An association of Democracies.  Damn, that’s exactly what we need.  The United Nations has become an organization of tyrants and socialist.  Zell Miller in an online interview at redstaterant.com mentioned this and damned if I don’t think he is right on the mark.  See we have this organization (The UN) that gives way too much credence to the dictators and theologs around the world.  I don’t believe this was the intent but that’s what it’s come down too.  Now we need the democracies of the world to stand up and say enough.  We’ve had enough of listening to dictators with miserable human right records ( I'm talking real human rights vilolations not Amnesty's BS) t ell us in the west how we are the bad guys.  Nope a solid group of democracies is what we need.  While there would still be disagreement at least it's among those with populations that can openly express thier thoughts.

Book review: 

Under and Alone, the true story of the undercover agent who infiltrated America’s most violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.  William Queen spent over two years getting inside the Mongol MC.  This is the story.  I bought this book yesterday afternoon and by the time I went to bed I had finish reading the story.  If was impossible to put down.  William Queen is a Vietnam Veteran, a Special Forces Veteran and spent twenty years as an ATF Special Agent.  He tells of the fear, the emotion and the hard work it took to become a fully patched member of the gang.  While often the policies of the ATF get on my nerves the dedication of people like William Queen is refreshing.   Queen writes about missing time with his son’s and how it was tearing him up.  As a father I can’t imagine how hard that was.  I found this book a damn good read.  Check it out.

It’s a damn embarrassment.  You’ve seen the story of the mother whose son died in Iraq denied membership into the Gold Star Mothers organization.  I don’t care if she is not a citizen.  She gave up a son for this country.  She sacrificed just like the other Gold Star Mothers.  The organization says it can’t just change the rules and admit her.  Well Bullshit.  What can be more American than giving you son to a country?  She has given more that a large portion of citizens ever give for this land and I think it’s wrong to deny her.  Who the hell do these people think they are?  I’m proud of every member of the military and their families.  I don’t care where they come from.  How many come to this country and just feed of the system yet this family has not.  Do these people understand what their sons and daughters are fighting for?  I don’t think so.  This is an organization I won’t support until they change their policy.

A group of British doctors are calling for a ban on kitchen knives.  They claim the number of stabbings would be reduced if kitchen knives were not available.  What utter nonsense.  The fact that a group of doctors or anyone for that matter can get a write up in the BBC shows just how irrelevant the BBC is now.  Hell they might as well be the Guardian.  I guess if these doctors and probably news people in Briton got their way we’d have to outlaw screwdrivers then since they are also handy and can certainly hurt people.  While we are at it let’s just get rid on any sharp object, no metal, no hard plastic and make everything out of fluffy stuffing and rubber.

They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon.

Well so is a bottle, a belt, a frying pan, hell anything can be used as a weapon.  The fact is people are the issue and people will on occasion hurt others.  We can deter some violence through law enforcement and punishment but there will always be some emotional compulsive violence in our world since we are humans.  It’s part of our nature.  Taking our tools away because some people can’t control themselves is unacceptable.  Besides look how well gun control has work to stop crime in Briton, New York and just about any other placed it’s been tried.  It doesn’t help, well not the innocent anyway.

Once again politics and the Democrats have won.  “Moderate” Senators agreed to a compromise on judicial nominees.  This is a straight up Democrat victory. 

...Under the terms, Democrats would agree to oppose any attempt to filibuster — and thus block final votes — on the confirmation of Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor....

The weak kneed Republican Party simply deserves what it will soon get.  That being more stalled votes and political grandstanding from the left.  But hey they could have stopped this.  So Mr. President don’t count on your Party, they probably won’t be there when you need them.

Another bombing outside a Mosque.  I'm glad religious symbols are so revered.  Once again we have proof this has nothing to do with religion.  While we castigate ourselves in front of the world for being insensitive to Islam the war goes on with those who will desecrate Mosques and kill innocent people daily.  Yet we must look at our practices?  We are the bad guys?  I don’t think so. 

We need to let the terrorist know that hiding behind the skirts of their women and their religion won’t save their sorry asses.  But I know this is only wishful thinking.  Our politicians simply don’t have it in them.

Our troops however when unleashed are doing a hell of a good job. 

Star Wars Fan might not want to read this… Fair warning..

I remember when Star Wars came out.  I think the first trailer for the movie I saw was on the late night show Creature Features and Bob Wilkens was talking about the movie.  I went to see it and unlike so many I didn’t find it the great event that would change Science Fiction.  Now that’s not to say I didn’t like the movie.  I did.  But I was a Star Trek kid and honestly Capitan Kirk would have smoked Darth Vaders butt while adding a Princes Leia notch on his belt. 

But out of all the Star Wars movies so far the original was the best for me.  It was fun.  It was lighthearted and yet not childish.  I thought the whole Star Wars period was over when they added EWOKS.  I mean come on.  Furry little dwarfs?  Only furry dwarfs I want to see should have battle axes and should be knocking demon riders off of horses but that’s Fantasy not Sci-fi.  I know. 

The second on third movies were just silly.  While Star Wars was just one step above camp the second and third dropped below viewable for me.

The prequels I’ve watched and the sad part is I can’t remember them at all.  So they probably weren’t really bad just not really good either.  (Now ask me about the Wrath of Khan)  

So will Revenge of the Sith redeem the Star Wars Empire?  It’s supposed to be much darker, which is something I like.  So maybe, just maybe this one won’t be too bad.

Oh and no, I’m not a treki geek.

Muqtada al-Sadr has come out of hiding to whine some more.  I’m confused, why doesn’t this fellow have a gapping whole in his cranium?  This little turd lost how many fighters in Najaf a while back?  Funny in Iraq and other places their best leaders lose most of their soldiers on a regular basis yet they stay untouched.  Could it be that they are actually just cringing little cowards? Hummm.  So he says. “I demand several things, including punishing Saddam and calling on the Iraqi government, religious movements and political factions to work hard to kick out the occupier.”  Well now Mr. Sadr, I really don’t think you’re in much of a position to demand a damn thing.  But continue spouting off and the evil disease brought by the Americans might get you.  You know lead poisoning. 

Al-Sadr also accused the United States of trying to foment a sectarian conflict, and he demanded the coalition release all detainees.

Uh-huh..yeah, that’s just what the United States wants, more violence.  Jeeze that really helps the US.  I wonder though how his message is playing in the shiite areas?  You would think his credibility is in the toilette but then these insurgents are a bit slow sometimes. 

The Newsweek Koran debacle is starting to take off in the blogashere and while I agree completely with most postings I’ve seen I would remind everyone it’s not Newsweek’s biased report that caused people to kill.  Something is wrong in these societies that look for any reason to kill their neighbors.  This is a power struggle in a backwards part of the world between old school warlords.  The West has trouble understanding these people.  All the “enlightenment” has left the modern leaders unable to grasp the level of ruthlessness the third world can deliver and until we do understand and respond appropriately we will be at a disadvantage.

Annan Didn't Disclose Key Meetings

Wow , now that’s a surprise.  (sarcasm)

The enemy will take anything it can.  So will the media.  The uproar over the desecration of a Koran is complete Bullshit.  First off it’s highly questionable that a Koran was flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo.  But let’s say it’s true.  So what?  God didn’t build the printing press that produced this book just as God doesn’t print the Bible or any other “Holy” book.  God doesn’t create the various interpretations either.  Only a completely backwards ass individual could see true Blasphemy in the destruction of any book.  These people kill in the name of God yet we are supposed to treat them like they are five year olds and can only give them a time out.  It’s a book not original scripture.  Oh and  I bet God can take it. 

Saudi ire at Koran 'desecration' Saudi Arabia has voiced "deep indignation" at reports that a copy of the Koran was desecrated at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. 

Well you know what?  I have deep indignation with the fact many murderers continue to come out of Saudi Arabia.  I have deep indignation that Saudi Arabia continues to treat anyone other than Muslim males as slaves.  But hey don’t want to piss them off I guess. 

This is being used not only by terrorist leaders on ignorant followers but also by the media to once again try to find “Evil” in the US.  Well F**k them all.  The fact that any US officials are taking this serious also pisses me off.  Guess what Islamic extremist ass, your people are killing innocent people daily in the name of Allah, that the true blasphemy.  It’s sick and deranged and the fact the press gives your sorry asses a pass daily is infuriating.  The fact our politicians continue to lack a spine is nearly as infuriating.  When will our officials stand up and wave the Bullshit flag? The list of cowards sure is long these days and a damn shame many work for us.

 A busy week has kept the posting down here this week.  There have been a few items that I’ve wanted to comment on so here goes. 

Iraqi offensive: Operation Matador continues.  Rumors abound regarding the health of insurgent leader Zarqawi.  Check out Winds of Change for a great roundup.  My take is that bad guys are dying in large numbers and that’s good.  It still appears many foreign fighters are causing a fair portion of the damage in Iraq to this day.  I don’t think it would hurt if a stray bomb were to accidentally hit well inside the Syrian border or the Iranian border for that matter.   No, I haven’t forgotten about Saudi Arabia where there continues to be way too much support for extremist.  However we do have some in roads in that country and a US military approach is probably not the best option there. 

BRAC: The Base Realignment and Closer list is out and like every one of these list before this one it has stirred up many communities.  The effects of losing a major or even minor military base can be huge.  Local economies often rely heavily on the military presence for their survival.  In places where the military is the major employer the loss of jobs can ruin a town.  The other side of the closures is they do return enormous amounts of money back to the Government.  A military base is extremely expensive to run.  This money could go into funding items the troops actually need.  This will be a fight like always with local and state officials making every effort to keep the bases in their areas open. 

Disclosure of Classified or sensitive material:  Again someone in the Government has disclosed information that is not meant to be released.  Democrat senator Harry Reid spoke of an FBI background report the other day as if it’s ok to release this information.  It is not ok and there are rules in place for the Senate to discourage such releases.  In their desperation many in the Democrat party continue to disregard the law in an effort to “WIN.”  The most frustrating issue is that there seems to be no punishment for those whether Democrats or Republicans who violate basic security laws.  Remember former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger.  He stole classified documents by stuffing them in his pants and socks.  He lost he’s clearance for three years and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.  Not much of a punishment by any standard. 

Current administrations will always have an advantage in classified material due to having de-classification authority.   

Our leaders may fight over policy and ideology but the national interest and security of the country must come before these battles.  Those that can’t put the Nation first need to be removed and in some cased jailed as any normal citizen would be.

John McCain urged Republicans to compromise on judicial nominees. Folks John McCain in not a Republican and is possibly the best weapon the Democrats have ever had.  While continuing to disguise himself as a GOPer he has given the left more firepower than they could have ever mustered on their own.   He goes against his party so often when they need his influence and votes that I cannot believe he actually has conservative views at all.  Either that or his need for attention is stronger than his desire for success of conservative ideas. 

A former 10^th group buddy sent me the link to this site. Forsake the troops.info.  He was a bit peeved to say the least.  This was a few days ago.  I promised I’d comment but it’s been difficult to write anything about this site without getting a bit angry.  The site banner reads “This website is proudly dedicated to the notion that our nation's military is grossly overcompensated, at the expense of the American taxpayers. Even as the evil, overspending Pentagon seeks to raise benefits for these scumbags, Forsake The Troops believes that these pukes get pay and benefits tax free when in a combat zone.”

They also support the boycott of Metallica for its pro military stance.  This will irritate at least one of my long time readers.

In a way I like sites like this.  They aren’t trying to hide behind some “support the troops” BS while supporting initiatives that directly go against the troops.  Nope.  They straight up don’t support the troops and think they are simply over paid idiots.  They also expose what many actually think.  So young troop don’t think everyone loves you brother.  They don’t.  But then they tend to love dictators instead and well dictators aren’t really doing as well as they used to thanks to you troop.

What is my blog?  How long have I been blogging?  Well I started in 1997.  But then it was just called a web site.  Of course I didn’t have a comment section and I had to FTP all new updates.  At the time I started by critiquing a military school I was attending.  The school had so many classified areas that I really couldn’t say much but it was kind of a vent and led to a multi-page end of course critique which I turned in and assume was trashed. 

I moved on to general comments on news events and military subjects that were important to me at the time.  Updating via FTP was a bit of a pain.  It meant I really couldn’t update from anyplace but home.  This certainly was a limitation of the time.  I never did the diary thing.  That’s not me.  I whine enough about the military and political spectrum I sure don’t want to bore others with my personal life which is like any other.  It has ups and downs and if I were to write daily about it I would certainly regret most of what I’d say.  So I keep to the outside world mostly.

For a short time a friend of mine had an EZINE going and I was a frequent writer.  But he was unable to keep the site going.  It’s a shame because the site actually made me feel like I must contribute and that helped to motivate me.  I still would like to work on a multi person site but it would have to be with the right group. 

Now I have this blog.  It’s not that old.  But I do get more visitors than ever.  That’s still a relatively small number and I like most of the individuals that leave comments.  The problem I have is that I don’t have it in me to actually promote this site.  I mean what can I say that others don’t already say and say it much better?  I’ve seen some sites that promote the hell out of themselves and I’m not impressed.  Many of these sites do well and some of these bloggers have attained some notoriety.  But is it because they are insightful? Is it because they write extremely well or is it just hype and who you know?  Well I think for some it’s the latter.  Promotion is everything. 

I’ve also noticed the great sites that just peter out.  They come on strong, usually at a time when some news item is hot and they on the bandwagon.  They hit the big story hard and give or create some great ideas.  But somehow they don’t last.  That’s what makes blogging so difficult.  How many “War bloggers” started a couple of years ago only to fade away?  How many political blogs were hot while the elections were taking place but haven’t posted anything in months?  We all have times when we just don’t have anything to say but we must post something.  I hate going more than a week without a post.  I feel like I’m cheating someone.  

In the end for me and many others we do this for the challenge and the fun.  When the fun stops so will I.  Now if I ever figure a way to make money doing this without advertisements I may take it more serious and promote…..

You'll see this picture around the net for a while.  I don't have anything to say that the photo itself doesn't say.

Picture released by the U.S. Army Tuesday, May 3, 2005 shows a U.S. Army soldier comforting a child fatally wounded in a car bomb blast in Mosul, 360 km (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 2, 2005. 15 Iraqis were wounded in the combined suicide bomb attack. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)

Some people just need to be beaten.  I don’t care what the argument was about anyone who pepper-sprays and infant needs to be beaten severely.  I have no feelings for someone who would do something like this. 

Infant pepper-sprayed in family fued

Police reports indicate Gantenbein's 16-year-old daughter produced a canister and sprayed the infant's grandmother and aunt, one of whom was holding the child.

After the first discharge, Lorlie Gantenbein took the canister and sprayed the baby, Hutter said.

You ever notice when the press talks about the terrorist in Iraq they try to equate the killing of people with some kind of success.  But is it a success to kill innocent Iraqis going about their business?  The success of the terrorist on real targets seems to be small and the reactions they are receiving every time they attack do not suggest success to me.

See the thing is if you randomly want to kill people it's easy.  It doesn't take much planning or thought.  But it also doesn't serve much of a purpose if those left are angered instead of cowered.   

If you read the AP report on the letter supposedly sent to Zarqawi detailing the low morale and incompetent leadership a blurb must be added to state more people were killed by these criminals in the last few days.  But it should be apparent that’s not how you win an insurgency.  Guerilla warfare 101 my friends, does not recommend pissing off the population. 

Update: from Pamela.  lol  Had me second guessing myself all day...

Yeah that was meant to be a joke--of COURSE they weren't on CNN! At least not when I was forced to watch it at the gym.

Update: Informed by Pamela these were on CNN this morning but if you didn't see them...

I Did not see these is the regular news.  Not that they weren't there.  Just didn't see them.

Defenselink
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2005 – Task Force Baghdad soldiers this morning rescued a man apparently blackmailed into a suicide-bombing mission by terrorist master Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The man exploded his red Kia sedan roughly 15 feet from a barrier to a coalition base in east Baghdad, Iraq. The car bomb failed to detonate properly and the vehicle caught on fire. Soldiers manning the gate reacted quickly and saved the driver, coalition officials said in a release.
An initial investigation revealed that terrorists had kidnapped the driver's family and that he was forced to carry out this suicide-bombing mission to protect his wife and children, coalition officials said.
No soldiers were injured in the attack. The driver is being treated at a military hospital and is cooperating with authorities.
"This is another case where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has to extort men to carry out his indiscriminate slaughtering," said Army Col. Joe DiSalvo, commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. "He can't recruit volunteers. (So) he is resorting to forcing Iraqi civilians to carry out these mission by threatening harm to kidnapped family members."
Officials released no more information on the fate of the man's family.