In the Pacific, a New Kind of Monument Is Proposed
By FELICITY BARRINGER
The Bush administration is taking steps to create a new kind of national monument encompassing Pearl Harbor and other World War II sites in the Pacific.
If the president declares a Pacific war monument, it will require rethinking the concept of how monuments are organized. Unlike land-based national monuments or the relatively new Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument — 139,800 square miles of ocean waters and coral reefs around the archipelago northwest of Hawaii’s main islands — the areas in the monument being contemplated are not contiguous.
“Traditionally, a monument is some fixed piece of geography, and you draw a line around it and that’s it,” said Lyle Laverty, the assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the Interior Department.
The idea of a monument that commemorates the Pacific theater “presents an interesting challenge,” Mr. Laverty said, not just because the elements are not contiguous, but also because the monument could be in close proximity to active naval operations.
A memorandum from President Bush to the interior and defense secretaries released on Friday by the White House asked for their assessment of the value of a monument declaration “at Pearl Harbor and other sites associated with the war in the Pacific.” It added that recommendations should avoid “limiting the Department of Defense from carrying out” its mission.
The areas under consideration would include Ford Island, which was adjacent to battleship row in Pearl Harbor, where most of the large ships were sunk by Japanese bombers on Dec. 7, 1941. The memorandum made no mention of other sites being contemplated, but Midway and Wake Islands and Guam saw crucial World War II battles.
Aside from the northwest Hawaiian Islands monument, Mr. Bush has established the African Burial Ground National Monument at Duane and Elk Streets in Lower Manhattan.
There has been a temptation for presidents to declare a spate of national monuments as part of their legacy near the end of their term.
President Bill Clinton declared 21 national monuments. One of the most controversial, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, was declared just before his re-election in 1996; 10 others were designated in his last year in office, including Governors Island in New York and the Desert Sonoran National Monument in Arizona.
In a telephone interview Friday, Kenneth H. DeHoff, the executive director of the Pacific Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor, said that in 2006 he met with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and began discussions of a monument that would reach beyond the memorial at the battleship Arizona, on which hundreds of sailors died and which is partially submerged.
Mr. DeHoff said the designation could provide the incentive for preserving other structures at Pearl Harbor, like the control tower on Ford Island. By including distant battlegrounds like Wake and Midway Islands, he said, the monument could weave the strands of battles that took place thousands of miles apart.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Love In The Time Of Cholera
Last night Jen, Grace, Deb and I watched "Love In The Time Of Cholera". We were decompresing after after all our Gen-Prom-prep, lol.
Here is my review
What?
What?
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
Ugh!
What?
Cut. The. Shit.
Scream! (this woke Jen who had fallen asleep)
What?
OMG, thank Heaven it's over!
This is a user review at IMDB
"If I had to choose between cholera and sitting through this movie again, I'd choose cholera, it's far less painful. While the cinematography is great and the soundtrack beautiful, the rest of the movie is the stellar opposite."
Here is my review
What?
What?
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
Ugh!
What?
Cut. The. Shit.
Scream! (this woke Jen who had fallen asleep)
What?
OMG, thank Heaven it's over!
This is a user review at IMDB
"If I had to choose between cholera and sitting through this movie again, I'd choose cholera, it's far less painful. While the cinematography is great and the soundtrack beautiful, the rest of the movie is the stellar opposite."
I Have Always Loved Bob Dole
I'm sure that's no surprise to readers of this blog. He is a decorated veteran, conservative Republican politician, and a man of integrity. Not one to suffer fools gladly. I have always found him to be interesting and his dry, sharp wit put him head and shoulders about his peers.
Scott,
There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don't have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues. No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique.
In my nearly 36 years of public service I've known of a few like you. No doubt you will "clean up" as the liberal anti-Bush press will promote your belated concerns with wild enthusiasm.
When the money starts rolling in you should donate it to a worthy cause, something like, "Biting The Hand That Fed Me." Another thought is to weasel your way back into the White House if a Democrat is elected. That would provide a good set up for a second book deal in a few years.
I have no intention of reading your "exposé" because if all these awful things were happening, and perhaps some may have been, you should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high profile job. That would have taken integrity and courage but then you would have had credibility and your complaints could have been aired objectively. You're a hot ticket now but don't you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?
BOB DOLE
********************
LOL, Bob Dole rocks!
********************
Other blog reaction
CDR Salamander
I'm Not Talking To Frankie
The other day in the store, I picked up a new antiperspirant. Yesterday I went to use it. I pulled off the black cover and there was a molded plastic piece. I pulled the tab. I didn't budge. I pulled several times. I went out into the kitchen to look for something that I could use to grab the little tab and pull. No luck. I got my already open one out of my gym bag and used that.
Last night Tommy and I got to the house at the same time. We were discussing our days and life and milling about the house. I walked past my bureau and saw the antiperspirant. I showed Tom and explained I couldn't pull the top off. He tried for a few minutes while we talked and couldn't do it.
I got up this morning and Frankie happens to be awake. I show him.
"Mum, are you kidding me?" and he starts laughing.
Just then the solution hits me. I walk up to him and try to take it away.
"Did you try to pull it?" he laughs. "Yes" I reply. "Give it to me, I am not talking to you!" 
Friday, May 30, 2008
The Forgotten Assassin
From Solomonia
The Forgotten Assassin
Hillel Stavis
Having gaffed yet again by invoking the memory of Robert Kennedy's assassination in a desperate attempt to snatch victory from the Obama jaws of defeat, Hillary Clinton nevertheless reminded us that we are approaching the 40th anniversary of that momentous event that occurred shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968.
********************
You should read the whole thing.
The Forgotten Assassin
Hillel Stavis
Having gaffed yet again by invoking the memory of Robert Kennedy's assassination in a desperate attempt to snatch victory from the Obama jaws of defeat, Hillary Clinton nevertheless reminded us that we are approaching the 40th anniversary of that momentous event that occurred shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968.
********************
You should read the whole thing.
You Shouldn't Use The Word Pudding If You Don't Mean It
I laughed so hard, I crossed the solid line. It was ok, I was alone on the road. I was driving Jen home from dinner with Ed & I. We went to the new restaurant in Plymouth, Chroma. They opened on Wednesday, we were there on Thursday. It was a soft opening, we only knew it was open because Ed heard someone talk about it.
First impression, light. It has a very clean look, high ceilings, white walls, wide open room, diffuse lighting. I liked it. We wanted to sit at the bar, but there weren't three seats together. It's so new, you can smell the fresh paint in the ladies room.
The hostess - eh. We wanted a stand up table by the far wall. She pointed out that they only seated two people. Ok, so pull two of them together. She led us to a six seater in the center of the restaurant. No problem, Princess Crabby loves the spotlight. But I am big on - "if I ask and you can.....comply". Then a few minutes after drinks arrived she randomly came up and made a show of moving a small vase of flowers "out of your way". It wasn't, so it was odd.
The waitress - friendly, attentive, a little nervous.
The busboy - flustered, but that had more to do with being peppered with multiple requests and questions (you know, wherever I am, there is a circus). He wasn't great, but I got what I wanted and in the end...that's all that matters.
Appetizers - Ed and I ordered the capaccio, Jen asked for the baked dough balls. Ed thought she was making fun of something. She asked where Jen saw them. Turns out Jen's menu was different than ours. Then the waitress told us that they weren't supposed to be on the menu but the kitchen had decided to make them especially for Jennifer. She liked that!
When they arrived with their garlic butter and olive tapenade, they were nearly irresistable. Ed and I found the capaccio to be too thick. She didn't like the aioli, I did. Ed explained the waitress, very nicely, that the beef should be much thinner. They were asking for feedback, they got it.
Dinner - I got crabmeat stuffed sole that was utterly fabulous. If I had fallen off Atkins and stolen one of Jen's dough balls, I would have wiped the plate clean. Jen had a pizza that she really liked. Ed had a salad that looked ok and got no comment.
Dessert - Only Jen got some, Ed & I are on Atkins. Jen ordered the English Toffee pudding. Well, you know the Americans and the English are two people separated by a common language. It was some kind of cakey thing. She didn't finish it. I made her pack it, Nic & Rachael in the office will do it justice.
Ed's Stroke - So the waitress commented that she thought we would probably be regulars and she should learn our names. I was about to answer when Ed pointed to me and said "Maggie" (ok, she used my real name, they only call me Maggie when I am being outrageous), then she pointed at herself and announced "Ed".....then she gestured toward Jen........silence. I had to cover my mouth! We have been hanging out for years. And I have known Ed for just about 18 years. Jen worked with is for a while. She just completely blanked and couldn't stop laughing. I finally got the words out and and told Susan, our waitress, that our third was "My sister, Jennifer". Jen was a riot. Totally "en fuego" as she riffed on Ed not knowing her name.
I think the night out was good for Jen who has been stressed with work. She got to rant and rave and eat and drink wine. It was fun for us all. Although the most fun was Jen's mournful statement about her dessert. "You shouldn't use the word pudding if you don't mean it"
Chroma - Six thumbs up (there were three of us!)
First impression, light. It has a very clean look, high ceilings, white walls, wide open room, diffuse lighting. I liked it. We wanted to sit at the bar, but there weren't three seats together. It's so new, you can smell the fresh paint in the ladies room.
The hostess - eh. We wanted a stand up table by the far wall. She pointed out that they only seated two people. Ok, so pull two of them together. She led us to a six seater in the center of the restaurant. No problem, Princess Crabby loves the spotlight. But I am big on - "if I ask and you can.....comply". Then a few minutes after drinks arrived she randomly came up and made a show of moving a small vase of flowers "out of your way". It wasn't, so it was odd.
The waitress - friendly, attentive, a little nervous.
The busboy - flustered, but that had more to do with being peppered with multiple requests and questions (you know, wherever I am, there is a circus). He wasn't great, but I got what I wanted and in the end...that's all that matters.
Appetizers - Ed and I ordered the capaccio, Jen asked for the baked dough balls. Ed thought she was making fun of something. She asked where Jen saw them. Turns out Jen's menu was different than ours. Then the waitress told us that they weren't supposed to be on the menu but the kitchen had decided to make them especially for Jennifer. She liked that!
When they arrived with their garlic butter and olive tapenade, they were nearly irresistable. Ed and I found the capaccio to be too thick. She didn't like the aioli, I did. Ed explained the waitress, very nicely, that the beef should be much thinner. They were asking for feedback, they got it.
Dinner - I got crabmeat stuffed sole that was utterly fabulous. If I had fallen off Atkins and stolen one of Jen's dough balls, I would have wiped the plate clean. Jen had a pizza that she really liked. Ed had a salad that looked ok and got no comment.
Dessert - Only Jen got some, Ed & I are on Atkins. Jen ordered the English Toffee pudding. Well, you know the Americans and the English are two people separated by a common language. It was some kind of cakey thing. She didn't finish it. I made her pack it, Nic & Rachael in the office will do it justice.
Ed's Stroke - So the waitress commented that she thought we would probably be regulars and she should learn our names. I was about to answer when Ed pointed to me and said "Maggie" (ok, she used my real name, they only call me Maggie when I am being outrageous), then she pointed at herself and announced "Ed".....then she gestured toward Jen........silence. I had to cover my mouth! We have been hanging out for years. And I have known Ed for just about 18 years. Jen worked with is for a while. She just completely blanked and couldn't stop laughing. I finally got the words out and and told Susan, our waitress, that our third was "My sister, Jennifer". Jen was a riot. Totally "en fuego" as she riffed on Ed not knowing her name.
I think the night out was good for Jen who has been stressed with work. She got to rant and rave and eat and drink wine. It was fun for us all. Although the most fun was Jen's mournful statement about her dessert. "You shouldn't use the word pudding if you don't mean it"
Chroma - Six thumbs up (there were three of us!)
Memorial Day, May 30th
So you went to a BBQ last weekend, maybe watched a parade. Memorial Day is a rolling Monday holiday.
But today is really Memorial Day.
So I will reprint my Memorial Day post from last year.
Memorial Day 2007
Today is a day for remembering as The Armorer and Mike Nachshen point out. So, I will remember.
I will remember my Uncle Danny who gave his life on Iwo Jima on March 3, 1945.
I will also remember my Uncle Jim who died on November 28, 1942. Jim was home on leave from the Marines when he lost his life at the Coconut Grove fire. Jim got his date and the couple they were with out safely before going back inside.
Today is a day for remembering as The Armorer and Mike Nachshen point out. So, I will remember.
I will remember my Uncle Danny who gave his life on Iwo Jima on March 3, 1945.I will also remember my Uncle Jim who died on November 28, 1942. Jim was home on leave from the Marines when he lost his life at the Coconut Grove fire. Jim got his date and the couple they were with out safely before going back inside.Bob Lets Tim Use The Phone
China Quake Prompts Hotline Call from US
May 29, 2008Military.comby Colin Clark
The hotline connecting the Pentagon and China's Peoples Liberation Army got a one-hour workout when the top American commander in the Pacific used it to discuss how to speed relief supplies to China after its massive May 12 earthquake.
Adm. Timothy Keating, head of U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters May 28 at the Pentagon that he spoke with a Lt. Gen. Ma -- believed to be Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the PLA's general staff -- during the call. Keating said "it was very easy to set up the connection" for the call, noting that the hotline has only existed for a short time.
U.S. officials have pushed for establishment of a hotline between the two countries for several years, arguing it would demonstrate Chinese commitment to transparency about intentions and military capabilities required of a responsible major power.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Chinese counterpart Gen. Liang Guanglie used it for the first time on April 10 when they inaugurated the service. In an interesting turn of phrase, Keating noted that the Chinese "were quite willing to accept [his] phone call," seeming to imply that there have been times when the Chinese refused to use the link.
May 29, 2008Military.comby Colin Clark
The hotline connecting the Pentagon and China's Peoples Liberation Army got a one-hour workout when the top American commander in the Pacific used it to discuss how to speed relief supplies to China after its massive May 12 earthquake.
Adm. Timothy Keating, head of U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters May 28 at the Pentagon that he spoke with a Lt. Gen. Ma -- believed to be Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the PLA's general staff -- during the call. Keating said "it was very easy to set up the connection" for the call, noting that the hotline has only existed for a short time.
U.S. officials have pushed for establishment of a hotline between the two countries for several years, arguing it would demonstrate Chinese commitment to transparency about intentions and military capabilities required of a responsible major power.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Chinese counterpart Gen. Liang Guanglie used it for the first time on April 10 when they inaugurated the service. In an interesting turn of phrase, Keating noted that the Chinese "were quite willing to accept [his] phone call," seeming to imply that there have been times when the Chinese refused to use the link.
Really Good News
Sarah at Trying to Grok has some. Sarah is the one who defined the MilBlog conferences for me.
They are "like a high school reunion of people you didn't go to high school with" LOL
Congratulations!
"And this right here, this little grain of rice that's half a centimeter long, this is your baby." She zoomed in, and like magic we saw a rapidly beating heart. "That's the heart, right?" I cautiously asked.
It was. Beating 160 beats per minute. Going to town.
They are "like a high school reunion of people you didn't go to high school with" LOL
Congratulations!
"And this right here, this little grain of rice that's half a centimeter long, this is your baby." She zoomed in, and like magic we saw a rapidly beating heart. "That's the heart, right?" I cautiously asked.
It was. Beating 160 beats per minute. Going to town.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Congratulatons, Rick!
IMMEDIATE RELEASENo. 461-08May 29, 2008
General Officer Announcement
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced today that the President has nominated Army Maj. Gen. Ricky Lynch for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as commanding general, III Corps and Fort Hood, Fort Hood, Texas. He is currently serving as commanding general, 3d Infantry Division (Mechanized)/Multi-National Division - Center, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq.
H/T Barb
"...arch-enemy the United States."?
What? Who? LOL
Henery Hawk is issuing statements on behalf of the Myanmar government?
Myanmar lashes out at "chocolate bar" foreign aid
By Aung Hla TunThu May 29, 6:13 AM ET
Myanmar's junta lashed out at offers of foreign aid on Thursday, criticizing donors' demands for access to the Irrawaddy delta and saying Cyclone Nargis' 2.4 million victims could "stand by themselves."
"The people from Irrawaddy can survive on self-reliance without chocolate bars donated by foreign countries," the Kyemon newspaper said in a Burmese-language editorial.
As with all media in the former Burma, it is tightly controlled by the army and is believed to reflect the thinking of the top generals, who until now have shown signs of growing, albeit grudging, acceptance of outside cyclone assistance.
The editorial also accused the international community of being stingy, noting that the United Nations' "flash appeal" was still a long way short of its $201 million target nearly four weeks after the disaster, which left 134,000 dead or missing.
The level of aid stands in stark contrast to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, when governments around the world promised $2 billion within the first week.
"Myanmar needs about $11 billion. The pledging amounted to over $150 million, less than the $201 million mentioned by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as emergency aid," it said, adding a thinly veiled swipe at arch-enemy the United States.
"There is one big nation that even extended economic sanctions on Myanmar although it had already been known that Myanmar was in for a very powerful storm," it said.
Further nonsense is found in the rest of the article including:
Private donors, who received assurances in state media this week that they could go where they wanted in the delta, have also run into problems, with 46 drivers and vehicles being impounded on Sunday night after a trip out of the former capital.
"They told us not to make any donations to people begging by the road," one of those held overnight told Reuters. "It is said that our donations will spoil their appetite for hard work. We completely disagree with it."
Yup! Nothing spoils my appetite for hard work like that first morsel of food after starving for weeks!
RDML Driscoll Has A Headache
I'm feeling you baby. What the hell! Like you don't already have enough crap to deal with!
Iraqis: Marines Try to Convert Muslims
May 29, 2008Knight Ridder
FALLUJAH, Iraq - At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah on May 27, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.
Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.
He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."
"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They'd been given the coins, too, he said.
Fallujah, the scene of a bloody U.S. offensive against Sunni insurgents in 2004, has calmed and grown less hostile to American troops since residents turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, which had tried to force its brand of Islamist extremism on the population.
Now residents of the city are abuzz that some Americans whom they consider occupiers are also acting as Christian missionaries. Residents said some Marines at the western entrance to their city have been passing out the coins for two days in what they call a "humiliating" attempt to convert them to Christianity.
In the markets, people crowded around men with the coins, passing them to each other and asking in surprise, "Have you seen this?"
The head of the Sunni endowment in Fallujah, the organization that oversees Sunni places of worship and other religious establishments, demanded that the Marines stop.
"We say to the occupiers to stop this," said Sheikh Mohammed Amin Abdel Hadi. "This can cause strife between the Iraqis and especially between Muslim and Christians . . . . Please stop these things and leave our homes because we are Muslims and we live in our homes in peace with other religions."
"Iraq is investigating a report that U.S. military personnel in Fallujah handed-out material that is religious and evangelical in nature," said Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a U.S. military spokesman, in a statement e-mailed to McClatchy Newspapers. "Local commanders are investigating since the military prohibits proselytizing any religion, faith or practices."
In interviews, residents of Fallujah repeated two words - "humiliation" and "weakness".
"Because we are weak this is happening," said a shop owner who gave his name as Abu Abdullah. "Passing Christianity this way is disrespectful."
"The occupier is repeatedly trespassing on God and his religion," said Omar Delli, 23. "Now the occupier is planting seeds of strife between the Muslims and Christians. We demand the government in Fallujah have a new demonstration to let the occupier know that these things are humiliating Islam and the Quran."
The controversy over the coins that Iraqis said some Marines are passing out comes on the heels of a tempest triggered by a U.S. sniper who used the Quran, Islam's holy book, for target practice. The sniper was pulled out of Iraq after tribal leaders on May 9 found a Quran with 14 bullet holes and graffiti on the pages.
In Islam, the holy book is never to touch the floor, let alone be defaced. Iraqi leaders condemned the actions, U.S. generals apologized and President Bush offered a personal apology to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
In Fallujah, Mohammed Jaber saw one of the coins and said he thought of the bullets lodged in the Quran, the torture of Iraqi men at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 and the rape of a 14-year-old girl and her murder and that of her family in Mahmoudiya.
"Now we have this missionary way by these coins," he said. "We feel the Muslims are weak and we hope that we will reach a point when we are strong to let them know what is wrong and what is right."
***********************************
I am really steamed about this for several reasons. First off I am Boston Irish Catholic. Now, I don't know how other Catholics handle this, but I really hate having anyone try to aggressively convert others to or from Catholicism. I would resent the hell out of this if it were done to me. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if I felt powerless to tell the person to effffffff offffff!
I know there are some people who think they are doing God's work. Well guess what? When you put on the uniform and swear the oath, you are there to do America's work. So concentrate on that. I don't care if this was just one person or a dozen, stop it now! You are damaging the overall mission.
I don't need or want Iraq to be Christian. I need it to be our ally.
Cut this crap out! Admiral Driscoll has enough on his plate without dealing without this nonsense.
**************
Once again the Navy Coterie comes to my aid. Lt. Nixon points out that it's RDML and not RADM. Thanks baby!
***************
Another country heard from!
Iraqis: Marines Try to Convert Muslims
May 29, 2008Knight Ridder
FALLUJAH, Iraq - At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah on May 27, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.
Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.
He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."
"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They'd been given the coins, too, he said.
Fallujah, the scene of a bloody U.S. offensive against Sunni insurgents in 2004, has calmed and grown less hostile to American troops since residents turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, which had tried to force its brand of Islamist extremism on the population.
Now residents of the city are abuzz that some Americans whom they consider occupiers are also acting as Christian missionaries. Residents said some Marines at the western entrance to their city have been passing out the coins for two days in what they call a "humiliating" attempt to convert them to Christianity.
In the markets, people crowded around men with the coins, passing them to each other and asking in surprise, "Have you seen this?"
The head of the Sunni endowment in Fallujah, the organization that oversees Sunni places of worship and other religious establishments, demanded that the Marines stop.
"We say to the occupiers to stop this," said Sheikh Mohammed Amin Abdel Hadi. "This can cause strife between the Iraqis and especially between Muslim and Christians . . . . Please stop these things and leave our homes because we are Muslims and we live in our homes in peace with other religions."
"Iraq is investigating a report that U.S. military personnel in Fallujah handed-out material that is religious and evangelical in nature," said Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a U.S. military spokesman, in a statement e-mailed to McClatchy Newspapers. "Local commanders are investigating since the military prohibits proselytizing any religion, faith or practices."
In interviews, residents of Fallujah repeated two words - "humiliation" and "weakness".
"Because we are weak this is happening," said a shop owner who gave his name as Abu Abdullah. "Passing Christianity this way is disrespectful."
"The occupier is repeatedly trespassing on God and his religion," said Omar Delli, 23. "Now the occupier is planting seeds of strife between the Muslims and Christians. We demand the government in Fallujah have a new demonstration to let the occupier know that these things are humiliating Islam and the Quran."
The controversy over the coins that Iraqis said some Marines are passing out comes on the heels of a tempest triggered by a U.S. sniper who used the Quran, Islam's holy book, for target practice. The sniper was pulled out of Iraq after tribal leaders on May 9 found a Quran with 14 bullet holes and graffiti on the pages.
In Islam, the holy book is never to touch the floor, let alone be defaced. Iraqi leaders condemned the actions, U.S. generals apologized and President Bush offered a personal apology to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
In Fallujah, Mohammed Jaber saw one of the coins and said he thought of the bullets lodged in the Quran, the torture of Iraqi men at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 and the rape of a 14-year-old girl and her murder and that of her family in Mahmoudiya.
"Now we have this missionary way by these coins," he said. "We feel the Muslims are weak and we hope that we will reach a point when we are strong to let them know what is wrong and what is right."
***********************************
I am really steamed about this for several reasons. First off I am Boston Irish Catholic. Now, I don't know how other Catholics handle this, but I really hate having anyone try to aggressively convert others to or from Catholicism. I would resent the hell out of this if it were done to me. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if I felt powerless to tell the person to effffffff offffff!
I know there are some people who think they are doing God's work. Well guess what? When you put on the uniform and swear the oath, you are there to do America's work. So concentrate on that. I don't care if this was just one person or a dozen, stop it now! You are damaging the overall mission.
I don't need or want Iraq to be Christian. I need it to be our ally.
Cut this crap out! Admiral Driscoll has enough on his plate without dealing without this nonsense.
**************
Once again the Navy Coterie comes to my aid. Lt. Nixon points out that it's RDML and not RADM. Thanks baby!
***************
Another country heard from!
Osama Memo via SK
To: All Al Qaeda Fighters
From: Osama bin Laden
Subject: The Cave (Do Not Distribute Outside the Organization).
Hi guys. We've all been putting in long hours recently but we've really come together as a group and I love that! However, while we continue to fight a Jihad, we can't forget to take care of the cave, and frankly I have a few concerns:
First of all, while it's good to be concerned about cruise missiles, we should be even more concerned about the dust in our cave. We want to avoid excessive dust inhalation, (a health and safety issue) - so we need to sweep the cave daily. I've done my bit on the cleaning rota ..have you? I've posted a sign-up sheet near the cave reception area (next to the halal toaster).
Second , it's not often I make a video address but when I do, I'm trying to scare the s**t out of most of the world's population, okay? That means that while we're taping, please do not ride your scooter in the background or keep doing the 'Wassup' thing. Thanks.
Third : Food. I bought a box of Dairylea recently, clearly wrote "Ossy" on the front, and put it on the top shelf. Today, two of my Dairylea slices were gone. Consideration. That's all I'm saying.
Fourth : I'm not against team spirit and all that, but we must distance ourselves from the Infidel's bat and ball games. Please do not chant "Ossy, Ossy, Ossy, Oy, Oy, Oy" when I ride past on the donkey. Thanks.
Five : Graffiti. Whoever wrote "OSAMA FUCKS DONKEYS" on the group toilet wall. It's a lie, the donkey backed into me, whilst I was relieving myself at the edge of the mountain.
Six : The use of chickens is strictly for food. Assam, the old excuse that the 'chicken backed into me, whilst I was relieving myself at the edge of the mountain' will not be accepted in future. (With donkeys, there is a grey area.)
Finally , we've heard that there may be Western soldiers in disguise trying to infiltrate our ranks. I want to set up patrols to look for them.
First patrol will be Omar, Muhammad, Abdul, Akbar and Dave.
Love you lots,
Group Hug.
Os.
PS - I'm sick of having "Osama Bed Linen" scribbled on my laundry bag. Cut it out, it's not funny anymore.
****************************
It's crude and immature...........I like it! Thanks Sherri
From: Osama bin Laden
Subject: The Cave (Do Not Distribute Outside the Organization).
Hi guys. We've all been putting in long hours recently but we've really come together as a group and I love that! However, while we continue to fight a Jihad, we can't forget to take care of the cave, and frankly I have a few concerns:
First of all, while it's good to be concerned about cruise missiles, we should be even more concerned about the dust in our cave. We want to avoid excessive dust inhalation, (a health and safety issue) - so we need to sweep the cave daily. I've done my bit on the cleaning rota ..have you? I've posted a sign-up sheet near the cave reception area (next to the halal toaster).
Second , it's not often I make a video address but when I do, I'm trying to scare the s**t out of most of the world's population, okay? That means that while we're taping, please do not ride your scooter in the background or keep doing the 'Wassup' thing. Thanks.
Third : Food. I bought a box of Dairylea recently, clearly wrote "Ossy" on the front, and put it on the top shelf. Today, two of my Dairylea slices were gone. Consideration. That's all I'm saying.
Fourth : I'm not against team spirit and all that, but we must distance ourselves from the Infidel's bat and ball games. Please do not chant "Ossy, Ossy, Ossy, Oy, Oy, Oy" when I ride past on the donkey. Thanks.
Five : Graffiti. Whoever wrote "OSAMA FUCKS DONKEYS" on the group toilet wall. It's a lie, the donkey backed into me, whilst I was relieving myself at the edge of the mountain.
Six : The use of chickens is strictly for food. Assam, the old excuse that the 'chicken backed into me, whilst I was relieving myself at the edge of the mountain' will not be accepted in future. (With donkeys, there is a grey area.)
Finally , we've heard that there may be Western soldiers in disguise trying to infiltrate our ranks. I want to set up patrols to look for them.
First patrol will be Omar, Muhammad, Abdul, Akbar and Dave.
Love you lots,
Group Hug.
Os.
PS - I'm sick of having "Osama Bed Linen" scribbled on my laundry bag. Cut it out, it's not funny anymore.
****************************
It's crude and immature...........I like it! Thanks Sherri
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
My Tree
There is a tree on my property line. It's in rough shape. But I love it and encouraged successive neighbors to leave it alone.
Monday, Deb & Gen & I were in my living room, sorting all my crap. It was very windy and all the doors and windows were open. We heard a strange noise. Not too loud, but I thought maybe a branch had fallen in the roof and then to the ground. Deb & I looked out the window we were standing near. Nothing.
A few minutes later, Deb called me to the front door with a funny look on her face. LOL About a third of the tree came down. It didn't quite hit the ground because it fell on wires.
Que the fire department.
The police department.
The highway department. LOL Paul had paint on his jeans and arms. Guess we puled him off of a home improvement project. He said something to the others in the street and all I caught was my name. I yelled out that whatever he said I catagorically denied it! Paul called back the he had told them how wonderful I was. BS! Paul and I have been friends for over 30 years. It would be the first time he said I was wonderful.
They taped off my yard and the street.
Jen avoided this circus since she was down at her house in the middle of her own cleaning project.
They cleared everything in time for us to go down to Jen's and eat the dinner I bullied her into making, lol!
Believe me I paid, she made us watch Superman.....again!
Flight 93 Memorial Blogburst
Plan your trip to the Flight 93 crash site for the weekend of August 2nd!
Are you thinking of visiting the Flight 93 crash site? If you plan your visit for the weekend of August 2nd, you can help stop the gigantic terrorist memorial mosque that will soon start rising from the ground there.
August 2nd is the next scheduled public meeting of the Memorial Project, where anyone can sign up to speak during the public comment period. Tom Burnett Sr. (whose son Tom Jr. broke into the cockpit of the hijacked airplane) announced last Friday that he and Alec Rawls will be traveling to Somerset for the August meeting. They will be rallying outdoors, speaking at the public meeting, and visiting the crash site.
Mr. Burnett is asking other concerned parties who can make it to please come. The crash site is a beautiful and meaningful place to visit in any case, and here is a chance to make your visit even more meaningful. It is an opportunity to in some small way follow the lead of the heroes of Flight 93 by helping to stop the re-hijacking of Flight 93.
Mr. Burnett's announcement came on the Mancow Muller radio show, where Congressman Tancredo was also a guest. When controversy over the Crescent of Embrace design first arose back in 2005, Tom Tancredo was instrumental in forcing the Park Service to alter the design. Last fall he noted that the giant crescent remains unchanged in the so-called redesign and asked the Park Service to scrap the design entirely. On Friday he said that he would help Mancow Muller and Tom Burnett to stop the crescent design (audio, 19 seconds):
Mr. Burnett said that he would join Mancow in going to jail for taking sledgehammers to the crescent memorial if this tribute to the terrorists actually gets built. (Audio, 25 seconds.)
Cao has the whole segment of Mancow and the two Toms up as a YouTube video, with her own background graphics.
To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.
Are you thinking of visiting the Flight 93 crash site? If you plan your visit for the weekend of August 2nd, you can help stop the gigantic terrorist memorial mosque that will soon start rising from the ground there.
August 2nd is the next scheduled public meeting of the Memorial Project, where anyone can sign up to speak during the public comment period. Tom Burnett Sr. (whose son Tom Jr. broke into the cockpit of the hijacked airplane) announced last Friday that he and Alec Rawls will be traveling to Somerset for the August meeting. They will be rallying outdoors, speaking at the public meeting, and visiting the crash site.
Mr. Burnett is asking other concerned parties who can make it to please come. The crash site is a beautiful and meaningful place to visit in any case, and here is a chance to make your visit even more meaningful. It is an opportunity to in some small way follow the lead of the heroes of Flight 93 by helping to stop the re-hijacking of Flight 93.
Mr. Burnett's announcement came on the Mancow Muller radio show, where Congressman Tancredo was also a guest. When controversy over the Crescent of Embrace design first arose back in 2005, Tom Tancredo was instrumental in forcing the Park Service to alter the design. Last fall he noted that the giant crescent remains unchanged in the so-called redesign and asked the Park Service to scrap the design entirely. On Friday he said that he would help Mancow Muller and Tom Burnett to stop the crescent design (audio, 19 seconds):
Certainly I will do everything I can to help you. I will bring it to the attention of my colleagues. I'll use the time I have on the floor of the House to rail against it.THANK YOU CONGRESSMAN TANCREDO!
Mr. Burnett said that he would join Mancow in going to jail for taking sledgehammers to the crescent memorial if this tribute to the terrorists actually gets built. (Audio, 25 seconds.)
Cao has the whole segment of Mancow and the two Toms up as a YouTube video, with her own background graphics.
To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.
Scott McClellan
So Scott writes a book. He trashes "W" and the White House.
Here is coverage by Politico.
Here is an interesting take by Jake Tapper over at his blog for ABC News.
My thoughts are best expressed by Barry Fitzgerald at 7:49 in this clip.
A traitor and a snitch is a traitor and a snitch no matter who he is ratting on. You may think I feel this way about Scott because it's "W" he's backstabbing.
You are wrong.
I think Dick Morris is a weasel too and he wrote about Bill Clinton who I abhor.
Here is coverage by Politico.
Here is an interesting take by Jake Tapper over at his blog for ABC News.
My thoughts are best expressed by Barry Fitzgerald at 7:49 in this clip.
A traitor and a snitch is a traitor and a snitch no matter who he is ratting on. You may think I feel this way about Scott because it's "W" he's backstabbing.
You are wrong.
I think Dick Morris is a weasel too and he wrote about Bill Clinton who I abhor.
SB's Friend Tim Live ....
...on the Pentagon Channel
1130 - Pentagon Briefing: ADM Timothy Keating, Commander of US Pacific Command, speaks with reporters at the Pentagon, providing an update on recent relief operations to Burma and China . (Live, VoD, Podcast)
Encore presentations at 1800 & 0600hrs.
1130 - Pentagon Briefing: ADM Timothy Keating, Commander of US Pacific Command, speaks with reporters at the Pentagon, providing an update on recent relief operations to Burma and China . (Live, VoD, Podcast)
Encore presentations at 1800 & 0600hrs.
LOL, I Heart Mark Steyn
Mark Steyn: Your car can't run on Congress' hot air
MARK STEYN
Syndicated columnist
I was watching the Big Oil execs testifying before Congress. That was my first mistake. If memory serves, there was lesbian mud wrestling over on Channel 137, and on the whole that's less rigged. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz knew the routine: "I can't say that there is evidence that you are manipulating the price, but I believe that you probably are. So prove to me that you are not."
Had I been in the hapless oil man's expensive shoes, I'd have answered, "Hey, you first. I can't say that there is evidence that you're sleeping with barnyard animals, but I believe that you probably are. So prove to me that you are not. Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence and prima facie evidence, lady? Do I have to file a U.N. complaint in Geneva that the House of Representatives is in breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?"
But that's why I don't get asked to testify before Congress. So instead the Big Oil guy oozed as oleaginous as his product before the grand panjandrums of the House Subcommittee on Televised Posturing, and then they went off and passed 324-82 the so-called NOPEC bill. The NOPEC bill is, in effect, a suit against OPEC, which, if I recall correctly, stands for the Oil Price-Exploiting Club. "No War For Oil!," as the bumper stickers say. But a massive suit for oil – now that's the American way.
"It shall be illegal and a violation of this Act," declared the House of Representatives, "to limit the production or distribution of oil, natural gas, or any other petroleum product ... or to otherwise take any action in restraint of trade for oil, natural gas or any petroleum product when such action, combination, or collective action has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on the market, supply, price or distribution of oil, natural gas or other petroleum product in the United States."
Er, OK. But, before we start suing distant sheikhs in exotic lands for violating the NOPEC act, why don't we start by suing Congress? After all, who "limits the production or distribution of oil" right here in the United States by declaring that there'll be no drilling in the Gulf of Florida or the Arctic National Mosquito Refuge? As Rep. Wasserman Schultz herself told Neil Cavuto on Fox News, "We can't drill our way out of this problem."
Well, maybe not. But maybe we could drill our way back to $3.25 a gallon. More to the point, if the House of Representatives has now declared it "illegal" for the government of Saudi Arabia to restrict oil production, why is it still legal for the government of the United States to restrict oil production? In fact, the government of the United States restricts pretty much every form of energy production other than the bizarre fetish du jour of federally mandated ethanol production.
Nuclear energy?
Whoa, no, remember Three Mile Island? (OK, nobody does, but kids and anyone under late middle age, you can look it up in your grandparents' school books.)
Coal?
Whoa, no, man, there go our carbon credits.
OK, how about if we all go back to the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, and start criss-crossing the country on wood-fired trains?
Are you nuts? Think of the clear-cutting. We can't have logging in environmentally sensitive areas such as forests.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz believes in "alternative energy," which means not nuclear (like the French) but solar and wind power. At the moment, solar energy accounts for approximately 0.1 percent of U.S. electricity production, most of which is for devices that heat swimming pools. So if there was a tenfold increase in swimming pool construction you might be able to get it up to 1 percent, but the only way all those homeowners would be able to afford to build their new swimming pools is through the kinds of economic activity that depend on oil, gas and other forms of federally prohibited energy.
So, instead, Congress hauls Big Oil execs in for the dinner-theatre version of a Soviet show trial and then passes irrelevant poseur legislation like the NOPEC bill. The NOPEC bill is really the NO PECS bill – a waste of photocopier paper passed by what C.S. Lewis called "men without chests."
The New Yorker ran a big piece the other day called "The Fall Of Conservatism." Indeed. This November isn't going to be pleasant for those of us of a right-wing bent. Many conservative voices in the media say: This is the way it is, get used to it. Voters want the government to "fix" health care and "fix" gas prices and "fix" the environment and, if all you're offering is the virtues of small government, you too sound small – and mean and uncaring about the real issues in real people's real lives. Standing athwart history yelling "Stop!" was a cute line from William F. Buckley, but it's not a practical position for a political party that wishes to stay in business. "The fact of change is the great fact of human life," writes my National Review colleague David Frum in "Comeback," his thoughtful critique of the conservative movement.
Frum is right. Change is a constant. You're a big railroad baron,and things are going swell, and then someone invents the horseless carriage and a big metal bird that holds hundreds of people and you never saw it coming – because you thought you were in the train business rather than in the transportation business. That kind of change is the great exhilarating rhythm of American life.
But government "change," Obama change, NOPEC change is nothing to do with that. In fact, it obstructs real dynamic change. On energy, on environmentalism, on health care, government "change" generally does nothing more than set in motion the next crisis that the next change-peddling pol has to pledge to address.
So we complain about $4-a-gallon gas, and our leaders respond with showboating legislation like NOPEC and feel-good environmental regulatory overkill like putting the polar bear on the endangered-species list, while ensuring that we'll continue to bankroll every radical mosque and madrassah on the planet. In Britain, new "green taxes" do nothing to "save" the planet, but they are estimated to cost the average family about $6,000 a year. That's change you can believe in.
MARK STEYN
Syndicated columnist
I was watching the Big Oil execs testifying before Congress. That was my first mistake. If memory serves, there was lesbian mud wrestling over on Channel 137, and on the whole that's less rigged. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz knew the routine: "I can't say that there is evidence that you are manipulating the price, but I believe that you probably are. So prove to me that you are not."
Had I been in the hapless oil man's expensive shoes, I'd have answered, "Hey, you first. I can't say that there is evidence that you're sleeping with barnyard animals, but I believe that you probably are. So prove to me that you are not. Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence and prima facie evidence, lady? Do I have to file a U.N. complaint in Geneva that the House of Representatives is in breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?"
But that's why I don't get asked to testify before Congress. So instead the Big Oil guy oozed as oleaginous as his product before the grand panjandrums of the House Subcommittee on Televised Posturing, and then they went off and passed 324-82 the so-called NOPEC bill. The NOPEC bill is, in effect, a suit against OPEC, which, if I recall correctly, stands for the Oil Price-Exploiting Club. "No War For Oil!," as the bumper stickers say. But a massive suit for oil – now that's the American way.
"It shall be illegal and a violation of this Act," declared the House of Representatives, "to limit the production or distribution of oil, natural gas, or any other petroleum product ... or to otherwise take any action in restraint of trade for oil, natural gas or any petroleum product when such action, combination, or collective action has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on the market, supply, price or distribution of oil, natural gas or other petroleum product in the United States."
Er, OK. But, before we start suing distant sheikhs in exotic lands for violating the NOPEC act, why don't we start by suing Congress? After all, who "limits the production or distribution of oil" right here in the United States by declaring that there'll be no drilling in the Gulf of Florida or the Arctic National Mosquito Refuge? As Rep. Wasserman Schultz herself told Neil Cavuto on Fox News, "We can't drill our way out of this problem."
Well, maybe not. But maybe we could drill our way back to $3.25 a gallon. More to the point, if the House of Representatives has now declared it "illegal" for the government of Saudi Arabia to restrict oil production, why is it still legal for the government of the United States to restrict oil production? In fact, the government of the United States restricts pretty much every form of energy production other than the bizarre fetish du jour of federally mandated ethanol production.
Nuclear energy?
Whoa, no, remember Three Mile Island? (OK, nobody does, but kids and anyone under late middle age, you can look it up in your grandparents' school books.)
Coal?
Whoa, no, man, there go our carbon credits.
OK, how about if we all go back to the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, and start criss-crossing the country on wood-fired trains?
Are you nuts? Think of the clear-cutting. We can't have logging in environmentally sensitive areas such as forests.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz believes in "alternative energy," which means not nuclear (like the French) but solar and wind power. At the moment, solar energy accounts for approximately 0.1 percent of U.S. electricity production, most of which is for devices that heat swimming pools. So if there was a tenfold increase in swimming pool construction you might be able to get it up to 1 percent, but the only way all those homeowners would be able to afford to build their new swimming pools is through the kinds of economic activity that depend on oil, gas and other forms of federally prohibited energy.
So, instead, Congress hauls Big Oil execs in for the dinner-theatre version of a Soviet show trial and then passes irrelevant poseur legislation like the NOPEC bill. The NOPEC bill is really the NO PECS bill – a waste of photocopier paper passed by what C.S. Lewis called "men without chests."
The New Yorker ran a big piece the other day called "The Fall Of Conservatism." Indeed. This November isn't going to be pleasant for those of us of a right-wing bent. Many conservative voices in the media say: This is the way it is, get used to it. Voters want the government to "fix" health care and "fix" gas prices and "fix" the environment and, if all you're offering is the virtues of small government, you too sound small – and mean and uncaring about the real issues in real people's real lives. Standing athwart history yelling "Stop!" was a cute line from William F. Buckley, but it's not a practical position for a political party that wishes to stay in business. "The fact of change is the great fact of human life," writes my National Review colleague David Frum in "Comeback," his thoughtful critique of the conservative movement.
Frum is right. Change is a constant. You're a big railroad baron,and things are going swell, and then someone invents the horseless carriage and a big metal bird that holds hundreds of people and you never saw it coming – because you thought you were in the train business rather than in the transportation business. That kind of change is the great exhilarating rhythm of American life.
But government "change," Obama change, NOPEC change is nothing to do with that. In fact, it obstructs real dynamic change. On energy, on environmentalism, on health care, government "change" generally does nothing more than set in motion the next crisis that the next change-peddling pol has to pledge to address.
So we complain about $4-a-gallon gas, and our leaders respond with showboating legislation like NOPEC and feel-good environmental regulatory overkill like putting the polar bear on the endangered-species list, while ensuring that we'll continue to bankroll every radical mosque and madrassah on the planet. In Britain, new "green taxes" do nothing to "save" the planet, but they are estimated to cost the average family about $6,000 a year. That's change you can believe in.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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