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Jun 30, 2007

XY 

World - Little D. Little D - world.

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Gotta go play dad now. Holy crap...
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Jun 28, 2007

Ya win lose some, ya lose some... 

Having lost one fight, Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi are already spoiling to go lose another one.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are expected tomorrow to announce a new coordinated effort to force votes in July to end the Iraq war, according to Democratic insiders.

Reid has already publicly declared that Senate Democrats will offer four Iraq-related amendments to the upcoming 2008 Defense authorization bill, including a proposal by Reid and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to set a firm timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by next spring.

Pelosi is planning to announce that the House will also vote on a bill setting a new withdrawal timetable of April 1, 2008...
April Fools day. How appropriate...
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Another contender for "most grizzled" 

Get some.
Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash.

He immediately grabbed the person’s wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.

“I guess he thought I was an easy mark,” Barnes, 72, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Tuesday.

He’s anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the Marines, was an accomplished Golden Gloves boxer and retired after 20 years as an iron worker. Jesse Daniel Rae, 27, was arraigned Monday in Rockford District Court on one count of unarmed robbery.
h/t LGF

UPDATE!: BONUS VIDEO!!
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Jun 25, 2007

Semper Fi 

Last survivor of Iwo Jima flag raising dies
RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) - The last survivor of the first American flag-raising over Iwo Jima during World War Two has died.

Charles Lindberg of Richfield was 86. Lindberg died yesterday at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina (ee-DYE'-nuh), according to the director of the funeral home that's handling arrangements.

Lindberg spent decades explaining that it was his patrol, not the one captured in the famous photograph by Abe Rosenthal (ABE? Try Joe. Nice catch, editor-boy - Mike) of The Associated Press, that raised the first flag over the island.

In the late morning of February 23rd, 1945, Lindberg fired his flame-thrower into enemy pillboxes at the base of Mount Suribachi and then joined five other Marines fighting their way to the top.

He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery.

In an interview with the A-P in 2003, Lindberg recalled two of the men found a big, long pipe there, "tied the flag to it, took it to the highest spot we could find and we raised it." The moment was captured by Sergeant Lou Lowery, a photographer from the Corps' Leatherneck magazine, but three of the six men never saw his photos. They were among the 59-hundred Marines killed on the island.

Last month, Lindberg attended groundbreaking at the site of a new veterans memorial in Richfield.

Funeral arrangements are pending.
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The first flagraising atop Mount Suribachi, February 23, 1945. Hank Hansen (without helmet), Boots Thomas (seated), John Bradley (behind Thomas) Phil Ward (hand visible grasping pole), Jim Michaels (with carbine) and Chuck Lindberg (behind Michaels).
Photo by Lou Lowery. 10AM, Feb. 23, 1945
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Jun 22, 2007

House Speaker wants to help the military... 

...but is unsure what it looks like.

Sadly, not new.

UPDATE: Somewhat related - CNN CAN'T FIND Afghanistan. (h/t Jawa)
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Jun 21, 2007

Who's More Grizzled? * 

You choose.

Exhibit A:
A 62-year-old US Vietnam veteran says he was acting on instinct when he strangled a rabid bobcat that attacked him on the back porch of his Florida home.

Dale Rippy endured the 11 kilogram bobcat's slashes and bites until it clawed into a position where he could grab it by the throat.
Then he strangled it.
Exhibit B:
A camping trip to Low Gap Camp Grounds near Helen turned into a harrowing experience for Chris Everhart and his three sons when they tangled with a 300-pound black bear. But it proved fatal for the bear.

The bear had taken the Everharts’ cooler and was heading back to the woods when 6-year-old Logan hurled a shovel at it. Fearing what might happen next, the Norcross father and ex-Marine grabbed the closest thing he could find — a log.

“[I] threw it at it, and it happened to hit the bear in the head,” Chris Everhart said. “I thought it just knocked it out,
but it actually ended up killing the bear.
Items to consider -
1. No mention is made of "A"'s branch of service, but I'd bet Marine.
2. Exhibit B loses a point for being immediately fined by the U.S. Forest Service for "failing to secure his camp site" - HOWEVER...
3. OFFSETTING PENALTY - News site sides with bear, saying it was "assaulted." Point returned due to overextension of PC crap. Repeat the down...
4. No mention made of size of log, but I'd bet it's huge and was chopped down by some large swinging appendage belonging to "B."

When reached for comment, Chuck Norris said, "If I ran across either of these guys in a dark alley, I'd lie down and play dead... it might be my only chance."

* - reference gag located here
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Jun 19, 2007

What's in a name? 

Batman blogging 

Why? Because it's been awhile, and I'm reeeeally eager to read Frank Miller's "Holy Terror, Batman!" when it finally drops. I like Miller more every time I read an interview...
Much has been made of Miller's politics in the wake of 300. The deliriously violent and stylized sword film is based on a Spartan battle in 480 BC, and although Miller wrote and drew the story for Dark Horse comics a decade ago, in film form it was received by many as a grotesque parody of the ancient Persians and a fetish piece for a war on Islam. Miller scoffs at those notions. "I think it's ridiculous that we set aside certain groups and say that we can't risk offending their ancestors. Please. I'd like to say, as an American, I was deeply offended by The Last of the Mohicans."

Still, Miller gets stirred up about any criticism of the war in Iraq or the hunt for terrorists, which he views as the front in a war between the civilized Western world and bloodthirsty Islamic fundamentalists.

"What people are not dealing with is the fact that we're going up against a culture that finds it acceptable to do things that the rest of the world left behind with the barbarians in the sixth century," Miller said. "I'm a little tired of people worrying about being polite. We are fighting in the face of fascists."
...
Miller also said he relishes a backlash. "I'm ready, for my fatwa."
In the most general of terms Frank, as an American, you've already got one.
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Jun 18, 2007

And... cue the outrage... 

Recently, the Brits hung a knighthood on Salman Rushdie. You remember him, of course, as the guy who offended Muslims by apparently insulting Mohammed in his book "The Satanic Verses" almost 20 years ago. He offended me at the same time by being a terrible writer who created a work that is practically unreadable (I read part of "Verses" once and almost had an epileptic fit because it was horribly written, but I digress). The point is, I almost mentioned this yesterday because it pissed off the stiffs in Tehran, and I'm all about that. But now… NOW it's a story.

Pakistan Minister Says Salman Rushdie's Knighthood Justifies Suicide Attacks
"This is an occasion for the (world's) 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision," Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, later said in parliament.

"The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the 'sir' title," ul-Haq said, also urging Muslim countries to break diplomatic ties with London.
Annnnnd… there it is. I don't think it gets any clearer than that. And remember: this is PAKISTAN. Our "friend."

This is a "win-win" for Jihadists, by the way. Either the Brits pull the title and the Jihadis get what they want through threats and intimidation, or the Brits stand firm, Achmed blows up a bomb on the Undergound, leaves a note blaming the Queen for beknighting Rushdie, and British (and American) hand-wringing fools will accept the whole incident while reminding the rest of us that "We were warned!," or even better, "We had it coming." Nothing new really, but always fun to watch as it unfolds, isn't it?

But hey - at least we can look forward to days of worldwide riots and murders perpetrated by Christian "extremists" reacting to the flushing of Korans the desecration of Crucifixes and torching of a Catholic school in Gaza. What? Oh... We don't have that to look forward to, after all... my bad...

Guess we'll just have to go with the usual then...
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Jun 17, 2007

Re-imagining the M.A.R.I.N.E. Corps... 

Jun 16, 2007

Blackfive comment party 

Over at Matty O's place, Uncle Jimbo... well he did his usual Jimbo thing, which started a rather good flame war in the comments. The retaliatory strike is launched by your's truly six comments down.

It then devolved to the point where Matt felt obliged to throw up an oldy but a goody that rips EVERYBODY. And I do mean EVERYBODY (it's the most expansive form of this gag I've ever seen).

Of course the whole thing stemmed from a good idea posted by Grim, so if you don't have time for comedy, at least click on THIS and see about boosting the morale of some deployed Marines.
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Jun 13, 2007

Just in from the DUH department 

Sleep deprivation is common among US Marine Corps members
A research abstract that will be presented Wednesday at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), finds that sleep deprivation, which can result in fatigue, is another factor that can impair troops' vigilance and decision-making with potentially dangerous consequences.
Yes, apparently being in a combat zone or under rigorous training conditions creats an atmosphere where it's hard to get any sleep.

Who pays for these studies?
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Jun 8, 2007

Massive schadenfreude attack 

No, not the one all over the news today, though the calls for mommy made me laugh out loud.

No, I'm talking about a "gotcha" much more near and dear to my heart. Anybody remember the name Jesse MacBeth? Uncle Jimbo crawled up the ass of this supposed Ranger and "confessed" Iraq war criminal extensively last year; as did Hot Air, as did Michell Malkin, as did many bloggers.

And now...
Jesse MacBeth stoked opposition to the Iraq war in 2006 when he spoke out about atrocities he committed as a U.S. Army Ranger serving as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

MacBeth, 23, of Tacoma, claimed to have killed more than 200 people, many at close range, some as they prayed in a mosque. He spoke at an anti-war rally in Tacoma and appeared in a 20-minute anti-war video that circulated widely on the Internet.

Trouble is, none of MacBeth's claims was true. He made it through only six weeks of Army basic training, was never a Ranger and never set foot in Iraq.

Conservative bloggers exposed MacBeth's lies in May 2006, destroying his credibility and embarrassing the Seattle company that produced the video about his exploits.

MacBeth's comeuppance continued Thursday, when he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to one count of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Before becoming a public figure, MacBeth admitted, he filed a bogus claim for VA benefits in 2005 that included a fraudulent military-discharge form.

MacBeth said on the forms that he had been in the Army for more than three years and had achieved the rank of corporal. He also claimed he had been awarded a Purple Heart and that he was discharged because he suffered from post-traumatic-stress disorder.
Sentencing goes 21 September. The max is 5 years and $250,000. Hopefully the judge lights him up, but it IS the "9th Circus," so God only knows... dude could get off with a sno-cone and a pat on the head. But maybe the judge is willing to hear out folks who respectfully ask that this sniveling punk get squashed... hard. I dunno... drop him a line.

Either way, just the fact that Jesse had to admit in a court of law that he's a lying little rat makes me happy.
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Jun 7, 2007

Compare and contrast 

This video is more related to yesterday. It's been making the rounds on the interwebs and I was originally going to just make it an update to my last post. But then for fun, I put it to the test.

Crisis on Omaha
What would have happened if D-Day was reported by CNN?



Crisis in Iraq (that's the no crap title of this clip on LiveLeak)
Watch, as the BBC does for real exactly what the first video did in jest. Note that every piece of good information they report is shortly thereafter hit with a "BUT-monkey."



First clip - true. Second clip - pathetic. I hate the press.
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Jun 6, 2007

Remember them 

Jun 4, 2007

Ever wonder what would happen? 

Say we take the welfare and nanny-state ideology to it's natural conclusion. Want to know what that would look like? Well, wonder no more.
GURGAON, India — For a week, angry throngs from one of India's lower castes blocked roads with burning barricades, stoned police and clashed with rival castes to make a single, simple point: They want to be even lower.

With 25 people dead, the unrest spread to the fringes of New Delhi on Monday as thousands of Gujjars, a class of farmers and shepherds, pressed their demand to be officially shunted to the lowest rung of India's hereditary caste system so they can get government jobs and university spots reserved for such groups.
What? You mean when the government says that if you're broke they'll give you free stuff and more money, people will intentionally TRY to get handouts by being the poorest? I'm shocked... SHOCKED, I SAY!

But a race for the bottom must be prefaced by a government willing to just give the stuff away. Fortunately, we live in America, where you'd never find anyone willing to advocate that sort of thing...

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Jun 1, 2007

Che-che-che-che Check it out! 

Oh yeah baby, I just pimped this ride. Hover over any link you see with your mouse.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Pretty sweet huh? Snap Shots gives you the ability to hook up these cool little preview boxes for your links and it takes about 90 seconds to do. Nice. Well, maybe I shouldn't have said "any" link - the ones that point back to previous entries in this blog don't do anything, but no big deal.

Your first assignment: reacquaint yourself with Rachel Lucas. She was one of my first regular reads when I got into blogging. She's been gone for a long time now, and was listed as MIA on my sidebar in the hopes she'd someday return. And so she has. Expect multiple hippie beat-downs and Michael Moore destruction to commence most riki-tik.

And who do I thank for informing me of Rachel's return? Why, the Ejectmeister hisself, Bill Whittle. Make sure you read his latest, "You Are Not Alone." That's the stuff.

And then just click your way through the sidebar. Additions have been made, improvements have been incorporated, and the beatings will continue until morale improves.

Thatisall.
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