Tim Sumner

Keeping the faith, Support our troops

Help an American soldier and his family

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Yesterday, the Dallas Morning News reported a terrible tragedy:

Army Spc. John Austin Johnson seemed to have a gift for evading tragedy.

During two years in Iraq, the soldier from Fort Bliss, in West Texas, survived five improvised explosive device blasts and several grenade attacks.

“A lot of people go through one IED and don’t survive,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Schmidt.

But Spc. Johnson’s luck began to turn with the last IED blast, which left him with a traumatic brain injury. Back in Texas for care at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, he was eagerly awaiting a visit by his wife and three children last weekend.

But the children never arrived.

“I went up to his room and told him there was a problem,” said Sgt. Schmidt, an Army medic who has grown close to the family over the last week. “I told him there was an accident and two of his children were deceased.

“He said, ‘Two of my children are dead?’ And we started crying.”
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As word of the family’s loss spread, support from the military, businesses and strangers poured in. One anonymous donor provided five burial plots in the veterans’ section of Pinecrest Memorial Park in Alexander, Ark., where Spc. Johnson’s grandfather is buried. Another purchased markers for Logan and Ashley.

American Airlines provided seven roundtrip tickets to the funeral, set for Tuesday in Alexander, Ark., and groups such as Soldiers’ Angels, Warrior & Family Support Center and Operation Provide Comfort took care of hotel accommodations, food and travel expenses between West Texas and Dallas.

“It’s been a pleasure and an honor to help them,” Mrs. White-Brunner said.

The Johnsons have been amazed by the flood of support.

“They’re really overwhelmed with gratitude from everybody,” Sgt. Schmidt said. “They’re very humble people. Everyone’s coming together.”

Michelle Malkin pointed out that:

Donations to help the family cover expenses can be made to the John A. and Monalisa Johnson Fund at any Bank of America.

Specialist Johnson answered the call to duty; now is the time for America to step up.

Political wind, Terrorist Surveillance Program, War on Terror

House GOP halts wiretapping bill

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In the Washington Times this morning:

House Democrats, confounded by a Republican procedural maneuver that would force an embarrassing vote on terrorism, yesterday called off a vote on an electronic-surveillance bill that the White House opposes.

Republicans would have forced Democrats either to vote to effectively kill the bill that restricts federal wiretap power or to vote against authorizing the government to spy on Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and other foreign terrorist groups.
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Mr. Boehner said the Democrats faced “a very simple choice.” “They can allow our intelligence officials to conduct surveillance on the likes of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda or prohibit them from doing so and jeopardize our national security,” he said. “Every member of the majority will now have the opportunity to go on record.”

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said it was not a setback for the bill, which the White House warns would open intelligence gaps the Democrat-led Congress voted to close just two months ago when updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). “We are going to finish it next week,” said Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, adding that the procedural move had only slowed action.
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Republicans stopped the legislation, which was expected to pass easily in a vote scheduled for early yesterday afternoon, by announcing plans to submit a motion to recommit. The move, rarely used before this session, lets the minority party try to change bills as they approach final passage. If it passes, the bill is sent back to its originating committee with instructions. Being sent back effectively kills the proposal.

The instructions are what made this motion so potent. It would have ordered the bill amended to prohibit the law from interfering with “surveillance needed to prevent Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, or any other foreign terrorist organization” from attacking the U.S.