Ex-NBA Hoopster Fights in Iraq

I got this from GNN.com, such remarkable men and women we have serving our country. Thank God every day and night for them. Here is another good story for those of you sick of the scumbag Ted Kennedy bullshit. Thank you Spc James and to all your brothers in arms.


By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports
MIAMI (Aug. 31) - Tim James apologized for being late. A rough day at work, said the Miami Heat's 1999 first-round draft pick. Vehicles broke down, problems flared up, and he simply fell behind.
"It happens," James said. "Even here."
Even on the front line of the Iraq war.
A former NBA player who often wondered about his true calling, Tim James is now a U.S. Army soldier, a transformation that even many of the people closest to him never saw coming.
I got my degree, lived the life I was able, have my freedom and became a professional athlete," James said last week from Iraq. "I'm the example of the American dream."
James is at Camp Speicher, the massive base near Tikrit, 85 miles north of Baghdad, not far from Saddam Hussein's hometown and where insurgents still are a perpetual threat. For Miami Northwestern High, the Miami Hurricanes, three NBA teams and some foreign clubs, he was forward Tim James. For the Army, he's Spc. Tim James of Task Force ODIN - short for Observe, Detect, Identify, Neutralize.
In layman's terms, he's part of the unit tasked with watching and catching the bad guys before they plant bombs.
So long, charter jets, enormous paychecks and Ritz-Carlton hotel stays.
Hello, 130-degree afternoons, 12-hour work days, $2,600 a month and 50-caliber machine guns.
"In life, we all have different desires and needs,'' said Leonard Hamilton, James' college coach and now the coach at Florida State. "With the passion he has, he had to go fulfill this. I'm in total support of Tim and what he's doing. He's at peace. All we can do is hope he comes back safely.''
James spent years thinking about the prospects of a military career. Drafted 25th overall by the Heat, James' NBA career barely registered a basketball blip: He appeared in 43 games for Miami, Charlotte and Philadelphia, never starting and never scoring more than seven points in a game.
So he went to play overseas, making a fine living in Japan, Turkey and Israel. By 2007, his playing days were done. After months of deliberating, he made the difficult decision that would take him away from his family and 5-year-old son, whom James still tries to talk with by phone every night. Even so, Tim James Jr. doesn't understand where his dad is.
"I think of myself as a patriot," James said. "I wanted to give back to a country that gave so much to me."
James is believed to be the first former NBA player to enlist and then serve in Iraq. Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman quit football to become an Army Ranger and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.
James joined the Army on Sept. 12, 2008. The training was brutal, even for a 6-foot-8 basketball player whose athleticism had drawn raves since junior high school. James slept outside in frigid night air, scaled seven-story towers, endured 10-mile marches ("with full battle rattle, as they say," he said), and learned how to take apart and reassemble his weapon.
He never questioned if he was making the right decision.
"I have no doubts," James said. "I have no regrets. Not one bit."
His 12-month deployment to Iraq started in late July. On his second night there, James was awoken from a sound sleep, completely startled.
Machine gun fire. The sound of war.
Understandably, it took a while for him to fall back asleep.
"It's a pretty impressive thing that he's doing, making the transition from where he was then to where he is now," said James' captain, Curtis Byron. "Such a small percentage of U.S. citizens are in the military or are veterans, doing their part to protect the nation's freedom. Putting that life behind you, setting aside any thoughts you had before about the military, that's impressive."
Byron said James didn't tell most members of his unit that he used to be an NBA player. James not only didn't want the attention, he didn't want to be treated differently than anyone else.
"He's very humble," Byron said. "To him, it's not a big deal at all."
Oh, but it's a very big deal to the Heat.
They preach family inside the Heat complex, and even though James played only four games, he's forever part of the Heat family. Rob Wilson, the team's director of sports media relations, helped arrange for two boxes of T-shirts and posters to be sent to Iraq as a morale booster. They should get there this week, unless sandstorms delay the arrival of mail - a common occurrence.
Included in that package is an 8-minute, 31-second DVD, with greetings to James from several members of the organization. Another DVD from the Heat is already in the works, and the team is already planning to honor James at a home game this season.
"I just want to wish you good luck, man," Heat captain Udonis Haslem, who wears No. 40 to honor two of his idols who had that number - his father and James - said on the DVD. "God bless you and keep doing what you're doing."
"Stay focused,'' said Heat center Jamaal Magloire, a former James teammate. "Never let your guard down and get back to us safe."
"You're not like any other basketball player out there,'' Heat assistant coach Keith Askins said.
Since 2006, Miami has given a center-court tribute to soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan at every home game, a program Heat president Pat Riley developed and called the HomeStrong initiative.
He said he cannot wait for James to get his due.
"The work we do, while being important to us, is made possible by the efforts of our soldiers in the Middle East," said Riley, who coached James in his lone season with the team.
James can't discuss specifics of his mission, although Byron said the unit should not face "the direct threat" of enemy action.
The stakes are higher than any basketball game, for certain, but James says he can still draw the parallel between fighting on the court and fighting for his country.
"I've been in the heat of the moment on the court in the fourth quarter, tie game, and yes, you would think that's a battle," James said. "There's nothing I hate more than losing. To be here, risking your life, it's definitely another level. It's like a scouting report for a game. All you can do is try to execute your mission. A loss here, that could be a lost life."
2009-08-31 10:05:06

Liberal Lion Sleeps

So the last bootlegger's boy has died. Sorry ya'll I just cannot muster up any tears for this guy hell for the family. The old man set out to build a royal-like family in the U.S. How many had there been up until that point? The Astors, the Rockefellers. The Astors owned pretty much all of NYC when the country was just starting out and they opened up the northwest coast trading in furs and things from the orient. Rockefeller, simple Standard Oil. It ruled this nation, This was the only company ever that was too big to fail. So what happened? The government busted up the trust and the result was John D. Rockefeller tripled his wealth nice job "progressives." So big Joe sees this and realized the next big thing in moneymaking is prohibition. Running a little molasses for rum and some offshore liquor pick-ups; how else did you think some south Boston micks wound up in Hyannis. At the same time the motion picture industry explodes and he sees how these people are treated as royalty in the press. This he sees firsthand during his affair with Gloria Swanson. He is enthralled by the attention and craves more he will use his sons and get them hooked on this drug, the self obsession that no one is more important than me.

So Joe jr. was chosen to be President but he was killed serving in WWII. The honor was passed to John who severely injured injured his back serving in WWII. He survived to be a senator and later President of Camelot. Robert worshipped his brother and was with him every step of the way until JFK was assassinated. So Robert then ran for President and looked like a winner until killed in LA. Then Edward was up "Teddy" as he was known liked where he was as senator. Personally he just wanted to be a playboy, an idiot son of a millionaire, if you will. Let's see kicked out of Harvard for cheating, killed a young female campaign worker while DUI. Womanizing and alcohol abuse ruined his marriage and he and Senator Dodd became the drunken frat boys of the senate, it would have been laughable if these two jackasses were not elected multiple times. Of course his failed run for President for President in 1980, imagine if Reagan had buried him then, but he saw the light and got out at the convention. Then like the stand-up guy he is he said he did not want to worry his mother after what happened to the last two brothers. The Kennedy name has lost some its luster under his leadership no one was ever allowed to outshine Ted and now there is a void in leadership that no one seems to want to fill. But in our cult-of-personality society the funeral will be an all day affair full of pomp and pompousness just the way he would have wanted. Real quick statement on the Catholic church he was a divorced, pro-abortion liberal but I guess hypocrisy knows no bounds when it comes to this family. A friend of mine remarked that he is playing football with his brothers in heaven now. They all cheated on their wives all may have or may not have killed people, Ted definitely did. Last time I checked those are not prerequisites for getting into the Pearly Gates, I'm just saying. In Ted's legislative life he has cost taxpayers billions to trillions of dollars in helping to make this country more fair. I ask you, in his 47 years in the senate is this country more fair or are people still trying to do that. Forty-seven years of desecrating the Constitution with his liberal philosophy and he has changed nothing. I gotta say I hate to see him go. But you all know my favorite thing about liberals as stated in the right hand column.

From New Jersey, I Cannot Believe It

Sending you a photo of the flag that I fly in front of our municipal building in Riverdale, NJ.


I first put it up in place of the NJ state flag, because of the oppressive behavior of our state government. The regulations and mandates imposed upon the towns never ends and most of the time are meaningless, bureaucratic nonsense, whose only purpose is the increase the size of government and to remove as much money from the citizens, leaving them with little to withstand the oppressors. Then the state blames the small towns for the high property taxes in NJ. This flag went up about four years ago.

Personally, I am a Ron Paul Republican. Though I run as a Republican, I find little in common with the hierarchy of the GOP. I no longer refer to myself as a conservative, since the neo-cons have usurped the label and twisted its meaning. Now, when asked, I am a constitutionalist, a believer in the US Constitution, the greatest freedom document ever written by man, to be interpreted and upheld as intended by its authors, not some freedom-thieving court system.

I believe the Gadsden Flag, with its rich history symbolizing freedom and resistance to tyranny, should be flown along side the country's flag by all freedom-loving citizens. If enough people read and understand Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution and fly the flag, I hope and pray that the movement to undo the coming Obamanation of Desolation will succeed.

Thanks for all you do in the name of freedom.

Wm. Budesheim
Mayor

Now, understand that I do not agree with everything he says, but it is a step in the right direction. Especially when you are talking about the People's Republic state I freakin live in. Keep moving in the right direction and get the word out. I did not think a politician in this state had this kind of balls. Got this from http://www.gadsden.info

Emotional Baggage

When the time comes that your intellectual argument has run its course and you can no longer persuade anyone new to agree with you, a new tactic must be employed. If your appeal to the mind failed you must try to appeal to their hearts. Emotional appeals from the government about legislation; I ask you, is that what we want? Is that what 63,000,000+ retards voted for? I thought he was too intellectual for something like that. His ability to persuade is "legendary." I guess he cannot convince people with facts and figures only with emotional appeals. Let us not judge him too harshly, when your legislation is so very un-American it is tough to get real America loving citizens to go along. Moreover, when the thesis is wrong your argument does not have a chance and the more Americans that become educated with this democrat plan and who in that party favors it, the more people who like their freedom are going to reject it. Their "plan" is so good that now a majority of American believe that no plan is better than this "plan." Barney Frank wants to know what planet his constituent are from because they disagree with him and carry signs of Obama with a Hitler moustache. Hey, if it walks like a goose stepping socialist and governs like goose stepping socialist, guess what the moustache fits.

This plan is exactly the way is was written in Animal Farm. All are equal only some are more equal than others and not everyone has to be in this plan. Only those of us peons who work for a living. Congress does not have to participate nor do unions gee I wonder why that is if this is such a great plan. Why is it they are not included shouldn't they be protesting to get in for their own good? Congress is writing this legislation but like all laws they are not subject to it, just ask them. Yet people still feel this is a good piece of legislation, seriously how deluded are you fuckers? I understand that some of you are socialists and communists but there is not nearly enough opposition to this bill(s). All of you "moderate" morons who voted this circus into office should be ashamed of yourselves and immediately begin mass suicides. How can you say that? Simple. If this gets passed we can never ever come back from it. America as we have known it is over and government gets total control over every aspect of our lives. Everything we do can be directly correlated to our health. What we eat, how and what we play, where and how hard we work, where and with whom we choose to live. We should not even be this close and if you look down from this edge you will see the abyss.

Obamie Whine Kenobe

Seriously, this guy gets a little opposition and he runs for the hills? Have a little backbone Obama, for God's sake you are the POTUS. I have never seen a coward (even Bill Clinton) act this pussified in the face of a little opposition. But I guess when your whole life has been making people like you or like you said in book your making "white people comfortable" with you this is only how you could react. I cannot decide if you are a wolf in sheep's clothing or a sheep in wolf's clothing either way it is not good for America. This is why your approval ratings have dropped even though the stock market in up 40% since March and you and your mouthpieces have declared the recession over. Of course 3,000,000 people have lost jobs since you were inaugurated; so much for stimulus billions now to save the economy and jobs with shovel ready projects. What are we left with rising debt to never be paid off we are worse today than most 3rd world debtor nations we cannot support ourselves and everything you propose only makes the debt grow. You are full of shit Mr. president and "We the People" have had enough and are beginning to call you on your rhetoric. This whole health care debate has been nothing but a Trojan horse, in that, liberals never intended it to only to cover the uninsured children. It has now reached a point that makes it unlawful to have your own private insurance. So I ask you what did Obama know and when did he know it? Do not forget that Fuckface-in-Chief has yet to deliver his ideas to the American people. I believe there is a House plan and 4 or 5 bills coming out of committees in the Senate. Where is the Rahm/Obama plan I ask you?

Today's report that there will not be a public option as part of the now "insurance reform" bill is complete bullshit. Let's face it the lefties would go ape shit way worse than what we see at town hall meeting from Americans not willing to give up their freedoms. The White House is letting this stuff out into the open; I wonder what he is telling his commie and socialist pals behind closed doors he has to be lying to someone. So what do the smartest people on earth do to get correct information out there about a plan they have not even let anyone see? They set up a web site to send them information who, what, when, where and how of people sending false information about said nonexistent plan and tell us they are not gathering information or compiling an enemies list. Hey at least Nixon never tried pass himself off a nice guy. That is right I compared him to Nixon I wonder if Hillary will be on the Committee to impeach Obama? So today they shut the site down. I guess it is not that important to get the "truth" about this "plan." Once just once can this fucking asshole and his fucking assholes in the west wing stand for something and stick with it. I am aware that actually coming up with a plan for anything, putting it to paper and actually having to defend something they came up with in the court of public opinion too way too scary for these pussies.

Thug Time...Again

Well when you expect everyone to go along with every little word that comes out of your messianic mouth then they don't; you will be left with no alternative but to attack them verbally. We are a mob. Yes a mob. The most brilliant man on earth surrounded by the "best and brightest" liberals that governmental power can buy and this is the best word they can come up with. Not a good mob like those assholes that protest the G-7 summits or the ones that protest at the GOP and DNC conventions but a mob paid to protest by insurance companies. Seriously, this is your strategy for combating the protests to government takeover of the health care of the citizens? Now I am not a "tea party" guy, I am not really up for standing around yelling and chanting without a target. These people who show up at the "town hall meetings" and confront the democrat congressmen and senators are what real Americans are made of. The government machine is broken the people have had enough of it and they are voicing their opinions. So now what does the DNC leadership come up with? NAZIs, the nuclear bomb of insults now we who dislike this presidents ideas are NAZIs. Nice real genius work here. Especially because how much you all love symbols the one has chosen a symbol for the health care package look almost exactly like a NAZI symbol the Reichsadler.


The Reichsadler also had the eagle on top and the leader's symbol of totalitarianism underneath. I thought it wasn't about him. That is what he keeps telling us. I guess fewer and fewer Americans are buying his smooth pimpin' talk. They are beginning to see through this spineless jellyfish who still has not come forth to deliver his whole idea/plan for "health care reform." The people are getting closer and closer to realizing that it is not reform he is after but a complete and total government takeover. Making us all dependent on government for health care, yes I too shudder at the thought. So Just like Hitler he wants to have as much control over our lives as possible. We are to be made wards of the state because they do such a great job with those. I would say he is just plain mad but we know that is not true he is just a typical anti-American liberal fucking asshole. Who now attacks U.S. citizens as if they were mere subjects is his kingdom. Could this guy and his minions be bigger scumbags? Its thug time ladies and gentlemen and I cannot wait to see where they are going to from here.

No Shit.

I have been saying this for over a year now. Everybody eventually comes around to my way of thinking. At least the intelligent ones do.