You've got your Mexican standoff, your Russian roulette, your Chinese water torture. And now, your Libyan crossfire. That's when a pistol is applied to the head and a bullet crosses from one temple to the other.
Somebody has been reading tales from the RAB's Crossfire Gazette.
The Hammer does have a way with words, doesn't he...
That's apparently what happened to Moammar Qaddafi after he was captured by Libyan rebels -- died in a "crossfire," explains Libya's new government. This has greatly agitated ACLU types, morally unemployed ever since a Democratic administration declared Guantanamo humane. ...
Let's begin at the beginning. Early in the revolution, Qaddafi could have had due process. Indeed, he could have had something better: asylum (in Nicaragua, for example
Or Venezuela, where el Presidente Chavez really wants a playmate to amuse his declining years)
with a free pass for his crimes. If he stepped down, thereby avoiding the subsequent civil war that killed thousands of his countrymen, he could have enjoyed a nice fat retirement, like that of Idi Amin in Saudi Arabia. ... Qaddafi could have had such a peace-over-justice compromise. He chose instead to fight to the death. He got what he chose.
That fateful decision to fight -- and kill -- is the prism through which to judge the cruel treatment Qaddafi received in his last hours. It is his refusal to forgo those final crimes, those final shellings of civilians, those final executions of prisoners, that justifies his rotten death. ...
So he was killed by his captors. Big deal. So was Mussolini. So were the Ceausescus. They deserved far worse. As did Qaddafi. In a world of perfect justice, this Caligula should have suffered far more, far longer. He inflicted unimaginable suffering upon thousands. What did he suffer? Perhaps an hour of torment and a shot through the head. By any standard of cosmic justice, that's mercy. ...
Posted by: Mike ||
10/28/2011 08:34 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Scott Olsen is the Marine Corps veteran critically injured at Occupy Oakland Tuesday night, during a confrontation between the protesters and the police. The latest news is good: his condition has been upgraded from critical to fair and he is apparently conscious and able to respond to doctors and family members. I sincerely wish him a full recovery, and I also hope that a proper investigation is conducted to determine whether police misconduct is responsible for his injuries.
But I ran across something this evening that may add a new dimension to this story. It has been widely reported that Olsen is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. But apparently his opposition to the U.S. military and the Marine Corps in which he served runs a little deeper.
The site is no longer live, but Olsen was the founder of IHateTheMarineCorps.com, a private user forum apparently dedicated to bashing the Marine Corps.
A Scott Olsen is listed as the registered owner of this domain, and I was able to confirm that this is indeed the same Scott Olsen based on a user profile on the fundraising site pledgie.com.
#3
Based on conversations with a family relative in the Corps during OIF, Marines, be they officers or enlisted, don't cater much to 'wussies' and 'whiners' (or even worse - lazy f*s) and probably made this young man's life a tad difficult.
Hence the resentment.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/28/2011 12:16 Comments ||
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#4
And what exactly does him hating the Marine Corps have to do with him being shot in the head with a tear gas canister while just standing there at a legal protest? Yeah, maybe he is scum, I don't know. And we all know the occupiers are bunch of worthless fucks. But that doesn't excuse what happened to him. It used to be people on this forum were true Americans who support the Constitution. Now it seems people just want to sling mud at people whose opinion we disagree with. Lovely.
#5
Well of course we support 'the right of the people peaceably to assemble,' as defined in the Constitution. What part of the process in which they had to resort to using tear gas during a confrontation between the protesters and the police might give the impression that it had ceased to be peaceful? Hmmm...maybe becauseThe police are saying that they had to deploy beanbags and maybe tear-gas because people started throwing bottles, plates, and rocks when they tried to clear out the encampment at Occupy Oakland.
#6
The kid got seven medals apparently while serving our country. He does not deserve to be treated to storm trooper tactics in our own country. He is allowed to think his own thoughts and believe what he believes. It is disgusting that our country is coming to this. "Karma" may hate him, but I suspect God loves him dearly.
I don't like the leftists in this country, but I am very aware that our country has been looted by Wall Street types since the late 1970s when they were allowed to use high leverage to forcibly takeover all our companies and asset strip them. And they have been doing it ever since and our political class obviously has benefited from it so much they have no intention of stopping it. We have literally been plundered and our jobs shipped overseas.
This is the lifestyle of the Chinese slaves building our Oakland Bay Bridge for us...it's what is coming to your neighborhood.
Pan Zhongwang, a 55-year-old steel polisher, is a typical Zhenhua worker. He arrives at 7 a.m. and leaves at 11 p.m., often working seven days a week. He lives in a company dorm and earns about $12 a day.
And we the taxpayers get to pay for this. No one asked me.
You're being played the fools if you think because people think that the US isn't some shining light on the hill any more that they are suddenly the enemy.
#7
He does not deserve to be treated to storm trooper tactics in our own country.
So much for rationale discussion.
As far as service goes, it counts. However, I also remember that Benedict Arnold was the real victor at Saratoga. Does that make his later choices excusable?
#10
The police issue a lawful order to disperse which the mob resisted. So an officer fires an indirect, un-aimed, less than lethal tear gas round into the crowd. In that he was hit on the front of the head, he was still facing towards the police.
This means that he was still likely refusing a legal order issued by the police. He could just as likely received a blow from a police baton, had the police advanced in that circumstance, resulting in a similar injury.
#11
The kid got seven medals apparently while serving our country
Really? What did he get the medals for? And where did you get your information, Jeque Hupairong2828? We like being able to check sources here at Rantburg, which is why all the posted articles link to the originals.
#14
IMHO, the problem with these people is they want it both ways. To retain the unquestionable moral authority of having served honorably for a period of time, regardless of how fully they later repudiate the institution that gave them the opportunity, or of how repugnant their later actions are to the values they (may or may not have) temporarily adopted.
Not glad the dude got injured, but those whose service was truly heartfelt, honest, and honorable would never find themselves in such as situation.
#15
He also left the service after four years as a Lance Corporal. That's only one grade up from PFC.
Normally within a four-year stint one could expect to be at least three grades above Private (the least one can be upon completion of basic training), especially with two tours in a combat zone. The only reason one wouldn't be at least a full Corporal (or higher) in that timeframe, combined with the two Iraq tours and the 'extra credit' given for those, is if they screwed up pretty badly.
I do know that a small number of recruits make Lance Corporal before they graduate Boot Camp, although it takes quite a bit of effort.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/28/2011 15:25 Comments ||
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#16
maybe the Olsen wasn't advanced with his peer group accounts for his hatred of the Marines.
and maybe the fact that he is inclined to 'hate' may have led to him not being advanced.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/28/2011 16:07 Comments ||
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#17
While the mayor of Oakland thinks that something bad happened, and she wishes something bad didn't happen, a mayor can only issue an order, she cannot direct how that order will be carried out, because she has no police training or subordinate command authority over the police.
"I only asked the chief to do one thing: to do it when it was the safest for both the police and the demonstrators." When pressed for more details, Quan said: "I don't know everything."
And this is exactly what a mayor *can* do. It is up to police, following the law, to carry out what she has directed them to do, as long as it is a lawful order, which by all appearances, this was.
#18
All sorts of things out there in the internet, Jeque Hupairong2828 , some of which is true. ;-) I hoped asking you would be a shortcut to more reliable information. Also, about the value of the medals, about which I know nothing, being completely non-military.
From your link:
Olsen had been helping to develop security applications for U.S. defense agencies, building on expertise gained while on active duty in Iraq, Garon said.
Olsen was awarded seven medals while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, which he left as a lance corporal in November 2009 after serving for four years.
He went on two tours in Iraq, one in 2006-2007 and another in 2008, where he worked as a data network specialist. He was awarded seven medals, including the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal, according to the Marine Corps.
I am grateful to those who serve or have served in our military, and not just from the selfish reason that were it not for those who served in the American and British armed forces during the second world war I would never have been born. But that does not change the fact that a few of those who put on the uniform are incorrigeable knuckleheads.
Mr. Olson, who according to the links embedded in the article Anonymoose posted wrote about his pride at not being a good Marine, had quite a go at freely speaking and assembling -- they've been there for a couple of weeks now, after all. It is time they gave someone else a turn to do the same.
It would be nice if the new people did not tolerate rabid antisemitism, and all the other nonsense video taped at the various OWS gatherings, but that,s just me.
#19
He went on two tours in Iraq, one in 2006-2007 and another in 2008, where he worked as a data network specialist. He was awarded seven medals, including the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal, according to the Marine Corps.
-so he probably worked in the comm shop (S-6) of a Battalion or RCT. He received a NAM and was probably later reduced from NCO to Lance or was non-recommended for promotion. In either case - if your a comm/data Marine (one of the faster promoting MOS's in the Corps) did a couple tours and got a NAM - should've been at least a corporal at 4yrs and probably a Sgt at 5. He was probably a shit bird at the end or did something really dumb (DUI, drug pop or disrespect to a SNCO/officer) to not make Cpl before getting out.
I obviously wasn't at Oakland, so, who knows, my bet is that he rolled the dice and it came up snake-eyes.
#20
Quick and dirty on medals. Those "in" can read them like Personnel Sheet. Here's a link to USMC medals and ribbons [which you can bet the MSM can't tell the difference between] in order of precedence. The upper and lower demarcation of medals is the National Defense Service Medal. You receive that as a freebee by making it out of basic in good standing during time of conflict, as like now. So basically something everyone gets. All the medals listed below that are for showing up someplace at sometime in which the medal is issued. That tells the story of where you've been in your career so far as much as anything particular you may have done. If you repeat an assignment to the same place, one does not get a second medal, but a 'device' which indicates how many times the event has occurred. Given we're dealing with sources of varying quality checks, someone may be counting subsequent awards as medals rather than as devices. Maybe not. However, there are several medals that could cover the same area of operation with differing periods.
Now those medals awarded above the NDSM are for specific performances of duty. Can't speak for the Marines, but in the Army there is a differentiation between combat and non-combat medals [or suppose to be]. For example if the performance was in combat the Bronze Star may be the medal to be utilized while for non-combat performance the Meritorious Service Medal would be more applicable.
Those 'in' can read the chest candy and fathom their meanings.
#24
Aftr wading through our beloved Occupy San Diego wasteland a couple times the last couple weeks, I'm ....unsympathetic. They try to clear the trash out (objects and people) to clean the place and these losers roll back in against orders for no camping, tents, etc.
They have no idea what they're protesting for, just "give me". Fuck em
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/28/2011 21:03 Comments ||
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#25
point of info - police went in like they did because the protesters were throwing metal bars and chunks of concrete. Are you sure it was the police that put the blunt force trauma to the head of that shitbird druggie kicked out EX-marine that got himself into a riot.
#26
#9 - Laziness is no excuse. You are on notice. Expect the worst.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/28/2011 22:35 Comments ||
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#27
I laughed too. I just figured it was some guy who happened to be there who happened to get bonked while participating in a dangerous activity, that is go play paintball expect welts, if you will.
My flag goes up with the participation of security apps for the very thing he hates.
What it is, is an attempt to turn it into Pigs Target Infallable Patriot's Expressionisms, or as others' simply put looking for their Kent State Moment.
Storm Trooping, hardly, even by USA standards. Storm Trooping is when the department of education SWAT raids a house for loans, or that shitbird AZ sheriff's SWAT run, or the famouse SWAT raid of Elion Gonzalez. This is peace officers enforcing the peace and without them there would either be counter-protests or worse. They kept the peace and the discussion open, guy identified and kept with a group which were acting in an aggressive anti-order way.
#29
I think maybe you should put password protection up and a secret handshake and then the preferred Rantburgers wouldn't have to be annoyed by other people's opinions.
Then you could avoid looking at every poster's IP address and sharing it amongst yourselves if they don't share the correct thoughts.
#30
Oooooooo! Scared? Halloween's a couple days away. How about if I ridicule your "concern trolling"? and unwillingness to pick a nym and stick with it. I have had the same one, for about 10 years. As far as physical threats? Nice try. I'll just stick to responding to your half-truths and innuendo. Next?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/28/2011 23:29 Comments ||
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#33
OK, me, I didn't start posting until the bullshit tornado coverage at Greensburg Kansas and visit until otherwise noted. I have found that a person must only be honest and back it up, why I only post here because, as it was explained so well, visited by those who have an active involvement in life.
From what I have gathered nobody is bashing the dude, but the hypocrasy of the OWE movement and/or its takeover by real political entities looking for an excuse, rather than his voluntary involvement in other groups who are frustrated to say the least with the situation.
Guy has apparently voluteered for this, not understanding the potential risk, well if you can't trust the mayor of Oakland who can you trust right?
Jokes, I'm here for the snark. I've got jokes.
Was that Saudi guy they heir apparent? No no, they said, "'erd a Parrot", he's just pining for the fjords.
#1
Thank you Ryuge. Can I say Amen to that. It takes someone of another culture to speak the truth. Should a person of the West speak of such things they would pay a price. Well, she has from her own life experiences. Like the treatment of the Tea Party and the Occupy groups. One group gets a pass on everything and the other must prove or pay through the nose. One is a media darling and the other somehow anti American.
Peeking through Occupy Wall Street's cloudy drum sessions, group speeches, and celebrity visits are a few rays of reality's sunlight. These glimmers of the real world show that even the campers of Zuccotti Park aren't immune to Margaret Thatcher's famous declaration that "the facts of life are conservative."
Conservatism is the natural political outgrowth from the real life experience. Humans are naturally flawed, greedy, and untrustworthy. Conservatives recognize that fact and promote the market system and divided government in order to pit one greedy person against another.
Conversely, the left continually denies and fights against human nature (inevitably losing to it). For leftists, it's always a matter of finding the right human to rule -- the disinterested regulator, the consumer-protecting bureaucrat, the messianic president, etc. That is the nature of the OWS protests: to replace one group of self-interested people on Wall Street with another group of magically not self-interested people in government. But because government isn't magic, utopias never quite work out in real life -- not even in Zuccotti Park. In one news story after another, Thatcher's "facts of life" are on display. Let's look at four examples.
Conservative Fact of Life: Give a man a fish, and he'll stick around for another.
Providing for folks in need is a good thing, but handouts are dangerous tools. At any point in the giver-receiver relationship, there's a risk of doing more harm than good. If the recipient becomes dependent or feels entitled to his benefits, his initiative atrophies like an unused muscle. Too often the receiver is left less prepared and less likely to succeed in the future. Thus long-term well-being is sacrificed in the name of short-term "help."
The negative effects of welfare can appear quickly, as OWS recently learned. Zuccotti Park has become a hotspot for vagrants in search of free food. Protestor Lauren Digioia recently explained to reporters that OWS has "compassion toward everyone," but that "there are rules and guidelines." Specifically, "[i]f you're going to come here and get our food, bedding and clothing, have books and medical supplies for no charge, they need to give back." Digioia added, "There's a lot of takers here and they feel entitled."
Conservative Fact of Life: Everybody is wealthier than somebody, but that doesn't give anyone the right to take from others.
Protestor Nan Terrie allegedly came to Zuccotti Park with a $5,500 Mac laptop (near the top 1% of portable computers, perhaps). One night after Terrie succumbed to fatigue after a long day as a kitchen volunteer, preparing meals for fellow protestors, a thief made off with the high-end computer.
"Stealing is our biggest problem at the moment," Terrie told reporters. A problem indeed. Suddenly it didn't matter that the computer was $2,000 more than even the most tricked out MacBook Pro available in the Apple online store. Or that scores of laptops exist at a fraction of the price (the computer I'm using to write this article was 1/10 the price of the Terrie's stolen Mac). No, the only thing that mattered was that taking something that someone else earned was wrong. That fact holds for a college student's electronic devices as well as a hedge fund manager's compensation.
Conservative Fact of Life: Rugged individualism is the only sensible approach to life.
America was built by people who refused to wait around for someone else to make them a living. From the frontiersman who left everything to chase his dreams in the American West to the entrepreneurs of the Forbes 400 list, Americans who make their own way are the most successful.
It didn't take long for protestor Peter Hogness to learn whom he could trust. Angry about empty promises regarding the protestor status in Zuccotti Park, Hogness stumbled upon true wisdom. "One thing we have learned from this is that we need to rely on ourselves and not on promises from elected officials," Hogness told reporters.
Conservative Fact of Life: Though she's a seductive mistress, Utopia never quite works out as a wife.
Conservative author and columnist Dr. Thomas Sowell once said that he would love to live in the kind of world envisioned by the left. In such a world we would have few inequalities, few wants, and men would act as angels, working for the common good. e.g., Star Trek. Just watch out for the Borg...
The problem for the left is that their vision is based on a premise that does not exist in the real world.
The longer the OWS protests last, the more they confront the real world. As money has begun to roll in from supporters (reportedly $500,000), life has only become more complicated. "F**k Finance," said Bryan Smith when he couldn't get access to the funds he wanted. "I hope Mayor Bloomberg gets an injunction and demands to see the movement's books."
When Elija Moses requested $8,000 to replace his vandalized drum set, he was turned down. "We don't have the power for [purchases that large]," explained Finance Committeeman Pete Dutro. "They have to go to the General Assembly."
Moses put it best when he simply said, "I'm really frustrated." Yes, Utopia can be quite frustrating for anyone who believes it can exist. Alas, an earthly Eden does not exist, and its mortal imitations are no more than an unwieldy collection of committees, assemblies, and frustrated citizens.
It's unlikely that these experiences will change minds among the Occupiers. (But there's always hope -- even Sowell was once a committed Marxist.) Unfortunately, once Occupy Wall Street has picketed its final bank, sung its last rendition of Cumbaya and gone home, it will take just one sentence to define the movement: "The truths of conservatism stared them in the face; sadly, they failed to notice."
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > "WIFE-SHARING" HARMS INDIAN VILLAGES AS GIRLS DISAPPEAR. Traditional Tribal prefrerence for Males = unabated abortions, selling or killings of Female Fetuses-Babies = Siblings whom are simul also Extended Relations [Nephews andor Nieces to same], thanks to [forced = violent]intra-Clan/Village Bride Sharing.
#3
South Park goofed these guys years ago. "If only there were, like, people who made food for everybody." Yeah, they are bakers. It is obvious they made more effort to learn Basquiet than Richard Scarry.
I like to argue that the Star Trek universe is a promoter of the strong American values and conversative ideas, not the liberal utopian leftest ideal. In this universe there is war (constant), intrigue (Undiscovered Country), money and trade (Deep Space Nine), Laws, Death, unknown unknowns dealt with by a crew of rugged individuals rather than just sitting back waiting for the captain to make decisions. There is constant adversity, the Q trials, could go on. And the fact is, the ideals of the Federation are constanty tried by its enemies, "Human Rights, why the very term is racist!" The fact is the Borg are collectivists just as the communist/leftists. If I had a list of excellent anti-collectivist flicks I would include the episodes where the Hue offshoots break from the collective and then struggle with Lore's leadership, excellent piece
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.
