Oops, we did it again..

President Bush is in Jordan, searching for answers, al- Maliki running Iraq, oh, wait, forgot, he is hiding, avoiding President Bush because of that leaked memo, well, he was not running Iraq anyway, he is too worried about support of his own people and how it would look if the infidels stayed longer. At least he came out long enough to meet with Bush and they did manage to make face time.

They did make an important agreement; President Bush said Thursday that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki agreed in high-stakes talks that Iraq should not be partitioned into separate, semiautonomous zones. After all, there is no civil war in Iraq, wait a minute, bad me, there is, well, as long as all the key political players say there is none then they people themselves can keep blowing each other to Kingdom Come and it is only insurrection. Love the political correctness of our new age.

Of course, we al know that we will “stay the course” in Iraq, President Bush has been telling us that for a long while now and I for one support his philosophy on that statement. I feel if we had stayed the course in Viet Nam, not pulled out leaving advisors and a poorly equipped military defending, it would have been a different outcome.

Well, we were going to stay the course, that is until the house changed, now, well, read for yourself: “The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal, according to people familiar with the panel’s deliberations.”

I can well hear the words of my partner in crime, Wild Bill as he is reading this and the many other articles as I do each morning. I have been in a seething rage since awaking and it is only going to get worse. Our country is in Iraq, pure and simple, for whatever reasons, at this point in time, it does not matter the rationale behind the invasion should not even be questioned, we removed a madman and we are there. Let’s finish the job at hand and truly bring peace to these people, if not, our men and women have lost their lives for a venture in the wind and it is killing me to think that we did it again.

Media loves a looney

Ah, the real world, good old America, land of opportunities and good old home values. That was then, this is now, now I read the headlines and do I see the leaked contents of the meeting on Iraq? Do I see someone’s witty banter about world peace, or even peace within this world? Nope, not here, only people talking about Britney Spears showing her, uh, how do I say this? Well, read the article.

Ok folks, we are all men and women and yes, we are all supposed to be smart, prudent, take care of ourselves, our lives and well, I really do not think bearing it in the land down under just to score some press points like her pal Paris is really anywhere within this equation..

It is a very sad day when the teenage population, her ex-peers and the ones she really still wants to be with are pouring their hearts out to her begging her to wear underwear! This is the MALES and the FEMALES! See, one thing Ms. “I_want_to_be_like_Paris_Hilton_and_get_all_the_media” forgot was she is a Mommy now and even teenage boys have a problem with that. Well, they overlook it and scream because the girls are all doing it, but they are complaining, even if for the wrong reasons.

As I often have said, the world is going insane.

Go Popeye!

I am beginning to find the present political situations in Iraq bordering on a huge cosmic joke with our enemy sitting back on the sidelines laughing their collective butts off. We have al- Maliki hiding behind people because of the White House comments regarding his inability to lead Iraq. This would not be the case if he had attempted by any means available to defuse or even control somewhat the volatile situation within his own country.

One thing is evident, he is not in control, we need to be dealing with the true people that are and by that, I mean with superior firepower and ending this for the last time.

We have the most powerful, well equipped, trained and professional military standing on their soil, we need to give them the green light, the leadership needed to effectively finish the job we first undertook.

We need to look the politician’s in the eye that are presently following any media truck or reporter they see on the horizon to scream about troops coming home, going there or sending the Boy Scouts and tell them to go straight to the nearest room and stand in the corner. That is where they all truly belong to begin with, doing some form of good old-fashioned penance.

“Off to the woodshed, Mr. Senator, oh, make sure you take the large hickory switch with you, may be needing that.”

The President feels he has to play the political game now that he does not control the house. I have noticed the constant vacillation on some of the initial points cut into stone. Now, they appear to be made out of melted butter, sort of waving back and forth.

The whole situation is disgusting. We have Iran and Syria wanting to play nice, sit down at the table and bring Iraq into their flock. Oh Yes, that is really their true feelings, we can believe them, why not?

We can all tune into the cosmic comics tomorrow and see what Bluto is going to do, with any luck; Popeye just may knock his butt out.

Out a bit...

Morning friends, we will get back to our regularly scheduled ranting, disagreeing attempting to solve the world in a few hours, whoever, I needed to bring something to your attention that will keep me off the blog for about a week starting December 14^th.

My regular friends who stop by my little vent on the web know that I have been fighting Glaucoma for over a year now. This battle, although taking place within me and aided by many medical specialists is one of the toughest I have ever faced in my life.

In the beginning, I was a novice to this eye disease, my knowledge consisted of television and movies and learning in one film that the great, Wild Bill Hickock himself suffered from this made all that more alien to me. As an ex law enforcement officer I found myself wondering how he could have faced what he did in his life when his eyes may come and go at a moment’s notice.

I can have perfect vision one moment and unable to see anything the next. It is strange too, not as it would seem. The eyes do not actually turn to black, dark shadows only or anything like that. The best way to describe the change is someone taking a huge glob of a Vaseline substance and placing it over the entire eye. That is what my vision becomes and it will come and go often like that. For example, I began this about a half hour ago, coffee in hand, typing away. I had taken all four of my eye drops and my vision was quite good. Not so now, it is very blurry, fuzzy and I have to stop often to focus. Glaucoma is a nasty enemy and it affects a lot of people.

There are various drops, laser procedures, other avenues the specialists have at their disposal to combat Glaucoma, and I have been and am on the majority of them. I have lost the sight of one eye, I am now fighting for the other, and it is freighting for me to be in this situation. Glaucoma is not like having some other medical problem in our body. If we lose the sight in the eyes, they are gone forever, no government agency will turn us into the million-dollar man, no one will install a mini-camera in our eye, nothing. Fade to black, end of the story.

I am having a surgical procedure on December 14^th where they will try one last time to correct the high pressures in one eye. They advised that the optic nerve is so badly damaged in the eye from the continuous high pressures that this procedure is a gamble. They will surgically create a trap door in the bottom white portion of the eye as an exit point for the pressure. Due to the optic nerve damage I may lose all sight and if not I may still do so if scar tissue builds up over time, so it is a gamble and one worth facing.

I will be out of service for about a week, perhaps less. They will remove the bandages on December 15^th, if my vision is perfect you can bet the farm I will be telling you all, if it requires more time it will be a week or so. Until then, let us keep the faith, the rants coming and I will let you all know what transpires.

Ranter

The quest for information...

It is 3;21 in the Am and I have been sitting here surfing the web trying to keep my mind occupied. I had a bad health night, sometimes it hits, tried to sleep and it only turned for the worse. Therefore, with Bengay on both knees, no idea in the world why I awoke with both knees kicking my butt never happened before, a dose of pain medication in my system and a cup of coffee in my hand might as well stay up and begin commiserating about health with my friends on the net a bit. There is a plus to this choice, one of you is not called at this hour asking what to do, I complain and rant, you read my true private thoughts on something unrelated to war and politics and we all feel better tomorrow. Hopefully.

I confess that I just may be a bit spoiled after all of these years. I have often mentioned a friend that is the closest person anyone can ever be in my life. She is my best friend and for seventeen years, we have shared a friendship of purest of love and the strongest of trust. She is the one constant in my life as I am in hers, whatever the problem, we have shared them, through the passing of loved ones, family members, severe health problems, surgeries, personal problem, we are the fist to call the other and we always work it out together. We have managed to get one another over many a personal, emotional and health issue and as she mentioned the other day, we got is down pat. Yes, we do. Friendship as ours is a precious commodity and when found cannot ever be lost.

At 3:30 I the morning I am not going to awaken her, not that she would say a word about it, I have been on that end as well, it never stopped us before.

Therefore, I ask myself, why two knees at the same time would suddenly awaken a person with pain. Surf the web of knowledge and maybe an answer in some hidden, rarely quoted medical text, site or someone boasting of a cure. That turns out to be nowhere near the truth, so I redirect and retype the questions. I will share the inputs and results with you with the thought, on the off chance; we may actually all learn something.

Starting with the famed, overused, often over rated, but always there, Google, I enter forms of the question: such as, “what causes sudden, severe knee pain”, or “sudden knee pain”, or “severe knee pain.” Rules of thumb, if not presented with the proper links corresponding to your search criteria, make sure to redirect with different forms of the words.

Google, Arthritis, Simple causes, this one looks promising, a medial encyclopedia titled, MedlinePlus, with baited breath and the desire to learn festering in my sleepy brain I pursue ever on with glee and hope. This is the opening,

“what causes sudden, severe knee pain”:

I am presented with everything from Arthritis, Bursitis, Tendinitis, Baker's cyst to the less common, Bone tumors and Osgood-Schlatter disease.

In addition, the recommended treatments are all non-specific and generic enough to avoid any litigation for providing wrong diagnoses or improper treatment.

That was quite interesting and at close to 4:30 AM accompanied with my second coffee even keeps my attention. It serves no purpose for my present question, as I have no idea what it could be, as I have never had a problem before.

My eyes see the link, http://www.webmd.com/, jackpot, WebMD, the Holy Grail of medical knowledge for the common person who never spent a quarter of a million dollars on a medical education.

Reading the symptoms is promising,

Pain, soreness, or tenderness, Stiffness or locking, Swelling or bruising, Snapping, popping, or grinding, then it strikes me, nothing even remotely related to my initial question, I finish up going through the treatments, which once again appears to by attorney speak for, these are generic, we don’t know, can’t tell, not libel, call your physician cheapskate.

Changing the wording to, sudden, severe pain in both knees , The quest continues through Dogpile, a combination of all the better search engines, which does manage to display a few the others, did not, or I was too tired and preoccupied to see. Gout, now there is one I did not think of, but I cannot detect swelling, I read it anyway, interesting actually.

Continuing my journey of knee pain discovery I go through Yahoo, , Ask, The outgrew Jeeves and I think the Butler was cooler on the site. AlltheWeb, AltaVista, as well as MSM.com Live Search and a multitude of medical search engines I discover along the way, all the same, a few extra here and a few less there, some bells and whistles and a few down and dirty get the information out. Algorithms may change, but a search is a search, it depends how one wants to read the information displayed to them.

Sitting back, I find myself frustrated, full of questions and sleepy. The knees are not as they were when they awoke me either, calmed down a bit, Bengay or the pain medication, one of them seems to be helping.

What have I learned from this experience? Thinking hard I decided, I learned absolutely nothing. The sites have legal fears and purposefully do not stray near nor cross that legal doublespeak. However, I did learn that putting Bengay on the affected area, taking pain medication, drinking coffee, (not quite sure on that one, but I enjoyed the coffee) and keeping your mind occupied for an hour or so takes the issues and pain out of the thoughts and even feels a bit better. I also learned that writing about the whole thing was nice, shared something with friends and not one is ticked for me waking them up early.

With that statement, I think I will reset my alarm for 7:00 AM and go back to bed.

Back up just a bit, cool off time.

I personally need to step back from military issues today, theaters of operations, armchair quarterbacking the wars, as we vets tend to often do and step back from the anger associated with the present state of events we are watching on the evening news because I had found myself so ticked off last night that a rest is needed today.

I have always been one those individuals with a deep hunger for news and the internet filled that void for me quite well. Computers had been part of my life since its birth in 1984; I grasped the meaning of what they could do and learned, studied and trained until I knew the new technology inside out. I had a successful practice within the security consulting industry for many years dealing with the commercial industry, I was also a licensed private investigator, but confined that to the security end only. The license would often come in handy when trying to make changes or obtain information not openly available and through this I began dealing within the security end of computing, both large commercial contracts and within the home for a select few that needed help. My expertise was well recognized and the true benchmark was the fact of my happy clients with little if any security problems to concern themselves with.

As a security consultant I had been involved with the internet for some time, of course this was the older one, black screen with white characters that was about as far as it went. Nevertheless, the beauty of this was email; we could send and receive with friends, associates and institutions for help anytime we needed. During that course of time the actual act of truly owning an email address was something many of my friends would change jobs for, just to obtain one.

When the Father of today’s World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee introduced his new baby to the world, it ushered in the new information age, which I immediately grasped to satisfy my news hunger. Putting together and setting up small newsgathering programs, I could turn to my monitor at anytime of the day and go through a wealth of information.

Of course, this also ushered in a new age of security, antivirus, spyware, Phishing, spam and ad nauseam to our commercial and home computers. This area took on a life of its own, quickly growing to the problem that exists today and it is a problem of huge proportions. If you are the proud owner of a cable modem or DSL and not using quality firewall, antivirus and security protection in your home computer and/or your WiFi laptop, the chances of all of your personal information, credit and otherwise being broadcast to someone on the web are very strong.

Although initially against the initial concept of blogging, I began to read others. Their thoughts, dreams and aspirations would often amaze me and even sometimes astound me. I would comment asking if they had achieved what they were aspiring for and they would always respond in the negative.

I began blogging with the idea to share a few of my experiences in life and to discuss my feelings on the war on terrorism and our brothers and sisters serving their country. After meeting many new internet friends, I began writing more and more on the war and other political events. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time and have an earnest desire to continue.

The present state of this war is very frustrating and often even emotionally enraging to individuals as Wild Bill and me. I read his blog daily and can see the same frustration and angers that I often face and realize that most of my generation and veterans are all facing the same issues. We can tell from our experience that a lot of the trash and nonsense being applied simply do not work and it angers us more.

One would assume that after unsuccessful applications in the past our military would learn on some basic counter insurgency and guerrilla tactics concepts, but, it is evident their learning curve must be pretty steep, they just keep on making them again.

Iraq is out of control, the only thing that will keep it in check is a strong military presence, superior firepower and the willingness to use these tools. We will all see together what transpires, but in my opinion, it is not going to be easy.

Iraq burns..Where is Nero?

Where is the General who was after the Iraqi hearts and minds while Iraq is burning, its people we were to protect dyeing? Is he off tending to the latest inner feelings of the new government who does not even want our military harassing his citizens any longer?

His citizens, that is a joke of cosmic proportions, he has as much control of Iraq as the man and women living down the street from him. He stands idly by along with the hearts and minds military leader we entrusted to take care of Iraq watching and wondering what to do.

We have undertaken a sacred trust, we took control of a country, we went in and we did the job, our military preformed spectacularly and now what. At least, that must be the questions on the Pentagon’s mind tonight as Iraq goes straight to hell.

All of this and they have the stupidity to make those torture allegations at outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld? Here is the big scoop for the day folks, looks like old Rummy was the only one human being who had any handle on Iraq.

My fellow Ranter, Wild Bill could fill a blog with what the problems are, I can as well, but honestly, I am so totality ticked off by the present chain of events that if I actually write what in on my mind there is a chance it would be censored and pulled. I once made a vow never to have to stoop into the trash heap of America’s mind to write about something that I believed in, therefore, I will simply say how personally disgusting I am over this course of action.

Our war in the 1960 has proved that hearts and minds campaigns do not work, not without superior firepower to back it up. We need to be ready at a moments notice to send in troops to do what is needed in any situation to stop the escalating violence.

This recent actions will no doubt lead to better military thinking and actions, we will just have to wait and see. One thing is this is certain, if something is not put into action immediately, then a lot of brave men and women gave their all for nothing and as someone who is in that class along with many other friends, we do not wish to see that happen.

The lady is about to sing....

I am going to share a personal story of a past friend of my Father’s which some may find difficult to read, as it involves torture and leads only to sadness. I understand fully should those that find it as such pass it by. After all, there is a war going on and one of the saddest comments to this particular war distinguishing it and setting it apart from the others, there is no such thing as a POW, only torture and death. I am bringing his story up to act as a reminder of the brutality our POW’s endured during the last wars.

My Father often took us to his friend’s home to visit; it was in a nice out of the way country spot. I always found it very difficult, as his friend never seemed quite right. He constantly shook and his whole body would twitch. My Father always told me it was from a wound from WWII. I did not question, I normally went off to find some neighbor boy to play with while my Parents visited.

Later in life, my Father told me the story of his friend. He had been captured along with others after an extensive battle for their lives, spending a few years in captivity of the Japanese being tortured, abused and often left for dead.

My Father had shared that his friend had made it back somehow, but he was not the same man as when he left, unable to raise his arms above his shoulders, the pads of his feet scarred beyond recognition as well as his back, arms and legs. Understandably, he was not able to cope with life in the real world, never able to sleep, always waiting for something that was no longer there and after all that he had went through, slowly drank himself to death at an early age. My Father has long passed and I have no recollections of where his friend served or in what branch, but I recall his constant shaking and my Fathers’ story quite vividly.

At the funeral, his father stood and said of his only son, that he had died during captivity; his soul had left an empty body behind just going through the motions and nothing more. No matter how he died, he was my Father’s friend and I can attest to the fact, he was his personal hero for what he had lived through.

Which leads me to question something, does making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation, playing music at full volume, having to sit in uncomfortably have anything in common whatsoever with the extended periods of depravation, torture, brutality and often death that our military has endured when captured?

Yahoo News has an article regarding outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the mistreatment of detainees and specifically states the supposed degree of mistreatment authorized. I have already mentioned them, but to make a point I will quote the article.

‘The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: "Make sure this is accomplished,"" she told Saturday's El Pais.

"The methods consisted of making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation ... playing music at full volume, having to sit in uncomfortably ... Rumsfeld authorized these specific techniques."

Give me a break the intelligence level of this allegation alone lies somewhere between a dead fish and one getting ready to die. Where in the name of everything sacred does it state this degree of interrogation has anything to do whatsoever with true, brutal torture? Further, as far as I am concerned, if playing KISS at full volume to some prisoner while he stands for a few hours or misses a night or two sleep saves the life of one and I repeat, ONE American then play that funky music and play it loud!

This country is so far up its bleeding heart that it may not be able to ever see the sanity of what is right and what is wrong again. The political correctness of this nonsense has become to the point of making me search for a giant barf bag and searching quickly.

This is not cruelty, torture, brutality, or bordering anywhere near what true torture and abuse of a human being is, ask individuals who have been captured in Iraq. Oh, that is right; it is a difficult task for most of them have had their heads cut off very slowly and purposefully.

When will we ever learn what truly takes place in the world? The answer to that question is obvious, when too many people have died and our bleeding hearts have lost their families to terrorist’s attacks as well.

Perhaps then, they might not have a problem with their speakers screaming Garth Brooks and someone standing up for a long period and missing a night’s sleep. Either that or we can all just bend over between our legs and kiss our butt goodbye, for folks, the fat lady is singing soon.

Anbar province ..Murder city, Iraq.

The Anbar province in Iraq , long the hotbed of insurgent activity and daily fighting between our Marines who are holding their own needs a plan of action, an all out operation or something to put an end to these murdering thugs running and hiding among the people.

Yahoo News reports, “More than two-thirds of the 245 U.S. casualties between Aug. 7, the start of the Baghdad offensive, and Nov. 7 occurred outside Baghdad — which military leaders have called the "center of gravity" of Iraq, and the key to success in the war. Four in 10 deaths over those three months have been in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgency stronghold where U.S. Marines have largely taken the lead.”

Yahoo News reported that, “Marines, who comprise only about 15 percent of the 141,000 U.S. forces currently in Iraq accounted for nearly 28 percent of the fatalities over the three-month period.”

These statistics are far too high and provides insight into just what is going on with the Marines stationed there, facing the elephant ever day they awaken. This is 2006, in Iraq, not the Normandy landing on Omaha beach in 1944; we are supposed to be in control, I seem to recall. We have super weapons just about able to knock on someone’s door asking if the owner is home and our Marines are sitting there providing target practice for a pack of murdering fanatics whose only goal is to kill an American.

As far, back as, August 3^rd, 2005, DEBKA-Net-Weekly was reporting the area fast becoming an insurgent stronghold with continuous engagements with the Marines, now it is an area in which both the U.S. and the insurgents are saying they are in control.

There were some reports, although none totally confirmed, that the sniper videos that CNN, the new voice of insurgency in America, may have originated from Anbar. If this is true, then it is high time we wipe out this den of murderers and rid Iraq of a large portion of their problem.

The Marines stationed in this mini warzone are more than willing and itching to go so they can put an end to the sniper activity, bombings and constant fighting. Reports have stated they are sick of the constant nonsense and know they can end it, all the need is a leader with a set willing to go against the status quo.

Something needs to be done and it needs to be put into place now, not next week when the murders are selling new snuff-videos of our brothers and sisters to CNN. I refuse to even provide the link to this news agency. My patriotism runs too far and my military experience too deep to send them one single reader. They can take a walk to the nearest peer and take long swim. Perhaps they may end up in Anbar and see what it is like to fight for your life. There would be a new concept, CNN reporters actually doing something other than buying crap from murderers and killers.

A funny thing on the way for a soda

Or how I learned to love the bomb and keep laughing.

The one thing I absolutely love about this wonderful country that we live in is the constant humor seen at every turn, or step we take. We are American’s, give us a challenge and we love to take the bet, need a new video game, well you are in the right place, we have programmers who can make animals talk. Just ask the children, they all know deep within their souls that every living animal has a language, all they have to do is listen hard, and they will hear it.

Yes, I actually had a child say that to me this evening while I was getting a soda out of our machine. He was standing there with his Father and a tenant to their right was walking their dog. The little boy turned his head towards the dog and cupped his ear. I grinned and asked what he was doing and he replied he wanted to hear what the dog was going to tell the cat sitting in the window. I looked in their direction and sure enough, a cat was watching this dog intently, but not for a conversation, the hair on the cat was on end, it was snarling and just waiting to pounce should the poor pooch come his way.

I asked the child what he heard and he told me the dog must speak Spanish and he did not. I laughed so hard and soon the Father joined me, telling me he has had to put up with this since that last two talking animal movies they saw and that was the boys standard response. It was not that the animals did not have a given language, but they all spoke Spanish and he did not.

I decided that I would Google the phrase, “talking animal movies” so I could add a link for one or two, I was presented with 1,820,000 links to surf through. Therefore, the link is above click on them, surf away and if you find any that speaks this little boy’s language, we will let him know, he really wants to hear what they say.

What a country, give us a generation and we will destroy the very learning curve of the entire thing, the teachers of America must grow weary explaining why animals cannot talk, me,. I would give them talking animals, the kids deserve to hear what they are saying and I would hope they are bilingual for this little boy’s sake. We can add to that factor the unknown comic show in itself, or I should say unknowns who inadvertently become comics. We have our television comedians running around screaming racial slurs at anyone who did not like their material. Then they get their high-powered friends to book a late night gig so they can apologize.

The only problem was nobody informed the studio audience beforehand. They watched the video feed and laughed until it hurt, then the famous friend let them in on the fact that it was for real. That was the best gig Kramer had ever done on his own, we can expect him to be the new insults comedian, should his career survive, but it looks like Kramer has left the building one more time and may never be seen again. Between Kramer and Braveheart Mel, they should open a 12-step program for famous people who insult entire races, destroying their careers in one night. Come on folks, we cannot pay for material like this.

We have a film about a person sent from Kazakhstan to find what they need or he will die and let us not forget for one moment that he will also die if we do not see the film, talk about working under pressure, 007 at least saves the world gets the girl. This poor person just gets to die either way. This totally ticked off the entire country of Kazakhstan, even the extras were complaining about the cows in their homes the film crew had put their for humor, of course, that was only until the American tourists began to take notice and wanted to visit, for some strange reason our dollars tend to make people happy, who would have guessed? Now they want to give the actor a national award, they should reshoot and put the award ceremony in the film!

We have a magician shackled to a spinning gyroscope and hovering forty feet above Times Square and people loved him for it. Of course, the betting industry was never better; the bookmakers were making a whole lot of money off this stunt. I felt his little gig in London locked in a box or something was even better, the locals tossed eggs and rocks at him constantly. Let us see the magician can get away from flying projectiles while he is attempting to get out of the locks they told reporters. That was until the local police had to intercede to keep the magician alive long enough to escape from his well wishers.

Of course, we cannot forget the on-air catfight between Rosie and Ripa about the hand of Clay that Rosie’s boss Barbara had to put to a stop to, Rosie capitulated, but not too happy about it. I will even add the link for this one because folks, this is good stuff, do you know what entertainment was like in the 1950’s? I was tired of puppets and Uncle Miltie and was waiting for moments like this.

We have unemployed actors and entertainers going on reality shows making total fools of themselves, then complain and moan wondering why they have no career. Only in this wonderland of opportunity, can Mini Me become famous getting drunk with an ex-Brady, then tinkling in the houseplant and getting carried and tucked into bed by his Brady buddy. I was watching this and waiting for the Brady to sing him a lullaby. The funny part was watching the little guy salivate over the women who had decided to skinny dip. Hey, they need media time too and they can get it a lot faster than a Brady can, off comes the tops and bottoms and the cameras roll never showing another has-been again.

In closing, we must salute the entire entertainment industry for their constant supply of humor. The funniest part is the humor is always within their serious shows and dramas. That is great too, think of all the money we will save, all we have to do is read the news and laugh until it hurts.

From Russia with Love?

I wrote previously on the poisoning of ex KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, an open critic of the Putin administration. Now that he has died as a result of radiation poisoning resulting from a dose of polonium-210 which according to Wikipedia is a rare radioactive metalloid, polonium is chemically similar to tellurium and bismuth and occurs in uranium ores which could have only come from a country with a reactor and the capabilities to produce it. Litvinenko’s murder is a very sad statement on the present government in control within Russia.

According to news accounts the radioactive poison was found at the former Russian spy’s North London home and clearly points to the obvious statement, yes, he was murdered. The questions of who, may never be discovered as police investigations are difficult, if not impossible in the type of killing. England has already declared this is the first use of a radioactive poison on their soil. Russia must be very proud to be the first kid on the block and not have to worry about America trying to catch up or pass them.

Of course, the entire world is well aware of the obvious culprit in this murder as well as every media source, although most of them are standing on the fencepost allowing others to make the accusations. England has already requested a representative meet with them to discuss the case. This should be an interesting meeting with their constant denials and referring to political agendas. All the while a man died because he stated his personal and ex-professional beliefs of the disgusting turn of events in his country.

Vladimir Putin, once the leader of the dreaded KGB has been accused of ordering the death of Litvinenko and of course, his recent statements clearly denied any involvement. Putin commented that the death of anyone is tragic and then immediately followed up with the world turning it into the political arena. The man is loved in Russia by the people, I would say I loved him too if I knew they were going to dose me with polonium-210, heck, I would offer to marry the guy, just keep the radiation level of my head off the meter

Whatever the eventual outcome may be there is one thing that is certain, the political arena as well as their view of the world is beginning to change once more and not for the better. It may be time to start digging those bomb shelters again, either that or deal with the raging mutants the film industry loved to tell us all about in the 1960’s.

Brietbart.com is reporting that “Russia has begun deliveries of the Tor-M1 air defense rocket system to Iran. The United States has pressed Russia to halt military sales to Iran, which Washington accuses of harboring secret plans to build a nuclear weapon.”

This defiantly signifies changes towards not only Iran, who is constantly rattling their war sabers at anyone with a United Nations ID. What Russia will do next may be the 64 million dollar question. One thing is for sure, if one of their ex-citizens questions the authority of Putin’s government, they are not heard from again.

A Different Christmas Poem

My friends, I received this from a fellow veteran and immediately became emotional upon reading through it and I confess, I have read through this so many times from so many senders. I felt that due to the time of the year it may be a good time to post it as a reminder, if not tribute. The author, who I am assuming is the signer, wanted this spread among friends. Please feel free to copy and send it on as they suggested.

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night." "It's my
duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Author: Michael Marks on December 7th, 2000

Afghanistan is still there

It sometimes amazes me that we find it so easy to forget about a war on another plot of ground called, Afghanistan. On a personal note, I do not, I read the services, intelligence reports, special operations after reports and anything I can get my coffee soaked, ex-nicotine stained fingers on. (Side note: Nicoderm CQ works my friends, it is still a tough road and takes persistence and pure resolution, but they do work better than most.)

Still, we do not find anything related to Afghanistan as the lead in story on the early or late news, often we find an article buried back on page 33 or something of the paper. The only conclusions I have been able to come up with is the media does not wish to take their fire and lightning reporting, (tongue and cheek) away from the main theater, Iraq. Now, that I have said that and we all fully understand that the media totally destroys and turns around to their side of reporting every morsel of news from Iraq we can go forward.

I have arrived with one train of through regarding Afghanistan, it is comprised of Special Operations teams fighting the Taliban and it is the rule of thumb within the media not to publish their names or show their faces. Perhaps this and this alone is the main reason behind little news, the media does not wish to place someone’s picture on their paper with the face covered in cloth and sunglasses and refer to them as John Doe.

Whatever the case, it still is a fact that they have been fighting the Taliban day after day and it is seldom reported. This article in the DallasNews.com, By David S. Cloud the New York Times reports, “The number of air strikes in Afghanistan have climbed sharply.” It states, “The Air Force has conducted more than 2,000 airstrikes in Afghanistan over the past six months, a sharp increase in bombing that reflects the growing demand for U.S. air cover since NATO has assumed a larger ground combat role, Air Force officials said”

“The intensifying air campaign has focused on southern Afghanistan, where NATO units, primarily from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, and U.S. Special Forces have been engaging in the heaviest and most frequent ground combat with Taliban rebels since the invasion.”

The article is well written is does not take sides, the writer points out the danger close bomb droppings having to take place and the depth of the battle. It states further, “One B-1 pilot, Lt. Col. Tim Schepper, said that when troops called for airstrikes, "There are times when you can hear the gunfire and RPGs over the radio in the background, and that's when you know you have helped keep them alive."

We must all remember these individuals are still there, still fighting the Taliban who appear ever resolute to retake their place in the sun and we must remember them in our prayers.

Civil war drums getting closer

The pending civil insurrection often discussed in Iraq is looming ever closer on the horizon with the dawn of each day. Explosions in the capital's Shiite Sadr City slum killed at least 161 people and wound 257 on Thursday.

According to CBS News, “The Shiites responded almost immediately, firing 10 mortar rounds at the Abu Hanifa Sunni mosque in Azamiya, killing one person and wounding 14 people in an attack on the holiest Sunni shrine in Baghdad. It blew a one-meter hole in the dome and did severe damage to some inside rooms. “

This article and other news services have reported the battles and attacks continued throughout the day and the pending civil war, often discussed and casually tossed aside by the politicians appears to be moving to a reality.

This is not anything new to the military leaders within Iraq or has served in the theater of operations. They have all stated with the media that they feel it is near. What this means for the men and women serving may be another questions altogether.

If our military is taxed to quell any civil war this may place even a larger burden on a force that already is engaged in many actions and it should be a concern. The question of additional troops is still being tossed around the new Congress, but a civil war will more than provide the answers they have been searching for.

There may or may not be an answer for Iraq, however, pulling out in the face of what is beginning to take shape is not the answer. As I have stated many times, the only thing that was holding these two warring sects in check before was a mad dictator, now we must do our best to bring peace to these people. That in itself is a difficult riddle, for they are indoctrinated from birth to hate the other and killing is part of their life, we do have our hands full.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to take this opportunity to extend a Happy Thanksgiving to all and hope everyone has a beautiful family day today.

These are trying times we are living within, political problems, military, a war and men and women losing their lives. However, through all of the adversity I am thankful this country remains, though a bit tattered, we are still the land of the free with freedom burning brightly.

On a personal note, I have many things to be thankful for, one of which is the friends I have made on the internet and one friend in my personal life that has constantly made a difference in my life. For 17 years, she is my muse, my mentor, my confidant and my closest friend and I am very thankful she is in my life, for without her, my personal spark would not be as bright. She has taught me to live in the moment, to feel this one breath that we have been blessed with and rejoice that we are alive. I have also learned that this one moment in time is my forever and I thank God for her very existence.

I think of my own family on this day. Though long gone into the history of time, they were good people and tried to raise their children to the best of their ability. I miss them and love them.

There is a tradition among us old war dogs on a holiday in my family to toast those no longer with us, as most of my friends from that era I have lost many. Once their names were on my mind and now they are on a wall, it does not seem fitting, I miss them.

Yes, I am older, wiser and thankful for friendship and family, thankful for life, for it is sacred and to be relished and savored like a fine wine each and every moment.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone and God Bless.

We are there and we are with you brothers and sisters.

As an American citizen and a veteran who served my country proudly during the last undeclared war I read through the media feeds, intelligence briefings and various analysts reports every chance I can manage. Throughout the course of time that our great country has been involved within a war that some politicians are now referring to as a quagmire, one thing has constantly struck me and inspired me.

That is the depth of the professionalism, spirit and inner strength of our American military. They are not downcast or disheartened, on the contrary, they are professional men and women doing the best possible job they can for a country comprised of politicians who often do not even support them even when they themselves served during the time of my generation.

Some of these politicians and the blessed aspect to this is they are few and far in between, but this few, this callous and ill mannered few have stooped as low as to call their own brothers and sisters, of whom they once shared their professionalism and glory, murderers, child murderers and worse. A few of these individuals would not be capable or honorable enough in today’s military to even make a difference, yet they base their political career on past glories, medals of valor and time served in their war.

Today and in past elections these few have went as far as to cast suspicions upon the same brave souls they once fought side by side with, testified before a Congressional committee wearing fatigues and combat ribbons. They have done this while proudly displaying a Combat Infantrymen’s Badge, the one medal that actually means something to a soldier above the chain of medals to show they not only served, but also faced the elephant head on and survived to talk another day.

The media, ever watchful for that one cup of dirt to stir in our morning coffee, that one ounce of spoiled meat to feed us at night, that one story controversial enough to show the entire world how bad our military is waits by these people like a vulture stalking his evening dinner. Too lazy to kill their own food, they circle awaiting the final death toll of our military so they can tear the meat apart and fill their bellies with Pulitzer prizes, accolades and speaking engagements. They have stooped to the depths of hell and these sycophants of society feel they have honor, when in truth they are simply a vulture, too lazy to fend for themselves, feeding off others misery and suffering.

The men and women of today’s military once again face the same landslide of public outcry that our war once faced. They face prison if the wrong individuals are wounded are killed. They face worse from the people in their own country if they become a casualty of war and meet death head on. They are buried with full military honors while their loved ones grieve and mourn, all the while the distinct possibility of individuals from a church, a church of God stand by calling them names and wishing them a good journey to Hell.

Yet, through all of the political outcry and adversity, they continue to serves their country proudly, they continue to serve their brothers and sisters with honor and they know deep within their hearts they are fighting for the freedom of others. They do this as American military, proudly wearing Old Glory on their sleeve, even more proudly facing an enemy whose only intent is to murder them, behead them, not take prisoners, that is not in their plan, this enemy knows only death and destruction. They know only winning through cowardice actions and murdering and maiming in any way possible.

I am proud to call these individuals brothers and sisters, for that is what all American military are under the skin, related by honor, tested by battle and living to pursue life. Granted, there are those of us who served still scarred, wounds showing to the world and deeper wounds hiding within our souls, but we have a love for these brave souls that cannot ever be called into question. Because we were once one of these few and proud, our true band of brothers and sisters and we carried our honor with us, even through the adversity of our nation and the media.

These men and women, this small and significant part of our country’s future will one day make their difference in the world and perhaps even join in the dishonored game of politics and turn it into honor and pride as it once was. The one thing we can all safely rely on from this is that they will do so with honor and the professional spirit they now have. They are our future and right now, they are in harm’s way. We must support them, pray for them and shed a tear with each death. We must do this now or this country, this great mass of people that once faced other nations with honor and determination to be free will have truly lost our way.

I pray it is not too late and they we find the truth in the actions and honor of our brave military

Times may be a changing

It has become acutely apparent that even with the entire nice-nice and friendly pat on the backs between all the world leaders that assassinations are still of prime interest within the intelligence community. What better way for someone of the shaken not stirred crowd to put an immediate end to the proverbial running of someone’s mouth than to simply remove them. Ian Fleming would even be proud of the recent poisonings and assassinations going on within the world.

When I first read of the poisoning of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. operative, that physicians are now highly cautioning the media not to play so strong because they are fed up with the telephone calls it really surprised me. This nonsense was quite big during the cold war years and one would assume that present conditions within the world would dictate that it is not too nice to try to kill an ex-spy with radioactive, poison based substance apparently placed within the sushi.

That was the one thing in this whole episode that actually struck me as funny, if not prepared properly sushi in itself can fill your colon with worms and every other parasite in the world and here we have a poison introduced to an already volatile substance passing itself off as food.

Then if this is not in itself enough to fill the void in the spy game, we have Lebanon's Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel killed by an assassin. One thing that is clear within this new modern make nice government science is that people in Lebanon can have a short life expectancy. We have to remember that there was a time that Beirut was a war zone torn apart by so many sects and countries that it was difficult to tell the players without a playbook.

Israel ran their part with the aid of the Christians, we had our operatives and just about every special operations agency in existence at that time into every place we could manage to sneak into and out of and the rest was cut apart here and there by the remaining religions of the world. Today is a different story for this country and no doubt, this killing stems from something that did nor did not take place during the recent fracas with Israel.

In any case, either this is all a very big lead in to the new James Bond film or the rules have just radically changed within the intelligence community. No more being Mr. Nice person or sending greeting cards to your counterpart in the other country as it once was. Remember, there was a time that serving within the old boy intelligence community was just about as boring as watching a fish swim on his back for six hours.

Times may be a changing and the tide is rising.

Suggested reading...

I need to send out a very big thanks to Mamabear for a short story on a blog that she recommended to me and suggested that in true Wild Bill fashion, I should have the theme song to Jaws paying loudly in the background and she was so right. It would have been a fitting tribute to this piece of work, nicely done and darn it makes you think.

So, without further adieu I suggest you take a leap to The New Media Journal, December 7, 2008 and read the article written by, Raymond S. Kraft.

It will be a long road of insecurity.

When I was a small young man growing up in America, I was fortunate enough to gain a vast knowledge and understanding of society. I was raised in a racially mixed neighborhood and because of it was a bit sheltered from what was going on in the real world. Not until my later years did I truly realize that society had decided to create problems with the total picture of races. I was shocked, bewildered and did not quite know how to respond to many situations I was presented with.

I made a decision that to me, there was no difference, we were all created equal and if it was good enough for God then it was darn good enough for me. I remained true to that dictum throughout life and at least my opinion; I am a better person for it.

Which brings me to my comments today, I read that former Seinfeld Star, Michael Richards, who played Kramer lost his cool, so to speak during a comedy performance. Not only lost it, he threw it out of the window, probably never to see the light of day again.

According to the article, when heckled by an African American member of the audience, Richards retaliated with a fit of “N” words that would make anyone angry in today’s society. Then today, I read that Jerry Seinfeld himself decided to take matters in hand and attempt to put this whole sorry mess behind them in a split video feed on Letterman. Richards sits there telling the world how sorry, how bad he feels, oh bad-bad me, I am a heel and the world is supposed to rejoice. Another man saved and redeemed, praise the stars. Bull! Once a racist, always racists.

Which is a nice segue into my next comment, racial profiling. I have stated on multiple occasions that we are in a war against a fringe sect of a religion, one that celebrates martyrs and the death of infidels. Herein lays the problem. How can we separate this fringe of society from the true religion? We cannot, this is an impossibility of the highest degree. Yet, daily the media is filled with comments pertaining to the practice of racial profiling when applied to the Muslim community.

A case in point is this article on 6 Muslim Imams being removed from a plane, this undoubtedly occurred because a passenger became nervous when confronted with these six holy men seated together and complained or commented. Of course, due to the present state of the war and the world these holy men were removed, questioned and when everything was said and done they were sent on their way. Whether this fond farewell was accompanied by any apologies has yet to surface, but the fact remains it happened and now the media will play this to the cows come home.

After 9/11 it became quite evident that things would not be the same when it applies to flying the friendly skies. Passengers were taking self-defense classes, airline pilots were clamoring for firearms and the world had just about reached the point of insanity. I cannot discuss this without saying that I would feel the same. Yes, if I were flying and observed these six holy men seated together I would have been a bit nervous.

We were attacked and we were hurt, badly. Granted, there is that fringe of lunatics among us still stating controlled implosions, holographic images, this is nonsense. Tell that to the survivors who are mourning the loss of their loved ones as I am writing this. Tell that to the Fireman mourning their brothers, sisters, and all of the emergency workers on that fateful day. 9/11 created instant heroes and the sad commentary is we can never celebrate anyone them, simply because we do not know the stories and they are all gone, disintegrated in a cloud of jet fuel igniting in a fraction of a second, faster than the mind can even perceive.

What attacked us was not a nation, but this fringe of a religion of which I have been discussing. Does this mean that in our new way of thinking that we should never feel insecure when confronted as these passengers were? I for one would feel insecure and as I said in the beginning, I live my life under the all created equal axiom, but I would be nervous.

The people of this planet, the third rock from the sun need to wake up and smell the coffee, this is going to remain with us for a long time, we will be nervous, we will be insecure and because of the devastation on 9/11 we will remain that way for generations to come.

Drink and Drive..Don't think so.

When I was a police officer, I quickly learned the hazards of driving while intoxicated. I must confess that prior to my street education I was a novice when it came to having a few drinks, climbing behind the wheel and driving my merry way. Due to a very strict upbringing by a total Irish Police family, I never even entertained the option of drinking and driving. It was made perfectly clear to me very early on that not only would I lose my driving privilege, I would stand to lose a whole lot more. Therefore, for me, it was never an option within my thought process.

When I first took to the streets as a sworn officer, I paid little heed to drunks on the road. Back then, if someone had a few too many we would make him or her park the vehicle and call someone to drive him or her home. As I said, we were novices at that time and bad things resulting from drinking were the last thing on our mind. There was a whole street full of crime, it was the 1970 era and it was only getting worse. We were just in the learning stages of drugs and compared to having a few drinks and driving just was not on my mind.

Then everything changed one Saturday morning at approximately 2:30 am. A man and women were driving their convertible home from visiting a few friends and having one too many to drink. We calculated they were traveling in excess of 93MPH in a 35MPH residential zone when the driver lost control and rolled four times before coming to a stop.

The male and female were both deceased, but that was nothing compared to finding the car seat thrown thirty-five feet away. Yes, it had been occupied and yes, the worst possible scenario. That one accident placed everything into proper perspective for me. I had considered myself a good street cop, had a high arrest and conviction record and relatively respected by the department and my fellow officers.

From that point on I went out of my way to insure people did not drink and drive in my beat. The legal maneuvering following each arrest never ceased to amaze me, but I learned the ropes and soon most attorneys would not even go to court if I were the arresting officer. You can only do so many things without learning to dot the eyes and cross the tees.

Fast forward to today, I have yet to ever drink and drive, nope, I refuse and I have too many visions to remind me in the rare event I forget. Now we are looking at technology capable of shutting off the vehicle, or refusing to start it if the driver has alcohol in their system.

This article goes into this subject very well and I can well imagine there will be a lot of public outcry resulting from this and any subsequent laws enacted by any city or state. As far as I am concerned, it is not soon enough. Driving and drinking does not work, pure and simple, people are killed and it is not usually the driver of the vehicle who was tempting fate in the first place.

My closing thoughts to this are, there is someone, somewhere patrolling that is a lot better than I was and he or she will get the drinker eventually. I can only hope and pray that it is not too late for an innocent bystander.

OJ..Oh My!

Let me get this straight, OJ whacks his wife and her friend, hires the absolute dream team in legal maneuvering and gets a not guilty verdict which stunned the entire country. After the reading of the verdict, he commented that he would spend the rest of his time trying to find the murderer. Not too difficult of a task, all he had to do was look in the mirror.

Now he thumbs his nose at the entire world that years ago were totally blown away by the verdict, writes a book with a “what if” scenario and thinks no one will feel just a little bit strange, odd, upset or anything of that nature.

This whole thing becomes stranger everyday and is standing on the precipice of the Twilight zone as we speak and I even hate to think what may be next for him.

His television special, wow, that in itself just makes me sick, titled, “If I Did it” was to be broadcast and now, thank whatever stars that monitor this trash has been canceled.

What have we learned from the total travesty of justice, which took the country by surprise? We have learned that the famed L.A. Police Department still needs quite a bit of training in forensics, evidence collection and other standard case investigation. We have also learned that their prosecutor’s office needs to either go back to school or call in the big guns when faced with the dream team put together for that trial.

Prosecutors normally do not go up against the caliber and pedigree of legal eagles that they did during that fateful trial, mistakes were made and their opposition jumped on every opportunity presented to them, to be more precisely, handed to them on a silver platter. So the question remains, what does a normal, run of the mill prosecutors office due when faced with what was against them in court? Perhaps doing better homework, case preparation, witness preparation, who knows, any legal team would have felt faint facing what they did during that trial.

This whole thing makes me sick and coupled with his book I think I need a very large barf bag. The one thing this entire new media proves is he needs money, because he did prove that money could buy a not guilty verdict.

Murtha Redux

After reading the article about Murtha’s failed bid to take control as house majority leader I feel better, much better. Murtha in an area of responsibility as important as that post can only spell additional trouble for the men and women he once served with and has since branded as murders, the United States Marines.

It was quite refreshing to read that he had taken on something that he could not win. Quite refreshing indeed. Since I have made statements against this idiot I have managed to get on a few mailing lists and web links that constantly invade my mail box with information, quotes and comments supposedly from the mouth of Murtha. While I do not doubt the validity to any of these, I somehow cannot understand how he can say so much everyday of his life. Therefore, I simply ignore the links, filtering them off to the bit bucket in the sky without ever seeing them.

We all know that Murtha has cast his brothers and sisters out to dry and there is nothing more that can be done about that one. However, it is nice, really nice to see that he failed to win the position he was seeking. That would have given this turncoat too much power to begin with and that as we all know is not a good thing.

Dixie Chicks keep singing

I confess that even as a full-blooded, 100% male I was and still am a fan of the Dixie Chicks. I mean, come on, these girls can belt out a song folks. And, lest we forget the great, “Earl had to Die”, what better anthem for every women who has ever been battered, bruised and belittled by a man who would refuse to ever stand up to another man, but give him the opportunity and he will take on his women in a heartbeat. Yep, they deserve just what Earl go and worse.

I recall the night I was watching the news when the Dixie Chicks spoke their peace in London during a tour engagement. It was a bad time for anyone to speak up against a war because it was just beginning, boots on the ground and all hell was about to break loose.

The Dixie Chicks decided they had to say something, anything and they had discussed their feelings before the show, they were not supporting this war and they were not happy. It was not on purpose that their comment took place before a song about a soldier boy, it just did. Call it Karma, bad timing, or just plain fed up and had enough. Whatever the case, the lead singer stood before a packed house and said that as Texans, they were ashamed of President Bush. Moreover, a pin could be heard dropped around the world.

To say that country fans can be a bit fussy and strange is putting it mildly, they were downright rude, threatening and worse. The chicks had to hire body guards due to death threats, come one folks, these are three females, what are they going to do go to Iraq and stop the war by themselves?

My first impression was good for them, no, I did not agree with them, not sure, where I am now, but at the time, my only thought was they had every right to say what they felt. Many individuals did not agree with my sentiment, but this is what America is all about, able to say, think, feel what we want, to support of not support that we choose, we are Americans and this is what we do.

These girls have taken a lot of heat and they are still cooking and let’s just hope they continue because they are great singers with great music.

Tom Cruise - Who Cares?

Someone out there in the land of the sane and the home of the lucid please tell me why it is we are being inundated with the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, or TomKat as the media is refereeing to this event of the insane, the rich and Hollywood’s beautiful people.

Correct me if I am wrong, but we have people living in the streets, cuddling up in the night to avoid freezing, families standing in line so their children can get a little cereal, milk and juice for breakfast. We have individuals who are unable to afford their medication, which in some case was prescribed to keep them alive, if nothing else a bit more healthy and able to lead a better, productive life.

Our country is presently churning out children in some schools unable to read at high school level, perform common mathematical equations, separate some forms of right from wrong and unable to keep their own check books. But, through all of this wonderful way of counterrevolution we have been cultivating for the last decade or so of not only poverty, pure and simple poverty, but, a separate cast system altogether. The children bordering on India’s untouchables within our school system because they live out of their car and the other children make fun of them, or their clothes always have an odor because their Mother cannot afford the basic commodity of soap or have the one dollar to place them in a washing machine.

Yes, our country is just thriving in some places, not the places we are used to, the simple lives, cable television, food in the fridge, coffee in the pot, but that part of society a lot of people could care less about. No, I am not a bleeding heart liberal with the one desire to feed the poor. I believe we need jobs, education and the assistance required to put these people on a better path.

Do we see anything on television regarding this or any other manner in which to combat a portion of this problem? No, instead we see the Hollywood elite flying into Italy in their private and chartered Gulfstream’s. We see the paparazzi standing in trees, crashing into one another to grab that one photo of the Tom and Katie baby. My God, this is enough to make the world sick; they need to come up with a vaccine for this alone. The stupidity and gluttony of the rich and famous vaccine.

I mean, come on folks, we do not even need to worry about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, no need at all, because we have Tom Cruise in his expensive clothes getting married. The Today show even listed what the happy couple will be wearing on their wedding night. Who CARES! I do not, I don’t care if they hang from trees screaming Tarzan yells, just get this trash, Tom Cruise and his I am an alien beliefs off my television. Send him home to his home planet, Stupidity-urn where they all jump up and down on couches to proclaim their love to one another and scream there is no such thing as mental illness. All the while they are the worst example of any human, or non human being mental.

If nothing else, someone needs to come up with a vaccine to keep this junk off the air, the anti-dumb television vaccine. And in case you did not catch this, I feel this whole thing is insane!

War on What?

Ray St. Louis, a columnist for the High Springs Herald newspaper wrote an article pertaining to the present war on terrorism, some of which I agree with completely and others not so much. For this example, I will discuss one issue he made with his opening paragraph,

”Now that Donald Rumsfeld has been dispatched, perhaps some real progress can be made in the war on terror. Here’s the first thing that should happen: stop calling it a war.”

Mr. St. Louis sums up his statement by saying, “What the country needs is an intelligent anti-terrorism policy. Or call it a strategy. Calling it a war creates a mindset that too easily leads to disastrous military actions such as Iraq.”

I do not agree with the Rumsfeld comment, but, from a military perspective, the rest makes a bit of sense. Throughout the course of history nations have went to war for a myriad of reasons, food, water, women, the king just plain hated the very existence of the other nation or in the case of the Trojan war and the conquest of Alexander, because it was there. Whatever war was going on at any specific time all had one thing in common, it was a war against another nation.

Granted, on 9/11 we were attacked with what is now termed weapons of mass destruction, yes, there are those who argue this particular case in point to this very day. There is still the fringe lunatic crowd stating we attacked ourselves and it was controlled implosions, we will just sweep these idiots under the rug, never mind the length of time it would take to rig buildings of that size to implode, all the while not one person being suspicious. Oh, that is right, they were all in on it, and stupid people just amaze me.

The inherent truth to the fact of weapons still remains, an aircraft or any other type of vehicle when used in the right situation is a weapon of mass destruction, just as a truck of fertilizer and the proper ignition, anything that kills and destroys as they did is what it appears to be.

In any case, we were attacked, not by a nation, but to be specific, a way of life, a fringe lunatic order of a specific religion that to this day our country or any other refuses to state for the fear of our reprisals being called a crusade. Well folks, I do not believe for one moment that this is a crusade, the Pope did not order this war, the Vatican does not want it, but the Muslims sure love to banter that word around the water cooler. I guess it sure beats them saying, “Oh well, we deserved it, bin Laden really screwed the pooch with this one”, as if that would happen.

I am totally digressing, as is usual with me, allow me to continue, we retaliated by sending troops against the Taliban in Afghanistan, why, well, there was nobody else hiding bin Laden at the time and some say they still are. This was not a war against a nation; Afghanistan has been so beat to hell and back over the years that they no longer qualify as a plot of land, let alone a nation.

Then we sent out troops into the night against Iraq, yes that is still being argued and only history will be the judge of this. I am sure twenty-five years from now our children will be watching it on the Military Channel and discussing it in schools, but for now, we are there and we are fighting. However, wait; is this a war against Iraq? No, we are only battling insurgents, remnants of Saddam’s military and elite death squads, not Iraq. In fact, we go out of our way to win their hearts and minds, of course, this is while they hide, cover up and protect their people trying till kill our men and women, but still just ask anyone, we love the Iraqi people, we want to cloth, feed, school and bring them all into our democratic fold. What a total crock of bovine excrement and this is where I tend to go off.

If we were at war then by God we need to go to war to win, not care about secondary damages, casualties and hearts and minds, these people would stab us in the back if we turned wrong and then take our heads in true Muslim fashion.

We are not a war against any nation, we are at war against those who are bent on destroying us, the United States of America and it is about time we did this with as much extreme prejudice as possible. This includes any nation harboring terrorist, insurgents or people wishing to take down our way of life.

We will be attacked again, this will happen and everyone except the bleeding hearts in Washington who were just elected know this to be a fact. This will occur and when it does, we can only hope and pray that it is not as bad as some analysts are predicting. When this day comes may be the day that our country stands together as one and screams we will no longer turn our cheek, we will no longer be the paper tiger and we are tired of being the nice person. Perhaps this will be the turning point and we will attack terrorism on every front and on any nation, for that is what this war is about, terrorism, not a country, but individuals who are determined to take down our country.

When this day comes these merchants of death will hide in the woodwork and scream crusade and the world will hate us once more. Perhaps we will have reached a point that we no longer care, we can only hope.