Duane Hammond Stagehand Fired for Wearing 'Bush' Shirt and Hat

Duane Hammond, a union worker in IATSE Local 33, has been told he will be brought up on charges for dressing inappropriately. The stage was in the process of being erected for a Barack Obama and Sen. Barbara Boxer rally. Hammond, in a radio interview with Sean Hannity this minute, says he believes  Obama and the White House had nothing to do with this. He believes his own union is solely responsible.

Duane Hammond's Sweatshirt

Hammond was told to remove his hat and turn his sweatshirt inside out. The shirt says "USS George H. W. Bush" with a picture of the ship. Hammond's son is serving on the USS George H. W. Bush. He says he only sees his son for a short time once a year.

The shirt and hat were worn to honor his son. His union supervisor has no honor, and Hammond was fired.

James Wright, a business representative from IATSE Local 33, says the union is still investigating what happened.

"If he was sent home because of the sweatshirt, he will be paid for the day," he said.

Hammond told Hannity he only went to the press when he was threatened with being charged. In the video he says he was humiliated...that he was only wearing his "son's flag, so to speak."

USS George H. W. Bush

My prediction is, Obama will step-in and this man will get his job back. If he doesn't, he is incredibly stupid. A 'thank you' Duane Hammond and his son for supporting and defending the USA. 

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Content Scrapers: If you take my work for your own website, be sure to give me a link back as shown above.

About Obama on The View

My time on the computer has been short the last few days. If I had written about "Obama on The View," this is what I would have wanted to write, but could not have, because Reaganite Republican has a unique way with words. Read the quintessential "Obama on the View" at The Reaganite Republican.

Christians Discriminated Against in Britain: Nurse Banned for Wearing Cross

Shirley Chaplin, a nurse in a British hospital, is banned from working hospital wards for wearing a small cross on a chain around her neck...a cross that she has worn for 38 years, including all of her time at Exeter Hospital.  Muslim nurses wear head coverings, and if you know anything about our friends across the pond, you know that Islam is protected at great lengths to the detriment of English citizens.

Rose of Sharon Jewelry

The problem stretches farther than the practice of Christianity. Some 640 teachers, school governors and "faith leaders," are decrying compulsory sex education for primary school students - even as young as 7 years old.

"There have been numerous dismissals of practising Christians from employment for reasons that are unacceptable in a civilised country."

This is an important story. It will be the "story" in the U.S. before long if we are not vigilant.

Lawrence O'Donnell Mark Thiessen: Scarborough Dumps O'Donnell

In the video below, Joe Scarborough, host of Morning Joe, had Lawrence O'Donnell and Mark Thiessen as guests to debate trying terrorists in military courtrooms or civilian federal trials. Mark Thiessen, a former speech writer for George W. Bush went first. Scarborough called O'Donnell into the conversation and from that point on, O'Donnell didn't give Thiessen a chance to be heard. O'Donnell spit-out every angry word. His rage was palpable. Scarborough finally dumped him after a break.

Eventually, when Scarborough cannot get O'Donnell to shut-up, he goes to break and says he will be back to interview Thiessen by himself. The transcript below the video does not include the last half with just Scarborough and Thiessen.

This is not the first time that O'Donnell has had a meltdown on television. He appeared with Joe Scarborough in 2004 with John O'Neill, the co-author of Unfit for Command. The viewpoint of the book, and 264 Swiftboaters who served with John Kerry, was that he was unfit for the Presidency. In that interview, O'Donnell called O'Neill a "liar." In fact in 16 lines, he used the word "liar," or a derivative of it 37 time, including "creepy liar," once. Read that unhinged rant here.

Scarborough, O'Donnell and Thiessen (video)


Begin Transcript:

SCARBOROUGH: So let me ask you, Marc, you heard Jane Mayer say yesterday that, 'My gosh, there's no difference between reading somebody their Miranda rights and what the military did as far as performance goes,' so why was Jane Mayer wrong yesterday, in your opinion?"

THIESSEN: You gotta think back to the period after 9/11. We didn't even know who hit us. We didn't know that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of 9/11 or the operational commander of Al-Qaeda. And then we started rounding up these terrorists. We caught Abu Zubaydah. We caught Ramzi Binalshibh and KSM. And these guys provided us information, under questioning by the CIA, that stopped a number of terrorist attacks. They were planning to blow up the US Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. They were planning to blow up our Marine camp in Djibouti. They were well on their way to recruiting a cell of terrorists who were going to fly an airplane into Heathrow Airport and buildings in downtown London, and they were going to -- And KSM had recruited a cell of Southeast Asian terrorists called the "Guraba" cell, because he knew we'd be on the lookout for Arab men, to fly an airplane into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, the tallest building on the West Coast. This program [interrogation without Miranda rights] is why we did not have another 9/11 after the attack.

O'DONNELL: You as a former, uh, speechwriter in the White House, you took an oath of office when you took that job that you might or might not remember. (screaming) You actually publish a BOOK that says that the president of the United States -- on its title! The president is inviting the next attack. Isn't...it...true that the -- 

THIESSEN: Lawrence? Lawrence, it's the morning.

O'DONNELL: -- president you work for invited the first attack the --

THIESSEN: Lawrence, that's ridiculous.

O'DONNELL: -- by having no idea what was going on with Al-Qaeda? 

THIESSEN: That is ridiculous. O'DONNELL: You just admitted that the --

THIESSEN: All right. Please. SCARBOROUGH: Lawrence, let him answer. O'DONNELL: -- when you were hit on 9/11, you just said, we didn't know who hit us. THIESSEN: Here's the record, Lawrence. O'DONNELL: (screaming) You said, we didn't know who hit us! THIESSEN: Lawrence? SCARBOROUGH: Let him answer.

 O'DONNELL: You were told who was going to hit you --

THIESSEN: Lawrence? Lawwwwwwwrence?

O'DONNELL: -- before we were hit on 9/11 --

SCARBOROUGH: Let him answer.

THIESSEN: Do conservatives get to talk on this show, at all?

O'DONNELL: -- AND YOUR ADMINISTRATION --

THIESSEN: Lawrence? Lawwwwwwwrence?

O'DONNELL: -- INVITED THE FIRST ATTACK --

SCARBOROUGH: Lawrence, let him answer.

O'DONNELL: -- FOR WHICH YOU SHOULD LIVE IN SHAME! 
 
THIESSEN: Listen, here's the record. When the Obama administration's approach -- the law enforcement first approach was working -- the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the bombing of the USS Cole, the bombing of --

O'DONNELL: (screaming) TALK ABOUT THE BUSH PRESIDENCY FROM THE DAY --

THIESSEN: -- the bombing of our embassies in Karachi and the 9/11 attacks --

O'DONNELL: -- HE WAS SWORN IN UNTIL 9/11 --

SCARBOROUGH: Hold on a minute.

THIESSEN: Can I get a word in?

O'DONNELL: -- WHAT DID THE BUSH-CHENEY --

SCARBOROUGH: Wait, wait.

THIESSEN: After the CIA too over --

O'DONNELL: (screaming)

SCARBOROUGH: Let's stop.

THIESSEN: -- no attacks.

SCARBOROUGH: We're going to break right now. 

End transcript


Thanks to RushLimbaugh.com for the transcript.

Network Media Silent on ClimateGate: Day Fourteen and Counting

Is it possible that NBC, ABC and CBS have never reported the slightest thing about ClimateGate? That appears to be the case. The greatest science scandal in the world, and the mainstream media doesn't report anything. I don't watch every minute of these three, in fact I watch little from them, but Brent Bozell's Media Research Center is watching.

Brent Bozell

The following report of 14 days of total silence on ClimateGate from network media comes via Media Research Center:

Day Fourteen and Counting:
December 4, 2009

Alexandria, VA – For the fourteenth straight day, the three broadcast networks have failed to report on the great and growing ClimateGate scandal on their weekday morning or evening news programs.  How to explain this?

Perhaps it is that ABC, NBC and CBS have not yet heard of the story, despite two weeks of non-stop reporting on and discussion of ClimateGate in a whole host of media outlets.

Perhaps the broadcast networks only trust their fellow liberal press outlets, like the New York Times.  Perhaps they don’t realize the Times exhibited journalistic diligence on ClimateGate, with a front page story the day the story broke.

In the event that ABC News, NBC News and CBS News missed the news, the Media Research Center (MRC) is today rushing each of them a copy of the Times story, in the hopes that armed with this new information, they will finally report a story that has been roiling nearly everywhere else for a fortnight.

So as not to offend the networks’ pro-global warming sensibilities, MRC President Brent Bozell is looking to have the stories delivered by bicycle messenger.

Bozell:

“Ignorance is no excuse under the law, but maybe we should stop criticizing and start showing compassion for NBC, ABC and CBS and their neglect of the huge ClimateGate story.  We are more than happy to help rectify their knowledge deficit – via a network-friendly source and in an as environmentally-friendly a way as possible.

“We think that once the networks read the story of ClimateGate in their vaunted New York Times, they’ll feel compelled to report it themselves.  

“We very much look forward to seeing the fruits of their labor.” 

Thanks for this tip to David Lemon - who sculpts the most beautiful clay and bronze. If you are looking for an original piece of art, visit David here.


Related and Background:
Ocean Rise; Sea Levels Rise Never Began: Scientists Withdraw Claims of Sea Levels Rising

ClimateGate Phil Jones: No Global Warming Since 1995 Says Jones

ClimateGate 2008: Media Assisted Polar Bear Hysteria: Polar Bears Vanishing? Uh, no. And the Senate Knows it

Hottest Decade in History? Maybe Not - Earth-Based Climate Stations Manipulated

*****Phil Jones Hides Data from 42 Weather Stations

Inhofe Family Igloo Mocks Al Gore's Global Warming

Paul Dennis ClimateGate EMail Leaker? Were the Emails really hacked?

IPCC ClimateGate Grow: Counterfeit Claims about Netherlands 

ABC Questions Climate Forecasts: Can Climate Science be Trusted?

ClimateGate: Global Warming Bullies 

ClimateGate Scientist Phil Jones Not Prosecuted: UAE Asks for Jones Resignation  

Murari Lal Glacier Scientist: Unverified Data Used for Political Pressure

Copenhagen Junket Cost Millions - Millions for Failure: Inhofe on Copenhagen Caviar

Copenhagen Hopenhagen Nopenhagen? Rajendra Pachauri Apocalypse Now

EPA Endangerment Finding: Obama's Carbon Dioxide Pollutant: Obama TopDown Control

Andrew Watson Marc Morano: Andrew Watson Calls Marc Morano A-Hole

Chris Horner Sues NASA? NASA Hidden Data: ClimateGate NASA FOIA
Network Media Silent on ClimateGate: Day 14 and Counting

Hide the Decline Graph: ClimateGate Hide the Decline "Trick": Jones and Mann Hide the Decline

Rajendra Pachauri Dismisses Top Warming Scientists: Jim Inhofe ClimateGate Investigation

ClimateGate Phil Jones Steps Down

Philip Jones ClimateGate: Phil Jones Global Chief Liar and Cheat 

CRU Souce Code Decoded: Marc Sheppard Finds the Fudge Factor 

ClimateGate: Global Warming Bullies 

ClimateGate Phil Jones Steps Aside: CRU Climategate Chief Steps Down

Jim Inhofe ClimateGate Investigation: Rajendra Pachauri Dismisses Top Warming Scientists

Scientists may sue Gore over "Warming and Change" Fraud

Jaws Dropped as Solar Scientist, Archibald, Praised C02

EPA Silences, Suppresses Opposition: EPA Lies

The EU's Carbon Trade: A Scheme and a Failure

The Fight for Human-made Global Warming


Important Resources:

Climate Depot

Watts Up With That?

Climate Audit, stephen McIntyre

A list of prominent scientists who have reversed their opinions

West Point is Enemy Camp? Cool Audience for Obama? Chris Matthews Enemy Video

The West Point cadets were quietly respectful as the President spoke tonight. Not once did I see a head nod in agreement. There was no rousing or resounding applause for the mission laid out ahead. This had to apparent to anyone paying attention, but this is how MSNBC's Liberal hack Chris Matthews saw it - and he saw West Point as "the enemy camp:"

Matthews said, “He went to maybe the enemy camp tonight to make his case. I mean, that’s where Paul Wolfowitz used to write speeches for, back in the old Bush days. That’s where he went to rabble rouse the “we’re going to democratize the world” campaign back in ‘02. So, I thought it was a strange venue.”

 Only a far-leftist would see West Point as a strange venue for a war speech.

NRO's Kathryn Jean Lopez said a "shameful low" was reached tonight when Matthews referred to West Point as an "enemy camp." Lopez received, and published, an email which puts tonight's audience in perspective:

Whether out of professionalism (the vast majority of cadets) or fear of punishment (the rest of them), the Corps of Cadets would never be disrespectful to the Commander-in-Chief.  In fact, West Point may be the only place in America where President Obama can simultaneously trash George W. Bush and announce an increase in troop levels in Afghanistan and not be booed from the right or the left.

 Here's the Matthews video






Chris Matthews West Point is Enemy (video)


Related:
Obama's West Point Afghanistan Speech Transcript: Breaking it down

George W. Bush vs Barack Obama West Point Speeches

HuffPo Rupert Murdoch Petition: Rupert Murdoch Barack Obama Liberal Smoke Screen

A HuffPo contributor is launching a petition to make Rupert Murdoch decide whether Glenn Beck is racist or not. The petition, according to the Huffington Post will "demand" that Murdoch "put an end to Fox's race-baiting, or admit he agrees with it." But I don't think that's what the Left is so upset about. Really, this is just a Liberal smoke screen to block out what Murdoch really said about Barack Obama. See videos below.

Rupert Murdoch

A short background to this story is that Glenn Beck made a statement that he thought Obama was racist. Rupert Murdoch's FOX News Channel hosts Beck's show. In an interview with an Assie, Murdoch said Obama "did make a very racist comment." And he said, "when you assess what he [Beck] was talking about, he was "right."

Murdoch said something else in the interview though, that the Left must really, really hate.  Just after the Beck conversation, Murdoch is asked how he thinks Obama is doing and  Murdoch said he is doing " badly," and then he cites a few polls. The Huffington Post deleted this conversation from their video and doesn't mention it in their article. They link to Politico who mentions nothing about Obama doing "badly."

So now a petition is launched to put Murdoch on the hot seat. Does Murdoch think Obama is a racist or not? That's the question.

Now you've been caught defending the words and behavior of Glenn Beck, the worst of the worst when it comes to race-baiting, whom more than 80 advertisers have abandoned--because of the very comments you endorsed.

Murdoch issued a statement after the interview that is giving Liberals some hope that Murdoch didn't mean what he said at all. This from a Beck spokesman:

“He does not at all, for a minute, think the president is a racist,” Ginsberg said.

I have no doubt that Murdoch will retreat from his support of Beck. There's very little spine left in anyone rich and famous these days. So abandon Beck. Abandon your conscience. Go ahead. We don't care anymore.

Most of us out here are fed-up with the weenie politically correct conversation going on. If anyone thinks Murdoch did not mean what he said - Obama "did make a very racist comment" - then you are indulging in fantasy. After all, that is a very clear statement. Does Murdoch think that Obama, every minute of every day, is racist? Probably not. So we will just bite our nails while we wait to see what this powerful petition brings about. LOL!







 Rupert Murdoch - Glenn Beck is right (video)





 Glenn Beck on Fox and Friends - Obama is racist (video)

Rupert Murdoch has made his controversial statements, and will now be hounded. Make your own decision, as did Murdoch, and see what you think. Watch the entire conversation between Beck and FOX and Friends to get the context of the conversation here.

Comparing News Room Headlines: MSM Ignores Gates call for decision on Afghanistan troop build-up

The White House this week told us that Fox News is not a "news" source. Since some very significant news has broken this morning, concerning the White House Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, I thought I would check out the headlines.

FOXNews is the only source reporting the "news," that Secretary Gates says we cannot wait for a decision from the White House on troop build-ups, until after the Afghan presidency is confirmed - and White House chief of staff Rham Emanuel announced that the White House must, indeed, wait. Oh, by the way, Emanuel's announcement was a total shock to Gates.

Maggie's Notebook posted on the Gates-Emanuel story at 11:a.m. CDT.

Here's a look around:

FOX News 11:50 a.m. CDT:
Gates: Troop Call Can't Wait
No Backing Down on 'PelosiCare'
Obama Aide: 'We Controlled' the Press
65 Pounds of Innocence Just Walking Home from School -- Then---

CNN.com 12:04 p.m. CDT:
Latina teens turn to suicide all too often
Texting reveals final hours of McNair, girlfriend
Afghanistan's Karzai agres to runoff
FAA Investigating balloon boy incident
"Who the hell is Wolf?" balloon boy asks
Behind the scenes in Obama's war council debate (not about Gates' latest comment)

MSNBC 12:08 p.m. CDT: Without warning bank yanks Mastercards
At rescued banks, perks keep rolling Karzai agrees to runoff vote
New vote may buy Obama More time
At rescued banks perks keep rolling
Obama taps Wall St. at big fundraiser

ABC News 12:10 p.m. CDT:
Is more help for home buyers on the way?
Karzai caves: Afghan president accepts that he fell short in disputed election
The price of fame: Are balloon boy's problems just beginning
Student Innocense Project doesn't make the grade

CBS News 12:11 p.m CDT:
Karzai to face November Afthan runoff vote
Explosions rock Pakistan University 47.4M in Poveryt, Revised figures show
Richard Heene "Terrifying, associate says
Iran delays change to prove nuclear good will
Writer of snappy "Addams Family" song dies

New York Times 11:55 a.m. CDT:
U.S. Decision can't wait for Afghan legitimacy: Gates (posted at 12:21 a.m. - now off the fp)
Vatican Sets Plan for Anglican Conversions
Karzai Agrees to Nov. 7 Runoff in Afghanistan
Hopes Fade for Compresensive Climate Treaty
Painful Mideast Truth: Force Trums Diplomacy

Los Angeles Times 12:00 p.m. CDT:
Bombings at Pakistan University
Karzai relents, agrees to runoff in disputed election
Court to say who can release Gitmo
Inmates AIDS vaccine less promising than first hoped.

Chicago Sun Times 12:03 p.m. CDT:
U. of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman resigns
Mysterious vines grow up Chicago skyscraper

Boston Globe 12:27 p.m.  CDT:
U of Ill. chancellor quits amid admissions scandal
Obama honors Army troop for heroism in Veitman
Obama stands by Iraqui troop pullout
Roberts speaks out on drunk driving case
Debate grows over United States ruling on marijuana
Michelle Obama thanks veterans Affairs employees

Others talking about the FOX NEWS room:
Right Truth - Fox News Ratings Increasing Tremendously

Related:
Obama Afghan peoples will be done: What about Iran? What about Honduras?

Nostalgia for Cronkite: How Cronkite Changed America

My last and most vivid memory of Walter Cronkite is Bill and Hillary Clinton on the Cronkite yacht. That coverage made a impression on me. I never forgot it, probably because it was a turbulent time for America. When I heard of Mr. Cronkite's death, I remembered those photographs and the media coverage - it was huge. The photo below is from August 25, 1998 and the photo caption said the location is "near Edgartown, Mass." I do not have nostalgia for Cronkite, although the remembrances have been interesting. Everyone who is "anyone" wants to tell their story of Walter Cronkite to one of America's current important anchors. The stories would be important if the real stories, or perhaps all the stories were told, which would lead us to how Cronkite changed America.

Walter Cronkite

The photo above is less than month after Monica Lewinsky delivered her semen-stained blue dress to Ken Starr. On August 17th President Bill Clinton admitted his "improper physical relationship" with Lewinsky and that evening he addressed the Nation. Eleven days later, Walter Cronkite took Clinton under his wing and offered respectability from the "most trusted man in America." JoshuaPundit at Watcher of Weasels remembers Walter Cronkite and his contribution to the Viet Nam War...remembers the disinformation, and the "abandonment of any semblance of journalistic ethics," and then links to a John Podhoretz piece at Commentary Magazine.

Cronkite didn’t know what he was talking about when it came to Tet, as the late Peter Braestrup demonstrated in his colossal expose of the scandalous media coverage of the battle, Big Story. But he knew that among the people who mattered to him, and who were the leading edge of ideological fashion, Tet was a failure because the war in Vietnam was bad, and he took to the airwaves to say so.

I hope you'll read these two posts. The Watcher of Weasels commentary is excellent. You'll find the link to Commentary Magazine there. It will jog your memory and bring some reasoning to why the media has gone so far Left.

Chicago: 36!

by Findalis What a number. A new record! Is it the number of games the Chicago Cubs have lost in the last month? NO! Is it the number of bribes any Chicago Politician took yesterday? NO! Is it the number of seconds that Oprah went without mentioning herself, Dr. Phil, or Barack Obama? NO! It is the number of young men and women who were gunned down this past school year. 36.

With three weeks left before summer break, a record 36 Chicago Public Schools students have been killed this school year, marking the third straight year that youth homicides have climbed into double digits. Chicago has surpassed New York City and Los Angeles for having the highest youth homicide rate in the nation. "I think people in Chicago have almost gotten numb to the statistics," said Dexter Voisin, a researcher at the University of Chicago who studies the impact of violence on adolescents. The latest victim in Chicago's long year of student killings is 15-year-old Alex Arellano. On May 1, he was chased, beaten with baseball bats, run over by a car, shot and burned. His body was found days after he disappeared from his family's home on the city's South Side. Police continue to investigate the killing; gang activity has been suggested. His grieving family members have denied any gang connections and continue to look for answers. "The homicide rate is just the tip of the iceberg," Mr. Voisin said. "Those with nonfatal injuries are almost 100 times that of our homicide rates. You think for about every one kid who is murdered, 100 kids witness the murder or are victims of nonfatal injuries, of robberies, muggings and gang-related incidents. A lot of times, this exposure goes undocumented or unreported." Black youths, he said, are two times more likely than white youths to fail or drop out of school, and at the same time they are also eight to 10 times more likely to be victims of homicide than whites. "I don't even know where to begin," said Diane Latiker, who runs a program for at-risk youths out of her home in the city's Roseland neighborhood. "There aren't any words for what I feel for what is going on for our youth." Ms. Latiker uses three rooms of her six-room apartment to run a nonprofit program called Kids Off the Block. She offers tutoring, mentoring and travel opportunities designed to show Chicago youths who want successful futures that the violent culture they see daily is not the norm. The local drug dealer in a big car with flashy rims, wearing cool sneakers, appears to many to be the model of success, Ms. Latiker said. "The A and B students, they have family and community support," she said. "What about the kid who is struggling, hanging out there on the street corner and joining that gang because he feels hopeless? That's what I'm hearing from our youth. They feel they have nothing to live for." Read the full story here.

Where is Jesse Jackson? Where is Al Sharpton? Maxine Waters? Why is the Daily Kos and Huffington Post both silent on this? Why is the left silent? Black children are being killed! Yet not a word about this from them. If it came out that Black children were being killed by the Chicago police, white men, or KKK members, they would be marching in the streets. But a little gang violence and they remain silent on this issue. THAT IS RACISM! Why is it that Jackson, Waters and Sharpton will go ballistic if the 'N' word is used by a comedian, radio personality or other WHITE person, but are remaining silent when a rapper like: Mac Dre, Snoop Dog, Master P, and Lil Wayne all tell young people not to snitch, don't cooperate with the police. So the murderers go free to kill again and again. The rappers get rich, the murderers get away with the crime, and the people of the neighborhood are less safe, less secure in their homes. And still the only cry that goes out is: Take away people's guns. If there were no guns, there would be no gun violence, the liberals say. The truth is that these crimes are not committed with legal weapons, but illegal ones. AK-47's to be exact. That is not the type of weapon one can walk into a gun shop and pick up. Gun control is NOT the answer. The answer is for the Black Community to stop the culture of gangsterism. It is for parents to sit down with their kids and explain to them that the rappers and gangsters are not the best role-models for them. That snitching is not wrong. That testifying in court is your civic duty. That solving one's problems with a shooting is just plain stupid. Most important it is time for Black leaders to say these things. For Black leaders to march in the streets of Chicago screaming for justice for these 36 children. For Black leaders to stand up to the gangsters and take their culture back. In September, Chicago will begin a new school year. Let us all pray that the next year will see no child shot, no child killed by gangsters. That each child will have a chance to grow up and become a useful and productive member of this great nation.