The Off Topic Topic

[katmai]

Aweet Jebus Berkie is playing with BG dolls

[CountDeMoney]

Awww...a widdle ship.

The Navy's newest ship will be the USS Gabrielle Giffords.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus made the announcement at a Pentagon ceremony today, calling Giffords someone whose name is synonymous with courage.

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords looked on at the Pentagon as Mabus made the announcement in a public ceremony. Also in attendance at this afternoon's brief ceremony in the Pentagon Courtyard was Roxana Green, the mother of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.

Christina-Taylor was among those killed in last year's deadly shooting rampage in Tucson that targeted Giffords as she met constituents outside a supermarket. Roxana Green will be the ship's sponsor.

Giffords is still recovering from the gunshot wounds to her head that she suffered during last January's shooting incident. She stepped down from Congress two weeks ago.

The ship named today for her, which has yet to be built, will be the Navy's 10th Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a new kind of ship designed to bring the Navy fighting power into shallow coastal areas.  The first two ships in this class were called Freedom and Independence, but the conventional practice since then has been to name the other ships in the class after a city.

"It's very appropriate that LCS 10 be named for someone who has become synonymous with courage, who has inspired the nation with remarkable resiliency and showed the possibilities of the human spirit," said Mabus.

Mabus said the notion occurred to him that this would be a "fitting tribute" not only to Giffords but to Navy families because she was a Navy spouse.  Her husband, Mark Kelly, was until recently an astronaut and Navy pilot.

"She called me," he said, recalling a conversation they had before she was shot. "I'd been in office less than a week telling me that she was a Navy spouse that she wanted to help the Navy any way she could in Congress, but also that she expected me to take good care of the Navy."

The Navy has named ships after living people with some recent examples being the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush and the submarine USS Jimmy Carter.

Giffords also visited the White House earlier in the day to watch President Obama sign the last piece of legislation she sponsored as a member of Congress.

The Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012 was passed late last month and gives law enforcement broader authority to counter illicit drug trafficking on U.S. borders.

[MadBurgerMaker]

The Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012 was passed late last month and gives law enforcement broader authority to counter illicit drug trafficking on U.S. borders.

Does this....was......were ultralights not covered by previous smuggling laws or something?   

[CountDeMoney]

And more Navy fun...

Cesar Chavez is regarded as one of the biggest labor leaders and civil rights activists in history -- so it's no surprise that he has a lot of things named after him. But one honor in particular is ruffling some feathers.

Just recently, the U.S. Navy decided to name a cargo ship after the late founder of the United Farm Workers -- and let's just say one California congressman isn't thrilled.

"A Republican congressman says the decision to name a Navy ship after Cesar Chavez shows the Navy is ignoring war heroes."

Rep. Duncan Hunter says that people are paying too much attention to political correctness and not enough to actual war heroes.

It's a cargo ship.  Probably for grapes.

But I love some of the news board comments:  here's Hansy flipping out--

WAR HERO///whatever..he started the movement that today is causing many on the borders of our country to lose their lives from his MIGRANT WORKERS form MEXICO WAY

A well known socialist.." Communist Party USA organizer Bert Corona and Cesar Chavez"

obama naming one more COMMIE and hater of WHITIE, on the list of "look what they contributed to the US", he contributed nothing but hate, UNION thugs, murder and communism within our borders and placated the opposition to the illegals that came in GROVES and STILL are..

HE WAS and always will be a sore, as obama the HATER and RACIST will always be in history...neither did anything to bring AMERICA TOGETHER, just DIVIDE IT

HE WANTS A NAME TO BE IMMORTALIZED for some to be able say that the COMMIE's HELPED build this GOVT and GREAT COUNTRY...

HEY, COMMIES YOU DIDN'T, ..every time you get into any COUNTRY, it falls by the WAYSIDE...

FREE ENTERPRISE and PERSONAL FREEDOMS BUILT THIS ONCE GREAT COUNTRY

WE WILL TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY from you degenerates, subversives and insurrectionists

[CountDeMoney]

I'm not even about to post all the crap the Navy got for planning to name a ship after John Murtha.

[Razgovory]

I'm a bit surprised he came here in a "grove".

[CountDeMoney]

Sorry was meant more like what class of ship would US Senator get his name on

Hey kat, I've been searching and have come up with nothing on Uncle Ted:  are you sure you're not crossing your wires with this?

BOSTON — Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced Sunday the next Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier will be named in honor of President Kennedy.

The selection, designated CVN 79, pays tribute to his service in the Navy, in the government and to the nation.

"President John F. Kennedy exemplified the meaning of service, not just to country, but service to all humanity," Mabus said in a Navy news release. "I am honored to have the opportunity to name the next aircraft carrier after this great sailor and inspirational leader, and to keep the rich tradition and history of USS John F. Kennedy sailing in the U.S. Fleet."

Born in Brookline, Mass., May 29, 1917, Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1940, and entered the Navy in October 1941.

During World War II, Kennedy took command of PT 109 at Tulagi Island in the Solomons, with a mission to intercept Japanese ships attempting to resupply their barges in New Georgia. On the morning of Aug. 2, 1943, Kennedy's ship was struck by an enemy ship and split in half. Over the next six days, Kennedy led his crew members to safety and an eventual rescue. Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for the rescue of his crew and a Purple Heart for injuries he sustained when his ship was struck.

After his military service, Kennedy became a congressman representing the Boston area, was elected to the Senate in 1953 and in 1961 became the youngest person to be elected president.

One previous aircraft carrier, CV 67, was named in Kennedy's honor. It was decommissioned in 2007 after nearly 40 years of service, including Operation Desert Storm.

The ship will be constructed at Newport News Shipbuilding, Va.

[katmai]

I kinda was, it was just a senate subcommittee passing a recommendation with glowing words from Inoyue, but made the local evening news. I mean he was pilot in WWII in China/Burma theater besides his support all his years in Senate.

[MadImmortalMan]

Is the old Kennedy being dismantled?

[CountDeMoney]

I kinda was, it was just a senate subcommittee passing a recommendation with glowing words from Inoyue, but made the local evening news. I mean he was pilot in WWII in China/Burma theater besides his support all his years in Senate.

You know, Dan Inouye was always one of those guys I had really wished would've gone for The Big Enchilada.  Has always been a class act.

[CountDeMoney]

Is the old Kennedy being dismantled?

Not yet, she's too freshly decommissioned, just mothballed for now.  You can see her from I-95 in the Philadelphia Ship Yard.

[Ideologue]

Awww...a widdle ship.

The Navy's newest ship will be the USS Gabrielle Giffords.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus made the announcement at a Pentagon ceremony today, calling Giffords someone whose name is synonymous with courage.

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords looked on at the Pentagon as Mabus made the announcement in a public ceremony. Also in attendance at this afternoon's brief ceremony in the Pentagon Courtyard was Roxana Green, the mother of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.

Christina-Taylor was among those killed in last year's deadly shooting rampage in Tucson that targeted Giffords as she met constituents outside a supermarket. Roxana Green will be the ship's sponsor.

Giffords is still recovering from the gunshot wounds to her head that she suffered during last January's shooting incident. She stepped down from Congress two weeks ago.

The ship named today for her, which has yet to be built, will be the Navy's 10th Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a new kind of ship designed to bring the Navy fighting power into shallow coastal areas.  The first two ships in this class were called Freedom and Independence, but the conventional practice since then has been to name the other ships in the class after a city.

"It's very appropriate that LCS 10 be named for someone who has become synonymous with courage, who has inspired the nation with remarkable resiliency and showed the possibilities of the human spirit," said Mabus.

Mabus said the notion occurred to him that this would be a "fitting tribute" not only to Giffords but to Navy families because she was a Navy spouse.  Her husband, Mark Kelly, was until recently an astronaut and Navy pilot.

"She called me," he said, recalling a conversation they had before she was shot. "I'd been in office less than a week telling me that she was a Navy spouse that she wanted to help the Navy any way she could in Congress, but also that she expected me to take good care of the Navy."

The Navy has named ships after living people with some recent examples being the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush and the submarine USS Jimmy Carter.

Giffords also visited the White House earlier in the day to watch President Obama sign the last piece of legislation she sponsored as a member of Congress.

The Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012 was passed late last month and gives law enforcement broader authority to counter illicit drug trafficking on U.S. borders.

And when it takes a Silkworm to the bridge, it'll still be a good looking ship.

[DGuller]

Meh, never got much wood off Jeri Ryan.

She was all about "Here, we'll stick a giant pair of solid unmovable breasts on a pair of legs in front of you;  go salivate now and improve our ratings, you simple penis-wielding organisms."  Some subtlety goes a long way.

[Ideologue]

Those catsuits were hideously unsexy.  Don't know why.  It may be partly because Jeri Ryan personally doesn't really do it for me.  I mean, sure, she's hot, but does she have black hair?  No, she doesn't.

[Syt]

The only good thing about Jeri Ryan was that her episodes tended to be way better than the usual dreck about Voyager and her bipolar maniac captain (Doctor episodes excluded).