On the Minnisota Bridge collapse

I was stunned when I read about people blaming President Bush for the collapse. I mean, really. We've got people blaming President Bush for things that happened before he even took office, for G-d's sake! Now they want to blame him for a bridge collapsing.

I say we put the blame where it belongs - squarely on the shoulders of the pork-earmarking fucksticks who spend our tax dollars on everything except for what they're SUPPOSED to spend it on.

It really is that simple. One of the reason that Congress takes our money under the threat of jailtime for non-compliance is to supposedly maintain the roads.

We can all see that it's not happening. So while the parasites in D.C. take our money and spend it on monuments to themselves, people are dying on a bridge that wasn't maintained by the people who are supposed to maintain it.

Don't blame the President. He's not the people who have been sitting in Congress for decades like fat, bloated mosquitoes. Or tapeworms. Yeah, I think they fit the definition of tapeworm better than they do mosquitoes. At least mosquitoes provide a food source for bats and other insects. Tapeworm do nothing but live in shit, suck their food from you, and grow and multiply as much as possible. It's not the job of the President to appropriate funds for infrastructure repair. That's the job of who? Congress.

Our roads are crumbling, our bridges are collapsing. Our military is scraping funds from where ever they can find them. But John Murtha spent $150 million of your money on pork projects! Representative Young got $117 million! Congresscritters from both sides of the isle are spending your money and my money like it's going out of style, but they can't do the fucking job that THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.

As far as I'm concerned, every congresscritter in D.C. needs to be fired. Impeached. Recalled. Kicked out into the street without so much as a "by your leave" or a retirement check. They've stolen and embezzled enough money from this country. Let them actually work for a living, if they can. Don't give them another damn penny. And find someone who can actually do the job.

I'm back

It was a good long trip. I'll be posting about it in a while. Right now I just want to relax on my couch and hug my wife.

Lots of stuff going on in politics as well. The worthless, democracy-hating Democrat American Communist Party has decided that if they can't get the votes they need, they'll just cheat until they can get a bill passed. Tell me again why we're not hanging those traitorous bastards from lamp-posts and using their swinging corpses for target practice?

A whole gaggle of Taliban graduates just bit the dust, with help from the USAF. As usual, along with their report, the Lame-Stream Media prints terrorist propaganda, and as usual, gets caught with their pants down.


Gah. Reading the news is depressing, sometimes.

Lying Asshole Exposed

So little Scotty Bowshaaamp FORGOT! Now he wasn't sitting there all battle hardened in a chow hall in Iraq at Forward Operating Base Falcon mocking a disfigured girl because the war had twisted him into something inhuman. No. He was in Kuwait, 9 months earlier than he claimed, having just left Germany, without even the slightest opportunity to have been twisted by the horrors of war like all the other soldiers he smeared with his foul fabrications. He forgot. Bullshit. He fucking lied. He lied and he and his crew and his apologists are still lying. They picked a new location for their lie. One that makes it harder to verify because no one stays put there more than a couple of weeks. I hope the military or someone tries to track down the disfigured girl at the Kuwait base. It would be funny to watch these worms squirm off to a new lie. So instead of being twisted by the horrors of war, Scotty is just a complete asshole. Dirt bag mother fucker.

Oh, and RD, I noted that The New Republic claims to have found a vehicle expert to back up this lying sack of shit. It would be fun to watch you pick that testimonial apart when you get a chance.

Running like crazy

Sorry 'bout the lack of posting, but I haven't had much of a chance to do anything not job related. We hit the ground running here, and never slowed down. But thankfully, I'm once again with a damn good group of guys, and we all know our jobs. At least the weather is nice. Since we're at a higher altitude, the temperatures are about 20 degrees below what I've been dealing with in Puerto Rico. I haven't really sweat since I've been here. I'm loving it. I turned off the AC in the room and just opened the windows.

I got nothing political to blog about, and I probably won't have any major blog posts until I return. Until then, might I suggest my lovely blogroll? There certain blogs that I check every day, no matter what:

Kim du Toit

Random Nuclear Strikes

DANEgerus

Commercials I hate

Kim du Toit had a list of commercials that would make him turn the channel the moment they came on. I have my own list, but the newest one is the Visa commercial, where everyone is going around in circles like good little robots, paying with their Visa cards like mindless drones, and the one person who whips out cash or a check makes all their little robotic gears come to a grinding halt. And of course, the one person who isn't paying with Visa like a mindless drone is made out to be the bad guy, because all those mindless little Visa carrying drones don't like it when they have to actually do something that requires original thought.

The more I see that commercial, the more I want to cut my Visa Card in half.

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into a commercial.

Anyways, I'll be heading out way too early in the morning. If there's internet access at the hotel, I'll post a couple of times. If not, I'll see you all next week.

They just don't get it.

So, the Lame-Stream media, having to make multiple corrections to a "journalist" of theirs at the Washington Post, decide that the best way to deal with this "journalist" is to....

send him to Iraq.

They send a Bush-bashing, truth-challenged, biased, idiotic, frothing-at-the-mouth moonbat to Iraq, and they expect us to believe that they're objective? Please. The sheer arrogance of these nutless wonders is jaw-dropping. What kind of bubble do you have to live in to think that sending a journalist who can't tell the truth to Iraq is a good idea?

And they wonder why circulation is dropping. Sheesh. We got Jamil Hussein, busted for lying, and possibly not even existing. I don't know, since there hasn't been any proof what so ever that he existed in the first place, and the AP only said "Hey, we found a guy named Jamil, so that must be him, and see we were telling the truth!" Right.

We got this new Scott Thomas crap, and it looks like PVT Beauchamp has broken more than a few laws. He's going to get hammered with more UCMJ charges than he can count.

And now, the WaPo is going to send a proven liar to be their reporter in Iraq. Beautiful. Just. Fucking. Beautiful. It would be funny if it weren't so damn sad and pathetic.

Found via AoSHQ.

Resting day

I've been relaxing today. Read the Harry Potter book. Spent time with the wife. Got my ears lowered. And generally sat on my ass.

I've heard quite a few criticisms about the whole Harry Potter series from some people. Now, aside from the few folks out there who scream "HARRY POTTER IS THE DEVIL AND HE PROMOTES WITCHCRAFT!", which is rather loony to begin with, the biggest complaint I've heard is that the series is too simple. Too many plot holes. It doesn't explain this or that well enough. I've actually seen some people get into a discussion about the economics of magic, and how the HP series is lacking in that.

Um..... I don't know how to break it to some people, but it's a series of books written for children. I don't expect J.K. Rowling to be the next Tolkien. But if she can get kids to ignore the damn idiot box for a while and actually pick up a book, then great. I don't care if there are a few plot holes. To me, they books are a quick read, a nice distraction from the day.

But there's also a few themes that keep popping up in the books. Self-reliance. A quest for knowledge. (I recall the antagonist in Book 5, Delores Umbridge, talking about how knowledge for knowledge's sake wouldn't be allowed.)

The theme that the government is not your friend, and too much government control is NOT a good thing.

And lastly, the theme that evil MUST be confronted, because the consequences of not confronting evil are too high to pay.

So the books can get a bit simple. That's fine. I'm not looking for a philosophical discussion on the existential struggle between good and evil, as presented in an exhibit regarding a post-modernist Leftist and a Born-again Christian. And you know what? Kids aren't looking for that either. Yes, you can get a huge amount of knowledge from books, but you have to make kids want to read in the first damn place, and you don't do that with a lot of the pap coming out as kid's literature these days.

So, let me run down my list of why I think people are over-reacting in their negative opinions of the HP books.

1) Teaching self-reliance? Check.
2) Themes of "too much government provides bad results"? Check.
3) Teaching that evil has to be confronted, and that it doesn't go away on it's own? Check.
4) All of the above packaged in a format that is not only digestible by kids, but makes them want to read it?

Check.

If you want a deconstruction of post modernist theory, go buy a book on that subject. Me, I'll enjoy reading Harry Potter because it gives me a break from everything else I have to read for my job. It's a book I read because I want to read it.

Now, if''n you'll excuse me, I'm off to go spend some more time with my wife.

THIS is what needs to be taught in schools!

Via Kim du Toit, Orson Scott Card gives us all the information you need to destroy the Global Warming Myth. But here's the problem -

The biggest proponents of Man-made Global Warming either already know it's bullshit, or have turned it into their religion. To the first group, any proof you offer doesn't matter because they already know it's crap. They're just using the myth to gain power, either political or economic. The second group refuses to listen to any proof, because that would destroy their worldview and thus cannot be accepted. Their actions are driven very little by science, and almost completely on their belief that Man-made Global Warming is real.

That's why we need to get the truth out to the next generation - to proof them against the indoctrination that the eco-freaks are trying to push.

Another sad Honor

I've been tapped once again to render the final honors to a fallen Soldier, this time in Columbia. I'll be leaving early Monday morning.

Sorry 'bout the lack of posting today, but I've been so damn busy I haven't even had a chance to sit down at a computer. That's life. I may have a big fat blog post up tomorrow.

My God, it's like a bad soap opera!

OK, I have to say that just reading down the links at Ace of Spades has me rolling off the couch.

It's.
Just.
Too.
Damn.
FUNNY!

No.

Really.

But it also pisses me off.

Each of those links is chock full of links themselves. You could spend all damn day researching this. So far as I can tell, Scott Beauchamp got his job writing lies about the military in Iraq because he was A) a fucktard Leftist (redundancy alert) and B) Dating one of the people at The New Republic, who has since been fired. So not only is he a worthless fucking liar, but his dear darling got fired because if it?

Dear lord, where does it end? Tomorrow, on "As The Biased Media Turns"!

Anyone want to bet that his CO and First Sergeant have destroyed their respective offices yet? I think that maybe the CO just tossed a few things out the window, while the First Sergeant has reduced his desk into little splinters of wood and metal.

Using nothing but his hands and teeth.

I feel sorry for his unit - they're now going to have to deal with the fact that Scott Beauchamp has tarnished their every action with his lies, even if they did nothing wrong. His lies have been seized by every anti-military Leftist as proof that the US military is nothing but a bunch of brainless killbots who revel in destruction and mayhem. Meanwhile, good men and women put their lives on the line every day trying to ensure that Iraq can stand up on it's own, and they've been slandered by a Leftist shithead (redundancy alert) with his own personal agenda.

Over at Hot Air, someone made the statement "He's over there, putting his life on the line, and I hope he comes back safe." Let me just say right now - that commenter is a better man than I am. I, for one, hope that this fucktard gets to experience every amount of pain that he's caused his unit, his service and his country. And I wouldn't weep one fucking tear if he didn't come back.

You lie about the troops, you deserve whatever the fuck you get. Somebody else said it better than I can - either Scott Beauchamp was party to serious offenses that are punishable under the UCMJ and failed to report it, or he's a backstabbing, buddy fucking, slimy shitstain who's used his lies to attempt to grab fame and a girlfriend back home at some anti-military rally.

Either way, he deserves to spend years in Ft. Leavenworth breaking big rocks into small rocks. Fuck him. I'm so pissed off about this right now that I can barely see straight.

"Scott Thomas" is reveiled!

Looks like he's Option #1 from the post below - PFC Scott Thomas Beauchamp. Hot Air has links to his MySpace page, the ramblings that he calls "poetry", and his old blog. And right off the bat, he's calling his critics chickenhawks. Bravo, you little worm. Bravo.

Reading through some of his "writing" it's clear that he doesn't like the military despite being a member, and I'm still standing by my judgment that his diary is a bunch of bullshit. But there's one thing I do know for certain - This little assweasel is about to get fact-checked so damn hard he won't know what the hell hit him. And you can be certain that his Company Commander, First Sergeant and Platoon Sergeant are going to get grilled because of his fiction. And in the military, shit rolls downhill. So, PFC Beauchamp of Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division, prepare for the worst grilling of your life. Once your lies are laid out in plain view, you're going to spend lots of time breaking big rocks into little rocks at Ft. Leavenworth.

Oh, and for those who are wondering, The New Republic still falls under Option #3 in the post below.

Piling on

Confederate Yankee has an even bigger breakdown on the "Scott Thomas" hit pieces on the military that were published in The New Republic. I had not read the first piece that "Scott Thomas" wrote - where he describes having to wade through "reeking fluids" because of a flat tire.

Now, I won't claim to be an "expert". After all, I was only awarded a Driver's Badge for my skill in a Humvee, and I only carry an MOS that puts me in motorpools, and I only spent three damn weeks in Egypt repairing Humvees and other vehicles side by side with mechanics. So I'm not an... "Expert". But I think I'm pretty damn close.

Tires from Humvees and Strykers have run-flat rings in them. For those who are scratching their heads and thinking "Uhhhh?" it simply means that there's a ring inside the tire that will hold it in shape even if the tire goes flat. You can go for miles. That's kinda necessary in combat, see..... they don't want their troops out there getting shot at trying to take a lug-nut off. So a flat tire means...

You maybe slow down and then drive to the nearest post, FOB, checkpoint, or any other military controlled area, and then you call for a wrecker or whoever has one of your spare tires. You do NOT stop in the middle of "reeking fluids" and go for a hike.

Now, for any braindead fucktard who actually thinks that "Scott Thomas" is a real soldier reporting real events, wake the hell up. I can see three options:

1) Scott Thomas is a real soldier in Baghdad, writing a bunch of bullshit. The least likeliest of the bunch, given the fact that Scott Thomas doesn't seem to know jack shit about the military.

2) Scott Thomas has some sort of military experience, but he's not a soldier in Baghdad, and he's writing bullshit. Quite possible. He does seem to have some of the lingo down, but he just doesn't know enough about the military to make me thing that he's actually involved in it right now. And he's writing bullshit.

3) The closest Scott Thomas has come to being in the military is playing with his G.I. Joes, and he's writing bullshit. In my opinion? **DING DING DING DING DING** WE HAVE A WINNAH! While I won't discount the possibility that Scott Thomas may be a Soldier, my gut instinct tells me that he's a maggot-faced pussy who hates the military, acts like a mall ninja, has those sooper seekrit skillz that only he can describe....

.... and he isn't fit to lick the dust of off a real man's boots.

And as for The New Republic, well, we have some choices there, don't we?

1) They actually think that Scott Thomas is a real Soldier, in which case they got suckered, and they've allowed themselves to get fooled by an anti-war narrative that could have been blown apart with a minimal amount of fact checking.

2)They don't have a clue what Scott Thomas really is, and they allowed themselves to get suckered by an anti-war narrative that could have been blown apart with a minimal amount of fact checking.

3) They don't give a shit who or what Scott Thomas actually is, and they're so anti-military that they don't care if "Scott's" narrative is a joke that can't stand up on it's own, they're not going to fact check it because it just goes along with their belief that the military is full of killbots who enjoy wearing the skulls of dead kids. And in my opinion, ***DING DING DING DING*** WE HAVE A WINNAH!

Scott Thomas' story has been ripped to shreds. The New Republic has no credibility left, and even if they were able to provide proof that Scott Thomas is a real soldier, there is no way they could provide proof of his stories. Scott Thomas, whether a Soldier or a civilian, is an out and out liar. But The New Republic doesn't care - they love these particular lies, because it confirms what they already think about the military.

Gotta link to it.....

I mean, after listening to the shrieking moonbats howl and gibber about how Bin Laden and Saddam would never, ever, EVER work together at all, nuh uh, couldn't happen...

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered asylum to bin Laden, who openly supports Iraq against the Western powers.

Now, before any braindead fucktards come over here and snivel about how that doesn't prove that Saddam helped Bin Laden hit us on September 11th, well, that's right. But what it does prove is that Saddam was supportive of Bin Laden, and openly supported terrorism. So when you try to claim that there were no terrorists in Iraq until we arrived?

Suck it. Beeyotches.

Thanks, Sondra!

How the hell does this happen?

Accused child rapist gets his trial thrown out because..... they can't find an interpreter to translate for him. Ummmmm...... I don't quite see how they couldn't find someone to translate, given the fact that damn near every major metro area I've lived in had translater services for hospitals, the police, ect. ect. ect. But the case gets more twisted:

On The Big Story Sunday, Julie Banderas and James Rosen discussed the case of accused child rapist Mahamu Kanneh, released because the court couldn’t find a translator to interpret for him in his obscure language. Never mind that Liberia was founded by Americans and English is the official language of that country. Never mind the man completed high school and college in the US, in English.

A Fox producer reached Mr. Kanneh by phone and surprise! he does in fact speak English.

And more twisted:

This backs up what State’s Attorney John McCarthy said earlier today–that a translator was available and ready for the trial. What McCarthy didn’t say was that the judge evidently dismissed the case due to lack of an interpreter when one was right there in the courtroom translating the proceedings.

And more twisted:

Records from a case-worker report dated Oct. 31, 2006, show that the case worker visited Kanneh’s residence to check on him and instead found another sex offender, Sehkou Massaquoi, at the home along with two male children who shared the last name of the defendant.

Now here's where I really start to boil - it seems like everybody screwed up in this case, and the people who are hurt the most are the kids who this bastard raped. Now, when the government fails in it's job - i.e. to put child raping assholes behind bars for the rest of their lives, what options do we the people have?

Because right now, tar and feathers seems like a rather good idea. I can't figure out if this was corruption at it's finest or stupidity at it's worst.

More on "Scott Thomas"

Like a scarecrow in a tornado, TNR's hit piece on the military in Iraq just keeps falling apart.

Note to the "Editors" at The New Republic - when you make up a bunch of crap to insult the military, try to get your facts straight. Troops can smell bullshit from a mile away. But then, if TNR actually cared about facts they wouldn't put out a hit piece like this without fact-checking it to hell and back.

Ah well. More proof that the MSM isn't worth the paper it puts out.

So, there was a "debate" last night?

I didn't watch it. I never do. Until it's the two presidential candidates mano-a-mano, I don't bother with watching regurgitated lies and half-truths spouting from stuffed shirts and idiots.

And to tell you the truth, a debate means nothing. You want to know what a person is going to do once they're in the Oval Office? Look at what they've done in the past. It's easy as hell to say "Oh well, I would do X, Y, and Z if I'm elected." But the simple fact is that most politicians can't be trusted. Period. They lie, lie some more, and then lie even more to cover up their previous lies. That's especially true for these "debates", which from what I can see was more of an "I'm not George Bush!" festival than any kind of a real debate.

I look at a candidate's history. Are they pro-gun or anti-gun? Their actions from their past will tell me that more than any amount of blathering on TV. Are they a tax-hungry money-grubbing prick? Or do they actually practice a slight modicum of moderation when it comes to our tax dollars? Well, let's look at the voting record!

I know that election season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. But I'm not going to be bothered with any candidate until around a year away from the elections. Until then it's all blathering and hot air emanating from people who excel at talking about nothing.

To be honest, that's why I'm leaning more and more towards Fred Thompson. Oh, I know that people are getting impatient with him. "Why hasn't he announced yet? What's he waiting for? He needs to jump into the race!" In all honesty, no he doesn't. The only think I know about everyone who's already announced that they're running is that I'm sick to death of hearing them or hearing about them. And there's only one or two people who I would vote for in the current crop of Presidential hopefuls anyway; I looked at their voting records, what they did, what they supported and what they opposed. You think I'd vote for McCain? Not a chance. McCain-Feingold, the Shamnesty debacle, I wouldn't vote for him if he were the only choice. Gulliani? Great for NYf'inC, but not so great for the country. Romney is a maybe. Hunter and Tancredo would be the only two currently running that I would say yes to at this point. But I'm already sick of hearing them talk. Meanwhile, Fred is just hanging back, and while that might piss some people off and raise all sorts of questions from people I don't give a shit about, I like it.

The election is OVER A YEAR AWAY. If the current crop of candidates actually want to make me sit up and take notice, why don't they get back to doing their damn jobs, ensure that the troops are funded, work on making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and the other various things that they haven't been doing. You know, stop talking about all the great stuff you would do, and actually try to DO some of it! What a novel concept! But all I see is blather blather blather, yada yada yada, bullshit bullshit bullshit from a bunch of idiots who are long on talk and short on action. "I'm the bestest!" "Nuh-uh, I'M the bestest!" "Nah, you two aren't, because I'M the bestest!" What a crock. The only thing this extended election season has proven to me is that I really don't like most of them, and don't want to see them elected ever again.

The sad fact is that most of the current candidates aren't even fit to do the job they were elected to in the first place. Why the hell would I want to elect them to a higher office? I don't. So when Fred tosses his hat into the ring, that's who I'll be supporting. But if he's smart, he'll keep holding off until a year out. Let everyone else spend their money and blather on. Sometimes exposure isn't a good thing, and for the Congresscritters howing into a TV camera right now, well, they would do well to talk less and act more.

I know, I know...

I didn't post yesterday. Sorry 'bout that.

However, I saw something today via Instapundit that I might expound on later if I have the time. A piece by Ron Coleman, that addresses the big lie of the 20th Century.

Indeed, as the official position of the left, including its handmaiden the mainstream press, becomes “we would not have agreed to fight in Iraq if Bush had not lied to us about weapons of mass destruction” — however absurd a lie that is; and this is combined with the turning away from events in Darfur, and elsewhere; and it is combined, too, with the essential silence of the “world community” in the face of genocide and mass murder, especially of the despised — the niggers of the world, whether black and Jew or even, if the politics of it is right, Arab — the horrible truth becomes ever more clear:

“We” simply do not care.

And he's right. Think about it - Saddam Hussein was one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th Century, and yet the Left howled when we took him out. Despite the Left's insistance that Afghanistan is the war we should be fighting, they were STILL protesting our troops getting sent over there. We toppled the Taliban, and a big chunk of the Left was against it.

In short, they're against America sending it's military anywhere, for any reason. I believe that it's because the Left hates the military, and so far I've seen nothing to prove me wrong. Has anyone advocated sending the military to Darfur? I've seen all those ads lately that show some pore, starvin' kid with the words "President Bush, stop the genocide in Darfur!"

But should the President drop the 82nd Airborne into Darfur with orders to kill anyone who attempts to rape or murder the refugees, you could guarantee that the Left would be up in arms about "imperialism", "hegimony", yada yada yada. All the same slurs and bullshit that they've been slinging for the past six years. To paraphrase Mark Styne - "everyone wants a Free Tibet, but but nobody actually wants America to go and free Tibet."

They just don't really care.

Just another example

Of how biased the Media is, via BlackFive.

Great imagery to match the fall of Saigon, right? But look closely at the silhouette of the chopper. It's a Soviet-era Mi-24 "Hind" gunship!!!!!!! It was no doubt stock clip art dropped in by some person in their art department who wouldn't know an M-16 from an F-16, but nice Freudian touch, TIME!!!!

Well, the way I see it, they're just paying homage to their ideological heroes, the communist Soviet Union.


Just as an aside, one of the tasks that you're supposed to do as a private is study and be able to identify both enemy and friendly vehicle silhouette. This is so that you don't shoot at the wrong helicopter. Perhaps if anyone at TIME magazine would have checked in with an Army private, they would have been able to not embarrass themselves.

Ah well.

I've been holding back

from commenting about the hit piece from The New Republic. If you haven't heard yet, (in which case, what rock have you been living under this week?) TNR put out a piece entitled "Shock Troops" by a supposed Soldier, who's using the pseudonym "Scott Thomas" At first glance, it appears to be a description of nasty actions by US Troops.

The problem is, once it attracted the attention of troops who have been in Iraq, the story starts to fall apart. Gateway Pundit has a whole list of links to blogs who are just shredding this story. Just a few of the concerns:

"Scott Thomas" refers to a horribly burned woman eating at a chow hall, and claims that the troops were making rude remarks right in front of her. He states that he couldn't tell if the woman was a Soldier or a civilian because she was wearing a nondescript brown uniform.

1) As many people have pointed out, Soldiers do not call it the "Chow Hall". It's the DFAC, pronounced "DEE-fak". This is more significant than many civilians will realize. "Well, SOME people call it a chow hall!" Yeah, well some people call the bathroom a "water closet". But how many Americans do you know of who call it that? See my point?
2) Soldiers wear their uniforms at all times. They have to, under the Geneva Convention. Solders also carry their weapons at all times. It's a war zone. Even if you're walking around in PT's, you have your weapon with you. Civilians are not allowed to wear any military uniforms. Again, Geneva Conventions. So the fact that "Scott Thomas" claims that he couldn't tell if the woman was a civilian or military seems outlandish on it's face, and speaks of a mindset that either hasn't been in Iraq at all, or one that couldn't see the facts right in front of him. Either way, not someone you want as a reporter, eh?
3) Why would a horribly burned woman be in a DFAC in a FOB in Iraq when they should be back in a hospital being treated for burns? According to "Scott Thomas", half the woman's face was melted off. That person would be in a burn unit or a hospital getting treated for her injuries, not returned to duty.

"Scott Thomas" also relates of two tales where a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle "swerves" to the right to run over a dog. In one tale, the dog was caught under the vehicle and drug for a while, and in the second story the dog is cut in half.

1) Bradley's are tracked vehicles. The tracks are rather wide, in fact. Should a dog in fact be run over, it wouldn't be cut in half, it would be crushed. Flat. Road pizza. So the claim that the dog was cut in half is laughable on it's face. There's no doubt from Thomas' description that the dog was cut neatly in half, and that cannot happen with a Bradley.
2) The Bradley, as an all terrain fighting vehicle, does not have too many things hanging from the undercarriage. That's not to say that something couldn't possibly get stuck underneath and drug, but that it's highly unlikely that anything as small as a dog would get hung up. Also, the claim that the dog was "run over" and then drug down the road is even less likely, as the portion of the track touching the road is not in fact moving. To put it rather simply, the track moves along several wheels, gets placed on the ground, then stays set on the ground while the vehicle rolls over the top of it, then gets picked up and moved back along the top of the wheels. So, should a dog get run over by a track, it would stay right where it was until the track was picked up and moved by the wheel system.
3) If you swerved sharply in any direction in a Bradley, one of two things would happen - You could throw the track off the wheels, in which case your vehicle commander is going to whip you like a rented mule, or - even should the track stay on the wheels, your vehicle commander is STILL going to whip you like a rented mule for even trying that stunt just for kicks. You do not risk throwing a track in the middle of an urban hostile area. Period.
4) Bradleys, like all tracked vehicles, do not just "swerve". They're not cars. In order for a tracked vehicle to turn, one track has to slow down or stop while the other track stays at full speed, causing the vehicle to pivot in place. So you can't just jerk the wheel and swerve. It's more like straight - pivot - straight - pivot - straight - pivot - straight. The mechanics are completely different than trying the same move in a wheeled vehicle.
5) If you're trying to sneak up on a sleeping dog, the last thing you would do it in is a tracked vehicle. You can hear them before you see them. And you can feel them coming from a hundred yards away on concrete or roadway. So unless the dog was dead, or knocking on death's door, you could not "sneak" up on the dog in a Bradley.

"Scott Thomas" relates a tale where Soldiers find a mass grave, and one young troops wears the top of a child's skull for a day, even putting it under his helmet.

1) Should any NCO or Officer find out about that desecration, they'd put a stop to it right quick. I cannot fathom any situation where the leadership of the unit would allow that to continue at all. Yes, Soldier's can have a very dark sense of humor, but besides the basic heath issues that would stem from wearing a portion of a child's skull, the fact is that Saddam's mass graves are inspected, catalogued, itemized, and guarded once they are found. This isn't just some nicety that the US does for the hell of it, either. Attempts are made to find relatives, evidence is collected against the remaining members of Saddam's regime, and the proof of what Saddam was doing for decades is shown for the world to see. Allowing troops to mess with all of that just to satisfy a dark sense of humor just isn't done.
2) There is no record what so ever of a mass grave being discovered in the described location at the given time. Hell, there's no evidence of a mass grave at that location period. And it's in America's best interest to expose the mass graves, so if there had in fact been such a discovery, that information would have been put out.

So in short, the entire story has holes in it large enough to drive a Mack Truck through. It doesn't hold up. Once people started shredding this story, TNR put out this statement:

NOTE TO READERS:
Several conservative blogs have raised questions about the Diarist "Shock Troops," written by a soldier in Iraq using the pseudonym Scott Thomas. Whenever anybody levels serious accusations against a piece published in our magazine, we take those charges seriously. Indeed, we're in the process of investigating them. I've spoken extensively with the author of the piece and have communicated with other soldiers who witnessed the events described in the diarist. Thus far, these conversations have done nothing to undermine--and much to corroborate--the author's descriptions. I will let you know more after we complete our investigation.

--Franklin Foer

Wow, so you've spoken with the author and he's corroborated his own story! Well, I saw Hillary Clinton butchering baby chickens to Chuthulu, and if you don't believe me, ask me! I'll corroborate my own story!

Until soldiers and units are named, and accounts are corroborated by separate entities, I'm going to have to say that this entire story is a bunch of made up horsecrap. Period. And let's be blunt, shall we? The Has-Been Media has been attacking the US military every chance that they get, and the conservative blogs have been forced to defend and debunk every story the Lame-Stream Media has put forth.

Jessie McBeth, anyone? Talking about all the horrible things he'd done as a Ranger, when the truth was that he never made it out of basic training.

Jimmy Massey, anyone? Another anti-war "hero" of the left, claiming to have committed atrocities in the Marines, proven to be a worthless liar. In the MSM's defense, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was one of the newspapers who exposed Massey as a worthless lying moonbat.

Micah Wright, anyone? Mr. "How dare you question my anti-war beliefs I was a Ranger what have you done you chickenhawk" Wright, who wrote anti-war propaganda and insulted anyone who supported removing Saddam. Only, uh..... OOPS! Never a Ranger. Of course, until the REAL Rangers exposed him as a lying cockweasel, he was spouting off crap like this:

Another West Point Butterbar who can't read my bio page and figure out that while he was playing Mario on his Super Nintendo, I was shooting people for George Herbert Walker Bush the 3rd. Been there, done that, newbie. Lecture me after you've seen piles of dead people who stood in the way of a Bush President.

For the last time, I'm a (expletive deleted) veteran. None of these posters mock the men and women in uniform. How is it that people are so stupid that they can't look beyond the image and understand the message?

But Micah Wright was never a Ranger. He was never in combat. He actually was never on active duty at all. He did a little stint in ROTC in college.

But until the REAL Rangers exposed him, the MSM loved him. Because here was an anti-war asshole that nobody could question! Until the questions proved that he was just another Leftist shithead who lied to advance his agenda.

Amorita Randall, anyone? Just another liar that the New York Slimes put on their front page with horror stories of their military service, Yet another liar. A fraud.

Jamil Hussein, anyone? The horror stories put forth, eagerly printed by the MSM, especially the Associated (with terrorists) Press. But under scrutiny, it seems that Jamil Hussein didn't even exist! Yet he was creating stories about beheadings and bombings and violence for months. If I remember correctly, the AP put out over sixty different horror stories from Jamil Hussein, and yet once people started looking into who Jamil Hussein was, he simply "disappeared". Gone. Poof. Reports of mosque bombings were proven false when current photos of the mosques were taken. Kinda hard to say a mosque was bombed and burned to the ground when someone goes and takes a photo of that same mosque, still standing and not on fire. To this day, the Associated (with terrorists) Press cannot produce any proof what so ever that Jamil Hussein even existed. But so long as they could peddle the lies that Iraq what going up in flames, they used Jamil Hussein for all his empty name was worth. In short, they either flat out lied, or they swallowed the lies of some anonymous asshat because it jibed with their agenda.

Remember the Marines involved in Haditha? Those murdering thugs? Except, you know, for the fact that at least one of them has had all charges dropped. The legal process is still ongoing for others. But in the MSM, they were branded as murderers and rapists over a year ago.

So pardon me if I don't swallow the crap being put forth by The New Republic. Their story has been destroyed by actual military personnel, and unless they can back up what "Scott Thomas" has written, they deserve all the scorn that's currently heading their way. I don't expect anything to come forth. Much like Jamil Hussein, I'm certain that "Scott Thomas" will disappear as the MSM hopes that everyone will forget the medias complicity in putting for slander and lies as "news".

And the MSM's bias against the military, their hatred of the military, is once again exposed for everyone to see. For the umpteenth-million time.

Now, should TNR be able to actually put forth real proof that Scott Thomas is a real soldier, and there are independent eye-witness accounts, then perhaps I'll be forced to eat crow. But this is following a pattern that has been repeated far too often in the Lame-Stream media.

So in short, I'm not holding my breath.

WOO HOO! I iz smart!

Am-I-Dumb.com - Are you dumb?


Meh. The questions aren't that hard for anyone who pays attention and listened in school. Found over at Blog Idaho. And yes, at this point I'm so damn sick for anything that reminds me of civilization that I'm checking out Idaho blogs, I've got the Coeur d'Alene Press in my bookmarks, and I'm damn near moved to tears every time I see a pine forest.

Nine months. Nine months. Nine months.

Quote of the Day

I'm of two minds here - From Cold Fury, we get this quote from R. H. Heinlein, which I happen to agree with for the most part.

” Those who refuse to support and defend a state have no claim to protection by that state. Killing an anarchist or a pacifist should not be defined as “murder” in a legalistic sense. The offense against the state, if any, should be “Using deadly weapons inside city limits,” or “Creating a traffic hazard,” or “Endangering bystanders,” or other such misdemeanor.”

Now, yes, as a basic principal I agree with that. But what happens if the state isn't worth defending anymore? Let me put it this way - I believe that the Constitution of the United States is the greatest founding document in the history of the world, and it's worth defending. However, I don't think that the current government is anywhere CLOSE to actually following said Constitution. And the people currently running things in D.C. aren't worth a squirt of piss in the wind. If I heard that somebody was attacking D.C., I'd be guarding two things - the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Capitol Hill? Meh. Armed terrorists could murder every last bastard in the Capitol Building and I would only weep for a few of them. And my tears would be short lived, because wiping the current Congress from the face of the Earth would only improve this country, not hurt it.

On the other hand, the people in Congress who are causing the most problems fall under that whole "pacifist" description. So there's that.

Bah. That's now my night is going.

BWAAA HAAA HAAAA!

I'd love to see more of this, if possible. As far as I'm concerned, drug dealers deserve whatever they get.

And it's from Cleveland, of all places. Nice.

I'm telling you right now...

Kettle brand Chipotle Chile BBQ potato chips?

The bomb. Addictive. Damn good. Do NOT pick up a bag of these unless you have someone to share them with, otherwise you'll eat the whole damn bag on your own.

OutSTANDing!

I'm going to copy this in it's entirety from Kim du Toit's site:

Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that it was there long before they were.

Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall. When that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must have stung quite a bit.

The complaint: “Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 a. m., a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns early bird special? Any response would be appreciated.”

The response: Regarding “A wake-up call from Luke’s jets” (Letters, Thursday): On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a. m., a perfectly timed four-ship flyby of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques. Capt. Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day. At 9 a. m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend.

Based on the letter writer’s recount of the flyby, and because of the jet noise, I’m sure you didn’t hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son’s flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured.

A four-ship Flyby is a display of respect the Air Force pays to those who give their Lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects. The letter writer asks, “Whom do we thank for the morning air show?” The 56th Fighter Wing will call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and Parents of Capt. Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.

-- Lt. Col. Scott Pleus CO 63rd Fighter Squadron Luke AFB

I doubt that the LTC would need it, but if I ever meet him I'm going to buy him a beer for that letter. And as for Kim's comment:

People who buy houses or otherwise live close to airfields or airports and then complain about the noise ought to be put in the stocks and pelted with rotten fruit.

I've never understood how someone can move to an area close to an airport and then have the gall to complain about the noise. Duh, you moron, you moved in RIGHT NEXT TO A DAMN AIRPORT! If you move next to an airport and expect it to be quiet just for you, then you're so damn stupid that you need to be castrated so that your defective genes don't pollute the gene pool for the rest of humanity.

Seriously... airports, when they're built, are constructed as far away from residential areas as possible. Nobody buys up a hundred acres of suburb and says "Yeah, we're building an airport right here!" No, they go out of their way to be out of the way. And then people rush out to buy land right next to the frigging place, because it's cheap (something to do with noise pollution?), and build homes, and then complain about the noise.

What. Fucking. Morons. What an utter waste of oxygen.

Second - if the sound of a fighter jet ripping through the air doesn't raise a thrill in your blood, then you are either A) Deaf, or B) quite possibly not American. It's the sound of power. The sound of superiority. Hell, I'd move next to an Air Force Base just to listen to the sound of those jets taking off in the morning. When the wife had surgery at Lackland Air Force Base, one of the biggest thrills for me was just seeing those jets in the air, and listening to them take off. Loud, yes. Obnoxious, maybe, it depends on who you are. But a thrill? Hell yeah. It's the reason I loved watching the Blue Angels at SeaFair in Seattle.

(click on the pic for regular size)

If people don't like jet fighters, then perhaps they shouldn't move next to an Air Force Base. Just a suggestion.

And yes, I took that shot of the Blue Angels. Not the greatest I've ever taken, but still.....

To all Idiots in Congress

Which means just about the whole lot of you: Tell me again about how Al-Qeada isn't in Iraq?

US forces say they have arrested a senior member of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group accused of being behind some of Iraq's deadliest violence.

The man was named as Khaled Mashhadani. He was captured earlier in July in the northern city of Mosul, officials said.

US military officials said he had told interrogators that the group's supposed leader, Omar al-Baghdadi, was a front.

We got another one. HOOAH! Maybe we can hand him over to the Iraqis. I hear that they're a little less squeamish about obtaining information from captured terrorists......

ACP want to raise more taxes

For those who don't read me regularly, the ACP is the American Communist Party, also known as the Democrat Party. And this time the taxes will destroy an entire industry in America.

The federal government has proposed raising taxes on premium cigars, the kind Newman’s family has been rolling for decades in Ybor City, by as much as 20,000 percent.

As part of an increase in tobacco taxes designed to pay for children’s health insurance, the nickel-per-cigar tax that has ruled the industry could rise to as much as $10 per cigar.

“I’m not sure in the history of man, since our forefathers founded the country in 1776, that there’s ever been a tax increase of 20,000 percent,” said Newman, who runs the Tampa business founded by grandfather Julius Caesar Newman. “They had the Boston Tea Party for less than this.”

The Democrat American Communist Party, who never saw a tax they didn't want to raise or increase, would shut down all the cigar companies in this country within a year. Plain and simple. A decent stogie goes for anywhere from $5-$10. That's not for a top-of-the-line cigar, but just a decent one like the kind I buy from the cigar vendor on post. Cigars aren't cigarettes, folks. The tobacco has to age for two years at least before it gets rolled into a smoke. Then you have to bind it, roll it, and the master cigar roller puts the wrapper on it. Any blemishes or mistakes, and that cigar is sold off cheap, at or below cost, which means the maker doesn't actually make any profit off of it. Everything raises the cost of a good cigar. The higher-priced smokes like Upmann, Macanudo, and Cohiba go for anywhere from $10-$20 easy. Now add ten dollars on top of that.

99% of rich people didn't get rich by throwing their money away. People will simply stop smoking cigars. Kim du Toit brings up the example of the "luxury" tax put on shipbuilders:

Incidentally, if this tax proves too onerous for cigar smokers, they’ll either start smuggling in cigars (oh joy, more crime), or else they’ll just quit—very few people are addicted to cigars as others are to cigarettes—which means that cigar-making and -selling businesses will have to close, thus putting thousands out of work.

That’s what happened when the Socialists raised the luxury tax on yachts (another “gimme” for the Wealth Envious)—the local shipbuilding industry folded and nearly collapsed—but Congress is incapable of such feats of memory. Indeed, Congress has no memory at all in matters like this, focused as they are on such weighty matters as soaking “the rich”, reelection, and fundraising.

Congress put that tax on luxury yachts thinking "Oh, those people are rich, they'll just pay the tax." No, they would not. Again, rich people do not get rich by throwing money away, and many a prospective yacht buyer simply decided that they were not willing to pay that extra money on top of a million dollars for the boat. What happened? The yacht builders went out of business. Guess who got hurt the most? The blue collar joes who actually BUILT the damn things in the first place. Carpenters. Woodworkers. Electricians. Welders. Fabricators. All out of a job, because Congress won't stop taxing the everliving shit out of anything that moves.

I don't smoke more cigars for the same reason that I don't drink twenty-year old single malt scotch - I can't afford it. Slap a $10-a-stick tax on cigars, and I won't be smoking any at all. And millions of people like me won't be smoking them either. So guess what happens to all those people who make a living rolling, packaging, shipping and selling cigars?

Yep. They lose their jobs. Thanks to Congress. Just another example of an out-of-control group of professional shitheads who don't deserve to ever sit on Capitol Hill again. I truly am waiting for the next revolution. And I would like to be the person who frog-marches the parasites in Congress out of the building and into jail where they belong.

One MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLION DOLLARS!

Just went to a seemingly non-existant company, courtesy of the "most ethical Congress evah"!

Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, the fiscal crusader who's never met an earmark he likes, questioned Democratic Rep. Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana on the House floor Tuesday about whether the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure actually exists - since, hey, it's getting like a million bucks or something.

Visclosky, who chairs the spending subcommittee responsible for the project, had to admit that, well, he didn't have a clue.

After a lengthy back-and-forth, Flake, complaining that his staff couldn't find a website for the center, asked Visclosky, "Does the center currently exist?"

"At this time, I do not know," the Indiana Democrat replied. "But if it does not exist, the monies could not go to it."

And who could possibly be the sponsor of such an earmark? Yes, you guessed it, the man Republicans love to hate, Pennsylvania Democrat John P. Murtha.

Despite the money's uncertain destination, the House rejected Flake's measure to strike the funds, 326-98. And the Visclosky bill also sailed through, 312-112.

Just. Fucking. Unbelievable. One MILLION DOLLARS for a "company" that may or may not exist. ONE MILLION DOLLARS of OUR TAXES just went to an earmark by John "Those-fucking-baby-killing-Marines" Murtha, the senile corrupt shithead. To a company that may or may not exist. Maybe.

I'm actively searching for that reset button.

Blithering Idiots

That's all I could think of when I read this headline:

Bush Surprises Senate Aides With Unexpected Interruption of White House Meeting

So, these people are having a meeting at the White House, and the President pops in, and these people are shocked?

Um.... he lives there, right? In the White House, I mean. Or have I gotten all my American History wrong and he lives in a cave under NORAD with Darth Rove and his evil henchman Cheney after all?

"It was stunning," said one GOP aide who attended the meeting. "We couldn't believe he came in."

"We kept looking at each other, amazed he came in," said another Republican aide.

MY GOD, THERE WE WUZ, HAVIN' A MEETIN' IN THE VERY ABODE WHERE HE DONE MOVED INTO, AND BY GAWD HE JUST WALKED IN ON US!

The very fact that this qualifies as "news" to some Republicans is reason enough to impliment term limits immidiately.

Bush was described as folksy, adamant and mildly profane as he interrupted the meeting between senior White House communications staffers Tony Snow and Ed Gillespie and GOP leaders. His message: the policy on Iraq isn't changing. He is not backing down and no one on Capitol Hill should be confused into thinking he is letting up.

So gosh, a policy meeting about military matters..... that would be the same military that the President is COMMANDER IN CHIEF of, and it's a surprize that he walked in?

sigh

You know what makes me even more depressed? As bad as the Republicans are, the Democrat American Communist Party is even worse. I've always heard that an electorate gets the government that it deserves. I'm sorry, but we don't deserve this. Unless there's some reason to have an entire city full of brainless parasites and the blood-sucking hanger-ons who accompany anyone who has access to money. Gah.

I admit it, I laughed

At this.

"He was well done."

That's what one woman said Monday after helping her son apprehend an alleged child rapist using her barbecue meat fork.

"I stuck him in his butt!" Linda Rhodes told MyFOXdfw.com, explaining how she and her son John Jennings apprehended the 17-year-old suspect Friday night in Garland, Texas.

Dude thought he was gonna get his pervert on, and he's the one that gets poked in the ass instead. Mwaha!

Ugg

Just so you know, this is yet another day when I wonder just why the hell I didn't join the Coast Guard.

I know that there are good units in the Army. I've been a part of them. I've experienced just what a properly run unit can be and do.

This down here? Yeah. Not it. In fact, I really don't think that the Army in Puerto Rico is really part of the US Army. This is Pancho Villa's Army. It's a sad joke.

Anyways, I'm sure you all didn't surf on over here to listen to be bitch and moan. So let me direct you to a letter from an airline pilot that Patterico posted over at Hot Air. It's a complete rundown of how the Federal Gummint has managed to fuck up just about every aspect of security on airlines.

There is no question that we will get airline security right someday. My only question is whether, at this point, we will get it right before the next attack. After 9/11, we were given the gift of time and of awareness. I am very concerned we have squandered the gift of time — and there is little left before we are hit again — and we are losing the gift of awareness, as we truly forget what that morning was like. There is no question in my mind, based on everything I hear in my position, that Al Qaeda is actively, aggressively preparing to target the United States again, and that commandeering an airliner is still the easiest, quickest method of possessing a weapon of mass destruction. I am even more concerned that the next attack could be far worse than 9/11, which, while devastating, would pale in comparison to other available targets.

The TSA is stuck in a deficient mindset, and it's convinced me that the people in charge are Leftists through and through. They refuse to deal with the people who want to kill us, and instead focus all their attention on the objects that those people would use in their murderous acts. The problem with that approach is that somebody can and will always find a replacement object if you take their first option away. If you focus on objects instead of people, then you get the ridiculous instances where Marine Corps Ace and Medal of Honor awardee Joe Foss had some nitwit trying to take away his MoH because it had sharp points on it.

Here's a picture of the deadly hand-to-hand weapon that the 86 year old war hero could have used.


Pathetic.

That is the sort of thing that happens when you focus your attention entirely in the wrong direction. If some kid is learning how to spell, and he keeps making mistakes when he's spelling "Leftist moonbats", do you take away his pencil? "Gosh, that pencil is causing so many mis-spellings, we'll just have to get rid of it!" No, you teach the kid how to properly spell. You deal with the person, not the object.

The same holds true with stopping terrorists. We had the Shoe Bomber try to blow up a plane, so now we all have to go barefoot through the security checkpoint and have our shoes x-rayed. Then some terrorist tumblefuck tried to blow up a plane using a gel explosive, so now we can't have more than a 3 ounce bottle of liquids in our carry-on baggage. All of this bullshit is reaction to different objects, and it's absolutely fucking moronic. One, you can only react after something has happened, so by reacting you're already showing that you're behind the curve. Second, take away an object and somebody can find a different object to replace it! Scan the shoes, the terrorists will use gel explosives. Now try to stop gel explosives, and they'll find something else. By refusing to deal with the actual problem, i.e. the people who want to kill us, they've set themselves up for failure.

I mean, hows the crime in LA, D.C., Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia? Those cities have extensive gun bans, right? And yet people are still getting shot. Because those cities have focused on an object, and not the people behind the crime.

I honestly think that we'll get hit again eventually, especially with the way that people refuse to deal with the problem head on. Go read that pilot's letter. It's rather scary. The gummint isn't doing it's job, plain and simple.

Words of Wisdom

You have to taste the world. You have to sample it. You have to try it on. You have to see what works for you and what doesn’t. You need to find out what worked in this world and what made things awful, and you can’t do that if awful is disguised as something not awful, or you’re too stuck in who your relatives were to allow yourself to do it.

Then, because we’re not stuck in being who our ancestors were, we take the best that all the world has to offer. We learn from their mistakes. We set aside their backwards ways, with respect and deference, but we set them aside, just the same. We don’t have to do things their way, simply because they did, if there are better ways.

From Mrs. du Toit. She's been on a roll as of late, and if you're not checking up on her blog at least once a day you're missing out.

OK, all you computer people

Here's the deal - I'm looking for a cheap graphics program that I can use for a variety of uses. I don't need Photoshop, I won't be doing anything that fancy or high tech. But I am looking for a program that will allow me to do basic graphics without costing me an arm and a leg, since finances are rather tight. I had Microsoft Works from when I got a computer a decade ago, but it didn't run well on XP, and it ain't even gonna touch Vista. I did a few things for my unit and other organizations that needed simple graphics. Let me give you a few examples of the things I do.

The NCO Creed:


Here's a Certificate of Achievement I made for my Group Command Sergeant Major. He wanted something that could be used to recognize the Soldiers who did funeral details:




That's the sort of thing I need to be able to do. Any suggestions?

Saw the Harry Potter movie today

Me and the wife took the afternoon off and went to the theater. First time in well over a year, if my memory serves.

It was worth it.

Kim du Toit loved it as well. Most everybody who's seen it likes the darker tone that the movies and books take. And Kim's comment:

And if nobody else can see the parallels between the British government and the Ministry of Magic, you need to see the movie again.

Brilliant.

Having never been to Britain, I'll have to take his word for it. But the parallels between Dolores Umbridge and the 'Merikan Publik skool sistim are spot on.

Anyways, I'm taking the night off. Y'all have fun.

Two Must Reads

From Cold Fury. One is on the Libby pardon, and Bill Clinton's blatant hypocrisy. Now, before any idiot Leftists (redundancy alert) start shrieking about how we always blame Clinton for everything, let's just keep a very simple fact in mind - if Clinton stopped interjecting himself into modern politics, he would not be a legitimate target. Period. But since the narcissistic coke-head can't stop himself from showing his ass on a national stage, he's fair game.

Whether sending an innocent man to prison or releasing the guilty for personal benefit, the common denominator is the Clintons’ abuse of power, or as Bill put it; ” You’ve got to understand, this is consistent with their philosophy; they believe that they should be able to do what they want to do, and that the law is a minor obstacle.”

Whether it was Al Gore using the Naturalization Office as a voter mill, or Sandy Berger trying to deceive the 9/11 Commission, or auditing politcal opponents or swapping pardons for ballots or prosecuting innocent people, The Clintons used every office, policy and program of government for their own personal advantage.

And this is who Democrats want to reinstall in the White House?

That IS the Cult of Personality of which the Left is always accusing us of bestowing on George Bush.

I would oppose the Clintons on policy grounds even if they were honest, principled and honorable. But they aren’t. This family of jack-leg reprobate grifters belong nowhere near the levers of power for that reason alone. By the way, in Hillary’s World, YOU are Billy Dale–a mere flea to be stepped on if need be.

Sadly, the press corps are so far up the Clintons’ posteriors that when the light is just right, you can make out Keith Olbermann’s profile in Hillary’s Adam’s Apple.

I'm loving that last line...

The second, more recent link is in regards to the white-flag-waving congresscritters calling for America's abject surrender.

In the face of relentless baying from the mainstream press, spurred on by same from a left wing that objectively despises everything America stands for and yearns only for its defeat and diminishment, Bush returned with forlorn alacrity the spine he had borrowed from his closest advisers and began backtracking. The “Axis of Evil” became not an assemblage of blackguard states to be dealt with sternly and with clarity of vision, but “partners in peace” to be fecklessly negotiated with. Hamas became not a terrorist organization dedicated with an ironclad fidelity to genocide and the destruction of the only true Mideast democracy, but the legitimate government of the all-but-formally-recognized State of Palestine. Hezbollah lobbed Katyusha rockets into Israel, and Israel’s response was eyed warily for the remotest sign of “disproportionality.” The promises garnered from meetings with thuggish crypto-fascist religious dictatorships were to be viewed not with a seemly suspicion but with child-like naivete and blind, over-optimistic trust. And always, always, always, the plaintive note could be faintly discerned underneath Bush’s increasingly Clintonesque bravado: “just don’t hurt us anymore — please.”

And now Syria has invaded Lebanon, and Iran careens along utterly unchecked on its way to becoming a sort of terrorist superstate, and Democrats continue squealing like Ned Beatty in Deliverance for an immediate and unconditional surrender and generally dancing to the Islamist tune, shrilly advocating for “fighting” terrorists in any place other than where we know for sure they now are. And now some Republicans are joining them.

But who can blame them, really? From the opening moments of the Iraq campaign, when “shock and awe” were abandoned for something a whole lot more quotidian and supposedly “humane,” Bush has allowed the slow, sure Democratization of this war through his own ineptness and lack of vision, and it’s almost complete. The only thing lacking now from full realization of the same old high-handed Democrat war-losing strategy is humiliating news footage of American helicopters leaving embassy roofs, with desperate locals falling from the skids like raindrops. But we’ll see that soon enough.

The idea of using the Capitol Building as a bio-weapon test facility is getting more appealing by the day. This country is winning the war in Iraq despite the best efforts of Congress to force us to lose. Period. End of story. Our military is succeeding in the face of a Congress who would love nothing more than to see us defeated and in full retreat.

They can all burn in hell for all I care. Ever last one of those worthless fucking bastards.

Oh, great

Al-Qaeda renewing efforts to sneak into US.

And yet, for some reason, the politicians biggest priority is NOT closing the border so that we can control who comes into this country, What is their priority? Giving amnesty to illegal aliens. Like the kind who work for Al-Qeada and want to kill Americans. But they're just doing the work that Americans don't want to do, right?

I'll tell you what - when, not if, a nuclear weapon gets detonated in the middle of a major American city, can we then hang all the current politicians from lamp-posts as an example to everyone else?

SECURE THE DAMN BORDERS!

Here's a good example of just how fucked up our immigration problems are: Sex-offender immigrant charged with murder of 14 year old girl. Now, what's really disturbing about this isn't just the crime he's charged with, it's the fact that he was charged with a sexual crime back in NINTEEN-FUCKING-NINETY and DID NOT GET KICKED OUT OF THE COUNTRY!

Adhahn was being held at a federal immigration detention in Tacoma because he could face deportation for his 1990 incest conviction, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lorie Dankers. He also has been charged in Pierce County with failing to register as a sex offender, and would face that charge before being deported.

So he was convicted of a sex crime SEVENTEEN FUCKING YEARS AGO and they're just now getting around to kicking him out of the country?

The gummint has failed in it's task. The president has failed. Every worthless bloodsucking parasite infesting Capitol Hill has failed in their task of protecting this country, and the results are going to end up being a lot worse than September 11th. But they wanted to force amnesty down our throats.

Where's that damn reset button?

BONUS UPDATE: via Random Nuclear Strikes, I find out that this convicted sex offender illegal alien, who's killing the kids that Americans don't want to kill, is a registered voter! Which, in the Democrat American Communist Party stronghold of King County, should come as no surprise. This is, after all, the area where the Selected-Not-Elected governor was put into office despite massive amounts of proven voter fraud.

Illegal Alien? Check.

Convicted Child Rapist? Check.

Illegally registered to vote? Check.

This is the man that the worthless asshats in Congress want to give citizenship to.

From my email

It's been one hell of a busy week, so here's a little something sent to me by my father-in-law.

Last Request

The old priest lay dying in the hospital. For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation's capital. He motioned for his nurse to come near. "Yes, Father?" said the nurse." I would really like to see Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton before I die." whispered the priest. "I'll see what I can do, Father" replied the nurse.

The nurse sent the request to the Senate and waited for a response. Soon the word arrived. Kennedy and Clinton would be delighted to visit the priest. As they went to the hospital, Clinton commented to Kennedy "I don't know why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images". Kennedy couldn't help but agree.

When they arrived at the priest's room, the priest took Kennedy's hand in his right hand and Clinton's hand in his left. There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest's face. Finally Senator Kennedy spoke. "Father, of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?" The old priest slowly replied "I have always tried to pattern my life after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." "Amen" said Kennedy. "Amen" said Clinton.

The old priest continued..."He died between two lying thieves. I would like to do the same."

Truth, unvarnished

Captain Ed has the transcript up from his interview with Afghan Ambassador Said T. Jawad. Sometimes, a person says something that is such a fundamental truth that everybody has overlooked it. It needs to be repeated. Ambassador Jawad said one of those things:

We all demand freedom. We all hate dictatorship. I don't think that anywhere in the world anybody is either trying or it is possible to impose democracy... Democracy is not imposed, it is a value of a human being. What is being imposed is dictatorship. What you are doing in Afghanistan is trying to prevent others to impose dictatorship and despotism to the Afghan people. [The Taliban are] are teaching people what kind of clothes to wear, schools to go, and this is what you're trying to do, is to end despotism and dictatorship. You're not imposing democracy, you're preventing others from imposing dictatorship on the Afghan people, and to the region, and if they get their way, to the world.

(emphasis mine)

That needs to be printed out and tatooed on the foreheads of the Loony Left.

The Terrorist Leftist Nexus - Imbicile Edition

I give you Jane Felix-Browne - Imbicile:

51-year-old British grandmother and parish councillor from Cheshire has married her 6th husband, Omar Ossama bin Laden (age 27), the fourth eldest son of Osama bin Laden after a holiday romance and is to apply for a visa so that he can visit Britain.

So OBL Jr is into older women? Or! He wants the run of Britain.

"He is the most beautiful person I have ever met. His heart is pure, he is pious, quiet, a true gentleman, and he is my best friend.”

This one! Now, HE is mister right! Forget the 5 previous husbands. Something tells me grandma isn't that great a judge of character.

Met bin Laden in Egypt in September while undergoing treatment for multiple sclerosis.

Young, healthy, is there any doubt what OBL Jr sees in the old girl?

They were married in Islamic ceremonies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and are awaiting permission from the authorities in Riyadh to make their marriage official.

What's the hold up? Muslim theocratic intolerance? Nah.

“Omar is wary of everyone. He is constantly watching people who he feels might be following him. Not without reason he is fearful of cameras.

His paranoia must be part of his charm.

He is the son of Osama,” she said. “But when we are together he forgets his life.”

"Eh, forget all that stuff about my terror mastermind daddy, honey. Let's talk about that VISA! YEAH! Now you're getting me hot."

Mrs Felix-Browne already knew some members of the bin Laden family through her Islamic marriage to a Saudi man in London when she was 16. She believes that she actually met Osama bin Laden at a party in London in the 1970s.

Saudi man.....age 16...hmmmmm. So right off the bat, this clueless twit is shacking up with someone willing to marry a 16 year old child. What kind of family life must 16 year old Jane have had?

She said that her husband left Afghanistan before the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001. However, some reports claim that he split from his father only after the attack on New York and an argument about tactics. Mrs Felix-Browne insisted: “He last saw his father in 2000 when they were both in Afghanistan. He left his father because he did not feel it was right to fight or to be in an army. Omar was training to be a soldier and he was only 19. “He told me he has had no contact with his father since the day he left him."

"But he told me he didn't have anything to do with that bad old terrorism stuff." It's ok to get hitched at 16 but joining the old man's jihad at ONLY 19, that's just nuts!

He misses his father.

"Awwwwwww! Daddy's in a cave somewhere making plans to murder countless innocents, habibi baby. Let nanna hold you."

Omar doesn’t know if it was his father who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. I don’t think we will ever know.”

It's soo hard to know these things. Especially after Osama Sr. recorded video of himself gloating about how successful his attacks were and eagerly shared it with the rest of the world.

He works as a scrap metal dealer in Jedda

Funny. A bunch of "scrap metal" was shipped out of Iraq before Operation Iraqi Freedom. Wonder if this is the same kind of stuff.

Mrs Felix-Browne, who now uses the Islamic name Zaina Mohamad,

Submission comes in many forms.

says that she speaks to her husband for several hours every day over the internet or by telephone. During their conversations she refers to him repeatedly as “Habibi”, the Arabic for “my love”. She said: “I find it very difficult to live without him and I know he does too. But really we have the most normal life possible.”

"OMG grams I miss u soo much LOL TTFN XOXOXO" Sounds like they're really close, eh? How close? Glad ya asked!

She was aware before her marriage that her husband already had another wife and a two-year-old child. “I haven’t seen her but I have spoken to her for about an hour on the telephone,” she said. “She is fine about it.”

"No, nanna! She means nothing to me. Just a sec, I need to put the phone down while I bend her young, child-bearing ass over the bed and ooooohhhh yeah! What was I saying? Oh uh, yeah, only you nanna!"

Now she hopes that Mr bin Laden will come to Britain. “He would like to spend quite a bit of time here,” she said. “There is no reason why he should not come to live, but I don’t think he would like the weather.”

Hey, gram gram, I bet you'd find he'd get over the weather in no time at all.

Mrs Felix-Browne said that the couple hoped to use their position to help to heal the wounds caused by her father-in-law. “All we want is peace in this world and I will do all I can to promote it.”

Yeah, a delusional internet fling between an aging imbicile to the (already hitched) son of the world's most wanted killer will be as a flock of white doves.

On the list of cities I wouldn't cry about if they were nuked

You can add Olympia.

A planned visit of three naval ships during this year’s Lakefair is in serious doubt because of concerns about providing security.

Most Olympia City Council members said Tuesday night that they would deny a request from Capital Lakefair for six to 10 police officers to provide security.

Piss on 'em. I don't know how Olympia turned out the way it did, with Ft. Lewis and McChord AFB right on their borders. That would be like San Fransicko having Ft. Hood and Whiteman close by.

Olympia is another city that proves when you let Leftist take over, everything goes to hell. Sondra, would you PLEASE move the hell away from that city so we can send in the B-52's?

Drivin' to work today

and I was listening to AFN on the radio. They got Commie Network News or something like that. I can't quite remember, because all the ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN are all a bunch of worthless asshats, and I only listen to AFN so I don't have to hear reggeton 24/7.

Anyways, some talking head is blabbing about John McCain having to fire a bunch of people, and the closing remark is "McCain has seen his popularity plummet ever since allying himself to President Bush over the surge in Iraq."

I almost vomited right then and there.

The surge in Iraq isn't the problem. There's this little problem of ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, and the AMNESTY BILL, or hooking up for a tryst with Teddy (hic!) Kennedy on the whole shamnesty issue that has torpedoed McCain. But according to Cockgoblin News Network, McCain's problem is that he supported the surge.

Just another example of why I never watch CNN, and why I call them the propaganda wing of the Democrat American Communist Party. Worthless whores, the lot of them. Gutter wenches, trollops and slimy filth masquerading as an objective media outlet.

Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required.

Bring it, Beeyotch!

Democrat American Communist Party Blogger wants to shoot Rush Limbaugh, asks for someone to kill Ted Nugent.

Alls I gots ta say is this:

BRING IT!

“How we can remain ‘civil’ in the face of this is beyond my ken,” wrote Williams. “I will only reiterate what I’ve said WHEN they manage to inevitably push their litany of hatespeak into actual bloodletting, and full-blown civil war (for there is no other place that this hatred of American against American can go), well ... I’ve got dibs on Rush, as soon as it’s legal and lawful to shoot him. Whoever wants Ted Nugent is welcome to him, but I would prefer that you would call it now, so as to conserve on ammunition. We will need to manage it prudently. But when the day comes that they have finally set brother against brother, and sister against sister in the name of their pocketbooks, I won’t approach exterminating them with anything approaching remorse. They’ve already told me what they think of me, of my friends and of my peers. Now, I’m returning the favor. Put that in your pipe and have the WSJ editorial staff show you how to smoke it, Nugent. Courage.”

The first shot that these anti-American asshats fire will be their last. Period. End of story. And not only will we NOT have to listen to them whine and snivel anymore, but we'll have that many less people trying to tear America down and turn it into a socialist shithole.

So bring it, beeyotch. People like this are the domestic enemies I swore an oath to defend the Constitution against.

Found via GunThing.com

Heh. Heheh! BWAAA HAAA HAAAA!

Old Cindy Sheehan, who as you might remember used her dead son to launch her political career as a major league tool, now is throwing a temper tantrum at San Fran Nan.

Drumwaster seems kinda split on everything:

Your humble Host is split as to which idiot to cheer for - either Pelosi (which will drive the spike of obscurity into Sheehan’s pocketwatch-for-a-heart) or Sheehan (who will drag the Democrats over that precipice once and for all).

There's no split for me at all. First of all, anything that can get Bela Pelosi out of Washington D.C. is a good thing. Second of all, putting Sheehan in Congress with a (D) next to her name will drive home the point that the Democrat American Communist Party is crazy as a shithouse rat, corrupt beyond all belief, and unable to be trusted with any sharp objects much less the country.

And third - watching the Democrat American Communist Party ravage on national television the woman that they used like the cheap whore would just be the cherry on top of the trainwreck that is the Democrat American Communist Party's politics.

In short, watching the Democrat American Communist Party eat itself is a good thing. Besides, no matter who wins between the Botoxed Bitch and Shithead Sheehan, the Democrat American Communist Party will STILL be represented by an anti-American, Communist clusterfuck.

Does that seem harsh? Too bad. I call 'em as I see 'em. I can't wait for the hate mail to pour in.

Discipline

Drill and Ceremony. Part of the military, always has been, always well be. Phil DAVID!!!! has four videos to the Masters of D&C. Go. Watch. Now.

Sorry, David. Despite the fact that we share the same first name, I didn't get it right.

You can't get more blunt than this

from the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy:

There is no social benefit in decreasing the availability of guns if the result is to increase the use of other means of suicide and murder, resulting in more or less the same amount of death. Elementary as this point is, proponents of the more guns equal more death mantra seem oblivious to it. One study asserts that Americans are more likely to be shot to death than people in the world's other 35 wealthier nations. While this is literally true, it is irrelevant-except, perhaps to people terrified not of death per se but just death by gunshot. A fact that should be of greater concern--but which the study fails to mention--is that per capita murder overall is only half as frequent in the United States as in several other nations where gun murder is rarer, but murder by strangling, stabbing, or beating is much more frequent.

found via BTB.

WWAMD?

What Would Audie Murphy Do? Probably just what all these troops did.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 4, 2007 – Hundreds of troops gathered at Al Faw Palace for the Multi-National Force-Iraq Reenlistment, Naturalization and Independence Day Ceremony today at Camp Victory. During the ceremony, 588 troops reenlisted and 161 were naturalized as American citizens.

HOOAH!

Found at Milblogs.