Monday - June 05, 2006

Incoming!

_{Michael Ramirez} - Investors Business Daily

- Los Angeles Times (June 2, 2006): “Kerry Attacks Bush Over Iraq Policies”

(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) - Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) harshly criticized the Bush administration for “disdaining diplomacy” in favor of a confrontational and unilateral foreign policy that has hurt the United States’ standing around the world and made it less safe. In a speech Thursday in Los Angeles, the former (and perhaps future) Democratic Party presidential candidate warned that the mistakes of Iraq must not be repeated in the current standoff with Iran.

“War is the ultimate failure of diplomacy,” Kerry told a gathering of the Pacific Council on International Policy. “Yet our current leadership has arrogantly discarded this basic principle…. All too often they disdained diplomacy as little more than an inconvenient detour on the chosen path to armed conflict.” The result, he said, was an ill-advised rush to war in Iraq that alienated other governments and diminished sympathy for the U.S. generated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. America’s current isolation, and the presence of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq, is “playing right into Iranian hands…. The Iranians are delighted,” Kerry said.

The 21-year veteran of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also had harsh words for the Iraqi government. The sight of politicians haggling over Cabinet seats in the midst of an undiminished insurgency is “a disgrace, and this administration ought to get tough,” he said. He proposed intense U.S. pressure to force consensus, either by withholding reconstruction funds or threatening a unilateral withdrawal of troops. Kerry, who voted to give President Bush authorization to use force against Saddam Hussein in 2002, said he would attach an amendment to this summer’s defense appropriations bill calling for a total withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by the end of this year.

- Boston Globe (June 4, 2006): Feingold stirs Democratic Convention With Criticism Of War”

(AUGUSTA, Maine) - Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin brought his anti-war message to the Democratic State Convention on Saturday, receiving a rousing reception from hundreds of delegates who approved an impeachment resolution targeting President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Reiterating a regular theme that has propelled him to prominence as a potential candidate in the 2008 presidential field, Feingold urged fellow Democrats to challenge the president on domestic and foreign policy.

Acknowledging the party’s keen interest in rebounding from its minority status in Congress, Feingold said regaining power was a top priority but not the sole Democratic goal. “It’s standing on principle when you have the power,” Feingold said, drawing one of several standing ovations at the two-day gathering’s concluding session.

Feingold introduced legislation in March seeking to censure Bush over domestic spying, saying the president broke the law and violated the Constitution when he authorized the National Security Agency to conduct a warrantless wiretapping program as part of the war on terrorism. Feingold told convention delegates Saturday he believed the United State had responded properly to the 9/11 attacks by going to war in Afghanistan, “but Iraq is the opposite.”

Reasserting his call for a U.S. troop withdrawal by the end of the year, Feingold denounced an “Iraq-centric” strategy. “This is mismanagement of the fight against al-Qaida,” said Feingold, who also spoke at the New Hampshire Democratic State Convention on Saturday.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/05/2006 at 07:30 AM   
Filed Under: • Military • Politics •  
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   Sunday - June 04, 2006

The Plan

In 1980, Ronald Reagan promised a “Morning In America” and in 1994, Republicans proposed a “Contract With America”. Now in 2006 the Democratic Party has a plan of their own ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/04/2006 at 01:57 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Hildabeast •  
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Go To Hell

Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste. Ive been around for a long, long year, stole many a man’s soul and faith. Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name. In the meantime, you may visit me any time you wish (especially you lawyers) and you’re invited to a special party this Tuesday in my little town just outside Detroit. We will be opening the first seal promptly at 9:00am. Don’t be late because ... what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game, oh yeah ...

Hell, Michigan Heats Up
For 6-6-6 Party
_{June 4, 2006, 7:04 AM EDT}

HELL, Mich. (AP)—They’re planning a hot time in Hell on Tuesday. The day bears the date of 6-6-06, or abbreviated as 666—a number that carries hellish significance.

And there’s not a snowball’s chance in Hell that the day will go unnoticed in the unincorporated hamlet 60 miles west of Detroit.

Nobody is more fired up than John Colone, the town’s self-styled mayor and owner of a souvenir shop. “I’ve got `666’ T-shirts and mugs. I’m only ordering 666 (of the items) so once they’re gone, that’s it,” said Colone, also known as Odum Plenty. “Everyone who comes will get a letter of authenticity saying you’ve celebrated June 6, 2006, in Hell.”

Most of Colone’s wares will sell for $6.66, including deeds to one square inch of Hell. Live entertainment and a costume contest are planned. The Gates of Hell should be installed at a children’s play area in time for the festivities. “They’re 8 feet tall and 5 foot wide and each gate looks like flames, and when they’re closed, it’s a devil’s head,” Colone told The Detroit News for a Saturday story.

Mike “Smitty” Hickey, owner of the Dam Site Inn, wasn’t sure what kind of clientele would show up Tuesday. “We’re all about having fun here. I don’t think we’re going to get the cult crowd, the devil worshippers or anything like that,” said Hickey, whose bar’s signature concoction is the Bloody Devil, a variant of the Bloody Mary.

Colone, meanwhile, has been in touch with radio stations as far away as San Diego and Seattle that are raffling off trips to Hell in honor of 6-6-6. The 666 revelry is just the latest chapter in the town’s storied history of publicity stunts, said Jason LeTeff, one of its 72 year-round residents—or, as the mayor calls them, Hellions or Hell-billies. But LeTeff wasn’t particularly enthused.

“Now, here I am living in Hell, taking my kids to church and trying to teach them the right things and the town where we live is having a 6-6-6 party,” he said. According to the town’s semiofficial Web site, there are two leading theories about how Hell got its name.

The first holds that a pair of German travelers stepped out of a stagecoach one sunny afternoon in the 1830s, and one said to the other, “So schoene hell”—roughly translated as, “So bright and beautiful.” Their comments were overheard by some locals and the name stuck.

The second holds that George Reeves was asked after Michigan gained statehood what he thought the town he helped settle should be called, and reportedly replied, “I don’t care, you can name it Hell if you want to.” The name became official on Oct. 13, 1841.

_{Memo: My sincere apologies to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for stealing their lyrics.}

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/04/2006 at 12:30 PM   
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On This Day In History

June 4, 1989 - Tiananmen Square Massacre

Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States.

In May 1989, nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and call for the resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders deemed too repressive. For nearly three weeks, the protesters kept up daily vigils, and marched and chanted. Western reporters captured much of the drama for television and newspaper audiences in the United States and Europe.

On June 4, 1989, however, Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds of protesters. Turmoil ensued, as tens of thousands of the young students tried to escape the rampaging Chinese forces. Other protesters fought back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to military vehicles. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested.

The savagery of the Chinese government’s attack shocked both its allies and Cold War enemies. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that he was saddened by the events in China. He said he hoped that the government would adopt his own domestic reform program and begin to democratize the Chinese political system.

In the United States, editorialists and members of Congress denounced the Tiananmen Square massacre and pressed for President George Bush to punish the Chinese government. A little more than three weeks later, the U.S. Congress voted to impose economic sanctions against the People’s Republic of China in response to the brutal violation of human rights.

_{Source: The History Channel}

Tank Man

I was watching it from the Beijing Hotel, where we had rented a room that looked onto the north side of the square. That morning, I remember, my husband said to me, “You’d better get out here.” I rushed out onto the balcony, and I saw this lone person standing in front of this long column of tanks. … The young man—… I couldn’t see his face but I think he was young because of the way he moved, he was very fluid, he didn’t move like an older person. … He tried to step in front of the tank. … The tank turned to go around him; the tank did not try to just run him over. I thought, “Wow!” So the tank is turning and then the young man jumps in front of the tank, and then the tank turns the other way, and the young man jumps down this side. And I thought, “What’s going on?”

They did this a couple of times, and then the tank turned off its motor. … And then it seemed to me that all the tanks turned off their motors. It was really quiet; there was just no noise. And then the young man climbed up onto the tank and seemed to be talking to the person inside the tank. … After a while the young man jumps down and the tank turns on the motor and the young man blocks him again. … I started to cry because I had seen so much shooting and so many people dying that I was sure this man would get crushed. [And] I remember thinking, “I can’t cry because I can’t see; I want to watch this, but I’m getting really upset because I think he’s going to die.”

But he didn’t. … I think it was two people from the sidelines ran to him and grabbed him—not in a harsh way, almost in a protective way. … Then he seemed to melt into the crowd. Then the tanks, after a moment, just started up the engines again, and then they kept going down the Boulevard of Eternal Peace. That was the end. It was amazing. …

… I think that the people who took the Tank Man away—I call him the “Tank Man”—were concerned people. I’ve thought about this, and given the timing, I don’t think the security forces had kicked in that fast. … I think that was still too early. That’s one reason … the timing. The second reason is the body language. If you’ve ever seen security people manhandle a Chinese citizen, they’re really brutal. … They twist your arm, they make you bend over, they punch you a few times, they kick you. … So to me, I think he was helped to the side of the road. He wasn’t being arrested.

I think that he is [still alive] … I think the chances are pretty good … that he’s in China because if he had left—and many people have left China—he might have felt free to talk. The fact that we have not heard from him since that amazing incident tells me he’s still alive, he’s still there. He has not been caught, and he’s certainly not telling anybody.

Jan Wong - Author and former Toronto Globe and Mail Beijing correspondent.

Security Tight for Tiananmen Anniversary
_{June 4, 2006, 11:56 AM EDT}

BEIJING (AP)—Chinese police tore up a protester’s poster and detained at least two people on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Sunday as the country marked 17 years since local troops crushed a pro-democracy demonstration in the public space. An elderly woman tried to pull out a poster with apparently political material written on it, but police ripped it up and then took her away in a van.

A farmer tried to stage a protest apparently unrelated to the 1989 crackdown, but he also was taken away in a van. After dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them to put the nonpolitical material away. They were not detained. Discussion of the crackdown is still taboo in China outside of the semiautonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese television news and major newspapers did not mention the anniversary.

In Hong Kong, several hundred people holding candles gathered at Victoria Park, creating a sea of lights covering four soccer fields. They observed a brief silence and organizers laid wreaths at a makeshift shrine dedicated to “martyrs of democracy.” China’s authoritarian government has stood by the suppression of what it has called “counterrevolutionary” riots, saying it preserved social stability and paved the way for economic growth.

Chinese police monitored Tiananmen Square closely Sunday. About 2,000 police were on guard in and around Beijing’s “petitioner’s village,” a cluster of cheap hostels popular with people from the provinces who have come to the capital to complain to the central government.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/04/2006 at 02:46 AM   
Filed Under: • History • Oppression •  
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Sunday Funnies

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/04/2006 at 02:36 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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   Saturday - June 03, 2006

Tool Time

Tim Taylor would LOVE this! So do I! This thing could come in real handy at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo. Just think of the possibilities! Arrh-arrrh-arrrh ....

Black and Decker Alligator Lopper: Ultimate “Man’s Tool”

Nothing really brings satisfaction like actual work and when it’s outside work, thats all the better. And outside yard work…well, men need power tools. (Mmmm yes tools, must have tools.)

And the more bizarre the tool, the better. (it’s a guy thing) Black and Decker has another power tool destined for greatness, a POWER pruning tool. It can eat through a four inch branch in mere seconds. Behold the Alligator Lopper. We Say: Didn’t I see this thing welded onto a henchman?

– Innovative Clamping Jaws Grab and Cut in One Easy Motion
– 4.5 Amp Motor for Powerful Fast Cutting
– Heavy Duty Cutting Bar and Chain Deliver Fast Cutting of Thick Branches and Logs
- 4″ cut capacity for cutting heavy branches too big for manual pruners and loppers
- Price: $99.97

Source: RealTechNews

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/03/2006 at 04:32 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff •  
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Sex Education, Texas Edition

Never let it be said that The Skipper let you down when it comes to covering sexual predators ... especially when it is former beauty queens seducing their 18-year-old students. The poor lad is damaged goods. He is scarred for life. The emotional scars must be horrible. Who am I kidding? You can find this lovely lady’s predatory monster’s beauty pageant biography here. Of course you also know The Skipper would have to also include her MySpace page. I’m still looking for a picture of the made man unlucky victim ...

Former Beauty Queen Arrested
For Sex Crime with Student
_{6/3/2006 12:23:22 PM}

SAN ANTONIO (WOAI-TV) - A former beauty queen-turned teacher could be going to jail, charged with having an inappropriate relationship with one of her students.

Amy McElhenney was crowned Miss Bexar County 2002, and competed in the Miss Texas pageant. Now, four years later, police say McElhenney is accused of having sex with 18-year-old student. They say they were made aware of the relationship after a tip that the 25-year-old had suggestive text messages, on her cell phone, from a student.

McElhenney is from North Texas and majored in education and Spanish while she was a student at the University of Texas at Austin. She was never a resident of Bexar County, but was eligible for the Miss Bexar County contests because she was a Texas resident and lived within 100 miles of San Antonio.

Now the Bexar County beauty pageant winner, who became a cross country coach and teacher at Hebron High School, in Carrollton, faces a second-degree felony charge. Police say the student claims he and McElhenney had sex several times, but she denies there was ever a physical relationship. She reportedly did admit, to police, the relationship with the boy, was inappropriate.

According to Texas law, McElhenney faces felony charges, even though the student is 18-years-old, because there is a ban on all sexual relationships between teachers and students. She has resigned from the school and is currently out on a $5,000 bond.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/03/2006 at 01:54 PM   
Filed Under: • Education • Sex •  
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Constitutional Amendments

As I’ve stated here before, I’m not a Constitutional lawyer ... but then again neither were Jefferson, Adams, Madison or Washington. They made it up as they went along and the Constitution continues to be adaptable today - even while maintaining the basic principles set forth by those men. I hereby propose two additional amendments to the Constitution that are sorely needed in today’s political climate to insure peace and domestic tranquility.

Forget about a “Definition of Marriage” amendment. Congress should not get involved in defining what words mean and what they don’t mean. We have bigger fish to fry and here are two proposed Amendments for your consideration. Feel free to open the discussion and point out any flaws in the proposals below. I intend to present these to every Representative and Senator within the coming months. If you agree with these proposals, your help would be greatly appreciated. You now have the floor ...

Amendment XXVIII

Section 1.
The ability of all ethnic groups within these United States to freely communicate across all boundaries being of paramount importance, the English language is hereby declared the official language of these United States Of America and shall henceforth be mandatory in all official documents and government related communication, including between the various States.

Section 2.
Basic proficiency in the English language, both written and verbal, is required of all citizens. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation, including funding of educational programs in basic English for all citizens regardless of race, color or ethnic origin.

Amendment XXIX

Section 1.
No person shall be elected to the House of Representatives more than ten times or twenty years total, either in consecutive or non-consecutive terms and neither the spouse or direct family member of a Representative whose term limit has been reached shall be eligible for the same seat in Congress. This Article shall take effect immediatly upon ratification as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States and shall be enforced at the next election of Representatives to Congress.

Section 2.
No person shall be elected to the Senate more than four times or twenty four years total, either in consecutive or non-consecutive terms and neither the spouse or direct family member of a Senator whose term limit has been reached shall be eligible for the same seat in the Senate. This Article shall take effect immediatly upon ratification as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States and shall be enforced at the next election of each Senator.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/03/2006 at 11:29 AM   
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Troops Cleared

The troops have been cleared in the investigation into supposed “murders” at Ishaqi - but the damage has already been done. The insurgents and groups opposed to the government of Iraq are playing the PR game to the hilt. They are following a playbook that was written during the Vietnam war. The media is playing right along. How long before some radical Leftists back home start carrying signs with the words “baby killer”? Deja vu, anyone ... ?

Troops Cleared Of Iraq Wrongdoing
_{Saturday, 3 June 2006, 00:27 GMT 01:27 UK}

(BBC) - A US military investigation has found there was no misconduct by US troops over Iraqi civilian deaths in the town of Ishaqi, a spokesman says. Maj Gen William Caldwell said reports that troops “executed” a family during a raid on a house in March and tried to cover it up were “absolutely false”. Questions over the 11 deaths in Ishaqi come amid a Pentagon inquiry into a bigger alleged massacre in Haditha. The US has announced extra training in moral and ethical values for troops.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has criticised coalition forces for what he describes as habitual attacks against civilians. News in the US this week has been dominated by discussion of the investigations in Iraq, the BBC’s Adam Brookes reports from Washington. The Bush administration has had an exceptionally difficult time focusing public attention on what it says is the progress being made by the new Iraqi government, our correspondent says. A report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house in Ishaqi, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building.

Maj Gen Caldwell said the US investigation into events in Ishaqi, where the military says it was attempting to capture insurgents, had found no wrongdoing on the part of the troops. Four bodies including that of an insurgent were found after the raid while up to nine “collateral deaths” resulted from the US raid, according to the investigation.

It added that a precise death toll could not be determined because of collapsed walls and debris. All the correct procedures were followed when troops came under fire as they approached the house, Maj Gen Caldwell said. “The investigation revealed the ground force commander, while capturing and killing terrorists, operated in accordance with the rules of engagement governing our combat forces in Iraq,” he added.

“Allegations that the troops executed a family living in this safe house, and then hid the alleged crimes by directing an air strike, are absolutely false.” The outcome of the Pentagon investigation emerged a day after the BBC released video footage that appears to show the aftermath of US action in Ishaqi, about 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds. The pictures came from a hardline Sunni group opposed to coalition forces.

- More on this story here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/03/2006 at 10:10 AM   
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Saturday Silliness

What Men See In The Mirror

What Women See In The Mirror

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/03/2006 at 09:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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   Friday - June 02, 2006

T.G.I.F

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/02/2006 at 06:17 PM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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Nugent Rocks

I love it when the Brits try and understand us.  Even better when they do it with Ted.  So they send this guy to Texas to meet with Ted and find out what’s going on with his relationship with GWB, his board member status with the NRA, his hunting, his guns and a bunch of other stuff.  What a great read.  I think this poor chap had to go change after the interview was over.

Here are some bites to whet your whistle:

We sit down to coffee, eggs and grits. Ted is 6ft 3in; to get a sense of his general demeanour you could do worse than imagine the body of John Wayne possessed by the spirit of Ian Paisley in one of his less conciliatory moods. He launches into a fevered monologue about how much safer Britain would be with more guns on its streets.

“Never has there been such an upsurge in crime since they confiscated all your weapons. Why don’t you arm yourselves? You Limeys have a zipper that’s locked in the closed position, because you don’t have a constitution. You’re rewarded for shutting the fuck up.

Back at the ranch, he shows me a selection of his firearms. Laid on a table in his garage are enough Uzis and AK-47s to wipe out three platoons. Everywhere you look there are Magnum pistols, ammunition cases and crossbows. In a nearby field there are battered, life-sized sculptures of animals including a wolf, a deer and a coyote. He fires at a Styrofoam bear using his weapon of choice, a traditional bow and arrow. “Straight through the heart… dead bear,” says Ted, as his heavily pitted target submits to yet another onslaught. “Both lungs… dead bear.” The arrows, which he makes himself, keep flying. “Dead bear… dead bear… dead bear.”

Ted, like his father, has the rage. At one point, when he’s describing how he gave a Crawford vandal so frightening a telling-off that the teenager had to be admitted to psychiatric hospital, he is shouting inches from my face, reliving the scene. The experience is alarming.

“I’m feeling sorry for that kid,” I tell him.

“That’s your Limey coming out in you.” Nugent is trembling with fury at the memory of the confrontation. “I think I’m going to have an aneurysm.”

Great stuff.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/02/2006 at 01:44 PM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • Philosophy • Politics •  
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Rules Of Engagement

_{Mike Lester - Rome News-Tribune (GA)}

I have a problem. It’s really quite simple. The problem I’m encountering is that I don’t understand the rules of engagement in the war on terror. Let me explain ...

Let’s say you’re a Marine - Private Grunge, age 22, married with two children back home. You’re part of a patrol walking the streets of some nameless town in Iraq. Your patrol is only one of thousands the US and coalition troops conduct every single day. The heat is unbearable, dust is everywhere, you’re tired, your feet hurt and you haven’t gotten a letter from home in several days. You know the enemy is out there, hiding in the crumbling buildings all around you. He wears no uniform and he freely mingles with the innocent civilians all around you. You’re out in the open with a half dozen of the closest people in the world to you. They’re depending on you and you’re depending on them. This is your immediate family.

Suddenly, shots ring out and you recognize the sound of an AK-47. One of your buddies up front grabs his leg and collapses. Gunny yells out “Cover, everyone! Bad guys at two-o-clock!” You take cover behind a wall and return fire. All you see of the enemy are flashes from his rifle on a rooftop in front and above you. Suddenly the shooting stops and you watch a corpsman carry off your “brother” with a hole in his leg. Your squad advances on the building and someone in front kicks in the door. You rush in, rifle ready. Inside you find a dozen people screaming and throwing things at you and your squad. Someone in the crowd raises something that looks like a rifle and starts to point it at you.

You have exactly .02 seconds to make a decision. What do you do?

The simple answer is that none of you, including myself, can ever answer that question. At least, not until we are faced with that awful moment in time. Yet today I read story after story in the mainstream media about how reckless and careless and generally bloodthirsty our troops have become. We have politicians in Congress like John Murtha and John Kerry who are more than willing to publicly find the troops guilty before a trial even begins. The media covers the story from start to finish and some, like TIME magazine openly brag about their “uncovering” of the truth (no less than seven times in the same article).

Suddenly, several news organizations like the BBC start receiving tapes of other “massacres” by US troops. The incredible irony and absolute horror of this situation is that the enemy is beheading innocent civilians every week, filming it and broadcasting it to the entire world - without a single complaint from the UN. The bad guys are also blowing up car bombs in marketplaces, killing women and children on a daily basis - and the mainstream media has a brief article about it on page 14.

Meanwhile, back to Private Grunge and his squad. When the smoke clears, it is discovered that twelve people are dead and what you thought was a rifle is only a broomstick. You are ashamed - something your enemy never feels. You know you did wrong so you and your “family” decide to try to cover up the mistake that was made. There will be no film sent to Al-Jazeera and no bragging on ABC News. Is this a totally f**ked up war or what? Maybe, if you’ve studied history you suddenly realize this is why we lost the Vietnam War. Like that misbegotten effort, the politicians and media have tied the hands of the troops and created irrational rules of engagement.

Eventually, Private Grunge and his squad will be tried under the UCMJ but in the meantime, the politicians and media have already found them all guilty and sentenced them to perpetual shame and dishonor. That ain’t right. It wasn’t right in 1969 and it ain’t right now. Never fear though. The military is going to make sure every troop gets “ethics training” to make sure it never happens again.

We are going to lose the war on terror, my friends - not because of Private Grunge and his squad but because they are fighting under unreal expectations and are subject to constant criticism back home while the enemy is free to be just as barbaric and “unethical” as he wants to be. Rules of engagement? Horse puckey!  There is only one rule in force here - there absolutely has to be a cameraman present when the last helicopter takes off from the roof of the embassy in Baghdad in a few years. I wonder if it will be called “peace with honor” this time too.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/02/2006 at 11:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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Respect for the “Uniform”

Via Kim, I find this story from the Englishman:

Young people are twice as likely to show respect to someone in a uniform than are the older generation, the survey by G4S Security Services (UK) reveals. While a quarter of 16-to 24-year-olds said they have respect for a person wearing a uniform just 13% of 55-64 years olds agreed.

But what sort of uniform? G4S used to be known as Securicor and is the largest supplier of uniformed jobs-worths in the country. I have a feeling this question isn’t about respecting proper people in uniform but instead shows that older people have come to despise all the make believe forces who order us about in car parks and shopping centres.

I tried to buy a bench once in B&Q and the only one left was the display model. which the manager refused to let me buy. So I walked out the entrance - the cashier said - “You can’t go out that way”. I pointed out to her that I could, and I would, the word she had be looking for was “mustn’t”. Her reply was a puzzled “eh” and I was then chased across the car park by a security goon who insisted that I went back into the store and left the “proper” way. I asked him what he was accusing me of and how was he going to make me. The fact I wasn’t respecting his cheap man-made fibre suit and cardboard hat perplexed him and he eventually moved out the way before I ran over his foot.

So how many of you routinely disregard the people in “cheap man-made fibre suits”?

I had the occasion to be in Wal*Mart the other day.  After getting my goods, standing in line to check out and paying for said goods, I was “stopped” by an aging fellow in a blue vest at the door.  He wanted to check my receipt before I left (carrying three bags with the word “WAL*MART” clearly emblazoned on them").  I said: “No thanks” and kept walking.  For a moment, he did not know how to react, then finally walked behind me to catch up and said: “I have to check your receipt”, to which I replied (from the second set of doors by now): “If you think I stole something, call the police.  Otherwise, go away.” He wandered back into the store with a rather disturbed look on his face.

Do we subject ourselves to a full frisking when we enter a store like this?  Do we give implicit agreement and permission for such action by merely shopping there?

Posted by Drew458     on 06/02/2006 at 07:50 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Stoopid-People •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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