Ralph Heine figured his knee was shot. At age 86, he thought his balky joint was just a sign of old age. Turns out he was carrying a souvenir from World War II for nearly six decades: A bullet to the knee. During a recent medical exam of a problematic hip and knee, X-rays revealed a bullet that had eluded detection since Heine was shot by Nazi troops in early 1945. Heine was serving with the 42nd Rainbow Division in the Alsace region of France. He recalled his story during a weekend event in the eastern Missouri town Leadington to honor prisoners of war and those missing in action. "I got shot in the shoulder, and when I went down they shot me again in the leg. I thought that bullet only grazed me," he said. "I didn't think it went in." After being wounded, Heine was taken prisoner by German troops and spent several weeks in a hospital. He was transferred from one prisoner of war camp to another over four months, and was in a stalag near Munich, Germany, when finally liberated by Allied troops.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/22/2004 3:15:40 PM ||
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#1
John fn Kerry should take a lesson. But since he is above learning anything, then there is no hope.
#2
Without looking it up, I think you're about right, TW. But note that's for ALL of Kuwait, so it's the average of the actual working people (almost all foreigners) and the Kuwaitis, who are rich on the oil money we pay them.
So if the AVERAGE is 17,000, imagine what the low point must be to offset the mostly rich Kuwaitis.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/22/2004 11:03 Comments ||
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#3
And isn't that about half what it was a dozen years ago, prior to the invasion?
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 11:51 Comments ||
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#4
It's 18,000 grand for the poverty level.... but that's for a family of four...... A average family of four would be making $68,000 in Kuwait.
#5
The article said that, taking non-citizens out of the calculation, the per capita income is double the 17,000, or 34,000 if I remember my fourth grade multiplication tables. So that would calculate to a lot for a family of four Kuwaitis.
On the other hand, if Fred is right that incomes have dropped by half in the past decade plus, the K's will be feeling lifestyle-squeeze even so.
#6
points
1. Per capita income not equal to family income as pointed out by shipman
2. Kuwaiti citizens not equal to all Kuwaiti residents, as per TW.
3. Kuwaiti income tied to price of oil, which fluctuates. I suspect its higher now than 2 years ago.
EFL
Like scores of her colleagues, Georgian television journalist Nana Lezhava reported on the terrorist school seizure at Beslan. But her coverage ended in arrest by the FSB, Russia's security service once known as the KGB. Tests show she was drugged during interrogation - one of several incidents that are raising questions about Russian handling of the media. No further information is provided about the tests that corroborate the drugging of the Georgian journalist.
Officials have acknowledged deliberately downplaying hostage and casualty numbers. A top newspaper editor in Moscow has been fired for "emotional" coverage; even one of Russia's state-controlled TV broadcasters has complained of lack of truth. And two known Kremlin critics were prevented from reaching Beslan at all, by KGB-style methods. "When Nana was interrogated by FSB officials, she was offered a cup of coffee," says Tudu Kurtgelia, head of news for Georgia's Rustavi-2 TV. "She was told they added some cognac to the coffee and she lost her senses. She doesn't remember anything, and only came to a day later, in hospital." The hospital tests should show what she was drugged with if they show she was drugged. Why aren't details provided?
Hundreds of miles away, on a flight from Moscow to get to the Beslan hostage scene, journalist Anna Politkovskaya asked for tea from a stewardess. After drinking it she lost consciousness, and upon landing was taken to a hospital. "Somebody did not want me to reach Beslan," says Ms. Politkovskaya, a writer for Novaya Gazeta and frequent critic of Moscow's policy in Chechnya, who - because of her contacts with the relatively "moderate" rebel faction of Aslan Maskhadov - had played a mediating role in a previous siege. In this case, Politkovskaya was on the phone constantly at the airport, perhaps raising official eyebrows as she tried to convince those close to the at-large former Chechen president to intervene in the hostage crisis. "We have old Byzantine traditions to eliminate unwanted people," says Politkovskaya. "Even a hint from a top official to his subordinates is sometimes enough for them to act." [...] more examples of Russian governement clamping down on the media.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 2:02:19 AM ||
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#1
Search for Politkovskaya and Babitsky and you'll get details on them -- I'd heard about them a while ago.
"According to local press reports, police at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow first detained Babitsky yesterday morning on suspicion of carrying explosives. None were found and he was released. Then two young men approached him and tried to start a fight with him, according to radio station Ekho Moskvy. As a result, airport police detained him again, along with the two men.
Earlier reports said that Babitsky had been detained because he was âa victim of hooliganism,â but he was actually charged with âhooliganismâ himself and sentenced to five days in jail today.
...
According to the Moscow-based Web site Grani.Ru, the two young men who approached Babitsky at the airport yesterday asked him to buy them beer, and when he refused, they started harassing him. At that time, airport police detained all three men at the airport police station for disorderly conduct, where they were kept until 5 p.m.
Babitsky said that the two men, who were later identified as airport workers, told him that they were instructed to pick a fight with him, Grani.Ru reported. Babitskyâs lawyer, Vladimir Artemov, has appealed the journalistâs sentence.
The guilty verdict was based entirely on the testimony of the Vnukovo Airport police officers, even though their accounts differed from those of other witnesses of the incident.
and
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/09/03/politkovskaya.shtml
On 1 September, Anna Politkovskaya boarded a plane bound for Beslan, Dmitry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov told the NEWSru.com Web-site. During a stopover in Rostov-on-Don she felt unwell and lost consciousness. Diagnosed with food poisoning, she spent the whole day in the Rostov hospital. Her condition is still grave.
According to NGâs editor, it all sounds very suspicious since Anna claimed she had not eaten anything for the whole day before landing in Rostov-on-Don, apart from a cup of tea she had on board.
In "http://www.guardian
.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1300193,00.html" Politkovskaya herself says: "All the tests taken at the airport have been destroyed - on orders "from on high", say the doctors. "
#1
"The quake exceeded 5 on Richter scale...
[Polish] Scientists are at a loss to explain possible reasons for the earthquake as the region is not considered to be seismic. They have not exclude the idea that it might have been caused by a huge explosion somewhere along the Russian Baltic coast."
Oh brother! They should stop smoking pot in Warsaw University.
#7
With the epicenter of the quake being at the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Poland being far, far from the major tectonic trenches, the thing being artificial isn't *that* insane.
Everywhere in the world does NOT have big earthquakes to the same extent. Exceeding 5 on the Richter scale is common enough for greece, turkey, japan, california -- but not for Kaliningrad, Russia.
From (http://www.sftext.com/map/seisms_maps.html) look: World Map Europe map
I'm personally giving the explanation that it was natural about equal odds to the explanation it was not. Both seem to me equally rational.
#8
Armed Robber: No nonsense. Just give me all your money. Mr Logic: I shall commence by pointing out to you that my demeanour is not one which could be described as nonsensical. Consequently I can attest you have no cause to reprimand me on your first point. On to your second point: Bearing in mind the potentially lethal situation in which I find myself, to wit: your presence in conjuction with the presumably loaded firearm which is presently levelled at my cranium, I will comply with your request comprehensively, albeit reluctantly. Here, twenty-seven pence. Armed Robber: Twenty-seven pence? Fuck off. There's more than that in the till. Mr Logic: Indeed, undoubtedly so. However your request was for *my* money. The currency in the till belongs to a third party and is therefore not "my money". However, if you are still desirous of said money I would suggest that you re-phrase your original statement to recognise and incorporate this important distinction.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/22/2004 9:33 Comments ||
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#9
One of the greatest earthquakes in American history occured on the New Madrid fault in Missouri in the early 1800's. No major plate activity there either.
Posted by: Don ||
09/22/2004 9:38 Comments ||
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#10
Everywhere in the world does NOT have big earthquakes to the same extent
Aris, you are implying an equivalence between frequency and intensity (of earthquakes). Places that have infrequent earthquakes can have severe quakes, e.g. New Madrid and Colchester, England.
BTW, 'major tectonic trenches' has nice alliteration but is otherwise meaningless.
#11
Phil B, places that didn't have them *can* one day have them, in the sense that it's physically possible. And since it's physically possible it occasionally happens. By "to the same extent" I meant "to the same frequency".
That's why I said that the explanation of a natural phenomenon is *also* rational.
But such events are *rare*, so your dismissive "it happens everywhere" is annoying. Yeah, it happens everywhere, but in some places it happens rarely enough that it's also rational to lift an eyebrow when it so happens and consider alternate scenario without dismissing them in advance.
Especially when the quake happens centered in the only bit on the region that's Russian territory.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/22/2004 10:16 Comments ||
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#15
Tectonic plates? Whatever you meant, tinfoil hat off, Aris. Strike-slip occurs along plate lines as does uplifting of one plate over another. Quakes can still occur far from plate joints . I give this verrrry poor odds of being othr than naturally ocurring. A 5 is nothing....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2004 10:28 Comments ||
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#16
Possible explanations:
i) Americans misfired their E3000 quake-producing device
ii) Russians misfired their E3000b quake-producing device
iii) Michael Moore is on tour in Poland
iv) end of the world is coming
v) the Swedes have a nuclear weapons program
vi) the Jooos, of course
vii) Mother nature got pissed
viii) the North Koreans did NOT misfire their E3000c quake-producing device, attempt to blackmail the Baltic states
ix) the Baltic Sea is overcrowded with submarines
x) a rare earthquake
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/22/2004 10:31 Comments ||
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#17
so i guess it's that weapon from under siege 2....create an earthquake anywhere at anytime...please
Posted by: Dan ||
09/22/2004 10:36 Comments ||
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#18
Some facts: (translated from Polish)
- there were some 76 earthquakes in Poland in a 1000-year span
- 6 of those were of magnitude 6
- last major quake occured in 1786, but the 1990s saw several quakes of magnitudes up to 4.6
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/22/2004 10:43 Comments ||
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#19
I guess that if a Russian nuke submarine went boom off Kaliningrad's coast, this will come out eventually.
I doubt it's an underground nuke test, mainly because the Russians wouldn't have much reason to do in Kaliningrad instead of Siberia.
#20
Rafael, this quake was centered in Russia, not in Poland. From the maps I gave above, Poland's biggest quakes seem to be towards its south, and they quickly decrease the further north you move.
#24
Aris: "I guess that if a Russian nuke submarine went boom off Kaliningrad's coast, this will come out eventually."
What was it you majored in, again?
That would be a party popper. You simply have no idea about energies involved in 5 RS quake.
Nothwithstanding the fact that the waters in the area are 200m deep max. The area is mainly composed of Lower Permian lump, sticking like an eye in a big chunk of Precambrian crystalline basement. The epicenter is about 200km NE from Caledonian Deformation Front, running NW-SE which marks boundary of North German Basin, a big chunk of Lower Permian. You can expect infrequent (in the scale of 1k years) readjustments, but with quite a bang when that happens.
No, I am not a geologist either, but back in the 60's early 70's, we were taught critical thinking and facts checking, even on the secondary level of edu.
#26
Indeed I have no idea about energies involved in a 5 RS quake, but this article quoted scientists that supposedly did say this quake could have been caused by a pretty big explosion, to the point that their Russian counterpart had to be asked if they did anything over there. That did make me imagine that a nuclear explosion would have been sufficient.
Thanks you, Zarathustra ,for the details you provided, though I'm not entirely sure how terms like "Lower Permian lump" and "Precambrian crystalline basement" actually helped clarify anything. I'm also arrogant and annoying but I atleast prefer not to use technical and convoluted words just to impress.
I "majored" in Computer Science. It has little to do with geology *or* nuclear bombs. But if you're gonna be snippy to me about facts checking can you atleast provide a link, as *I* tend to provide links? It would help me from falling to folly again, and thus help you by removing from you the burden of correcting my ignorance again.
the recent (5/30/98 at 06:22:28 UT) magnitude 6.5 earthquake in Afghanistan (37.4 N, 70.0 E), had a source duration of about 5 seconds and an estimated source volume of order 4000 cubic kilometers. This earthquake also had a focal depth of 18 km. The energy release is equivalent to a 2000 kiloton nuclear explosion.
Or a 2 megaton bomb. Note the number of variables involved and that an increase of 1 in the Richter scale indicates an increase of 31X in magnitude. This page is a start on the topic. Given that Greece is in an area of seismic activity, I am surprised that the topic is not covered in the schools.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/22/2004 18:06 Comments ||
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#28
We did cover Richter at school and I remember the Mercalli scale mentioned also. But somehow it didn't come up, the question about whether a nuke going off underground (or underwater) could be felt as an earthquake or not.
#30
"though I'm not entirely sure how terms like "Lower Permian lump" and "Precambrian crystalline basement" actually helped clarify anything. I'm also arrogant and annoying but I atleast prefer not to use technical and convoluted words just to impress."
Fer christ sake, google, man, if you do not have any bearings on geological periods (basic stuff in the secondary type of school). Or do you think you are entitled to be served everything?
Oh yea, you're liberal, so you do.
Once again, epicenter depth 10km, while sea bottom at 200m max in the area. Just common sense would tell ya that it couldn't have been a submarine, you're 9800m short.
If you were looking, you would find out that the maximum depth used for underground testing of nukes was about 2500ft (800m), in most cases less than 600m.
Just simple facts and the sub or underground nuke explosions are out.
The only remainin scenario is thus quake. Until someone is able to build a standing vawe scalar generator that could result in what, theoretically, appears as an earthquake for all practical purposes, if you were able to generate energetic pulses in megaton range.
I am thus puzzled how Poles could have been confused, regardless the fact that the signatures of underground nuke explosion and earthquakes are distinct, you simply can't confuse them if you had exposure to both (I guess someone skipped a class or two over there).
#31
Oh, Aris, just so you have some idea about how far we got with drilling:
"Release Date: January 2004
SONARDYNE POSITIONS TRANSOCEAN FOR NEW DRILLING RECORD
Houston-based Sonardyne Inc., has revealed that the new world water depth drilling record set by Transoceanâs drillship Discoverer Deep Seas was accomplished using a Sonardyne dual redundant subsea acoustic positioning system. The record was set last November when the vessel spudded a well in 10,011 feet (3,051 metres) of water in the Gulf of Mexico ."
Facts, Aris, just facts. Accessible to me, and to you, the only impediment is your laziness (or someone else's for that matter).
LOL jarhead, haven't thought of that one. Lemme google.........no, not in Poland nor around Kaliningrad at the time. So the big fart theory is out, too.
#33
Your various ad hominems aside, my point was that Permian lumps had nothing whatsoever to do with the discussion. I don't need to google details about geological periods, nor do I believe I ever asked you to serve them to me. But when someone participates by repeating "Permian lump" several times as if people are supposed to know what it means (and supposedly are too stupid for words if they don't), then it'd be kind if were either to provide a clear explanation about Permian lumps' relevancy to the topic -- or atleast a link that explains such. As *I* tend to do when there are details around that are too long or too tiresome to copy out directly.
Zarathustra chose to attack my "critical thinking" because I didn't know about the "Permian lumps" relevancy. Well, I still don't and don't feel afraid to admit it. I only googled for info on quakes and frequency in the region, I offered you the maps I found on this very thread. I showed you that earthquakes aren't equally common or equally nasty all over -- and that therefore if the Polish scientists are confused and amazed I'm prepared to listen to them and start hypothesizing about alternate explanations.
That the hypocenter depth was 10 km and the sea bottom was 200 m max, is indeed quite useful information, disproving the submarine hypothesis.
But do please keep in mind however, both you and Zarathustra, that this bit of info was only mentioned by BigEd *after* I'd made said failed submarine hypothesis. So I don't see why you are attacking me for some supposed lack of logic or critical thinking.
And you idiots, Memesis and Zarathustra, are too lazy to provide a single link, and you're attacking *me* as "feeling entitled to be served everything".
And as a sidenote one of the things we learned among that basic stuff when were doing earthquakes is that the epicenter doesn't have depth, it's the hypocenter that's beneath the earth. So "epicenter depth" is a contradiction in terms.
#4
Laugh if you want, but you KNOW that Andorra is secretly stockpiling yellow cake and other nuclear material. Add in Monaco and the Vatican and there is a new Axis of evil! It's time to take these countires out before they can aquire WMDs! As soon as I can find these countries, I am sending in the Army to kick ass and take names!
Posted by: George Bush ||
09/22/2004 14:42 Comments ||
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#7
Maybe they are working on a sequel to "The Mouse That Roared" wherein Lichtenstein renounces its nuclear ambitions in return for large amounts of fuel oil and cash. It sorta worked for the N. Koreans.
It's the adultery. You can't be a real European without adultery. It just isn't done, y'know...
Turkey is not yet ready for entry into the European Union, but the 25-nation bloc cannot reject Ankara's membership if it meets all the requirements, the incoming EU Commission chief said on Tuesday. "If Turkey responds positively to the criteria that have been established, I don't see how we could say no (to Turkish entry)," Jose Manuel Durao Barroso told the French newspaper Le Monde in an interview. Asked if Turkey was ready for membership he said: "No, not yet. It has made a great deal of progress, we recognise that, but as I speak to you now, not all the criteria have been met."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:40:22 AM ||
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#6
Once again, to paraphrase Groucho, why the hell would Turkey want to join any organization that would have them as a member?
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
09/22/2004 9:36 Comments ||
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#7
Jack> But we are *not* yet having them as a member, and that's why they want to join us. We're the elite-only club in the block. All the cool kids are in, and all the uncool kids want to become cool enough to enter. :-)
And yeah, Barroso was Prime Minister of Portugal -- he resigned from that post when he was given the post of the president of the EU commission. Currently the EU is Iberia-dominated -- given Barroso, Borrell and Solana.
#8
Is there an EU rule that any country can apply? Micronesia? as long as they fulfill the 25 criteria?
Turkey is not a European country, shares nothing at all in the European history of Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Industrial Revolution.
A much better plan would be to demand that Turkey respect the freedom of the Kurds, apologize for the Armenian genocide and pay compensation for it, and finally leave Cyprus alone (and take your Moslems back). That should be a nice start.
#10
Any country that is in Europe has the right to be seriously considered for membership and in case they satisfy the Copenhagen criteria, negotiations can begin.
For countries that aren't in Europe nobody can stop them from applying, and nobody can stop us from going "you are not European, buzz off". Morocco once applied, I believe. We quietly told them we were not interested, and they quietly withdrew it so as to save face.
Turkey on the other hand has been already given official "candidate" status. That obliges the EU to atleast pretend to consider its application seriously, even if we end up rejecting her in the end.
But don't be too quick to say what is European and what isn't. I think that right now Turkey is about as "European" as Russia or Ukraine or Belarus is, and possibly more so.
Still the fact remains that it's the EU that isn't ready for Turkey yet.
#11
Contemporary Greece is about as European as the average latin american kleptocracy. Turkey's at least as well managed, and vastly more important.
Greece has more in common with Brazil or Nicaragua than with Europe: massive corruption, instability, incompetence and veering between clownish leftist and authoritarian military extremes.
#14
Lex> Why the need to mention Greece? Did *I* mention Greece? Hmm?
Your "Latin American" analogy is actually one I've considered myself and I find it quite fitting in more than one ways: For example Greece was indeed a place of instability during much of the 20th century, and eventually the victim of an American-supported dictatorial regime. Just like Latin America therefore, but unlike most of Western Europe, during the Cold War it experienced tyranny caused by its *own* side. That in turn boosted anti-Americanism, same as it was boosted in Latin America, to the point that currently Greece is probably the most anti-American nation in Europe.
Another characteristic common between western European nations and Turkey and Russia (but not Greece) is that Greece was never an imperial power during the last half of the second millenium. Pretty much everyone else was, with the exception of Ireland and a handful other nations.
But as concerns "vastly more important", I'm not sure you want to include importance in your list of European-only characteristics.
And as for "corruption", we rate a bit better than Turkey. Given these stats: http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2002/2002.08.28.cpi.en.html
Greece gets a 4.2 (10 being the best), and Turkey gets a 3.2
http://www.globalcorruptionreport.org/
Rafael> French Guyana, considered a fully integrated part of France, is part of the EU -- so yeah, and some of the islands in the Caribbean also: so yeah. You can also see them depicted in the Euro notes.
nah Greece is not so bad( Chile is better than them but Chile is an exeption in South America) but have a big chunk of communist/leftist nutcases. I still remember my father sad laught(he was in merchant navy) when some Greek asked about Otelo (a revolutionary guy that started a terrorist campaign and that in the days after our revolution said that all Fascists -for him that included even some people of socialist party must be put in stadiums and shot...) seems that Otelo was an hero for them...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Sept. 22, 2004 — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, citing the war in Iraq and other trouble spots in the world, raised the possibility Wednesday that a military draft could be reinstated if voters re-elect President Bush. Kerry said he would not bring back the draft and questioned how fairly it was administered in the past.
In a fair world, the press would be handing Kerry his own intestines for perpetuating this lie. The only people talking about a draft are Democrats; the Bush administration is uniformly against it. For Kerry to blame Bush for this reveals just how spineless, cowardly, and disgusting he is.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/22/2004 5:10:10 PM ||
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#1
I've heard that college students are being blanketed with emails claiming that Bush would re-insitute the Draft if re-elected. The emails fail to mention that the Dems are the once pushing for the draft and the Republicians are resisting.
A mother whose daughter received the e-mail at the University of Arizona told me her "daughter said a lot of students are getting the same email and they are believing it and saying they won't vote for Bush because of it."
Betsy adds that she saw an MTV Choose or Lose ad using similar scare tactics about the draft. FReepers noticed the same ad. Max Cleland and Howard Dean are also trying to spook the kids to by playing the draft card.
No mention by these fear-mongerers that it has been Democrat Charlie Rangel pushing the draft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld opposing it. Wouldn't want to spoil the pre-Halloween frightfest with the truth.
#4
The RNC needs to air commercials of Democratic leaders calling for the draft and Bush and Rumsfeld saying it is not needed.
If Kerry should win, he probably will have to instate a draft because I can see a lot of the current military deciding not to reenlist or to retire early.
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2004 19:35 Comments ||
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#5
Perhaps it was a mistake for the Kerry campaign to hire a bunch of ex-Baathist Generals to plot its strategy, even if they did come cheap.
#7
Anyone who looks at the facts can see that Bush isn't mixed up in this whole thing. According to http://thomas.loc.gov (the library of congress' site to find and track bills in Congress), the two draft bills which the left-media made a big deal about in the past months, S.89 and H.R.163, the former hasn't been touched in over a year and doesn't even have a cosponsor:
S.89
Title:A bill to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes. Sponsor:Sen Hollings, Ernest F. [D-SC] (introduced 1/7/2003) Cosponsors:(None) Related Bills:H.R.163 Latest Major Action:1/7/2003 Referred to Senate committee. Status:Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
The latter bill (H.R.163), on the other hand, has 15 sponsors (and one withdrawn) and also hasn't been touched on the floor in over a year:
H.R.163
Title:To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes. Sponsor:Rep Rangel, Charles B. [D-NY-15] (introduced 1/7/2003) Cosponsors (14):
-Rep Abercrombie, Neil - 1/7/2003 [D-HI-1]
-Rep Brown, Corrine - 1/28/2003 [D-FL-3]
-Rep Christensen, Donna M. - 5/19/2004 [D-VI]
-Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy - 1/28/2003 [D-MO-1]
-Rep Conyers, John, Jr. - 1/7/2003 [D-MI-14]
-Rep Cummings, Elijah E. - 1/28/2003 [D-MD-7]
-Rep Hastings, Alcee L. - 1/28/2003 [D-FL-23]
-Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. - 7/21/2004 [D-IL-2]
-Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila - 1/28/2003 [D-TX-18]
-Rep Lewis, John - 1/7/2003 [D-GA-5]
-Rep McDermott, Jim - 1/7/2003 [D-WA-7]
-Rep Moran, James P. - 1/28/2003 [D-VA-8]
-Rep Stark, Fortney Pete - 1/7/2003 [D-CA-13]
-Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. - 1/28/2003 [D-NY-12]
Related Bills:S.89 Latest Major Action:2/3/2003 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status:Executive Comment Requested from DOD.
So according to the John Kerry, as well as many leftist columns and sites which made the rounds in the younger portions of the voting population (particularly draft-age individuals), it's the Presidential Administration that is going to bring about the draft, but if that's the case why are there no Republican sponsors, and why is that crackpot Hollings the only Senator that will put his name by it?
Republicans have been historically against the draft, and are currently no exception to that history. By the way, the military isn't interested in the draft either. The only reason the draft board positions are being filled is because they recently expired. The Draft Board positions being filled are 20-year-term volunteer positions, and most stayed their full term, so the positions were vacated in 1999 and filling them takes a while. Not many people care to be involved with the draft board, since the draft is vastly unpopular.
These bills look like party politics to me, with the Democrats (and even very few of them) making a big, sweeping, sparsely supported draft bill in response to a president being at war, to make it seem worse than it is. Meanwhile, the liberal fringe of the media and now even John Kerry Kerry latch onto the situation and are feeding the fire by adding their own unfounded opinion on top of people's fears, especially draft-age voters. I don't think there's a lot of risk of these bills being passed, much less sponsored by President Bush in this or any other term.
The word needs to get out. I'm working on an email version of this to send out, if anybody wants to recieve the final version for dissemination please email me at cargo@systemsalchemy.org.
all data within quotes taken from .gov sites that can be easily and publicly accessed. Party information shown above was taken from the official House and Senate Directories found by clicking the corresponding links on thomas.loc.gov.
Posted by: Peter ||
09/22/2004 22:04 Comments ||
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#8
I'm afraid the secret is finally out. Kerry is actually a closet member of the GOP who Grove planted there some time ago
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
09/22/2004 22:10 Comments ||
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#9
no need for a draft, heck, it's hard enough training some of the volunteers we get.
#10
desperation move, bringing that up now, when there's time to debunk it...this should've been done a week before the election. The fact that it wasn't shows the Donks in full panic mode trying to energize their base. If they haven't done it by now, Sept 22nd, they're screwed
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2004 22:29 Comments ||
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#11
I agree with Jarhead. Rangle has some idea that the only thing preventing the reign of Karl Marx from beginning is that not enough rich white punks have to serve as privates in the infantry.
One of the guys that works for me asked me to read an article in Playboy about how we were going to have to reinstitute the draft. I told him I wasn't interested in reading the article and certainly wasn't interested in risking termination for gettig caught thumbing through Playboy in my office.
If enlistments do drop due to the war, I would like to see some type of fastrack for citizenship for enlistees. Alternately, additional scholarships could be offered - I think a friend of mine went to BC on something called the "Squad Leader Program."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/23/2004 0:47 Comments ||
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New Yorkers were generally forgiving of Dan Rather's running a story based on unproven documents that attacked President Bush. I personally subscribe to the theory that the water supply in NY has been poisoned by massive amounts of stupid pills. However, it could be that aliens have taken control of the bodies of a number of NY'ers, too.
# "Rather made a mistake and he was man enough to admit it." - Kaiseem Felder, 49, Xerox technician, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Kaiseem, you might check your timeline there, buddy. It was after Rainman and Andy Rooney figured it out.
# "All I could think of was this is what he will be remembered for after such a successful career. But mistakes happen all the time in the news." - Jane Marie Giustra, 24, sales assistant, Hoboken, N.J. Jane...Mistakes happen. Denial, coverups, lies, collusion, unethical behavior all on the same story don't.
# "Everything they said about Bush is true; they just haven't found the evidence yet." - Dale Channer, 34, florist, the Bronx. That's a religious statement if I ever heard one. Dale...whatever you do, don't confuse yourself with the facts.
# "He screwed up and ought to be held accountable. He should not be fired but he should apologize formally to the President." - Jim Oldham, 42, salesclerk, Weehawken, N.J. Occasionaly a sane person slips through the hands of aliens...or drinks bottled water.
# "I feel bad for Dan Rather because he is such a respected person. CBS should take more time to research and look at who was giving them the information." - Nichole Anderson, 34, event planner, North Brunswick, N.J. Nichole...You should feel bad that Dan Rather doesn't have enough wisdom to recognize and check his bias at the front door. And...he was respected.
# "He should have gotten the facts right, but it's not uncommon what he did." - Eddie Tallarine, 37, electrician, Massapequa, L.I. Eddie...Do you commonly lie to your supervisors about the quality of work that you do? Do you coverup shoddy and dangerous electrical work? That's what you are really saying.
# "CBS should have checked the information before they came out with it, but the reputation of CBS is good. ... It was one mistake." - Fernando Monte, 30, consultant, Yonkers. Earth to Fernando, come in Fernando. You need a short history lesson, son.
# "I view him as an anchorperson, not the person really out gathering the information. I don't think he should resign over this." - Cynthia Lazzari, 44, health-care information manager, Philadelphia. Does he gather the "facts". No. Does he (along with the producer) develop the story and vouch, no guarantee the authenticity based on unimpeachable sources? Cynthia...look back and see when the DNC started using this information almost word for word. It's spelled c-o-l-l-u-s-i-o-n.
Actually you will find that most rational letters to the editor are weeded out in the selection process. I must have written dozens and never had one published, while my brother can write a left leaning one and get it in print every time! :(
Maybe it was something I said...
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/22/2004 19:09 Comments ||
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#2
Another voice from the City here.
Rather and CBS need to called on the carpet for this crap.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/22/2004 21:56 Comments ||
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#3
I hope they answer the critical question: Why after the MOUNTAIN of evidence that President Bush served with honor, they pursued a story to malign this service? Why do they continue to attempt to defame his service and others that served with him? Why did they portray Col Killian as a backstabbing supervisor and a collaborator in a felony? FYI falsifying official documents and destroying official documents is still a crime in this country. If he were my father CBS and Viacom would be looking down the barrel of a VERY expensive lawsuit over defamation of character. I also think that Bush 41 has a pretty good case along these lines. Also they still have not apologized for the story, only the use of the documents. With all undue respect Mr Rather, APOLOGIZE.
Posted by: George Bush ||
09/22/2004 19:05 Comments ||
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"[He is] decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent." Does anyone come to mind? Those were actually Winston Churchill's words describing the Hitler appeasers leading the British government prior to World War II. But it is an uncannily evocative description of John F. Kerry on the matter of Iraq in 2004.
In the last few months, Mr. Kerry has been for more troops and less troops, for believing the war was necessary (even knowing everything we now know) and for believing it is the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has stated that anyone who thinks removing Saddam Hussein was not good and necessary was not fit to be president, and that removing Saddam was a mistake. He has said that we must succeed in Iraq, no matter how many resources it takes, and that he will substantially reduce our troops in the first six months of his presidency and almost completely get out by the first four years.
(Snip)
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/22/2004 3:58:54 AM ||
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Retiring Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) said he was encouraged by the campaign's tougher posture after some recent staff additions. "I feel they're getting it straight," he said. "Now they're finally beginning to fight." Hollings sharply criticized the Kerry campaign's early decision to hold back from responding on the issue of the challenger's Vietnam record, saying it was "touchy-feely crap" and adding, "They don't know how to campaign. Look at the record. We're defending a Silver Star recipient against a damned draft dodger." Still, Hollings expressed hope that the Kerry campaign would be able to focus more attention on Bush's record as president, rather than on Vietnam-era controversies.
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) admitted that "I'd like to see us farther ahead" in his home state of West Virginia. "It's a fight." Byrd noted that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have spent considerable time in the state, saying, "They've got a lot of people fooled." Byrd said he has advised Kerry: "Stick with the common people. Get a little dirt under his fingernails. Get it in his nostrils. Get it on his hair." Note to Senator Sleets, don't look for Kerry to spread dirt in his well groomed hair.
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/22/2004 5:09:52 AM ||
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#1
stick with the common people? "But they're soooo vulgar, Bobby"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2004 10:52 Comments ||
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#2
I was at an invitation-only breakfast meeting yesterday (I was invited by a soccer acquaintance who felt I might be pursuadable) at which Kerry's brother (the one who converted to Judaism) was to speak about Kerry's position on Israel. What I found interesting -- besides the tidbit that the Kerrys had been Cohens back in Czechoslovakia before they converted (the Temple High Priests, direct descendents of Moses' brother Aaron), were the conversations I overheard afterward.
Several different people expressed concern about how to woo back the "Republican Jews," ie those of us who've left the plantation. If the high priced movers'n'shakers are that concerned, Bush must be making a real dent!
I know from my own conversations that the more thoughtful of the Jewish teens are leaning strongly toward the Republican party -- as an expression of their idealism, the same way their parents and grandparents chose the Democrats.
The Jewish population of this country is somewhere between 1-2% of the whole, but they tend to be influential in their chosen fields of endeavor (I have a cousin in the trucking industry, for instance) and act as a bellweather for the idealists among us.
I think Senator Kerry is even deeper in trouble than the polls indicate!
#3
tw - My late sister's 2nd husband is Jewish, and we still communicate though my sister died 20 years ago...
(My family is Protestant)
Many of his views remind me of former Mayor Koch of NYC.
The overriding concern to him is National Security. So even though he is a lifellong Democrat, he hasn't voted Dem for president since Carter in 1976...
We argue on economics, as he's a little Socialistic around the edges, but
Don't get him started on Clinton and "Coffees" for Chinese contributors, Loral missle fiasco, and the like... He's more derisive than me...
He remarried, moved to West Virginia, and works as an engineer for a NASA subcontractor there, so let's hope he can help "W" keep those 5 EVs in his column this time.
#4
Big Ed, I'm sorry for your loss. Even after so long it can still hurt, I know. But, it is lovely that she chose her husband so well that you and he are still friends even though he married out of your family, so to speak. You are lucky.
#5
Dearest Lucky, I didn't mean to conflate you and Big Ed, course. You are our own very specialist Lucky of them all. That's why your name is capitalized, and he only got a small 'L', ok?
#8
Lucky's Legions are gorilla guerilla fighters. We can look like any Joe at Starbucks or Joe Bob in the pits at the NHRA Nationals (I love the smell of nitro in the morning, heh.). We don't do the the diaper-on-the-head thingy... so we do have some limitations.
#9
TW, do the folks at the breakfast consider the Bush administration to be a stalwart friend to Israel when his policy is compared to the policies of the UN and EU? I think a Kerry Administration would be much less likely to demonstrate backbone in defending Israel against European criticism. I don't understand why pro-Israel members of the Jewish community community aren't worried about Kerry's ameoba-like foriegn policy.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 22:21 Comments ||
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#10
Colonel-com, has a nice ring to it. A tunic with braids and piping, by god! They'll snap to at the sight. Huzzah!
#12
Super Hose, the folks at the breakfast reflexively believe that Bush is enslaved to the Radical Right Christian (ie Pat Buchanan) agenda. They don't realize that a) Bush is a Methodist, b) Bush is the best friend Israel has had since Nixon, or perhaps earlier (I can't say, I don't remember that far back) and c) these days the religious Christians are as a group some of Israel's strongest friends.
I heartily agree with you about Kerry, but that's why I am one of those the breakfasters are so concerned about.
#13
General Lucky - I respectfully decline such an honor... Not worthy. And, well, besides, it was my personal experience that the LtCols and Cols weren't worth warm spit, Sir. Once they got in the neighborhood of Colonel, well Sir, they started thinking about getting that star and went political. Couldn't trust 'em about anything till they either got the damned star - or washed out and retired.
Give me a Major who's been passed over, Sir. If they don't drink themselves into oblivion, then they're good guys. With all due respect, Sir.
I'd make a fair to middlin' First Shirt, I believe - and aspire to Sgt Major.
#14
Very well then, a faded blouse with stitchs from past strips still visible. But if your brigade should demand, well then it's your duty and I'll hear none of it!
Full article -- it's too good to click to read "the rest of the story"... enjoy... THE KERRYNESS OF KERRY
If I've been following the campaign correctly, the typical John Kerry day involves an early-morning stop at Bud's Truck Stop on Rte 103 at which the Senator orders a hot dog. Asked what he wants on it, he says an aubergine and lemongrass coulis. Afterwards, he heads to Idaho for a windsurfing photo-op to communicate his virility, after first flying out his stylist from Cristophe's to mousse his hair into its windswept and tousled position. Following questions from the press on the cost of his hairdresser, he first denies that he has a hairdresser and then, when her curling tongs and rollers are pointed out in the back of his family's SUV, snaps, "She's not my hairdresser, she's the family's hairdresser."
Later, after a two-man luge run with his Secret Service agent ends with him falling off after 50 yards, he snarls, "I don't fall off. That sonofabitch agent arched his back too high." Conceding that he was never in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968, the Senator says that those words were repeatedly placed in his mouth by over-zealous speechwriters. He wasn't in Cambodia, his wife's first husband's corporation's wholly owned subsidiary was in Cambodia.
"But if George W Bush's Republican smear machine wants to make our service in Vietnam an issue, I say to them: BRING. IT. ON!"
"But they have brought it on."
"Well, if they want to continue bringing it on, I say to them: BRING. IT. ON!"
"But your campaign has put out an ad that President Bush call it off."
"Well, if he wants to make an issue of my begging him to call it off, I say to him: BRING. IT. ON."
The day ends with the Senator throwing the first pitch at the Red Sox game. It lands on his red sock and breaks his toe, resulting in him taking two weeks off for surgery, in the course of which his numbers go up four points.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Sherry ||
09/22/2004 2:06:15 AM ||
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Well -- maybe this is my favorite paragraph....
For most of us this would be more than enough to see us through November: Why did John Kerry cross the road? âI crossed the road to volunteer for Vietnam. Some of us know something about what it means to cross the road.â Who was that lady I saw you with last night? âThat was no lady, that was my meal ticket.â How many John Kerrys does it take to change a lightbulb? At least four. One to approve the removal of the old lightbulb. One to declare his courageous commitment to replacing the old bulb. One to vote against funding the new lightbulb. And one to denounce George W Bush and Americaâs Benedict Arnold CEOs for leaving everyone in the dark.
#2
What a hoot! That was my favorite (of many) too.
"That was no lady, that was my Momma T meal ticket."
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/22/2004 3:33 Comments ||
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#3
That was simply great. Won't change the opinions of anyone who's a rabid Kerry supporter, but nothing's perfect. Beautiful!
Posted by: The Doctor ||
09/22/2004 10:23 Comments ||
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#4
âA vain thin-skinned droning blueblood with an indestructible sense of his own status but none at all of his own ridiculousness.â
âJohn Kerry is a nut passing himself off as a dull centrist.â
âNever in the field of human conflict was so much made of so few by so many.â (Kerryâs Mekong experience)
Wow, he captured the complete Kerry and Theresa too!
#6
Howard Dean was a dull centrist governor pretending to be nuts, John Kerry is a nut passing himself off as a dull centrist.
At this point I had to get up and go to the restroom. I was laughing so hard, I was afraid my fellow cubicle prarie-dogs would call 9-1-1 and cart me away...
#8
Lucky, you were right the first time. And I'm afraid that I, amongst us, am completely puzzled about the attraction of loud, stinking vehicles travelling for hours without getting anywhere. But then, I don't get American football or baseball, either. Please forgive me?
#11
I used to like NASCAR too! But God in Heaven! You ever actually see how fast those 3500 lbs pieces of thin steel are moving? I just washed my hands of the whole thing, forget it.
Posted by: B Issacs ||
09/22/2004 19:47 Comments ||
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#12
trailing wife, in the spring you must watch the Daytona 500. From start to finish. Try to pick your favorites as the race goes on. After that, you'll be down wit dat, promise. Football, they only play once a week and teams only play each other only once or twice a year, therforelosing last all week/year. So losing isn't cool. In fact, it's quite painful.
Now don't forget, springtime, Daytona 500 watch the whole thing.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:58:05 AM ||
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I speculate that this story was being held for a last minute salvo, but Kerry's numbers were so bad that they let loose with the only story they had available. The forgeries could have been pretty effective if the story had been released so near the election that the general public would have gone to the polls without the story being answered.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 1:24 Comments ||
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Absolutely pathetic. It's bad for our democracy to have such a lame, incompetent, even deranged opposition party. We desperately need a national discussion on Iraq and Iran, and we willl nto have it so long as the opposition Party is dominated by dopey attack dogs and Mikey Maroon/DU crackpots.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:56:59 AM ||
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"It is obviously against CBS News standards and those of every other reputable news organization to be associated with any political agenda," CBS News said in a statement.
So when as 'standard' stood in the way of CBS (and the rest of the MSM) pursuing the liberal political agenda?
Films such as The Day After Tomorrow and Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 were supposed to be capable of turning red staters against George W. Bush, but, almost undetected, a much greater cultural force is at work: country music. Sales of country CDs are running at 1.2 million a week, or 11% higher than last year. Meanwhile, alternative rock festival Lollapalooza has been cancelled due to low ticket sales ...
What sort of values do popular country artists promote? Excellent ones, judging by Gretchen Wilson's Here For the Party, one of this year's biggest sellers (2 million units in just eight weeks). Unlike the sort of country performers — Lucinda Williams, for example — favoured by sensitive, uptight inner-city plonkers, Wilson's sound is massively popular and instantly catchy. And, as a social document, her debut album is outstanding.
Wilson deals with all the major issues of the day: self-esteem ("I may not be a 10, but the boys say I clean up good"), youth employment ("at 15 I was tending Big O's bar"), religion ("Honey, I'm a Christian"), sex ("bring on the cowboys!"), overpriced lingerie ("I don't need no designer tag to make my man want me"), status conflict ("I'm a redneck woman, I ain't no high-class broad") and how to deal with any chick caught messin' with your man ("You can take it somewhere else or we can take it outside").
Forget polls; according to the Wilson Values Index, George W. Bush is going to win this election in a walk.
This was just too good to pass up - and its from AUSTRALIA of all places!
Posted by: OldSpook ||
09/22/2004 12:27:59 AM ||
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Catch her video "Redneck Woman."
Ms. Wilson is one nice looking young woman; very easy on the eyes.
Announcer: Even before Jane Fonda went to Hanoi to meet with the enemy and mock America, John Kerry secretly met with enemy leaders in Paris.
Announcer: Though we were still at war and Americans were being held in North Vietnamese prison camps.
Announcer: Then he returned and accused American troops of committing war crimes on a daily basis.
Announcer: Eventually Jane Fonda apologized for her activities, but John Kerry refuses to.
Announcer: In a time of war, can America trust a man who betrayed his country?
Announcer: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is responsible for the content of this advertisement.
Posted by: Capt America ||
09/22/2004 11:26:06 PM ||
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#1
That is sweet!! At this point and time, if this asshole get's elected.....
I am so bummed about what has happened to the men who are being beheaded. I know sKerry would be much worst than Bush, but right now, neither is looking very good and I wish I had my finger on the tigger. MECCA WOULD BE GONE TONIGHT!! I would kill 100,000 of them everytime we lost a man. Islam is the enemy and must be destroyed. Find a mosque. Know the exists. Unite as Jefferson would have ask for. Eliminate them!!
In New York yesterday, Kerry just restated his opposition to the war in Iraq and he has just staked his campaign on that card.
Now, the Swift Boat ad comes out which questions his judgement and raise some legitimate questions about where his true sympathies lie.
And Korora, there will be no damage report. True to themselves, the left will be cursing the water coming in, and questioning why the Kerry Kampaign ran into the torpedo in the first place, rather than running damage control.
#5
I went looking for that and found a video link from polipundit that was pretty devestaing. I don't know whether it's new or old.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 0:53 Comments ||
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#6
Thisis pathetic. Bad for democracy to have such a lame and quisling opposition party. We desperately need a serious debate on Iraq and Iran, and Kerry's party is incapable of offering anything like a coherent and principled position on the above. Decadence....
#7
I am just so fucking frustrated with this all. My country is being eaten from within. Michael Moore, this clown John Kerry, the whole LLL. There going to get us killed!!
What is happening is worst case scenario. We as a people have divided ourselves. We are doing exactly as the left would want. But the worst of it all is the fucking IslamoNazi's feed from it and gather strength. I am so ashamed of the Left right now I consider them as low as the sand niggers killing my neighbor. I am beyond angry I am vengeful. I just don't think we should take this any longer. This is a parasitical cult that must be eliminated!!
#9
Kerry would do much better as premier of Canada. After all, he does speak French and he's got the anti-Americanism schtick cold. It appalls me to think that 40% of Americans think this supercilious poseur could be president and that those people won't understand what this ad says to the rest of us.
Posted by: Random thoughts ||
09/22/2004 1:03 Comments ||
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#10
Question:
What would sKerry be thinking as the sawing motion was meeting his neck?
#13
Amen lex. The irony inherent in the left's position is that if they succeed in defeating Bush's neo-Wilsonian foreign policy (either via election or pressure from their surrogates in the media) they will almost certainly have sown the seeds of their own destruction. Any gains by the left on the foreign policy front will, by necessity, be only temporary in nature.
#14
The American left is veering into isolationist territory (look at Barracks Osama's convention speech for a good example of things to come). Perhaps a good near-term electoral strategy, but disastrous for this nation if pursued in earnest.
#15
I feel like shit for my comments tonight....
But I also feel that I am to the point to where I need to go lower than my enemy. After 911 and 12 other attacks on our country from within and around the world. Being marked for death, for just being an American....
Ladies and Gentlemen, let us no longer think we can achieve utopia as one speices, they could carless.
#16
Buck up, friend. All we have is each other. No nation is totally reliable, not even the Brits. We'll soldier on and win this one if it takes us 42 years... which is what the last long twilight struggle required. Won that one, will win this one. Carry on.
#17
So my right winged friends...what will it take for you to hang out at your local mosque and start picking these assholes off one by one as they step out of their secret hide out? Just how far are my so intellectual bloggers willing to be pushed? How many more of your neighbors heads are you willing to be shown to you? How doped up on Political Correctness are you?
#19
Until something like Beslan comes here, of course. I trust we won't be so civil when it comes to a "civil war," with them and theirs within our borders. I'll draw the line when my fellow Americans commit atrocities to endow the U.S of A. with the blessing of the Islamicate.
#20
Hello, OldSpook. If I might suggest a third route, indiscriminate violence aside, that some of us might contemplate to avert the hell that is Islamification from the heartland of America.
Know your enemies. Know the friends of your enemies. Understand, with a certainty, that if the force of Russia's military cannot stem the Islamist tide in their hinterlands, that our modern system of police and jurisprudence may not be able to prevent jihadist tyrrany in America.
With all due respect to their being "Americans," what they want isn't what I'd like to become. I fear that at some certain point our current system of politics and criminal justice might not suffice. The potentially premature excesses of LHR aside, I'll be ready. You?
#22
SH - Just watched that video - very good. Its from the Vietnam Vets for Truth (www.kerrylied.com) and both calls Kerry a liar and honors the Vietnam Vets. They are seeking donations to run ads.
LongHair - I think you need to 'chill out' a bit and step away from the computer for awhile :). Take a vacation for a few days.
#23
This ad should be fatal to Kerry's campaign.
1. He can't deny that he did it.
2. If he attacks the ad he publicizes it.
3. If he doesn't attack the ad, he admits it.
Sweet.
Posted by: Tom ||
09/22/2004 10:09 Comments ||
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#24
A second term for Dubya is sure to push the hard corps left over the falls and cause a split in the Democratic party from which they may never recover. Iâm sure they are already putting into place their own version of âinsurgencyâ aimed at damaging President Bush.
Would they do something really off the scale, Iâd hope not!
#25
Instead of bashing the President on his faux-pas in the National Guard 35 years ago, the press is missing the real story here of one who would be our next CIC. The Main Stream News media have abbrogated their responsibilties to the public by not pursuing this story.
Imagine what 60 Minutes would do on this story if they didn't have a political agenda? Where are our true impartial investigative reporters?
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
09/22/2004 10:26 Comments ||
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#26
WTF?! I think LHR is mobying Rantburg. FOAD, lefty troll.
#27
LHR: You have no idea how quickly I will turn on individuals to protect "the greater good", so STAND THE FUCK DOWN.
OldSpook: its the armchair generals who seem to hav ethe biggest thirst for blood.
Agreed, but as a clarification for anything I say later, I'm an armchair lieutenant who does NOT thirst for blood. It's nothing I like, just something we all (I hope) know will happen in war. If I ever say something you see as excessively bloodthirsty, please remember this.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
09/22/2004 11:39 Comments ||
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#30
Well said, OS -- LHR's statements have been such a caricature of everything that the left would like to believe is said on sites such as these that I'm with BH -- I wouldn't be surprised to find that he's a lefty troll/mole.
#32
I'm an armchair lieutenant who does NOT thirst for blood. It's nothing I like, just something we all (I hope) know will happen in war. If I ever say something you see as excessively bloodthirsty, please remember this.
I am an armchair colonel. What is your date of rank? ;o)
#33
On this board we know each other by our handles and our words. We do our best to discern whether those words add up to an authentic voice--even (especially) for the Rantburg trolls. I don't buy LHR's rant. I don't think that's what righteous anger sounds like.
#34
Calling Fred, let's get some deletions ... I already know a message board where a leftie named Angsty Shem infiltrated the conservatives' guild to rip posts from the ranting thread to distort in his post ...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
09/22/2004 14:38 Comments ||
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#35
I dunno, Ed (and I'm an "Ed" myself), I figure we can find our own strengths and merits in disagreement, or we can delete and find strength in pugilism. Which has its own merits in certain situations, but is siginificantly lacking when it comes to talking and discussing.
#36
Long Hair Republican hasn't quite qualified for the sink trap. But I'm generally someone with substantial tolerance for dissenting voices.
I completely agree with OldSpook, and I hope LHR will pay attention, take a step back, and consider soberly what OS has said. Few people here are "doped up on political correctness". What most regulars have in common here is a clear, serious understanding of what needs to be done to protect our country and extend some of the decency and good life we know to others.
None of that would ever be served by shooting people coming out of a mosque. Such an act would be described by a single word -- murder.
LHR, dude, you have some issues. Read OldSpook's words again, and reflect on them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2004 23:21 Comments ||
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#37
LHR, you need to step back, take a deep breath or two and drink a beer.
You're wound a bit too tight, and resort to genocide too soon. Anger is OK - but even I dont go this far except in rare circumstances, such as Beslan. And even then, I backed off once I became rational against my anger.
"what will it take for you to hang out at your local mosque and start picking these assholes off one by one as they step out"
LHR, racist, xenophobic and threatening murder is no way to be.
You really need to back it off a notch - you sound just like a characture of the "Nazi Righty" that the left loves to make.
Calm down, gather yourself, stay rational. And value liberty and fairness - which you appear not to. Your extreme emotionalism and hate will choke you up every bit as much as the hatred espoused by the left chokes them up. Don't become what they are.
If you fill your heart with hate, make racist slurs, and espouse indisrciminate violence and atrocities, then you are no friend of liberty.
to put it in blunt terms:
Stop and back it the hell up Hoss - your words go too far and smear the side you appear to be taking. If you cannot get over this racist violent streak, then you are an enemy to me, as surely as the left is. With "friends" like you, we don't need enemies. You're a McVeigh in the making if you cannot get yourself under control.
And like the old soldier I am, I've seen blood shed and done it myself - its not to be taken lightly. You have not - its the armchair generals who seem to hav ethe biggest thirst for blood. Remember - my oath is to the Constituion of the UNited states, and includes all enemies, foreign and domestic.
#39
I've already swor to uphold and defend the Constitution - and done so in 2 different official conflicts and a few unofficial ones. Volunteered again in 2001. Gov't said I'm too broken down - but still working for them in a desk capacity, as well as a few trips to the Stan as a "contractor" to do a little teaching, tuning and installation.
I think our current sytem works just fine as long as we can break through the MSM and let people know the truth.
(2004-09-20) -- In an exclusive report tonight, CBS News anchor Dan Rather will break the story of "a web of deception" which allowed 60 Minutes II to use forged documents to impugn the military record of President George Bush.
"As a crack investigative reporter, I've always wanted to break a story this big," said Mr. Rather. "I can't tell you much before the story airs, but the upshot is that someone may have tried to trick me and my producer into using forged documents to discredit the president. We'll actually show you how the fake documents could not have been written in the early 1970s. It's in-depth investigative reporting that you can't get anywhere else. Tune in tonight for this breaking news."
In addition to breaking the fake memo story, Mr. Rather said that during the broadcast he would demand his own resignation, along with that of news producer Mary Mapes.
"You'll never see a cover-up, stonewalling or excuse making at CBS," said Mr. Rather. "We're interested only in truth and integrity. I'm the one who's breaking the story, and I'm the one forcing myself into early retirement. That's proactive."
Mr. Rather said he plans to spend his retirement "sitting around the living room in my pajamas, posting my thoughts to my new blog."
Posted by: Korora ||
09/22/2004 12:01:53 AM ||
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Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/22/2004 18:26 ||
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#1
Dale's ECB blog and the electoral college breakdown map are both invaluable - if you can avoid the lefty grasping at straws by some commenters, and the right's barbs in return, there is actually a lot of good discussion on why some polls should be disregarded (the Zogby self-selected ones for example), and others taken with a grain of salt (partisan chartered polls, and sometimes biased polls like Rassmussen).
Also a lot of good technical discussion on what makes a good poll, and discussion of the internals of the polls. And analysis of the effects of each state poll on the standing of that state's electoral vote.
EFL from Human Events - a magazine sited by John O'Neil during his debate with Kerry on the Dick Cavett Show.
Simply put, if you want to learn if the domino theory was true--ask the dominoes. A few weeks ago, I did just that. I met with a group of Vietnamese refugees--past and present. Some were among the 1980s "Boat People," who fled the horror of Communist Vietnam on rafts, boats, and pieces of driftwood, risking their lives in the process. Others were more recent arrivals. All fled the purported utopia Vietnam was supposed to become according to Kerry and his anti-war colleagues. These people can attest to who is telling the truth--John Kerry and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, or John O'Neill, B.G. Burkett, author of Stolen Valor, Carlton Sherwood, former Pulitzer journalist and producer of the documentary Stolen Honor, and the Vietnam Veterans for Truth. These people will tell you who was telling the truth.
Quyen V. Ngo currently works for a local college. He was a boat person rescued by an American merchant ship after three nights at sea. Fifty-nine years old, Quyen was a schoolteacher in Vietnam and a Captain in the South Vietnamese army (ARVN). He was born in Nam Dimh near Haiphong before the country was partitioned. Before the partitioning, his parents emigrated in 1953 to South Vietnam to escape the Communists. When I asked him if he thought the war was worth it, Ngo said that American troops did not have to stay as long as they did. The Vietnamese people just wanted to be trained and supplied. They would do the rest. However, the Americans were trying to protect the people from the Communists and that was a good thing.
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Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 10:48:31 PM ||
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#1
Ngo never witnessed any atrocities by American soldiers, neither did he hear of any American atrocities.
That proves that the Mai Lai massacre never happened. A lot of history books will have to be rewritten based on this article.
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Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/22/2004 7:37 Comments ||
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#2
My Lai was anecdotal and not policy. Being a (former?) air force officer you should know better.
#5
He said he did not believe a thing Kerry said about American troops, systematically committing war crimes. He thinks Kerry fabricated this.
Mr. Ngo's opinion about Kerry's statements and actions is decisive!
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Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/22/2004 23:35 Comments ||
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#6
Mike, the key word in Ngo's statement is "systematically".
Nothing he or any of the others said implies that absolutely no war crimes were committed. Rather, what atrocities there were, were the actions of individuals or groups crossing the line. I've read statistics that the level of unacceptable actions by American troops was lower during the Viet Nam war than in any war previous. No doubt one of our experts can tell us if I understood correctly, and give comparitive numbers.
#7
Kerry's contention was that atrocities were committed systematically by the Americans in Viet Nam, and with the connivance of the entire chain of command. Do you actually believe that our civilization would breed men capable of that less than a generation after the liberation of Auschwitz and Dachau?
#9
All fled the purported utopia Vietnam was supposed to become according to Kerry and his anti-war colleagues. These people can attest to who is telling the truth -- ...
Kerry said Vietnam would become a utopia? We should ask Vietnam refugees whether Kerry was right when he said Vietnam would become a utopia? We should ask Vietnam refugees whether Kerry was right when he said US troops systematically committed atrocities? Do these Vietnam refugees really know what Kerry said?
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Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/23/2004 8:36 Comments ||
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Zimbabwe's government on Wednesday dismissed reports of dozens of deaths linked to malnutrition as lies peddled by detractors and insisted the nation has more food than it needs. Health officials in Bulawayo, the nation's second largest city, have reported at least 162 deaths related to malnutrition this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 11:27:39 AM ||
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As was said by Bejing radio, after Tienanmin, when the true announcer was carted off to an unknown fate....
The 22nd International Day of Peace was celebrated in the provincial metropolis on Tuesday. A number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), schools and peace activists arranged seminars and rallies to mark the day. ASR Resource Centre observed the day at Centre Point in Gulberg and endorsed the call by international peace committee to launch a worldwide peace campaign. The day was observed in 98 countries. ASR, in a press statement, said the world's attention was on terror, fear and war, but a worldwide movement for a better future had been growing. The Justice and Peace Commission also staged a peaceful rally in front of the Lahore Press Club.
I feel more peaceful already...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2004 12:27:37 AM ||
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#1
Why not just take a more direct route & let the JAG's and MP's concentrate on more important matters? Just go back to putting saltpeter in the chow! :-D
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
09/22/2004 0:28 Comments ||
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#2
if AIDS, a slow and hideous death, doesn't deter them, then what makes them think a court martial will?
#3
They can threaten all they want,DMS(don't mean sh&t).They Millitary tried this many times.never worked,never will.
ex:Regs aginst Fraternization post-WW2 Germany and Japan.
#4
This is going to be interesting "Defense officials have drafted an amendment to the manual on courts martial that would make it an offense for U.S. troops to use the services of prostitutes". The UCMJ is simply a subsection of Title 10 U.S. Code. That will literally require an act of Congress. When the congressional committee gets this, they'll also be hit by the 'Gay' lobby to amend the same law to permit openly gay members to be in the military since Sodomy is a specific charge already on the books. There's no need for anything new. Just place the establishments and the area of the establishments 'Off Limits'. Anyone caught in the area on sweeps would be subject to existing UCMJ punishment for disobeying a lawful order.
And whatca going to do in countries where the worlds oldest profession is actually lawfully legal? Little things like that have a tendency to run afoul of the Status of Forces Agreements, treaties. Outlawing something that is perfectly legal in the host country doesn't usually sit nice with the locals. Best avoid any suggestion and just use existing processes.
Or just issue a Haliburton sub-contract out of Nevada for professionals!
Posted by: Don ||
09/22/2004 9:25 Comments ||
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#5
This is the old "God's army" refrain of the Nasty Nellies going back to WWI. Even Saint Douglas MacArthur tried to quench the terrible thirst for lust by stopping the issue of condoms to the troops in Korea. This lasted until the theater medical officer got the following month's stats on venereal disease, and is alleged to have physically jumped up on Mac's desk while screaming at him.
I highly recommend that saner heads require a significant appropriation of funds to enforce the new rules, say $100B.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2004 11:26 Comments ||
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#11
It would seem to me that someone at the Pentagon wants reenlistment numbers to drop, or pregnancy rates within the service to rise. I'm not sure I see the logic.
#13
Isn't this restraint of trade or maybe anti-globalization?
Posted by: dorf ||
09/22/2004 12:06 Comments ||
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#14
I am a real hard shell "publican", but I hate the inroads that the religous right has made in the thinking of the military. This in combination with political correctness gives us crap like this. Having been in the Army with nine years duty station overseas, I can tell you stuff like this leads to barracks fighting, low morale and poor motivation. Another is not allowing troops beer etc in moslem countries is another load of bs. There is more to life than band concerts and listening to some half a sleep chaplain talk about clean living. If I had wanted clean living I would have joined a monestary not the army. Argggh!!!
Posted by: Old Fogey ||
09/22/2004 12:22 Comments ||
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#15
Didn't anybody even READ the article??
"The move is part of a Defense Department effort to lessen the possibility that troops will contribute to human trafficking in areas near their overseas bases by seeking the services of women forced into prostitution . . . In recent years, "women and girls are being forced into prostitution for a clientele consisting largely of military services members, government contractors and international peacekeepers . . ."
Does anyone on Rantburg care that impoverished young girls and women are being FORCED by other men to serve as the physical/emotional/psychological RECEPTACLES of the base instincts and lack of self-control of our men in uniform? Doesn't anyone think participating in the degradation of girls and women in this fashion, degrades the reputation of the armed forces?
Or is it simply easier to "pretend" about all the "fun and games" American guys can have with those human slaves sexy, willing, free-to-choose "girls of the night." (If so, y'all would get along great with Cat Stevens--he likes to pretend stuff too. He even pretends Islam isn't as bad as it is.)
But I guess when all you can think about is ejaculating into a human slave "pretty little thing," who is feigning sexual interest in you so that she gets the money and is not beaten, tortured, or killed when you're through with her--well, that takes priority.
Hey--maybe Western men have more in common with the sleazeball jihad crowd than I realized. The only thing the Islamos give a shit about is their dicks. Why should our guys be any different. After all, "boys will be boys"--right? As # 8 said: "A soldier who won't f**k, won't fight." I think that should definitely take the place of the Ranger Code. Protecting fellow human beings from being exploited is just "politically correct crap" as # 15 argues.
Okay--youâve won me over. I say forget 'em. All those little honeys deserve it. I mean, our guys pay good money to make use of them. They should get what they pay for. No one should get in their way--especially not the chain of command. What the hell do they know, anyway?
And to think that all this time I believed honor mattered, and that our guys were different. Silly, silly me.
#16
Ex-lib-I care if a person is forced into prostitution, but you know, sometimes it isn't a man that does it. I have read several stories about impoverished southeastern Asian women with large families selling their underage daughters into lifelong prostitution, sometimes out of greed, sometimes to buy food or other necessities for their families. Both men and women are capable of looking upon women as nothing more than pi**pot commodities.
There are other factors to consider: as you named it, contributing to human trafficking, but also the natural sexual urge of people in the military. I am not sure what the answer is for the military as far as sex goes. Do you think demanding abstinance will actually result in abstinant behavior in the ranks? For some maybe...
I plead guilty to your first charge-I should have read the whole article.
#17
"I am not sure what the answer is for the military as far as sex goes."
The answer is quite simple and was touched on by an earlier comment. Contract the services out to "Haliburton" type entity, and bring the women into theatre from Las Vegas or some other place where their willingness can be ascertained.
Screw the PC crowd and the Religious Right.
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
09/22/2004 14:23 Comments ||
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As long as
1) They are willing and of age
2) Service member spouses are notified
I have no problem with that.
#19
For ex-lib: I certainly do no advocate forced prostuition. What I was trying to get across is that the concept of a court martial offense for for this is like prohibition, flawed, unworkable, doomed to failure. Any closed social group such as an army post that is under lock and key is much more prone to internal conflicts. The smaller the group the faster these conflicts grow. When you try to supress normal human urges in a closed group the probability of violent conflicts approaches certaintity. Now there is a court martial offense that you can hang your hat on.
Posted by: Old Fogey ||
09/22/2004 16:51 Comments ||
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#20
I think the forced prostitution thing is just a front for the greater "moralistic purpose." The recent UN scandal involving forced prostitutes did not involve US troops, and with a reason. If a European soldier sees a pimp slapping around a prostitute, as much as not, they just shrug; but an American will interfere--they don't like that. American troops don't see prostitutes as things, but as people. If you really want to see the motivation of the Nasty Nellies, ask what the policy is about soldiers *marrying* local girls. If it is markedly racist, absolutely forbidden, or extremely difficult, you are seeing the flip side to this b.s. They HATE the idea of US soldiers "polluting" their bodies with dirty, foreign women. Soldiers must remain "pure", then return home to marry American girls. ONLY.
#21
This link addresses whether adultery is a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and then goes on to describe when and how members of the armed services are prosecuted for adultery. It is not a cut and dry answer.
I imagine the same will prove true of any rules making âuse of a prostituteâ a crime under the UCMJ. No one is going to get thrown in the brig just because they stopped by a brothel. However, service members should face consequences for bringing discredit upon the armed forces, or engaging in conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline. THAT WOULD CERTAINLY INCLUDE F**K@NG SOME POOR SEX SLAVE, I WOULD THINK.
The whole point of these rules is to promote cohesion, morale, and discipline by clearly defining the bounds of acceptable behavior, and by clearly informing all service members of the potential consequences for bad behavior. Also, among other things, the rules give effect to the authority of the command structure. I donât see how any of this has anything to do with tin foil conspiracies about inroads that the religous right has made in the thinking of the military.
Even unwilling sex slaves would appreciate not being yet again exposed to a terminal disease.
The problem is, that while some girls are unwilling sex slaves, some have been sold into the life by their families, some chose it themselves as an alternative to starvation, and some actually like the work -- whether because they are sluts or because it might pay better than honest labour.
Do I like prostitution? No, I think for the unwilling it is formalized rape, and for the willing it is soul-destroying. That said, it is something I would consider if there were no other alternative way to keep my children fed.
The sex urge is at least as strong as hunger, thirst and the need for companionship for humans -- both male and female. Requiring long-term abstinence is unhealthy for the psyche, and where intra-unit fraternization is discouraged, another outlet must be available to maintain individual sanity as well as the smooth working of armed forces units as Old Fogey so ably describes.
#24
Couple points as I'm currently active duty mil & see the results of this first-hand:
>raptor's right, the lads are going to find a way to f*ck the local hookers - this will not stop them and the one's who get caught get & end up in trouble for much adoo about nothing imo. We have young guys in a high testerone environment who would otherwise be fornicating like rabbits back in college in the states if not for joining the mil - give'em a break. Unless you've been an 18 - 23 year old male overseas after spending months w/only men training for war you've no idea what I'm talking about. Though, I've always encouraged my lads to stay clear of hookers; I am a realist - I have always advised condoms and a clear understanding of the consequences involved when dealing w/ladies of the night - clap, drip, break up of relationships back home. I also advise married lads to remember their vows.
>don makes a good point about sofa - hooking is legal in okinawa, korea, etc. - Doubtful the politics will change - money is policy & that's the reality.
>right on RJ - beer and broads (no offense lady ranters) keeps them (usually) pretty happy. They will still bitch, but a bitching Marine is a happy Marine, its when they are quiet I start to worry because that means morale is really down the pisser. You want to see morale down the pisser - take away the beer & broads.
>I agree w/OF a lot. Cingold - The religious right did want porn mags out of the px's on base and tried to pass congressional legislation - this was a f*cking stupid move. Many Marines love their porn, don't try to understand it (ladies & bible bangers) just let them have their porn and if you want to say a prayer for their souls then good on ya. I've got guys who've seen the worst war has to offer and some asshole back home who can recite me all of Ezekiel but never served a day in his life is worrying about some servicemen popping a chubby over Miss November? Give me a break. Trust me, after seeing dead towel heads day on stay on, Miss November's a good deal.
>ex-lib the dod is going to get into the law of unintended consequences wrt trying to clean up other nations prostitution problems. Like OF, I deplore forced sexual labor but the easy fix is just making known establishments of these practices off-limits to service members - just like certain adult entertainment places are off-limits to us here in N.C. DOD is bringing a bazooka to a knife fight w/this. I think Analog had the best solution w/the halliburton angle though using tax payer's dollars to fund brothels would be an interesting debate imho. BTW ex-lib, get off the horse about comparing my lads to jihadis and the whole dick thing. Drawing any comparison no matter how far removed is an insult and you ought to be ashamed. As I doubt you've walked a mile in my boots or any other man in uniform who has as you put it "no self-control", our daily life involves a discipline I doubt you could ever fucking comprehend. Though I hate to break it to you -our job is not too right the wrongs of the whole damn world, we are not fucking boy scouts, we are rough men w/weapons that get the grity jobs done that most people want nothing to do with, and when that's done some guys are going to blow off steam buy utilizing brothels - so what? Lose the rose colored glasses please. Yes, forced sex labor is despicable as I already noted, but no, I don't lose much sleep over it as I'm more preoccupied in defending your ass against the jihadis you compared me to. Luckily, many others like me have chosen to support and defend the constitution of the U.S. which includes the 1st Amendment thus giving you the ability free of government reprisal to make such stupid comments in the first place.
I used to just think that officers should be canned if they went in for that stuff - I saw the negative effects on shipboard dicipline caused by some pretty piss-poor examples CO's in this arena. Bosnia has changed my mind.
I have a high opinion of the enlisted kids that we are recruiting and deploying overseas. Let the soldiers from the UN and EU enslave the child-women of the Balkans.
There are quite a number of "time honored" military traditions that the American military has banned much to its credit. Here are a few:
1. Liquor on Naval vessels
2. Robbing the dead
3. Summary executions
4. Adultery
5. Looting
6. Bribery
7. Loan-sharking
8. Recreational Drug-use
The list goes on. I can't see that turning a blind eye to prostitution is a policy that enhances readiness. Encouraging soldiers to become johns overseas and then expecting them not to continue that activity state-side is unrealistic. Part of solve this problem is to keep oir troops out of situations like the Balkans where there are other troops present engaged in institutionalized whore-mongering and human trafficing.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/22/2004 23:25 Comments ||
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#26
"just issue a Haliburton sub-contract out of Nevada for professionals"
Its actually one of the oldest profession's first set of customers - the "camp follower" is common throughout history.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
