Over,

Brian and Stewie Do an "Over" gag


Anyone who has ever had to talk on a radio will love this one, over.

New from Despair.com

Check out all the "Demotivators" at Despair.com

It's Funny the Stuff You Can Find...

I was digging around on the Internets this AM looking for something, I can't even recall what...that's how important it was, and I found this remarkably idiotic article from 2003.

Chop the Chopper
The Army's Apache attack-helicopter had a bad war.
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Wednesday, April 23, 2003, at 6:42 PM ET

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is gearing up for his next war—not with the Syrians or the North Koreans but with the hidebound generals of the U.S. Army. These are the generals who criticized Rumsfeld's battle plan while Gulf War II was still raging and who beat back his efforts, over the past few years, to "transform" the Army into a lighter, lither fighting force. With Rumsfeld's star rising and the generals' tarnished, he can be expected to mount a new offensive on their bureaucratic turf at the first opportunity.

He might want to start by junking the Army's attack helicopter. The current version, the AH-64D Apache Longbow, is in many ways a vast improvement over earlier models, but it is still too dangerous to the pilots who fly it and not dangerous enough to the enemy it's designed to attack.

Nice start. Of course this was written in 2003, so he couldn't have asked the people on the ground the Apache supported from then till today, and heard them say what they've told me personally several times from different people and different units, the one thing that scares the bad guys more than anything is an Apache. Once again this isn't me saying this this is ground guys whom I spoken to for different units over time. Of course you'll have to take my word for it, because this is the INTERNET, I don't have sworn statements, recordings or anything else to back up what I just wrote...so I could be full of it.

He goes on to say...

The U.S. Army's only disastrous operation in Gulf War II (at least the only one we know about) took place on March 24, when 33 Apache helicopters were ordered to move out ahead of the 3rd Infantry Division and to attack an Iraqi Republican Guard regiment in the suburbs of Karbala. Meeting heavy fire from small arms and shoulder-mounted rocket-propelled grenades, the Apaches flew back to base, 30 of them shot up, several disablingly so. One helicopter was shot down in the encounter, and its two crewmen were taken prisoner.

After that incident, Apaches were used more cautiously—on reconnaissance missions or for firing at small groups of armored vehicles. Rarely if ever did they penetrate far beyond the front line of battle, out in front of U.S. ground troops or without the escort of fixed-wing aircraft flying far overhead.

Shortly afterward, when a speech by Saddam Hussein was broadcast over Iraqi television, some armchair commentators observed that the speech was probably live, or at least very recent, because he referred to the downing of an Apache. In fact, that proved nothing. If one thing could have been predicted before the war started, it was that an Apache would be shot down.

Last year, during the Afghanistan war, seven Apaches were flown in to attack Taliban fighters as part of Operation Anaconda. They all got shot up, again by RPGs and machine-gun fire. None crashed, but five were so damaged they were declared "non-mission-capable"—in other words, unable to go back into combat without extensive repair—after the first day.

In the 1999 air war over Kosovo, 24 Apache helicopters were transported to the allied base in Albania. Their arrival was anticipated by many officers and analysts as a turning point in the war. Yet, within days, two choppers crashed during training exercises. Commanders decided not to send any of them into battle; the risk of losing them to Serbian surface-to-air missiles was considered too great.

Attack helicopters have always been troublesome. The U.S. Army lost over 5,000 helicopters in the Vietnam War. (Nor is this a uniquely American problem: The Soviets lost hundreds of Hind helicopters to mujahideen firing shoulder-launched Stinger missiles during their Afghan venture.)

This sorry chronicle raises the question: Why did the Army build helicopters in the first place?

He of course fails to mention the thousands of lives saved by helicopters in Vietnam and anything good they might have done during their time in service. Even viewed in the light of what we knew in 2003 this article was pretty dumb. But now it borders on the insane. I'm sure he's a nice guy though.

If you'd like to read the rest of the article which tells the tale of the "Key West Agreement" and gives his opinion that the Apache should be scrapped and the A-10 production line re-opened (did they still have any of the tooling around even then?) please click HERE

Remember this article anytime you see the name, Fred Kaplan ("Military Genius").

A Follow Up

Those of you who regularly follow this page might remember this story about CW5 David Cooper of the 160th SOAR.

The Army Times found more info, some of which can be seen below.

‘Neither of us expected to get out ... alive’

Pilot earns Distinguished Service Cross after fighting off surprise attack
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 20, 2008 11:47:16 EDT

In the clear skies north of Baghdad, a single word — “Mayday!” — turned a special operations mission on its head, diverting some of America’s most elite forces from their mission to kill or capture a known terrorist to a desperate fight for their lives, pinned down, outnumbered and outgunned.

In the brutal hours that followed that Mayday transmission on Nov. 27, 2006, Chief Warrant Officer 5 David Cooper of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment — the “Night Stalkers” — would earn a Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic actions to relieve his beleaguered colleagues, while an Air Force F-16 pilot would lose his life.

Cooper received his award — the highest ever for a Night Stalker — from Adm. Eric Olson, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, July 11 at the 160th’s home post of Fort Campbell, Ky.

In the early afternoon of Nov. 27, 2006, Cooper was the pilot in command of an AH-6 Little Bird attack helicopter, flying lead pilot in a flight of six helicopters: two AH-6s, two MH-6 troop-carrying Little Birds and two MH-60 Black Hawks, also with special ops ground troops aboard. Their mission was to kill or capture a “foreign fighter facilitator,” according to a summary of the action released by the 160th...

...The weather was perfect — “Clear, blue and 22,” in aviator-speak. But as the six helicopters flew between “logger” sites about 50 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, Cooper’s wingman suddenly transmitted “Mayday!”...

...Cooper’s wingman had to land the aircraft quickly, while simultaneously keeping its speed up so that the wind would keep the helicopter straight. Fortunately, the landscape below was mostly flat, open desert...

...Cooper and his co-pilot stayed airborne for several minutes to make sure the position was safe, then, seeing no enemy forces, he landed.

After about 40 minutes, several trucks with anti-aircraft machine guns approached their location. Unsure whether these belonged to Iraqi police, a local militia or enemy fighters, the senior ground force non-commissioned officer asked Cooper to get airborne and check them out. The question was answered when the gun trucks opened fire on the small special ops force.

Cooper took off and quickly realized the full extent of the threat: there were six to eight gun trucks mounted with double-barreled ZPU-2 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine guns about 1,400 to 1,600 meters away. Each gun truck was crewed by four or five men, “so there were probably about 40 fighters out there,” he said.

Meanwhile, another two trucks had appeared and disgorged at least 20 enemy fighters. They occupied a house about 800 meters from the grounded helicopter and took the U.S. force under fire with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, RPK machine guns and AK-series assault rifles.

The U.S. troops were armed with infantry weapons that could reach the enemy fighters in the house, but not those in the gun trucks.

To make matters worse, the desert offered no cover to escape the gun trucks’ murderous fire. “It was flat like a tabletop, so we really had no defilade to get to,” Cooper said. “The ground forces were pinned down immediately … It was kind of a one-sided deal.”

For the entire story please go the the Army Times website

Nude Model Sits On Flag, Risks Jail

From ROFASIX comes this story and if you go to his site there's VIDEO!


From the story available HERE.

Dancer faces criminal complaint for sitting atop Peru's flag in nude photo
25-07-2008 - 05:50
A Peruvian model and showgirl is facing a criminal investigation for posing naked sitting atop the country's red-and-white flag.

Lacey Zamudio appears in a magazine photo completely nude _ save for a cowboy hat _ atop a horse draped with the Peruvian flag. It comes just days before the country celebrates its independence on Monday...

...Prior to the formal complaint, Zamudio said she planned to pose with other patriotic objects.

"I love Peru," she said, "and I show it with my body and soul."

She plans "to pose with other patriotic objects". Like what, a dildo in the national colors?

"Sorry bout the stain on the flag there...I've been rubbing my naked butt on it for hours."

Yes folks, the flag of Peru was essentially used as a horse blanket by a person said to want to celebrate Peru. OOOOKAY.

LESSON FOR TODAY

Wrapping your beautiful naked body in the flag = good...at least for some people.

Using the flag as a horse blanket while posing nude upon same said horse = not good...for anyone.

Do These Guys Ever Watch The News?

Maybe it's just because something like this happened in my unit...but you'd think someone whose job is to track military news and stuff wouldn't have to ask this question. From the Defense Tech website.

One Heck of a Ride
Now I've seen footage of SOF dudes catching a ride in the ammo bay of a Cobra in Afghanistan. And I've heard of other operators flying the "wings" of Apaches during an evac near Ramadi, but this is a tough one to believe...
Photoshopped or not?

How about, not. I think this photo is from a unit in Germany that was practicing how to do a "Spur Ride' before they deployed...imagine that, training. How odd.

Yeah, there are units that actually practice the technique...and some who've done it for real. This video is documenting an event from a little over a year ago. The "Spur Ride" was carried out by my unit 3 times while deployed in support of OIF 06-08. As those X-Files pogues used to say, "The truth is out there."

Girl Friday, 25 JUL 08

Yee Haw...Jamie Bergman is the Girl Friday for this Friday the 25th of July, 2008. Y'all have a great weekend.

A really expensive pen...

...that can break glass and write a note to your friend.

EWP-01-BK

The SureFire Pen™ is a new addition to the ever-growing SureFire family—and it fits in perfectly. It boasts a rugged aerospace-grade aluminum body that's Mil-Spec Type III hard anodized like many of its brothers; and it's perfectly balanced for writing. This bold, retractable SureFire Pen is appointed with virtually indestructible, tumbled-polished stainless steel on the tip, pocket clip, and the tailcap which features a smooth, rounded window breaker that's always ready for emergency use and won’t snag clothing. And it writes like a dream...only $125.00

For $125 bucks it had damn well better write like a dream. It had better write like a dream and spell check as I write...and scratch my butt when I'm done writing with it.

I love these guys expensive flashlights, but I'll be damned if I pay that much for a pen. I stop at a hundred bucks max...seriously what can a hundred twenty five dollar pen do that my two dollar pen can't? I mean besides this:

Rugged aerospace-grade aluminum body
Aluminum body hard anodized to military specifications;
Virtually indestructible pocket clip with SureFire logo;
Smooth, tough window breaker tailcap for emergency use;
Schmidt ink cartridge flows effortlessly;
Pen adjusts to accept most ink cartridges;
Ink tip retracts into body; no cap to lose;
Made in the U.S.A. with imported ink cartridge

Well, you've convenced me Surefire...where's my credit card, give me that aluminum pen. Prices be damned, I can't live without that pen. The Surefire logo on the pocket clip sealed the deal with me...no really, it did.

I'm not kidding.

If you can't live without that pen go HERE and get one.

UAVs and Taco Bell

And I thought I was a smart ass.

Check out this story about UAVs

Seems pretty cushy...if blowing terrorists up doesn't make you lose your appetite for the cheesy gordita crunch, that is

Nice snark, a-hole.

And as a matter of fact, I don't loose my appetite, at the end of a mission I was usually pretty hungry. But I didn't fly UAVs...so their experience may vary.

Is that John Cusack at the controls of that Predator?

Shocker!

No not "the shocker", but a sarcastic shocker...like who didn't see this coming?

Commander: Media reports on Afghanistan outpost battle were exaggerated
173rd’s fight not symbol of more violent Afghanistan, says Preysler
By Mark St.Clair, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, July 20, 2008



"The sky is not falling," Col. Charles "Chip" Preysler, commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, said Saturday from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Preysler spoke via telephone less than a week after his paratroops and their Afghan allies were involved in a fierce attack at a small post near the village of Wanat. In the July 13 battle, nine of his men were killed and 15 others wounded.

But the attack is not a sign of conditions worsening in the country, he said.

The battle occurred just after dawn at a temporary vehicle patrol base near Wanat. A platoon-sized element of Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne) soldiers and a smaller Afghan National Army force were occupying a hastily built area as they had done many times over the 15 months they’d been in country, Preysler said. The soldiers were there on a reconnaissance mission to establish a presence and find a good location to connect with the local government, populace and Afghan National Police, he said.

The small outpost had been built just days before the attack and consisted of protective wire and observation posts surrounding strategically placed vehicles. "That’s all it was, a series of vehicles that went out there," Preysler said...Preysler ended the interview by lauding his soldiers.

"I get emotional about this, you’ll have to forgive me," he said. "These guys have fought for 15 months, and they have fought harder, and I mean this literally, they have fought harder and (had) more engagements, more direct-fire engagements, than any brigade in the United States Army in probably the toughest terrain. These guys are absolutely veterans and they know what they’re doing and they have that airborne spirit and they fought a very, very tough battle and held the ground and did everything they were supposed to do.

"I would like to also say I wish my guys who were wounded a speedy recovery and obviously condolences to the families, and that’s very close and personal to us. It’s tough to take casualties toward the end of any combat tour for any unit, but it signals that we’re in a fight, and we’re going to continue to fight."

Now I will say you might look upon this knowing that this gentelman is the commander of the unit in question...so read the entire thing in Stars and Stripes and draw your own conclusions.

Why is Stars and Stripes the only one reporting this?

Why The F#$K Not?

Exactly, why shouldn't you wear a shirt with "will kill for oil" emblazoned on it? Even though you wouldn't, or maybe you already have...or think you have. I'm mean why wouldn't you, other than for reasons of good taste?

I mean, that's what "they" think anyway. Even though, it would be fun to see the looks on their smug faces when they read that one.

For the humor impaired, it's called a joke. Maybe not a good one, but a joke none the less.


This is a shirt available for purchase at the website of Pat Dollard.

I'm sure it will soon be on the list of banned shirts for wear in Iraq.


That I would probably agree with. It isn't the most culturally sensitive thing I've ever seen. But if you supporters of all the amendments to the Constitution want to wear one...feel free.





Here's a joke from the other side... you know, the guys who don't particularly care for the POTUS or the way he's run the war.

The really funny thing about this...is the irony.

By the way this was one of the tamer examples. If you are offended by Bush=Nazi imagery, the F Bomb or stuff like that don't go THERE.

I actually own the Rummy print...I know money in the pocket of dirty filthy hippies, but hey, I find it inspirational. And maybe this whole capitalism thing will catch on.

Stuff You Might Not Know...

You may have seen the headlines the other day...

NY Times
9 Americans Die in Afghan Attack

By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: July 14, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents carried out a bold assault on a remote base near the border with Pakistan on Sunday, NATO reported, and a senior American military official said nine American soldiers were killed.

CNN
Scores die in wave of attacks in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Nine U.S. troops were killed Sunday in an attack on a base in a remote province of eastern Afghanistan, a Western official said.

It was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in three years.

NEWSWEEK
US abandons Afghan outpost where 9 troops died
US abandons remote outpost in Afghan border region where 9 troops died in fighting
By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press Writer AP
Jul 16, 2008

What they didn't tell you about was this...

From Stars and Stripes
Soldiers recount deadly attack on Afghanistan outpost
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, July 19, 2008

Everything was on fire. The trucks. The bazaar. The grass.

It looked surreal. It looked like a movie.

That was what Spc. Tyler Stafford remembered thinking as he stepped onto the medical evacuation helicopter. The 23-year-old soldier would have been loaded onto the bird, but the poncho that was hastily employed as his stretcher broke. His body speckled with grenade and RPG shrapnel, the Vicenza, Italy, infantryman walked the last few feet to the waiting Black Hawk.

That was Sunday morning in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province. At a forward operating base — maybe as big as a football field — established just a few days prior.

Outnumbered but not outgunned, a platoon-plus element of soldiers with 2nd Platoon, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team accompanied by Afghan soldiers engaged in a fistfight of a firefight.

After maybe two hours of intense combat, some of the soldiers’ guns seized up because they expelled so many rounds so quickly. Insurgent bullets and dozens of rocket-propelled grenades filled the air. So many RPGs were fired at the soldiers that they wondered how the insurgents had so many...

...The whole FOB was covered in dust and smoke, looking like something out of an old Western movie.

"I’ve never seen the enemy do anything like that," said Walker, who was medically evacuated off the FOB in one of the first helicopters to arrive. "It’s usually three RPGs, some sporadic fire and then they’re gone … I don’t where they got all those RPGs. That was crazy."

Two hours after the first shots were fired, Stafford made his way — with help — to the medevac helicopter that arrived.

"It was some of the bravest stuff I’ve ever seen in my life, and I will never see it again because those guys," Stafford said, then paused. "Normal humans wouldn’t do that. You’re not supposed to do that — getting up and firing back when everything around you is popping and whizzing and trees, branches coming down and sandbags exploding and RPGs coming in over your head … It was a fistfight then, and those guys held ’ em off."

Stafford offered a guess as to why his fellow soldiers fought so hard.

"Just hardcoreness I guess," he said. "Just guys kicking ass, basically. Just making sure that we look scary enough that you don’t want to come in and try to get us."

It's called context, something you'd think people might have learned about in that thing they call a college. It's also called a war. In a war the enemy gets a vote. They want to win as badly as some of us do. For people not to expect the enemy to try and hurt us and actually inflict some damage in the nearly 7 years this version of the fight against terrorists has been going on, is ridiculous. And even though they managed to kill nine brave Americans, what was the cost to the enemy? DO you know? Can you find it anywhere?



Read the entire article HERE

SORRY!

For anyone who has been wondering, I am OK. I've been flying until the wee hours a lot and am generally being a puss, in that I haven't felt like doing much else.

Stay tuned for more jackassery and smart-aleck-ness.

I can confirm that Taco Cabana tacos at 0230 in the AM are in fact delicious, even if you are stone cold sober.

A Short Message That Everyone Needs To Hear...

Girl Friday, 11 JUL 08

Another week in July is gone. It's getting hotter by the second.

This Friday's Girl Friday, Nyx Ortega is quite the little swinger. Hope y'all have a great weekend. I'll be working...ugh.

Lara Logan, CBS Chief Head Foreign Affairs Correspondent...literally

Sometimes this stuff just writes itself.

From FOX News comes this:

NEW YORK — Lara Logan, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News, tells The Washington Post she is pregnant, and the father is a married federal contractor whom she met while stationed in Iraq.

Logan's relationship with Joseph Burkett — who's in the midst of a divorce from wife Kimberly, with whom he has a 3-year-old daughter — has made media headlines, including the front page of the New York Post.

Logan is going through a divorce from estranged husband Jason Siemon, a Chicago-based energy lobbyist whom she married in 1998.

"Nobody likes to read about themselves like that, especially the way it's been sensationalized," Logan, 37, told The Washington Post. "I hated it. But I'm just going to rise above it and keep going."

...and going and going. Hey, if the contractor's trailer is rocking, don't bother knocking. Glad to see that she wasn't so traumatized by the horrors of war that she could still knock boots with some contractor dude. Who was married at the time, oh and so was she.

The stress and all, I would imagine drew them together. They first met that night in the bunker huddled together as the rockets rained down on the camp. She shivered with fear and he held her close at first protective and then with the fierce desire born from living life on the edge one day, one hour, one minute at a time.

I see I wasn't the only one surging in Iraq. Glad I was able to keep the rockets and mortars off your ass long enough for y'all to make a baby.

LT Nixon has something to say about it HERE
Thanks to the Bronze for the title correction.

CW5 Cooper to Receive the Distinguished Service Cross

From the160th SOAR PAO

RELEASE NUMBER: 080703-01
DATE POSTED: JULY 3, 2008

MEDIA ADVISORY: 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) Soldier to receive Distinguished Service Cross

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Public Affairs

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (USASOC News Service, July 3, 2008) – A 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) Soldier will be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during a ceremony at 2 p.m. July 11 at the Personnel Processing Center, Bldg. 7162, on Fort Campbell, Ky.

Chief Warrant Officer 5 David F. Cooper is being awarded the DSC for extraordinary heroism when he selflessly chose to fly as a single attack helicopter at low levels over an active firefight to draw enemy fire away from United States Special Operations ground forces on the scene. He acted with complete disregard for his own safety as he single handedly took aerial action against an armed and numerically superior enemy during a combat engagement in central Iraq in 2006.

The DSC is the Army’s second highest award for combat valor and is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States during military operations. This is the eleventh DSC to be awarded for actions in Iraq since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. To date, Cooper is the only aviator to receive the DSC non-posthumously for actions in support of the War on Terror.

Adm. Eric T. Olson, Commander, United States Special Operations Command, and Lt. Gen. Robert W. Wagner, Commander, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, will preside over the ceremony and present the awards.

CW4 Keith Yoakum (A Company 1-227th AVN) has been the only other aviator to receive this award during OIF as noted, posthumously.

It is refreshing to see that the Army has chosen to recognize valor as exhibited by Soldiers that survived the action they were involved in. Let's hope we see more of these in the future.

A Special Cap

From MLB.com

...Major League Baseball announced on Monday the launch of a national campaign called "Welcome Back Veterans." This is an apolitical series of national fundraising and awareness initiatives over the Fourth of July weekend and Sept. 11 to support the ongoing return of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, an effort started by a group of citizens led by Mets chairman Fred Wilpon with the full support of MLB, Major League Baseball Advanced Media and the McCormick Foundation.

For games throughout the July 4 weekend and on Sept. 11, all MLB clubs will wear "Stars & Stripes" caps that are available for sale to the public, with a portion of the proceeds going to Welcome Back Veterans. These official New Era caps can be purchased at the MLB.com Shop, a way to help others.

H/T: Some Soldier's Mom, who has extended commentary about MLB and this program.

Order the hat for your favorite ball club HERE!

UH...Wait A Minute

I found the link to this story over at Last of the Few.

Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq
Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada

updated 5:57 p.m. CT, Sat., July. 5, 2008
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions...

I thought according to all these people who are against the war in Iraq, there was no nuclear program being run by Saddam. WTF? Where did all this uranium come from? What could it possibly have been used for? I guess we'll never know. For more on the uranium that never existed, go read the rest of the story HERE.

The Army Drill Team

Found this video over at Kathy's Brazos Cowgirl blog.



It seems the Marines aren't the only ones who can sling rifles around and wear snazy uniforms.

The Final Salute

Over at Some Soldier's Mom is a post about a book called The Final Salute.

From her blog...

In Final Salute, Sheeler tells the stories of the fallen, of their homes, of their families, of the memorials and the memories... it is also the story of Major [now Lt. Col.] Steve Beck -- a Casualty Assistance Case Officer (CACO) and his unwaivering efforts to help heal the wounds of those left behind. This is a moving and detailed book (major tissue alert)... I was so moved by the stories... and the writing... honest... honorable... sad... proud... and the photos included are just as awe-inspiring and moving as the one above.


I believe this book should be required reading for every high school student in the U.S. It will also be greatly appreciated by anyone who has served and their families... and those who support them and understand the nature of the sacrifice... and it should be read by anyone and everyone who questions the honor or intent of those who serve in our military. I don't know if those groups will be touched by the stories told by the Fallen and their wives, their parents, and the buddies they left behind, but perhaps they might gain some appreciation for the sacrifice and maybe approach some part of their lives differently and filter some of the pap they get in college and elsewhere through the filter of knowing that some gave all -- for them. Final Salute is a perfectly fitting read for the Independence Day weekend... reminding us all that the Freedom we all enjoy is not free.

At one point, when a Marine questions why they are having a large ceremony for the families telling the stories of each soldier and Marine who had died and formally presenting the medals they had earned, asking, "Why do you have to keep reminding them" [of their loved one's death]? To which Major Beck replied, "This isn't about reminding them," he said. "This is about reminding you."

Personally, I'm not sure if I could make it through this book right now...but I would recommend those of you who might be interested to check it out.

The Reason For The Season...

I'm sure you've heard uptight folks with a sick up their hindquarters complaining about the materialism exhibited during Christmastime by proclaiming, "HE, is the reason for the season". He of course being "JC", that's Jesus for you heathens out there.

Well here's a message from another uptight guy with a stick up his hindquarters, telling you that this...

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

...IS THE REASON FOR THIS SEASON.

Safety Message

If you are going to celebrate the 4th by the use of fireworks...be careful!

For an entertaining message concerning fireworkes safety please direct your borwser to this SITE

Girl Friday, 4 JULY 2008

It's Independence Day! Have a great 4th of July weekend!

New Link

Through the fine folks at Argghhh!,
I came across Bring the Heat, Bring the Stupid.

As a matter of fact what took me there was this POST about the AH-64 "all-weather" freedom fighter.

XBradTC had a few nice things to say and was pretty interesting, especially for those who like things that explode and shoot...highly recommended. Four stars, Joe Bob says check it out.