It’s amazing the lengths some Journalists will go to discredit anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with their idea that Iraq is a quagmire and we should cut and run immediately.
     Whoever didn’t read William Arkin’s Tuesday column in the Washington Post definitely should;  what he delivered was nothing short of slander against every man and woman in uniform.

I’ve been mulling over an NBC Nightly News report from Iraq last Friday in which a number of soldiers expressed frustration with opposition to war in the United States.

I’m sure the soldiers were expressing a majority opinion common amongst the ranks - that’s why it is news - and I’m also sure no one in the military leadership or the administration put the soldiers up to expressing their views, nor steered NBC reporter Richard Engel to the story.

     If he’s “sure,” then why the Hell did he even say it?  Ahhh … because he wanted to remind everyone that his sense of sarcasm runs as deep as the spoiled, affluent high school girl who declares, “Oh, trailer park girl, my daddy’s going to buy me a BMW today.  I’m sure you’ll be driving yours and parking right beside me in the parking lot!”

I’m all for everyone expressing their opinion, even those who wear the uniform of the United States Army. But I also hope that military commanders took the soldiers aside after the story and explained to them why it wasn’t for them to disapprove of the American people.

     If that’s not a “Free Speech should only apply to us Journalists, not you morons!” then I must have missed something.

So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?
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…the recent NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.

The notion of dirty work is that, like laundry, it is something that has to be done but no one else wants to do it. But Iraq is not dirty work: it is not some necessary endeavor; the people just don’t believe that anymore.

I’ll accept that the soldiers, in order to soldier on, have to believe that they are manning the parapet, and that’s where their frustrations come in. I’ll accept as well that they are young and naïve and are frustrated with their own lack of progress and the never changing situation in Iraq. Cut off from society and constantly told that everyone supports them, no wonder the debate back home confuses them.

America needs to ponder what it is we really owe those in uniform.

     *gasp!*

     What Mr. Arkin should remember is that those soldiers whom he despises so — who he thinks shouldn’t be able to speak their minds without disciplinary action — have earned their Citizenship and their right to an opinion.  They have taken their Oaths of Service, protecting the United States and the Constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.  They have spilled their own blood and the blood of our enemies, all in order that people of Arkin’s ilk are ensured Free Speech and Representation.

     It took him until yesterday to apologize — but only for calling them mercenaries.

Mercenary, of course, is an insult and pejorative, and it does not accurately describe the condition of the American soldier today. I sincerely apologize to anyone in the military who took my words literally.

     Of course, the entire rest of the column is filled with same anti-War, anti-Bush, we’re-getting-nowhere-in-Iraq rhetoric, so does it really matter?

     I can’t help but wonder … When was the last time Arkin looked at the Flag, remembered what it meant, and said the Pledge of Allegiance?

     You won’t believe this…

…the Dell rep shows up and goes to work, and all goes well. … As he’s walking out the door, he says “by the way, it looks like the hard drive they (Dell) sent you wasn’t a new one …”

Dell actually gave me a hard-drive straight from the Department of Defense.

     Un-freaking-believable.  This means that, at some point, one of three things occurred:

• A Dell rep walked out of a DoD facility with a hard drive, ignoring the usual disposal procedures
• A DoD employee sent their laptop to Dell, ignoring the usual disposal procedures
• The DoD upgraded a series of leased laptops, ignoring the usual disposal procedures

     A little over a week ago, a law enforcement official called me to hack into a seized notebook.  In under thirty seconds, I found the Administrator account (they had changed it — just like the DoD does), erased its password and reset the account protection on the file system.  I then logged into Safe Mode as the Administrator, deleted the passwords on the client accounts, handed it back to said law enforcement official and said, “Have fun with that.”  I got my $125, and went my merry way.

     Sure, not everyone can do it that quickly, but I know there are plenty of people out there who are perfectly capable of doing what I did.  Distributing Department of Defense hard drives to people with that kind of know-how could certainly be a serious risk to National Security.

     In my book, at least three people need to be held accountable for that kind of screw up.

One of the tenets of the foundation of the United States was that there would be a seperation of Church and State. This is where most Muslim countries have failed: the power to control the masses has stayed with the “church,” where radical sectarians are able to exert their beliefs upon their unknowing populace. As we’ve all witnessed, this allows very bad things happen.

Karl Marx once said, “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” His writings were instrumental as an architectural diagram for the Bolshevik Party to seize power from Imperial Russia, and overthrow their Czar.

Likewise, in many predominantly Muslim countries, we can find much truth in Marxism: Governments rely on Imams and clerics to spread their agendas.  In turn, those Imams and clerics attempt to keep their people undereducated in order to retain control over their congregations.

Unfortunately, this is where Seperationist ideas come from.

The MSM has widely spread their latest story about radical Muslim cleric Moqtada Al-Sader’s grasp on the current Iraqi military. Of course these stories are popular with mainstream media, being that they’re overwhelmingly against the War in Iraq, but they do illustrate a simple point.

What most people don’t realize is that “Muslim” is a giant label, not altogether different from “Christian.” There are literally hundreds of demoninations, and thousands of sects.

There are Talibans, who preach a radical form of Islam where women are believed to be the deceiving daughters of Eve, and a primitive, Old Testament form of justice is the code of the day: “An eye for eye, and a tooth for a tooth. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off!” There are occasional Sharias, ordained orders, from Imams and clerics calling for their flock to go forth and kill in the name of God.

It’s very similar, in fact, to the Knight of the Ku Klux Klan or the Church of the Creator in the United States, who order their minions of Neo-Nazi Skinheads to go out and stir up trouble with unbelieving white people (because it’s too much trouble for most of them to go after the minorities they claim to abhor).

It’s not that Islam is inherently bad, but at the very least, the whole of the culture certainly needs to be updated to the 20th century.

A bit of Martial Law certainly wouldn’t go amiss in Iraq: declare a curfew, and kill everything carrying a weapon whether it’s a Man, Woman or two-year-old.

Press for Seperation of Church and State and attempt to solidify the country to a common cause: the end of Radical Islamists.

Iraq has come a long way since this whole thing started, but our recently elected Congress will certainly shed no light on that fact.

This is not the time to cut-and-run: it’s time to prove our worth, and assist the provisional Government to end sectarian violence by declaring Freedom of Religion.

     Truly, there are a lot of idiots in the world.  The conviction, and subsequent execution, of Saddam Hussein — by his own citizens — is certainly proving it.

      A perfect example of people losing their damn minds comes from India, where, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party general secretary Beni Prasad Verma (a lefty Islamist, no less) claimed that George Bush is “the biggest terrorist in the world.”  Seems he’s all about getting those around him riled up with anti-American sentiment despite the fact that Saddam was convicted and executed by the very people he used to rule.
      All in all, it seems a very nasty place for an Indian politician to be sticking his nose, but then I guess his sort are pretty common these days.  It’s little wonder that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was mentioning, just the other day, that that state specifically is “in need of modern leadership.”
     Why, I’ll bet right there in Uttar Pradesh, just a hop-skip-and-a-jump from the Kashmir, there’re even a few Islamic fundamentalists who were inspired by the snippet and are declaring jihad at this very moment!  Let’s hope they’re at least as stupid as the British attempted-shoe-bomber Richard Reid…

      It’s a little funny, since you certainly don’t hear any anti-American sentiment in the execution video.  Seems like most people who lived under the thumb of that maniac in Iraq are overwhelmingly happy the man is dead.
     And while I’ve wrestled with the thought that perhaps I shouldn’t post this video, stolen from a camera phone, I finally thought… why not let everyone else get as much ghoulish entertainment as I have from it?

     It’s been an interesting few days, and Halloween seemed just the sort of time to make fun of it.

     Last night, I wore fatigues, combat boots, a black t-shirt and dog tags, and overall looked like a badass Marine.  It’s pretty easy these days, with my #2 haircut and general build anyway.
     I met a friend in the Old City who claimed the be “the mad Arab from Raiders of the Lost Ark!”  Although, given his black robe and turban, and scimatar held up by a wide, red belt, he certainly looked like a skinny reject from Al Queda.
     Being idiots — with his alcohol and my having been awake for at thirty-six hours — we took our chance to hold hands, and skip down the sidewalk together screaming, “We’re the Lefty Liberal Idealists’ Dream!”  At the corner, we stopped, and and started pointing at random passersby, screaming, “You NeoCons!  You didn’t vote for John Kerry!  John Kerry is the smartest man in the world!”
     Fortunately, most people had the good humour to die laughing.  However, we continued until we could no longer scream “Evangelical NeoCons are destroying the world!” with straight faces.  The small mob of people gathering around loved it. 
     I wish I had a video to throw up on YouTube.  Or at least some photos.  I know a couple of people did, so if you’re reading this, please send them my way.

     The infamous Kerry comments were as follows:

Your education, If you make the most of it, you study hard, and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you, you can do well.  If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.

     Ummm… If a=b and b=c, then a=c (purty damn gud algebry for a public skool boy frum Tennessee, ain’t it?)… Then…

     John Kerry said Iraq was another Vietnam.

     John Kerry went on relentlessly about his service in Vietnam.

     Therefore…

     John Kerry didn’t make the most of it, study hard, do his homework or make an effort.

     Thus we know the absolute truth: It wasn’t a NeoCon, Right Wing Conspiracy that caused Kerry to lose the election — it’s because he was a dumbass!

     Unlike our troops, who know the value of good humor:

     I just love ScrappleFace.com’s video:

UPDATE 1:51PM EST:
     Ack!  Michelle Malkin and I must’ve been writing at the same time…  Of course, I was browsing for funny stuff on YouTube before hitting the “Publish” button…
     As for all the K’s in the title … it’s just an ode to Ben Cardin’s Maryland campaign against Black Republican Michael Steele.  It’s amazing the depths the DNC will sink to and still try and pawn off allegations of Racism against their opponents.

     One of Michelle Malkin’s articles from yesterday pointed me towards yet another media cluster-copulation, one which unfortunately went global.

     The situation is basically this… 30-Sep-2000, “supposed” footage was shot of an uprising against the Israeli police station at the Netzarim Junction in Gaza.  This footage “supposedly” showed the death of an “innocent” twelve-year-old boy, Mohammed Al Durah, as he and his father were shot by Israeli soldiers.
     The incident, filmed by Palestinians equipped by France2 News, made global headlines, sparked global criticism of Israel and has been used extensively by terrorists — including bin Laden himself — to illustrate the “godless” Israelis and their “slaughter of innocents.”
     Unfortunately, when you see the entire set of footage, it’s obvious that this is far from what actually happened.  In fact, the entire incident was staged, from beginning to end, by Palestinian cameramen and a cast of actors!

     In 2002, two French and German documentaries poked holes in France2’s story, sparking a great deal of interest from media watchdogs and critics.  This resulted not in France2 take action against those in its staff responsible for the falsified story… instead, France2 decided to sue three of its strongest critics for “striking at their honor and respectability.”
     Fortunately, the first case against Philippe Karsenty (which began 14-Sep-2006) was dropped, but the next two cases are upcoming on 26-Oct-2006 and 30-Nov-2006.

     Richard Landes, a medieval history professor from Boston University (and witness for the defense in the case against Karsenty), wrote a very informative article for The New Republic chronicling the events.  He’s also put up a website, The 2nd Draft, which features two documentaries about the original incident from 2000.  His videos make some compelling arguments about what the public really knows about the Palestinian conflict, and may be extremely pertinent in many other situations.
     Check out his documentaries… They’re worth it.  Real eye-openers!

     It’s simply amazing how a French news organization can single-handedly screw up so many things, create a Jidaadist martyr out of thin air — which, mind you, caused the deaths of thousands of people worldwide, including 9/11 — and somehow come out of it without so much as a slap on the wrist from their Government.  And for those same people to then have the guts to actually sue the people who point out their fallacy?
     Why … It’s enough to make me wanna eat Freedom Fries.

     In the meantime, this should be a wake-up call to Mainstream Mass-Media (MSM) and Journalists alike: do your damn jobs!

     Anyone else remember Bernhard “Subway Vigilante” Goetz?

     Back in 1984, he was accosted on a New York subway train by at least three in a group of four black men who intended to rob him (suppose I should give Darrell Cabey the benefit of the doubt, even though he made no attempt to alert Goetz).  Goetz produced a .38 Smith & Wesson and shot all four of them — non-fatally, which wasn’t his intent.
     The subsequent case against Goetz was a huge media event, which quickly engrained itself into American pop culture.  Goetz was eventually acquitted of the crime under New York’s self-defense statutes, although he did serve a few months for having an illegal weapon.
     Some twelve years later in 1996, Darrell Cabey was awarded $43 Million dollars in a successful Civil Suit against Goetz.  Goetz, of course, filed for bankruptcy.

     Even though there are many people who feel Goetz was a racist in using excessive force against his assailants (let’s be honest — that’s what they were), it is widely speculated that this single, highly publicized incident was responsible for the sharp drop in robbery and muggings in 1980’s New York City.

     And why on Earth would I be thinking of Goetz today?

     Blame Captain Ed…

     Two Pratt Institute students were arrested for planting “fake bombs” around the New York City subway, to rage against the machine, to show of the “farce” that is Subway security … just to prove that they could.
     Apparently, umm, they couldn’t.

     What they did prove, however, was that a couple of snivelling, priveledged, caucasian children can stuff newpapers into duffel bags and still be arrested.

     I’ll bet ol’ Bernie Goetz would have made quick work of these asshats. 

     Sometimes a picture’s worth a thousand words.
     Other times, they’re worth ten thousand.  I’ll try not to write them all down.

     Throughout my travels, I actually have very few pictures, let alone pictures of me.  That’s why this one is so special to me.  It was taken 28-Dec-2000.

     Nine months later, those beautiful landmarks were gone.  I was in a foreign country having abuse and saliva hurled at me by random morons with their, “Fucking yanks got what you deserved!” and other such slanders.
     Mind you, “screaming” is considered a violent act there, and they had a tendency to make examples of non-citizens, so I had to either take the abuse or take my chances beating on some of them.
     Door number two was easier, knowing that I could go home and shave my hair and beard, and they’d be too stupid to know it was me if they saw me again.

     Contrary to popular belief, the 9/11 attacks took little to pull off.  That’s the one thing the public doesn’t like to hear.
     It wasn’t the work of a brilliant, criminal mastermind with an endless supply of money.  All it took was a few idiots with the nerve and will to actually do it.
     I was out there, and I know first hand that there are a lot of idiots in the world, with the will to do it.  Fortunately, few of them have the nerve, but the possibility has always been there, and continues to be there.

     ”There was no problem before this stupid President!  We could travel anywhere under the last one!”
     Even through the 90’s, foreign travel was discouraged to “ALL COUNTRIES, DUE TO HIGH POSSIBILITY OF ANTI-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES.”  These notices were in every Post Office and Airport in the country.  Surely I’m not the only one who noticed them.
     But certainly, after 9/11, it got worse.  Half the world saw America as weak, saw that retribution could be had for whatever made-up reasons we needed it, and apparently, all it took was a few plane tickets and some box cutters.

     “We shouldn’t be in Iraq since it had nothing to do with 9/11!”
     We unhinged Afghanistan because there were camps training armies of Jihaadists.  These things are all over the Middle East, as well.
     Regardless of whether or not Iraq had anything to do with it, two facts remain.  First, it was an unsecure country with  tons of munitions.  Second, a stabilized Iraq dead in the middle of a Jihaadist region is a perfectly good thing.
     For Iraqis who are fed up with Totalitarian control, isn’t it nice to see them on television now wearing Levis and playing soccer instead of being terrorized by a leader who has had no qualms about killing them by the hundreds of thousands?
     And for Jihaadists … Iraq is a poison pill where the majority of them will face the front, and die for their cause, without killing as many innocent civillians as they have for last thirty years.

     “You’re more likely get killed by lightning than killed by a terrorist!”
     Maybe that’s true.  But maybe it’s only true of now, post-9/11, because we certainly didn’t think it would happen on 10-Sep-2001, now did we?
     Realistically, the NOAA & NWS agree that there were 3684 reported deaths by lightning between 1959 and 2004.  2997 people died (not including the hijackers) on that single day, 11-Sep-2001.
     Given those statistics, is it really fair, comparing nearly fifty years to a single day?
     Regardless of how we may dislike the new “security” measures at airports, they usually don’t inconvenience us terribly.  Sure, we’ve hit a few bumps lately, but we’ll get through it.

     Without the politics to add fuel to these arguments, they all fall apart.  We can sit here, as citizens, getting a tenth of the story at best, and try to second guess, analyze, and make all these stupid connections to find a single person responsible for the mess.
     Thoughts like that will almost never represent the truth.

     We should remember what life was like, realisticly, before 9/11.  We should remember the day.  We should remember those who died for no reason.  And we should never forget.
     Maybe when we all start doing that, we’ll begin to see some improvement.

Thanks, Mia, for the last two pictures

     Swanky did another article about Terrorism paranoia yesterday, but this time it’s one that I agree with.

Terrorists want to cause terror. We go nuts over every little thing and thus, they succeed, even when they fail i.e. the London liquid plane bombers. They were stopped and we still have to bring air traffic to a grinding halt and raise the panic level. The list of panicy non-threats is seemingly endless…
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I don’t mean to get all conspiritorial on ya, but, who benefits from this hightened sense of panic?

     And the unfortunate part is, I have an answer for that. 

     Media benefits.

     I didn’t intend for this Blog to be about Politics.  Quite honestly, I can’t stand Washington Politicians — they’ll sell us all out before it’s over with.  But one side is a little more responsible that the other when it comes to Media.

     The reason it’s called “Liberal Media” is because, well, they like to cozy up to the Party that’ll tell them what to print, which gives them less workload, and a cash kickback.  The opposing party doesn’t tell them what to print, and doesn’t give them a kickback, so Media will bitch and moan about the increased workload without increased cash.
     So, of course, they’re gonna cozy up to Washington Democrats, and claim, “Oh, Freedom of the Press is great!  And that other party?  They’ll don’t tell us anything, so they must be conspiring against us!”
     Nevermind that the actual problem is that they’re lazy and don’t know how to do good-ol’-fashioned journalism and dig for stories anymore.
     Bear with me, because this is coming from first-hand experience, having been a Media staff writer.  Oh, the number of times I’ve had articles hacked to death and all-but-rewritten by an editor with a Political agenda…
     It really is that sordid.

     Media benefits.

     Some people might say, “Oh, that’s all fine and good, but what about Foreign Media?  They have nothing to gain from sordid American politics!”
     Having worked for a foreign Media entity, I can explain that from first hand experience, as well.  In fact, they have even more to gain.

     Most other countries don’t have “free press.”  Instead, they have a Ministry-operated (i.e. Government) entities which distribute news that Government wants its people to hear.
     That said, Foreign Press tends to be extremely jealous of US Media, who rarely print anything without fear of retribution (cutting jobs, cutting budgets, etc.).  It’s because of that the US was called “Paper Tiger” in so many articles prior to its infamous use by Osama bin Laden.
     Associated Press and Reuters will pick up news from any associate in the world.  With most associates, nine times out of ten, if there’s a juicy story in a given country and a non-story which bashes America, they’ll pick door number two.  
     Even some of the of the British Commonwealths, who regularly sell their best products as export-only, do this sort of thing.  It’s the “underdog mentality,” where a Government can say, “Know why things are so piss poor here?  It’s because of those damn Americans!  Know why you’re paying three pounds a litre for gallon?  Those damn Americans!  And they’re no better than you — check out this headline!”
     It gives their citizens something to feel in common, gives them a common enemy — “Those damn Americans!”
     Four pounds a litre, yes.  3.79 litres per gallon.  Round-about $1.90 per British Pound.  Twenty-one dollars a gallon.  Sucks for them, eh?  But instead of greedy oil companies, they get to blame America for invading Iraq.

     So … Foreign Media (and foreign governments) sow the seeds of Paranoia, reporting everything that happens, with a spin of “America isn’t doing anything about it!” or “Look how America’s screwing up now!”
     AP and Reuters pick up on, and Washington Policians get on TV about it, and our lazy media doesn’t have to write its own stories — they get to embellish every bit of crap and garbage that the Foreign Media gave them.  And if they do a good job, they get a kickback.
     Sordid.  Pathetic.

     Free Press is Free Press.  In this country, have a choice, but they lack the ethics to handle themselves on their own.
     So next time you hear how “The Republicans are limiting our Civil Liberties!” take it with a grain of salt.  Media complains about that specific thing for one reason, and one reason only: there have been numerous bits of Legislation to try and curb their sordid behavior, and make them more responsible in their journalism.
     Go take a look at http://thomas.loc.gov/ and look at the Bills and Voting Records.  You might even find that those things are getting voted for on both sides of the fence.

     The paranoia is pandemic.  It’s politically motivated.

     On that note … I read that terrorist’s favorite Moonbat, Cindy Sheehan, organized another Anti-War Protest today.  What a sad, sad, non-story she is.
     Casey Austin Sheehan (29-May-1979 – 4-Apr-2004) died in Iraq.  He put on a uniform to serve and protect his country.  And when the War in Iraq broke out, he re-enlisted in order to promote Freedom around the globe.  He died doing what he wanted to do.  He is to be commended, and remembered, as both an honorable man and a patriot.

     When’s the last time she even mentioned his name during one of her protests?  When’s the last time that she told anyone that he re-enlisted to go to that war?  When’s the last time she said, “My son was a hero!  He died doing what he believed in!”
     She doesn’t give a damn about her son.  She’s a selfish, self-promoting moonbat who slanders his memory every time she starts one of her tirades.  She writes letters to Barbara Bush claiming, “Your son killed my son!”

     Your son is rolling in his grave, Ms. Sheehan.  Please stop disgracing his good name and crawl back under your rock.  Or your soccer-mom minivan.

     I read this earlier today, and meant to blog it, but got busy and missed it.  This is News of the Weird type stuff:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli woman’s breast implants saved her life when she was wounded in a Hizbollah rocket attack during Israel’s war with the Lebanese group, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

Doctors found shrapnel embedded in the silicone implants, just inches from the 24-year-old’s heart.

“She was saved from death,” said a spokesman for Nahariya Hospital in northern Israel. The woman has been released from hospital

Source: Reuters

     Any jokes I could make about that are tasteless, so I digress.  And on that note…