Could this be where they went?

Hmmm, makes you wonder if this is where they went? Taking bets...

Pappy Boyington

The sad state of part of this country. "Didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce." That is fucking bullshit, what a fucking piece of shit that woman is.

The Newer Generation's Views on Race

I'd say that color-mute is a good thing. It appears that not everyone agrees. Check out this piece on my (apperently i am the Millienia Generation) generation's views on race. And i can understand the argument made by people who can see this as a problem, but i disagree with it.

What happened with Katrina

We all know what happened with Katrina, as Kanye West put it, "George Bush hates black people." Okay, seriously this time, do we really know what happened? Well the house report was just published and can be found right here. Problem is that the are lots of issues with this report. Now i am not near good enough to put all this information out there in an order but, Popular Mechanics is. Note, this is a magazine that has no political tilt, and usually don't comment anything on politics. They tend to take a very different tone on the results and what should or could have happened and who is the fault. There take can be seen here.

Nick Coleman is a Jackass

Midwest Heros is a TV spot that features the testamony of 3 individual soliders who served in Iraq. A LTC, a CPT, and a SSG so really we have 3 distinct views and its not just 'company line.' Okay, they did a TV spot trying to defend the Iraq War, that they just fought in as they all served tours there, and counter what they feel is negative news coverage. Is there anything wrong with that? I would say no. I can't imagine how thats a bad thing. But, oh, to Nick Coleman its spinning. Here is how it breaks down. Powerline has already made a full responce that fisks the column and shows Nick Coleman for the total fucking jackass that he is, and how he is the one spinning facts back and forth. BTW, a 'fisk' is a point by point refutation of a piece. Cool eh.

So thats already done and done really well if anyone is interesting in seeing it. The even better part is the reply of another Colonel. More specifically, a 59 year old LTC named Joe Repya. here is the whole text, which once again Powerline has posted. But since most of the people here don't read Powerline enjoy it!

I recently returned from Iraq and must respond to Nick Coleman's ("Iraq War Vets Spin...") column. Who is really spinning Minnesota? How about looking in the mirror, Nick! You conveniently failed to mention that your major "nonpartisan" source, Paul Rieckhoff, of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention and a New York State Chairman for Veterans for Kerry. Ex-Gov Jesse Ventura as an IAVA board advisor also "nonpartisan"? Sorry, we're not buying that either! Don't know what poll Mr. Rieckhoff was quoting but the Military Times 2005 Iraq Poll of our service members (released January 2006) has some interesting results. A staggering 73% of the respondents believe it's likely the United States will succeed in Iraq. Four of every five respondents said they believe media reports often are inaccurate. I suggest before you spin more misinformation on a subject you know nothing about, you actually visit Iraq and see for yourself. You radical liberals and Moveon.Org types have to get over losing the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections. No, the War is not going "swimmingly," but most service members that have recently been in Iraq will tell you we are winning. Unlike Vietnam, we won't allow you "cut and run" types to snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory. The bottom line is most in the military know what is at stake in the War on Terror and believe you can't be trusted with our National Defense.

Joe Repya
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
101ST Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Fort Campbell, KY
A veteran of Vietnam, the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom

Hamas Charter

Here is a translation of the charter of Hamas. Its about what you would expect.

Wow have I been slack...Complete Round-Up (Warning, its long but good)

Wow, a whole week and no new posts from me? I'm aghast at myself for being so lazy. but then again, no one commented on anything i posted in the last two weeks so you will have to forgive me for it. It happens. Anyway not much has really changed in the world in the past week. Sure there have been some new stories about updating action, but very little is actually new. I could reiterate my stance on such issues as Iran, the cartoons and the other major stories but thats not all that interesting because i have stated them several times. So therefore, I will try to keep opinions like that to a minimum and post about more interesting, less contreversial things.

Lets start with the restates about silly things. Iran is restarting nuclear enrichment again, and has pretty much kicked all of the UN out of their country. While I support less use of the UN, this is going to provoke a harsher and possibly military responce from the UN security counsel. Israel and almost certainly the US will not allow the possibility of Iran having nuclear weapons. We can debate how to best keep that from happening or whether we are bein hypocritical here but thats the reality of the situation. Since that is the fact, and Iran seems to be doing all it can to either have nukes, or have the world think they are going for nukes, I am supporting military air strikes on Iran that will severely hamper their production abilities of nukes but also oil as that will pretty much "bleed the country dry." Stratigically, it forces Iran's hand and keeps them from getting any money and military power.

The cartoon nonsense is still going strong. I think this event has made me more cynical than i was before towards the Arab world. I know this is a manufactured crisis as the cartoons were first printed severa months ago and organizations decided to make a huge deal about it only lately but still, the fact that the collective muslim world (I realize not all but a significant minority if not majority) can be whipped into such a frenzy over a flipping cartoon baffles me. Everything that is done offends someone. I'm offended that an artist can take a portrait of the Virgin Mary and cover it with shit, pee on it, and call it art and then it gets displayed in a government art museum. I'm offended that people listen to Micheal Moore and Jane Fonda and they havn't been tried for treason. But guess what, i don't want to kill that artist or think i have that right. And as much as i hate micheal moore, i am not sending him death threats. Pissing people off and treating them like dirt is a right we all have unless it actually harms them and not just their sensibilities. Also, having a Holocaust cartoon responce is just as silly as the people who are advocating terrorism in responce. Its also pathetic and the world would not be worse if their genes were removed from the world. Here is quote from a columnist in Pakistan about the cartoons:

The newspapers repeatedly published the blasphemous cartoons one after another are totally responsible for the loss of several human lives and destruction of properties during the protests in different countries. If they have not provoked the sentiments of millions of Muslims by publishing the blasphemous cartoons, there would have been no question of demonstrations by the Muslims.

So pretty much, the newspapers are at fault cause they MADE the people riot. Everyone should know that riots ensue when you say anything bad about the prophet. Stupid Newspapers, its all THEIR fault!!!

Other news, Cheney accidentally shoots a hunting buddy. Wow, this must be the biggest news story of the century! The dude who was shot got sprayed with bird shot (I assume as they were shooting birds). And now of course the press is bemoaning the fact that the president didn't release a statement. Or that nothing was put out for 18 hours. Um, just a thought...who cares? Really what is the significance of this story? So there was an accident that someone got hurt but not that seriously in. All we are getting is wonderfully sarcastic hacks putting out silly columns that just make them look like idiots. Here is one example, here is another one, and yet again, here is another one. Of course we can assume just about everyone writing knows nothing about hunting to know what happens when a quail covey bursts out. But thats besides the point as at last check, there are 2, 559 articles about this incident on Google News but 922 for Iranian Enrichment. Good to know where priorities in news rooms are.

In other international politics news and the like, we have the UN report on Guantanamo Bay and they have stated they think some of the procedures are torture. Shocking report eh? Of course the investigators turned down the oppertunity to actually visit the camp and see for themselves, relying on hearsay instead. Smart. They claim that force-feeding prisioners on a hunger strike is torture as a main point, along with prolonged solitary confinement. I tend to agree on the first point that this practice should stop. If they want to starve, let them.

Hamas is going to lose funding from Israel most likely. Yes, Israel has been funding the people that are trying to kil them Crazy world isn't it? The EU and the US will probably follow suit. Some people think this will just increase the hatred and spread more attacks. Well, it might. But I fail to see why Israel should be obligated to appease people who want to kill them with money, when they are being attacked even when they give money.

Back to Iran for a second, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan met with Bush Monday. The 2 issues that are of real importance is Annan pleading for more negotiations on Iran and for US help in Darfur. I am totally with Annan on the second and think we should do much more to stop the genocide in Sudan. As for the first, this is a quote from Annan "We need to be able to work to resolve it, and I hope there will be no steps taken to escalate the situation." Annan's position is naive to me. If the other side will not meet with your conditions, and you cannot accept theirs, there is nothing to negotiate. Its that simple. The only issue is do we care enough to force our solution. Since Iran is going ahead with their plan, we can either stop them, or not. I don't see another way out of this.

Okay enough of that nonsense, lets look at more interesting stuff. This is freaking awesome. Batman gets to beat the shit outta Osama, freaking right. He has his priorities straight. The dark knight fucking rules.

According to this report shark attacks are declining. Some people think its because shark populations are declining, but thats a guess. The idea of fighting back at the attacking shark and it working is really cool. Take that shark, POW!

In case someone on here reads this blog and doesn't really know me, i am throwing a shin-dig at Howl at the Moon in baltimore on Friday, Feb 17th. 5pm, say my name and get in free!

Went to nicks for the first time in a while last nite. I needed a beer and Sara did too. Oh yeah, it was as good as i remember. Don't get me wrong, I love Keith St. but its not really quite the same kind of bar. The 2 pints of amberboch were great, and i cant wait to get more from there and re learn my love for the bar that ushered me into legal drinking.

I have a new drink at parties lately and its not just beer. Beer is good but fro caloric reasons, and because i want to get drunk faster than beer can provide most of the time, i doing alot of white russians. I make them fairly strong as most know, but I definitely need to use good vodka for it. Grey Goose was the liquor of choice over Xmas break but Ciroc is my new favorite. Expensive, yes, but its freaking amazing, good enough to drink straight, as shown by my girl. Crazy is what that is.