Photo Time

Another one from the "Where was Dave?" files. Clickamus for Biggamus.



It's Mount Rainier, as seen from in front of the Commanding General's house on Fort Lewis. It's 328KB if you want to download it.

Quote of the Day #2

From The Smallest Minority.

We are not your sons and daughters, whom you must protect and defend. We are your sword and your shield. We are men and women who volunteer to place our lives on the line so you do not have to. We do not decide when or where we will be sent. We go. You are our advocates, not our parents.

As Kevin Baker says, you have GOT to read the whole thing.

Quote of the Day

From BabyTrollBlog:

There's no such thing as "capitalism." Marx made that up. What he calls capitalism, the rest of us call freedom. It's what happens when humans get together to do business without busybodies meddling in things.

Yep. Sounds about right.

So where the hell did Dave go?

Well, first I was helping put on a training event for over 200 people, and then I had a day off. And then I was a competitor in a little event called the Best Warrior Competition. I won my unit, lost the regional. I was runner up. Kinda ticked off about that one. I guess the difference between my score and the winners was about thismuch or so. As a certain senior NCO put it "You couldn't fit a butt-hair between the two."

So while I wasn't the winner, I was pretty damn close. And hey, I ended up with some swag! Yay me! I think I also re-discovered how much fun it is to be a Soldier, and to be around Soldiers, instead of being around stick-up-the-ass desk jockeys day in and day out. I tell folks that the more I sit behind a desk, the more I hate sitting behind a desk. And that's about the truth of it. I didn't think I'd have fun during the BWC, and the night land nav course flat out SUCKED DONKEY BALLS, but all in all I had a hell of a time, met some damn fine Soldiers, and enjoyed myself.

FYI - if you've never heard the gastronomical symphony caused by a platoon of people eating MRE's twice a day, well... I'd say you're missing out, but being awoken at 0200 hrs. by the sounds of twenty people farting in the style of Bach's Tocata and Fugue in D Minor, while amusing as hell, isn't something I would recommend for the faint of heart.

So I now get to have Saturday off, and then I jet off for yet ANOTHER mission. So I'll post when I can, but don't expect any more of me next week than ya got last week. Anyways, I've got things to take care of tonight as well. Toodles!

Congress adopts new "nonbinding budget blueprints"

O.K. folks, can someone out there please tell me exactly what "nonbinding budget blueprints" are?

Congress has wrapped up work on a compromise $3.4 trillion budget outline aimed at helping advance President Barack Obama's ambitious agenda despite staggering government deficits.

The Senate's 53-43 vote to pass the measure followed House action earlier Wednesday.

The votes to adopt the nonbinding budget blueprint are only a first step toward Obama's goal of providing health care coverage for all Americans.

Pelosi-open mouth and spoodle remaining brain cells

In all fairness I think she wants us to be what the Democrats say they are.

The California Democrat offered her own analysis of the political environment for her political opponents, asserting Republicans across the country are more willing to work with Democrats than their leaders on Capitol Hill.

"Yes, there is -- shall we say -- a 'radical right-wing' element with whom they identify. But by and large, I say to Republicans in America: Take back your party. The party of protecting the environment. The party of individual rights. The party of fairness. This is not the Grand Old Party."

Pelosi concluded her long riff about the GOP by saying, "Our country needs a strong, diverse Republican Party." Without missing a beat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid chimed in, saying "not too strong."

the Internet we can't make you shut up so we will force you to listen to our opinions doctrine

I do not think I can properly express just how wrong the mere suggestion of this all is. As usual the left has found a way to stomp all over the 1st Amendment.

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama's nominee for "regulatory czar" has advocated a "Fairness Doctrine" for the Internet that would require opposing opinions be linked and also has suggested angry e-mails should be prevented from being sent by technology that would require a 24-hour cooling off period.

The revelations about Cass Sunstein, Obama's friend from the University of Chicago Law School and nominee to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, come in a new book by Brad O'Leary, "Shut Up, America! The End of Free Speech." OIRA will oversee regulation throughout the U.S. government.

Sunstein also has argued in his prolific literary works that the Internet is anti-democratic because of the way users can filter out information of their own choosing.

"A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government," he wrote. "Democratic efforts to reduce the resulting problems ought not be rejected in freedom's name."

<snip>

World Bank alarms are going off

World Bank demands poverty action

Robert Zoellick wants to see more aid pledges

The head of the World Bank has warned of a "human catastrophe" in the world's poorest countries unless more is done to tackle the global economic crisis.

Speaking at the end of the World Bank's spring meeting, Robert Zoellick also called on rich nations to do more to help tackle global poverty.

He said the crisis meant targets on tackling poverty in the poorest countries were unlikely to be met.

The World Bank says an extra 53 million people are at risk of extreme poverty.

'Accelerate aid'

"There is a widespread recognition that the world faces an unprecedented economic crisis, poor people could suffer the most and that we must continue to act in real time to prevent a human catastrophe," said Mr Zoellick.

He added that no-one yet knew how long the global recession would last.

a more realistic perspective of the recent release of interrogation techniques

and a bit of history behind it.

WASHINGTON — Those who claim that harsh interrogation tactics are a break with American traditions, as President Obama has done, are offering up a childish mirage.

In the wars America won— in less than four years—our intelligence agencies did what was necessary.

By contrast, Obama and radical allies on his left spent last week tantalizing our terrorist enemies and the public with the release of classified interrogation documents and holding out the possibility of show trials of Bush administration officials.

In these clumsy moves, Obama has come close to impaling himself on the strongest suit that President George W. Bush left the Republican Party. And that is that Bush kept the 50 states safe for the seven years and four months after 9/11.

America has never endorsed brutality for its own sake, but its war heroes saw starkly what had to be done to win.

Here’s what Major Gen. William J. Donovan, the founder of the Central Intelligence Agency, said decades ago: “Espionage is not a nice thing. Nor are the methods employed exemplary. We face an enemy who believes one of his chief weapons is terror. But we will turn terror against him.”

bipartisanship

Here is a discussion about bipartisanship and how we got to where we are in the first 100 days of resident bambam.

Chrystler and Fiat????

I am quite certain this is probably old news for the majority of you, but I felt it worth mentioning.

Chrysler, which has 8,000 unionized workers in Canada, is under immense pressure to secure a partnership with Fiat after the Obama administration threatened to suspend federal aid for Chrysler unless it secured a deal with the Italian carmaker. (See "Obama Takes The Wheel In Detroit.")

Go Pakistan

Pakistan's military says troops killed 20 militants in an operation against the Taliban in the troubled northwest.

An army statement says paramilitary troops killed the militants Monday in the Lower Dir district, which is part of the Malakand division of North West Frontier Province.

Earlier Monday, a spokesman for radical cleric Sufi Mohammad, Ameer Izat, said he had suspended peace negotiations between the Taliban and government officials until the military operation in Lower Dir was halted.

Another strike against traditional values and marriage

DES MOINES, Iowa – The only gay couple who were legally wed in Iowa are looking forward to getting some company. Iowa county clerks were to begin processing same-sex marriage applications Monday, following the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling on April 3 that legalized same sex-marriage. Iowa typically requires a three-day waiting period for marriages, but judges can waive that and allow immediate weddings.

The Samali Pirates are at it again...

This time it was a Yemeni oil tanker that was freed by the Yemeni Special Forces after it was seized in the Gulf of Aden. This story will tell you all about it.

There is also an Australian Cruise ship story here.

Klavan On The Culture

(D)emocrats hate free speech...