotation of, "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (I Cor. 15:32). Here, Paul, writes as to what our attitude should be if we had no hope of a resurrection and spiritual life after this physical life on earth.

As Christians, we do have a hope of salvation and eternal life in heaven with God. So, with that ahead of us, how should we be redeeming the time? Whenever we spend time waiting on something or someone, minutes and hours and days are lost.


God does tell us to "wait on the Lord". This instruction is relating to God's timing, our patience (or lack thereof), and learning to be led by the Spirit of God. It would be great if God were the only one that we spend time waiting on, but He is not.


We seem to find something to wait on and a reason to postpone action and obedience on a routine basis. Sometimes, waiting is an excuse we use for the fear or intimidation we feel. As long as we can claim we are waiting on someone or something, we have an excuse for inaction. As relates to God and His Word, this inaction can be disobedience, just as not waiting when He leads us to can be disobedience.

What are you waiting for? Is it any of these: love, justice, revenge, miracle, healing, joy, peace, happiness, wealth, work, vacation, children, retirement, acceptance, friendship, approval, forgiveness, help, understanding, ministry, planting, rain, harvest; or are you waiting to cry, mourn, rejoice, sing, be happy? Do you believe you are waiting on life or for death? Are you waiting on any of a thousand things before you take the next step or are you really only waiting on God to provide the direction?


I wonder if we might claim to be waiting on God at times when He has not instructed us to do so. The opposite can also be true, when we cannot sit still when God is wanting us to wait.

How do we know the difference? Is God telling us to wait or move? One thing that we must honestly examine is our heart - our motive for action or inaction. Pray and ask God for clear direction and open eyes to honestly examine if we are using an excuse to not follow the Spirit. Have confidence that God desires that we obey, and thus, that we have a heart sensitive to His leading. When we are honestly seeking His direction, He will provide.


Wait on the Lord, but be careful not to let too many other things cause you to wait and wait and wait. The days are short, make use of the time you have to do good and what is right in the sight of God.

War Journal - March 9, 1945

Nose art - Dixie Hurricane

A-"bomber" pursuit plane

3/9/1945
Sunday
Returned from a 2-Day pass in Paris yesterday. The bomb line has moved up to the Rhine River along the entire front so it makes our missions shorter and easier. We are alerted to move on April 5 to a field in the vicinity of Brussels. Also we are changing to A-26's - the change being completed about May 5.

General Update

As of the first of March, it has been one year of blogging with 369 postings during the first year. For the few of you who read these, I hope you have enjoyed them.

I have been gone for a few days and just caught up on a couple war journal entries. I will try to get some more photos scanned over the next few days so you will also have those.

I just finished typing the war journal entries for the month of March and beginning of April into my computer. There are some amazing entries coming up during the next month. I wasn't even there and some still brought tears to my eyes typing them.

If you are wondering what has happened to the political postings, I have not lost interest, but have been really busy lately and not had the time to do those. Don't fret, I have notes and ideas for upcoming blogs.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate any comments you may have to any of the blogs.

War Journal - March 5, 1945

3/5/1945
Wednesday
#24 - To the city of Stadtmeckenheim south of Bonn about 10 miles. PFF & Gee went out so we tagged onto another group going in 20 minutes after us and bombed. Received moderate flak in several places.

War Journal - March 3, 1945

3/3/1945
Monday
Mission #23 - To the city of Schwelm about 15 miles west of Dusseldorf. Carried incendiaries & dropped PFF. There was flak in several places but not too bad. This was the second mission for this group today. This morning they went to the same place we went yesterday afternoon. They were shot all to pieces this morning. Lost one ship from another sqdn. Strange and two other men were wounded from this sqdn.

War Journal - Mar. 2, 1945

Pappas and Miles - Miles was from Infantry and visited us one week and flew several missions with us.

3/2/1945
Sunday
Flew two missions today. First one to the town of Simmern (south Koblenz) to bomb a bridge. Oboe & Gee both went out so we brought our bombs back. It was PFF. No flak. Second to Wiesbaden to bomb Ord. Depot. Bombed PFF-moderate-inaccurate flak but we came through unscratched again.

War Journal - Feb. 28, 1945

2/28/1945
Friday
Bombed bridge at Dillenburg again today. It was PFF-very little flak and an easy mission.

War Journal - Feb. 25, 1945

2/25/1945
Tuesday
Today's mission was extremely long. Bombed a bridge between Herborn and Dillenburg - about 35 miles NE of Koblenz. We drew a little front line flak near Trier but none over the target. Made three bomb runs but still missed the target. We were in the air 4:35 minutes - only had 50 gals. gas left when we landed.

War Journal - Feb. 24, 1945

Edwards, Santos and Foil

2/24/1945
Monday
Had an easy mission today for a change. Dropped incendiaries on the town of Viersen - light flak & no fighters - (NW Dusseldorf).

War Journal - Feb. 23, 1945

2/23/1945
Sunday
Pappas went on a mission without us today. Lt. Cox & seven others were killed from a direct hit on the bomb run. Maxwell was injured.

War Journal - Feb. 22, 1945

PRO photo made following low level mission. (This photo was used in a newspaper article about Dad being able to use his guns for strafing.)

2/22/1945
Saturday
Today we had the thrill of pulling the 1st successful low level mission in the ETO from B-26's. Bombed the small rail junct. of Lang Gons from 8000 ft. then dove to house top level to strafe the rail junction at Butzbach, both about 25 miles north of Frankfurt. Received weak flak on both missions. Two ships crashed and blew up on takeoff killing one officer. During the strafing Col Smith (our CO Sqdn) was shot down-killing himself and 7 others. On the bomb run Kiel accidentally released our bombs early but 5 out of the 8 made direct hits on the target. Maj. Sebille led our flight. Our ground speed was approx 360MPH when we strafed. It was quite a thrill but twice would be too much! Maj. Sebille is our new temp CO. The two flights from this squadron was the only ones that strafed-the others circled above and waited. For the first time in ten missions one of my guns jammed-right when I needed it most. Some new crews came in yesterday & some old ones leave for the States tomorrow. With few exceptions this makes us the veterans of the best known and leading B-26 Sqdn & group in the ETO.

War Journal - Feb. 21, 1945

Three friends just returned from a mission.

2/21/1945
Friday
Bombed a bridge over the Weser River near the town of Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. Visual mission - moderate flak - one hole in our ship but two Purple Hearts in our flight. It was another penetration to the maximum of our range - 4:30 hrs. I was air sick again due to 1 1/2 hrs continual evasive action. Just Pap, Ed & I flew on our crew today - with Lt. Sorrenson in our newly assigned 802 "Pappy Pram". It was its 125 mission. Got a good look at Belgium, Holland & Rhur Valley. Saw one huge formation of B-17's - approx 300 to 400 in it.

War Journal - Feb. 15, 1945

Results of mid-air collision. Propeller from another plane ripped through about 8ft of this wing. The plane flew 400 miles like this. Strange is the one on the wing.

2/15/1945
Saturday
Got back here late last night. Our squadrons made two missions while we were gone yesterday. Lost two ships yesterday but the crew from one is known to be safe. Today two more ships were lost. Pappas & Kiel flew with other crews today. Pappas' ship got about 35 holes in it. Lee's ship (with Kiel) was hit over the target but are believed to be safe somewhere - we will know tomorrow. The other ship went down over the target in flames. Three of my best friends were in it. - Martin, Singe & Lanston. Four chutes were seen to open - so maybe they are PW's. We are on alert to go out tomorrow but so many ships are shot up it may be impossible.

The Garbage Can

So much is going on in Washington that I found it necessary to issue another Garbage Can posting.



1. During the past few days it has been snowing in the nation's capitol. "Non-essential" federal employees were told to stay home. 240,000 accepted the offer to not go to work. By their own admission, almost a quarter of a million government employees (just in Washington) considered themselves to be "non-essential". If the average cost, to we the people, is $50,000 for each one of them, we the people could save $12,000,000,000 each year by eliminating their non-essential positions. At the same time, there would be 240,000 less bureaucrats messing with our lives. (Did you ever notice that cRats applies to DemocRats as well as bureaucRats?)



2. BO has proposed a spending "freeze" for next year for "non-essential" expenses. As the irony is obvious with the use of that phrase, I will refrain further comment. It is noted that the 2007 budget was $2.7 trillion. The 2010 budget is $3.9 trillion which includes a deficit of $1.6 trillion.



3. Evidently, there are nine Toyota plants in America. They employ hundreds of thousands of workers. Four of the governors who have Toyota plants in their states have written to the BO administration and asked them to stop bashing Toyota.



4. Some good, more local news. Now that Janet Nappy is no longer our governor and we have a iCan in office, Governor Brewer has just pulled Arizona out of the coalition of southwest states whose purpose is to fight global warming and greenhouse gas emissions.



5. Michelle Obama has apparently referred to her two girls as being fat. That has got to help how they feel about themselves. I thought BO had placed his daughters as "off limits" for public comment and photos. I guess he forgot to tell his wife that she should not make them the poster children for her new program on childhood obesity. My humble opinion - MO better not look in a mirror.



6. A group of North American Muslim leaders has issued a statement that proclaims that it is against their religion and considered to be against their standards of modesty for a Muslim to be required to pass through the airport security scanning machines. Now that Arab women are being trained for suicide bombing missions and with the recent news that explosives are being used as breast implants on these same women, it just seems to me that respecting this "religion of peace" request might be a little over the top. Not only does this open all of us up to potential terrorism from unscreened passengers, if they give in to this, but it would also give BO a claim to "jobs created" by the vendors at the airports doing "rent-a-berka".

War Journal - Feb. 13, 1945

88 mm flak damage.

Direct hit by a burst of flak in the nose - Johnny Strange received a purple heart for this.

13-Feb
Thursday
On Feb 13 we pulled our 15th mission & it was suppose to be a rough one with our deepest penetration of any B-26. It was to Iserlohn, Germany about 50 miles east of Dusseldorf. We were in Germany more than two hours with the whole mission over 4 1/2 hours. It was a very easy mission actually with light Flak & no fighters as expected. Our generators were bad all the way - our Gee Box out part of the time - and one prop locked at 2400 on the bomb run. We did a lot of sweating getting out of Germany and was nearly out of gas when we reached France again. Made an emergency landing on an advanced fighter strip 11 miles from Metz near a small town of Jarny. Stayed in Jarny that night and had to get a new prop motor sent over from our field. Purchased me a German Mauser rifle for 1000f from one of the guys.

(This journal entry was actually the first part of the 2/15 entry. Since it was dated, I have posted it on that date.)

Nothing to Win

We all know the saying, "nothing to lose". The iCan'ts in Congress are in a position, right now, with nothing to win.

With growing public opposition to BO's and the cRats Healthcare plan(s), with division even between the House and Senate versions, with the inability to keep the cRat majority's votes all lined up, and finally with the election of Scott Brown (R)-Massachusetts to a Senate seat previously held by a cRat; the steam-roller process is sunk in the mud. Without some major change or shift of some sort, the current plan to have the federal government take over the nation's health care system and also gain a sizable amount of control in each of our lives, is dead.

As good of news as that is, the battle is not over. We heard various cRats making statements about the demise of Healthcare legislation, but behind the scenes, BO and the cRat leaders are still scheming as to how to resurrect this 2,000 page bill that is on life-support.

I have to hand it to them, they came up with a pretty diabolical proposition. BO has called for a bipartisan summit on Healthcare. He said that he wants to sit down with the iCan'ts (not the word he used) and hear their ideas. He wants to work out the differences in the plans and he still wants to get this monster legislation passed.

Why do I believe this is such a clever move on his part? The media and the Left are constantly calling the Right, "partisan", as if that is something bad. The Right is always being accused of not working with the Left and just being "the party of 'No'". BO has repeatedly announced that the iCan'ts only stand in the way of progress and do not have a plan of their own to present.

The iCan'ts easily get their feelings hurt and do not like any labels from the cRats. So, instead of being proud of standing up with a loud "NO", they seem to be tempted to "reach across the aisle".

There is danger in being sucked into this "bipartisan summit" debate. First, if the iCan'ts just say "no", it will further support the Left's claim that the Right refuses to work with them or have a solution. If they say yes, they will attend, there are other pitfalls. Second, if they resist (as they should) taking any claim to any portion of the Healthcare bill, they again set themselves up for criticism for not compromising. Third, if they offer compromises to improve the bill, they will be expected to then vote for passage of the legislation. If they have input in the wording, then the cRats can legitimately claim it is a bipartisan bill and the Left would not have to shoulder full blame for its contents come election time.

The Left can see that we the people do not want any part of this legislation. They are seeing the fallout in the voting booth over the past couple months. They do not want the voters to be able to only blame them come November.

Right now, the iCan'ts have been acting like iCans. They have to stand their ground and make sure they do not leave any fingerprints on that legislation. We the people want that bill to die a quick death and never see the light of day again. We do not want a compromised version that has been made "not quite as bad" due to their input.

Stay away from any association with this process of passing Healthcare. "Just say, No!" If they will do that, come November, we will just say "Yes!"

V-Day

V-Day

By: Mike Foil

So, what's a girl want,

February the 14th day?

Is it rhyme or song

Or her name in a melody?

Could the answer be found

In twelve roses that are red,

Or maybe a dinner and dance

For an evening instead?

Is the answer hidden

Within a Hallmark card,

Or having her name in lights

On a baseball scoreboard?

Maybe what is perfect

Lies in diamonds and gold.

You can't go wrong with chocolate,

Or so I've been told.

So, I finally asked her,

What will show her my love?

Oh you silly fellow,

It's all of the above!

War Supplement

Pappas and Edwards ready for a mission.

I recently had a conversation with Dad where some items about his experiences in WWII were discussed. I thought I would pass these items along to you.

Most of you have heard of the famous B-26, "Flak Bait". It is the plane that hangs in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. It became the B-26 that had the most missions flown. It so happens that Flak Bait was flying out of the same air field in France where Dad was stationed. As it was common for someone from one crew to fly with members of another crew from time to time, Dad believes that he did make one mission in Flak Bait. At that time, this was just another plane and had not gained special status.

Dad told me that he kept himself in good physical shape. He knew that if he were to ever be shot down over enemy territory and if he survived, he would have to put considerable distance between him and where he came down within a very short period of time. If not able to do that, capture or worse was almost a certainty. He felt like he could run a few miles in the first half hour and then trot all day long. If an airman were to make it back to France, he could attempt to contact the French underground who would work to return you to American forces. He said that this process could take months but that the French were very good at this job.

He said that when a plane would be shot down, the crews that returned to base would never hear what happened to anyone one that missing crew. They would not know if they died, were captured, escaped or were wounded. If they made it back to friendly territory, they were not sent back to their base, but were usually sent home. In thinking about this, my only conclusion as to why this was policy would be that if the crews never heard, they could always imagine the best for their missing buddies.

When flying missions, only the pilot could communicate with other planes and this they did on a very limited basis. When using the radios to talk back and forth, the Germans could pick up the transmissions. To communicate within the plane, an intercom system was used with the crew using throat microphones. These fit against the front/sides of the throat and picked up vibrations. It was too loud in the plane to use regular microphones.

On a B-26, the tail gunner sat on a small bench to operate his two 50-Cal. guns. There was one waist gunner who could use guns on either side of the plane as needed. The waist gunner would sit between the two guns. Dad said that the waist gunner on his plane had a serious fear of being hit through the bottom of the plane. So, he got an extra flak vest and sat on it. Each member of the crew wore flak vests which consisted of small bars of steel held together so that it would be flexible. As you can see in some of the photos I have posted, they wore a parachute harness, but not the parachute. The chutes were to bulky to wear all the time. They were kept nearby and each man was supposed to grab it and clip it onto the harness in case they were going down.

And, as a teaser, stay tuned to the blog as there are some amazing days in Pappys Pram coming up during the rest of this month.

Garbage Can

The Garbage Can is a collection of political crap from the past few days. Dig in...

1. After BO gave the State of the Union address, our dear Keith Oberman from MSNBC, stated that BO has to be one of the 1,000 smartest people in America. He was not sure where BO might land in that number, but he has to be in the top 1,000.

2. BO has submitted his new budget for the next fiscal year. You may have heard that it includes the plan to scrap the NASA manned-space program, the return of the US sending a man back to the moon, the planned production of the next generation of Space Shuttles. Instead of NASA proceeding, he wants the US to pay private companies for giving our Astronauts a ride to space. He then wants NASA to become an organization to monitor global warming. This seems to fit right in with his claims of "saving or creating jobs". How many jobs will be lost if he follows through on this hair-brained plan?

3. The terrorists are getting more creative in suicide bombings. First we had the "shoe-bomber" and now we all have to take our shoes off at the airport screening. Recently, we had the "underwear bomber" (what will we have to remove for that screening?). Now, we are being told that they have recruited females as suicide bombers as they are less likely to attract attention or be physically searched. To conceal the explosives, they are being implanted in the breasts, just like an augmentation procedure. Remember, we are dealing with those in the "religion of peace".

4. An older news story recently gained attention, again. In late 2008, the cRats proposed in Congress that the government confiscate all private retirement accounts and place their control under the Social Security Administrator.

5. The Federal Government has given a grant of $3.9 million to a liberal group, which is not surprising. This group is to use the money to create a video game for the purpose of helping public school teachers instruct children (ages 9-14) in morality. While playing the game, each child will be in control of a virtual character (VC) that represents them self. The VC will be presented with opportunities to buy and use drugs and have sex. The hope is that kids will make the right choice and "just say NO!" No need to worry, all kids playing video games always make wise and moral decisions for the characters they are playing. That is why the violent games are such duds on the store shelves.

6. The cRat media are making a bid deal over Sarah Palin having a couple notes written on the palm of her hand for her speech to the Tea Party Convention last Saturday night. They are using this as a way to attack her intelligence. As always, they do not think things through and failed to see how they were setting up BO. He cannot even speak to 6th graders without a TelePrompter. Palin, knowing they are now watching to see if she has notes on her hand, wrote "Hi, Mom" for them to notice.

How is that "hope" and "change" working for you?

Mom in wagon and Aunt June standing.

Mom, Uncle John and Aunt June

Mike, Mom, Ron, Grandma Starr with Mike

War Journal - Feb. 7, 1945

White mud on me from working on runway.

Pappas doing his "share" of the work.

Officers and enlisted men working on the runway.

7-Feb
Wednesday
Five days ago an inspecting General condemned our landing strip. The recent thaw completely undermined our field. The choice of either moving or fixing this one was given us so we are fixing this one. Every man (officer & EM) has been slinging a pick & shovel on a 24 hour basis ever since. Ships should be able to land & takeoff tomorrow again.

(From photo album - February 5, 1945 - Beauvais, France - Our runway contained more than ninety bomb craters. In three months 93 planes crashed on this runway. Here we are rebuilding it.)

Black History Month

As most of you are aware, February is the government sanctioned and approved month for celebrating racism. Yes, racism; not the overcoming of racism.

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. would not have approved and I believe would have been outspoken against "Black History Month". MLK had a dream that we, as a country, would get beyond black and white - that the color of a person's skin would not determine good or bad about them. He looked forward to our only judgement being about the person himself, what is his character?

The very essence of Black History Month flies in the face of overcoming racism. By it's nature, it is designed to keep race, especially black against white, as a front-line issue. As long as we continue to have segregated celebrations, colleges, chamber of commerces, etc.; we will continue to promote racism.

Racism is not just bad when it is white supremacy, it is also bad when it is black supremacy. The skin-heads, Nazis and KKK are on the same level as the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground and Malcolm-X. Both extremes are wrong and both are racist. Racism is the belief that one race should not be on the same level as the others, whether above or below. To believe that blacks belong on a lower level than whites or the opposite, that black-power rules, is racism.

In our country, when white people promote an exclusively white organization or event, they can expect a knock on the door by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). The next thing they know, they are in court trying to defend their racist policies. But, when black people promote an exclusively black organization or event, there is a double-standard and nothing happens. Why? One reason is the same as was brought up during the last presidential campaign - "white guilt". Evidently, there are those in positions of power and authority that believe the white people have something to feel bad about as it relates to blacks and for that reason, we should allow the blacks to have racist policies that blacks would not allow whites to have. In some strange and twisted logic, that is supposed to make things better.

There is one other explanation for no one doing anything about things such as Black History Month, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, etc.; and that would be that we do not care. We do not believe that we have to sue someone every time they promote the people in their race or defend exclusively their own race.

Either way, the segregation of such things based on race will never help solve the lingering issue of racism. Blacks do not like being excluded from "white-only" country clubs and they shouldn't. But, they do not seem to have a problem with black-only clubs or colleges.

We are racist or we are not. It is not just racism when whites discriminate against blacks, it is racism when blacks exclude whites. It is racism to have Black History Month just as it would be to have White History Month. It would be racist to have a Chamber of Commerce to promote the businesses of only white people, so why is the opposite acceptable? It should not be!

For some reason in this country, the concept is promoted that only whites can be racist and when other races do what whites are not allowed to do, it is acceptable. When the pendulum swings from one side to the other, we have not solved the issue of racism. Until it settles at the mid-point, where neither side has advantage and neither side desires advantage, we will not get past this. Racism will end when race, of any color or nationality, ceases to be an issue or a means for self-promotion. Until African-Americans become Americans (period), racism will continue.

Blacks should be protesting against Black History Month (whites cannot do that because it would just be seen as racism). They should be demanding that it be changed to American History Month where the good and bad of our history is taught about the various groups of people who have come together to make America what it is today. In each and every stage of American history there have been men and women of all colors play prominent roles - just as there have been the same doing terrible things against their fellow Americans.

We, as a nation, have recently elected a black president. If you opposed him during the campaign or his policies since he took office, you were labeled as being racist. No one wanted to point out that it is racist to be for President Obama because he is a black man.

We must get beyond the color of skin and see deeper into the soul of the person. I believe that a strong majority of Americans are not racist and that the racist beliefs of the minority are not acceptable to the majority. Yet, it is the outspoken minority that gets the attention. We will continue to have this discussion until the blacks tell Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to stay home and mind their own business.

Do the Math!

As Congress goes back to work, after their well deserved Christmas break, they will need to pass legislation to raise the ceiling for the national debt. Unless they do this, they would have to stop borrowing and spending. Right now, our government averages spending around $10 billion per day - yep, that is $10,000,000,000 each and every day.

A brief history of the debt ceiling:
1996 - $5.5 trillion
March 2006 - $9 T
October 2008 - $10 T
February 2009 - $12.1 T
Now they want to raise it to around $14.3 trillion.

When Obama took office the debt was at $10.6 trillion.

So, how much is $14,300,000,000,000 ($14.3 trillion)? It amounts to approximately $43,000 for every man, woman and child in our country. That is your share of the national debt. Whatever portion of that number that you do not pay off in your lifetime will be passed on to the next generation for them to pay their share and the rest of your share.

If you spent one million dollars each day (which is $11.57 per second), it would take 2.74 years to spend one billion dollars.

If you spent one BILLION dollars each day, it would take 39.18 years to spend the new debt ceiling of $14,300,000,000,000. It would take 39,000 years at the rate of one million dollars per day.

The circumference of the Earth, at the equator, is 24,900 miles. It would take 262,944,000 dollar bills, end-to-end, to reach around the world. Our new national debt would reach around the world 54,384 times. Dollars stacked on top of each other, flat, require about 250 to be one inch thick. That means that this stack of dollar bills that reaches around the earth would be approximately eighteen feet tall.

Are you mad yet?

President Obama just released his requested budget for the next fiscal year. He anticipates spending 3.8 trillion dollars during the coming year with $1.6 trillion of that being unfunded by projected revenues. In his speech he warned us that we all need to not spend more than our means. In other words, Obama wants us to be more careful with our spending so we will have more for him to spend. He does not seem to mind that 40% of his budget is beyond his projected revenue income for the year. It is also noted that his projected revenue includes around $650 billion from the currently unpassed legislation of "Cap and Trade". So, if that does not get passed, it would mean that around $2.2 trillion would be unfunded by revenue - over 50%.

Washington has not got the message. They are completely out of control. They think nothing of spending another $100 billion here and there.

Are you mad yet?

The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi uses a jet for her travel. She is not catching a ride on a military jet, she has assigned to her a corporate type of jet for her use. I just heard that her travel costs for last year were $2,100,000. We pay for that! It included over $100,000 in catering food and adult beverages. It was also reported that we paid for trips across the country for her kids and grandkids, where she was not with them. It was also reported that she made 31 trips where relatives went with her.

Are you mad yet?

Our "public servants" appear to feel entitled to live like royalty, at our expense.

I am mad! Are you mad yet?

Frank's Birthday

February 1, 2010; is Frank's birthday.

Frank who? How old is he? Why am I writing about someone I do not know?

Frank W. Buckles was working for a shipping company in Manila, Philippines in the 1940's. The Japanese captured him in 1942 and he then spent the next three and a half years in the Los Banos prison camp. He was rescued on February 23, 1945.

Frank Buckles was honored by President Bush in March of 2008. He has testified before Congress. Congress gave special permission for him to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery whenever he dies.

So, who is he? Why single him out?

Frank Buckles is the last living Doughboy. The name of Doughboy was given to American Army soldiers in The Great War (WWI). Cpl. Buckles was born on 2/1/1901, and is now 109 years old. He has outlived every other American soldier from WWI. His trips to Washington D.C. have been for the purpose of getting a memorial to those who fought in WWI built on the mall in Washington.

When America joined the fight in Europe during April of 1917, Frank tried to enlist. He kept being sent back home as they would not believe he was 18, as he claimed. He was only 16. Since that stretch of age was not working, he tried a new tactic. The next recruiter asked him is age and he claimed to be 21. He was welcomed into the Army.

He has been interviewed many times for various magazines and newspapers. During an interview with The Washington Post, he was asked what was his secret to such a long life. His answer was "Hope". He then added, "when you start to die...don't."

Happy birthday, Cpl. Frank W. Buckles.

Information is from Wikipedia.org.

War Journal - Jan. 29, 1945

Pappys Pram - 802 - This old wreck has been given to us now. It has 125 missions and still going strong. It brings us back every time. It finished war with 172 missions.

Foil in upper turret of B-26.

Sgt. John Strange in nose of B-26.

29-Jan
Monday
Mission today was to the small town of Kall near Fuskirchen. Solid overcast all the way - no flak & no fighters - PFF with good results. Believe we destroyed the whole town. It was a milk run.

B.I.O.B.

BIOB - Bring it on, Buddy! Even though that works, it is not right.

BIOB - Blame it on Bush! Will we ever reach a point where BIOB ceases to be a point made in a presidential speech? Probably not as long as BO, or BOOBB (Barack Obama our biggest blunder - BOOB for short) is in office.

Our cry-baby president, or as Rush would say - "The man-child", owns no responsibility for anything that goes wrong but somehow assumes all credit for anything that he believes has gone right. You may argue that you have never seen BOOB take all the credit. That is only because it is so rare that anything has gone right since he was elected.

BOOB seems to always BIOB, no matter what the issue or when it happened.

BIOB - BOOB had to cause the unemployment rate to go over ten percent.
BIOB - BOOB had to take over the auto industry.
BIOB - BOOB has had to spend at a record deficit level (almost four times the deficit for Bush in the previous year).
BIOB - BOOB could not get unity from the democrats to pass healthcare.
BIOB - BOOB has no respect from foreign countries.
BIOB - BOOB is giving the rights of citizens to foreign terrorists.
BIOB - BOOB's stimulus bill has been an utter failure.
BIOB - fill in the blank...The Chicago fire, Global Warming, WWI, Cain killing Abel, the Flood, etc...

What BO Said...

Tonight BO gave the State of the Union address. This is what he said:

I blah blah blah
Bad Republicans
I blah blah blah
I, I, I, We, I, I, I
I blah, blah, blah
It was Bush's fault
I blah, blah, blah
Republicans need to work together
I blah blah blah
Michelle blah blah blah
I, I, I, I
God bless America

My take is that BO again showed himself to be a lying hypocrite. He twisted facts, refused to accept responsibility for his own blunders, has not learned from recent setbacks, etc.

He claimed that Bush had a one year deficit of over one trillion dollars for his last year - that BO inherited. The truth, Bush had a record year deficit of $400 and some billion dollars. In BO's first year, he has a deficit of almost four times that amount.

He claimed that he had no lobbyists in policy making positions. The fact, he has several lobbyists in his administration.

He attacked earmark projects but signed bills with thousands of them included (over 5,000 just in the stimulus bill).

He challenged Republicans to present a plan for our problems. The fact is that they have been trying to do just that all of last year, only to find that they have been excluded from any input or deliberations.

He claimed to have lowered income taxes on 95% of families. The truth, he lowered withholding tables but income tax tables are unchanged. This means that people took home more of their paycheck but now that it is tax time, they have to make that difference up on the tax bill.

It was a typical, partisan, political speech - uninspiring and full of rhetoric but short on specifics.

War Journal - Jan. 27, 1945

Foil looking down from balcony of Hotel du Paris on Rue de la Madeline.

Paris taxi.

Foil in Paris motel.

27-Jan
Saturday
Returned from Paris today for the second time. Did not have a big time as before but enjoy a nice quiet two days doing nothing. Looked up Waver Thomas from Franklinton and went out with her one night.