Poor Anthony Mantova

At OYE we've chronicled the cowardice of Anthony Mantova over the years and even wished him well after he stepped away from politics and opened a business in California. But unfortunately for Anthony someone alerted the local residents about his past.

From Craig's List:

ANTHONY MANTOVA THE YELLOW ELEPHANT (EUREKA)

Read all about this young republican douchebag wannabe... http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2006/08/leadership-institutes-anthony-mantova.html

I DEFINITELY speak with my money and will NOT patronize this freak's store and will tell EVERYONE we know. And trust me, as parents of youths involved in the music scene, we spend a LOT of money. It just won't be supporting this gasbag.

He can have as many friends as he wants post messages on R&R, trying to make it sound like everyone supports him, but it's only a couple of his cronies & himself, posting OVER AND OVER......I noticed he's blocked his facebook page too, so we can't add him as a friend and tell him what we REALLY think of him. He's also removed all references to himself and his contact info off his store's website. Coward....or should I say TYPICAL CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN...big mouth until someone calls you on it, then have a panic attack and run and hide like a paranoid freak. Textbook!

Anthony you're no intellectual genius...you're an idiot. An idiot that has just sunk his business.

Location: EUREKA it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1817983888

Jeez, we hate to think we may have somehow effected the professional life of a gutless war-cheerleader.

Republican Senators Blocks Homeless Veterans Bill

Had Senator McConnell not weaseled his own ass out of serving he may have realized the importance of this bill.

Such a tolerant group of guys

At least they're good in basketball, right?

Back in April, Duke University junior, Justin Robinette, was forced to give up his position as chair of the Duke College Republicans. According to the campus group, the unanimous impeachment vote was in response to several instances of unprofessional conduct. However, according to Robinette, it was because he is gay.

There is no proof that Robinette was in fact removed due to his sexual orientation. Members of the group cite numerous instances in which Robinette "pushed" a lot of formally active members out of the group and fixed group elections. However, we are not told of any specific instances.

Cliff Satell, former College Republicans vice chair, spoke out, saying the impeachment was premeditated. "It was set in stone before anything happened," he said. "These people, all of them, voted three weeks ago to re-elect Justin. And during the three weeks where it was discovered that he is gay... the next meeting that was held... he is impeached."

Everyone who enlists has their reasons

RIP

When Russell Madden signed up for the Army two years ago, it was with one purpose – to provide medical care for his son.

Four-year-old Parker suffers from cystic fibrosis.

“Where he had been working he had no benefits or anything like that,” said Madden’s sister Lindsey Madden, “so he joined because he knew that Parker would always be taken care of no matter what.”

Madden’s family learned Wednesday night that the 29-year-old Bellevue High School graduate had been killed in Afghanistan. Madden, a private first class, died that morning when his convoy was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade, his sister said.

Our Question for Henry Kissinger

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger discussed Afghanistan strategy June 24 in the Washington Post:

I supported President Obama's decision to double American forces in Afghanistan and continue to support his objectives. The issue is whether the execution of the policy is based on premises that do not reflect Afghan realities, at least within the deadline that has been set.

Dr. Kissinger also joins other friends of the Tricia Nixon Cox family to host a June 29 fundraiser for her son, Christopher Cox, age 33, who is running for Congress in New York's First Congressional District [Suffolk County, Long Island].

We certainly understand family loyalty and longstanding friendships and have no problem with this. However, because Dr. Kissinger continues to engage in public debate on Afghanistan, here is our question for him:

Background: On 09/11/2001, Chris Cox was a single man in his twenties; we assume he is eligible to serve in our military because he did not respond to our very general question asking him directly.

Question: Do you think that Chris Cox can legitimately be asked whether he has ever considered volunteering for military service, and that the people of New York's First District, whom he hopes to represent in Congress, are entitled to know the results of his deliberations?

Older Recruits Stepping Up

Wow.

TAMPA — Kim Medeiros jogs around her block in Brandon wearing a sauna suit. Then the 41-year-old mother of three pulls off the trash bag-like poncho, angles herself on a picnic table and starts knocking out pushups.

Medeiros joins the Army in September. She says it offers her a new, more fulfilling career path than her current job as a court clerk.

We wish Ms. Medeiros the best as she prepares to head off to boot camp after summer concludes. We also wish to thank her sons for their service.

Scumbag

Yuma Arizona mayor, Al Krieger, unleashes the homophobia.

At a Memorial Day service honoring fallen troops at the Desert Lawn Cemetery in Yuma, AZ, Mayor Al Krieger decided that it was appropriate to denigrate the brave LGBT men and women who have served this country:

"I cannot believe that a bunch of lacy-drawered, limp-wristed people could do what those men have done in the past."

Not surprisingly, Krieger is strongly opposed to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. In a new interview with local NBC station KYMA, Krieger defended his remarks, saying that America’s greatest presidents would have agreed with his remarks:

"I’m reluctant to compare myself to George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, but I did get some feedback, and I don’t think I said anything different than what they would have said."

The only good thing about him is he lets his bigoted thoughts be known. Believe it or not those that share his sentiments but remain quiet are actually an even lower form of life.

Setting the over/under at 48

This isn't even the Harlem Globetrotters vs. The Washington Generals, it's more like The Washington Generals vs. The Washington Generals.

CANTON- The Stark County Young Republicans are set to square off against the Stark County Young Democrats in a game of hoops June 19th. The basketball game will be held at the Meyers Lake YMCA (formerly the CYC) located at 1333 North Park Ave NW, Canton, 44708. Tip off will be at 7pm. Proceeds generated by the Stark County Young Republicans will be used to help finance the Ohio Young Republican Convention that they are hosting June 25th-27th in Canton.

If someone sends me video of this game I'll send them a free OYE T-shirt.

Also if someone guesses the total # of points scored in this 'game' correctly in the comments I'll send them a free OYE T-shirt.

NOTE: Each # can only be used once. So if the total # of points scored is 22, and three people guess 22, I'll send the T-shirt to the first person that had this guess. 1 guess per name and or IP address. All predictions must be in by tip off.

I'll make up more rules if necessary (just in case someone like Jason Mattera wins).

My little nephew will be so excited

Apparently 2nd graders are now dictating policy.

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Tuesday that he thought the military should keep its ban on openly gay service members in part because he did not want to open a national discussion about homosexuality. The chairman, Representative Ike Skelton, a conservative Missouri Democrat, said he thought the debate in Congress over the proposed repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy might force families to explain homosexuality to their children. “What do mommies and daddies say to their 7-year-old child?” Mr. Skelton asked reporters at a news media breakfast.

More lame than partying with your in-laws

I once subjected myself to seeing boozed up Young Republicans in person. I'd rather shower in prison than do that again.

Indeed, a full bar was flowing and lovely, fancy hors d'oeuvres were passed from uptight white person to uptight white person. It was then that I noticed the "9/11 Explosive Evidence" T-shirt man. His sideburns seemed almost aggressive as he pushed past us towards the asparagus pizza. The back room of Palio is gorgeous, but it isn't huge. And the John Dennis folks filled up a little more than half of it. The crowd was certainly older. There were lots of well-dressed ladies and silver haired men, but I was most impressed with the collection of very beautiful, very similar young women. I stood in the middle of an Ann Taylor catalog and hoped my big hair and pearls were helping me blend.

All of a sudden, Ann Taylor Model Number 12 announces to the 30 or so of us gathered, "The candidate is arriving! Let's all go outside and greet him!"

No one reacted and she continued to plead. They actually wanted us to walk back through the restaurant and out the front door to stand on the sidewalk and applaud as John "Defeat Pelosi" Dennis arrived. I looked at her like she was nuts.

Vet wins Democratic nomination in South Carolina

So much awesome in this.

An unemployed military veteran has stunned South Carolina Democratic Party leaders by winning the nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint.

Thirty-two-year-old Alvin Greene of Manning defeated 64-year-old Vic Rawl of Charleston in Tuesday's primary. Rawl is a former judge and legislator, who had about $186,000 cash available and had already scheduled a fundraising event for Thursday.

Greene raised no money in the contest, had no signs and no website.

Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler says she hasn't seen Greene since he filed to run. She says Greene will be a much weaker candidate than Rawl going into November against tea party favorite DeMint.

She says people who didn't know either candidate and voted alphabetically may help explain Greene's win.

Update: Alvin Greene lost in the General Election.

Winston Churchill agreed with Operation Yellow Elephant

From Paul Fussell's Thank God for the Atom Bomb [The New Republic, August, 1981], we see how real servicemembers at risk, and their loved ones, viewed criticism of the atomic bombs vs. a full-blown invasion of Japan, with an estimated 1 million U.S. deaths, not to mention millions of Japanese civilians. And here's an example from the U.K.:

And Winston Churchill, with an irony perhaps too broad and easy, noted in Parliament that the people who preferred invasion to A-bombing seemed to have “no intention of proceeding to the Japanese front themselves.”

OYE Comment:

Fussell said it best. Concerning a noted economist:

On the other hand, John Kenneth Galbraith is persuaded that the Japanese would have surrendered surely by November without an invasion. He thinks the A-bombs were unnecessary and unjustified because the war was ending anyway. The A-bombs meant, he says, “a difference, at most, of two or three weeks.” But at the time, with no indication that surrender was on the way, the kamikazes were sinking American vessels, the Indianapolis was sunk (880 men killed), and Allied casualties were running to over 7,000 per week. “Two or three weeks,” says Galbraith.

Two weeks more means 14,000 more killed and wounded, three weeks more, 21,000. Those weeks mean the world if you’re one of those thousands or related to one of them. During the time between the dropping of the Nagasaki bomb on August 9 and the actual surrender on the fifteenth, the war pursued its accustomed course: on the twelfth of August eight captured American fliers were executed (heads chopped off); the fifty-first United States submarine, Bonefish, was sunk (all aboard drowned); the destroyer Callaghan went down, the seventieth to be sunk, and the Destroyer Escort Underhill was lost. That’s a bit of what happened in six days of the two or three weeks posited by Galbraith. What did he do in the war? He worked in the Office of Price Administration in Washington. I don’t demand that he experience having his ass shot off. I merely note that he didn’t.

Hat tip to Flyboys: A true story of courage, by James Bradley.

Even More Politicians Claiming Service That Didn't Happen

Have all these jokers lost their minds? They act as though there's no such thing as Google.

Enter Congressman Gary Miller:

Congressman Gary Miller of California has a long and checkered history of ethical run-ins since being elected to the House of Representatives in 1998. For those keeping score at home, please consult this report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has rated him as one of the most corrupt members of Congress.

It turns out that Miller, who is on the Republican leadership team as assistant whip, also appears to have seriously inflated his military background. He hasn’t done so in as grand a manner as Richard Blumenthal, but the situation raises serious questions about his honesty (as if there weren’t enough already).

And here's Arizona Governor Jan Brewer:

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer finds herself under scrutiny after telling a newspaper that her father "died fighting the Nazi regime in Gemany." In actuality, Brewer's father, Wilford Drinkwine, passed away from lung disease in California, ten years after World War II had ended. Brewer's comments were made to The Arizona Republic newspaper, and came as she was discussing her state's polarizing new anti-illegal immigrant law, which the governor signed into law last month.

"Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that... and then to have them call me Hitler's daughter. It hurts. It's ugliness beyond anything I've ever experienced," Brewer told the paper.

OYE Comment: As a Civil War Veteran that served with the Air Force, it disgusts me to hear these fictitious accounts that cheapen the accomplishments of the truly brave servicemen.

Republican Senate Candidate Embellished Military Service

Not exactly on-topic, but now it's the Republicans' turn. Their nominee for Senate in Illinois, Rep. Mark Kirk, has apparently embellished various aspects of his military service on several occasions. Rep. Kirk is a Commander [O-5] in the Naval Reserve and performs his reserve duty during Congressional recesses, including, most recently, in Afghanistan. However, the story is getting bigger by the day.

OYE Comment:

As we have said before, accuracy about military service is essential. This includes the media's responsibility to understand the terminology, and use it correctly. It is quite honorable to serve in a support role for combat operations, even outside the country in question, but accuracy remains essential. Thank you.

Update: Mark Kirk won and was sworn in as Illinois' newest Senator the same month.