This We'll Defend

March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free
Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory
We’re the Army and proud of our name
We’re the Army and proudly proclaim

First to fight for the right,
And to build the Nation’s might,
And The Army Goes Rolling Along
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting till the battle’s won,
And the Army Goes Rolling Along.

Then it’s Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army’s on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong
For where e’er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.

Valley Forge, Custer’s ranks,
San Juan Hill and Patton’s tanks,
And the Army went rolling along
Minute men, from the start,
Always fighting from the heart,
And the Army keeps rolling along.

Then it’s Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army’s on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong
For where e’er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.

Men in rags, men who froze,
Still that Army met its foes,
And the Army went rolling along.
Faith in God, then we’re right,
And we’ll fight with all our might,
As the Army keeps rolling along.

Today the Army is Two-Hundred and Thirty Two years old. And it STILL is going strong, bringing freedom around the world. I pray that the gutless worms in the Capitol Building let us continue being the defenders of freedom and the American way of life.

I hadn't seen this before.

It's from 1996. A letter from a CEO to a stockholder. And lord, does it ever put things together for people to read. I can't pull one quote from it, you've got to go read it all.

So tell me again....

Just why exactly aren't we bombing the SHIT out of the turbaned tumblefucks of Tehran?

The United States has "irrefutable" evidence that Iran is transferring weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan, with the knowledge of the Iranian government, and NATO has intercepted some of the shipments, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.

"There's irrefutable evidence the Iranians are now doing this," said Undersecretary
of State Nicholas Burns on CNN. "It's certainly coming from the government of Iran. It's coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps command, which is a basic unit of the Iranian government."

Speaking separately to The Associated Press, Burns also said that NATO needs to act to stop the shipments. The Iran-Afghanistan frontier is "a very long border. But the Iranians need to know that we are there and that we're going to oppose this."

"It's a very serious question," he said, adding that Iran is in "outright violation" of relevant U.N. Security Council
resolutions.

We've known that Iran has been arming terrorists in Iraq. We know they funnel aid and weapons to terrorist groups like Hezbollah. We know that they're working on building a nuclear bomb. And we know that they're shipping weapons to the Taliban.

So why does Iran still have any military bases left? Why aren't there several flat, smoking areas in Iran right now, courtesy of the US Air Force? Why the fuck are we playing around with terrorists like Madman Amamentaljob?

Now is the time for real men to grab their balls, look the turbaned tumblefucks in the eye, and say "The bombing began five minutes ago. If you don't knock this shit off, you won't have a country to govern."

Man, that's gotta suck!

So, you're a whale. You're born, you're swimming around, and you manage to survive a bomb harpoon somehow. So you live a while more, you swim around, you mate, and then you're finally killed by another harpoon, around ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS LATER.

A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago.

Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3½-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.

Well, here's to long life and happiness, eh?

Red on Red

Terrorists killing other terrorists in Gaza. As if people couldn't see that coming.

Look, at this point the only people who actually believe that the palestinians care about peace are self-deluded morons with their head so far up their asses that they can give themselves a complete colonoscopy. They're a bloodthirsty bunch of feral animals who only care about killing. Israel, other palestinians, anyone who's named "Bob", ect. Killing is what they do. It is who they are. They could have had their own country years ago if they had just stopped trying to kill Israelies. But they could do that. And now that Israel has built up a security wall, they have resorted to killing each other, all in the name of Islam.

Gosh, what a pleasant bunch. Maybe when they're done killing each other, Israel can mop up the remaining terrorists and we can finish with this whole farcical "nation" of paleswine.

Well, that explains a lot

Surfin' Sonda K's place when I found this:

Pearson also called himself as a witness, saying his problems began in May 2005 when he brought in several suits for alterations. A pair of pants from a blue and maroon suit was missing when he requested it two days later. He said Soo Chung tried to give him a pair of charcoal gray pants.

As Pearson explained that those weren't the pants for the suit, he choked up and left the courtroom crying after asking Bartnoff for a break.

Pearson originally asked the cleaners for the full price of the suit, which was more than $1,000. But because the Chungs insisted the pants had been found, they refused to pay.

Manning has said the cleaners made three settlement offers to Pearson, but the judge was not satisfied and increased his demands — including asking for money to rent a car so he could drive to another business.

This gutless wonder, this simpering pussy, this moron of the highest order, this sand-pounding ignorant fucktard, this weeping shithead, this crying braindead asscannon....

IS A JUDGE?!?!?!?!

Well, if THAT doesn't explain the legal system of Washington DC in one news article, I don't know what does! Howd'ya like to get HIM as a judge? I don't know, just how much contempt of court would you get hit with if you stopped in mid speech and said "Hey, aren't you that crybaby bitch who screamed about a pair of pants?"

Oh, and by the way....

Lookie here: Execution deters murderers! Gosh, whodathunk?

A Good Cause

Folks, those of you who have been reading Kim du Toit knows of his support for our troops. And in the case of the Deuce Four, that's literal support. He's put his money where his mouth is, more than once.

It's that time again.

From Sgt Vik of Deuce Four:
You would know me from the Deuce Four Snipers. We have been re-flagged as 3/2 Stryker Cavalry Regiment. We have been called back to duty in Iraq. We once again would like the help from yourself and Nation of Rifleman. We have been looking at a couple of items that we need help purchasing. If this is possible, please contact me and I can provide you with further details of the items. We thank you for your support of our troops. Hope to talk to you soon.

Time to step up. Mr. du Toit expects a shopping list soon. And unlike the worthless, corrupt shitheads in Congress, you know that any money you donate is going straight to the troops who need it.

Real Americans, doing the job that the feckless parasites in DC refuse to do.

I'm still recovering

From this latest detail. The wife is back home after being away for a couple of weeks. However, she brought back a few things that I've been missing:

Guinness. Oh, sweet nectar of Ireland!
Fresh Keta Salmon. That was smoked today. The wife and I dined on smoked salmon and cheese for dinner.
Luksasova Vodka. We can't get it down here. It makes a damn fine Vodka martini. I know that there are a few people who would sneer at a VODKA martini, but I like 'em with either good gin or good vodka, and this is GOOD vodka!

I managed to bring back a few things from La Republica Dominicana for the family. For my dear wife, a bottle of outstanding rum. A painting for my mom. And a box of Dominican Cohibas for my father.

I'm still recharging my batteries. I'll get back into the swing of things for right now, but life just took a hectic turn. I'm as busy as a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest. Although it looks like I may be leaving Puerto Rico sooner than I thought.

More later.

Hunh?

Been busy as can be, no time for blogging, but HAD to post this one:



Ummm, WTF?

Daily Express: The World's Greatest Newspaper :: News / Showbiz :: Police officer dies in triple stabbing

Yeah, I'm back

Don't have any pictures for you right now. Maybe later this week.

The ceremony went well. We managed to gel together as best we could. One of the hard things about doing funeral details down here is that you never have the same team twice. Every team has someone different, or everybody different on it.

That makes a big difference, when you're trying to co-ordinate just how long your steps are going to take. Drill and Ceremony means just that. DRILL and CEREMONY. In order to have that ceremony done properly, you've got to drill, drill and drill. Getting a group of people together and telling them "Forward, MARCH!" only works if the people you're giving the orders to know and have drilled with each other long enough to do it right. There's no calling cadence during a funeral. There's nobody counting time. The team has to do it all together, with no communication between the troops. That takes practice, and more practice.

The firing team is the same way. I know I have a lot of folks around here who own personal weapons. I want you to try something. Grab a buddy and a firearm you're not afraid to dry-fire. Stand side by side, not looking at each other. Have someone call out "Ready (charge weapon), Aim (point weapon), FIRE! (obviously fire)". You must charge the weapons in unison, move in tandem, and fire at the exact same time. It should just sound like one loud gunshot. Or one single click, since you're dry firing.

Give it a try. It ain't easy. Now try to do it with seven people at the same time. There is no "Well, it kinda sounded good" statements. It either sounds damn good, or it sounds like hyperactive kids popping rounds off at a firing range. Everybody has to be on the same page, and that takes practice, and more practice.

Now, I told you all that so I could tell you this:

I know that there are a lot of people down here who aren't worth the time of day. But I'm always grateful for the professionalism of the troops who pull funeral details. We're always trying to get familiar with someone new, someone we've never worked with before. It's like constantly re-inventing the wheel over and over. And yet they always make it work. We drill and practice until we get it perfect. We improvise. We deal with changes that are thrown at us left and right as people with shiny metal things on their collar say "Hey, why don't we do this instead?" at the very last minute. At one point it was so bad that even after the dress rehearsal, things were STILL getting changed and we had to adjust on the fly. They busted their asses, and I've learned more from them about D&C than I learned in my first five year tour.

I'm proud to be part of it.

Saw this yesterday

But couldn't get around to posting it until today. Ouch. Ain't nuthin' left but smoking footprints, metaphorically speaking.

Honors

The Soldier arrives in Santo Domingo today. We'll be on Honor Guard, and then the Ceremony tomorrow.

I hope you'll all understand if I don't write another post until Monday.

The Amnesty Bill isn't dead yet, but it's gasping for air. Good. We need to keep our hands wrapped around it's neck until the thing is dead and gone. We don't need an 800 page tome of laws that will promptly be ignored as soon as the ink is wet. We need two things, and two things only:

1) Secure the borders.
2) Enforce the existing laws.

It really is that simple. And the government has failed to do it for decades, until we have millions upon millions of illegal aliens living in America and cities ignoring the laws that are written. Since the government has proven beyond a doubt that they can't or won't do a damn thing, why should we trust them to follow ANY of the Amnesty Bill they wanted to pass?

Kill the Bill. Kill it, burn it, shred the ashes, and then bury them in a septic tank somewhere.

Still more Paris Hilton in the news. Gag. Please, Lord, make it stop. Why in the name of all that is holy are people so fixated on a skank who's only claims to fame are that A) her daddy is rich, and B) she made a sex tape that got out, and then showed how embarrassed she was about it by flashing every bit of genitalia possible in public.

The sooner that we don't care about Paris Hilton or anyone like her, the better.

That's it for today. See you all next week.

Dear God,

Please, please, please, pleasepleaseplease make the news of Paris Hilton go away! I don't care about her. I don't want to see her. I don't want to hear about her.

Please make the bad men stop!

See what you miss when you're away?

Just damn.

In fact, that day, the police was so effective they even prevented a suicide bomber from entering the building. We heard the boom, and as if on cue, RPG and small arms fire. The Marines of the 2/6 infantry unit grinned as they pulled on their equipment and took positions, but in reality, the Iraqi police had prevented a major suicide attack. There was, however, one victim—the suicide bomber.

So, how did the death of a sole suicide bomber become the Wall Street Journal headline of "Suicide Bombing in Fallujah Leaves 25 Dead, 50 Wounded"? To be fair, NPR, CBS, Sky News, and CNN all parroted the same numbers, as they rushed to report something—anything! The answer is a 20-minute helicopter away in Baghdad. Where the majority of "reporting" is done from the Green Zone.

Bottom line - if you get your news on Iraq from a newspaper, you're being lied to. Period. Matt Sanchez, who posted this report, also left a comment:

The reporting is, indeed, atrocious. The Washington Post report about the Green Zone running out of food, or members of the military not being able to blog were flat out lies.

I'm currently one of FIVE embeds in all of the Al Anbar Province. A province roughly the size of South Carolina.

Emphasis mine. I guess it's just easier to slander the troops and push a political agenda like a good little whore than get out and, yannow, REPORT THE FACTS. There's simply no reason to pick up a newspaper for actual news. You would be better off hitting the tipjars of Sanchez, or Micheal Yon, or Bill Roggio, or any of the other private citizens who are over there doing the job that the newspapers are too worthless and gutless to do.

Added without comment via DANEgerus - High Crimes and Misdemeanors

CNN:

1) Freely admitted that they covered up some of Saddam Hussein's most horrific crimes in exchange for "access."

2) Co-produced a piece on "Operation Tailwind" from the Viet Nam war, during which they alleged that the US used poison gas.

3) Accused the US military of "targeting" journalists for killing in Iraq.

NBC News:

1) Rigged a GMC pickup to explode, using model rocket engines, to support their story that the trucks could explode in a routine crash.

MSNBC:

Keith Olbermann. 'Nuff said.

CBS News:

1) Aired a documentary on the suffering of Viet Nam veterans without disclosing (or, even noticing) that five of the six veterans profiled had never actually served in Viet Nam.

2) Aired a piece on George W. Bush's National Guard service using fraudulent documents and describing the accuser as an "Air National Guard veteran," instead of "an Army National Guard veteran with a long-standing grudge against Bush and a history of mental problems."

New York Times:

(Far, far, far too many to mention, starting with the white wash of Stalin's atrocities in the Soviet Union and including publishing identifying information on CIA aircraft, and other highly classified information. Toss in their hypocrisy in championing the "leaking" of information when it suits their purpose, but demanding the heads of whoever "outed" Valerie Plame by any means necessary except actually asking journalists who told them what.)

I could go on, but that ought to be more than enough.

Compared to that, what the hell has Fox News done that merits such vitriol? I know it's usually a bad idea to -- as Bill O'Reilly likes to say -- "justify bad behavior by citing other bad behavior," but in this case it seems that Fox is being punished for sins that pale in comparison to others' misdeeds.

It's all about the political agenda, folks.

I was remiss yesterday

I was so damn busy that I forgot to sit down and remember my history.

June 6th, 1944. D-Day.

I think it's rather fitting, that on the very day when so many brave men sacrificed themselves to bring freedom to an entire continent, I was practicing the movements and drills to honor a fallen comrade, who gave the ultimate sacrifice trying to bring freedom to yet another continent.

Sixty-three years after the Greatest Generation began the charge into hell, our soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen are still going strong. Still fighting against insane lunatics. The tactics may have changed, the enemy may be swarthy and dark instead of blond haired and blue-eyed, but the mentality we fight, the arrogant superiority and quest for world domination - those are the same. And we're still fighting against it. For all our sakes, I hope we continue to fight against it.

Sixty-three years ago, some Sergeant was doing just what I'm doing now - going through the drills, practicing, in order to render honors to a fallen comrade. He had different medals on his chest - perhaps a German Campaign medal, maybe a Pacific Campaign ribbon. But the rank on our sleeves will be the same. It's the Non-Coms who perform the ceremony. Officers can give a speech, but NCO's fire the 21 gun salute. NCO's carry the casket, NCO's fold the flag. Some un-named Sergeant and I, separated by over six decades, but we're doing the same exact things. The very same motions and drills. And for the very same reason:

To honor a fallen comrade. And the Soldiers we honor fell for the same reasons - to fight a mentality that would enslave the world if it could.

God bless those that fell sixty-three years ago. It is from them that we take the inspiration we hold today.

Sprinting in place

Finally got online today. Wrote an email to the Raging Mrs. Reply to an email from a friend. Then hit 4RWWS.

The soldier hasn't returned to Santo Domingo yet. Paperwork issues. That should be settled at some point, and then they'll fly him here, where we'll pick him up. Honor Guard, most likely 24 hours. Then the ceremony. He's going to be cremated, so there won't be a funeral in the common sense of the word. From what I understand, we'll be bringing his casket right out into the street. The police are going to shut off traffic for a couple of blocks, and there will be people everywhere.

It's going to be interesting, to say the least.

In the meantime, it's practice, practice, practice, meeting, practice, meal time, meeting, practice, meeting, meal time, bed time. Roughly. That's an approximation, not a direct copy from my schedule. I've got another meeting in twenty minutes, so I'll sign off for now and let you all get back to the blogs where people are actually posting this week!

Leeeeee-vin' On a Jet Plane

Headed out to Santo Domingo this afternoon.

The Army never promised me a boring life.

Yet another Hash Picture

Oh, stop it, not that kind of hash. THIS kind of hash.

That's me, hauling ass through Puerto Rico. That backpack looking thing is my Camelbak, which I aways carry on a Hash. Otherwise I'd have heat stroke within a mile. Running in PR during the afternoon is a bitch sometimes.

One more? OK.

That, my friends, is what we call "The Shiggy". What, you thought we only ran on roads? Unfortunately, that picture looks a lot better than it smelled.

If I have a chance, I'll be posting a pic a day if I can. That's IF the hotel has internet. And that's a big IF.

But, but, but...

Micheal Moore says there's no terrorist threat in America! How can this be?

Three people were arrested and one other was being sought Saturday in connection to a plan to set off explosives in a fuel line that feeds John F. Kennedy International Airport and runs through residential neighborhoods, officials close to the investigation said.

Captain Ed points out that this isn't just a homegrown plot, this had ties all over the world. Read his post, because I honestly don't know what I could add to it.

Cero Peso

I'm going to be printing these off and sending 'em to my congresscritters. Money talks. And my money is staying in my wallet until Congress understands that they get elected to represent us, not their own bank accounts.

The Fall of the Republican Party

People are pissed. Really pissed. Completely pissed. Support is dropping for the GOP faster than what's left of Brittany Spears' clothing. Donations? I don't think so.

But I don't know what's worse - the fact that the GOP is turning into the New Democrats, or the fact that the current Democrats are exponentially worse than anything the GOP could put forth.

Our political choices are either a giant pile of dogshit, or a cesspool filled with even more dogshit. Yay.

Where's that Reset button again?

DAY-UM!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I'd say this one is worth more than that. As I said at the blog where I found this picture, that kid knows exactly who can and will help him when all hell breaks loose. It's human nature to run to the place or thing that makes you feel safest when you're in danger.

Just keep that in mind as you look at that photo.

And life refuses to stop

I've been hammered. Not as in drunk, but as in so damn busy with work that I've barely had time to breathe. And it's only going to get worse. TVE, Tim, I hope you have a couple of posts ready, because I'm leaving on Monday.

Once again, I will be the Rifle Team Leader for a military funeral, this one in Santo Domingo. I don't know if I'll have internet access or not. In Panama, I had about 10 minutes per day, which was enough to check my email and then get off the computer.

I'll be posting during the weekend, but come Monday afternoon I'm on a plane getting ready to give another soldier their final send off. I won't be back until Friday night or Saturday morning.

You know, every now and then I find some leftist anti-war shithead who spouts off some insult that they've kept on hand just to use against conservatives. "Oh, well you don't know what it's like for the families. You've never seen what the families go through. You don't blah blah blah blah blah." Whatever. You know what? I have attended the funerals of many people in the military, and each one of those people I rendered honors to are better than any of the worthless pusbuckets who currently reside on the Left side of the political sphere.

You think I don't know what the family goes through? I guarantee one thing - I have a much firmer grasp on the grief of a military family than 99.999% of the Leftist shitnozzles that shriek and gibber and use the troops as a political weapon. The left hates the military. The Left LOATHES the military with a passion, plain and simple. I don't care what the current Leftist de jour says on any given day, all you have to do is look at their actions and you can see that the Left would just prefer it if the United States Military would just go away and never come back. If it's not John F'ing Kerry calling the troops stupid, it's Rosie the Stupid Fucking Cow calling them terrorists. Or, it's Moonbat Protesters exhorting the troops to shoot their officers. Or it's Hillary Clinton trying to get military uniforms banned from the White House. Or it's Charlie the Corrupt Communist Rangel calling them all poor and uneducated. Or it's Cindy Sheehan calling them a bunch of murdering thugs. Or it's any of the Leftist idiots and morons in Congress cutting the budget, screwing with troop funding, ect., ect., ect., the list keeps going on and on. And the Left as a whole doesn't give a shit if a soldier dies. They. Just. Don't. Care. UNLESS, they can use that soldier's death as a way to score political points. And then it's "Oh, the troops are dying! Don't you care about the troops? You don't care about the troops!" Fuck off, you Leftist zombies. I know who supports the military and who doesn't. I see it every day.

The rest of the military does as well.

Every time I help bury a soldier, I know that I'm giving respect to someone who's worth more than any of the Kos Kid's Petting Zoo. Or all of Glen(s) Greenwald's sock puppets put together, with Andy "Shrieking" Sullivan tossed in for good measure.

Blah. I'm tired, brain dead, and looking forward to laying my head on my pillow tonight.

I don't know what to make of this

I really don't. OK, so I'm in Puerto Rico, but still.... I guess any asshole with a Yahoo account can get a green card.

I'm of two minds. One, if any moron can get a green card, that doesn't say much about our immigration policy, does it? And two, if it's this easy to get a damn green card, then why don't more people do it instead of sneaking over the damn border?!

I'm being sarcastic, of course. But still, I don't know if I'm amused or annoyed by this. Both, I guess.

Security Investigations

So, I have to redo my security investigation to keep my clearance. Is Sandy Bergler in jail yet? I mean, I was filling out the paperwork tonight, and that popped into my head. I damn near have to submit to a body cavity search just to get a Classified clearance, and yet that sack of shit stole and destroyed CODE WORD DOCUMENTS, and he's sitting fat and happy in his own house.

What a crock of shit. I'll tell you what, the fact that he's a Clintoon crony is enough to ensure that I'll never vote for either of them. Hell, given the chance I won't have a thing to do with them except voting against them. The Clintoons are like herpes - once you have 'em, there's nothing you can do to get rid of them. Only instead of giving you a cold sore, they destroy your economy, tax you to death, steal your firearms and completely wreck the military.

Come to think of it, I'd take cold sores over the Clintoons any day of the week.

Gah. Back to filling out more forms.

WOO HOO!

Rejoice, everyone! One of the world's top ten spammers has been nabbed!

SEATTLE — A 27-year-old man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised "zombie" computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.

"He's one of the top 10 spammers in the world," said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company's Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. "He's a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day."

I say put him in chains at Westlake Center and let anyone who's been bothered by spam take a whack at him with a bamboo cane. When he passes out, wake him up and let people continue. Don't stop until he's nothing more than a bleeding lump of flesh. Then, let the hospital folks have him for a while, right before he's transported to a high-security prison where he'll rot for the rest of his miserable life.

That would set one hell of an example for other spammers, wouldn't it?

Found at Gunthing.com

Updating a post

Ya know, when I read that email by Derek Murphy, the moonbat from Rochester NY, my first response was unbridled laughter, because Derek Murphy doesn't know jack squat about me.

But reading that post again today, I had another thought on top of that - If "Old Blood and Guts" Patton were alive today, does anyone doubt that the Leftists would be howling for his head, or at the very least, his rank?

George S. Patton was antithetical to Leftist thought. And I find it absolutely hilarious that a Leftist would use the movie "Patton" to try and insult me.

TVE - perhaps you could leave some of the more amusing comments up? I don't get a chance to read them at work, and I'd love to see just what they're saying. I can't point and laugh at them if I can't see 'em.

Comment Moderation

Comments will be approved before they post until Sock Puppet's leftard shit slingers get bored, take the hint, or find a shiny object they can't stop staring at. Leftards - You are not welcome. You offer nothing unique to any debate you attempt to engage in. We've heard all the notes you can play. Examples: "bushitler", "how DARE you say", "you neocons", "the joooooooos", "Saddam had the whole world fooled (including my precious Donkey masters) but fuck dubya", "I don't care if we have actually found some WMD or the equipment to produce it", "I surely don't care that Saddam was intent on waiting out the sanctions against him while buying off corrupt UN bureaucrats in order to attain an unrestrained arsenal of WMD to use in his horrid designs", "So what if the UN actually admitted to tracking tons of 'dual purpose' material and equipment across Iraq's border into Syria before Operation Iraqi Freedom began", "I don't care if Saddam's Iraq was an open and blatant state sponsor of terror, "I don't care if my hero Richard Clarke once believed bin Laden would 'boogie to Baghdad', "I hate you", "you're stupid", "you suck", "grown men and women who voluntarily enter the military are a) children, b) monsters c) idiots d) in need of my help so I should pretend to be a soldier and make up and tell awful stories about how bad they treat innocent people", "don't ask me what happens if we leave Iraq", "I don't care what al Qaeda has planned for the people I pretend to be concerned about whenever I think it will bolster one of my bullshit arguments", "whatever you say it's the opposite", etc, etc, etc. You have your world view spoon fed to you by the likes of Michael Moore, Charlie Sheen, Dan Rather, Brad Pitt, Cheryl Crow, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Rosie O'Donnell. When they aren't telling you what to say or think, you wander the earth in a helpless stupor latching onto anyone who mouths your "if it feels good do it", "like peace man", "give-me give-me", "let me give yours away!", "I hate the rich", "only U.S. oil companies are evil", "where are the keys to my Luxury SUV", "I'll Sue!", "you have no right!", simplistic, self-centered, shallow, limited-capacity hate-filled fucking clueless view of the world you stumble through. So, in no uncertain terms, fuck off. Go back to your playpen. Ask one of Glen's multiple personalities who else you can throw your own crap at.

For the rest of you - expect brief delays when posting before your comments show up in the thread it was posted to.

When Moonbats send email

Oh, you've just GOT to love 'em when they get all mad! I bet the drool was just dripping off his chin as he pounded his fat little fingers on the keyboard!

Raging Dave:

Yesterday, I had the chance to watch one of my favorite films, Franklin Schaffner's Patton. George C. Scott takes the stage for an opening monologue, delivered to troops headed for WWII. He acknowledges their fears and the challenges ahead, and then says, "Thirty years from now, when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you, 'What did you do in the great World War II,' you won't have to say, 'Well... I shoveled shit in Louisiana.'"

You, on the other hand, will have to say this, regarding you actions during the war in Iraq: "Well, I shoveled shit on a grieving mother, and in the name of a Jesus-freak fuck-up of a president who wasn't worth the dirt on her feet, nor the dirt shoveled on her son's grave."

Have a nice day, you miserable, gutless prick.

And grasp this concept: Viagra. It will cure what really ails you, and most right-wing idiots, and you won't be so cruel to others once you successfully get laid.

Derek Murphy
Rochester, NY
drkmrphy@aol.com

Now, I've gone over what Momma Moonbat did in the past. She flat out shit on her son's grave, all to advance a political agenda that was contrary to her son's actions. A grieving mother? I have no doubt that she grieved at first, but then she made the choice to use her son's death in the most disgusting ways possible.

Cindy Sheehan called American troops terrorists.
Cindy Sheehan has called the President of the United States a terrorist.
Cindy Sheehan has done everything in her power to ensure that the US Army is defeated by a bunch of baby raping, woman killing terrorists by undermining that Army, their commanders, their CiC and their mission.

Cindy Sheehan has crapped all over my country, my Army, my brothers in arms, my mission, and my Commander in Chief, and yet Derek Murphy of Rochester NY wants to claim that she's just a "grieving mother".

Horse shit. She's a tool, a political whore, an insane stupid wench who willingly let herself get used by the Democrat American Communist Party. And let's be blunt, shall we? Her supporters ain't exactly the brightest bulbs in the box either. I can't tell if they are actually that stupid, or if they KNOW what she's done and don't care as long as they can attack the sane half of the country.

So here's a big "Fuck You" to Derek Murphy of Rochester NY. Spare me your platitudes, I already know how people like you support the troops.... and how you remember them. Don't bother to write back, I'll just have to ridicule you in public again.

By the way, Derek Murphy of Rochester NY. There's a word to describe your last paragraph - it's called "projection". Toodles!

Ah, well, that explains it

Had a sudden influx of moonbats. Decided to check out if I was linked somewhere, because normally the moonbats don't even bother coming over to chat. Anyone want to guess who linked to me?

The Sock-Puppeteer himself! Glen(s) Greenwald! I also got linked to by memeorandum. Isn't that sweet? Glen(s) linked to me regarding my post about the "memo" from Iraq. To quote Glen(s):

Time and again, they are revealed to be people completely unmoored from reality or without the slightest regard for basic precepts of responsible commentary. Facts which are unpleasant to them are deemed to be "fake" for that reason alone, and the most serious accusations come spewing forth from their mouths without any regard to whether they are actually true.

In response, I only have one question. Hey Glen(s), tell me exactly what government agency uses a Hummel Figurine in their letterhead? You know, this one:




Because let me tell ya - I've seen DOD memos, DA memos, USARC memos, hell, even my unit letterhead has an actual seal on it. I have never seen any official memo from the government that uses a picture of a collectible knick-knack on the letterhead.

But according to Glen(s), I should just accept the memo unquestioning and agree that everything is going to hell. Sorry skippy, ain't gonna happen. That's your M.O., not mine.

Anyways, I figure the moonbats will get tired after a day or two, and then I'll go back to just posting when I can. If anyone wants to hang around and play "whack-a-moonbat" be my guest.

Adios, Cindy

We knew ye too well.

Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq three years ago, who used her son's grave as a political soapbox to advance a political agenda he would have never agreed with, said yesterday she was stepping down from her role as the figurehead of the US campaign against the war.

(Yeah, I fixed part of that paragraph. RD)

"This is my resignation letter as the 'face' of the American anti-war movement," she wrote in a sometimes bitter diary entry on the website Daily Kos. "I am going to take whatever I have left, and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children, and try to regain some of what I have lost." ...

"I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican party," she wrote. "However, when I started to hold the Democratic party to the same standards that I held the Republican party, support for my cause started to erode, and the 'left' started labelling me with the same slurs that the right used."

On Saturday, in an open letter to Democratic members of Congress, she announced that she was leaving the party because she felt its leaders had failed to change the country's course in Iraq.

Poor momma Moonbat, taking her ball and going home. She was used like a ten-dollar whore by the Democrat American Communist Party, she let her self be used, and she WANTED to be used. And the American Communist Party was more than happy to use her to make President Bush look bad. But once people saw the mentally deranged whack-job in broad daylight, and she became the face of the American Communist Party's anti-war movement, she started making them look bad. And like any cheap whore, she was tossed aside after she was used up.

I don't think I detested this woman this damn much when she first came out. But when she used her son's grave in a photo-op?

I was flat out disgusted. So please, Cindy, go away. It was nice to be able to show the Democrat American Communist Party's agenda by simply pointing at their resident spokesmoonbat, but the world will be a better place when nobody can hear you talk.

Buh-bye.

Memorial Day

Today is for my Grandfather, who fought in the Navy during WWII. Pacific Campaign.

Today is for my father, who did two tours in Viet Nam.

Today is for my Great-Grandfather, who was a scout for the Army during the American-Indian wars. Although the only knowledge I have of him is second hand, that's still enough. According to my father, my Great-Grandfather was a mean, ornery cuss who wanted things done his way, rightdamnnow.

Now I know where I get that from.

If you see a vet, thank them. If you know a vet, call them up. But never, ever forget what those veterans have done for this country.

Trying something new

Today, I'm going to try my first attempt at baking fresh bread. The Raging Mrs. has her digital camera with her right now, so that means I can't give you a picture of the finished product. But I'll let you know how it turns out, good or bad.

UPDATE: The bread came out OK, although I don't think the dough was stiff enough. The loaves I made sort of flattened out a bit when I baked them, so there was a bit too much moisture in there.

Still, it had a good flavor to it. I'm doing my best to keep the Raging Mrs' sourdough pot going strong. Next time I'll add a bit more flour at the end and that should give me the consistency that I'm looking for.

OK, once again....

Ahem. THE MEDIA IS NOT YOUR FRIEND! And, just in case anyone is wondering, the Has-Been Media is also incredibly stupid and easily fooled, so long as they can advance their political agenda. Idiot reporter gets a military "memo" that lack of supplies are creating food shortages in Iraq. Reporter makes snarky comment. Reporter updates and says a "military buddy" says the memo is fake, but that it doesn't derail his first comment.

Ummmm...... Just what the FUCK is this moron smoking?

Check out the link to the memo. It's laughable. Nobody in their right mind would have said "Oh, yeah, that's a military memo!"

Not unless they didn't give a shit about facts, the truth, and reality, preferring instead to substitute their own point of view in an effort to push an agenda. Worthless asscannon.

Found at DANEgerus.

UPDATE: Say what? Iraqslogger says the memo is real. But it's a memo from the US Embassy in Iraq, not the military.

Well, that would explain the non-military writing and letterhead.

So, before I get called part of the overwhelming Patriarchy holding women down

Let me just say that I think this is nuts.

One of the world's most prestigious health journals has lashed a fast-growing trend in the United States and Britain for "designer vaginas," the tabloid term for cosmetic surgery to the female genitalia.

Yes, cosmetic surgery for vaginas.

You know, there's something to be said for wearing enough clothing that your vagina isn't exposed for all the world to see. And if you're out flashing your cooter so much that you want to have a surgeon REMOVE PART OF IT JUST SO IT LOOKS BETTER, then may I suggest a lifestyle change?

Patients who sought genitoplasty "uniformly" wanted their vulvas to be flat and with no protrusion, similar to the prepubescent look of girls in Western fashion ads, they found.

"Not unlike presenting for a haircut at a salon, women often brought along images to illustrate the desired appearance," say Creighton and Liao. "The illustrations, usually from advertisements or pornography, are always selective and possibly digitally altered."

Um...... Sorry, I like any vulvas I'm around to look older than 12, thankyouverymuch. Seriously..... if you know any woman who's going to get their labia cut off in order to try to look like a porn-star, do me a favor - slap the shit out of them, tell them to enjoy what god gave 'em, and maybe wake them the hell up.

Sheesh.

Waitaminnit!

Those are the parents???? Uh, lady, I think I know why your kid isn't graduating Publik Skool! "Let Are Children Walk"

So I didn't post yesterday

I'm sorry. Sue me. By now people should have become accustomed to it, judging by my readership numbers dropping faster than a congresscritter's morals. Let me just say that there are things going on both in my personal and professional life that I cannot and will not discuss on the blog. As much as I love to talk, there are somethings that just shouldn't be said publicly.

No, I'm not getting a divorce! I love the Raging Mrs., and her cooking.

No, I'm not getting out of the Army! I'm in it for the long haul.

No, I'm not... JUST STOP IT, WILL YA! Just because I don't want to talk about it doesn't mean that it's some super-dooper important the-world-is-gonna-change-forever kinda crap!

Anyways, as I'm going to be busy yet again today, I'm just going to give you a little linky love, in case you missed any of it.

Up first in the Anchoress, who gives us a link-full asswhuppin' of the Left, all in the name of "Yes, let's Impeach Bush!" Go read it, you won't be sorry.

It isn't my hometown

But Coeur d'Alene shares a border with Post Falls. Sometimes I find news and just say "Thank God I'm from Idaho. Please, go and read. If we had more young men like those in that story, we might not have half the problems we currently have in this country.

Found at Kim du Toit's. I hadn't had a chance to peruse the paper yet.

Whoa! I got mail!

Got a reader who disagrees with my "Two Americas" QotD. Says there ain't just TWO of 'em.

Heh.

Raging Dave's Quote of the Day

By Instapundit. No, not via Insty, BY him:

THERE ARE TWO AMERICAS, and one of them is defending the other.

By the way, military recruiting is indeed doing well.

Loose Lips Sink Ships

They also sink plans to deal with terrorist supporting Mullahs.

ABC News has revealed a top-secret order from George Bush that orders the CIA and other intelligence agencies to take action to undermine the Iranian mullahcracy. Needless to say, the revelation makes the mission almost impossible

At what point are people going to go to jail for leaking confidential information?

Oh, wait, they do it to hurt President Bush, so it's OK. I am sick of this. You can read the whole thing or check out Captain Ed's analysis. Either way, the CIA has gone from collecting intelligence to assaulting the President. Right now, I would not shed one tear if the CIA were disbanded.

Make the call

Right Wing News (who I just blogged about below) wants you to call your Representatives and Senators about the Immigration bill. Rather than copy all the links he's got to info resources, I'll just link to him.

I've called my Senators, Craig and Crapo. When I tried to call the RNC? A very sweet sounding, but harried female voice picked up: "Thankyouforcallingcouldyouholdpleasethanks"

Time to wake up, Stupid Party. The people who vote for you don't like being told to piss off. Remember, you represent us, which means that should you no longer actually represent us, then we'll find someone who will!

Whoa...

I missed this when it came out, but DANEgerus linked to it....

Project Payback

This year, if this amnesty bill passes, I'm going to organize a group of bloggers to raise money for any viable primary challengers to pro-amnesty Republicans in the Senate. I'm also going to offer those candidates my services, pro-bono, as a consultant, to try to get their names out in the blogosphere. On top of that, I'm going to hunt down every single piece of dirt I can find from Republican sources on these pro-amnesty Republicans and I'm going to release it in the blogosphere. Put another way, if you're a Republican senator up for reelection in 2008 and you vote for amnesty -- and you face a viable primary challenger -- I've got two words for you,

Scorched Earth.

Think Steven Laffey vs. Lincoln Chafee -- and in case you've forgotten, Chafee won ugly in that primary, but he isn't in the Senate anymore.

You know, I hope it doesn't come to this, I really do. But, there comes a point where conservatives have got to say enough is enough and take our party back from these arrogant, unprincipled, elitist Country Club Republicans who dominate the Senate who think that they no longer have to pay attention to their constituents, their base, or the American people.

This time, they're either going to pay attention, or we're going to take 2 or 3 of their scalps and hang them on the wall come election time. I don't want it to come to that, it shouldn't have to come to that, but either they're going to start listening or we're going to get rid of them and find some senators who are willing to listen to the people who got them elected.

You hear that plopping sound? That's the sound of the Stupid Party shitting all over their constituents and hitting the flush handle. And their constituents, i.e. THE PEOPLE WHO VOTE FOR THEM, are fed up.

Jesse McBeth is still a criminal

And now, hopefully, he's going to jail. I know I haven't been posting as much lately, but reading the news of charges being pressed against him make me smile.

Personally, I think he should just be handed over to the 2nd Ranger Battalion. I'm sure they'll know just what to do with him.

A consensus!

I remember a few months back, when the watermelon Greens were shrieking "THERE'S A CONSENSUS ON GLOBAL WARMING!" As if every scientist in the world just up and said "Oh, yeah, that's right!"

Here's your bleeping consensus.

Climate change will be considered a joke in five years time, meteorologist Augie Auer told the annual meeting of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton this week.

Man's contribution to the greenhouse gases was so small we couldn't change the climate if we tried, he maintained.

"We're all going to survive this. It's all going to be a joke in five years," he said.

A combination of misinterpreted and misguided science, media hype, and political spin had created the current hysteria and it was time to put a stop to it.

"It is time to attack the myth of global warming," he said.

Yeah, Leftists lie. It's what they do. The topic may change, but the tactics never do.

Found at BTB.

¡Immagración!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Holy cow!

Rachel Lucas is back!


YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!

Still busy

Ah, the weekend. Not exactly a day off, just doing different work. In between cleaning, trimming the yard (the Raging Mrs mowed for me! yay!) taking out the trash, recycling, moving crap around, getting supplies, refilling the propane cylinder (gotta grill, ya know!) and coughing up a lung from the (*(^%$^&((^&%$ Sahara Sands that are STILL floating around, I've barely had time to sit down.

By the way, we had a commenter ask if I was even in Puerto Rico, because the air wasn't nearly as bad where he was.

He lives in Aguadilla. (pronounced Agua-DEE-ya, for all you gringos). Here's clue number one: Everything is Aguadilla is better than San Juan. The people. The traffic. The air. The water. I've told plenty of people who have asked me where to go in PR, "Get the hell away from San Juan. The farther from San Juan you go, the better the island gets." And I mean it. San Juan Antigua has some great historical sites (as well as a damn fine cigar shop), but you can spend a day there, and then you need to get the hell away from the city and go see the island.

Leaving San Juan is like a breath of fresh air. Mainly because the air in San Juan is so polluted to begin with that just getting away from here is a step in the right direction. Around San Juan, the water is a brownish-blue, with very little in the way of sea life to go snorkling for. The farther away you go, the cleaner the water gets. I spend a day at a beach near an old AF base called Base Ramey, and the water there was crystal blue. The kind of blue that you only see in magazines or on the Discovery Channel.

Nice golf course there as well. Designed for President Eisenhower. No kidding.

Anyways, I'm still in allergy hell. If I didn't know better, I would say that I have pneumonia again, except that I don't feel sick, I'm just having difficulty breathing. And then I look at the brown air outside, and understand just what the hell is going on. So yes, Terter, it really is that bad over here. Thank your lucky stars that you live where you do. I'm on a couple different allergy medications, and I'm still having issues.

Anyways, off I go again. I hope that y'alls weekend is going better than mine.

airport gate pass for military passengers family

If you click on the image, you will be able to see it clearly

This Day in History

Oregon

18 May 1980

the TSA knows that long hair on men is against Milirary Regs

Transportation Security Officers SPOT Passenger in Fake Military Uniform at Florida Airport

Hey it's nothing shy of a *miracle*!!!

I am Jack's aching sinuses

So, there's this little thing called the "Sahara Sands". Literally, it's the dust and dirt picked up from the Sahara desert, and blown across the ocean until the nasty, filthy, allergen packed cloud comes to rest over Puerto Rico. And the rest of the Caribbean, but I don't care about them.

I am in full-blown allergic overload. The air is brown. It's like LA on a really, really, REALLY smoggy day. My ears are plugged, my eyes are itchy, and running this moring was hell. It's as if nature said "Oh, you don't like Puerto Rico? Well, why don't I make it more enjoyable for you by dumping half of the Sahara desert into your upper respitory system despite the fact that you're thousands of miles away from Africa! Sound like fun? Wheeeeeee!"

I hate Puerto Rico.

More explinations to it here and here. The first link has a picture of a dust storm sweeping across the Atlantic ocean. Isn't it about time for that place to run out of dust and dirt?

Ricky Williams is an idiot.

OK, so you have assloads of talent, and all you have to do to make MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLIONS of dollars is run while holding a ball and STOP SMOKING DOPE!

I guess that's just too hard for some people.

You know what? Give me a million dollars and I won't work for the rest of my life unless I wanted to. You know, the job you always wanted to have, but never took it because of some reason or another? Yeah. That's what I would be doing. Work part time as a pizza delivery man just to get out of the house. But it would only be because I wanted to do it. I would invest the SHIT out of that million dollars. I can live on $40,000 a year easy. With the right investments, I wouldn't even have to touch the principle, I would just collect the interest and be happy.

This pothead idiot could have made 3-4 million a YEAR if he could lay off the weed. He didn't do it. Steve has it right:

Imagine having a talent like the one Ricky Williams has and throwing it away so you can smoke grass. Every year, he could have earned enough money for several dozen people to retire on, but he's going to be flat-ass broke at 40, and he has no other skills to fall back on. He'll probably have to become a personal trainer. If he can scrounge up enough ambition to get up in the morning and make fat people do situps. Which is doubtful.

There are no safe drugs, people. Use anything to excess and you're going to pay a heavy price.

Anything except pork, I mean. That's a sacrament.

Ricky Williams is a moron. By the way, I was stationed at Ft. Riley when Ricky Williams had his Heisman Trophy year. He came up to Kansas State and got his clocked cleaned. We all laughed at him. Who knew that years later I would still be laughing at his dumb, stoned ass?

Off topic: Is winning the Heisman Trophy a "Kiss Of Death" for college football these days? Can anyone remember who the last five winners were without looking it up? Seems to me the people voting for the winner have lost sight of what the award is about, and now only think of "What QB or running back can we give this thing to?" Sheesh.

Jerry Fallwell, RIP

They say that you can tell the quality of a man by his enemies. I've never been a big fan of Fallwell's, but strolling through the blogosphere and seeing the vile filth being spewed in his direction, I'm forced to think that maybe he was on to something.

Anyone the Leftists hate that much can't be all bad!

Fred Thompson issues smackdown...

...on Mike Moore's blubber-lined ass.

Inside the OODA

Umm.....

I really have no words for this kind of stupidity.

A teenager who put bullets in a vise and whacked them with a hammer to empty the brass shell casings was wounded in the abdomen by approximately the 100th bullet he hit, according to Warren County deputies.

Mosher told authorities he was trying to empty the rounds to collect the brass casings for scrap.

I have had people ask me previously why I still hold that the Theory of Evolution is just that: A THEORY. "How can you deny it?" they ask.

Folks, if evolution really worked the way it was supposed to work, then somebody THAT DAMN STUPID would have died off a long time ago.

Yay! Fillings!

Went to the dentist today to deal with some holes in my teeth. It's a good thing I'm typing right now, otherwise Ay wou' shoun kinna lah zish.

DANEgerus nails it once again.

The entire quote, because I liked it that much:

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quite, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let's see . . . our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen.

Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

It's a good question.

Just where ARE all the anti-communist movies?

I found this over at the Geek's place. And he's right. I can't excerpt that piece, you have to go read it in it's entirety.

What I will say is this: Hollywood has a long history of being communist and supporting communism. Nothing has changed, except for the fact that more people are aware of the evils of communism. But that hasn't changed communism's support in Hollywood one bit.

Hollywood isn't going to make a movie attacking something that it supports.

So Dave, how hot is it?

It's so damn hot that even in our air-conditioned home, it's around 80 degrees. Stepping outside is like stepping into a sauna. The dog just lies on the tile floor and pants. I'm guzzling water and Gatorade trying to stay hydrated.

I hate Puerto Rico.

Another Fable

The Parliament of Clocks.

The clockmakers destroy the nonconforming clockmaker among them because they know that as a practical matter we judge the accuracy of clocks by consensus. Absolute time does not exist. Essentially, a parliament of clocks votes on the correct time. (Even scientifically, this is true.) By fiat, we say that the clocks that deviate from the consensus time are inaccurate, but logically that need not be so. Different technologies or different levels of care in setting, winding or servicing the clocks could lead to the minority clocks being more accurate. However, if all the clocks agree, then no lay person will have grounds for suspecting that the majority clocks don’t keep accurate time.

As a practical matter, articulate intellectuals face the same problem. They deal in areas in which no means exist for easily or quickly falsifying and testing their ideas. Like the king with the clocks, lay people looking at their work from the outside cannot evaluate the accuracy of their work. No means exist to make an objective measurement that would determine the accuracy of a particular literary criticism. Historians agree that certain events occurred at certain places and times and then argue furiously over the events’ import and consequences. Journalists do the same thing. Various theories in many academic fields knock around for decades before simply fading away, apparently because people grow bored with them.

In order to maintain their power and position within society, articulate intellectuals must convince the larger population that they really do have a superior understanding of the issues they study. The do so using a parliament of clocks. By enforcing rigorous conformist standards on their members, they seek to create the illusion of accuracy by making it appear that all people knowledgeable in a particular field all reach the same conclusion. If all the supposed experts in a particular field all tell the same story the lay people are much less likely to guess that none of the experts know what they are talking about.

Found via Kim du Toit. Good stuff.

So I'm reading around...

DANEgerus.

Hot Air.

Baby Troll Blog.

RNS.

And you know what I think? Assault. Full, outright, frontal assault, by the Left, against America and her supporters. Take this post by Hot Air, for example: Reporter's Errors. It details how the Associated (with terrorists) Press gave a wrong story about military involvement regarding militias in Iraq. I'm not going to quote it, you can go read it if you want to. But it's just one more example of how the Left is pushing to get America smeared and defamed. It's one facet of the assault by the Left.

They're pushing hard for their side. Who's pushing for America? And yes, at this point I am making the distinction between the Left and America.

Don't know if I've posted this before.

But if I have, oh well. Here's something for everyone to try - a third-grade geography test.

Enjoy. And yes, I completed it in the time allowed.

Art

Mrs. du Toit has a post up about art. Specifically - movies.

For a film to be great and “art,” a few hundred things have to come together all at the same time. The subject matter has to be interesting, the characters deep and rich, the cinematography truthful, and the editing has to flow. The actors have to be playing parts that are their essence and able to wear their characters as they do their skin. The music and sound has to blend, never getting in the way of the images, but not being too timid either. In a word, everything has to “gel” and become not a series of various arts and skills and craftsmen, but something that when put together and done properly, becomes one thing.

Now, I don't know much about movies, but I've been involved with music in one form or another for years. And that paragraph above, I can understand.

I don't know any way to describe what it's like when you're performing with a group of people, and it just..... clicks. There's no other way to describe it. And sometimes, you can't control it. You want to control it, because then you could bring it out when you need it most, but it doesn't work like that. Sometimes, things just gel so well that it blows you away. I've been at a live performance where the musician was playing his heart out, and while the music was good, it just had something missing. And I've been at a second performance, same musician, same song, and it clicked. The previous performance was good, but this time, it grabbed you and didn't let you go until the song was over. It was like the music just took you over and MADE YOU LISTEN, and you didn't have any choice. It was that damn good. Things gelled. The musicians got into a groove, and it just.... clicked.

There are not many things in the “art” realm that are cooperative efforts. Yes, certainly, the painter relies on his canvas maker and the manufacture of his paints, but they aren’t all working in concert, at the same time, the way a film is made. On a film set there are dozens of artists and craftsmen working in concert, performing something akin to dance. And, like dance, there can be moments, rare moments, when everyone gets it just right… when everything is perfect and you realize you are witnessing something almost other worldly.

Many moons ago, back during the high school daze, I was in jazz choir. The choir director had pulled out an old standard for a small group to peform. Eight people - two soprano, two alto, two tenors, and two bass. "When I Fall In Love". Cheesy. It's been done waaaaay too much, but what the hell, we were going to do it again. Only we were going to do it better. About one week from the performance, we were rehersing in the auditorium before school started, and decided to give it one last run through before we all went to class.

And the moment,
I can feel that
You feel that way too.....
Is when I fall in love with you

And it clicked. People stopped what they were doing to listen to us. People who heard us from outside came in to listen to us. People who didn't give one damn about jazz, singing, or music in general stopped in their tracks while we sang. And nobody moved or said a word until we were done. Afterwards, we just stood around and stared at each other for a while, like "Damn, what just happened? Did we really do that?"

I'd like to say we did that at the performance, but we didn't. Oh, we were good, but we didn't click like we had a week previous.

There are few moments in life when art presents itself like that… when you know you have been in the presence of greatness… those oh-so-rare occasions when time stops and you become part of something…something better than ourselves.

I know how hard it is to reach that peak in music. To be able to reach it and capture it on film? I have no idea. I remember the first time I heard "Sing Sing Sing", recorded at Carnagie Hall, where the groove clicked, and Gene Krupa just could not stop playing. You can feel in even in that scratchy old recording. Krupa was in it. The orchestra had it. And the music didn't stop for over fourteen minutes, and everyone just clicked until they were wrung out. The audience went nuts. They knew that they had just witnessed greatness, however fleeting, and that they may not ever have a chance to see anything like that again.

You can go years and years and never see or experience great art. I’m sure that most people go their whole lives and never see it once. Some might have been in its presence but didn’t know it—weren’t capable of knowing it, or just missed it by some strange set of unfortunate events. Some people might have been in the presence of a great artist and sensed there was something unusual, but couldn’t describe it.

I'm not a big fan of movies; I firmly believe that 90% of the movies churned out by Hollywood should have never been made. But every now and then, you find that gem that makes you remember why you watch movies in the first place. I don't think I've ever experienced movies the way Mrs. du Toit has, nor will I ever. So be it.

But then, I'm not an actor, I'm a musician.

Don't quite know why I wrote this. Still, at least I've done one post today.

I know I haven't written much lately

I'm learning a new job, pretty much. The Army made me a quartermaster, and put me in a quartermaster slot. But my unit needs a personnel NCO.

So I'm learning on the fly. It's a cast-iron bitch. In any case, it's taking up a big part of my time. Hopefully I'll actually have something to write about during the weekend.

Just a reminder

Since gas prices are going up this summer.

So, when some idiot tries to persuade you that the evil greedy oil companies are the real reason you're being soaked for gasoline, kick him in the balls. And, when you've got his attention, ask him to explain the last time a state or federal government drilled one exploratory well, pumped one gallon of crude, gas, or diesel, wiped one windshield, changed one citizen's oil. And yet, the government takes $1 out of a notional $2.38 for a gallon of gas. That's 42 cents of every dollar. What obscene profit? Better: just whose profits are obscene, here?

Yep

The safari story of Cuddles

A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company. One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that he's lost.. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch. The old poodle thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!" Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap the old poodle exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?" Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew!", says the leopard, "That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!" Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine! Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?", but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says. "Where's that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard! Moral of this story.... Don't mess with old farts... age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience.

Hey Dave!

(and you have to imagine this being said in the worst Leftist voice) "How's that recruiting going, you chickenhawk-bushco-killbot-rethuglican?"

Answer: Pretty damn well!

The Army National Guard reached its congressionally authorized end strength of 350,000 Citizen-Soldiers on March 30, six months earlier than originally projected, Army Guard officials have reported.

"The strength of the Guard has been the amazing levels of retention among members of deployed units, surpassing all expectations," said Lt. Col. Diana Craun, the Army Guard’s deputy chief for strength maintenance.

"Retention is highest among units that have returned from deployments, and retention is an essential element in end strength," she added.

It is the first time that the Army Guard has been at full strength since 1999, Craun said. Officials had projected that the Army Guard would reach 350,000 troops by Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year.

(emphasis mine)

If the troops didn't believe in what they were doing, they would not be re-enlisting. If the troops felt that they were losing the war in Iraq, they would not be re-enlisting. If the troops felt the way the Democrat American Communist Party claimed they did, they would not be re-enlisting.

Keep that in mind the next time some brain-dead halfwit Leftist (redundancy alert!) starts babbling about how they "support the troops" but want to pull out of Iraq right now.

I'm sorry, what?

I know I've been out of the loop for a while, but what? What the hell is this?

[...]citing the media embargo of a Rasmussen poll “finding that 61% of self-identifying Democrats either believe George Bush knew of the 9/11 attacks in advance or are not sure if he did or not”

Just what the hell is going on here? I know that the Left and the Democrat American Communist Party is the home to complete foaming at the mouth moonbats, but I never thought that they would prove my claim right so easily!

I want you all to think about this: Over two thirds of self-identifying Dimocrats either know or aren't sure that George W. Bush, the President of the United States, either knew about September 11th before it happened or actually had a hand in it.

What. The. FUCK?

This is sheer insanity, folks. This is the equivalent of someone attempting to claim that aliens are taking over all the large breasted redheads in an attempt to control men the world over. Not that I would blame the aliens, mind you, large-breasted redheads being what they are. But it's still nuts. Lunacy. Insanity. Sheer, total and complete mental breakdown. The absence of any kind of logical thought.

And these people vote.

God help the country.

UPDATE: Via RWN, here's the link to the Rasmussen Poll that has the numbers.

Thirty-five percent (35%) of Democrats believe he did know, 39% say he did not know, and 26% are not sure.

Republicans reject that view and, by a 7-to-1 margin, say the President did not know in advance about the attacks. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 18% believe the President knew and 57% take the opposite view.

Overall, 22% of all voters believe the President knew about the attacks in advance. A slightly larger number, 29%, believe the CIA knew about the attacks in advance.

Folks, this here poll is proof positive that there is something well and truly fucked up in the heads of a quarter of Americans.

Miranda rights and WRONGS

In Washington State, it is perfectly legal for a *minor*, even a mentally handicap minor, to be questioned by police without a parent, or representative of, present. If they want an attorney present they need to ask for one.

I am aghast by this, especially since I do not think that any child, shy of a seasoned criminal, is going to think to ask, especially if they are being accused...