LEATHERNECKM31

Unbearable

The "snail darter" scam became synonymous with government overreach and intrusion into our lives in the 70s, but it also heralded the rise of law making through litigation by environmental whacko groups.

Now it's polar bears.

The enviros chose the junk science poster child well; people, especially children people seem to get all weepy over the world's top predator. Throw a few Nat Geo photos of frolicking cubs out, tell little children these very animals are about to be killed by Republicans driving SUVs, and Mummy and Poppy buy a Prius.

Here it is concisely stated by Hugh Hewitt, radio talker and environmental attorney:

"The short version: If the polar bear is listed, every activity that emits a greenhouse gas of any sort in the lower 48 AND which receives a federal permit or requires federal agency action of any sort --even if that permit or action is unrelated to the emission of the gases-- those activities will be subject to new review by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the approval may not be forthcoming, will certainly at least be delayed, and will almost certainly come with massive new costs attached.

"Thus coastal building programs that require federal flood insurance or Army Corps of Engineers permits, highway construction that gets FHA funding, or joint NASA-private industry initiatives that result in launchings, all these and hundreds of thousands of additional federal permits and actions get gathered in under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act."

If successful, it will be the first time in the history of the ESA, the threat of "global warming" would be used to list a well-known species.

Why should you care? Because once that's done--by proclaiming carbon dioxide as the cause of shrinking polar ice which reduces polar bear habitat and there fore "threatens" the exists of the species--then any activity that produces carbon dioxide and the government could compel U.S. industries to curb their carbon dioxide output.

Virtually everything--even breathing--produces carbon dioxide... you get the picture.

Drill for oil in the lower 48, in Anwar, off-shore... drill in old fields to produce the remaining oil with new technology? Nope... that produces carbon dioxide which causes global warming, which melts the ice, which kills polar bears, which live in the house that Jack built.

Facts? All through this horrible global warming we've suffered since Algore couldn't even carry his home state in 2000, the polar bear population has risen from 8,000–10,000 in 1965–1970, to 20,000–25,000 today. This is true of the polar bear populations in Alaska, Canada, Russia, and other nations.    

Click here for thorough story.

Still not enough to hammer your stupid jer congressman's phone lines and e-mail? Then how's this:

As you read, the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) is snaking it way through the House and Senate as HR 2421 and S 1870.

If passed, this would stand current law on its head by removing the word "navigable" from the Clean Air Act which currently protects only "navigable waterways." 

This would hand over control of all "intrastate waters" to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, thus, the feds would regulate every wetland, slough, meadow, intermittent stream, prairie pothole, pond, playa lake, mudflat, sand flat, gutter and ditch. The law could be interpreted to include public streets, roads, shoulders and culverts.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

         ---The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

On her own petard....

It's a great deal like watching the condescending rich kid get his butt kicked by someone from the wrong side of the tracks.

I think they call it "comeuppance." (And I don't mean that Obama is from beyond the tracks.)

Essentially, Hillary is in deep Kimchi today because she had the audacity to tell the truth... namely that she was polling better than His Anointed Presence with... wait for it... uh, "white people".

What makes her a stronger candidate in November, she said, was her strength "among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans."

May the saints preserve us.

The reaction was predicable. Leftists burdened by white guilt willing to elect an empty suit to the world's most powerful position gathered their petticoats about their knees and tried to summon up something that sounded a little like outrage. And then they directed it against the very person who was the Great White Hope (pardon me) just one short year ago.

Most blacks, typically, reacted as expected; Eugene Robinson in the WaPo:

"Here's what she's really saying to party leaders: There's no way that white people are going to vote for the black guy. Come November, you'll be sorry.

"How silly of me. I thought the Democratic Party believed in a colorblind America."

All this is even more satisfying because this is exactly what democrats, leftists and the Clintons have been doing to us for decades. If you're white you're not allowed to say "white", "black"... or anything else pertaining to race or race relations, you will be pilloried; blacks on the other hand can say anything, and do --- even "God Damn AmeriKKKa" and "this is the first time I've been proud of my country."

I continue to draw deep satisfaction from the Clintons twisting slowly, slowly in the wind... here's the inimitable Charles Krauthhammer on Hillary's End Game:

"There’s only one remaining chapter in this fascinating spectacle. Negotiating the terms of Hillary’s surrender. After which we will have six months of watching her enthusiastically stumping the country for Obama, denying with utter conviction Republican charges that he is the out-of-touch, latte-sipping elitist she warned Democrats against so urgently in the last, late leg of her doomed campaign."

From Today's Illegal Alien Crime News:

Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, 37, was arrested on rape charges on April 29 after authorities investigated the case of a 10-year-old girl.... a 10-year-old pregnant girl... who sought treatment at a Idaho hospital.

She gave birth last Saturday.

Gutierrez-Juarez, an illegal alien, remains in Fremont County Jail on rape charges awaiting a prelim in May.

Baby and baby are doing well....

... and this sub-human needs to be executed and then shipped back to the piece of crap country he came from.

Speaking of adults and children...

Billy Ray Cyrus seemed like a rather OK, if dull person; his daughter Miley's successful TV show has made the 15-year-old a millionaire (as well as her dad manager) and increased her parents need for vigilance and control.

Sadly, they have failed; she's already taken Brittany Spears baby steps.

Cyrus, the dumbass redneck, not only turned her over to Vanity Fair rock photographer Annie Liebowitz, a big time lesbian, for some child porn, he went along for the ride, as you can see above... creeps me out.

You check the photos and tell your daughter she's stayin' in tonight.

Libby

Hard to remember when Libby wasn't around Don and Lynette's place.

Chronologically it was 15 years, but her presence was bigger than that, but as it must come to all of us, Libby slipped away this morning early with the help of a gentle vet and Don by her side.

The last few weeks especially had been hard for those who loved her and much harder for Libby as the age and arthritis had ravaged her back legs and hips.

She joins K-Bar, Don's first German Shepherd, in a quiet, shady tree-line only 50 yards from the family she loved.

Next to her rests Spunky, the family pet of Lynette's sister, Robbin and her husband,

Steve. He succumbed to the ravages of diabetes only a short time before.

 

He was a joyful visitor at Don and Lynette's as well, always falling into fourth or fifth place behind the other dogs. His spirit was willing, but his legs were short.

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The effectiveness of insulin and his warm and caring people were no longer enough to stave off the disease.

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Just two or three weeks ago, Spunky went to sleep and was brought to the place--other than his home--he knew best.

Ironically, just a couple of days ago I took out a nice, soft dog bed for Libby's kennel; the last time I saw her she was tucked in and looked comfortable.

This morning Don had a tough time getting her out of he kennel. The end had come.

Every time I think of her I think of Tripoli and the hours on end they would chase once another, play and patrol the perimeter, warning away squirrels, birds and cows and the errant plastic bag pushed along by the wind.

Pick was added to the Pettigrew clan and we're convinced that her incessant pup-energy extended Libby's days and added to her quality of life. She was still chasing Pick and making sure she knew who was still the Alpha female just a few days ago.

Perhaps in some sun-lit, rolling meadow Tripoli has greeted first Spunky and now Libby, spotting them from afar in that hesitant-eager way that dogs have... then rushing to a rough and tumble reunion, strong and healthy and absent of pain.

I have to believe that it will be so on my arrival as well.

All sentiments about dogs in Heaven have been expressed... some in cliches perhaps, but most with genuine emotion.

I cannot imagine a place so grand as the Here After without all my very, very best  friends.

Without them such a place would be diminished.

"The biggest problem with dogs is that they don't live long enough. They always seem to leave us when we're most vulnerable, most in need of their biased, affirming presence. Dogs make us believe we can actually be as they see us, and it's often only when they're gone that we realize their role in what we've become."

                                                                    -- The Monks of New Skete

Hold your enemies close....

Here's all a real American needs to know about the democrats' presidential nominee:

---He is a long-time friend of Bill Ayers, left, the co-founder of the Weather Underground and terrorist bomber who participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, of the Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972.

This photo accompanies an article on Ayers in Chicago Magazine.

During the rash of bombings there was a slight ordinance problem. Three of his fellow conspirators turns themselves into blood spray patterns and small pieces when their mishandled explosives brought down a four-story condominium on their basement apartment.

Three of them died... good; too bad Ayers hadn't dropped by for pizza at the time.

---The federal investigation into the bombings forced Ayers and other terrorists underground; in 1981 he and consort, Bernardine Dohrn, eventually turned themselves in to the FBI.

Charges against the couple were eventually dismissed due to fatal prosecutorial mistakes.

---Ayers wrote in the autobiography: "Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon.

"The sky was blue. The birds were singing. And the bastards were finally going to get what was coming to them."

On Sept. 11 he said, "I don't regret setting bombs, I feel we didn't do enough."

Obama and Ayers also had a close relationship with PLO operative Rashid Khalidi (below) in Chicago. (More about him another day).

---Ayers, along with fellow Weatherman terrorist wife, Dohrn, are the darlings of Chicago leftist politics and it is there Barry Obama developed his personal, political and financial relationship with the couple.

---For three years starting in 1999, Obama and Ayers worked together on the nine-member board of the Woods Fund. They made public appearances together.

---Barry Obama kicked off his 2001 campaign for state senate campaign at Ayers' house.

Now... from a one despicable citizen of this country to another:

King equates U.S. military to illiterates

Couple of days back Stephen King, the hack who has thankfully retired from writing juvenile horror novels, said:

King told a group of high schoolers at a recent Library of Congress lecture, "If you can read you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got the Army, Iraq - I don't know"

Within 24 hours King has tried to push back against overwhelming criticism of his disgraceful comment, yet all the wordsmith could come up with is this:

"That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt.

Never mind that the U.S. enlisted ranks currently have an average education of 13.5 years.

Forget the fact that General David H. Petraeus, commander of all multi-national troops in Iraq, has a Ph.D. in public and international affairs from Princeton.

King's website reports, "that he graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level."

Wow.

And, of course, he was 4-F during Vietnam.

Cowards die a thousand deaths. The valiant taste of death but once.

Several years into the Long War our coalition allies, on the whole, have produced a rather miserable contribution to the death and destruction of the Free World's enemies.

As such, a case could be made for the return of the body-count.... the enemy's, not ours--as it is now.

--South Korea's participation has been disappointing; South Korea stationed 3,200 troops in Iraq, but it did so only after formal combat operations ceased. Worse, Seoul insisted that all its troops be stationed deep inside Kurdish territory, where there was virtually no danger of combat.

Anyone who has seen the "ROKs" in action knows them to be tough, determined, when needs be, ruthless fighters.

This assessment also applies to Korean shop owners during black riots in LA.

No reason not to "let 'em out".

--Japan? Grateful to us as always. Japan's troops only perform non-combat roles which means they are a net security drain, instead of a net security enhancement. The Dutch have had to protect the Sons of Nippon, which must enrage the valiant Dutchmen who survived the unspeakable horror of Jap death camps 65 years ago.

According to Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute in a 2006 article, "At the peak level of support, the coalition (not counting the British) consisted of 37 nations and a paltry 30,000 troops. It is now (early '06) down to 27 nations and fewer than 10,000 troops."

Of course now, it's much less.

Nonetheless, I've been remiss in not writing often enough about the sacrifices and battle honors of some of our allies.

Corporal Willie Apiata

One of only 13 living recipients of the United Kingdom's Victoria Cross, he is the only New Zealander and the only living Maiori Recipient.

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Last year he was awarded the UK's highest valor award for saving the life of a gravely wounded SAS comrade during a fierce firefight in Afghanistan four years ago.

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Apiata, from all I've read, is the epitome of a warrior and a man; they are some men you see in uniform and simply say, "The guy's a stud."

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Apiata would be a welcome addition to any army in the world. He is shown, right, wearing a korowai over his uniform, and gripping a greenstone patu, during a traditional Maiori ceremony in his honor near his father's ancestral home yesterday.

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The last New Zealander awarded the Victoria Cross was Squadron Leader Leonard Henry Trent in 1946. Trent was earned the medal for gallantry over Amsterdam in 1943 when he guided a formation of Ventura bombers to their target while under continuous attack from German fighters. Six other New Zealanders have won the Victoria Cross while serving with other forces.

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Johnson Gideon Beharry 

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Beharry is the first recipient of the Victoria Cross since the posthumous awards to Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones and Sergeant Ian John McKay for gallantry in the Falklands War in 1982.

He is the first living Recipient of the VC since Keith Payne and Rayene Stewart Simpson, both Australian, for actions in Vietnam in 1969, and the first living recipient of the VC in the British Army since Rambahadur Limbu, a Gurkha, in the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in 1965.

He is the UK's youngest living VC.

Beharry, a 25-year-old lance-corporal at the time of his VC action in 2004, was cited for twice saving lives of several of his comrades by by taking the initiative and driving through devastating small arms and RPG ambushes in Iraq. On the second occasion he was seriously wounded when his armored vehicle was hit by RPGs; fighting to remain conscious, he again saved his vehicle and the soldiers inside by driving out of the ambush.

He later underwent brain surgery and was still recovering months later when he learned would be awarded the Victoria Cross by the Queen.

--And just so you'll know that our country is not the only one with yellow rat bastard cowards in the news media.... according to the The Telegraph, a planned 90-minute drama about Beharry was canceled by the BBC allegedly because it was "too positive and would alienate members of the audience" opposed to the war in Iraq. Click here for story.w

Corporal Bryan James Budd

August 2006 -- Just five days before his scheduled return to Great Britain, Budd died of injuries sustained during a fire fight with Taliban forces, probably as result of friendly fire. The incident occurred during a routine patrol in Sangin, Helmand Province.

On 14 December of that year it was announced by the Ministry of Defence that Budd would be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, only the 13th award of the medal since the end of the Second World War.

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In his last heroic action Budd spotted four Taliban about 50 meters from his position, and directed his men to flank the enemy who had entered a cornfield.

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Once spotted again the Taliban opened fire on the troops, then another group of Taliban opened up fire from a wall further back. The British soldiers took heavy fire, kneeling or lying down trying to take cover. One soldier received a bullet in the shoulder, and another was shot in the face.

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Realizing his section were taking heavy fire and were likely to be killed, Budd got up and rushed straight through the corn in the direction of the Taliban, now just 20 metres away.

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Budd opened up on them in fully automatic; and contact was immediately broken; Taliban fire lessened which allowed the rest of his section to withdraw back to safety so the casualties could be treated.

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After withdrawal, Budd was declared missing in action and most of A Company was sent back to find him. Apache and Harrier air support was called in to beat the Taliban back.

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An hour later, Budd was found beside three dead Taliban. It was clear he had killed the three Taliban, but had himself been killed in the process.

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As with our Medal of Honor, other awards of the Victoria Cross are under consideration, but the process is is closely held until the Defence Ministry releases the decision.

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Iraq Coalition troop casualty figures (all deaths) are:

US--4,071, 176 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, Australians two, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one Kazakh, one Korean, three Latvian, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of May 6, 2008.

Afghanistan

US--425, 94 British, 82 Canadian, 25 German, 23 Spanish, 16 Dutch, 14 Danish, 12 French, 12 Italian, six Romanian, five Australian, four Polish, three Norwegian, two Czech, two Estonian, two Portuguese, two Swedish, one Finnish, one South Korean.

Oddz undt Endz

About two weeks ago my Bill Gates operating system on my PC folded like a tent and I've been scrambling ever since... it'll take awhile to see what I lost... mostly important e-mails and saved messages in Outlook Express.

So here are some things I've jotted on cocktail napkins and back of receipts for the last couple of weeks:

Richard Daley Jr. -- idiot mayor son of an idiot mayor--has announced Chicago's finest will soon be carrying a version the military's M16 to match the firepower they encounter on the street.

First, how is this possible when Chicago, leftist bastion home to Barry Obama, has a Washington D.C.-like 20-year handgun ban?

"When they come to a scene, someone has a semi fully-automatic weapon (?) and you have a little pistol, uh, good luck," observed Daley, adding that city police will carry M4 rifles.

Daley continued to prove to the world that he hasn't the fainest idea what he's talking about when it comes to guns...

"We're finding out that the weapons of criminals are getting bigger and bigger (?), AK47s, all types of different weapons, because they can carry assault weapons, it's not a violation of federal law, and that is a concern for all of us," he said.

Huh? Of course what the dumbass is trying to spin is that his gang and murder problem are not his fault or the handgun ban, but rather the fault of the federal government for allowing collectors to legally own automatic weapons.

Reality check---- automatic weapons are used in far less than 1% of crimes, which would be less than pool cues, high heels and bowling balls. And such crimes almost invariably involve stolen or illegally altered weapons.

Despite what Sean Connery said, this is the "Chicago Way."

Speaking of gangs, weapons and more leftist democrat idiots: (News item):

"When is a gang not a gang? When it's based in the district.

"D.C. officials insist on describing groups of young males as 'crews,' rather than gangs, even when they are held responsible for violent acts such as the wave of killings in the city last weekend. But police officials in other cities say the distinction is counterproductive."

Duh.... not to mention laughable, cowardly and a risk to law abiding citizens.

Fortunately for D.C. residents, the Supreme Court recently struck down the District's handgun ban which will save lives.

I have a better idea... "gang member" should be changed to "sub-human".

You'll love this... Tom Hanks, who often appears to be a reasonable human being, has taped his endorsement for Barry Obama, the Afro-centric church member who just discovered his pastor for two decades is a raving anti-American.

And Hanks wants us to give him the ability to make lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court.

Why talking current events with most people is waste of time....

The VA waiting room. Three vets of roughly my era respond to news stories on the nice plasma TV on the far wall.

"Those oil companies need to be controlled. Take my word for it, pretty soon there'll be a new type of gas and a carburetor that will get 50 miles-per-gallon."

First time I heard that story I was probably 9 or 10... from my Dad. Only the year was '57 and the carburetor would get 100 miles per gallon... oh, and regular, real regular, was probably 18 cents a gallon.

This is one of the original "urban legends" and it simply will not die.

For some reason, many Americans--not just black Americans--believe in all manner of conspiracies which keep the little man down. Don't they know the age of the robber barons is long past? Big Government took their place starting in 1945.

Suffice to say that U.S. oil companies pay more taxes than most corporations and are entirely over-regulated. 

• Two years ago, Exxon's first-quarter profit margin was 9.4%, meaning it kept 9.4 cents of every $1 in revenue. Microsoft kept 27.3 cents of every $1 in revenue in its most recent quarter; General Electric, 11.4 cents and McDonald's, 12.3 cents. In fact, Exxon is below the 11-cent average of Standard & Poor's 500 companies, says analyst Howard Silverblatt.
• This year Exxon Mobil's first-quarter 2008 earnings were $10.9 billion—second-largest U.S. quarterly profit ever.
• More importantly, Exxon paid $9.3 billion in worldwide income taxes in the first quarter of 2008, representing a 49% tax rate on its gross income of $20.2 billion.

Government makes a lot more money per-gallon than Exxon does... which is about $0.08/gallon. But Big Government makes pure profit without any investment or risk whatsoever.

The Big Picture: Since 1977, governments collected more than $1.34 trillion from oil and gasoline production; after adjusting for inflation, in gasoline tax revenues—that's more than twice the amount of domestic profits earned by major U.S. oil companies during the same period.

The real and only villain in this scenario is government... local, state and federal gas taxes in Cali are and astounding 63 cents.

Those Call-ee-phorn-yuns sure must love their socialist government; they keep re-electing it.

Americans need to get their heads out their sixes, stop criticizing oil and start in on candidates and oppressive government practices.

"I'm from The Government and I'm here to help you...."

As soon as I read that the basis of the Gestapo-like raid on a fundamentalist sect down in Eldorado last month was triggered by an anonymous, false report of sexual assault, I knew the charges were unlikely to stick.

So it was no surprise to learn today that the arrest warrant for a man thought to be the "husband" of "a teenage girl" which triggered the now-infamous raid on the compound of the polygamous sect--Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS)--has been dismissed.

Let me digress to point out to the nation's numbskulls that this is not the LDS which had banned polygamy more than 100 years ago and often referred to as "Mormons".

(Sub-text note: if you're gonna run around calling people "African-Americans" when it's an absolute misnomer... know that the word "mormon" is seldom used... legally and officially it's The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Anyway, an FLDS spokesman, said the now-vanished warrant shows the weakness of the state's case against residents of the ranch.

"I think that's just one more piece of evidence that the whole basis on which this raid was premised was unfounded and was inadequately checked out, to the formulation of what basically amounted to an army that went in there and took their children," the spokesman said.

The only result in this debacle so far is that since the April 3 raid, in which state welfare workers terrorized and traumatized, and forcibly removed 464 children living at the compound from their parents, family friends and home; the children remain in state custody which exacerbates the trauma.

... and some people are still upset that Japanese-Americans were relocated from the West Coast in '42.

Had the FLDS chosen to defend their families, it's possible Waco could have looked like a minor skirmish.

All churches, religious people and all citizens should feel the "chill wind" that has blown through Eldorado, damaging the lives of hundreds of Americans.

But if the murder of two members of Randy Weaver's family in the government's attack on another "compound"---Ruby Ridge---not to mention the murder of 76 people, including 21 children (some shown above) and two pregnant women, along with Branch Davidian leader David Koresh in Waco 15 years ago, didn't move anyone sufficiently, I doubt Eldorado will.

At right Weaver shows a photo of his 14-year-old son, Sammy, who was shot and killed by an FBI agent who also killed the boy's dog.

They shot all the dogs at Waco as well; hardly shocking when they went on to shoot and incinerate children.

In the same attack, an FBI sniper, Lon Horiuchi, shot Weaver's wife in the head as she held an infant in her arms in the doorway of her home. Weaver and a family friend were also shot down, but survived.

In a matter of months, Bill Clinton and Janet Reno killed, wounded and traumatized more than 80 Americans--approximately 25% of them children.

.... and some people hate George Bush.

Lastly, the direct result of the Waco killings occurred exactly two years later.

On April 19, 1995, Terrorist Timothy McVeigh referred to the attack at Oklahoma City's Alfred D. Murrah Federal Building as payback for what the federal government did two years earlier; 168 innocent people, including many children in the building's day-care center, were blown apart by 4,800 pounds of explosives.

Scores more were burned, wounded and permanently disabled.

Clinton Government body count in just three years:

.... 250 Americans and more than 800 injured.